David Sanborn, the renowned jazz saxophonist known for his genre-blending work, has passed away at the age of 78. His musical legacy spanned multiple genres, and he collaborated with some of music’s greatest artists, he also was awarded Six Grammys Here are the key details:
Cause of Death: David Sanborn battled prostate cancer for several years. Complications from this extended battle ultimately led to his passing.
Career Highlights: Collaborations: Sanborn played on recordings by iconic artists such as Stevie Wonder, James Brown, and Carly Simon. He also performed live with David Bowie and The Rolling Stones.
Solo Career: As a solo artist, Sanborn blended jazz, pop, and R&B into his trademark sound. He released over two dozen albums, with nine achieving gold or platinum status.
Surviving Polio: Sanborn’s journey was remarkable. Diagnosed with polio at the age of 3, he overcame the odds and found solace in playing the saxophone. By his teenage years, he was already performing alongside blues legends like Albert King and Little Milton.
Spinal Surgery: Recently, Sanborn faced severe pain due to stressed fractures in his spine. Despite the challenges, he remained committed to his fans and music. He had concerts scheduled into 2025, demonstrating his dedication to performing.
➦In 1910...Actor Paul Sutton born (Died from muscular dystrophy at age 59 – January 31, 1970), He was a film actor, appearing mostly in uncredited roles, and most often in low budget B-movies during the 1930s and 1940s. He is perhaps best known as one of the actors who portrayed Sergeant William Preston on the radio serial Challenge of the Yukon. He departed his acting career in 1947, and later entered politics. In 1954 and 1956 he ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives from Michigan.
➦In 1916...Musician and bandleader Skip Martin was born in Robinson Ill. He began on staff at radio station WLW in Cincinnati, before playing alto and baritone sax for a series of big bands, including Charlie Barnett, Jan Savitt, Glenn Miller, and Benny Goodman. He had stints with NBC & CBS radio in New York before arranging the theme and incidental music for the 1958-59 TV series, “Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer.” He died in Feb 1976 at age 59.
Billie Burke and Judy Garland
➦In 1970..Actress Billie Burke, best remembered as Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz, who had her own Saturday morning CBS radio sitcom (1943-46), died of heart failure at age 85.
➦In 1976...Lowell Thomas ended a 46-year career as a network radio reporter.
Lowell Thomas
In 1930, he became a broadcaster with the CBS Radio network, delivering a nightly news and commentary program. After two years, he switched to the NBC Radio network but returned to CBS in 1947. In contrast to today's practices, Thomas was not an employee of either NBC News or CBS News. Prior to 1947 he was employed by the broadcast's sponsor, Sunoco. When he returned to CBS to take advantage of lower capital-gains tax rates, he established an independent company to produce the broadcast which he sold to CBS.
He hosted the first-ever television-news broadcast in 1939 and the first regularly scheduled television news broadcast (even though it was just a simulcast of his radio broadcast), beginning on February 21, 1940, on NBC Television. While W2XBS New York carried every TV/radio simulcast, it is not known if the two other stations capable of being fed programs by W2XBS, W2XB Schenectady and/or W3XE Philadelphia carried all or some of the simulcasts.
In the Summer of 1940, Thomas anchored the first live telecast of a political convention, the 1940 Republican National Convention, which was fed from Philadelphia to W2XBS and on to W2XB. Reportedly, Thomas wasn't even in Philadelphia, instead anchoring the broadcast from a New York studio and merely identifying speakers who were about to or who had just addressed the convention.
However, the television news simulcast was a short-lived venture for him, and he favored radio. Indeed, it was over radio that he presented and commented upon the news for four decades until his retirement in 1976, the longest radio career of anyone in his day (a record later surpassed by Paul Harvey). His signature sign-on was "Good evening, everybody" and his sign-off "So long, until tomorrow," phrases he would use in titling his two volumes of memoirs.
