The Broadcasters Foundation of America launches its annual year-end appeal on December 3rd in conjunction with Giving Tuesday, a nationwide movement of charitable giving.
The Foundation’s drive asks for tax-deductible personal donations to the Guardian Fund and corporate contributions to the Angel Initiative. The Broadcasters Foundation is a 501(c)3 charity, and the only organization dedicated exclusively to providing aid to broadcasters and their families whose lives have been upended by tragic illness, accident, or catastrophe. Donations can be made by visiting www.broadcastersfoundation.org/donate.
This year’s Giving Campaign comes as more broadcasters than ever before are reaching out for monthly or emergency relief. The Broadcasters Foundation will award more than $1.3 Million in aid this year. Monthly grants have increased over 75% since 2015, and more than 500 emergency grants have been awarded since 2017. Over the past 19 years, the Broadcasters Foundation has distributed over $11 million to broadcasters in need.
“These funds make a huge difference in the lives of broadcasters and their families,” commented Dan Mason, Chairman of the Broadcasters Foundation of America. “Our grant recipients are hard-working broadcasters who have experienced unthinkable tragedy and desperately need and deserve our support.”
“Requests for assistance have escalated at an alarming rate over the past several years,” noted Jim Thompson, President of the Broadcasters Foundation. “At this giving time of year, we ask every broadcaster to give thanks for their success and good fortune with a tax-deductible contribution that will help us continue our mission of providing aid to those in our business who need it most.”
Since its inception, the Broadcasters Foundation has distributed millions of dollars to thousands of needy broadcasters and their families. Individual donations can be made to the Guardian Fund, corporate contributions are accepted through the Angel Initiative, and bequests can be arranged through the Legacy Society.
To learn more or to donate, please contact the Broadcasters Foundation at 212-373-8250 \or visit www.broadcastersfoundation.org.
So, what did the world listen to in 2019 on Spotify?
This year, Post Malone claimed the spot of most-streamed artist with over 6.5 billion streams from fans around the globe. It’s the rapper-singer-songwriter’s first time topping Spotify’s Wrapped list, and he did it just 12 weeks after dropping his album Hollywood’s Bleeding (which also happens to be the second most-streamed album globally this year). His collaboration with Swae Lee on “Sunflower” from Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse rounded out the top three most-streamed songs of the year, which gives the artist a spot in each of our three major music categories (top artists, top songs, and top albums).
The second-most-streamed artist of the year is 17-year-old singer-songwriter and first time Grammy nominee Billie Eilish, who by now, definitely deserves that crown. In this year alone, she dropped her album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? and surpassed 6 billion streams. The album has proven to be the top-streamed release of 2019, marking a milestone—Billie is the first female artist to have her album top the Wrapped most-streamed album category. Her dark staccato hit “bad guy” also ranks as the second-most-streamed song of the year.
Finally, Ariana Grande released her immensely popular album thank u, next in February, propelling her to number three on Spotify’s list of most-streamed-artists globally. Her song “7 rings” was also in the top five most streamed this year, giving Ariana a strong two years in the top 10 of Spotify’s Wrapped list. Listeners also showed Taylor Swift lots of love, making her the year’s third top-streamed female artist after her album Lover generated popular tracks like “ME!” and “You Need to Calm Down.”
This year was a big one for podcast growth on Spotify. There are now more than 500,000 podcast titles available, and our podcast audience has grown by more than 50% since the start of the year. We’ve also seen a 39% increase in podcast hours consumed by listeners quarter over quarter. People are clearly loving podcasts, tuning in the most to Spotify Original The Joe Budden Podcast with Rory and Mal, followed by My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark and Germany’s Gemischtes Hack. The most-streamed podcast genre of 2019 was comedy, showing that laughter is truly universal.
The number of news podcasts globally rose by almost 12,000 between January and October 2019 – an increase of around a third (32%), according to a new report from the Reuters Institute, one of the first to try to categorize this emerging sector. Talk and interview shows are the most popular sub-genre within news, along with one-off narrative series, but daily news has become an increasingly important focus.
The report has identified almost 60 daily news podcasts in five countries studied (US, UK, Australia, France and Sweden) – the majority of which have launched in the last 18 months. Some of the most popular news podcasts in the United States – such as The Daily from the New York Times – are attracting audiences of millions while others are struggling in an increasingly competitive market. The report finds that publishers are making significant investments in news podcasting hoping to attract younger audiences, build habit, and bring in additional revenue. Lead author Nic Newman says news podcasting is a rare bright spot for the news industry:
"Bigger audiences, better measurement and easier access have combined to change the economics of news podcasting. In turn this is encouraging publishers to invest in creating more quality content, and platforms to invest in better distribution and monetisation, in a virtuous circle of growth"
The report finds that interest from advertisers is much higher in the United States than in other countries, where so far there has also been less investment in original (native) news content. Although listening to news podcasts does attract younger audiences these tend to be richer and better educated. Unlike radio, podcasting has not yet broken through with mainstream audiences.
