The storms that ravaged southern Arkansas Sunday evening took out the tower at the Deltaplex Radio station that has stood tall in Pine Bluff for over half a century, according to its website.
We are working around the clock to fix tower for KPBA 99.3 The Beat, and also to get other stations on the air. The tower that fell also feeds signals to remote tower sites for our other three stations – The Train KTrain 104.5 FM, The Hog 98.1 FM, and Oldies 101.3 FM.
Company engineers are currently working to patch together ways to get signals to those other towers. Of course, with the huge power outages at tower sites, that is obstacle as well.
Insurance adjusters will be on site Wednesday and tower crews are expected to be here late this week to start the process of getting a new tower in the air for 99.3 The Beat.
Deltaplex Radio General Manager Greg Horne released the following statement for Deltaplex Radio listeners.
“I have been around radio my entire life and I’ve never been around a situation where a tower fell,” said Horne. “We are working as fast as we can to solve the engineering issues. We are honored that so many Deltaplex residents rely on us for news, information and entertainment. Our commitment to provide that for you will never waiver. You can continue to get all the local Deltaplex area news and information on DeltaplexNews.com, and KTRN 104.5 FM. I am pleased that we have one signal up as of now and we are working as fast as we can and expect to have two more of our signals airing within a few days. We appreciate your trust and your patience during this difficult time. Please tune in to KTRN 104.5 for your local news, weather, and information.”
As part of Beasley Media Group’s on-going Community of Caring public service campaign, 98.5 FM The Sports Hub/WBZ-FM, 105.7/WROR-FM, Country 102.5/WKLB-FM, HOT96.9/WBQT-FM and ROCK 92.9/WBOS-FM, in conjunction Safety Insurance, RCN and Sam Adams, have committed to helping to raise $100,000 in support of Massachusetts General Hospital’s COVID-19 response efforts for Healthcare workers through the newly launched Healthcare Heroes initiative.
Mass General Hospital’s Emergency Response Fund was created in an effort to provide healthcare workers with necessary medical supplies, transportation assistance, dependent care, temporary housing and other important resources to help them stay healthy and safe during the COVID-19 crisis.
In addition to providing timely information updates from Massachusetts General healthcare experts, Beasley Media Group Boston radio station on-air personalities will be joined by celebrities and influencers over the coming weeks to offer messages of hope and appreciation for the hospital staff on the front lines. Listeners are invited to join in and share their support at any of the radio station websites/Healthcare-Heroes.
“We are incredibly grateful for the continued outpouring of support and dedication from our community in and around Boston, and to Beasley Media Group for this initiative and their commitment to care,” said Peter L. Slavin, MD, MGH president. “Our amazing health care workers are working tirelessly to combat COVID-19 and provide the very best care for our patients during this pandemic.”
Money raised for Mass General’s Emergency Fund will enable the hospital to direct resources where the need is greatest, and will allow our frontline care providers to continue to safely and effectively care for our patients in need.”
“The stations’ partners are enthusiastic about supporting those on the front lines of the pandemic and sharing a positive message during these unprecedented times,” said Beasley Media Group Boston General Sales Manager Brian Schneekloth.
Knox Phillips, son of the founder of Sun Studio and the man who discovered Elvis Presley, died Wednesday. He was 74 years old.
Born in Memphis in 1945 to parents Sam and Becky, joined together by their dedication as colleagues in radio, Knox’s association with Memphis music seemed predestined.
“He was a tireless ambassador for Memphis and Memphis music,” Jerry Phillips said of his older brother.
“He was the keeper of the flame of Sam Phillips, the Phillips family, and our independent spirit. He just was on a mission to promote Memphis music and make sure that nobody forgot about where it started – at least the part that our father played in it.”
With a very young Elvis
As Sam Phillips opened Memphis Recording Service in 1950, Knox was raised in the living room of rock-and-roll, as his father and his collaborators left an imprint on world’s collective conscience. As an adult, he’d continue that legacy, both by championing his family’s place in music and creating his own.
Through engineering and production for acts such as Randy & The Radiants, The Amazing Rhythm Aces, The Yardbirds, the late-John Prine and Willie Nelson, Knox Phillips garnered respect for his in-studio prowess. However, his benevolence and leadership left an impression on many other musicians, patrons and industry professionals, who remember him as a man whose spirit looms larger than the music he helped create.
As a trustee with the Nashville chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, Knox Phillips was instrumental in establishing a Memphis chapter in 1973.
➦In 1905...Arthur Lake was born as Arthur Silverlake Jr. (Died from a heart attack at age 81 – January 9, 1987). He is best known for portraying the Blondie comic strip character of Dagwood Bumstead in twenty-eight Blondie films produced by Columbia Pictures from 1938 to 1950. He was also the voice of Dagwood on the radio series, which ran from 1938 to 1950, earning him a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6646 Hollywood Blvd. Many of the actors on the radio show noted Lake's commitment to the program, stating that on the day of the broadcast, Lake was Dagwood Bumstead.
