Longtime radio personality Karl Shannon has died at the age of 68.
For more than 50 years, Karl Shannon graced radio airwaves, nearly all of them in the Lexington area. He was a legend in the country music industry, known by superstars from the past to the present.
Shannon retired from radio full-time in 2018 after racking up several awards. He still hosted Honkey Tonk Saturday Night on WWHK105.5 Hank FM.
Shannon was also well known for his voice-over work. He was also known for his philanthropy. He hosted car shows raising money for St. Jude, UK Hospital and the Waveland State Historic Site.
Shannon was inducted into the Country Radio Hall of Fame in 2018.
➦In 1940...WPG-AM, Atlantic City, New Jersey, consolidated with WBIL-AM and WOV-AM to become the "New" WOV-AM.
WPG, "The Voice Of The World's Play Ground", originally signed on January 3, 1925. Owned by the municipality of Atlantic City, they had no trouble finding public property to house the station.
WPG cost the city $13,000, but since it promised millions of dollars in publicity, the management felt comfortable exaggerating the figure to $50,000.
During the summer of 1927, WPG hired popular announcer Norman Brokenshire, who quickly became a local celebrity tooling around the "World's Play Ground" in a blue-and-orange Packard.
He broadcast from the glass-enclosed "Marine Studio" at the Steel Pier and once lowered a mike from the booth to allow the world to hear the ocean waves.
Almost every club and hotel provided a venue for WPG's broadcasts, and in 1929, the station was granted permission to sell commercial time.
In May 1929, the facilities were moved to the newly opened Convention Hall, with the "Neptune" and "Marine" studios, and a listening room, open to the public.
In 1931, under economic difficulties associated with the Depression, WPG joined the Columbia Network. The network leased the station, assumed the operating costs and shared the profits with Atlantic City. The affiliation lasted until 1935 and yielded no profit.
Starting in 1928, WPG shared time with WLWL (later WBIL) from Kearney on 1100 (see below). However, by 1935, WLWL was seeking full-time hours on the frequency.
The Federal Radio Commission (FRC) cited both stations on a failure to reach an agreement on their time-sharing and granted only a temporary license renewal to both of them.
By July 1938, WPG had become a burden to the city government, with the station adding $10,000 to its annual debt.
Despite protests from the Atlantic City business community, the station was sold for $275,000, and 1100 AM was taken over by WBIL.
Programming on WBIL consisted mainly of Italian language shows.
On January 3, 1940, WBIL was dissolved into WOV. WOV would eventually become WADO 1280 AM.
Today, Talk WPGG 1450 AM brands itself as WPG.
➦In 1946...Mutual Radio debuted “The Casebook of Gregory Hood” starring Gale Gordon, as a summer replacement series for Sherlock Holmes. ‘Hood’ was popular enough to win its own time slot in the fall, and continued for three years. A variety of other radio veterans played musical chairs with the title role, including George Petrie, Elliott Lewis, Jackson Beck and Martin Gabel.
➦In 1949...Country entertainer/songwriter Hank Williams made his last appearance on Shreveport’s “Louisiana Hayride” radio show before moving to Nashville.
➦In 1949…Dragnet (with Jack Webb as Sgt. Joe Friday) first aired KFI in Los Angeles. It went national on NBC Radio a month later and continued through 1957; it began on TV in December 1951.
Jack Webb
Dragnet enacted the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners. The show takes its name from the police term "dragnet", meaning a system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects.
Dragnet is perhaps the most famous and influential police procedural drama in media history. The series gave audience members a feel for the boredom and drudgery, as well as the danger and heroism, of police work. Dragnet earned praise for improving the public opinion of police officers.
Actor and producer Jack Webb's aims in Dragnet were for realism and unpretentious acting. He achieved both goals, and Dragnet remains a key influence on subsequent police dramas in many media.
➦In 1975...Radio, TV personality and producer Ozzie Nelson lost his battle with liver cancer at age 69. After leading his own dance band & being musical director for radio’s Red Skelton Show, he got his own radio sitcom The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet in 1944, which he transferred successfully to TV in 1952.
➦In 1993...NYC Personality Bob Fitzsimmons died at 53. He was the morning man on WNEW-AM from 1989 until the station's demise in late 1992. He began his broadcasting career in 1962 as an assistant to Ted Brown and William B. Williams at WNEW.
He appeared as the character Trevor Traffic with the team of Gene Klavin and Bob Finch. Bob later appeared on WRKL in Rockland County, NY, WFMJ in Youngstown, Ohio, and WPEN in Philadelphia. From 1970-73 he was a talk show host for WHN in New York before returning to WNEW. Before returning to WNEW in 1989 he was a talk show host and announcer for WABC.
➦In 2005...Infinity Broadcasting changed formats of two of the country's most notable Oldies-formatted stations: WCBS 101.1 FM in New York and WJMK 104.3 FM in Chicago.
Both stations adopted the "Jack" format while the former Oldies FM stations were moved to online versions. In New York WCBS-FM was renamed "101.1 Jack FM" and in Chicago, WJMK-FM became "104.3 Jack FM.
The "Jack" format experiment at WCBS-FM is widely regarded, inside and outside the industry, as one of the greatest failures in modern New York radio history, as the station fell to the very bottom of the ratings of full-market-coverage FM stations in the New York market.
CBS Radio dropped the Jack Format on HD1 on July 9, 2007 and resumed ‘oldies’ under a Classic Hits umbrella.
On March 9, 2011, CBS announced that on March 14, beginning at 1:04 p.m., WJMK would switch to a classic hits format known as "K-Hits", dropping the Jack FM format and brand. The change marked the station's return to an updated version of the oldies format it dropped in 2005.