The report documents the evolution of daily news podcasts starting with The Gist (Slate) in 2014. The format of one big story pioneered by The Daily has inspired similar shows in other countries including in the UK (Today in Focus/The Guardian), Sweden (Aftonbladet Daily) and France (La Story/Les Echos and Code Source/Le Parisien)
The research identifies three sub-categories of daily news podcasts:
Micro-bulletins with a length of between 1 and 5 minutes e.g. BBC Minute.
News round-ups with a length of between 6 and 15 minutes e.g. Up First (NPR)
Deep dives with a length of between 15 and 30 minutes e.g. The Daily (The New York Times)
A well-known former Charleston sports talk radio host and operations manager was killed in a weekend crash, reports WCSC-TV5.
Edwin “Ted” Byrne, 71, died Saturday from injuries he suffered in a traffic accident, according to Charleston County Deputy Coroner Christina Harrison.
Gil Kirkman, owner of Kirkman Broadcasting, recalled Byrne’s long radio career Monday.
“He was the voice of just about every sports property in Charleston, from the College of Charleston to The Citadel to the Stingrays to the Riverdogs” Kirkman said. “He has quite a legacy.”
Byrne gave Kirkman his first job in radio and the two went on to become close friends.
“We were friends for 40 years and went to lunch together four days a week,” he said. “My best memory of Ted is just being buddies.”
Radio stations 92.1 and 102.1, “The City,” where Byrne worked as a sports talk host and operations manager over the years, posted news of his passing on their Facebook page.
Byrne, who began his sports broadcasting career in the late 1960s at WIMO radio in Winder, Georgia, came to the Charleston area around 1979, Kirkman said.
The Charleston Baseball Hall of Fame inducted Byrne in 2016, according to its website. The site states Byrne was the South Atlantic League’s 1984 Broadcaster of the year and won a Peabody Award after Hurricane Hugo in 1989.
In 1927...singer Andy Williams was born in smalltown Iowa. After singing with three siblings in The Williams Brothers quartet on midwest radio as early as 1938, he became a featured soloist on NBC-TV’s Tonight Show, hosted in the early 50’s by Steve Allen. Later he was host of his own TV series (1962-71) and a number of Christmas specials on NBC. Most of his 44 albums were featured on MOR radio stations throughout his life. He succumbed to bladder cancer Sept. 25 2012 at age 84.
➦In 1928…NBC radio gave birth to what would be the longest run of any semi-classical music broadcast. It began as The Firestone Hour, evolving soon into the 30-minute Voice of Firestone, which aired o Monday evenings for 28-years. It was also a simulcast on NBC TV beginning in 1949, it moved to ABC in 1954 and ended its almost 35-year run on ABC-TV in 1963.
➦In 1948...Bing Crosby's song "White Christmas" debuted on the U.S. music charts. That was 7 years after it was first sung on a radio show sponsored by the Kraft Company on Christmas Day, 1941.
Paul Harvy Aurandt
➦In 1950...ABC Radio began airing Paul Harvey news and comment nationwide.
Paul Harvey Aurandt broadcast News and Comment on weekday mornings and mid-days, and at noon on Saturdays on the ABC Radio Network. He also voiced his famous "The Rest of the Story" segments. From the 1950s through the 1990s, Harvey's programs reached as many as 24 million people a week. Paul Harvey News was carried on 1,200 radio stations, 400 Armed Forces Network stations and 300 newspapers.
Harvey made radio receivers as a young boy. He attended Tulsa Central High School where a teacher was "impressed by his voice." On her recommendation, he started working at KVOO in Tulsa in 1933, when he was 14. His first job was helping clean up. Eventually he was allowed to fill in on the air, reading commercials and the news.
While attending the University of Tulsa, he continued working at KVOO, first as an announcer, and later as a program director. Harvey, at age nineteen spent three years as a station manager for KFBI AM, now known as KFDI, a radio station that once had studios in Salina, Kansas. From there, he moved to a newscasting job at KOMA in Oklahoma City, and then to KXOK, in St. Louis in 1938, where he was Director of Special Events and a roving reporter.
Harvey then moved to Hawaii to cover the United States Navy as it concentrated its fleet in the Pacific. He was returning to the mainland from assignment when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. He eventually enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces but served only from December 1943 to March 1944.
Harvey then moved to Chicago, where in June 1944, he began broadcasting from the ABC affiliate WENR. In 1945, he began hosting the postwar employment program Jobs for G.I. Joe on WENR.
Harvey added The Rest of the Story as a tagline to in-depth feature stories in 1946.
On April 1, 1951, the ABC Radio Network debuted Paul Harvey News and Comment "Commentary and analysis of Paul Harvey each weekday at 12 Noon". Paul Harvey was also heard originally on Sundays; the first Sunday program was Harvey's introduction. Later, the Sunday program would move to Saturdays.
