iHeartMedia has announced the lineup for the 2019 iHeartRadio Fiesta Latina at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami on Saturday, November 2, 2019.
The sixth annual mega-concert will celebrate the best of artists and performers in Latin music today starring, Jennifer Lopez, Daddy Yankee and Ozuna, with more artists to follow. For the fourth straight year, the concert event will be hosted by Enrique Santos, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of iHeartLatino and on-air personality for iHeartRadio.
The 2019 iHeartRadio Fiesta Latina will once again bring the power and unforgettable performances of the iHeartRadio Music Festival to Latin music. The star-studded event will video stream live exclusively on LiveXLive.com and broadcast live on iHeartMedia Spanish-Pop, Tropical, regional Mexican and Spanish Adult Hit radio stations nationwide on Saturday, November 2.
"Every year we proudly host some of the most influential artists in Latin Music and this year will be no different,” said Enrique Santos, Chairman and Chief Creative Officer for iHeartLatino. “We are thrilled to welcome one of the most important young artists in Spanish Language Pop, Ozuna, as well as the acclaimed “Big Boss” of Reggaetón Daddy Yankee and the world’s hottest entertainer and icon Jennifer Lopez."
The iHeartRadio Fiesta Latina is part of iHeartMedia’s roster of incredibly successful, nationally-recognized concert events including the iHeartRadio Music Festival, iHeartRadio Music Awards, the nationwide iHeartRadio Jingle Ball Concert Tour, the iHeartCountry Festival, iHeartRadio Wango Tango, iHeartRadio ALTer Ego and iHeartRadio Podcast Awards.
Beginning Monday, September 30, iHeartMedia will launch a three-week nationwide promotion to give thousands of Latin music fans across the country the opportunity to win trips to Miami to experience the 2019 iHeartRadio Fiesta Latina. The promotion will run on all iHeartMedia Spanish-language stations as well as on iHeartRadio and on additional radio stations in key markets across the country.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday, August 2 at 12:00 p.m. EST via Ticketmaster.com.
Digital subscriptions at the Los Angeles Times are way below expectations, and leadership, in a memo to staff, said the future of the paper could depend on solving the issue rapidly, according to Poynter.
Whether due to unrealistic expectations or editorial and business failures, the Times is nowhere close to meeting its digital subscription goal. The Times had hoped to double its digital subscriptions from just more than 150,000 to 300,000 this year — a number that would have to be doubled again, the memo said, to come close to covering editorial costs.
But midway through the year, the Times is nowhere near that number, having netted only 13,000 digital subscriptions in 2019.
In a memo sent to staff on Monday afternoon, Executive Editor Norman Pearlstine and Managing Editor Scott Kraft wrote, “Our future depends on rapid and substantial subscription revenue growth.”
They added, “Performance for the first half of the year … has been disappointing.”
The memo said that the Times added 52,000 digital subscriptions, but “significant cancellations during the same stretch” left the Times with a net increase of only 13,000. (A current online offer is 99 cents for the first month and $2 per week after that, or about $100 a year.)
Kraft said via email that in June of 2018, the Times had 131,000 digital-only subscribers. As of today, it has around 170,000, he said.
The penalty phase of a copyright infringement trial over Katy Perry’s hit “Dark Horse” opened Tuesday with attorneys for the creators of a Christian rap song telling jurors that the pop superstar’s 2013 song earned $41 million overall, reports The Associated Press.
The figure will be a key point of contention in determining how much Perry and her collaborators owe the makers of the 2009 song “Joyful Noise.” Most of the dispute will center on the $31 million Capitol Records received from the song. The label contends that after factoring in costs, its profit was a mere $630,000.
Perry’s lawyers say her “Dark Horse” earnings amounted to $3.2 million, minus $800,000 in costs.
“I don’t want to give away any spoilers here, but some of the costs, get ready to roll your eyes,” said attorney Michael Kahn, who represents “Joyful Noise” artist Marcus Gray.
Capitol Records defense attorney Aaron Wais said during opening statements that the old adage about spending money to make money is true with songs such as “Dark Horse.”
“What makes a Katy Perry song profitable? Katy Perry,” Wais said.
Testimony about Capitol Records’ costs in creating and promoting “Dark Horse” will begin Wednesday.
SiriusXM and Pandora are treating listeners to an exclusive Jonas Brothers performance at Webster Hall in New York.
The Aug. 20 performance will be held for free for Pandora listeners and SiriusXM subscribers with an opening set from pop sensation Ava Max. Pandora listeners who are 18+ can RSVP for the free event HERE.
SiriusXM’s hosts of The Morning Mash Up – Nicole Ryan, Stanley T. and Ryan Sampson – will host the evening. The show will broadcast over Labor Day weekend on SiriusXM’s Hits 1 channel.