➦In 2016…Former WBCN disc jockey Mark Parenteau, who was a force on the Boston airwaves for more than 20 years but saw his career and life go off the rails after he was arrested for having sex with a 14-year-old boy, died after a long illness. He was 66.
Parenteau had one of the most successful radio careers in Boston history, with a 20-year run, first on the former WCOZ then spending 19 years as the afternoon-drive talent on WBCN. But his 2004 arrest for having sex with a minor marked the end of his days on the air.
A Worcester native, Parenteau began his career at 15 on WORC-AM in his hometown. He worked at WLLH in Lowell and WKNR and WABX in Detroit before returning home to Massachusetts, first landing at WCOZ before finally getting his dream job at WBCN. He also spent some time with XM Satellite Radio in the early 2000's.
During his 19-year reign, Parenteau was instrumental in breaking musical acts like Bob Seger and the J. Geils Band. He pioneered live remote broadcasting techniques and became “The Honorary Dean of Boston Comedy,” spotlighting dozens of up-and-coming comedians on his show.
Suzi Quatro is 72
🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:
Actor Irma P. Hall (“Soul Food”) is 87.
Singer Ian Hunter is 83.
Singer Eddie Holman is 76.
Actor Tristan Rogers (“General Hospital,” ″The Young and the Restless”) is 76.
Actor Penelope Wilton (“Downton Abbey”) is 76.
Bassist Too Slim of Riders in the Sky is 74.
Singer Suzi Quatro is 72.
Anne Winters is 28
Singer Deniece Williams is 72.
Singer Dan Hill is 68.
Actor Suzie Plakson (“How I Met Your Mother”) is 64.
Actor Scott Valentine (“Family Ties”) is 64.
Guitarist Kerry King of Slayer is 58.
Singer Mike Gordon of Phish is 57.
TV journalist Anderson Cooper is 55.
Country singer Jamie O’Neal is 54.
Singers Ariel and Gabriel Hernandez of No Mercy are 51.
Actor Vik Sahay (“Chuck”) is 51.
Singer Lyfe Jennings is 49.
Actor Arianne Zucker (“Days of Our Lives”) is 48.
Actor Nikki M. James (“The Good Wife”) is 41.
Actor Josh Segarra (“Chicago P.D.”) is 36.
Actor Lalaine Dupree (“Lizzie McGuire”) is 35.
Actor Anne Winters (“13 Reasons Why,” “Grand Hotel”) is 28.
🕇DEATH ANNIVERSARIES:
Boxing great Muhammad Ali died on this day in 2016. He was 74.
Actor David Carradine, who starred in the TV series, Kung Fu, died on this day in 2009. He was 72.
Dr. Jack Kevorkian, nicknamed "Dr. Death" because he helped terminally ill people commit suicide, died on this day in 2011. He was 83.
Golden Girls actress Rue McClanahan died on this day in 2010. She was 76.
CNN's new boss Chris Licht says that beginning today, CNN has added a "Breaking News” guideline to its stylebook, to address overuse of the breaking news banner across its network and cable news writ-large, reports Axios.
Why it matters: Licht and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav have made it a priority to dial back on partisan programming at CNN in favor of traditional journalism.
“We are truth-tellers, focused on informing, not alarming our viewers,” he said in the note obtained by Axios.
"You’ve already seen far less of the 'Breaking News' banner across our programming."
Licht said he agrees with complaints from "people both inside and outside the organization" that the network overuses the "Breaking News" banner. "It has become such a fixture on every channel and network that its impact has become lost on the audience."
To address the issue, CNN bureau chief Sam Feist has led a team in building out "Breaking News" guidelines for CNN's stylebook, per the note. "It certainly will need tweaks, so we are open to feedback, but this is a great starting point to try to make “Breaking News” mean something BIG is happening," Licht wrote.
The big picture: Zaslav and mentor and investor John Malone have been public about their push to bring CNN back towards hard news coverage, and away from progressive commentary.
Four people were killed in a shooting at a medical building in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Wednesday, by a gunman who then apparently took his own life. The incident took place shortly before 5 p.m. at a medical building on the Saint Francis Hospital campus. It was at an orthopedic clinic in the building where police found the shooter and several victims. The gunman was reportedly carrying a rifle and a handgun, and Police Captain Richard Meulenberg said multiple people were also wounded, calling it a "catastrophic scene." Tulsa Police Department Deputy Chief Eric Dalgleish said it was unclear what led to the attack.
➤CALIFORNIA 16-YEAR-OLD ARRESTED AFTER TIP HE WAS RECRUITING OTHERS FOR SCHOOL SHOOTING: A 16-year-old California boy was arrested earlier this week after police got a tip that he was allegedly recruiting students to take part in a mass shooting at Berkeley High School in Berkeley, authorities said yesterday. Police said they got the tip on May 21st and searched the teen's home after getting a warrant, finding parts to explosives and assault rifles, as well as knives and electronic items that could be used to make weapons. The 16-year-old turned himself in Monday, and was arrested on suspicion of possessing destructive device materials and threatening to commit a crime which will result in death or great bodily injury.
➤UVALDE SCHOOL POLICE CHIEF SAYS COOPERATING WITH INVESTIGATORS: The school district police chief in Uvalde, Texas, said Wednesday that he's cooperating with the probe into last week's mass shooting at Robb Elementary School and the response, telling CNN that he's talking daily with Texas Department of Public Safety Investigators. That contradicts claims from state law enforcement that Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District Police Chief Pete Arredondo had stopped cooperating. Arredondo has been the focus of attention after it was learned that he was reportedly in charge at the scene of the shooting and delayed sending officers in after the gunman, believing the active shooter incident had turned into a hostage situation. Meanwhile, funerals began this week for the 19 children and two teachers killed in the attack. A joint service was held yesterday for teacher Irma Garcia and her husband, Joe Garcia, who died of a heart attack two days later. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona attended.
