Rose Garden Chaos

Sebastian Gorka 

A handful of conservative personalities who attended President Trump's social media summit on Thursday clashed with reporters in the Rose Garden after they were invited to sit in on an announcement about the census, reports The Hill.

The scene played out as Trump stood between Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, and a number of far-right social media personalities and attendees criticized for having promoted conspiracy theories sat in the audience. The mood quickly turned confrontational after the president returned inside.

Sebastian Gorka, a former White House adviser, stormed over to engage with Playboy correspondent Brian Karem at the conclusion of Trump's remarks, where the president announced he would drop his bid to add a citizenship question to the census.

GRAPHIC LANGUAGE WARNING - Former White House aide Sebastian Gorka gets in tiff with media, accusing journalist of 'threatening' him in the Rose Garden, after Trump drops census citizenship question at a news conference pic.twitter.com/91zNJD8gkj

— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) July 11, 2019

As reporters and other social media summit guests looked on, Gorka called Karem a "punk" and accused the journalist of threatening him as the two exchanged words. Fellow conservative personalities broke into a chant of "Gorka!" as they filmed the encounter.

Gorka later spoke to reporters nearby and was asked why he blocks so many people on Twitter.

After the @POTUS statement, I queried @SebGorka (former deputy assistant to @POTUS) in the @WhiteHouse Rose Garden about why he blocks so many journalists (including me) on Twitter, despite insisting that people on social media shouldn't be blocked. Here's what happened. pic.twitter.com/ujpztNDncb

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) July 11, 2019

"I block whoever I want to. I block 16,000 people," he told Steve Herman of Voice of America. "Because they’re asshats, that’s why."

A few others in the crowd heckled members of the press who stood behind a rope line at back of the Rose Garden. Trump took questions from his supporters during the social media summit, but did not respond to shouted questions from the credentialed press during the Rose Garden event.

Radio Host Ben Shapiro Defends Rapinoe Comments

Radio host and Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro on Thursday said he stands by his remarks asserting that U.S. women's soccer star Megan Rapinoe is receiving more endorsement deals because she is a “very outspoken lesbian” in addition to being a “very good soccer player,” saying “every word I say here is true.”

According to The Hill, the defensive comments come after Shapiro received blowback from a number of left-leaning commentators and publications for saying Rapinoe was like former NFL quarterback-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick, but “with actual talent.”

“We’re talking about Megan Rapinoe getting million dollar contracts specifically because of her sexuality, and because she’s a very, very good soccer player,” Shapiro said Wednesday on his podcast and nationally syndicated radio show.

“But let’s not make any mistake, if she was a very good soccer player and she were not a very outspoken lesbian, she would be getting fewer contracts because she’s seen as a political figure. She’s sort of Colin Kaepernick but with actual talent at her sport.”

Instead of reading Media Matters' idiotic one-line wildly and deliberately misleading synopses of my statements, perhaps you should actually just listen to the statements.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) July 11, 2019

Shapiro defended the comments on Thursday and lashed out at the left-leaning online publication Media Matters, saying it intentionally misrepresented his comments.

“Every word I say here is true,” Shapiro wrote to his 2.2 million followers. “I say that she is getting contracts and publicity because of her politics AND because of her great talent. Which is why she is being discussed on MSNBC rather than ESPN alone, and cutting political ads for Nike.”

Sean Hannity Extends Invite To AOC

Fox News' Sean Hannity made an offer Thursday that he hopes U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez can't refuse.

According to Fox News, Hannity said that if the freshman Democratic congresswoman from New York agrees to appear on his program, he'll devote the entire hour to their conversation.

"I'm going to extend tonight an offer to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez," Hannity said. "I want to give you an hour invitation to come on this show to have a discussion."

The Fox News host also offered up three hours of his syndicated radio program to Ocasio-Cortez.

"We get a lot of criticism on this program. We'll talk, we'll have a conversation. Hope you'll join us," Hannity added.

Ocasio-Cortez has recently been clashing with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and has suggested that Pelosi has been singling out her and three fellow freshman congresswomen because of race.

Ocasio-Cortez has emerged as the leader of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and a strong advocate for addressing climate change, among other issues.