Harvey died on February 28, 2009, at the age of 90 at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona
➦In 1955...Elvis Presley's first single release for RCA Victor. No, it wasn’t ‘Hound Dog’ or ‘Heartbreak Hotel.’ The first two sides were actually purchased from Sam Phillips of Sun Records: ‘Mystery Train’ and ‘I Forgot to Remember to Forget.’ RCAVictor called Elvis "The most talked about personality in recorded music in the last 10 years."
➦In 1961…The Beatles met Brian Epstein for the first time at his Liverpool record store, NEMS. That evening they discuss Epstein's management of the group.
➦In 1968...Elvis' comeback TV special aired on NBC. Taped the previous summer, it included Elvis’s first appearance before an audience in more than seven years. The special was a powerful performance after years of generally mediocre movies.
➦In 1979...Shadow Traffic made its debut in the NYC market.
The company originated in 1975 by Michael Lenet in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The name was derived from Lenet’s handle, or nickname; he called himself the "Silver Shadow." Lenet began the operation as an informal traffic reporting service that was provided over citizens' band radio. Soon after, Lenet began providing traffic information to various radio stations in Philadelphia.
(NY Times photo)
The company grew and expanded into other markets, beginning in 1978 with Chicago, Illinois. New York City followed in December, 1979. This expansion continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s. During that time the company began offering news, weather, and sports services to its affiliates. The primary business philosophy was to provide broadcast services at little or no cost to their affiliates. The majority of the revenue was brought in through sponsorship deals; direct sponsoring of the traffic reports themselves did this.
In March, 1996 Shadow Broadcast Services was partially acquired by Westwood One, and then was fully owned by Westwood One in May, 1998. By that time Shadow Broadcast Services had affiliate relations with more than 350 radio and TV stations in 15 major markets.
In March, 1999 Shadow Broadcast Services formed what was referred to as a “strategic alliance” with SmartRoute Systems, which was a technology based company that provided traffic information and data for local DOT (Department of Transportation) and broadcast use. This partnership eventually dissolved when the acquisition of Metro Networks took place by Westwood One, which was announced in June, 1999, and then completed in September of that same year. Westwood One merged their two companies together to form Metro Networks/Shadow Broadcast Service, commonly abbreviated as Metro/Shadow. In June, 2000 Westwood One announced its acquisition of SmartRoute Systems. That company was eventually combined under the Westwood One umbrella of subsidiaries, which include Metro/Shadow.
In September, 2008 Westwood One announced that they were reducing their Metro/Shadow operations centers from 60 offices to 13 regional hubs. Metro/Shadow claimed to have more than 1,800 traffic reporters, with radio and TV affiliates in all of the major US markets.
On April 29, 2011, Westwood One sold Metro Networks to iHeartMedia (then known as Clear Channel Communications) for $119.25 million. Metro Networks' traffic service was eventually folded into Total Traffic Networks later that year, with Clear Channel keeping the Total Traffic name for the operation.
➦In 1991...Disc jockey Alan Feed posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
➦In 2003...Canadian broadcast pioneer Allan Waters died in his sleep at the age of 84. Waters founded 1050/CHUM, once one of Canada's most prominent Top 40 radio stations.
Allan Waters
Waters worked in a drug company and quit in 1954 and with partner Jerry Grafstein purchased a then money-losing station, 1050 CHUM. From this small humble station, Waters built his media empire.
Getting ideas from a visit to Florida, Waters returned to Toronto and introduced the CHUM Chart, CHUM Chicks and CHUM bugs to attract teenage listeners.
Waters expanded from radio into the television market by buying Barrie CBC affiliate CKVR in 1969, four television stations in the Maritimes in 1972 which formed the CTV-affiliated Atlantic Television System (ATV), and then Toronto's fledgling CITY in 1978. Today CHUM consists of 33 radio stations, 12 television stations and 21 specialty channels, including MuchMusic, Bravo and Space.
Waters stepped down from the Board of Directors on October 29, 2005.
➦In 2007...Don Imus aired for the first time on WABC, NYC, now owned by Cumulus Media. On January 22, 2018, Imus announced that the show would air its final episode on March 29, 2018. While his contract with Cumulus Media was set to end in December, the company requested that he retire sooner as a cost-savings measure due to the company's bankruptcy.
iHeartMedia today announced that it has selected Nashville as the location for iHeartRadio’s second digital headquarters, further expanding its current New York-based digital team; creating new jobs; and building on iHeartRadio’s continued growth and innovation as the leading audio platform for consumers across the country.
Nashville -- best known as one of the nation’s leading music scenes – also continues to see rapid growth in the technology space, with a wide range of companies – from small tech startups to major Fortune 500 companies – building offices and hubs in the Music City. Nashville’s music culture, eccentric vibe and lower cost of living continues to attract young and inspiring millennials, students and startups. Nashville also is home to 20 universities and colleges with a number of highly regarded technology programs, fostering some of the strongest tech talent in the country today.