Pete Arredondo, the Uvalde school district police chief who was the incident commander during the school shooting, declines to answer CNN reporter Shimon Prokupecz’s questions in his first public comments in a week regarding the response to the massacre. https://t.co/qIaiKYRdqWpic.twitter.com/G4GapSrvbg
➤BUFFALO MASS SHOOTER INDICTED ON TERRORISM, HATE CRIME CHARGES: The 18-year-old man accused in the racist mass shooting at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket that left 10 people dead, all of them Black, was indicted by a grand jury yesterday on state domestic terrorism and hate crime charges. Payton Gendron, who is white, is set to be arraigned on the new indictment today, which comes on top of a previous murder charge. He's also been charged with attempted murder of three people who were wounded. Gendron allegedly drove three hours from his home to a Black neighborhood in Buffalo with the intent of killing Black people. He posted an online rant detailing his white supremacist views.
As the new weapons shipments were announced, a Russian missile hit rail lines in the western Lviv region, a key conduit for supplies of Western weapons and other supplies, officials said. https://t.co/V5oR4s2g6R
➤RAIL LINES IN WESTERN UKRAINE HIT BY MISSILE, RUSSIA CONTROLS 80 PERCENT OF KEY EASTERN CITY: Rail lines in the Lviv region of western Ukraine that are important for the delivery of Western weapons, fuel, and other supplies were hit by a Russian missile yesterday, according to Ukrainian officials. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said the Beskidy railway tunnel in the Carpathian Mountains was hit. However, the head of the country's railways said the tunnel was spared, while damage to the railroad was still being assessed.
Meanwhile, the governor of the eastern region of Luhansk said that Russian forces now control 80 percent of the Sievierodonetsk, a key city in Russia's attempt to take control of the Donbas, made up of the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Governor Serhiy Haidai said the Russian forces were advancing in the city in street battles with Ukrainian troops, while noting that the Ukrainian fighters were able to push the Russians back in some districts. Haidai said that the only other city in Luhansk that the Russians haven't captured is Lysychansk, and that it's likely to be their next target.
President Biden has raised new questions about when he learned about the baby formula shortage and whether he could have acted sooner. https://t.co/luvmU0oyVR
➤STUDENT LOAN DEBT WIPED OUT FOR FORMER CORINTHIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS: The administration announced yesterday that the federal student loan debt of former students at the for-profit Corinthian Colleges chain will be automatically canceled. Hundreds of thousands of people are affected by the decision. The chain was founded in 1995 and collapsed 20 years later in 2015 amid widespread findings of fraud. The action will erase $5.8 billion in debt for more than 560,000 borrowers. Corinthian at one time was one of the nation's largest for-profit college companies, with more than 100 campuses across the country. It shut down after it was found that scores of campuses were falsifying data on the success of their graduates, and they also falsely told students their course credits could be transferred to other colleges.
➤FUTURE CAREER PROPOSECT UNCERTAIN FOR DEPP AND HEARD: Now that the weeks-long Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial is finally over, with Depp winning more than $10 million in his defamation claim against his ex-wife over her op-ed claiming she was a domestic abuse victim, and Heard being awarded $2 million in her counter-suit, the future career prospects for both actors are uncertain, AP reported, citing legal and entertainment experts who said both had their reputations damaged by what came out during the televised trial. Former entertainment lawyer Matthew Belloni, who writes about the business of Hollywood, told AP, "Both of them will work again, but I think it will be a while before a major studio will consider them 'safe' enough to bet on. The personal baggage that was revealed in this trial was just too icky for a studio to want to deal with." Meanwhile, L.A. crisis management and communications expert Eric Rose called the trial a "classic murder-suicide," explaining, "From a reputation-management perspective, there can be no winners. They’ve bloodied each other up. It becomes more difficult now for studios to hire either actor because you’re potentially alienating a large segment of your audience who may not like the fact that you have retained either Johnny or Amber for a specific project because feelings are so strong now."
➤JUDGE TO GRANT ATTEMPTED REAGAN ASSASSIN HINCKLEY FULL FREEDOM: A federal judge said yesterday that John Hinckley Jr., who shot President Ronald Reagan in 1981 in an assassination attempt, is, quote, "no longer a danger to himself or others," and will be freed from any court oversight as planned. U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman freed Hinckley in September from all remaining restrictions, but said his order wouldn’t take effect until June 15th. Yesterday's final hearing was intended to ensure Hinckley, who's now 67, was continuing to do well in the Virginia community where he's lived for years. A jury found Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity in Reagan's shooting, and he was confined to a mental hospital for more than two decades. He began getting some freedoms starting in 2013, and the judge said yesterday that Hinckley has shown no signs of active mental illness since the mid-1980s. The Reagan Foundation issued a statement yesterday opposing the lifting of Hinckley's restrictions, saying it was, quote, "both saddened and concerned that John Hinckley Jr. will soon be unconditionally released and intends to pursue a music career," stating he "apparently seeks to make a profit from his infamy."
💕STUDY: LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT MAY BE REAL, BIOLOGICALLY: Do you believe in love at first sight? A new study from Israel have investigated the way skin sweat and movements change during speed dating, with interesting results. The Hebrew University Study of Jerusalem found that couples who were interested in one another romantically appeared to be "biologically in sync" within two minutes. Interested couples also mirrored one another's movements.
🏒RANGERS DOWN LIGHTNING IN GAME 1 OF EASTERN CONF. FINALS: The New York Rangers downed the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals last night in New York. Filip Chytil scored two of the Rangers' goals. Game 2 is Friday night, also in New York.