Far from being upset about being typecast, Lake continued to embrace the role of Dagwood in a short-lived 1957 Blondie TV series, then even into the 1960s and beyond; he would often give speeches to Rotary clubs and other civic organizations, eagerly posing for pictures with a Dagwood sandwich.
➦In 1922...KPO san Francisco signed-on. Now known at KNBR 680 AM, KPO began broadcasting as a100-watt station owned by the Hale Brothers department store. In 1925, the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper bought half-interest in the operation. Originally located in the department store at 901 Market between 5th and 6th, its horizontal wire antenna on the roof was so efficient, it immediately attracted the attention of audiences all over the Pacific Coast.
KPO Studio -1922 (Courtesy of Bay Area Radio Museum)
In 1927, KPO became an affiliate of the new NBC radio network. In 1933, KPO was sold to NBC's parent company, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), and its operation was consolidated into that of its co-owned KGO. From there, NBC operated its West Coast network, feeding dozens of stations and operating a news bureau to serve NBC. As NBC's flagship station on the West Coast, it had a full-time orchestra, five studios, and produced many live shows. During the rise of Hollywood, NBC's radio operation was moved to Los Angeles.
During World War II, KPO's news bureau was the major source of NBC of news about the war in the Pacific, and operated shortwave radio stations serving the world. It was at the KPO (RCA) shortwave facility that the message was received that Japanese emperor Hirohito had surrendered, ending World War II.
On November 23, 1947, NBC changed KPO's call sign to KNBC to strengthen its identity as an NBC station (and the only radio station NBC ever owned on the West Coast). This change lasted until fifteen years later, when the network decided to move the KNBC identity to its television station in Los Angeles. NBC had asked the FCC to restore the KPO call letters to the San Francisco radio station but later withdrew that request and 680 AM was renamed KNBR on November 11, 1962.
KNBR evolved into a Middle of the road music format mixing in Adult Standards with Soft Rock cuts by the early 1960s. The station continued to be a news intensive format with personalities in the foreground and music in the background. Personalities included Frank Dill, Les Williams, Dave Niles, and Jack Hayes. Until January, 1975, KNBR carried NBC's long-running weekend show, Monitor. By the mid-1970s, KNBR evolved musically into a straight ahead adult contemporary music format and continued as such into the 1980s.
In March 1989 NBC sold KNBR to Susquehanna Radio Corporation; it was the last radio property held by NBC, which two years earlier made the decision to sell off its radio division following General Electric's 1986 acquisition of RCA. The station soon added some sports talk in evenings, and took a full-time sports format in 1990 with the lone exception of The Rush Limbaugh Show, which KNBR carried from 1988 until 2000.
KNBR carried programs from ESPN Radio and KTCT aired shows from both ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio until 2013, when both stations switched to the Cumulus-distributed CBS Sports Radio.
In 2015, KNBR's studios were relocated from 55 Hawthorne Street to 750 Battery Street after parent Cumulus Media consolidated its San Francisco radio stations in one building.
➦In 1923...Harry Truman Reasoner was born (Died at age 68 – August 6, 1991). He was a journalist for ABC and CBS News, known for his inventive use of language as a television commentator, and as a founder of the 60 Minutes program.
Over the course of his career, Reasoner won three Emmy Awards and a George Foster Peabody Award in 1967.
During his time at the school, Reasoner developed his interest in journalism. He went on to study journalism at Stanford University and the University of Minnesota. He served in the Army during World War II and after the war, he then resumed his journalism career with The Minneapolis Times.
After going into radio with CBS in 1948, Reasoner worked for the United States Information Agency in the Philippines. When he returned to the US, he went into television and worked at station KEYD (later KMSP) in Minneapolis. He later joined CBS News in New York, in 1956, where he eventually hosted a morning news program called Calendar from 1961 to 1963, on top of doing commentator and special news narration duties
In 1968, Reasoner teamed up with Mike Wallace to launch 60 Minutes, a new news magazine series. On 60 Minutes and elsewhere, he often worked with producer and writer Andy Rooney, who later became a well-known contributor in his own right.
In 1970, Reasoner was hired away from CBS by ABC to become an anchor on the network's newly revamped nightly newscast. After a stay of several years in the '70s at ABC. Reasoner returned to CBS and 60 Minutes where he remained until his retirement on May 19, 1991. ➦In 1934...WLW Cincinnati licensed to operate at 500kW.
