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Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Mike Huckabee and Cumulus Media Networks Call it Quits on Daily Talk Show. Governor Mike Huckabee’s daily commentaries will continue after the New Year but the daily, three-hour talk show will not. Writing on Facebook, Huckabee says, “I have loved doing the Mike Huckabee show, and its success of going from launch to over 200 stations in less than two years is significant, but the contract was at a decision point for both Cumulus Media and me, and we mutually agreed to conclude.” Huckabee’s program debuted in April of 2012 with the conservative politician and media personality (who is still seen on weekends on Fox News Channel) promising to host a “different” kind of talk show that offers “more conversation, less confrontation.” There’s no way to know how successful CMN was in selling the show or how much money Huckabee made but it stands to reason the show was not making enough to justify continuing the effort on the part of either party.
Media Exec Paul Bell Named Business Director for Rush Limbaugh Print and Digital. Premiere Networks announces the appointment of Paul Bell to the position of business director of Rush Limbaugh print and digital subscriptions. Bell most recently worked with Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal and will remain based in New York where he’ll report to CCM+E president of content and affiliate services for national media groups Julie Talbott. Bell’s focus will be on all aspects of Limbaugh’s subscription businesses including oversight of strategic planning, direct
marketing, circulation management, and subscriber acquisition and retention for Rush 24/7; The Limbaugh Letter; as well as The Limbaugh eLetter, the recently-launched digital version of the publication now available via desktop and on mobile devices. While with Dow Jones/The Wall Street Journal, Bell was charged with overseeing strategy and business operations of The Wall Street Journal Sunday, the WSJ Wine Club and the WSJ and MarketWatch Radio Networks, as well as audio podcasting content licensing. Prior to that, Bell served as vice president, radio and executive director of The Wall Street Journal Radio Network for seven years. Julie Talbott states, “We couldn’t be happier to welcome someone of Paul’s caliber to our team. His extensive background in direct marketing and business operations are a winning combination as we continue to grow Rush Limbaugh’s loyal print subscriber base and digital platforms.”
Jeff Katz to Host PM Drive on WRVA, Richmond. Program director Jimmy Barrett tells TALKERS magazine that talk radio pro Jeff Katz is assuming the afternoon drive show from Clear Channel talk host Leland Conway who’s been
doing that program and the midday show on the company’s WHAS, Louisville since the early fall. With Conway now focused on Louisville, Katz can dedicate his attention to Richmond. Barrett states, “We’re excited to have someone with Jeff’s experience anchoring our afternoon drive. Jeff is funny, informative and a great match for the Richmond audience. Best of all, he’s coming here because this is where he wants to raise his family.” Katz has been part of the start-up at the Boston Herald’s online venture Boston Herald Radio hosting the morning show. Katz has been a columnist for the Herald and produces commentary features that air on a number of affiliate stations. He worked for Clear Channel in Boston on WXKS-AM prior to that station’s flip to sports talk. He starts at WRVA on Monday, December 2.
“Green Connections with Joan Michelson” to Debut on TalkersRadio this Saturday. An exciting new weekly program geared to the environmental movement in modern industry and culture is set for launch this weekend on TalkersRadio – the online experimental talk radio station at Talkers.com. The program will originate with brand new, one-hour installments on Saturdays at 3:00 pm ET that will be repeated at various times
throughout the week. The program’s tag lines are “live green, work green, earn green” and ”making cleantech cool.” Its host and producer, Joan Michelson, is a highly respected and accomplished Washington, DC-based journalist who specializes in energy and sustainability. She serves as the green expert on WTOP, Washington and has a blog on the Huffington Post, in addition to a number of major media platforms. Describing the new show, Michelson tells TALKERS, “We inform, engage, and connect people with the cool things and opportunities in energy and sustainability. Our stories range from politics and business, to jobs, gadgets, tips and the arts. I am very excited about bringing this groundbreaking show to such an innovative radio platform as TalkersRadio.” In announcing the launch, TalkersRadio general manager David Bernstein says, “This entertaining and informative program is a radio show whose time has come. There is a huge information-hungry audience for this and potential advertisers are sprouting up all over the nation creating an exciting new arena of economic growth making it incredibly fertile for talk radio. Joan Michelson brings a personal likability as well as tremendous knowledge to the discussion. We are proud to be giving birth to and nurturing what promises to be a major broadcasting entity. This SO fits the mission of TalkersRadio.”