🎾SWIATEK, CILIC ADVANCE TO FRENCH OPEN SEMIFINALS: Top-ranked woman's player Iga Swiatek won her French Open quarterfinals match against 11th-seeded American Jessica Pegula in straight sets yesterday to advance to the semifinals. Number 20 Daria Kasatkina also won her quarterfinal against 29th-seeded Veronika Kudermetova. On the men's side, Number 20 Marin Cilic upset seventh-seeded Andrey Rublev in a more than four-hour match to advance to the semifinals. Number 8 Casper Rudd won his quarterfinal over unseeded Holger Rune.
🏀NBA FINALS BETWEEN BOSTON AND GOLDEN STATE STARTS TONIGHT: The Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors will face off in Game 1 as the NBA Finals begin tonight in San Francisco at 9 p.m. ET. Boston is making its first appearance in the Finals since 2010 and is trying to win its first championship since 2008. Golden State is appearing in the Finals for the sixth time in the last eight years, and won in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
🏈🏌BRADY AND RODGERS BEAT MAHOMES AND ALLEN IN 'THE MATCH' GOLF EXHIBITION: In an NFL quarterbacks battle Wednesday, Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers beat Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen in Capital One's "The Match" golf exhibit. Rodgers made a putt on the final hole to give him and Brady at 1-up win in the 12-hole exhibition at Wynn Las Vegas. The event raised money for the charitable organization Feeding America.
➤RAIN HEADED FOR SO.FLORIDA: National Weather Service in Miami said South Florida should expect heavy rainfall and squally conditions by the end of the week as what is forecast to become at least a tropical depression moves toward the northeast.
For millions of fans of Netflix’s sci-fi drama “Stranger Things,” there’s little mystery in how they spent their Memorial Day weekend, according to The Associated Press citing the latest Nielsen data.
Netflix released seven new episodes of the show’s much awaited fourth season and said that a record-setting 286 million hours were streamed over the weekend. That’s the biggest premiere ever for an English-language show on the service, beating the 193 hours for the second season of “Bridgerton,” earlier this year.
“Stranger Things” and a strong performance over the weekend by new episodes of “Obi-Wan Kenobi” on Disney+ show that the two big streamers are effective in building franchises that appeal to passionate fans but also attract new users, said Cole Strain, vice president of measurement products at the research firm Samba TV.
Unlike broadcast and cable television, the streamers don’t offer estimates on how many people are actually watching the shows.
Meanwhile, on broadcast last week, NBC reached nearly 6.4 million viewers for the series finale of “This Is Us,” with the numbers expected to rise through delayed viewing.
CBS led the week in prime time, averaging 3.9 million viewers last week. ABC had 2.9 million, NBC had 2.86 million, Fox had 2.3 million, Univision had 1.3 million, Ion Television had 890,000 and Telemundo had 810,000.
📺Top 20 Prime-Times Shows (Total Viewers)
1. NBA Playoffs: Boston at Miami (Sunday), ESPN, 9.88 million.
2. “NCIS,” CBS, 7.47 million.
3. NBA Playoffs: Miami at Boston (Friday), ESPN, 7.19 million.
4. “Chicago Fire,” NBC, 7.03 million.
5. NBA Playoffs: Dallas at Golden State (Thursday), Turner, 6.79 million.
6. “Chicago Med,” NBC, 6.43 million.
7. NBA Playoffs: Boston at Miami (Wednesday), ESPN, 6.42 million.
8. NBA Playoffs: Miami at Boston (Monday), ABC, 6.41 million.
9. “This is Us,” NBC, 6.38 million.
10. NBA Playoffs: Golden State at Dallas (Tuesday), Turner, 6.194 million.
11. “FBI,” CBS, 6.191 million.
12. “Chicago PD,” NBC, 5.98 million.
13. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 5.91 million.
14. “Bob Hearts Abishola,” CBS, 5.7 million.
15. “NCIS: Hawai’i,” CBS, 5.47 million.
16. “FBI: International,” CBS, 5.32 million.
17. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 5.31 million.
18. Special Report: Biden in Texas, CBS, 5.26 million.
19. “Survivor,” CBS, 5.11 million.
20. “FBI: Most Wanted,” CBS, 4.77 million.
📺BROADCAST NEWS
ABC’s “World News Tonight” won the evening news ratings race with an average of 7.4 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 6.3 million and the “CBS Evening News” clocked in at 4.6 million.
ABC’s evening newscast has now defeated its competition from NBC and CBS 182 of the past 183 weeks in average total viewers—and 111 of the last 113 weeks among adults 25-54, reports TV Newser.
NBC Nightly News its 188 consecutive month of beating its CBS competition in total viewers and the key A25-54 demo.
📺LATE NIGHT
During the month of May, "Gutfeld!" averaged over two million viewers to outdraw anything MSNBC or CNN had to offer despite airing at 11 p.m. ET, and it even topped ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and NBC’s "The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon" among total viewers.
📺CABLE
ESPN led the cable networks, averaging 3.4 million viewers last week. Fox News Channel had 2.17 million, TNT had 2.14 million, MSNBC had 992,000 and HGTV had 911,000.
On the programming front, The Five continued to make history, finishing the month of May as the most-watched cable news show for five out of the past six months. TV Newser reports the roundtable talk program averaged 3.3 million total viewers, and 447,000 in the 25-54 demo at 5 p.m. At 8 p.m., Tucker Carlson Tonight completed the month as the top-rated program among adults 25-54, averaging 522,000, and No. 2 in average total viewers with a 3.2 million average.
Fox News Channel finished as the basic cable most-watched network during the month of May as "The Five" finished as the No. 1 cable news program during the busy month that featured the ongoing war in Ukraine, information and analysis of all-things politics and breaking news coverage of the tragic Uvalde, Texas school shooting.
It was Fox News’ second highest-rated May in network history, finishing behind only May 2020 when coronavirus dominated the news cycle in the early stages of the pandemic, according to a website posting.