TwitterVerse Stops Spinning

Twitter appeared to suffer a widespread outage Thursday afternoon, making it the latest social media site to have a major disruption in recent months, according to The Hill.

According to the website Down Detector, users in many major cities were reporting trouble accessing Twitter.

After an hour, the site appeared to work again for many people. The company attributed the disruption to an "internal configuration change."

"The outage was due to an internal configuration change, which we're now fixing," Twitter said on its system status page. "Some people may be able to access Twitter again and we're working to make sure Twitter is available to everyone as quickly as possible."

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey apologized for the outage in a tweet.

CNN Experiencing 'Credibility Crisis'

CNN's Chris Cuomo and Anderson Cooper

Viewership for the once-proud CNN continues to crater with no apparent plan in place to fix things anytime soon, according to Fox News citing media watchdogs and insiders.

CNN’s audience shriveled in the second quarter of 2019, averaging only 541,000 total viewers, less than half Fox News Channel’s 1.3 million average. But CNN struggled even more during the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m. ET, finishing as the fifteenth most-watched network on basic cable behind networks such as TLC, Investigation Discovery and the Hallmark Channel. CNN averaged a dismal 761,000 primetime viewers while FNC averaged 2.4 million.

The Hill media guru Joe Concha told Fox News that CNN's freefall may not be slowing.

“Losing nearly 40 percent of an already third-place audience must be a primary topic in internal meetings, with immediate remedies not readily apparent,” Concha said.

“You know the answer,” a longtime CNN employee said when asked if staffers are panicked about the ratings decay before declining further comment.

Another current CNN employee told Fox News that there is widespread concern about the network’s ratings problem, but high-profile hosts such as Anderson Cooper remain unfazed.

“The people that are concerned – it’s certainly not the anchors who have lucrative contracts – it’s the people among the lower levels, such as producers and show bookers,” the employee said.

A third current staffer told Fox News that CNN “is clearly doing something wrong if the ratings are like this,” before asking, “So why don’t we try something different?”

The Daily Bend Bulletin To Terminate All Newspaper Employees

A court filing outlining the sale of Central Oregon’s only daily newspaper shows that all employees of the Bend Bulletin and other publications must be terminated before Rhode Island Suburban Newspapers takes control, according to opb.org.

The Rhode Island company plans to buy Western Communications’ Central Oregon publications for more than $2 million.

As a part of the sale agreement, Western Communications must terminate all employees at the Bend Bulletin, the Redmond Spokesman Weekly and other publications including Go! Weekly entertainment tabloid and Bend Homes monthly.

“Effective as of the end of business on the day immediately prior to the Closing Date, Seller shall terminate all Business Employees,” the filing states.

The Rhode Island company could re-hire any employees at its discretion.

This comes after Western Communications filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and again this past January. As of late May, Western Communications owed roughly $30 million in debt.

It had listed its Bend headquarters for sale at $20 million in 2017. The Rhode Island company will lease space there for a monthly rate of $10,000.

Neither party is allowed to talk about the terms of the agreement, though documents are publicly available in bankruptcy court.

Partners Leaked Private Conversations With Google Assistant

Google admitted on Thursday that more than 1,000 sound recordings of customer conversations with the Google Assistant were leaked by some of its partners to a Belgian news site.

According to CNBC, these conversations are used by companies such as Google and Amazon -- which takes clips from the Amazon Echo -- to improve voice responses from their smart assistants. They are supposed to be kept confidential.

But Belgian news site VRT said on Wednesday that a contractor provided it with samples of these sound samples, which VRT then used to identify some of the people in the clips. It also examined the sorts of conversations that Google collects when people say “OK Google,” into a phone or a Google Home product. Among other things, VRT heard customer addresses. Sources who talked to the publication also described hearing recordings of a woman in distress and people talking about medical conditions.

Google has now admitted the recordings were leaked.

“We just learned that one of these language reviewers has violated our data security policies by leaking confidential Dutch audio data,” Google product manager of search David Monsees said in a blog post. “Our Security and Privacy Response teams have been activated on this issue, are investigating, and we will take action. We are conducting a full review of our safeguards in this space to prevent misconduct like this from happening again”

If this worries you, you can delete your old Google Assistant voice history pretty easily.