Shari Redstone, the non-executive chair of Paramount Global, had the opportunity to lead the studio to a triumphant comeback in Hollywood. However, The L-A Times reports her tenure atop the company has been marked by miscalculations and setbacks rather than a successful revival. Let’s explore what unfolded:
Background: Shari Redstone played a pivotal role in the merger of Viacom and CBS Corp over four years ago. This merger created Paramount Global, a media empire with valuable assets, including Paramount Pictures. Paramount Pictures boasts an impressive catalog of over 3,500 movie titles, including iconic franchises like “Star Trek,” “Godfather,” “Transformers,” “Indiana Jones,” “Scream,” and “Mission: Impossible.”
Challenges: Selling the studio business could make the rest of the company appear hollow, as other segments may decline. Carving off sections of Paramount would disrupt existing synergies among its three segments: TV media, filmed entertainment, and direct-to-consumer streaming.
Missteps: Instead of leading Paramount to reclaim its place among industry titans, Redstone faced challenges: Wall Street gurus believe she displayed an absence of strategic realism. For instance, she missed the shrewd timing of Rupert Murdoch in unloading 20th Century Fox to Disney.
Financial Struggles: Paramount Global’s market cap plummeted to less than a third of its valuation during the Viacom-CBS merger. The company faced weak free operating cash flow generation and a hefty $14.6 billion debt load.
Skydance Deal Uncertainty: A potential deal involving Skydance Media (led by David Ellison) to acquire controlling shareholder Shari Redstone’s stake in Paramount and merge Skydance into the studio appears uncertain.
Critical Decisions Ahead: Redstone now stands at a crossroads, deciding Paramount’s fate at a moment of great peril for Hollywood. She must weigh options like selling the entire company or her controlling stake. Paramount’s future hinges on her choices, and the stakes are high for this venerable studio.
Ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani claimed Talk Rado 77WABC radio canned him from his daily show to appease “trailer trash little creep” President Biden — accusing the station of harboring a hostile work environment, according to the NY Post.
Rudy Guiliani
The once-beloved “America’s Mayor” blasted station owner John Catsimatidis as a hypocrite who touts the right to free speech while stopping Giuliani from “telling the truth” about the “stolen” 2020 presidential election.
“What John Catsimatidis has done is disgraceful. With the pretense that he was building some kind of a First Amendment station, he blew a hole in the First Amendment that’s so big you can’t even find it. You can’t tell somebody not to talk about the 2020 presidential election and tell me that you have a respect for free speech,” Giuliani said on his “America’s Mayor Live” show on X Friday night.
“Isn’t that a test? All the good people are the ones who want to speak and the bad people are the ones who want to stop people from speaking. Nobody can really learn about it … And isn’t it a hell of a time to stop me from doing what I’ve been doing for 3-and-a-half years — just when they may be preparing to steal another election?”
Hours earlier, he was cut from the station’s “The Rudy Giuliani Show” for allegedly violating a company-wide policy “not to state, suggest or imply that the election results are not valid.”
John Catsimatidis
However, billionaire supermarket mogul and station owner Catsimatidis told The Post late Friday that Giuliani had been slapped with a written warning just a day before to avoid the topic of a stolen election — a disproven conspiracy.
Instead of complying, the disgraced former mayor fired off a text declaring his intention to ignore “every order” in the letter, which he rebuffed as “overbroad.”
“I had no choice but to suspend him. What media company wouldn’t suspend him based on that?” Catsimatidis said on a call shortly after Giuliani’s fiery X broadcast.
“I said to him, you’re suspended, let’s sit down and talk on Monday, and then he went berserk on us.”
The mogul said that once they told the ex-mayor that he wasn’t allowed to go on the air for his 3 p.m. show, he became “belligerent.”
BREAKING: Bannon announces on Rudy Giuliani's show tonight that he will no longer be a guest on Sid Rosenberg’s @77WABCradio show on Mondays. This move comes in support of Giuliani and due to WABC’s betrayal of MAGA. pic.twitter.com/aI8O77c08M
Asked whether Giuliani’s actions after learning of his suspension could lead to him being fired, Catsimatidis said, “We’re meeting on Monday to decide what our next step is.
“Most likely the suspension will be permanent based on what he’s doing tonight.”
WBEN-AM talk show host Tom Bauerle is accused in a lawsuit filed by his siblings of taking advantage of his dying mother’s state of advanced illness to gain power of attorney from her and cut them out of their portion of her estate.