Fox News averaged 1.5 million total viewers compared to 634,000 for MSNBC and only 500,000 for CNN as Fox News gained 23% compared to last year while MSNBC and CNN were both down double digits. Fox News also crushed the competition among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults age 25-54, averaging 229,000 compared to 106,000 for CNN and a dismal 70,000 for MSNBC.
During the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m., Fox News averaged 2.3 million viewers while MSNBC managed one million and CNN settled for only 660,000. The primetime thumping allowed Fox News to continue its 10-month stream of outdrawing MSNBC and CNN combined across the board among both weekday total viewers and the key demo.
"The Five"" averaged 3.3 million viewers to finish May as the most-watched program on cable news to win the ratings title despite airing well before the primetime hours that historically draw a larger audience. "The Five" has now accomplished the historical victory for five of the past six months.
"Tucker Carlson Tonight" averaged 3.2 million viewers to finish second, followed by "Hannity," "Jesse Waters Primetime" and "Special Report with Bret Baier" as Fox News landed 14 of the 15 most-watched cable news programs.
MSNBC’s most-watched show was "The Rachel Maddow Show," which only airs on Mondays because its namesake host wants to focus on other projects. Maddow’s coveted 9 p.m. ET timeslot is now occupied by "MSNBC Prime" on Tuesday through Friday, but the program with rotating hosts averaged only 1.1 million viewers to fall significantly short of Maddow’s two-million viewer average.
MSNBC finished with its smallest monthly audience among total demo since November 1999 and its lowest-rated month among the primetime demo since May 2004. Along the way, MSNBC shed a staggering 48% of its primetime audience among the key demo compared to May 2021. But Maddow’s decision to only work once a week wasn’t the only thing dragging MSNBC down as Joy Reid’s "ReidOut" had its smallest audience since the program was launched among both total viewers and the demo.
CNN’s most watched show was "Anderson Cooper 360," which averaged 759,000 viewers to finish No. 25 overall among cable news offerings.
"FOX & Friends" averaged 1.4 million viewers to crush MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" and CNN’s long-struggling "New Day" combined, finishing as the No. 1 morning program on cable news for the 14th straight month.
"Outnumbered," America’s Newsroom with Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino," "The Faulkner Focus," "America Reports with John Roberts and Sandra Smith," "The Story with Martha MacCallum" and "Your World with Neil Cavuto" all had strong months to help Fox News dominate the cable news landscape, too.
In 2017, NPR and Edison Research went into the homes of smart speaker owners to learn how the new technology was being integrated into people’s lives for the original Smart Audio Report. Five years later, we revisited some of those same families to see how they have grown and how their usage of voice assistant technology has changed.
The 2022 installment of the Smart Audio Report will not only offer an update on some of those original families, but also fresh data from a recent national study that measures attitudes around voice tech among those who use it and those who don’t.
Join Lamar Johnson, VP of Sponsorship Marketing at National Public Media, and Megan Lazovick, Vice President at Edison Research, on Thursday, June 16th at 2:00 p.m. EDT for a live webinar presentation of the findings from the The Smart Audio Report 2022.
The Smart Audio Report is derived from a national quantitative survey and analysis of in-depth, one-on-one interviews. It also includes tracking data from Edison Research’s Share of Ear® study, measuring the daily listening habits of Americans using a 24-hour diary.
Warner Bros Pictures Group Chairman Toby Emmerich is stepping down, the company announced Wednesday, as Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav puts his imprimatur on the newly formed media company, reports Reuters.
Emmerich has served as chairman of the studio since 2018, the year the studio had its greatest box office success, fueled by such hits as "Aquaman," "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald," "Ready Player One," "The Meg" and "A Star is Born."
He will be succeeded by MGM's Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, the duo behind such acclaimed films as "Licorice Pizza" and "House of Gucci," according to two sources.
The transition comes as Zaslav restructures the film studio around content verticals, in the mold of the Walt Disney Co, according to one of the sources.
DeLuca and Abdy will oversee Warner Bros and New Line studios, which have produced the Harry Potter movies and Oscar-nominated films such as "Judas and the Black Messiah." DC Films and the animation group each will have their own leadership, with all the studio executives reporting to Zaslav.
Emmerich, a screenwriter who also has an extensive list of producing credits, will launch his own production company at the studio, focused on film, television and streaming. As part of a five-year agreement, Warner Bros Discovery said it would finance Emmerich's venture and have distribution rights. His departure after 30 years with the studio was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
Amazon Studios chief Jennifer Salke will oversee MGM's film group on an interim basis until a replacement is named, one source said. Amazon closed its $8.5 billion acquisition of MGM in March.
Sheryl Sandberg said that after leaving Meta, she'll focus on philanthropy and women's rights issues amid concerns that women may soon lose their constitutional right to abortion, according to Fortune.
Sandberg said on Wednesday that she was stepping down as Meta's COO after 14 years with the company. "It's just not a job that leaves room for a lot of other stuff in your life. This is a really important moment for women. This is a really important moment for me to be able to do more with my philanthropy, with my foundation," Sandberg told Fortune.
Sandberg's departure from Meta also comes as the social media giant faces intense scrutiny from investors and lawmakers. Meta's CFO David Wehner said in February that a change in Apple's iPhone algorithm hurt Facebook's ad revenue, and the company could lose up to $10 billion this year.
That same month, Meta agreed to pay $90 million to settle a lawsuit that claimed Facebook continued to monitor users' activity even after they logged out from the site.
Sandberg told Fortune her decision to leave wasn't related directly to these concerns. Instead, she suggested that the challenges Meta faced would ebb with time. " There's never one perfect moment. You know, there's no end or beginning of the ads business," she said, adding: "There's no, you know, distinct or definitive chapters on the metaverse."