In January 1934 WLW began broadcasting at the 500 kilowatt level late at night under the experimental callsign W8XO. In April 1934 the station was authorized to operate at 500 kilowatts during regular hours under the WLW call letters. On May 2, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a ceremonial button that officially launched WLW's 500-kilowatt signal. As the first station in the world to broadcast at this strength, WLW received repeated complaints from around the United States and Canada that it was overpowering other stations as far away as Toronto.
In December 1934 WLW cut back to 50 kilowatts at night to mitigate the interference, and began construction of three 50 ft. tower antennas to be used to reduce signal strength towards Canada. With these three antennas in place, full-time broadcasting at 500 kilowatts resumed in early 1935.
However, WLW was continuing to operate under special temporary authority that had to be renewed every six months, and each renewal brought complaints about interference and undue domination of the market by such a high-power station. The FCC was having second thoughts about permitting extremely wide-area broadcasting versus more locally oriented stations, and in 1938, the US Senate adopted the "Wheeler" resolution, expressing it to be the sense of that body that more stations with power in excess of 50 kilowatts are against the public interest. As a result, in 1939 the 500-kilowatt broadcast authorization was not renewed, bringing an end to the era of the AM radio superstation. Because of the impending war and the possible need for national broadcasting in an emergency, the W8XO experimental license for 500 kilowatts remained in effect until December 29, 1942.
In 1962 the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation again applied for a permit to operate at 750 kilowatts, but the FCC denied the application.
➦In 1935…After more than a year as a local program on WENR in Chicago, "Lights Out" debuted to a national audience on NBC Radio Network. In June of 1936, Chicago writer Arch Oboler took over from series creator Wyllis Cooper and stayed with the program until 1943.
Lights Out revival was part of a trend in 1940s American radio toward more horror. Genre series like Inner Sanctum, Suspense and others drew increasingly large ratings. The series continued until the summer of 1947.
➦In 1964…Washington's FBI lab reported it could not determine the lyrics to "Louie Louie." The Kingsmen's recording was the subject of an FBI investigation about the supposed, but nonexistent, obscenity of the lyrics, an investigation that ended without prosecution.[3] Ironically, the recording notably includes the drummer yelling "F#ck!" after dropping his drumstick at the 0:54 mark.
"Louie Louie" has been recognized by organizations and publications worldwide for its influence on the history of rock and roll. A partial list includes the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, National Public Radio, VH1, Rolling Stone Magazine, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Recording Industry Association of America.
➦In 1965…RCA and the LearJet Corporation announced the development of the combination 8 track tape player and car radio. The Stereo 8 Cartridge was created in 1964 by a consortium led by Bill Lear of Lear Jet Corporation, along with Ampex, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Motorola, and RCA Victor Records.
Anthony Perkins, Peter Potter, Troy Donahue
➦In 1983...Los Angeles radio personality Peter Potter died at age 78. He was best known for his show “Juke Box Jury,” which appeared on both media during the entire decade of the 1950 s and beyond.
The syndicated show won him two Emmys, in 1953 and 1955, both for Best Entertainment Program, and put his phrase “Will it be a hit, or will it be a miss?" into American pop jargon. Most recording stars made appearances on his Los Angeles-based shows on radio stations KMPC, KFWB and KLAC.
During the 1940s, he was Hollywood's reigning disc jockey, his shows airing seven days a week, often with the highest ratings in daytime radio.
➦In 1986...WRFM 105.1 FM NYC switched from beautiful music to soft rock as WNSR. Today the station is owned by iHeartMedia and airs an Urban format as WWPR Power 105.1 FM
➦In 1994…Peter Hackes died at age 69 (Born June 2, 1924). He was a longtime TV and radio correspondent who late in life had acting roles in two prominent American films.
Peter Hackes
Early in his career, Hackes worked for radio stations in Iowa, New York, Ohio and Kentucky. He then began a three-year stint working at CBS in 1952. Starting in 1955, Hackes spent 30 years based in Washington, D.C. working for NBC, both as a TV correspondent and as a radio correspondent.
In his years at NBC, Hackes covered Capitol Hill, the State Department and NASA, and worked every national political convention from 1956 to 1986. Hackes won an Emmy award for his coverage of the Apollo space flights in 1969 and 1970, and he also won a Peabody Award for his work on NBC’s Second Sunday program.
After voluntarily taking an early retirement from NBC in April 1986, Hackes became the radio voice of the AARP. He hosted a daily radio program for retired Americans called Mature Focus, which aired on 600 radio stations nationwide.
After retiring from NBC, Hackes had acting roles in two prominent films. In 1987, Hackes played heartless network executive Paul Moore in the film Broadcast News, who oversaw an extensive layoff and restructuring of news personnel in a TV network’s Washington bureau. Hackes also had a small role in the 1991 film True Colors.
➦In 1996...Bob Grant aired last show on 77WABC NYC.