Darren Davis
“As we continue to invest in our ad tech, products, research, sales and content, and further build on the success of our digital service, this is the right time to expand our digital team -- and what better location than Nashville, given that music is at the heart of our business,” said Darren Davis, President of iHeartRadio. ”Nashville’s technology ecosystem is thriving, and combined with the city’s rich history in music, entrepreneurial spirit and diverse culture, we believe this is the perfect location for us to extend our digital leadership and recruit highly-skilled and passionate candidates for our second iHeartRadio Digital headquarters.”
“We can think of no better place than Nashville for iHeartRadio to establish its second digital headquarters,” said Bob Rolfe, Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. “For generations, music has been ingrained in Tennessee’s culture, economy and way of life. iHeartRadio’s new operation is the perfect fit for Tennessee’s growing tech scene, and we’re proud to welcome one of the world’s leading entertainment companies to the Volunteer State.”
Since its official launch as an all-in-one digital service in 2011, iHeartRadio has grown to become the number one streaming broadcast radio platform -- with six times the digital listening of the next largest commercial broadcast radio company. With iHeartRadio, listeners can stream thousands of live broadcast radio stations, hundreds of thousands of podcasts, music playlists, custom Artist Radio stations and on demand, everywhere, on every device. The digital app now has more than 135 million registered users and is available on over 250 platforms and over 2,000 different connected devices — including smart speakers, digital auto dashes, tablets, wearables, smartphones, virtual assistants, televisions and gaming consoles. The iHeartRadio service and brand has also expanded internationally with licensed partners in Mexico, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
More details about the new office, which will be located in the heart of Nashville, will be announced soon. Opening its doors in Q1 2020, the new location will be home to a new hub for the iHeartRadio digital product team, which will be making additional technology advances in conjunction with its teams in New York, San Antonio and Silicon Valley.
“At iHeart we operate as talent first in the same spirit of entrepreneurship found in successful startups,” said Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia, Inc. “We are excited to expand our NYC digital team into Nashville and tap into this city’s diverse pool of high tech and creative, ambitious talent. As the leading audio company in America, this new facility will allow us to continue to deliver the best content, cultivate even more innovation and drive further listener growth and revenue opportunities to our advertisers.”
“We are excited about iHeartRadio's expansion in the Nashville region. Music continues to be an integral part of our culture, community and economy. IHeartRadio's decision to focus their North American growth in Nashville is a testament to our vibrant music scene, our talented workforce and robust business climate.” said Ralph Schulz, President and CEO of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.
iHeartMedia plans to begin hiring immediately in Nashville for positions in engineering, product development, data science and more. All applicants can visit https://jobs.iheart.com/. For all other iHeartMedia positions, applicants can visit www.iHeartMediaCareers.com.
Cox Media Group Miami (CMG) has announced that national hip hop recording artists and TV celebrities Trick Daddy and Trina are taking over mornings in South Florida on WEDR/99 JAMZ beginning January 6, 2020.
“Trick and Trina are legends in hip hop culture, and a staple in Miami,” says Director of Operations, Jill Strada. “I’m excited to kick off the new decade with these two superstars taking their raw talent to the radio.”
Trick Daddy, Trina
Trick Daddy dropped his debut album Based on a True Story in 1997 under Slip-N-Slide Records and has been enticing the country with other notable albums like Thugs Are Us (2001), Thug Holiday (2002), Thug Matrimony: Married to the Streets (2004) and Back By Thug Demand (2006).
Trina’s music career took off after she appeared with Trick Daddy on the song “Nann” in 1998. She released her debut album Da Baddest B**** in 2000 and followed up with other projects like Diamond Princess (2002), Glamorest Life (2005, Still Da Baddest (2008), Amazin (2010) and her most recent album The One (2019).
“We can’t wait to take over mornings on the radio station we grew up listening to!” says Trina.
“Tune in,” Trick adds, “because mornings in Miami will never be the same!”
“We are excited to bring such incredibly talented and well-known Miami superstars to be live and local on 99 JAMZ!” says Ralph Renzi, Vice President and General Manager of CMG Miami.
WEDR/99 JAMZ #1 rated night show duo Radio Big Mack and DJ Nasty 305 are promoted to morning drive as co-hosts and producers of the Trick & Trina Morning Show. Radio Big Mack is a stand-up comedian who is also featured on MTV’s Wild ‘N Out. DJ Nasty 305 is a popular DJ in many of the night clubs in South Florida and has toured with several national recording artists as their concert DJ.
Newsweek has fired the journalist who was responsible for the false story that President Donald Trump spent Thanksgiving “tweeting” and “golfing,” when in fact the president was secretly traveling to Afghanistan to surprise U.S. troops for the holiday.
Newsweek told Breitbart News in a statement that the magazine has moved away from “knee-jerk political snarkiness” to focus on real reporting.
A Newsweek journalist was terminated Friday after an article entitled, “How is Trump Spending Thanksgiving? Tweeting, Golfing, and More” by Jessica Kwong was published Thursday morning. The piece sparked major backlash, as President Trump had actually been landing in Afghanistan, where he surprised American troops for Thanksgiving.