Observers are speculating that Sandberg may decide to pursue a political career after leaving Meta. A source told Insider that "apparently she wants Dianne Feinstein's seat" in the Senate. Feinstein has been California Senator since 1992.
WHYY named Sarah Glover, a former staff photographer for The Inquirer and Daily News and currently managing editor of Minnesota Public Radio’s MPR News, as its new vice president for news and civic engagement, Philadelphia’s biggest public radio and TV outlet said on its website Wednesday.
The Philly Inquirer reports Glover, who will oversee all digital radio and TV newsgathering, is scheduled to start July 25, replacing Sandra Clark who left WHYY in February to become chief executive of StoryCorps, a Brooklyn nonprofit that shares the stories of ordinary Americans.
Susan Glover
“I’m thrilled and excited to be coming back to Greater Philadelphia and to serve the city. I really believe that the role of a journalist is needed now more than ever, and we serve the public every day in the work that we do,” Glover said in an interview, describing the region as a place where she cut her teeth as a journalist.
In a statement to staff, WHYY president and CEO Bill Marrazzo described Glover, who has been in her current position at Minnesota public radio for 15 months, as a “nationally recognized leader in news and social media strategy with 24 years of progressive experience as a news executive,” according to the WHYY article.
“Sarah Glover’s experience spans every aspect of contemporary news coverage, including broadcast and digital reporting, multimedia content and photojournalism,” Marrazzo said in the article. “She also pairs this experience with an in-depth understanding of the importance of marketing and revenue generation that is necessary for success in today’s media marketplace.”
Glover’s experience in Philadelphia, in addition to nearly a decade at The Inquirer and more than three years at the Daily News, includes two years as social media editor at NBC10 Philadelphia. Her LinkedIn profile indicated that she worked for more than six years in New York as manager of social media strategy at NBC Owned Television Stations, a collection of local stations.
A media leader, Glover served two terms, from 2015 through 2019, as president of the National Association of Black Journalists.
Like many news organizations, WHYY has experienced significant turnover of its journalists during the pandemic. The Inquirer reported in February that from the beginning of 2021, at least 25 newsroom WHYY staffers — about half — had left or given notice.
Boston Red Sox fans can now cut the cord after the regional sports network that broadcasts their games announced the launch of a stand-alone streaming subscription Wednesday — becoming the first to allow a professional sports team to bypass a cable subscription.
The NY Post reports the New York Yankees are working on a similar product but are not ready to launch it yet.
Starting Wednesday, Boston fans will be able to pay $29.99 per month, after an introductory $1 for the first month, to watch the baseball games on an app from the New England Sports Network (NESN). They will see the same broadcast that will be available on cable, NESN said in the surprise announcement.
Red Sox owner John Henry’s Fenway Sports Group owns the regional sports network, which airs Red Sox and Bruins games. The Sox are offering eight free Red Sox tickets if people sign up for one year at $329.99.
NESN’s decision is part of a movement, especially in baseball, to stream games over the internet — called over-the-top or OTT — because ratings have nosedived in part due to cord-cutting.
Cable providers have placed sports content on paid tiers, instead of basic cable, cutting down on viewership and team rights fees.
MLB has considered launching its own in-market steaming service as early as next year. Currently, it offers OTT for out-of-market games but not for games played at home.
Sinclair Broadcasting, another RSN, is planning to fully launch an in-market streaming service in the third quarter called Bally Sports+ that will air Kansas City Royals, Tampa Bay Rays, Miami Marlins, Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers games in their home markets for $18.99 a month.
The Chicago Cubs have also been in talks with Sinclair, which owns broadcast rights to 14 teams, to launch a streaming service for customers without a cable or satellite-TV subscription, The Post reported exclusively in February.
Sinclair will start streaming NBA games for 16 teams in-market next season without a cable subscription, and has a similar agreement with the NHL.
➦In 1896...Marconi files full specs for first (radio) wireless patent. He had succeeded the previous year in sending long-wave radio signals over a distance of about two kilometres. And in 1897, Marconi formed a wireless telegraphy company to develop its commercial applications. In 1901, he sent the letter ”S” across the Atlantic from Cornwall, England to a receiving station in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
➦In 1908...Benjamin Franklin Grauer born (Died from a heart attacked at age 68 – May 31, 1977). He was a radio and TV personality, following a career during the 1920s as a child actor in films and on Broadway.
Grauer's greatest fame lies in his legendary 40-year career in radio. In 1930, the 22-year-old Benjamin Franklin Grauer joined the staff at NBC. He quickly rose through the ranks to become a senior commentator and reporter. He was the designated announcer for the popular 1940s Walter Winchell's Jergens Journal. Perhaps, most importantly, he was selected by Arturo Toscanini to become the voice of the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Grauer took over as announcer in late 1942, and remained until the orchestra was disbanded in June 1954. Toscanini said he was his favorite announcer.
Starting in 1932, Grauer covered the Olympic Games, presidential inaugurations and international events. During his radio career, Grauer covered nearly every major historic event, including the Paris Peace Conference and the US occupation of Japan. Millions remember his NBC coverage of the New Year's celebrations on both radio and TV. Between 1951 and 1969, Grauer covered these events 11 times live from New York's Times Square. He continued covering New Year's Eve for Guy Lombardo's New Year's Eve specials on CBS in the 1970s, with his last appearance on December 31, 1976, the year before both he and Lombardo died. From the mid-1950s until the mid-1960s, Grauer's reports were part of the NBC television network's The Tonight Show, where he worked with Johnny Carson and prior to that, Jack Paar, and Steve Allen. Grauer was also one of NBC Radio's Monitor "Communicators" from 1955 to 1960.