Grant was hired by WABC in 1984 and at first hosted a show from 9-11 p.m., before moving to the 3-6 p.m. afternoon time slot. The Bob Grant Show consistently dominated the ratings in the highly competitive afternoon drive time slot in New York City and at one point the radio station aired recorded promos announcing him as "America's most listened to talk radio personality." The gravel-voiced Grant reminded listeners during the daily introduction that the "program was unscripted and unrehearsed".
Grant's long stay at WABC ended when he was fired for a remark about the April 3, 1996 airplane crash involving Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. Grant remarked to caller named, Carl of Oyster Bay, "My hunch is that (Brown) is the one survivor. I just have that hunch. Maybe it's because, at heart, I'm a pessimist." When Brown was found dead, Grant's comments were widely criticized, and several weeks later, after a media campaign, his contract was terminated.
After being fired, Grant moved down the dial to WOR 710 to host the same afternoon drive-time slot. Grant's age began to show while broadcasting at WOR. He was less engaging with the callers, and not as energetic during his broadcasts. For a time, the Bob Grant show went into national syndication, but has been a local only show since 2001. Grant and his WABC replacement Sean Hannity would sometimes throw jabs at each other. Hannity defeated Grant in the ratings from 2001–2006.
Grant's WOR run ended on January 13, 2006. After several fill-in stints at WABC, Grant returned to WABC in August 2007. His finals stint lasted less than a year and a half, until his regular nightly show was pulled by WABC in late November 2008 as part of a programming shuffle stemming from the debut of Curtis Sliwa's national show, and later Mark Levin's show expanding to three hours, leaving no room for Grant.
Grant died Hillsborough Township, New Jersey on December 31, 2013, after what was described as a "short illness".
TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS
Former Spice Girls singer Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham, who's married to soccer superstar David Beckham, is 46.
Sportscaster and former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason is 59.
Groups backing music creators and opposing media concentration have asked the Justice Department to reject what they said is John Malone's proposed purchase of iHeartMedia, the nation's largest radio station owner.
Multi-Channel News reports Justice is reportedly vetting a Liberty Media's proposal to boost its current stake in the radio/online audio giant to a controlling interest or ownership.
In a letter to Antitrust Division chief Makan Delrahim, the Center for Digital Democracy, American Economic Liberties Project, Artist Rights Alliance, Institute for Local Self-Reliance, Open Markets Institute, and Public Citizen, said it should nix the deal.
They argue that the combination of iHeartMedia with Liberty's controlling stake in satellite radio service Sirius/XM (which now owns Pandora) and 33% stake in LiveNation/Ticketmaster would create a dominant non-streaming and streaming audio distribution giant with likely "catastrophic" consequences for competition.
"For listeners, it will almost certainly mean fewer options, less diversity, and higher prices," they argued. And for artists, "[u]p and coming talent will face an even greater challenges cracking through shrinking nationalized playlists."
"This merger will also be a setback in the struggle for fair economics for music distribution, as the new conglomerate uses its massive power to demand cut-rate, below-market royalty rates at the pain of being shut out across these major platforms altogether," they predicted, adding: "This unacceptable new proposal will put a broad array of music creators at a massive disadvantage in an arena that is already massively stacked against them. Please reject Liberty Media's bid to acquire any meaningful portion of iHeartMedia."
New York’s two sports talk radio stations recorded a split decision in drive time ratings for the winter quarter, with WFAN 101.9 FM / 660 AM finishing first overall among men ages 25-54 in the morning and WEPN ESPN 98.7 FM finishing first in the afternoon, Newsday reports.
The data covers Jan. 2 through March 25 and was released by Nielsen Audio on Wednesday.
Most of the ratings book covers the time before live sports shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But they had begun to slip even before the process accelerated starting on March 11.
Sports talk radio ratings for the spring book, which currently is under way, figure to be drastically lower for everyone. With no sports going on and fewer people driving cars to work, the genre is in an impossible position.
For the winter, WFAN’s morning show starring Boomer Esiason and Gregg Giannotti finished first among all stations in the market with an average of 6.7% of the listening audience in the key demographic from 6 to 10 a.m., with ESPN far behind at 2.9.
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., WFAN was fourth at 5.1% and ESPN seventh at 4.2.
From 2 to 6 p.m., ESPN was first at 6.9% and WFAN third at 5.7.
From 3 to 6 p.m., the period during which ESPN’s “The Michael Kay Show” goes head-to-head against Joe Benigno and Evan Roberts on WFAN, Kay was first at 7.3 and Benigno and Roberts were tied for third at 5.3.
This was the first full ratings book for Benigno and Roberts since they succeeded Mike Francesa in afternoon drive time.
All of the above data includes both over-the-air and live stream audiences.