Jessica Kwong
“The problem with this story is that it didn’t contain reporting,” said a Newsweek spokesperson to Breitbart News in a statement. “It was published before Thanksgiving was over. We are trying to pull Newsweek away from that, and into reporting.”
The article was later updated to reflect the president’s visit, changing the headline to: “How Did Trump Spend Thanksgiving? Tweeting, Golfing–and Surprising U.S. Troops in Afghanistan,” along with an added footnote stating that the story had been “substantially updated and edited at 6:17 p.m. EST to reflect the president’s surprise trip to Afghanistan” via additional reporting by James Crowley.
Jessica Kwong told the Washington Examiner that she was assigned to write a story about what the president was doing on Thanksgiving a week in advance and filed it to her editors on Wednesday.
Kwong went on to explain that she sent a message to the editor on duty with the president’s latest actions and the editor published the piece.
That editor decided to have a reporter write a new story on Trump’s surprise trip to Afghanistan, and neglected to update Kwong’s original piece in a timely manner.
The "CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell" has moved to the nation's capital. Beginning Monday, the program will be broadcast from its new permanent home in Washington, D.C.
Since its inception, the 30-minute newscast has been anchored from New York City by legendary broadcasters such as Walter Cronkite. Now, anchor and managing editor Norah O'Donnell plans to leverage the show's location to get to the heart of major stories impacting the lives of Americans.
"Many stories across the country have a nexus to Washington, such as health care and taxes," O'Donnell told CBS News. "We are going to continue CBS News' tradition of original reporting and great storytelling. Our goal is to remain a trusted news leader. And this just expands our reach."
In her career, O'Donnell has covered six presidential campaigns, Capitol Hill, the Pentagon, and the White House. Since she began anchoring the broadcast earlier this year, she has made a point to uphold CBS News' mission of original reporting.
"Being based in the nation's capital allows us to showcase Norah's exceptional skills as a reporter, while still bringing our audience the in-depth investigations, powerful storytelling and worldwide reach people expect from CBS News," Executive Producer Jay Shaylor told CBS.
The "CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell" airs weeknights at 6:30 p.m ET.
Key Networks announces that its Thanksgiving week radio special featuring bestselling author and former #1 cable news personality Bill O’Reilly’s exclusive one-on-one interview with President Donald Trump was broadcast across almost 200 radio stations throughout the U.S., including 18 of the top 20 markets, and was heard by millions worldwide.
The interview also broke major news and was picked up extensively through media including the New York Times, ABC News, CBS News, NBC News, and CNN, and was covered internationally in London, Paris, Mexico City, Tokyo, Sydney, Kiev, and more.
The one-hour special aired on broadcast outlets from Wednesday, November 27th through Sunday, December 1st, and on SiriusXM’s Patriot Channel, which ran the interview on Saturday and Sunday. The radio special follows the recent release of O’Reilly’s new book, The United States of Trump: How the President Really Sees America.
O’Reilly spoke one-on-one with President Trump about the latest issues impacting the country as 2020 quickly approaches, including: Ukraine, Joe Biden, impeachment, the upcoming campaign and attacking the Mexican drug cartels – which Trump said he will be designating as terrorist groups. President Trump revealed to O’Reilly that he considers his greatest accomplishments so far as President to include his building up the U.S. military, his appointment of 182 Federal judges, the strong U.S. economy and low unemployment.
Key Networks syndicates Bill O’Reilly’s 15-minute daily radio program, The O’Reilly Update, to nearly 200 radio stations across the U.S. The special is the first in a series of specials and exclusive content to be created especially for affiliates of The O’Reilly Update throughout the 2020 election season.
The O’Reilly Update is now also available to affiliates in a special weekend edition and can be heard on smart speakers and on Pandora.
Key Networks delivers The O’Reilly Update to stations of all market sizes every weekday beginning at 11:30am EST. All advertising is included, with no additional barter units and 2 minutes of local avails in the feature.
For more information and to get The O’Reilly Update for your station, contact Dennis Green, Chief Revenue Officer, Key Networks, at 844.KEY.NETS or dennis@keynetworks.com.
Ronan Farrow, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, said in an interview published Saturday his relationship with Hillary Clinton cooled when word began to spread he was looking into allegations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Fox News reports Farrow told the Financial Times in 2011 he was selected by Clinton, then the secretary of state, to work as a special adviser on global youth issues. He said they worked together for years but noticed a change in their relationship when word got out he was looking into Weinstein - one of her top fundraisers.
Ronan Farrow
Farrow did not elaborate on how Clinton found out about his interest in Weinstein or how exactly the relationship cooled. After-hours emails from Fox News to representatives for Clinton and Farrow were not immediately returned. The paper said a Clinton spokesman did not comment for its article.
Farrow told the paper, “It’s remarkable how quickly even people with a long relationship with you will turn if you threaten the centers of power or sources of funding around them. Ultimately, there are a lot of people out there who operate in that way. They’re beholden to powerful interests, you become radioactive very quickly.”