The intimate show falls between the Jonas Brothers extensive North American arena tour that kicks off on Aug. 7 at American Airlines Arena in Miami. The trio will play arenas throughout the country including two shows at Madison Square Garden in New York.
According to Billboard, the Webster Hall performance marks the culmination of Pandora’s Sound On Summer campaign that kicked off in May with the announcement of songs of summer predictions and exclusive live events across the country with DJ Khaled, Thomas Rhett, Maren Morris, Natti Natasha and Lady Gaga.
The world’s rich and famous have flocked to a posh Italian resort to talk about saving Mother Earth — but they sure are punishing her in the process, reports The NY Post.
The billionaire creators of Google have invited a who’s who of A-list names— including former President Barack Obama, Prince Harry, Leonardo DiCaprio and Katy Perry — to the Sicilian seaside for a mega-party they’ve dubbed Google Camp.
The three-day event will focus on fighting climate change — though it’s unknown how much time the attendees will spend discussing their own effect on the environment, such as the scores of private jets they arrived in and the mega yachts many have been staying on.
“Everything is about global warming, that is the major topic this year,” a source told The Post.
Their three-day summer camp will cost the tech giant some $20 million, sources said.
Many of the guests, including Obama and DiCaprio — who has his own climate change foundation — have described global warming as the biggest threat to future generations.
But according to Italian press reports, the attendees were expected to show up in 114 private jets.
The Post crunched the numbers and found that 114 flights from Los Angeles to Palermo, Italy, where Camp guests landed, would spew an estimated 100,000 kilograms of CO2 into the air.
“Google Camp is meant to be a place where influential people get together to discuss how to make the world better,” one regular attendee told The Post.
Global consumers overwhelmingly agree that online digital technology has positively impacted their lives according to the “State of Digital Lifestyles” research report from Limelight Networks (Nasdaq: LLNW), a leading provider of edge cloud services. The survey of consumers in nine countries shows digital device adoption is on the rise, but performance frustrations and security concerns remain.
Digital assistants such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home are increasingly popular, with 28 percent of worldwide consumers owning one, up 47 percent in the last year. Although the use of digital assistants is growing, they are still not considered an essential tool by most consumers with more than 65 percent saying they would be willing to give them up for at least a week and 26 percent willing to stop using them permanently. Comparatively, when asked how long they could stop using mobile phones, 48 percent of global consumers said they would be unable to stop using them for even one day, and only 7 percent would give them up permanently.
The growth of digital technology has created new concerns, with nearly half (46 percent) of worldwide consumers reporting they are more worried about personal information being stolen online than a year ago. For digital assistants, 47 percent of global consumers expressed concerns about data privacy.
Additional consumer insights from the report include:
Technology has had a positive impact on society. The overwhelming majority (80 percent) of global consumers say online digital technology has improved their lives. Notably, over one-third (35 percent) feel online digital technology has made a significant improvement in their lives. Technology has had the biggest positive impact in India, where 94 percent say it has brought about an improvement.
Many people interact with digital media daily. Every day, 39 percent of global consumers listen to digital music and 33 percent download or watch movies and TV shows online. Streaming has become the most common way to access digital media, with two-thirds choosing to stream movies and TV shows online rather than download or purchase physical copies and 58 percent streaming music online rather than downloading or purchasing CDs.
Frustrations with digital content remain, but consumers are hopeful for improvements with 5G. The vast majority (86 percent) of worldwide consumers express frustrations with accessing Digital content online, but nearly three-quarters (72 percent) expect 5G networking will bring faster download speeds. Consumer awareness of 5G networking varies from a high of 97 percent in South Korea to a low of 71 percent in Japan.
Consumers still enjoy offline experiences. Despite the growth in online activities, retail stores and movie theaters remain popular with consumers. Nearly half of global consumers (49 percent) still prefer to shop at a physical retail store rather than online, and more than one-third (39 percent) would rather watch a movie in a theater instead of online or on TV.
“With the rapid growth of online content and new devices available to access it, digital media is playing an increasingly important role in our daily lives,” said Michael Milligan, Senior Director at Limelight Networks. “Our research reveals consumer expectations for high-quality digital experiences continue to rise, along with concerns about online security and unauthorized access to personal information. To increase customer loyalty and maximize revenue opportunities, digital content providers and device manufacturers must ensure their content distribution platforms and devices utilize a secure infrastructure that safeguards customer data while delivering a consistently fast and reliable user experience.”
The State of Digital Lifestyles report is based on responses from 4,500 consumers in France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States age 18 and older who had downloaded software or streamed online video or music during the last month. The full report is available here.
Rogers Communications has announced the appointment of Jordan Banks as President of Rogers Media, effective September 9, 2019. Rick Brace, who has served as President of Rogers Media since 2015, will retire from the company at the end of the year.