Grauer also was one of five hosts/narrators of "The First Fabulous Fifty", a five-part NBC Radio Network documentary series on the history of the network, featuring soundbites from past NBC programs. The series was broadcast on the occasion of the network's 50th anniversary in the autumn of 1976. Grauer narrated the first installment, which covered the network's first decade on the air, 1926 through 1936.
➦In 1915...actor Walter Tetley was born in New York City. At age 23 he moved to Hollywood where his radio career as a series of brash teenagers blossomed and lasted more than 25 years, by which time he was in his late 40’s. His best remembered roles are as Gildy’s nephew Leroy on NBC radio’s The Great Gildersleeve, and as Julius Abbruzio on The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show. He also voiced many popular cartoon characters. He died at age 60 Sept. 4 1975, four years after a serious MVA had left him confined to a wheelchair.
Charles Farrell, Gil Stratton Jr. "Freddie", and Gale Storm
➦In 1922..actor/sportscaster Gill Stratton Jr. was born in Brooklyn.
While appearing in supporting roles in film in the late 40’s he began working as a radio actor in such shows as Lux Radio Theater, The Great Gildersleeve, and My Little Margie. He worked opposite Judy Garland in the 1950 radio version of The Wizard of Oz, and opposite Shirley Temple in an audio adaptation of The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer. In the 1954 television season, Stratton was a regular on the CBS situation comedy That’s My Boy. That same year he began a 16 year run as sportscaster on KNXT Los Angeles, and over time also covered sports for KNX radio and KTTV.
He died of congestive heart failure Oct. 11 2008 at age 86.
➦In 1932... CKLW first came on the air on June 2, 1932 as CKOK on 540 kilocycles. The Station was built by George Storer and was sold to a group of Windsor-area businessmen led by Malcolm Campbell, operating as "Essex Broadcasters, Ltd." CKOK became CKLW (and moved to 840 kHz) in 1933, when Essex Broadcasters, Ltd. merged with the London Free Press and its station CJGC (now CFPL), and became "Western Ontario Broadcasting", which was co-owned by Essex Broadcasters, and the London Free Press. The "LW" in the callsign is said to have stood for "London, Windsor", considered to be the two chief cities in the station's listening area. When the station's power increased to 50,000 watts, its listening area increased accordingly. In 1934, when London Free Press's station CJGC pulled out of the agreement, the station's ownership became wholly owned by Western Ontario Broadcasters. CJGC later evolved into today's CFPL 980, while CKLW moved from 840 to 1030 kc. in 1934, before settling on its present frequency of 800 kHz in 1941, thanks to a shuffle of frequency allocations.
As a Top 40 station with a great 50,000 watt signal in the late 60’s it had more US listeners than any other Canadian station ever.
➦In 1933...WNJ 1450 AM, Newark, New Jersey signed-off the air.
This station originally went on the air as WRAZ in June 1923, located at 1290 AM. It was owned by former naval radio operator Herman Lubinsky, who established the Radio Shop of Newark at 58 Market St., for the home of WRAZ. In April 1924, calls were changed to WCBX.
Then, on October 15, 1924, Lubinsky requested the calls WNJ, which he said stood for "Wireless New Jersey," and received his third set of call letters in 16 months.
In 1925, Lubinsky built a studio in the Paradise Ballroom in Newark and operated a shortwave transmitter for local remote pick-ups.
In July of that year, WNJ moved to 1190 AM and shared time briefly with New York station WGCP.
In July 1926, WNJ broadcast "unauthorized" on 850 and 860 AM. In April 1927, the station moved to 1070 AM and shared time with WGCP and Newark station WDWM.
Later that year, WNJ moved to 1120 AM and finally in November 1928, the station settled on 1450 AM, sharing time with Fort Lee station WBMS, Elizabeth station WIBS and Jersey City station WKBO.
WNJ, "The Voice Of Newark", presented programming in Polish and Lithuanian and featured some of the earliest Italian programming in the New York metropolitan area, featuring Ben D'Avella.
In November 1932, the FRC (Federal Radio Commission) denied WNJ's request for license renewal. Lubinsky fought the action in the federal courts, but lost and was ordered off the air.
(H/T: Angelfire.com)
Alan Freed
➦In 1959...Rock'n'Roll personality Alan Freed aired his first show on WABC 770 AM, New York after being fired from 1010 WINS. He left WABC in November of that same year.
Ron Ely is 84
🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:
Actor Ron Ely (“Tarzan”) is 84.
Actor Stacy Keach is 81.
Actor-director Charles Haid (“Hill Street Blues”) is 79.
Singer Chubby Tavares of Tavares is 78.
Actor Jerry Mathers (“Leave It to Beaver”) is 74.
Actor Joanna Gleason is 72.
Actor Dennis Haysbert (“24″) is 68.
Comedian Dana Carvey is 67.
Actor Gary Grimes (“Summer of ’42”) is 67.
Bassist Michael Steele of The Bangles is 67.
Singer Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet is 62.
Actor Liam Cunningham (“Game of Thrones”) is 61.
Actor Navid Negahban (“Homeland,” ″24″) is 58.
Paula Cale is 52
Singer Merril Bainbridge is 54.
TV personality Andy Cohen is 54.
Rapper B-Real of Cypress Hill is 52.
Actor Paula Cale (“Providence”) is 52.
Actor Anthony Montgomery (“Star Trek: Enterprise”) is 51.
Comedian Wayne Brady is 50.
Actor Wentworth Miller (“DC’s Legends of Tomorrow”) is 50.
Keyboardist Tim Rice-Oxley of Keane is 46.
Actor Zachary Quinto (“Heroes”) is 45.
Actor Dominic Cooper (“Mamma Mia”) is 44.
Actor Nikki Cox (“Unhappily Ever After”) is 44.
Actor Justin Long (“Accepted,” ″Dodgeball”) is 44.