Kay and his partners, Don La Greca and Peter Rosenberg, will collect bonuses for finishing No. 1 overall in the afternoon among men aged 25-54.
Going forward into the spring, ESPN’s hosts, The NYPost has learned, have agreed not to accept bonuses for the ratings as advertising is way down on all stations.
Nielsen on Wednesday, April 15, 2020 released the first batch of March 2020 PPM data for the following markets:
1 New York 2 Los Angeles 3 Chicago
4 San Francisco
5 Dallas-Ft. Worth 6 Houston-Galveston 8 Atlanta 9 Philadelphia 20 Nassau-Suffolk (Long Island NY) 25 Riverside-San Barnardino CA 37 San Jose CA 42 Middlesex-Somerset-Union NJ Click Here for Topline numbers for subscribing Nielsen stations.
Talk-show legend Rush Limbaugh is making an extraordinary offer to President Donald Trump, giving the commander in chief a chance to connect with even more Americans by taking over his top-rated radio program, WND reports.
"If the president wants to do this -- if he wants to come on and have a show -- we'll let him do it," Limbaugh said on his national broadcast Wednesday.
"I'm here making it known -- and I will call later, too -- but I'm doing it here, making it known that this program is available to the president if he wants to audition, if he wants to use it for a town hall, if he wants to have direct connect with you, that we got it handled."
Rush Limbaugh
"We could do it noon to three for as long as he wants. He could have direct connect with you in the audience. You know, not a bunch of bureaucrat experts up on the stage, and certainly no journalists choosing the questions or any of that. We'll do it in a different way than anybody's ever done town halls or any of that stuff."
The offer comes in the wake of a New York Times report that Trump himself has sought a radio program of his own, but did not wish to compete with Limbaugh, a fellow resident of Palm Beach, Florida.
The Times noted: "Someone suggested hosting the show in the mornings or on weekends, to steer clear of the conservative radio host's schedule. But Mr. Trump shook his head, saying he envisioned his show as two hours a day, every day. And were it not for Mr. Limbaugh, and the risk of encroaching on his territory, he reiterated, he would do it."
While analyzing the report, Limbaugh explained: "Donald Trump is one of the few who could fill my shoes. With proper training and proper instruction, I could see that. ... I think there'd be nobody better to fill my shoes than Donald Trump. I've often said nobody could, but if anybody could, it would be him."
"I find it once again very pleasingly satisfying that a man who owns television wants to be on radio," he continued.
The U.S. had its highest number of deaths in one day from the coronavirus, with Johns Hopkins' tally saying Wednesday (April 15th) that 2,405 died across the country on Tuesday after several days in which the number of deaths had fallen or was nearly flat. The total is now over 28,000 deaths and over 600,000 confirmed infections. However, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, said on NBC's Today show that it's plateauing, saying, "There's no doubt what we've seen over the last several days is a flattening out." According to the Johns Hopkins count, there have been more than 130,000 deaths worldwide and two million confirmed infections.
One-time government stimulus payments began to be deposited in Americans' bank accounts Wednesday, with qualifying adults getting up to $1,200 each and married couples up to $2,400, and $500 per child, as many Americans have lost their jobs or had their hours or pay cut because of the massive economic fallout from the pandemic. Other people will have paper checks mailed to them, depending on how they filed their tax returns.
Protesters in Michigan who want the state's stay-at-home order lifted mounted a protest in the capital, Lansing, organized by two conservative groups by gridlocking the streets for miles with their cars. Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer extended the lockdown order last week through April 30th, and added more restrictions. Michigan has the third-highest number of deaths in the country, and Whitmer defended her actions, saying on CNN, "We have to be really aggressive here in order to save lives." Some protesters got out of their cars and groups gathered on the grounds of the Capitol. Whitmer said, "We'll never know the precise number of Covid-19 cases that come as a result of this gathering, but we know there will be some."
NY Post Front Page 4/16/20
In other developments:
New Yorkers Must Wear Masks: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said yesterday that he will require everyone in the state to wear a mask in public when not social distancing. He also announced 752 people had died in the state Tuesday, down slightly from the day before, and hospitalizations, ICU admissions and intubations were all down, further evidence of a plateau in the state that's the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak.
Industrial Output, Retail Sales Historically Down: With many factories shut down, U.S. industrial output had its biggest decline in March since the nation demobilized at the end of World War Two. Additionally, retail sales fell by an unprecedented 8.7 percent, with worse expected for April.
Study: Hydroxychloroquine Doesn't Work: A new French study has found that hydroxychloroquine, a drug that's been touted by President Trump as a possible treatment for the coronavirus, didn't help hospitalized patients and was associated with heart complications.