WestwoodOne Bumps Dennis Miller to Noon ET Start. Nationally syndicated talk show host Dennis Miller’s WestwoodOne program will move to a new time beginning in January. The company announces the show’s live air time will shift from the current 10:00 am to 1:00 pm ET slot to 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm ET effective January 6. WestwoodOne CEO Paul Caine says, “WestwoodOne is happy to have the Dennis Miller show as part of our best-in-class lineup and programming. Miller attracts a very large and opinionated audience who are actively engaged across audio platforms, including digital. His show is a prime example of the critical role audio plays in cross-platform integration – a key element in the future of audio.” Miller, who resides in California, currently hits the air live at 7:00 am PT. He adds, “Thanks for letting me sleep in and continue to do the job that I love!”
Salem Communications Adds AM Signal to Miami Properties. With the purchase of WOCN-AM, Miami from Deportes Media of Florida, Salem Communications will have another AM signal in the market to complement business talk WZAB, Christian talk WHIM and Spanish Christian formatted WKAT. The price is $1.2 million for the station and its assets and another $1 million for the property on which the station and its transmitter sit. WOCN-AM is a class C AM at 1450 currently operating at 1,000 watts in a non-directional pattern.
Total Traffic + Weather Network Partners with TomTom. The two companies believe the multi-year partnership will augment both their businesses. Clear Channel’s Total Traffic + Weather Network says the arrangement will combine “TomTom’s industry leading real-time and predictive traffic flow data with Total Traffic + Weather Network’s traffic incident, construction and congestion data to create the most
comprehensive traffic solution available in North America. The combined data offering will be available across multiple platforms including radio, television, automotive, online and mobile.” CCM+E EVP engineering & systems integration Jeff Littlejohn states, “We are thrilled about this partnership. Every day, more than 200 million drivers and thousands of our affiliates depend on TTWN for their traffic information. We value that trust and are dedicated to delivering the most precise traffic data available. Therefore, we strive for best-in-class, strategic partners to advance our offerings. TomTom is a committed and innovative leader in traffic products. We are excited about creating new solutions together to provide the fastest, most accurate traffic information to drivers every day.”
Odds & Sods. Jack Callaghan leaves the sales end of the business to return to the mic at Clear Channel’s WTAM, Cleveland where he’s the new news director. Callaghan was most recently eastern regional sales manager at Santa Clara, California-based Beat the Traffic…..Cumulus Media’s WPRO-AM and 99.7 FM in Providence produces its second annual “Top Turkeys” countdown that celebrates the notable and notorious from Southern New England. This year’s winners included Rhode Island native and “Jersey Shore” star Pauly D confirming he’s a baby daddy; former Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey announcing a run for governor only to pull out three days later; and calamari – often a punch line for jokes in Rhode Island – failed to be voted the Official State Appetizer after the State Senate declined to vote on it altogether. WPRO-AM PD Craig Schwalb says, “Thanksgiving offers WPRO the perfect opportunity to poke fun at some of the most interesting and most absurd news stories that occurred in the great state of Rhode Island this year.” Check out the web feature here.…..ESPN Deportes Radio reaches what it terms a “sub-license agreement” with Fox to broadcast the UEFA Champions League. The coverage kicked off with two live double headers: Zenit vs. Atlético and Ajax vs. Barcelona yesterday and CSKA Moskva vs. Bayern and Real Madrid vs. Galatasaray today (11/27).