Actor Deon Richmond (“Van Wilder,” ″Scream 3″) is 44.
Actor Morena Baccarin (“Gotham,” ″Homeland”) is 43.
Singer Irish Grinstead of 702 is 42.
Drummer Fabrizio Moretti of The Strokes is 42.
Country singer Dan Cahoon of Marshall Dyllon is 39. S
inger-songwriter ZZ Ward is 36.
Actor Awkwafina (“Crazy Rich Asians”) is 34.
Actor Brittany Curran (“The Magicians,” “Men of a Certain Age”) is 32.
😭DEATH ANNIVERSARIES
Longtime Family Feud host Richard Dawson died on this day in 2012. He was 79.
Pioneering rock and roll and R&B guitarist Bo Diddley died on this day in 2008. He was 79.
Hall of Fame baseball player Lou Gehrig died of ALS, the disease that was later named after him, on this day in 1941. He was 37.
Actor Rex Harrison, whose movie roles included Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady and the title role in Dr. Dolittle, died on this day in 1990. He was 82.
After nearly a 10-point drop in the first year of the COVID pandemic, TV news profitability is starting to climb, according to the latest RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey. After a nearly 10-point drop in the year of COVID, profitability went up 4 points and loss fell by more than 3.
Radio news profitability, which also dropped in the first year of COVID, started to climb, too, but gains there were more modest. Both TV news and Radio news profitability are less than what was reported before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Radio news profitability in 2022 looks a lot like 2021, edging up ever so slightly from 12 to 12.2%. Break even moved up 2 points while loss moved down by 2. Note that “don’t know” came in on top, as usual, at nearly 40%.
There was no discernible pattern to profitability based on staff size (profitability peaked at 3 staffers), number of stations in the local cluster (groups of 3 or more stations and AM/FM combos came out on top), or market size (medium and large markets edged out small markets with major markets well behind … but that’s where most of the non-profit stations are). Stations in the Northeast were less likely to be profitable and more likely to report losses than any other region.
A quarter (24.2%) of radio news directors and general managers reported the percentage of station revenue produced by news. That’s low enough to view the numbers cautiously, but it’s high enough to report. The managers reported, on average, 10% of station revenue came from news. But the median — or typical — percentage was just 5%. The average is down from last year’s 13.4%, but the median is identical to the last four years.
Radio website profitability up and down
The numbers on radio website profitability in the latest RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey look a lot like last year. Profitability edged down 0.2, break even rose by 3 and loss fell by less than a point. Large markets and small markets rose in web profitability, with the biggest gains in small markets.
For whatever reason, stations in the West were a lot less likely to have shown a profit on the web. The West lagged last year, too. Missing percentages represent non-profit stations.
Radio news budgets
The big winner in radio news budgets — as usual — is “same,” with nearly two-thirds of the stations reporting no change in budget. The percentage reporting a budget increase rose by 4 points versus last year, while the percentage reporting a cut fell by 9. All in all, that’s not a bad year. No real patterns based on staff size, number of stations or market size. Stations in the West did the best; stations in the Northeast fared the worst.
About a fifth of radio stations get news from an outside provider
The survey found that the percentage of radio stations getting news from an outside service largely held steady from a year ago, falling from 22.5% to 22.2%.
Commercial stations dropped a point to 23.4% this time around. Non-commercial stations rose (again) from 14.5% two years ago to 17% last year to 18.8% this time around.
Generally, the smaller the staff, the more likely that the station gets its news from an outside service. No surprise there. Number of stations in a group made no difference one way or the other. Market size was again inconsistent, although small markets remained less likely to use an outside service than any other market size. Geography made a difference, with stations in the South and Midwest less likely than others to use an outside contractor.
For those who said local radio news came from an outside service, we asked for the name:
30% Various local TV stations … up almost 10 points from last year
20% Various local newspapers (clearly with and without some sort of agreement) … up 3 points
12.2% 24/7 News Source (formerly Metro Networks and Total Traffic Networks) … the number seems to bounce up and down in alternate years… this year up by 2
8.9% Various statewide radio networks … down 2 from a year ago
8.9% VirtualNewsCenter … up almost 3
5.6% The internet … without noting which sites … up slightly
2.2% Another radio station
1.1% Remote News Service … back on the list after missing last year
For the first time in more than two decades, a channel programmed by iHeart Radio will not be distributed by SiriusXm Radio.
The Dek.net reports the last remaining channels, pop stations KIIS-FM 102.7 FM, Los Angeles, and WHTZ 100.3 FM, New York City, “Z100” , have disappeared SiriusXM line-up today.
For years, SirusXM has carried several iHeart-programmed music channels that were supported by advertisements, a contrast to the satellite radio company’s own ad-free music offerings. The partnership was put in place back in 2001 when iHeartMedia, then known as Clear Channel Radio, offered a financial investment in XM Satellite Radio in exchange for the right to program some channels on the service.
When XM and Sirius Satellite Radio merged in 2008, several iHM-programmed music channels remained exclusive to the XM platform. In 2011, iHeart stopped programming its own satellite radio channels in favor of simulcasting some of its major market broadcast radio stations.
In 2013, iHeart sold back its investment stake to SiriusXM for more than $130 million. Around the same time, SiriusXM consolidated its radio lineup, making the iHeart-programmed channels available to legacy Sirius listeners for the first time.
Over time, the iHeart stations have slowly disappeared from SiriusXM, with the most-recent move seeing WHTZ dropped from the satellite service in 2020. The station remained available in SiriusXM’s streaming app.
Starting today SiriusXM Channel 14, the former home of KIIS, will offer a simulcast of Yacht Rock Radio for the summer.
Both KIIS and WHTZ are still available on the free iHeartRadio app for smartphones, tablets, smart speakers and streaming TV platforms.