Chris Cuomo’s wife now also has the coronavirus. He announced that Cristina Cuomo was positive for COVID-19 on his primetime CNN show Wednesday — about two weeks after revealing his own diagnosis. “Cristina now has COVID, she is now positive,” said Chris, 49, during an interview with his older brother, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “It just breaks my heart,” Chris said. “It is the one thing I was hoping wouldn’t happen and now it has.” Cristina, 50, a magazine editor, had been posting updates about her husband’s condition on Instagram as the family quarantined at home, with Chris living in the basement. She’s “not upset” about catching the illness and “takes everything in stride,” Chris said, adding that he’s been “a bit of a mess about it.”
➤GLOBAL ALARM AT TRUMP STOPPING PAYMENTS TO WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Countries and health experts around the world expressed alarm Wednesday (April 15th) at President Trump saying a day earlier that he was stopping U.S. payments to the World Health Organization, saying it could hurt efforts to fight the pandemic. Trump suspended the funding while a review is conducted of the WHO's initial response to the pandemic after it emerged in China, claiming it didn't give adequate early reports and repeated China's assurances about how the virus is spread. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus expressed "regret" about Trump's actions, and while not addressing Trump's complaints directly, said it would review its decisions. He added, "WHO is reviewing the impact on our work of any withdrawal of U.S. funding and will work with our partners to fill any financial gaps we face."
➤FLORIDA INMATE FREED BECAUSE OF CORONAVIRUS ACCUSED OF MURDER NEXT DAY: A 26-year-old Florida inmate who was released from jail due to the coronavirus pandemic has been accused of murdering someone the next day. The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office says Joseph Edwards Williams was being held on drug charges including possession of heroin when he was released on an emergency order for pre-trial detainees believed not to pose a threat to public safety. He was then allegedly involved in the shooting death of a man the day after he was released. He was arrested and is being held on charges including second-degree murder. Officials said Williams is the only Hillsborough County inmate known to have committed a crime after being freed under the emergency order.
Urban One Atlanta has announced their new on-air line up for Hip-Hop WHTA 107.9 FM.
Starting Monday, April 20th , Erin Rae who has been with the station for two years will now takeover middays. J Nicks who has been responsible for the tremendous ratings success at night as part of the Durrty Boyz Show will move to afternoon drive with interactive features, entertaining interviews and more. Following in J Nicks footsteps, Incognito returns to Atlanta to bring his “Posted On The Corner” show with the best mixes, entertainment news and contest, every night from 7pm-12m.
Incognito fresh sound with his national show produced by Radio One will be based in Atlanta clearing in many markets including Dallas, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus, OH.
“This year as we celebrate our 25th year of the station,” said Tim Davies Regional VP and GM, “we have refreshed the line up with names you know and new talent as we go into the next 25 years.”
Program Director, Tap Money said, “We here at Radio One Atlanta are elated to see these amazing talents lead HOT 107.9 into the new decade. Erin Rae and J Nicks have worked very hard for these new opportunities and we are all very proud of them. Incognito is no stranger to Atlanta and I have no doubt he will charter nights to new and greater heights.”
iHeartMedia and FirstNet, Built with AT&T have announced “iHeartRadio’s First Responder Fridays with FirstNet, Built with AT&T,” a special four-week tribute series hosted by Ryan Seacrest streamed LIVE on iHeartRadio’s YouTube and broadcasted across more than 90 iHeartRadio stations nationwide, honoring first responders and medical professionals on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Supporting first responders is our mission, which is why we are working alongside public safety in delivering the nation’s only Congressionally mandated first responder network that’s there when those that serve us need it most,” said Jason Porter, Senior Vice President, FirstNet Program at AT&T. “Through First Responder Fridays, we are honored to help celebrate and thank the men, women and their families on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic for the commitment they’ve made to all of us.”
Beginning this week, Ryan Seacrest will ask listeners on air on iHeartRadio stations across the country, online and through social media to share stories of how their lives have been positively impacted by Police, Fire, EMS and Hospital workers by using #iHeartFirstResponders on social media and calling 1-833-3FRIDAY.
On Air with Ryan Seacrest will kick off “iHeartRadio’s First Responder Fridays with FirstNet, Built with AT&T” April 17 and run every Friday through May 8, flooding the airwaves throughout the day on more than 90 CHR iHeartRadio stations across the U.S. and on the iHeartRadio app with #iHeartFirstResponders personal messages of thanks from listeners and paying tribute to first responders and health professionals.
Each day-long on air tribute will culminate at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT with a radio special program on iHeartRadio CHR stations nationwide and on YouTube featuring a superstar artist, performing a 30 minute set of their biggest hits, dedicating songs to First Responders and their families and helping to raise money for organizations supporting those on the front lines. This Friday’s performance will feature Lewis Capaldi.