Banks has more than 20 years of experience in the media, sports, and technology sectors. A visionary, digital leader, he brings deep global content experience and a proven track record of driving growth. He joins us from Facebook and Instagram Canada, where he was Managing Director for seven years. At Facebook, he also served as Global Head of Vertical Strategy, helping the company grow its business in multiple countries.
Banks also led eBay Canada, was the CEO of a leading global sports IPTV company, and worked at the NHL Players’ Association in international business and licensing.
Banks’s mandate will include overseeing the current $2 billion Rogers Media business across Sportsnet, Citytv, OMNI Television, Radio, the Toronto Blue Jays and TSC, with a focus on driving growth across sports and local in a digital world.
“I am thrilled to join such an iconic Canadian company with its incredible breadth and depth of sports and media assets,” said Banks. “I am honoured and excited to build on Rick’s legacy and look forward to working with the team to drive the next wave of growth across our sports and media businesses.”
Banks will succeed Brace, who skillfully repositioned the company’s media assets to drive future growth. His accomplishments include growing Sportsnet to the #1 sports media brand in Canada; launching North America’s first mainstream sports OTT service; creating new revenue streams with Rogers data services; and refocusing the company’s suite of media assets.
➦In 1912...Irving "Irv" Kupcinet born (Died at 91 – November 10, 2003) was an newspaper columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, television talk-show host, and radio personality. He was popularly known by the nickname "Kup".
His daily "Kup's Column" was launched in 1943 and remained a fixture in the Sun-Times for the next six decades. In addition to writing his newspaper column and talk-show hosting duties, from 1953 to 1977 Kupcinet provided commentary for radio broadcasts of Chicago Bears football games with Jack Brickhouse (and was affectionately mocked for the signature phrase, "Dat's right, Jack"). ➦In 1916...Game show producer Bill Todman was born in New York City. Todman teamed up with Mark Goodson for radio shows.
According to radio historian J. David Goldin, among their early work together was the show Treasury Salute, a program syndicated by the Treasury Department that honored military members. They later collaborated in producing game shows for radio, then moved into television, where they produced some of the longest-running game shows in history.
Their many shows included Beat the Clock, Card Sharks, Family Feud, Match Game, Password, Tattletales, The Price Is Right, To Tell the Truth and What's My Line?.
He died from a heart condition July 29 1979, two days short of his 63rd birthday.
➦In 1919...Curtis Edward Gowdy born (Died from leukemia at age 86 – February 20, 2006). He was a sportscaster, well known as the longtime "voice" of the Boston Red Sox and for his coverage of many nationally televised sporting events, primarily for NBC Sports and ABC Sports in the 1960s and 1970s. His accomplishments include coining the nickname "The Granddaddy of Them All" for the Rose Bowl Game, taking the moniker from the Cheyenne Frontier Days in his native Wyoming.
Curt Gowdy
In November of 1943, recovering from back surgery, Gowdy made his broadcasting debut in Cheyenne calling a "six-man" high school football game from atop a wooden grocery crate in subzero weather, with about 15 people in attendance. He found he had a knack for broadcasting, and worked at the small KFBC radio station and at the Wyoming Eagle newspaper as a sportswriter (and later sports editor).
After several years in Cheyenne, he accepted an offer from CBS's KOMA radio in Oklahoma City in September 1945. He was hired primarily to broadcast Oklahoma college football (then coached by new-hire Bud Wilkinson). In 1947-1948, in addition to calling football and basketball on KOMA, Gowdy was also broadcasting the baseball games of the Texas League Oklahoma City Indians, on station KOCY. When Gowdy announced in early 1949 that he was leaving Oklahoma to work in New York, his replacement was fellow Oklahoma City sportscaster Bob Murphy.
Gowdy's distinctive play-by-play style during his broadcasts of minor league baseball, college football, and college basketball in Oklahoma City earned him a national audition and then an opportunity with the New York Yankees in 1949, working with (and learning from) the legendary Mel Allen for two seasons.
Gowdy began his Major League Baseball broadcasting career working as the No. 2 announcer to Mel Allen for New York Yankees games on radio and television in 1949–50. There, he succeeded Russ Hodges, who departed to become the New York Giants' lead announcer when the Yankees and Giants decided to broadcast a full slate of 154 games, instead of sharing the same radio network and announcers for the 77 home games of each team that had been broadcast (no away games of either team were broadcast).
In April 1951 at the age of 31, Gowdy began his tenure as the lead announcer for the Red Sox. For the next 15 years, he called the exploits of generally mediocre Red Sox teams on WHDH radio and on three Boston TV stations: WBZ-TV, WHDH-TV, and WNAC-TV (WBZ and WNAC split the Red Sox TV schedule from 1948 through 1955; WBZ alone carried the Red Sox from 1955 through 1957; and WHDH took over in 1958). During that time, Gowdy partnered with two future baseball broadcasting legends: Bob Murphy and Ned Martin. He also did nightly sports reports on WHDH radio when his schedule permitted.