The Buffalo News reports the siblings, Richard Bauerle and Barbara Mattucci, filed the lawsuit in State Supreme Court last week. The three siblings were to share the estate of their mother, Dorothy Bauerle, equally. But Tom Bauerle, despite providing little care for his mother before her hospitalization in December of last year, insisted on living with and caring for her in the final months of her life. She died in early March, according to the complaint.
In January of this year, Dorothy Bauerle “acting under duress, undue influence and the fraud of defendant, Tom Bauerle, and without capacity to do so, executed a power of attorney for solely the defendant, Tom Bauerle, and purportedly eliminated his brother, Richard G. Bauerle, as power of attorney,” according to the lawsuit.
The siblings, who are represented by attorney Terrence M. Connors, presented text messages from Tom Bauerle, including “Cognitive a bit off” and “Old lady confused,” as evidence that Tom Bauerle was aware that Dorothy Bauerle did not have the mental capacity necessary to execute a power of attorney, giving control over her bank accounts to Tom Bauerle.
Beginning in late January, Tom Bauerle is accused of making large withdrawals from multiple accounts controlled by Dorothy Bauerle – $111,279; $197,139; $215,259; $310,266, and others – and transferred the money into accounts to be used for his own purposes.
iHeartMedia shares fell 36.1% on Thursday after the company’s first-quarter earnings showed continued uncertainty in broadcast advertising mixed with improvements in its digital business, reports Billboard.
iHeartMedia’s loss of 12 cents per share bested analysts’ estimate of a loss of 55 cents per share, according to MarketWatch, and its revenue ($799 million) and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization ($105 million) both fell within the guidance it provided.
CEO Bob Pittman and COO and CFO Rich Bressler reminded listeners to Thursdays’ earnings call that the first quarter is historically the slowest period of the year. They also reiterated the company’s optimism about 2024 and the expected benefits of political advertising in the second half of the year.
The current quarter may be an improvement over the first quarter, but iHeartMedia doesn’t expect much improvement over 2023. Thursday’s guidance for Q2 revenue as “approximately flat” compared to the prior-year quarter’s revenue of $920 million was slightly below analysts’ consensus of $935 million, according to Zacks Equity Research. April revenue is expected to be down 0.4%, Bressler said, and the multi-platform group’s gross revenue is expected to be down “mid-single digits” in the second quarter.
iHeartMedia shares dropped to $1.38 on Thursday, bringing their year-to-date loss to 48.3%. Thursday's closing price was 70.8% below the stock's 52-week high of $4.73 established on July 31, 2023.
Total revenue of $799 million was down 1.5% from the prior-year period. The multi-platform group, which includes iHeartMedia’s broadcast radio networks and events business, suffered the biggest declines: revenue fell 6.7% to $493 million and adjusted EBITDA dropped 11% to $77 million.
Led by growth in podcasts, digital audio group revenue rose 7.0% to $239 million and adjusted EBITDA jumped 25.9% to $68.1 million. In the audio and media services division, revenue improved 12.7% to $69.2 million and adjusted EBITDA soared 54.4% to $23.7 million.
Cumulus Media announces that it has promoted Steve Holm to Regional Vice President/Market Manager for Grand Rapids/Muskegon, MI. He rises from his previous role as General Sales Manager for Cumulus Dallas.
Steve Holm
Holm, a native Michigander, started his radio career in 2010 in Battle Creek, MI, for WBCK-FM and WBXX-FM, former Cumulus stations now owned by Townsquare Media. Holm moved to Dallas in 2014 and has spent the past 10 years as a Sales Manager for Cumulus Dallas, most recently as General Sales Manager of KTCK-AM/FM, WBAP-AM/FM, and KLIF-AM Holm holds a B.B.A. degree in Marketing from Western Michigan University’s Haworth College of Business.
Bob Walker, President, Operations, Cumulus Media, said: “Steve has proven himself to be an accomplished leader in the Dallas market the past 10 years and we are thrilled to have him moving back home to Michigan, an area of the country that is important to Steve and his family. We are excited for him to get started and eager to see the impact he will have.”
Steve Holm commented: “I’m very thankful for the opportunity to come back home. The Grand Rapids and Muskegon teams are a tightlyknit group and are determined and ready to win. I’m excited to be joining them and look forward to the challenges and growth ahead.”