Amazon also collects voice clips when people speak to Alexa and also uses humans to analyze clips. You can stop Alexa from using the clips to improve Amazon’s service, however, and delete your past recordings.

Feds Charge R Kelly With Kiddie Porn

R Kelly

R. Kelly, the 52-year-old R&B singer, was arrested Thursday on child pornography and other charges in Chicago, a spokesperson for the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois told Fox News.

According to Fox News, Kelly was arrested on a 13-count federal indictment, which included child pornography, enticement of a minor and obstruction of justice charges, the spokesperson said.

New York's WNBC-TV, which broke the story, reported earlier that Kelly was arrested by New York Police Department detectives and Department of Homeland Security agents and was expected to be brought to New York.

The spokesperson said Kelly's charges relate to offenses that occurred in the Northern District of Illinois and did not know the origin of reports linking Kelly's arrest to crimes in New York.

The singer is being held in federal custody. His arraignment is to be determined.



Kelly has for decades been the subject of sexual abuse allegations -- some involving minors. The R&B singer was acquitted in 2008 of child pornography charges stemming from a videotape that allegedly showed Kelly engaging in sex acts with a 13-year-old girl.

Kelly was charged in February with 10 state counts of sexual abuse involving four victims, including three minors. He pleaded not guilty and was released from Chicago's Cook County Jail after posting bail. More charges were filed against him in May.

HuffPost: Fox Nation Host Tyrus Allegedly Sent Lewd Texts

Tyrus, a Fox News contributor and a host on the network’s subscription streaming service, Fox Nation, sent lewd and inappropriate text messages to his now-former Fox Nation co-host, Britt McHenry, according to journalist Yashar Ali citing four sources familiar with the texts’ contents.

In his HuffPo piece, Ali reported Tyrus "sent lewd and inappropriate text messages" to his former co-host Britt McHenry. Included among them, according to Ali, were, “Just pull your boobs out now why don’t you. Just grin and bare it” and “keep being negative and I’ll send you another dick pic.”

Tyrus did not immediately respond to Ali who sent him a direct message on Twitter. The Daily Beast previously reported McHenry had received "unwanted and unsolicited text messages with lewd, sexual comments," but it was unclear what they specifically said.

Fox News also declined to provide a comment on the new revelations to Ali for his story.

July 12 Radio History

Milton Berle 1943

➦In 1908...Comedian Milton Berle was born in New York City (Died – March 27, 2002). Berle's career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and television. As the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater (1948–55), he was the first major American television star and was known to millions of viewers as "Uncle Miltie" and "Mr. Television" during the first Golden Age of Television.

From 1934–36, Berle appeared regularly on The Rudy Vallee Hour, and he attracted publicity as a regular on The Gillette Original Community Sing, a Sunday night comedy-variety program broadcast on CBS from September 6, 1936 to August 29, 1937. In 1939, he was the host of Stop Me If You've Heard This One with panelists spontaneously finishing jokes sent in by listeners.

In the late 1940s, he canceled well-paying nightclub appearances to expand his radio career. Three Ring Time, a comedy-variety show sponsored by Ballantine Ale, was followed by a 1943 program sponsored by Campbell's Soups. The audience participation show Let Yourself Go (1944–1945) could best be described as "slapstick radio" with studio audience members acting out long suppressed urges—often directed at host Berle. Kiss and Make Up, on CBS in 1946, featured the problems of contestants decided by a jury from the studio audience with Berle as the judge. Berle also made guest appearances on many comedy-variety radio programs during the 1930s and 1940s.

Howard Duff

 He died of colon cancer Mar 27, 2002 at age 93.

➦In 1946…"The Adventures of Sam Spade," debuted on ABC Radio.

The show ran for 13 episodes on ABC in 1946, for 157 episodes on CBS in 1946-1949, and finally for 51 episodes on NBC in 1949-1951. The series starred Howard Duff (and later, Steve Dunne) as Sam Spade and Lurene Tuttle as his secretary Effie, and took a considerably more tongue-in-cheek approach to the character than the novel or movie. The announcer was Dick Joy.