Clinton, for her part, took days after the New York Times broke the Weinstein story to issue a statement. CNN reported that she said she was “shocked and appalled” by the revelations.
“The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior,” the statement read.
People do it better. That’s what AccuRadio has discovered as it’s looked at the data around skips. The streaming music service’s hundreds of channels are curated by human beings, many of whom are musicians and seasoned programmers. While Spotify’s skip rate is approximately 40-50% overall (and Pandora’s free tier limits skips), AccuRadio’s skip rate is a mere 4% and their average listening session is more than 3x the competition, logging in at over 2 hours.
“We have always thought people made better programmers than algorithms working alone,” says Kurt Hanson, radio veteran and AccuRadio founder and CEO.
“Listening sessions times and skip rates can arguably be used as an engagement benchmark. Our engagement is more sustained and reliable, and that’s thanks to our curation, which puts experienced, music-loving humans in the driver’s seat.”
AccuRadio disproves the notion that digital music consumption has led to shorter attention spans, more browsing, and less interest in listening for longer periods. Digital listening sessions can be long and habitual, the service discovered, by harnessing the best aspects of broadcast radio with certain key personalization features and a large number of highly specialized (and often wonderfully quirky) channels.
“Human programmers make sure the music makes sense, that there are no bizarre or jarring moments, but also that nothing is too banal or tired,” Hanson notes. “They’ve already put the work into the music and themes they’re programming, so listeners can lean back and enjoy it.”
Benztown, a global leader in radio imaging, voiceover, programming and jingles, announces that it will release the sixth annualBenztown 50 List of Radio’s Biggest Imaging Voices, the radio industry’s exclusive listing of the top 50 voiceover artists in the U.S. and Canada.
The Benztown 50 list will be based on several criteria, including number of radio station affiliates, station size and market. Benztown has partnered with P1 Media Group to compile and analyze industry data that will be the foundation for this distinction. The list is currently in development and will be released to the industry in early February 2020. Voice talent can apply for the Benztown 50 from Monday, December 2, 2019 through Friday, January 10, 2020, at: www.benztown.com/50.
Dave “Chachi” Denes, Benztown President, said: “Amid the growing demand for great audio content, radio’s premier voiceover talent are more essential than ever in defining audio brands that break through an increasingly competitive listening environment. As a company committed to creating the highest quality audio content, we are proud to give these professionals and artists recognition for the important role they play in the health and growth of our industry. High-performing audio brands harness the power of voiceover experts to captivate, excite and hold listeners. We look forward to sharing the results of the Benztown 50 and invite all voiceover pros to apply for this exclusive recognition.”
Ken Benson, Partner, P1 Media Group said: “Voiceover artists are an essential part of any radio station’s DNA, bringing a unique sound, personality and brand identity. It’s a pleasure to work with Benztown each year to identify and honor these all too familiar, yet nameless voices.”
NBCUniversal has dramatically amped up its on-air promotion for its flagging “Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.”
Over the past month, NBCU has aired some 365 on-air promos on its various networks and programs, pulling in 416.3 million impressions over a month-long period (Oct. 25 to Nov. 25), according to Media Post citing data from iSpot.tv.
This is almost 37% of the 985 total on-air promos aired over the past year for the show. Since the start of the season, in late September, “Tonight” has had 438 promos.
This past month, NBC Television Network has seen 73 promos for the show, with E! at 31 and Bravo, CNBC and NBCSN each at 30 promos.
Shows where the promos have run include “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Sunday Night Football,” “Chicago P.D.,” “Pro Football Talk” and “Snapped.”
By comparison, a year ago during the same period, the “Tonight” show had a total of 60 on-air promos, all on the NBC TV network -- pulling in some 276 million impressions.
Over the last year, late-night competitor CBS’ “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” has seen a ratings gain -- not only in total viewers, but among younger 18-49 viewers, the most important audience for late-night TV marketers.
Season-to-date, “Late Show” now has a commanding lead in total viewers -- a Nielsen-measured 3.51 million viewers and a 0.44 rating/3 share in 18-49 viewers.
“Tonight” -- which had been running neck-and-neck with “Late Show” in 18-49 viewers -- is now at 0.40/3 in 18-49 viewers and is averaging 1.93 million total viewers -- coming in slightly below “Kimmel,” which is at 1.95 million viewers.
“Jimmy Kimmel Live” is at a distant third place in 18-49 viewers with 0.34/3, compared to “Late Show” and “Tonight.”
Siri decided to offer its own take on the weather to BBC meteorologist Tomasz Schafernaker while he was on the air. Voicebot reports the voice assistant contradicted Schafernaker while he was live on the air in a perfectly timed reminder of the quirks of voice and AI technology.
Schafernaker was wearing an Apple Watch while discussing the weather, specifically the snowstorm in Minneapolis. In the middle of his report, Siri loudly proclaimed that snow was not in fact inbound. Schafernaker attempted to gloss over the disagreement with his voice assistant, but his co-host found the moment far too funny to not highlight for a minute or two, saying that he thought there was snow in the forecast after Siri’s comment.