Gowdy called Ted Williams' final at-bat where he hit a home run into the bullpen in right-center field off Jack Fisher of Baltimore. He also called Tony Conigliaro's home run in his first at-bat at Fenway Park on April 17, 1964 at the age of 19.
He left WHDH after the 1965 season for NBC Sports, where for the next ten years he called the national baseball telecasts of the Saturday afternoon Game of the Week and Monday Night Baseball during the regular season (and the All-Star Game in July), and the postseason playoffs and World Series in October.
➦In 1933...Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy first aired. It was a radio adventure series which maintained its popularity from 1933 to 1951. The program originated at WBBM in Chicago on July 31, 1933, and was later carried on CBS, then NBC and finally ABC.
Armstrong was football hero at fictitious Hudson High School who saved the day from dastardly villains. Somehow, these adventures would take Jack and his cousins, Betty and Bill Fairfield, to exotic locales where they would make use of industrialist Uncle Jim’s yacht and a hydroplane they referred to as the Silver Albatross.
➦In 1964...Country Music Hall of Famer James Travis Reeves died (Born - August 20). With records charting from the 1950s to the 1980s, he became well known as a practitioner of the Nashville sound (a mixture of older country-style music with elements of popular music). Known as "Gentleman Jim", his songs continued to chart for years after his death. Reeves died in the crash of his private airplane.
Jim Reeves
Reeves began to work as a radio announcer in 1943, and sang live between songs. Influenced by such Western swing-music artists as Jimmie Rodgers and Moon Mullican, as well as popular singers Bing Crosby, Eddy Arnold and Frank Sinatra, it was not long before he was a member of Moon Mullican's band, and made some early Mullican-style recordings like "Each Beat of my Heart" and "My Heart's Like a Welcome Mat" from the late 1940s to the early 1950s.
He eventually obtained a job as an announcer for KWKH-AM in Shreveport, Louisiana, then the home of the popular radio program Louisiana Hayride.
Reeves scored his greatest success with the Joe Allison composition "He'll Have to Go", a success on both the popular and country music charts, which earned him a platinum record. Released during late 1959, it scored Number 1 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Songs chart on February 8, 1960, which it scored for 14 consecutive weeks.
On Friday, July 31, 1964, Reeves and his business partner and manager Dean Manuel (also the pianist of Reeves' backing group, the Blue Boys) left Batesville, Arkansas, en route to Nashville in a single-engine Beechcraft Debonair aircraft, with Reeves at the controls. While flying over Brentwood, Tennessee, they encountered a violent thunderstorm. According to Larry Jordan, author of the 2011 biography, Jim Reeves: His Untold Story, musician Marty Robbins, recalled hearing the wreck happen and alerting authorities to which direction he heard the impact.
When the wreckage was found some 42 hours later, it was discovered the airplane's engine and nose were buried in the ground due to the impact of the crash. The crash site was in a wooded area north-northeast of Brentwood approximately at the junction of Baxter Lane and Franklin Pike Circle, just east of Interstate 65, and southwest of Nashville International Airport where Reeves planned to land.
➦In 1970…News Anchor Chet Huntley retired from NBC-TV, ending the 14-year run of the popular "Huntley-Brinkley Report." The network renamed the program the "NBC Nightly News".
Huntley began his radio newscast career in 1934 at Seattle's KIRO AM, later working on radio stations in Spokane (KHQ) and Portland. His time (1936–37) in Portland was with KGW-AM, owned by The Oregonian, a Portland daily newspaper. At KGW he was writer, newscaster and announcer. In 1937 he went to work for KFI in Los Angeles, moving to CBS Radio from 1939 to 1951, then ABC Radio from 1951 to 1955. In 1955, he joined the NBC Radio network, viewed by network executives as "another Ed Murrow". He died in 2003.
➦In 1977...Johnny Dark aired his final show on WRKO 680 AM, Boston.
Johnny Dark
Dark grew up in South Florida and went on to become one of radio’s many jocks named Johnny Dark. This one, however, started out along Florida’s west coast and was Program Director, Music Director, and jock at Sarasota’s WYND in 1966. After a couple years there, he wanted to get closer to home, so he took at job on the air at Top 40 WSRF 1580 AM in Ft. Lauderdale and handled the music for its then-sister station, Easy Listening/AC WSHE.
Johnny moved to another Miami outlet, WMYQ 96.3 FM, in 1972 and then on to Bartel’s legendary WOKY, The Mighty 92, in Milwaukee in 1974 as combo Music Director and afternoon drive jock. The next year he landed at Boston’s WRKO where he survived five PD’s in three and a half years before leaving for WNBC in New York in 1978.