The series was largely overseen by producer/director William Spier. In 1947, scriptwriters Jason James and Bob Tallman received an Edgar Award for Best Radio Drama from the Mystery Writers of America.

➦In 1957…DJ Alan Freed - the man who coined the term "Rock and Roll" - started a Rock and Roll program on ABC-TV.

"The Big Beat" with guest performers Frankie Lymon And The Teenagers, the Everly Brothers and Connie Francis. The series was cancelled after the fourth show in which Frankie Lymon was seen dancing with a white girl, something that reportedly offended the management of the network's affiliate stations in southern states. Freed hosted a local version of "The Big Beat" on WNEW-TV New York until late 1959 when he was fired due to payola allegations.

➦In 1976…Ted Mack died (Born William Edward Maguiness February 12, 1904). He was the host of Ted Mack and The Original Amateur Hour on radio and television.

The Original Amateur Hour began on radio in 1934 as Major Bowes' Amateur Hour, and ran until the 1946 death of its creator, Major Bowes. Mack, a talent scout who had directed the show under Bowes, revived it in 1948 for ABC Radio and the DuMont Television Network.

The show lasted on radio until 1952 and until 1970 on television, where it ran on all four major networks, ending as a Sunday afternoon CBS staple. A success in the early days of television, the program set the stage for numerous programs seeking talented stars, from The Gong Show to Star Search to American Idol to America's Got Talent.

Auditions for the show were generally held in New York's Radio City Music Hall. Those who passed the initial screening were invited to compete on the program, featuring amateurs whose performance were judged by viewers, voting via letters and phone calls. Contestants who won three times earned cash prizes, scholarships, or participation in a traveling stage show associated with the program.

Winners who went on to show business careers included singers Gladys Knight, Ann-Margret, Pat Boone, Raul Julia, Teresa Brewer, Irene Cara, The Rock and Roll Trio and Los Concertinos from Puerto Rico.



➦In 1979…A major and oft-mentioned promotional event held at Old Comiskey was "Disco Demolition Night", organized by longtime Chicago radio personality Steve Dahl and White Sox promotions manager Mike Veeck (Bill's son).

Between games of a make-up doubleheader between the White Sox and the Detroit Tigers, Dahl and his crew destroyed a pile of disco records that fans had brought in exchange for a ticket with a discounted price of 98¢ in honor of Dahl's station at that time, WLUP-FM, the frequency of which was 97.9 MHz (98 FM).

More than 50,000 fans were in attendance, along with another 20,000 who crashed the gates even though the game was sold out.  The demolition tore a huge hole in center field and several thousand fans, many of them intoxicated, stormed the field, stole equipment, and destroyed the infield.

The nightcap was postponed, but league officials ruled it a forfeit the next day, the fourth in American League history, all in the 1970s.  Later, some blamed Dahl; some blamed Veeck. Howard Cosell even blamed then-White Sox announcer Harry Caray, saying Caray contributed to a "carnival" atmosphere. In reality, a handful of rowdies had taken advantage of a situation for which stadium security was woefully unprepared.

"I never thought that I, a stupid disc jockey, could draw 70,000 people to a disco demolition", Dahl said in a Tribune interview. "Unfortunately, some of our followers got a little carried away." That was the last anti-disco rally for WLUP. But it brought Dahl national attention and established him as a radio superstar in Chicago.

➦In 1996...NBC news anchor John Chancellor succumbed to stomach cancer at age 68.

➦In 2000…USA Digital Radio and Lucent Digital Radio merge to form Ibiquity Digital.

➦In  2008… Former White House press secretary, radio-TV newsman and program host (Fox News, CNN, NPR) Tony Snow died of colon cancer at 53.

➦In 2008… New York Yankees outfielder and baseball broadcaster Bobby Murcer died of brain cancer at age 62.

Emmis Radio Revenue Flat For 1Q 2019

Emmis Communications Corporation today announced results for its first fiscal quarter ending May 31, 2019.

Emmis' radio net revenues for the first fiscal quarter were $26.4 million, which is flat as compared to the prior year. Pro forma for radio station divestures, Emmis' first quarter radio revenues as reported to Miller Kaplan, which excludes barter revenues and syndication revenues, were up 3%, which matched the 3% growth in Emmis' markets.