When you're live on air and your watch contradicts your forecast....😆 🔊Sound on👇 pic.twitter.com/sYwY6iLTf4
Afterward, Schafernaker took to Twitter to make the point that Siri had activated and spoken up without him deliberately awakening the voice assistant with the deliberate use of the ‘Hey Siri’ wake word. While the awakening was accidental, it likely didn’t happen for no reason. Either someone in the studio may have said ‘Hey Siri’ or something similar at just the right moment or the gesture Schafernaker made when he raised his wrist to point at the screen may have activated Siri. The sleeve of his shirt may even have pressed the button on the Apple Watch long enough to awaken the voice assistant.
According to VoiceBot, a 2018 survey found that 28.5 percent of smart speaker users have noticed false wake-ups at least once a day, and 43.7 percent at least once per month. Normally, this just requires telling the voice assistant to stop listening, but it can be annoying even if it isn’t on live television.
Lyons was assistant vice president and director of Broadcast Communications at The Durst Organization.
He was responsible for the communications infrastructure of Durst’s multimillion-square-foot commercial portfolio and played a major role in helping broadcasters return to the air in New York City after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attack on the World Trade Center. Among his many accomplishments was leading the design and implementation of the redesigned master antenna at 4 Times Square and the new broadcast transmission facility at One World Trade Center.
In 2006 Lyons received the Radio World Excellence in Engineering Award; in 2017 he was honored with the NAB Television Engineering Achievement Award.
Earlier in his career he held engineering positions with several New York-based broadcast organizations and served two stints as chairman of the Master FM Broadcasters Committee at the Empire State Building. “He was a walking history of New York broadcasting,” said fellow New York engineer David Bialik. “In addition he changed the RF landscape of New York.”
According to a biographical summary published earlier by Radio World, Lyons attended Brooklyn Technical High School and was a transmitter operator and studio engineer for radio station WRFM (later WWPR). He spent nine years as chief studio technical operator at WWRL and while there also worked as director of engineering at ZDK Radio in St. John’s, Antigua, a station he built and put on the air. He worked for WOR Radio as assistant chief engineer, then was moved by the company to WXLO (later WRKS) to be chief engineer, where he served for a decade.
During most of that time he was chairman of the Master FM Broadcasters Committee at the Empire State Building, coordinating the operations of 13 city FM stations with the broadcasters at Empire and the World Trade Center.
I➦n 1917...actor/director Ezra Stone was born in New Bedford Mass. ezra-stone His major acting success was as the teenaged son, Henry, in the popular radio comedy The Aldrich Family. As director he shot that show when it came to TV, as well as The Munsters & Lost in Space. He died at age 76 in an auto accident Mar 3, 1994. ➦In 1932..."The Adventures of Charlie Chan" first aired on the NBC Blue Radio Network. The Chinese detective became even more popular on the movie screen in the 1930s and 1940s.
On radio, Charlie Chan was heard in several different series on three networks (the NBC Blue Network, Mutual, and ABC) between 1932 and 1948. Walter Connolly initially portrayed Chan on Esso Oil's Five Star Theater. Ed Begley, Sr. had the title role in NBC's The Adventures of Charlie Chan (1944–45), followed by Santos Ortega (1947–48). Leon Janney and Rodney Jacobs were heard as Lee Chan, Number One Son, and Dorian St. George was the announcer.
➦In 1963...Jay Nelson aired his first morning show on CHUM 1050 AM Toronto.
Born Frank Coxe in Scranton, Pa., Nelson was a disc jockey there before arriving in Buffalo, where WKBW was riding the crest of rock's surging popularity.
He joined Joey Reynolds, Danny Neaverth, Fred Klestine and a handful of other star disc jockeys who were kings of radio and school record hops. Owing to the station's 50,000 watts of power, their irreverent voices and record selections boomed into homes up and down the Eastern Seaboard.
On weekends Nelson changed into a pith helmet and khakis for his role as host of WKBW-TV's "Jungle Jay Show," a humorous audience participation series that aired on Saturday morning.
The program was a hit with Canadian viewers as well, and it was Nelson's cross-border popularity that earned him the morning job at CHUM.
Nelson had a 17 year run in morning drive at CHUM, finally stepping down in 1980.
Nelson went on to gigs at CITY-TV, CKFM, CKEY, CHFI and CJEZ and was teaching radio at George Brown College in Toronto shortly before his death.
On February 18, 1994, Toronto radio fans were shocked at the news that long-time CHUM morning man Jay Nelson had died.
➦In 1971...Don Imus signed on at WNBC, New York City.
Imus was a brakeman on the Southern Pacific Railroad. Upon winning a talent contest at Johnny Otis's nightclub, he began working as a singer/songwriter, managed by Otis. After hearing a morning disc-jockey, he went to the nearby radio station and persuaded the owner to hire him. Thus he began his career as a radio disc jockey on June 28, 1968 at radio station KUTY in Palmdale, California. He stayed at the station until 1969 when he left for a job at KJOY, a small radio station in Stockton, California.