In honor and support of these first responders and medical professionals, AT&T is committing $5.5 million to provide much needed support in the form of nourishing meals through World Central Kitchen, Feeding America, Salvation Army and Team Rubicon. Through “iHeartRadio’s First Responder Fridays with FirstNet, Built with AT&T,” iHeartMedia, AT&T and its FirstNet program hope to raise even more money by encouraging listeners and viewers to support these four amazing organizations. Listeners can Text TOGETHER to 20222 to donate $10 to support these four amazing organizations.
FirstNet – built in public-private partnership with the federal government – is the only nationwide high-speed broadband communications platform dedicated to and purpose-built for America’s first responders. Using all AT&T LTE bands and already covering 99% of the U.S. population, the FirstNet network is helping public safety connect to the critical information they need – every day and in every emergency.
Chicago’s Saturday Night Sing Along continues this weekend as 40th Ward Alderman Andre Vasquez and 87.7 MeTV FM invite residents to sing along to The Blues Brothers’ classic “Sweet Home Chicago” this Saturday, April 18 at 7pm.
To get ready, listeners will have a chance to warm up their vocal chords and rehearse the song with their friends and loved ones before the big event. 87.7 MeTV FM, the popular music radio companion to MeTV Television Network, will play “Sweet Home Chicago” over the air over the next few days.
Listeners and families can also show their support by for Chicago’s Saturday Night Sing Along by downloading and displaying the full color or ready-to-color window displays.
Organized by 40th Ward Alderman Andre Vasquez, the sing along aims to bring Chicagoans together while residents stay at home and practice social distancing measures. “The response from the public has been inspiring and we look forward to creating more opportunities for our community to come together and lift our spirits,” said Alderman Vasquez.
87.7 MeTV FM invites listeners to share their photos and videos from the singalong by tagging @MeTVFM.
With over 17 million unemployment claims in America throughout the last 3 weeks, it may not be surprising that press corporations are resorting to furloughs and other cost-cutting measures to reduce the financial impacts of Covid-19, Mediaite reports.
One example is the The Los Angeles Times, for their parent company announced pay cuts for senior management and dozens of furlough because the pandemic has “nearly eliminated” their ad revenue.
“While we’ve made significant progress in growing our digital subscriber base and developing other sources of revenue, it is not yet enough to offset the losses,” said Chris Argentieri, president of California Times. “The economy is in crisis and it’s become clear that we need to make some difficult changes in order to meet this challenge.”
The New York Times also picked up on an internal letter from Argentieri elaborating that the LA Times has already lost a third of their revenue and they expect it to drop to less than half in the foreseeable future.
CNBC also reported earlier this week that Vox Media will also furlough workers in the hope of avoiding layoffs. It isn’t clear exactly how many people will be furloughed, but since their ad revenue has also cratered, the report suggests that the company will see pay cuts, and about 100 employees could be furloughed in areas where news coverage has declined because of social distancing lockdowns.
Finally, Hollywood Reporter, Billboard and Vibe Magazine are also seeing a decision to cut jobs from their corporate owners at Valence Media. Variety reports that multiple senior writers and editors have been terminated at each outlet, along with staffers from other departments.
Publishers are feeling the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on their ad revenue, AdExchanger reports.
An IAB survey of 200 publishers and sell-side programmatic players found that 70% of the group were revising their Q2 forecasts post-pandemic.
News publishers in particular are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic, since many brands don’t want to be near coronavirus-related content.
Eighty-eight percent of news publishers reported that buyers asked to cancel campaigns, compared to 70% of all publishers. Eighty-six percent of news publishers fielded requests from buyers to pause campaigns, compared to 70% of publishers overall. And 17% of news publishers said advertisers blacklisting their inventory was preventing them from doing business as usual, compared to 8% of non-news publishers.
Even as sellers face canceled and paused campaigns, they’re still more optimistic than the buyers the IAB surveyed a few weeks ago about how far revenue will fall.
Sellers planned to revise their Q2 digital media forecasts down by 21%, while the buyers in the IAB’s survey expected to spend 33% less on digital media in Q2. Sellers expected traditional media to decline 30%, while buyers put the number at 29%.
The disparity between the projections could mean that sellers don’t have the most up-to-date information, IAB President David Cohen said. “Typically, clients and agencies put together a plan that gets communicated to sellers, so there is a gap in time between when buyers know what’s happening and when sellers are informed.”
CNN overhauled a story on its website Wednesday after being widely accused of publishing "Chinese propaganda" in a report that originally cited a media outlet controlled by the Chinese government, but the change has been labeled by some as "disingenuous," Fox News reports.
On Monday, CNN.com ran an article about China People's Liberation Army (PLA) supposedly having a foothold in the spread of the coronavirus in a branch of its military. CNN’s original headline was, “China's PLA Navy is controlling coronavirus and aircraft carrier's deployment proves it, report says.”