In 1985 it was back to Beantown as Johnny segued to CBS-owned WHTT 103.3 FM. (1985 Aircheck) He also made the dream of owning his own station a reality with WHQO Oldies 108 in Skowhegan, Maine. By 1990 it was time to move back home to South Florida so he began what turned out to be 12 years doing afternoon drive for Miami’s 97.3 WFLC, South Florida’s Coast.
➦In 1981...WXLO 98.7 FM NYC adopted its “Kiss” format.
➦In 1995…Disney announced the $19-billion acquisition of Capital Cities/ABC. Created in a merger in March, 1985, Capital Cities/ABC owned the most profitable TV network, eight of the best-managed television stations in the country--which reach 25% of the nation’s viewers--21 radio stations, the ESPN sports cable networks, a gaggle of trade magazines and interests in cable networks, including Lifetime and A&E.
➦In 2010...Mitch Miller, the Coluimbia Records executive who nurtured the early careers of Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Doris Day and Rosemary Clooney died at the age of 99. As part of the CBS Symphony, Miller participated in the musical accompaniment on the infamous 1938 radio broadcast of Orson Welles's Mercury Theater on the Air production of The War of the Worlds. He also hosted a Sunday evening CBS Radio interview show in the late 1950’s, headed up the early 60’s NBC TV show ‘Sing Along with Mitch’.
SiriusXM today announced second quarter 2019 operating and financial results. Total revenue of $2.0 billion increased 38% compared to the prior year period, boosted by the acquisition of Pandora Media on February 1, 2019.
On a pro forma basis, revenue climbed 9% from $1.8 billion in the second quarter of 2018. The Company's net income totaled $263 million in the second quarter, compared to $293 million in the prior year period. Net income per diluted common share was $0.06 in the second quarter and the prior year period.
Adjusted EBITDA grew 22% to a record $618 million in the second quarter and resulted in an adjusted EBITDA margin of 31.2%, growing approximately 330 basis points from 27.9% in the second quarter 2018. The adjusted EBITDA margin in the quarter was driven primarily by revenue growth across the combined businesses and cost efficiencies in subscriber acquisition costs and revenue share and royalties.
"Our company produced outstanding financial and operating results once again this quarter, and I'm pleased by the quick progress we've made in integrating Pandora. Revenues and adjusted EBITDA each reached records in the period. We're thrilled with the results in the first half of the year, and we are raising 2019 guidance for revenue and adjusted EBITDA and reiterating our guidance for net subscriber additions and free cash flow," said Jim Meyer, Chief Executive Officer, SiriusXM.
Jim Meyer
"We continue to offer outstanding new programming across comedy, sports, talk and music, with some of the best brands in all of media. Lady Gaga played a once-in-a-lifetime show for SiriusXM subscribers and Pandora listeners in late June at Harlem's Apollo Theater, marking the first-ever combined SiriusXM and Pandora event. We debuted "Netflix Is A Joke Radio," a full-time comedy channel with Netflix, and announced plans for a new music channel with SoulCycle. We launched a new jam band channel with Phish, and special pop-up channels with Madonna, Cher, Dave Matthews Band and the music of Pavarotti. And, last week, we were thrilled to announce a groundbreaking and unprecedented collaboration with platinum-selling recording artist Drake — our content is a true competitive advantage," added Meyer.
SIRIUSXM
Self-Pay Subscribers Top 29.3 Million. SiriusXM added 290 thousand net new self-pay subscribers in the second quarter to end with more than 29.3 million self-pay subscribers. Total net subscriber additions in the second quarter were 174 thousand, resulting in more than 34.3 million total SiriusXM subscribers at the end of the period. Paid promotional subscribers decreased due to declines in shipments from automakers offering paid promotional subscriptions. Self-pay monthly churn for the quarter was 1.7%, compared to 1.6% in the second quarter of 2018.
Record SiriusXM Revenue Over $1.5 Billion. Second quarter revenue of $1.5 billion grew 7% compared to the prior year period. This growth was driven by a 3% increase in total SiriusXM subscribers and 4% growth in SiriusXM's average revenue per user (ARPU) to $13.83.
Gross Profit Grows 7%. Total cost of services at SiriusXM increased 7% to $594 million in the second quarter, driven primarily by higher revenue share and royalties and programming and content. Gross profit at SiriusXM in the quarter totaled $944 million, increasing 7% over the second quarter of 2018, and produced a gross margin of 61%, flat compared to the prior year period.
Major App Upgrades; Streaming Now Included for 30 Million Subs. SiriusXM Select subscribers now have unlimited streaming access to the hundreds of SiriusXM music, sports, talk, news and entertainment channels, at no additional cost, outside the car on a phone, at home and online. With this new streaming, customers will also get access to over 100 recently launched Xtra Music Channels and an expanded preview of SiriusXM Video. With the launch of Personalized Stations Powered by Pandora, subscribers to the SiriusXM All Access and SiriusXM Premier Streaming packages will now be able to create their own customized commercial-free music stations within the SiriusXM app.