📻Cumulus Media owns and operates nine popular radio stations in Grand Rapids and Muskegon, including five Grand Rapids stations – 105.3 Hot FM/WHTS-FM (CHR); 1340 AM/106.1 FM The Ticket/WJRW (Sports); The Q 94.5/WKLQ-FM (Triple A); 97 LAV-FM/WLAV-FM (Classic Rock); and Thunder 107.3/WTNR-FM (Country), and four Muskegon stations – 1490 and 97.5 NASH Icon/WLAW-AM/FM (Country); Classic Hits 98.3 WLCS/WLCS-FM (Classic Hits); V100/WVIB-FM (Urban AC); and Sunny 92.5/WWSN-FM (AC).
One of the most bitter political feuds in the nation is expected to culminate in a Manhattan courtroom Monday with a showdown years in the making when Michael Cohen takes the stand at Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial. Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer — whose payoff to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election is now at the center of the first criminal trial of an American president — is slated to take the stand next, two sources confirmed to the Daily News.
.@AaronKatersky reports as Fmr. Pres. Trump makes his way back to court after campaigning this weekend, about to come face-to-face with Michael Cohen, who is believed to be the star witness in Trump's 'Hush Money' trial. https://t.co/IsvYf2zbFGpic.twitter.com/3sjlKoA8Pk
He’s expected to tell jurors about the deal he negotiated to buy the adult film star’s silence about her extramarital tryst with his boss in s Lake Tahoe hotel room and being reimbursed by Trump after winning the White House. The $130,000 hush money payment saw the longtime Trump loyalist, 57, become a felon and lose his law license after pleading guilty in 2018 to breaking federal campaign finance laws, lying to Congress about Trump’s business dealings with Russia, and other crimes.
WATCH: Fox’s Maria Bartiromo brings the heat: “We want to know what the heck is going on in this New York trial where nobody can seem to come up with a crime!” pic.twitter.com/zM85tsD394
In the Manhattan case now underway, Trump, 77, is accused of 34 felony counts of falsification of business records, which allege he covered up reimbursement to Cohen in 2017 by logging a series of monthly checks as payment for legal fees.
Stormy Daniels lied to the Court in the Trump Trial
🏖BIDEN ON THE BEACH: Critics of President Biden are lambasting his beach vacation in Delaware, while contrasting the Mother's Day weekend getaway to former President Trump's massive rally in the historically blue state of New Jersey on Saturday. "Supporters camped out overnight at the beach for a Trump rally that starts at 5PM today in Wildwood. Joe Biden can’t fill up a broom closet without staff, media, and angry protestors," one X user under the name Bad Hombre posted Saturday. Trump held a beachside rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, on Saturday evening, where at least 80,000, and up to 100,000 supporters, joined the 45th president in the historically deep blue state. Simultaneously, 24 miles across Deleware Bay, Biden arrived at his home in Rehoboth Beach for Mother’s Day.
Biden’s trip followed a fundraising event in Seattle, where he was greeted by local leaders such as Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., as well as a group of left-wing, anti-Israel protesters holding signs reading "Traitor Genocide Joe Free Palestine" and "Genocide Joe Must Go," the Seattle Times reported.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivered some of the administration’s strongest criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza yet – saying that Israeli tactics have both failed to protect civilians and neutralize Hamas. pic.twitter.com/Ni6iuC9GbL
➤ISRAEL PUSHES DEEPER INTO RAFAH: Israel’s offensive in Rafah pushed deeper into the city, just as Hamas works to re-establish itself in northern Gaza. Israel issued new evacuation orders around Rafah on Saturday as its military pressed further into the southern Gaza city.
The fighting, part of an offensive the U.S. has warned Israel not to carrying out, has prompted more than 300,000 Palestinians to flee, deepening a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Just as Israel is focusing on the southern city in its effort to destroy Hamas, the militant group’s fighters are reappearing in northern Gaza, skirmishing with Israeli troops in areas already cleared by the military. The latest fighting comes as cease-fire talks are expected to reconvene in the coming days.