It’s Like Déjà Vu All Over Again. It is an extremely unlikely narrative – but it actually is happening. When Clear Channel took over ownership of heritage radio station WOR, New York from Buckley Radio about a year ago, they moved it from its location in an iconic building on Trinity Place next to the historic Trinity Cemetery about a block from Wall Street to their already-established headquarters in a different part of lower-Manhattan. And as we all know, they also made staff changes in both programming and management. These changes included the departure of longtime WOR
VP/GM Jerry Crowley and his executive assistant Noelia Santelli. Being, as TALKERS publisher Michael Harrison describes “one of the most savvy, connected and well-liked broadcasting executives in the Big Apple,” it didn’t take long for another radio company to recruit Crowley (as well as Santelli) for their own New York operation. That company was Salem Communications for whom Crowley brought his talents as VP/GM of talkers WMCA (570) and WNYM (The Answer). At that time, these stations were located close-by at Salem’s operation across the river in New Jersey. Now for the good part — on December 9, Salem is taking advantage of the marvelous radio broadcasting space vacated by Clear Channel on Trinity Place and moving the operations of both stations into the same suite of offices and studios previously occupied by WOR. That means that Crowley and Santelli (who is now Salem New York’s national sales manager and executive assistant to the general manager) will be moving back to their original offices and even the same desks and furniture! Amazing!
Thanksgiving Holiday, ObamaCare Criticism, Iran Nukes Deal, Immigration Legislation, CBS Gives Lara Logan LOA, and Alec Baldwin Loses MSNBC Gig Among Top News/Talk Stories Yesterday (11/26). The holiday weekend and the weather-affected travel situation; scrutiny of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act; the negotiations for an Iranian nuclear program deal; President Obama’s proposed immigration legislation; the leave of absence given to CBS reporter Lara Logan in connection with the “60 Minutes” Benghazi report; and Alec Baldwin’s MSNBC show gets cancelled after reports of his “homophobic” language and on-set behavioral issues were some of the most-talked-about stories on news/talk radio yesterday, according to ongoing research from TALKERS.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Eight More Arbitron PPM Markets Gain Accreditation by MRC. The Media Rating Council gives accreditation to eight more Arbitron PPM markets – making the total number of accredited markets 26. In making the announcement, Arbitron notes that the MRC is not granting accreditation in the remaining 22 markets at this time. The eight newly accredited markets include: Cleveland, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Denver-Boulder, Detroit, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood, Pittsburgh, Portland OR, and Nassau/Suffolk (Long 
Island). They join the 18 markets the MRC is voting to continue accreditation: Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, Chicago, Cincinnati, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Milwaukee-Racine, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Riverside-San Bernardino, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater. Arbitron executive vice president, service innovation and chief research officer Gregg Linder states, “MRC accreditation for our PPM markets is a company-wide priority at Arbitron, and we are pleased the MRC continues to recognize our ongoing efforts to improve Sample Performance Indicators and other quality metrics in our Portable People Meter ratings services. Continuous improvement remains our watchword, for PPM and for all our ratings and software offerings and we are focused on earning accreditation for the balance of our PPM markets.”
Former CNN Producer/Reporter Joins Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze. Steve Krakauer – former CNN digital producer and media reporter – is named vice president of digital content for TheBlaze. In his work at CNN, Krakauer oversaw the social and digital output of the CNN domestic U.S. television programs. He also managed the team that ran @CNN — the network’s flagship Twitter account. Krakauer joined CNN in November 2010 as the digital producer of “Piers Morgan Tonight.” At TheBlaze, Krakauer will be responsible for growing the network’s presence across all digital media. TheBlaze president and chief content officer Joel Cheatwood states, “Steve was one of the first people to truly recognize the growing relationship between digital media and traditional television and has built a remarkable track record integrating the two media. We are excited to have Steve join TheBlaze as we continue to be at the forefront of creating a television network designed for the 21st century.”