PANDORA
Advertising Revenue Grows 13%. Ad revenue at Pandora reached a second quarter record of $306 million, growing 13% over the second quarter of 2018. Ad revenue was driven by record second quarter monetization of $80 per thousand hours, growing 17% over the second quarter 2018. Strength in audio and video programmatic and engagement-based video as well as the expansion of off-platform efforts and fees generated on the AdsWizz platform drove revenue growth. Total revenue for Pandora grew 15% to $441 million in the quarter, aided in part by an 18% increase in subscriber revenue to $135 million.
Total Ad Supported Listener Hours of 3.49 Billion. Monthly Active Users (MAUs) at Pandora were 64.9 million in the second quarter, down from 71.4 million in the prior year period. Total ad supported listener hours were 3.49 billion in the period, down from 3.86 billion in the second quarter of 2018.
Self-Pay Net Adds of 64 Thousand. Pandora added 64 thousand net new self-pay subscribers in the second quarter to end with over 6.2 million self-pay subscribers. Total Pandora subscribers were 7.0 million at the end of the period, an increase of 16% over the second quarter 2018.
Gross Profit Grows 40%. Total cost of services at Pandora in the second quarter 2019 of $284 million increased 4% compared with the second quarter 2018. This resulted in gross profit at Pandora of $157 million, up 40% over the second quarter 2018, and produced a gross margin in the quarter of 36%, growing approximately 700 basis points from 29% in the prior year period. This expansion was driven primarily by lower revenue share and royalties and customer service and billing expenses as a percentage of revenue.
Second quarter net income of $263 million declined 10% over the prior year period due primarily to a one-time $86 million benefit to other income last year driven by unrealized gains from the Company's investment in Pandora. The Company's effective tax rate for the second quarter 2019 was 22.4%, compared to 19.4% in the prior year period, with the change driven primarily by lower recognition of excess tax benefits related to share-based compensation.
The Greg Hill Show, featuring hosts Greg Hill and Danielle Murr made its debut on sports radio WEEI 93.7 FM on Monday, and immediately drew sharp criticism from the host who once occupied the station's morning drive time slot.
"Not counting fill-in shows, this is the worst show I’ve ever heard. It’s staggeringly awful," former WEEI host Kirk Minihane said on Twitter Monday, a morning that saw him live tweeting his reactions to the new show.
Monday was new host Greg Hill's first day on WEEI. The show also featured co-host Danielle Murr as well as comedian Nick Stevens, better known in Boston as "Fitzy."
The "Hill-Man Morning Show" was a staple on WEEI's sister station WAAF for over two decades. Monday's show included plenty of sports talk, but also focused on general news items and even included an appearance by Gov. Charlie Baker. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will also join the show every week during the football season beginning on Aug. 12.
The show took calls from several people Monday who voiced their displeasure with the new format.
WEEI announced earlier this month that it was parting ways with longtime morning host Gerry Callahan and replacing him with Hill. The move came just months after the radio station had retooled its morning show following the departure of Minihane as Callahan's co-host. Minihane had been on indefinite leave from the show amid his battle with mental health issues.
Rock WDVE 102.5 FM has announced that Chad Tyson will host afternoon drive, effective August 1, 2019. Tyson will broadcast weekdays from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. In addition, 102.5 WDVE’s Russ Rose, will move to evenings and will air weekday nights from 8 p.m.to 12 a.m.
As afternoon drive host, listeners can tune in to hear DVE’s unique blend of Rock music, comedy and sports.
He rsucceeds Sean McDowell, the renowned WDVE DJ, who is retiring. He began with the station in 1993. His last afternoon drive shift will coincide with the arrival of Queen and Adam Lambert in Pittsburgh.
“We’re thrilled to have Chad join the WDVE family,” said John Moschitta, 102.5 WDVE Program Director. “Tyson’s charismatic personality, accompanied by his extensive knowledge of music and sports, make him the perfect fit for our listeners and having Russ Rose as evening host is the icing on the cake for our program lineup.”
“One of my goals since starting my radio career has always been to work at 102.5 WDVE in Pittsburgh,” said Tyson. “When I got the call, my wife asked me how it felt and I said, ‘Remember when Santonio Holmes caught that game-winning pass in Super Bowl 43 and we beat the Cardinals? It feels like that.’”
Russ Rose
Tyson joins the Pittsburgh market from Eagle 107.5 where he most recently served as the afternoon drive host. Throughout his career, he has held several positions at iHeartMedia, including midday host at 98.7 The Gater in West Palm Beach, Fla., where he led the digital team as Digital Coordinator.