➤UKRAINE BLASTS RUSSIAN APARTMENT BUILDING: At least 15 people were killed and scores injured on Sunday when a section of a Russian apartment block collapsed after being struck by fragments of a Soviet-era missile, launched by Ukraine and shot down by Russia, Russian officials said. In one of the deadliest attacks to date on the region of Belgorod, Ukraine launched what Russian officials said was a massive missile attack, involving Tochka ballistic missiles and Adler and RM-70 Vampire (MLRS) multiple launch rocket systems.
The average US adult spends more than 2 and a half hours (2:42) each day listening to audio, but advertisers spend only 4.5% of their ad budgets on audio, predominantly in traditional radio.
As digital audio services expand their ad-supported offerings, the digital share of audio advertising will approach parity by the end of the decade.
Key Question: Where is the growth in audio advertising, and how does it stack up against other advertising media?
Key Stat: Digital audio will grow at a solid 6.8% rate in 2024 to reach $7.12 billion, but it will still account for just 40.4% of audio revenues.
According to eMarketer:
Audio advertising continues to punch beneath its weight class
Audio advertising is small but rising thanks to digital
Audio generates relatively little ad revenues per listener and time spent
The shift to digital is more gradual in audio than video
Programmatic audio advertising remains a minority of digital ad sales despite its fast growth
Podcast advertising’s growth holds its lead
Pandora holds a shrinking lead in digital audio advertising
According to The Wall Street Journal, television advertising has experienced a shift in relevance. Let’s delve into the details:
Mondelez, the snack company behind Oreo cookies, made an unconventional decision earlier this year: it chose not to spend any money on TV advertising to promote a limited edition of its Oreo cookie. The reason? The specific audience they wanted to reach—Gen Z members, multicultural audiences, and households with children—simply aren’t watching enough television.
The move by Mondelez highlights a broader trend: TV advertising is losing its effectiveness due to changing viewing habits and the rise of digital platforms. Here are some additional insights:
Audience Fragmentation: Traditional TV audiences have fragmented across various channels, streaming services, and online platforms. Advertisers find it challenging to reach specific demographics effectively.
Digital Alternatives: Advertisers increasingly turn to digital channels, such as social media, YouTube, and streaming platforms, where they can target audiences more precisely based on data analytics.
Measurement and Accountability: Digital advertising provides better measurement tools, allowing advertisers to track engagement, conversions, and return on investment (ROI) more accurately. TV lacks this level of granularity.
Cost Considerations: TV ad slots during prime time can be expensive, especially for national campaigns. Digital advertising often offers more cost-effective options.
Ad Skipping: Viewers now have the ability to skip TV ads using DVRs or streaming services, reducing the impact of traditional commercials.
While TV advertising still has its place, especially for certain brands and events, marketers must adapt to the changing landscape. The power of TV advertising may not be as robust as previously thought. As advertisers rethink their strategies, they’ll continue to explore the balance between TV and digital channels to maximize their reach and impact.
Global consumer media usage, including all digital and traditional media channels, grew a slight 0.3% in 2023 to an average of 56.2 hours per week (HPW) in 2023, following a sharp growth acceleration in end-user time spent with media in 2022 of 3.0%, fueled by major political elections in many of the top 20 global markets, as well as the Winter Olympics in China and the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, according to research released today by PQ Media, the world's leading provider of media econometrics.
The 2023 results show that media consumption is nearing PQ Media's previously forecasted saturation point, as digital device penetration has almost peaked, and has begun posting declines in several major global markets, including the United States – the world's largest media market. Consumer media usage grew at its slowest rate in more than a decade in 2023, some of which was the result of high inflation that caused consumers to cut discretionary spending on media like books, videogames, print subscriptions and streaming services, according to PQ Media's 11th annual Global Consumer Media Usage Forecast 2024-2028
"Media consumption, however, will post accelerated growth in 2024 with general elections in the United States, Mexico, Japan, Taiwan, India and South Africa, as well as the Summer Olympics in Paris, that will drive media usage rates in most of Western Europe that are in the same time zone or within an hour," according to PQ Media CEO Patrick Quinn. "In 2026, we'll see this same phenomenon in the Americas when the United States, Mexico and Canada tri-host the FIFA World Cup and, again, in 2028 when the Summer Olympics are held in Los Angeles."