Subsequent to the first quarter's end, Emmis announced an agreement to sell its controlling interest in a partnership that owns and operates six Austin radio stations and two FM translators to Sinclair Telecable, Inc.  Additionally, Emmis announced an agreement to form a new public company, Mediaco (MCCC), with New York investment firm Standard General. Mediaco will purchase WBLS-FM and WQHT-FM (HOT 97) from the company, but Emmis will continue to manage operations of the stations.

Jeff Smulyan

After closing these transactions, Emmis expects to have approximately $88 million of cash available for reinvestment and other corporate purposes, after settling all tax obligations, closing costs, and assuming $13 million remains outstanding under the mortgage on its corporate headquarters.

"In the past 14 years, we've paid off more than $1.3 billion of debt while making the conscious decision to take our entrepreneurial skills and transition Emmis into new areas of growth. We believe that this fiscal year will reveal a new Emmis, and I couldn't be more excited," Jeff Smulyan, CEO & Chairman of the Board of Emmis said.

"Looking ahead, Emmis' radio net revenues for its second fiscal quarter are currently pacing up double digits, largely thanks to a record-breaking HOT 97 Summer Jam concert in New York. Due to hard work and superior execution by our New York team, coupled with a terrific artist lineup, ticket revenue was the strongest in the 26-year history of Summer Jam. We are also seeing a nice strengthening in advertising sales overall, which points to an outstanding quarter ahead," Smulyan added.

NYC Radio: Kay, Francesa Both Claim Ratings Wins

Michael Kay and Mike Francesa

The final spring radio numbers will leave both WEPN ESPN 98.7 FM New York’s “Michael Kay Show” and WFAN 660 AM / 101.9 FM’s Mike Francesa claiming they deserve the next parade up the Canyon of Heroes.

It is Kay, though, who has to be the most happy with the results, reports The NY Post.

In the traditional Nielsen Audio Measurement that the stations sell advertising against, 25-to-54-year-old men, Kay’s program topped Francesa’s with a 6.4 share to 6.1.

However, Francesa’s program does not include his digital stream, whereas Kay’s does. With Francesa’s stream, Francesa edges ahead 6.6-6.4.

Either way, the two were No. 1 and 2 in the market, leaving long-time, first-times to argue back and forth on Twitter who deserves to be declared the sports radio king of New York.

ESPN looks at it as a second straight win for Kay, while FAN thinks it is the status quo for Francesa.

But the factor that makes the spring results sweeter for Kay’s show is that FAN is the Yankees’ radio home. The reason the station pays close to $20 million annually, according to sources, is to increase the ratings across the board — and it has mostly worked. Overall, FAN crushed ESPN in the spring — except that Francesa and Kay were essentially even.

Even without the streaming, “Boomer & Gio” rose to No. 1 in the market. ESPN’s “Golic & Wingo’s” finished ninth.

Again, with the stream, FAN’s 10 a.m.-1 p.m. show, “Joe & Evan”, finished first and had the highest ratings on the station with a 7.2 to ESPN’s 3.4 for “Humpty, Canty & Rothenberg.”

Meanwhile, from 1-3, CMB was second in its time slot with a 6.7 — better than Francesa. Stephen A. Smith’s national show was almost half CMB’s at 3.4. CMB gave Francesa a huge head start over Kay each day.

Now, while the ratings game takes its traditional summer vacation, the drama inside the stations will continue.

TV Ratings: Women's Soccer, Fox News Score Wins

The Fourth of July meant hot dogs, fireworks and President Donald Trump for many Fox News viewers, reports The Associated Press.

Fox News reached an average of 4.09 million viewers between 6 and 8 p.m. EDT last Thursday for its coverage of Trump’s much-discussed holiday parade in Washington, D.C., the Nielsen company said. The audience was over 4.6 million during the concentrated hour during which Trump gave a rain-soaked speech.

Fox was the only commercial television network to say ahead of time that it would air Trump’s speech. CNN, which also aired it and had 1.4 million viewers, did not disclose its coverage plans before the event. MSNBC did not air the speech and had 397,000 viewers, Nielsen said.