Ed Schultz Returns to Weeknights on MSNBC. It hasn’t been quite five months since MSNBC moved “The Ed Show” from weeknights at 8:00 pm to a Saturday and Sunday 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm slot with Ed Schultz saying the move was for personal and professional reasons. Now, the Hollywood Reporter writes that MSNBC president Phil Griffin asked Schultz to return to weekdays in the 5:00 pm slot replacing the first run of “Hardball with Chris Matthews.” Matthews’ show will only air at 7:00 pm beginning August 26 when Schultz returns to weekdays. Griffin told the publication, “Ed has proven himself no matter where we’ve put him.”
CEO Gary Nell to Exit NPR to Head Up National Geographic. NPR CEO Gary Nell announces he’s leaving the public radio company after 21 months on the job. In a letter to staff, he says, in part, “As president and CEO, supporting NPR’s success – your success – has been my highest ambition. Working together, we have put NPR on more solid footing to continue to deliver the highest-quality journalism and programming. We have launched innovative new platforms and made meaningful strides in attracting new audiences and new funding. We have promoted a series of collaborations in news gathering, development, and a digital future. And we have an exceptionally strong leadership team in place that is charting an ambitious path for our future. We also face challenges, including the mandate to bring NPR to break-even cash operations. We are completing a plan to focus our limited resources which support our essential services to stations and audiences. We will present that plan to the Board soon, go over it carefully, and make it a reality.” Nell took over the reins of NPR in December of 2011 after the high-profile departure of former CEO Vivian Schiller. During her tenure, Juan Williams was fired after making comments on Fox News Channel admitting to feeling nervous when seeing people dressed in Muslim garb on airplanes. Also, NPR fundraiser Ron Schiller (no relation) was recorded denigrating conservatives at a lunch meeting.
Boston Herald Reports Kevin Graham Will Succeed Jason Wolfe at WEEI-FM, Boston. There is no confirmation from Entercom Boston market manager Jeff Brown about the Boston Herald’s recent report that KFNZ, Salt Lake City “1320 KFAN” program director and afternoon drive co-host Kevin Graham will take over the program director post at the station. According to his bio on the KFNZ website, Graham was one of the key architects of KFNZ back in 1996 and has worked as programmer at KTAR-AM, Phoenix; WXYT, Detroit and other sports talk outlets. In addition to programming KFNZ, Graham co-hosts the Gunther & Graham pm drive show with Kyle Gunther. Longtime program director Jason Wolfe exited the station last week and the Boston media is rife with speculation about the status of the station’s air talent – especially morning duo John Dennis and Gerry Callahan. CBS Radio’s crosstown WBZ-FM “The Sports Hub” has been topping WEEI-FM in recent ratings reports. Still, the Herald also reports that Dennis and Callahan have been assured that they are not on the chopping block at this point.
Brent Seltzer and Meg McDonald (“Brent & Meg”) Sign Up as Charter Members of TalkersRadio Lineup. The married couple team of “Brent & Meg” (Brent Seltzer and Meg McDonald, pictured below) join the initial lineup of the soon-to-be-launched experimental internet talk station, TalkersRadio. They will be hosting a Monday through Friday, two-hour Los Angeles-based program titled, “The Brent & Meg Show,” that will stream live between 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm ET with possible re-streams at other times during the following 24 hours.
According to TalkersRadio GM David Bernstein, “There never has been a ‘Brent & Meg Show’ prior to TalkersRadio. They are coming together to do this specifically because the station is designed for these kinds of experiments. Although they’ve been married for 28 years and have been in the media business doing everything from amazing short-form features to ground-breaking public relations campaigns for years, the idea of them being on the air live as a team hosting a long-form talk show is the brainchild of Michael Harrison who has been after them to do this for over two years now since hearing them bounce off each other in the ongoing short-form feature ‘Brent Seltzer, Still at Large.’ ”I am excited about the potential of this show. We envision it to be in the tradition of the classic husband/wife chat shows of the golden era – except with its focus fully planted on a 21st century foundation.” The short-form feature “Brent Seltzer, Still at Large” — written, produced and performed by the couple — has accrued a dedicated multi-platform cult-following on Podjockey.com and XM Satellite Radio after having broken out in 2008 as a hot commodity at KSRO, Santa Rosa. According to the couple, “Outraged by the cable TV political bloviates, we invented ‘Brent Seltzer, Still at Large’ as a panacea to the anger and complacency that radio was becoming. We figured that since all the extreme right wingers and extreme left wingers were only preaching to their targeted choirs, we could have an extremely good time talking about anything to everyone. It is our intention to continue that tradition on the ‘Brent & Meg Show.’ Absolutely no politician, celebrity, corporate business practice, social custom, anything or anybody will be safe from our scathing, biting and hopefully humorous and entertaining observations. Hey, we just wanna have fun!”