Non-Com LAist (KPCC), a Los Angeles area NPR affiliate, is currently facing financial challenges. To mitigate the effects of a multi-million dollar budget shortfall, they have introduced a voluntary buyout program for their employees.
Here are the key details:
The buyout is available to all full- and part-time employees who work a minimum of 24 hours per week.
LAist Chief Content Officer Kristen Muller sent an email to station members, projecting a deficit between $4 million and $5 million over the next two years.
The financial strain is due to rising costs, including annual dues for national programming and increasing local expenses. Advertising dollars that once supported them are now going to tech platforms like Facebook and Google, resulting in a significant drop in sponsorship revenue.
LAist is asking for increased donations, which constitute more than two-thirds of their funding.
The situation at LAist reflects broader trends in journalism, particularly in public radio. Other stations, such as KCRW in Santa Monica, KQED in the Bay Area, and WBUR in Boston, have also faced budget challenges and implemented similar buyout programs.
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department is a once-in-a-decade kind of success story.
Forbes reports the singer’s latest album arrived a short time ago and blasted onto the Billboard charts with one of the largest debuts of all time. Since its impressive start, it’s continued to perform exceptionally well, and it’s now reached an incredible milestone in near-record time.
According to Billboard, The Tortured Poets Department has now sold two million copies in the U.S. That number is actual purchases of the title, and not equivalent units, which also take into account streaming activity. That total figure is significantly higher than pure sales.
In just its first two weeks of availability, The Tortured Poets Department has sold 2.021 million copies in America alone. Billboard notes that the project is now responsible for 8.4% of all album sales in the country so far this year.
HD Radio has become increasingly prevalent in new cars across North America, acccording to RadioWorld.
Here are the key details:
HD Radio Adoption: Xperi, a leading technology company, reports that HD Radio now comes standard in 58% of new vehicles built for the North American market. This represents a growth from 52% three years ago1. Notably, Hyundai and Genesis have made Xperi’s HD Radio a standard feature across their North American models.
Global Deployment: Xperi’s DTS AutoStage hybrid radio platform is now deployed in 6 million vehicles globally, marking a 50% increase since August of the previous year. Additionally, Xperi’s new video service for the same platform is deployed in hundreds of thousands of cars across seven countries.
Financial Insights: In the first quarter of this year, Xperi’s revenue was $118.8 million, down $8 million from the same period last year. This decrease is partly due to the subsequent divestiture of its AutoSense business. Xperi posted a net loss of $13.4 million, an improvement compared to the $32.9 million loss a year ago.
Strategic Outlook: Xperi’s CEO, Jon Kirchner, emphasizes the company’s focus on growth areas such as connected car, media platform, and video-over-broadband. The company aims to achieve its multi-year targets by scaling its TiVo OS footprint and accelerating connected car deployments.
Cumulus Media has announced that Bobby Novosad, Brand Manager, Cumulus Lafayette, LA, radio stations 94.5 KSMB-FM (Top 40) and 99.1 KXKC-FM (Country), and Morning Show Host, 94.5 KSMB-FM, has been recognized by the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters (LAB) with a Prestige Award for Lifetime Achievement.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Novosad at the LAB’s 2024 Prestige Awards on Friday, March 22nd at the Marriott in Baton Rouge, LA.
Now Official! Bill Belichick will be a regular on the popular ManningCast show on Monday nights during the 2024 NFL season.
Peyton Manning revealed on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday that the former Patriots coach will appear in every ManningCast this NFL season that he co-stars with brother Eli for the ESPN networks.
Manning said Belichick will be utilized early in the game, probably in the first quarter, to help give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the X’s and O’s.
Belichick drew rave reviews during his appearance on McAfee’s show during the NFL Draft. At the end of the roast for Tom Brady on Sunday, Manning indicated an agreement was close with the legendary figure.
Jim Santella, a celebrated DJ whose velvety voice was heard on Buffalo radio in a variety of formats for more than 40 years, died Friday in his Amherst home. He was 86.