The week’s most popular television event started Sunday morning, when the U.S. women’s soccer team beat The Netherlands for the World Cup before 14.3 million viewers.

Behind the summertime favorite “America’s Got Talent,” NBC averaged 3.5 million viewers in prime time last week. CBS had 3.4 million, ABC had 2.8 million, Fox had 1.6 million, Univision had 1.5 million, ION Television had 1.4 million, Telemundo had 1 million and the CW had 560,000.

Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable TV network:, averaging 2.01 million viewers in prime time. MSNBC had 1.16 million, HGTV had 1.14 million, USA had 1.05 million and TLC had 1 million.

⏩ CableTV Prime Time:

1. Fox News Channel (2,060,000)
2. MSNBC (1,193,000)
3. HGTV (1,152,000)
4. USA (1,023,000)
5. TLC (996,000)
6. History (893,000)
7. Hallmark Channel (860,000)
8. Investigation Discovery (845,000)
9. INSP (776,000)
10. TBS (769,000)

⏩ Basic cable ranker:  by Scribd

⏩ Broadcast tV Prime-time viewership numbers compiled by Nielsen for July 1-7:

1. “America’s Got Talent,” NBC, 6.82 million.
2. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 6.8 million.
3. “Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks,” NBC, 5.87 million.
4. “The Bachelorette,” ABC, 5.77 million.
5. Men’s Soccer: Mexico vs United States, Univision, 5.66 million.
6. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 5.3 million.
7. “The $100,000 Pyramid,” ABC, 4.9 million.
8. “American Ninja Warrior,” NBC, 4.75 million.
9. “Big Brother” (Tuesday), CBS, 4.46 million.
10. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 4.32 million.

11. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 4.25 million.
12. “America’s Funniest Home Videos,” ABC, 4.03 million.
13. “The Code,” CBS, 3.99 million.
14. “Dateline NBC,” NBC, 3.93 million.
15. “Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks” (Thursday, 10 p.m.), 3.88 million.
16. “Bull,” CBS, 3.76 million.
17. “The Neighborhood,” CBS, 3.69 million.
18. “To Tell the Truth,” ABC, 3.67 million.
19. Men’s Soccer: Haiti vs Mexico, Univision, 3.6 million.
20. “NCIS,” CBS, 3.53 million.

ABC’s “World News Tonight” topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.8 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” had 6.8 million and the “CBS Evening News,” where Norah O’Donnell takes over as anchor next week, averaged 5.1 million.

TV Ratings: ESPN Sees Overall Viewership Success in June

In June, ESPN grew its audience average 12 percent year over year during the daily 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. ET window contributing to a 24-hour year-over-year increase of 5 percent overall to 518,000 households and leading cable among young men.

ESPN led full-time cable networks among viewers and men 18-34 (for at least the 20th consecutive June), 18-49 and 25-54. In prime time, ESPN averaged just over a million viewers and was best among men 18-49 and men 25-54.

For the quarter, ESPN topped all full-time cable networks among viewers 18-34, men 18-34 (for at least the 20th straight quarter), men 18-49 and men 25-54.

“ESPN’s studio programming led by SportsCenter continues to evolve to meet the ever-changing needs of sports fans,” said Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president & executive editor, production. “The double-digit, annual growth in June during the 7 a.m.-7 p.m. period truly speaks to the relevance, versatility and success of our studio show lineup.”

ESPN Studio Shows

ESPN’s morning studio show lineup saw another month of year-over year growth in June with multiple wins across key cable demographics. Get Up continued its monthly viewership success with a 21 percent increase over the comparable 8-10 a.m. time slot in 2018. The 7 a.m. edition of SportsCenterwas up nine percent in June from the comparable one-hour window last year, according to Nielsen.

June marked the fourth consecutive month of annual increases for both shows which combined to drive ESPN to cable wins across multiple demographics including viewers 18-49. For the second quarter of 2019, Get Up and the 7 a.m. SportsCenter saw 24 percent and 14 percent yearly viewership increases, respectively.

First Take experienced its third straight month of year-over-year viewership growth, up six percent over 2018. The noon SportsCenter also climbed 10 percent in June over the comparable 12-1 p.m. window in 2018.