Brent Seltzer is legendary in the annals of West Coast radio having worked as a personality “rock ‘n’ roll newsman” on two of the most storied signals in rock radio history – KMET, Los Angeles and KGB, San Diego — as well as LA’s KZLA-FM/AM, KNX-FM, and KMPC. He has also been a popular radio writer working for years at companies such as Watermark (“American Top 40”) and its founder Tom Rounds’ celebrated international company, Radio Express.
Born into a Hollywood show business family, Meg McDonald’s mother was the popular character actress Elisabeth Fraser and her father was the dancer Ray McDonald. Although a native of Santa Monica, her parents divorced when she was very young and her Mom moved to New York to co-star with Phil Silvers in his popular comedy, “You’ll Never Get Rich,” later known as “The Phil Silvers Show.” As her mother went to work in many classic films, TV shows and Broadway shows, Meg found herself surrounded by gifted writers including Neil Simon, Norman Lear and Gore Vidal. Returning to LA after a few years, Meg never thought of herself as a performer, so she majored in Journalism at LACC, but chose a career in public relations where she has forged an award-winning history as founder of her own shop, McDonald Media Services. Strikingly beautiful with a big gorgeous voice, she always wanted to be on-air but was too shy to take the shot, until she met Brent Seltzer. “The Brent & Meg” show debuts on TalkersRadio Tuesday, September 10. For more information about TalkersRadio call 413-565-5413 or email GM David Bernstein at david@talkers.com. TalkersRadio streaming is powered by Backbone Networks.
WOWO-AM/FM, Fort Wayne Morning Show to Begin TV Simulcast. Federated Media’s WOWO-AM/FM, Fort Wayne will begin a simulcast of one hour of “Fort Wayne’s Morning News with Charly Butcher“ on local NBC affiliate WISE-TV “NBC33″ on September 23. The television outlet will air the 6:00 am hour of Butcher’s program using several high definition cameras placed in the studio and newsroom at WOWO. Program director Ryan Wrecker says, “What we’re doing is taking a historic show in the market and advancing it to a new medium. Finding new platforms for our product is an important part of our station strategy, and we think this is going to make a big impact not only in the market but it’s what should be expected for news/talk stations looking for ways to gain a younger audience share.” Butcher states, “We’re excited to bring a show we work very hard on every morning to NBC33. It’s another way for listeners to get a behind-the-scenes look at what we do and get all the information they need every morning. I’m not excited that I might need to start wearing make-up.” Pictured above is the WOWO-AM/FM morning show in action (Butcher at right.)
SiriusXM and MLB Reach Six-Year Extension. Satcaster SiriusXM and Major League Baseball have reached an agreement to extend their relationship for another six years. As a result, every regular season and post-season game will be available on both Sirius and XM platforms through 2016. The deal also includes select exhibition games and Spanish-language broadcasts. SiriusXM president and chief content officer Scott Greenstein states, “Baseball has been an essential part of our programming lineup and we’re very happy to extend our relationship with MLB to deliver the games to our subscribers for many years to come. We’re especially pleased to now offer the games to SiriusXM subscribers whether they listen through Sirius radios, XM radios, the SiriusXM App or online.”
NPR Producer Teshima Walker Dies at 44. After a two-year battle with colon cancer, NPR executive producer Teshima Walker passed away on Friday morning. Walker had been executive producer of the Michel Martin-hosted “Tell Me More” program since 2011. She’d been with the show in various capacities for four years prior to that. During her career she had worked at WBEZ, Chicago and served as a producer on the Tavis Smiley program.