Beginning at the University at Buffalo radio station, WBFO-FM, when he was a student, he played progressive rock at WYSL-FM, country music on WWOL, helped start the 97 Rock format, was program director at WUWU-FM and played jazz on WEBR.
He also wrote music and theater reviews for The Buffalo News and, with Anthony Chase, started the "Theater Talk" radio feature in 1992.
➦In 1941...Singer Richie Valens born Richard Steven Valenzuela (Died at age 17 – February 3, 1959) was a rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens' recording career lasted eight months and abruptly ended when he died in a plane crash.
During this time, he had several hits, most notably "La Bamba", which he had adapted from a Mexican folk song. Valens transformed the song into one with a rock rhythm and beat, and it became a hit in 1958, making Valens a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement. He also had the American number 2 hit ''Donna''.
On February 3, 1959, on what has become known as "The Day the Music Died", Valens died in a plane crash in Iowa, an accident that also claimed the lives of fellow musicians Buddy Holly and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as pilot Roger Peterson. Valens was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.
➦In 1943..in the middle of WWII. Adolph Hitler and his Nazi occupiers of the Netherlands and other European countries confiscated all radios.
➦In 1956... after 16 years on CBS Radio, “Gene Autry’s Melody Ranch,” aired its final episode. The half-hour broadcast for Wrigley’s Gum featured 10 to 15 minute western action skits featuring Autry and his sidekick Pat Buttram, plus musical selections by “the ‘Singing Cowboy.” Autry went on to be owner of a chain of West Coast radio stations, Golden West Broadcasters, and LA TV station KTLA.
➦In 1963...Station Manager Marlin Taylor (1st employee) and Sales Manager Jerry Lee (2nd employee) launched David L. Kurtz's new Philadelphia FM, WDVR, Delaware Valley Radio.
Now know as WBEB 101.1 FM, the station was also known as WEAZ during 1980s, before becoming WBEB-FM in 1993.
In spite of having a poor signal for its' first four years, WDVR became the top-rated FM in the Hoope Ratings within three months, pioneering the Beautiful Music format.
(Photo Courtesy of Marlin Taylor)
The station featured pop tunes reworked in the form of instrumentals. They played two vocalists per hour, as the instrumentals would be based on the works of such artists as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole, Neil Diamond and The Carpenters. By the 1980s, the station increased the amount of music with vocalists to four per hour as they also added more artists suited to an adult contemporary format. Also in 1980, WDVR changed its call letters to WEAZ, and began using the slogan EAZY 101 with Patrick O'Neal (later Robert Urich) as its spokesperson. By 1984, EAZY 101 became the #1 rated station in Philadelphia.
In 1988, the station dropped Beautiful Music for a soft adult contemporary format. This format change came after research tests showed that people who grew up after the advent of rock and roll did not like instrumental music. With the format change, the station was satellite-delivered, but by the next year, some of the airstaff returned. By 1990, the station's name was shortened to "EZ 101". The station would shift to a mainstream adult contemporary format in 1993, and its call letters would eventually change to WBEB, B101.
Airchecks form 1982-84...
On December 10, 2013, WBEB announced they would be rebranding as "MoreFM at 101.1". The DJs and format would stay the same. The name change took place on December 26. With the name change, the station dropped their "Saturday Night 80's" program.
On July 19, 2018, Entercom announced that it would acquire WBEB for $57.5 million. To comply with FCC ownership limits, Entercom divested Country WXTU 92.5 FM back to its previous owner Beasley Broadcast Group. WBEB was, at that time, one of the last major-market radio stations to be independently owned. The sale closed September 28, 2018.
On November 8, 2018, WBEB returned to its previous "B" branding as B101.1.
➦In 1973.."The Beatles 1962-1966" Red was released in 1973 along with "The Beatles 1967-1970" Blue album. The album was compiled by Beatles manager Allen Klein. Even though the group had success with cover versions of songs, most notably with "Twist and Shout", which made No. 2 on the Billboard charts, only songs composed by the Beatles were included. Also noteworthy is the exclusion of any George Harrison compositions from the era (e.g. "Taxman"), with the result that all the included tracks are Lennon-McCartney originals. In contrast, the companion 1967–1970 compilation includes several Harrison-penned songs, and even one written by Ringo Starr.