Adams Radio Group has promoted Nathan James to Program Director and afternoon personality for Country WUSX US 98.5 in Salisbury-Ocean City.
Nathan James
He'll continue as Director of Marketing Partnerships and Promotions for the Delmarva brands including WZBH 93.5 The Beach, WOCQ OC 104, WGBG BIG 107.7, WUSX and KOOL Oldies 104.3/105.1 as well as the Adams Digital Products.
"I am beyond excited to be back on the air and programming a format that I love" said James.
"I look forward to guiding US 98.5 to big things by creating local on-air and digital opportunities for our clients, listeners and the entire Delmarva community."
Adams Radio VP/GM Lisa Layne added, "Nathan James is one of the greatest radio minds I have ever had the pleasure of working with. His awareness from the branding, the listener, to the clients is unmatched. Nathan is a huge part of the new Dream Team in the Eastern Shore market."
Townsquare Media Inc. has announced that Craig Hahn has joined the Company as Market President and Chief Revenue Officer for its Sedalia, MO local media cluster.
Hahn will lead the local media team in Sedalia which includes Country KXKX Kix 105.1 FM), Sedalia’s Greatest Hits KSDLAwesome 92.3 FM, and News-Talk KSIS 1050 AM. He will report to Townsquare Regional Vice President Kelly Quinn.
“Craig’s incredible leadership experience in both digital and radio, combined with working in all sizes of markets make him a fantastic fit for Sedalia,” commented Mr. Quinn. “Craig will immediately dig in with the community and find ways we can best serve our listeners and local businesses with our amazing brands and advertising solutions.”
“What an exciting opportunity I’ve been provided in joining the Townsquare Sedalia team!” said Mr. Hahn. ”Integrated marketing has been a passion of mine for years and now, and with Townsquare, I’m joining a company that has grown the catalog of on-air, online and onsite assets to a phenomenal level. We can offer our clients customized marketing solutions that are unrivaled in the industry, regardless of market size.”
Townsquare COO – Local Media, Erik Hellum added, “Given Townsquare’s ‘Local First’ focus, I am thrilled to have a broadcaster and media executive of Craig’s caliber joining our Company and leading our talented Sedalia team.”
Prior to joining Townsquare, Hahn was General Manager at First Media Radio in North Carolina, and notably was the Regional Director of Interactive Sales and Training for Citadel Interactive as well as VP Sales Development for Cox Radio Interactive.
Meruelo Media announced Monday that highly respected veteran sales executive Mariano Amador will join the newly reformatted KLLI Cali 93.9 FM Los Angeles as General Sales Manager.
In this new role, Mariano will report to Irma Barrios, VP and General Manager of Meruelo Media, and will operate from the Meruelo studio complex in Burbank.
Speaking on Amador’s new role, Irma Barrios said, “We’re so happy to have Mariano on our team! He is the perfect person for the new Cali 93.9. He loves the music, the market, our listeners and our clients love him!” Barrios continued, “He brings amazing relationships and a well-developed market perspective to our quickly expanding Meruelo Media cluster.”
Mr. Amador’s appointment reflects Meruelo’s continued focus on transforming the sales department into a team focused on creating innovative marketing programs for clients looking to access and activate in Southern California. Amador will oversee all aspects of Meruelo’s local, regional and national sales.
“I am honored to lead this exciting new brand for Meruelo Media,” said Amador. “It’s an honor to be part of this winning media team with a great reputation in this market for building strong brands, digital engagement, and event production.”
Amador began his career at Univision Network New York offices and most recently served as General Sales Manager for Liberman Broadcasting in Los Angeles.
Regional Media announced Monday that it has chosen former Country Financial agency owner Darren Brown as the organization’s Local Sales Manager for the Quad Cities and Sterling Illinois offices.
Included are stations Big Country WZZT 102.7, CHR WSSQ Q105, Classic Rock WSDR 1490 AM / 93.1 FM, KQCJ Jack FM 93.9, and SaukValleyNow.com. Brown, will step into the role reporting directly to the company’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Rick Feltner.
Darren Brown
Brown is not foreign to Regional Media’s culture being part of the team for three years back in 2012. He spent seven years with the Quad City Steamwheelers arena football team as their Director of Operations and Assistant General Manager where he first met Regional Media President and CEO Fletcher M. Ford.
“I am very excited for the opportunity to get back in to the media business, especially with Regional Media. Fletcher has done a great job building a strong media company and I look forward to being a part of all the future growth.” says Mr. Brown.
In his most recent business, Darren was the owner operator of Country Financial in Viola Illinois.
Regional Media CEO Fletcher Ford says, “I am very pleased to add another stellar team member to Regional Media that has extensive background in small business. Darren is a very smart, diligent steward of small business. He will make a great addition to the Regional Media Executive Team.
Regional Media LSM James Jones has been promoted to the Princeton, Illinois market.