The two shows combined led ESPN to cable wins across all key male demos from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. First Take saw a five percent yearly increase for the second quarter with the noon edition of SportsCenter climbing three percent for the timeframe. From 10 a.m.-noon, driven by First Take, ESPN remains the top network (cable or broadcast) among the men 18-34 demographic for the seventh consecutive month.

The success continued across ESPN’s news and information programming with Outside the Lines seeing multiple areas of annual viewership growth including nine percent for June and three percent for the quarter. The 6 p.m. edition of SportsCenter continued the trend with a four percent and one percent increase for the month and quarter, respectively. SportsCenter’s weekend morning editions also combined for a nine percent annual increase in June and three percent growth for the quarter.

Pardon the Interruption enjoyed its third consecutive month of viewership growth, seeing a 10 percent increase in June. Leading off the 5-6 p.m. window, Around the Horn saw a year-over-year increase of seven percent. Pardon the Interruption was up eight percent for the quarter, with Around the Hornseeing a three percent rise.

ESPN’s sport-specific programming thrived as well with The Jump and NFL Live both seeing year-over-year viewership increases for the month. The Jump’s viewership average increased by four percent with NFL Live climbing two percent.

Peoria Radio: Dr. Chris Michaels Named WXCL PD

Dr. Chris Michaels

Midwest Communications/Peoria has announced the return of  Dr. Chris Michaels returns to Country WXCL 104.9 FM as program director and PM Drive host.

Michaels previously programmed the Country outlet for 12 years, since its re-launch in 2006 and he returns from Country WIBL 107.7 FM The Bull in Bloomington, IL.

Even though Michaels was gone from Peoria, he continued tracking afternoons on WXCL.

Michaels said, "I'm thrilled to return to Peoria as Brand Manager of 104.9 The Wolf and excited about rejoining such a strong team. I'd like to extend my thanks to Mike Wild and Randy Rundle for the opportunity to come back to program such an impactful radio brand."

Midwest Communications/Peoria Market Manager Mike Wild added, "Chris knows the audience and the essence of the Wolf brand as well as anyone on the planet so we're thrilled to welcome him back."

Public Voting for Radio Hall of Fame Begins July 15

Starting July 15 through July 28, listeners nationwide can vote for their favorite radio personalities in two categories to be inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame this November. The nominees for Music Format On-Air Personality are Hollywood Hamilton, Lon Helton, The Mark and Brian Show and Ryan Seacrest. 

For Spoken Word Format On-Air Personality, the nominees are Joe Madison, Scott Slade, Stephanie Miller and Suzyn Waldman. From 6 a.m. ET July 15, until 11:59 p.m. PT July 28, fans can vote for one personality in each category online at www.radiovote.com and via text to 877-370-VOTE (8683) accordingly:

Message and data rates may apply.

Music Format On-Air Personality

• For Hollywood Hamilton, text “10”
• For Lon Helton, text “20”
• For The Mark and Brian Show, text “30”
• For Ryan Seacrest, text “40”

Spoken Word Format On-Air Personality

• For Joe Madison, text “50”
• For Scott Slade, text “60”
• For Stephanie Miller, text “70”
• For Suzyn Waldman, text “80”

Chairman of the Radio Hall of Fame Kraig Kitchin says, “Listener engagement is an important part of this process as they’re given an opportunity to directly support their favorite on-air personality.”

The inductees of the two categories will be determined by the public and the Radio Hall of Fame Nominating Committee. The outcome of the listener vote counts as one vote among the committee votes. Inductees will be announced August 5. Fans needing more information can go to each host’s social media or the Radio Hall of Fame website.

There are four categories also being voted on by a panel comprised of nearly 1,000 industry professionals. Click Here for a list of nominees. Those inductees will be announced Aug. 5 as well. 

Returning sponsors of the 31st Annual Radio Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony include The Mix Group and V Creative.

Report: Taylor Swift Playing Victim Card

Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift was crowned the world’s highest paid celeb Wednesday, according to Forbes, with more than $185 million raked in over the past year. But, reports The NY Post, music industry insiders are accusing the star of “playing victim” in her attack on Scooter Braun last week for buying her former label, Big Machine Records, and say she could’ve scooped up the label herself.