Straight from The Lip
By Mona Lipschitz
TALKERS MAGAZINE
Columnist
Happy New Year everyone…..Finally after 21 years of gathering and writing “NewsNotes” for the print version of TALKERS magazine, the powers here finally recognized that I am intimately aware of what’s happening in this industry and know how it works. So, they gave me my own column here at Talkers.com (in lieu of a raise) and said, “Knock yourself out, Mona.” I plan to take them up on it and promise to make the most of this opportunity. Look out Talkers Nation! The Lip is loose! Okay, enough with the posturing crap. Let’s go…..There are huge lessons to be learned from the “Walter Sabo Exits Merlin” saga. An idea guy like Walter should not be “operating” anything. His job title at Merlin was COO — chief OPERATING officer. Wrong role! Walter should be giving ideas, advice, encouragement and inspiration to people who do the operating and the executing. As a consultant, he’s done that quite well for more than two decades. I am glad he’s back where he belongs and where the industry needs him. I’ve never met Randy Michaels but my impression from tons of first-hand sources is he isn’t that much better suited to be an operator than Walter. Look at his track record. Seems to me Randy is kind of an idea guy himself. Maybe the best idea he had was to hire Walter and tap into some of his ideas. But I question if Randy and Walter were the right guys to pull it off with the people in the programming trenches — the PDs, anchors, producers, writers — and actually produce an on-air product worthy of the concept. Before Randy capitulated to the instantaneous naysayers and nervous investors (blowing Walter out of the loop in the process) and turned Merlin’s New York and Chicago properties into half-baked versions of their CBS all-news competition, he and Walter were on the right path regardless of the ridicule and poor numbers faced in the early going. Some of the greatest human success stories begin by facing these obstacles. The ridicule was deserved because they rushed the format onto the air before it was ready. The poor numbers followed because the product wasn’t quite right and it takes time to get good numbers even when the product is good in spoken word. Heck – this ain’t disco in the late eighties! The idea of targeting an all-news station to women 25-54 on FM is brilliant and extremely do-able if done properly. The FM dial is a great place to pick up women! They are already there listening to many of the music stations (as well as public radio) and of course today’s working woman is interested in the “news.” You just can’t cater to the stereotypes of what women want – obvious superficial stuff like shopping, fashion, parenting and gossip. True, these are things of interest to women. But you must go much deeper to actually get them to change their habits and flock to a new address on the radio dial — especially within the space of one or two rating periods. Women want to feel emotionally connected to like-minded souls. They want to feel that they are not alone. They want to feel that they are part of a community and enjoy the comfort and camaraderie of other women who are sharing the same experiences, joys and fears. THAT’S how you get women to listen to talk on the radio. With all due respect to Randy and Walter, they don’t strike me as the kind of guys whose minds work in that direction. Forgive the cliché, but we seem to throw the baby out with the bathwater way too much in this business when great ideas fail to be executed properly…..Speaking of poor execution; someone should jump in – let’s call it intervention — and help CNN “personality” Anderson Cooper avoid destroying his career by trying to wear too many hats in an effort to boost ratings and be a media star. He should stick to one thing and do it well instead of becoming CNN’s in-house clown. I found his situation co-hosting New Year’s Eve from Times Square with goofball Kathy Griffin to be a painfully poor pairing and I had to turn it off and switch over to Ryan Seacrest who seemed like Walter Cronkite compared to Anderson if you can imagine that…..Congratulations to JD Hayworth and Melanie Morgan for being put on the air full time at KSFO, San Francisco. It is a relief to finally see Cumulus putting good people on the air instead of just throwing them off…..Our condolences goe out to the family of one of the smartest and nicest people in talk radio programming, David Bernstein of Bernstein Talent, who lost his dad Charlie Bernstein to cancer over the holidays. David described his dad as his “hero.”…..Hey, if you hear of anything interesting, let me know. Send your tips to mona@talkers.com To go to the main news page, click here.