In the spring 2019 audience book – which runs from March 28-June 19 – ESPN Radio saw a 6 percent increase from winter 2019 across men 25-54 AQH, Monday-Friday 6 a.m.-6 p.m. ET, in PPM Markets, according to Nielsen.
This increase is nearly double the change seen between the two comparable ratings periods last year, according to ESPN.
ESPN Radio’s Golic and Wingo saw a 6 percent combined increase for M25-54 in total audience across Nielsen subscribing stations in PPM Markets on radio plus all platforms combined including television simulcasts. The morning show’s listeners in that demographic also grew substantially over last year in the Houston and Chicago markets with increases of 14 percent and 10 percent, respectively. Golic and Wingo’s audience in Minneapolis market tripled compared to the same spring period last year.
The Will Cain Show also had year-over-year increases across M25-54 PPM audience on terrestrial radio and ESPNEWS simulcast for both June and the spring book. Last month, The Will Cain Show was up 29 percent on terrestrial radio and 26 percent for its television simulcast. For the quarter, the show’s audience on radio and ESPNEWS increased 48 percent and 2 percent, respectively.
The M25-54 total audience across all platforms for The Stephen A Smith Show, with the addition of its television simulcast which began August 13, 2018, grew 38 percent in June and 32 percent for the quarter from the same time periods in 2018. The show’s ESPNEWS simulcast specifically grew 58 percent in June from May 2019.
For the quarter, the ESPNEWS simulcast of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz was up 33 percent from last year. In June, the show saw a 9 percent year-over-year increase on ESPNEWS.
Eastlan Ratings and audio entrepreneur Mike Agovino are forming a partnership to explore audio growth opportunities.
The initial product offering, dubbed “E-Plus”, is specifically designed to improve measurement accuracy in large multi-cultural radio markets.
Agovino stated, “Over the course of time as the country and individual markets have diversified legacy measurement methods have failed to keep pace. Years later we see the impact of this complacency; underrepresentation of certain cultures and sub-cultures in the sample base which leads to results that significantly distort the listening habits of non-English dominant populations. We are confident that “E-Plus" will overcome these challenges and gain traction as a service that empowers advertisers and their agencies with more accurate multi-cultural listener data and a more accurate holistic view of markets with large non-English populations”.
Mike Gould, President of Eastlan Ratings, had this to say regarding the partnership, “Eastlan has a twenty-year heritage of providing trusted audience metrics in over 100 US markets. We engaged Mike to work with us to explore growth opportunities in the market and collectively we’ve embraced a vision around democratizing measurement in multi-cultural markets. It’s important to note that this is a fully independent venture with no financial support or influence from outside media companies”.
“E-plus” will significantly expand sample sizes from current Nielsen panels while also employing a single respondent per household model to ensure proportionate inclusion of multi-cultural consumers.
The first “E-Plus” analysis is currently in process for the Los Angeles market and the partners intend to share the results publicly in an advertiser/agency information webinar to be held sometime in August.
Massachusetts Democrat Representative Seth Moulton has introduced the Automatic Listening Exploitation Act. The bill would create recourse for consumers when the manufacturers of smart speakers with personal assistants and smart doorbells collect private conversations and data in violation of their terms of agreements.
“Smart speakers and doorbells are great, but consumers should have a way to fight back when tech companies collect more data than Americans have agreed to give up,” Moulton said. “More broadly, Congress should give Americans a bigger say in the data that companies collect. It’s time for a next generation of digital privacy laws, and it can start by holding corporations to their own privacy commitments.”
Seth Moulton
According to The Valley Patriot, the Automatic Listening Exploitation Act of 2019 would allow the Federal Trade Commission, one of the government agencies tasked with protecting consumer data privacy, to seek penalties when digital personal assistants and smart doorbells record private conversations of users who haven’t said the device’s wake word or phrase or activated the doorbell. The penalties would total up to $40,000 per infraction at the federal level. The bill also allows consumers to require the deletion of any recording or transcript of sound captured by a smart speaker or video or image captured by a video doorbell’s camera.
The fine per incident would add up for companies that break the user agreements with their customers.
NPR and the Edison Institute released a study on smart speaker ownership data on June 25. The group found 51 million Americans own a smart speaker, about one in four Americans, and that 14 million of those Americans purchased a smart speaker in the last year. Half of users say they trust the manufacturers of the speakers to protect their data, and more than half are worried about their speakers being hacked.
The Verge reported in January that first-to-market Amazon is estimated to have sold more than 100 million devices, including the Echo and Dot which feature Amazon’s digital assistant, Alexa. Apple sold 86.2 million of its Siri-enabled Homepods by the end of 2018, and according to RBC Capital Markets, Google Home sales created $3.4 billion in revenue and will climb to $8.2 billion by 2021.