Swift posted after Braun bought the label, “Scooter has stripped me of my life’s work, that I wasn’t given an opportunity to buy” and, “This is what happens when you sign a deal at fifteen.”

But an insider said of Swift: “Everyone knows she’s playing the victim. She has five homes, a private jet. She even summons her boyfriend [UK actor Joe Alwyn]. She sends a jet to London to pick him up and bring him to her when she needs him.”

Swift wrote in the lengthy post: “For years I asked, pleaded for a chance to own my work. Instead, I was given an opportunity to sign back up to Big Machine Records and ‘earn’ one album back at a time, one for every new one I turned in.”

But a source pointed out that Swift comes from a family of finance pros, and her dad, Scott, is a Big Machine shareholder.

“She’s omitting the fact that someone acquired the company. She could’ve bought it!” exclaimed a source of the deal. “Her dad is a multimillionaire shareholder. It’s a business transaction, and she’s making it all about her.”

Forbes released its list of the top 100 highest-paid entertainers on Wednesday, and 10-time Grammy winner Taylor Swift snagged the top slot. Forbes estimated that the 29-year-old’s pretax income was a staggering $185 million, a 131% increase over Swift’s take last year.

Much of Swift’s income came from her Reputation Stadium Tour, which brought in an estimated $266.1 million, the highest-grossing tour in U.S. history.

Kylie Jenner was right behind Swift, with an estimated $170 million in pretax income. Other KarJenner’s made the cut too. Her brother-in-law Kanye West nabbed No 3 with an estimated $140 million in earnings; his wife and Jenner’s sister Kim Kardashian brought in $72 million, landing her at No. 26. Jenner’s partner Travis Scott, meanwhile, brought in $58 million, landing him at No. 39.

Other artists hovering near the top include Beyonce at No. 20 with $81 million, Rihanna at No. 36 with 62 million, Ariana Grande at No. 62 with $48 million and Lady Gaga at No. 90 with $39.5 million.

SoFL Radio: Hubbard's WMEN New Flagship For FAU Sports

Florida Atlantic University has announced a broadcast relationship with Hubbard Radio on Wednesday, making WMEN 640 AM the Owls’ new flagship station.

Beginning with the start of the 2019 football season, the sports radio station — also known as “The Hurricane Sports Radio” — will air all FAU football and men’s basketball games through 2023-24. It also will carry a one-hour show with football coach Lane Kiffin and men’s basketball coach Dusty May during their respective seasons.

The new agreement ends FAU’s run with ESPN West Palm as its flagship radio station. Based in Royal Palm Beach, 640 The Hurricane increases the Owls’ coverage to the south through Broward County and into Miami. ESPN West Palm’s range did not extend past north Broward.

“We are extremely excited to enter into a new partnership with Hubbard Radio," said FAU athletics director Brian White in a statement. “This new relationship will allow FAU to broaden our reach within Palm Beach and Broward counties, which is a priority, as we continue to expand the FAU brand both locally and globally."

Ken LaVicka, known as “the voice of FAU athletics," will remain in his radio broadcasting role with FAU. While the release made no mention of color commentator Kris Bartels, a former FAU safety, White noted Bartels would continue broadcasting in a tweet. In addition to 640, there are six other radio stations under the Hubbard umbrella that will cross-promote with FAU: 97.9 WRMF,103.1 WIRK, X102.3, News-Talk 850 WFTL, Sunny 107.9 and Beatz 96.3

“We’re honored that FAU Athletics and Florida Atlantic Sports Properties have chosen Hubbard Radio’s cluster of seven stations to help bring the excitement of FAU Football and Basketball to fans across South Florida,” said Elizabeth Hamma, Senior Vice President and Market Manager for Hubbard Radio West Palm Beach, in a statement. "The growth of FAU Athletics has significant impact on our local South Florida community. We look forward to being a part of that growth for years to come.”

In addition to airing games and the two coaches’ shows, 640 will also air a weekly “FAU Update” segment during the a.m. and p.m. drives.

All broadcast aspects are overseen and managed by Florida Atlantic Sports Properties, FAU’s exclusive athletics multimedia rights-holder.