He was later fired for saying "hell" on air. After being fired in Stockton, he went to KXOA in Sacramento, California. His on-air pranks, such as calling up a restaurant and ordering 1200 hamburgers to go, made his show immensely popular and boosted ratings. He was inspired to pursue a career in radio by listening to California radio personality Don MacKinnon.
After a stint at WGAR 1220 AM radio in Cleveland, Ohio, Imus moved to New York City and WNBC 660 AM radio in December 1971. During this first stint at WNBC, Imus recorded three record albums, two for the RCA Victor label (1200 Hamburgers to Go, including some of his more popular humor from KXOA, WGAR and WNBC broadcasts.
Imus was fired from WNBC in August 1977 along with several of the station's other personalities, in an effort to revamp the station's sound and boost ratings. In 1978 he returned to Cleveland radio as afternoon drive host on WHK, making the front page of the Cleveland Plain Dealer on his first day back in town.
In a surprise, Imus was rehired by WNBC in September 1979, and revived his morning drive show. From 1982 to 1985, the station also employed talk-radio host Howard Stern, and WNBC heavily promoted the pair in print and TV commercials, which often featured the slogan "If We Weren't So Bad, We Wouldn't Be So Good."
➦In 1992...WQXR 1560 AM New York City changed calls to WQEW-AM. Today the station is WFME and is owned by Family Stations.
The change in call letters co-incided with owner New York Times flipping to popular standards format, which was inaugurated by a live studio performance by Tony Bennett. The change came a few months after WNEW 1130 AM, New York's heritage popular standards station, announced an impending sale to Bloomberg L.P. and a format switch to business information with the new call letters WBBR. The format change at 1560 to standards happened 10 days before WNEW's transition.
The station focused on a broad range of pop standards–the format's foundation artists including Frank Sinatra, Nat "King" Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin and Perry Como, but also artists from the big band era (such as Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington); and non-rock-and-roll pop hits (by artists like Neil Diamond, Barbra Streisand, Ray Charles, Bobby Darin and Pat Boone, among others). Light rock'n'roll material such as the Turtles was also occasionally heard.
Although initially successful, the station's advertising revenues were not spectacular, and older audience demographics were deemed undesirable for long-term success. On December 3, 1998, the Times announced that WQEW would switch to Radio Disney after agreeing to what was initially an eight-year local marketing agreement term with the Walt Disney Company and its ABC Radio subsidiary. Radio Disney programming launched on WQEW on December 28, 1998.
At the end of the agreement with the Times in late 2006, Disney had the option to purchase the station or to extend the arrangement with the Times maintaining ownership. Disney exercised the option to purchase in early January 2007. Disney/ABC officially became the owner of the station on May 24, 2007.
On August 13, 2014, Disney announced its intention to end terrestrial distribution of the Radio Disney format, in order to focus on digital distribution. Disney would also sell its remaining Radio Disney broadcast outlets, including WQEW and with the lone exception of KDIS in Los Angeles.
On November 21, 2014, Oakland, California-based Family Stations announced it would purchase WQEW from Disney/ABC for $12.95 million. In January 2013 Family Radio sold the original, Newark, New Jersey-licensed WFME 94.7 FM, which it had owned since 1966 but had been programming since 1963) to Cumulus Media, who converted the station into country music-formatted WNSH.
In what amounted to a station trade-plus-cash transaction, Family Stations also acquired the license for WDVY (106.3 FM) in Mount Kisco, New York. The 106.3 FM signal, combined in tandem with Family Radio-owned WFRH (91.7 FM) in Kingston, New York mainly serves the Hudson Valley region; another Family Radio outlet, WFRS (88.9 FM) in Smithtown, New York serves Long Island. This left Family Radio programming unavailable over-the-air in New York City proper and northern New Jersey (including Newark) for over two years.
After the FCC approved the sale on February 10, 2015, 1560 AM went silent on February 17 in preparation of the format change. The sale was finalized on February 20 and the call sign was changed to WFME. The station returned to the air on February 27, again giving Family Radio full coverage of the New York City market.
➦In 2008...Canadian broadcaster/cellular mogul Ted Rogers Jr. died at his home in Toronto, after recently being admitted to hospital with a cardiac condition. While he was best known for Canada's Rogers Cable, his communications empire actually makes more money from the mobile phone business.
➦In 2010…Former MLB Chicago Cubs player and sportscaster Ron Santo died. He was 70. He had been dealing with diabetes and other health issues for some time.
As the "single biggest Cubs fan of all time", Santo joined the Cubs' broadcast booth in 1990 as the WGN radio color commentator. He worked with play-by-play announcer Pat Hughes, and these radio broadcasts were also known as the Pat and Ron Show. He also worked with Harry Caray, Thom Brennaman, Steve Stone and Bob Brenly.
Santo also briefly worked with Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers commentator Wayne Larrivee.