The story was widely criticized and sparked an outrage on social media with everyone from Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany and Sen. Josh Hawley to members of the mainstream media condemning the article.
"I'm horrified that CNN published this. Its literally a Chinese propaganda story," Washington Post columnist Isaac Stone Fish reacted.
Following the intense backlash, CNN changed the headline and edited the story to make it appear somewhat skeptical of China's claims. The new headline is: “Chinese state media claims country's navy is not affected by coronavirus.”
The original version of the story, written by CNN’s Brad Lendon, praised the Chinese military’s response to coronavirus while noting that multiple U.S. Navy aircraft carriers have reported cases of coronavirus.
"A Chinese naval flotilla headed into the Pacific over the weekend, evidence that the People's Liberation Army Navy has done a much better job controlling coronavirus than the US Navy, according to a story posted on the PLA's English-language website," the original article, which can still be seen via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, began.
The CNN article’s new lead -- and much of the entire article -- are quite different.
“The coronavirus outbreak, which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year, has spread to more than 180 countries and sickened close to 2 million people, including more than 80,000 in China. Yet according to the Chinese government, not a single serving member of the country's military has been infected,” the updated version of the article begins.
CNN’s article now includes this editor's note: "This story has been updated to include Pentagon reaction and recent developments in the Western Pacific." But many didn't buy the explanation.
It's a story that spans decades, exposes corrupt Chinese politicians and shows the lengths Bloomberg L.P. will go to protect its profit, Fox News reports.
It begins in China in 2012, when a team of hard-nosed journalists at Bloomberg News started investigating the ties between the Communist Party and the country's wealthiest citizens.
Their reporting hit a little too close to home and the higher-ups at Bloomberg News killed it, firing the reporter who questioned the decision and attempted to silence his wife by pressuring her for years to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
The story, reported by NPR on Tuesday, untangles the twisty tale behind Bloomberg's decision to cave to threats by China's ruling party because they were worried about repercussions by Beijing. Instead of standing by their reporters, Bloomberg turned on them and took it a step further when it tried to get author Leta Hong Fincher, the wife of then-Bloomberg Beijing correspondent Mike Forsythe, to also keep quiet.
"They assumed that because I was the wife of their employee, I was the wife," she told NPR. "I was just an appendage of their employee. I was not a human being."
Forsythe pressed on, despite receiving death threats.
The team's next round of reporting focused on Chinese leaders' ties to Wang Jianlin, the country's richest man, as well as the family of President Xi Jinping. At first, Bloomberg editors seemed to be excited about digging deeper into China's most influential leaders, but soon the media outlet's bigwigs back home decided to drop the story.
A Bloomberg News spokesperson declined to comment to Fox News.
CNN and other cable news outlets could scarcely imagine that anything could juice viewership like the 2016 U.S. presidential election and its aftermath; but ratings have soared during the pandemic, reaching levels well above those when “Russian interference” and “Mueller report” dominated the news, The Wall Street Journal reports.
CNN has averaged 2.2 million total viewers in prime time through the first week of April, more than double its viewership in the fourth quarter of 2019, and roughly 57% higher than its election-season peak, according to Nielsen data. Fox News is up nearly 50% since the end of last year to over four million viewers, increasing its lead over its two main rivals. MSNBC has seen the smallest lift. The three networks’ websites all saw big audience gains, too.
Cashing in has been difficult for all the channels, however, as the economic fallout of the pandemic causes ad spending to collapse.
CNN has revised its ad revenue forecasts downward, people familiar with the matter said. Instead of a double-digit percentage increase in revenue this year, the network could be staring at a significant decline, one top media analyst said.
CNN’s digital arm is trying to entice ad buyers by offering to match their spending on public-service messages with free advertising that touts the social good companies are doing, one of the people said.
In some cases, anchors have begun using one-person “flash studios” at the production facility instead of their usual large, glass-walled setup with multiple camera operators, people familiar with the matter said. Crews at the facilities volunteer for their stints, the people said, and no one is being forced to show up.
Despite the precautions, two prominent CNN anchors—Brooke Baldwin and Chris Cuomo—contracted the virus. Mr. Cuomo, perhaps the network’s highest-profile coronavirus chronicler, has documented his status nightly while broadcasting from home. Anderson Cooper, who like Mr. Cuomo is New York-based, did his show at home for a time after a staffer was infected. The company declined to provide a count of confirmed cases among its staff members.
“I don’t think we realized how crazy this would be,” one CNN employee said. “Cuomo’s show is from his basement. Nobody expected that.”
Last year CNN sank to third place in cable-news ratings. But its recent jump has put it within shouting distance of Fox News in the core news demographic of those 25 to 54 years old with an average of about 50,000 viewers separating them in prime time through the first week of April, according to Nielsen data. For the year thus far, Fox has a larger lead.
