Tag: "KUDL"

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Entercom Kansas City Officially Announces Debut of “The KMBZ Business Channel.”  The news leaked out via a local PR firm earlier this week but now Entercom Kansas City confirms its classical “Radio Bach” – KUDL, Kansas City – is being flipped to financial talk and will be branded “The KMBZ Business Channel on 1660 AM.”  Jack Landreth, program director of the KMBZ brand of stations, states the flip fills a void in the market, “‘The KMBZ Business Channel’ is a natural extension of our award-winning KMBZ News/Talk station.  Building on KMBZ’s many years of success, we are launching a business station dedicated to business leaders and investors.  By offering clear, concise business reports on Newsradio 98.1 FM and expanding those reports on ‘The KMBZ Business Channel on 1660,’ we will create a unique radio synergy.”  Vice president and general manager Dave Alpert says the station will focus on business news as it happens and opinions about financial issues.  “Business news is no longer just a stock market update.  In today’s fast-paced world, business is a 24-hour news cycle…We will deliver the very best business reporting and direct access to the insider opinions that drive business throughout Kansas City and around the country.”  Alpert and Landreth say their target audience is affluent, well-educated, homeowners over the age of 35, with household incomes over $100,000.  “With Newsradio 98.1 FM, KMBZ already delivering a business-to-business audience, the ‘KMBZ Business Channel’ will cultivate a broader base of influential listeners across high-income levels from wired workers and educated professionals to CEOs and managers.”

News Staffers Exit Merlin Media’s FM News 101.9 in New York.  Mediabistro FishbowlNY reports the departure of three on-air staffers from WEMP-FM, New York.  The site says former WWOR-TV anchor Sara Lee Kessler, who’d been with WEMP-FM since its beginning last August, has exited as have evening anchor Maureen Langan and reporter Bob Brown.  There’s no information whether any of the three were let go or left the station voluntarily.  This news comes a week after Eric Seidel was named interim program director at the all-news station.

ESPN Brings Former Colts Exec Bill Polian Aboard as NFL Analyst.  The sports media giant announces former Indianapolis Colts vice chairman Bill Polian is joining ESPN on March 12 – the day before NFL free agency begins – and will be seen on ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” “NFL Live,” “NFL 32,” as well as heard on ESPN Radio.  Polian will also write for ESPN’s digital initiatives and ESPN The Magazine.

Michael Patrick Shiels Exits Lansing-Based “Michigan’s Morning Show.”  Talk show host Michael Patrick Shiels and Cumulus Broadcasting have parted company with Shiels doing his last broadcast based at WJIM, Lansing and the 10-station Michigan Talk Network on Tuesday (2/28). Michigan Talk Network general manager Dave Minock tells Michigan Live, “He’s decided to move on and we’re carrying on as you can imagine.”  Minock says the program – distributed to the company’s WJRW, Grand Rapids and eight other stations around the state – will feature guest hosts until the company finds a permanent replacement for Shiels, who tells the site, “It was an amicable parting and I’m hoping I’ll get the opportunity down the road to reconnect with my Michigan listeners.”

Ric Edelman Public TV Series Wins Six Awards.  Top-ranked financial advisor and talk media personality Ric Edelman’s “The Truth About Money” public TV program is honored with six Telly Awards.  The awards honor outstanding international video and film productions.  Edelman’s radio program of the same name is heard in 54 markets on commercial talk stations across the U.S.  His public TV program was just renewed for a second season.  The program won awards in three categories – education, information and editing.  The program is dedicated to educating public television viewers about the latest data and research regarding how to save and invest their hard-earned dollars, while providing an entertaining framework.  Guests have included everyone from wealthy publisher Steve Forbes, to divorce guru Raoul Felder, to CNBC anchorwoman and Wall Street mainstay Maria Bartiromo.

Clear Channel Media and Entertainment Names Tim Castelli EVP of Digital Sales.  The longtime digital advertising executive who most recently worked at America Online becomes executive vice president of digital sales reporting directly to chairman and CEO John Hogan.  Tim Castelli will be in charge of national digital sales efforts and developing innovative advertising products and programs across several Clear Channel Media and Entertainment divisions, including strategic partnerships, national programming platforms and national advertising platforms and iHeartRadio, Clear Channel’s digital radio service.  John Hogan states, “Tim is recognized for his innovation and tactical expertise.  His understanding of advertisers’ needs and objectives will help them take even greater advantage of our unmatched resources.”

Broadcasters Foundation of America Raises More Than $250,000 at Golden Mike Award Dinner.  More than 250 radio and TV broadcasters attended the 2012 Golden Mike Award Dinner at the Plaza Hotel in New York City on Monday, February 27 to honor award recipient Dennis Swanson, president of station operations for Fox Television Stations.  The black-tie fundraiser collected more than $250,000 to support the BFoA’s mission of providing aid to broadcasters in desperate need.  Pictured here is Swanson (second from left) accepting the award from “Inside Edition” host Deborah Norville and Broadcasters Foundation chairman Phil Lombardo (second from right) and president Jim Thompson (far left).  In attendance were broadcasting luminaries serving as presenters including Roger Ailes of Fox News; Dr. Mehmet Oz, the syndicated TV show host and cardiac surgeon; Elsie McCabe Thompson of the Museum for African Art; and Larry Wert of NBC-TV.  Also during the evening, the Foundation recognized Rick Buckley, a longtime supporter of the Broadcasters Foundation who served as its treasurer for many years.  A fund established in Buckley’s name after he passed away suddenly in July has generated $50,000 to help broadcasters in need.

Star on the Rise: Florida Talk Show Host Burnie Thompson Making Statewide Waves from Base in the Panhandle.  Former Air Force Captain and college English teacher Burnie Thompson has been in the talk radio business since 2007 when he began broadcasting from his home base in Panama City, Florida.  Since that time, with the help of Don McCoy of McCoy Media, he’s expanded his daily 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm ET program from his flagship at Magic Broadcasting’s WYOO-FM, Panama City to stations in Jacksonville, Pensacola and Ft. Walton Beach.  Stations in Tallahassee and the Gainesville/Ocala markets are set to begin airing the daily show within the next few weeks.  Thompson also produces a weekend version culled from the best of the weekday show that currently airs on 13 stations across Florida.  Thompson has made so many inroads in such a short time that U.S. Senator Marco Rubio has reportedly dubbed him “Florida’s Voice of Freedom.”  Thompson is riding what he cites as a trend in talk radio making statewide programs more relevant and potentially popular than in the past.  That, coupled with Florida’s burgeoning image as a center of rapidly growing importance from a demographic and political standpoint on the national scene, gives Thompson’s syndication venture that much more gravity.  He says more important to his affiliates is the fact that his show became one of the highest-rated radio shows in Panama City for four consecutive years.  Many local businesses have hired him to endorse them, making the show a top revenue producer.  Thompson tells TALKERS, “The show is a mix between a 21st century town hall and your favorite saloon; a place where ideas collide and reason prevails.  Every day on the radio, I strive to expand freedom and protect the family budget from government plunder by giving Floridians a place to link arms.  I just want to make a difference in the Sunshine State – perhaps make it a little freer, and a little more prosperous.  Then we’ll expand our horizons.”  Thompson has been a freelance writer for more than a decade having work published in The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Washington Times, The Orange County Register, The Tallahassee Democrat, The Panama City News Herald, and more than a dozen other publications.  He has a master’s degree in journalism from USC, a master’s in English from Penn State and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Cal State Fullerton.

Mitt Romney’s Michigan and Arizona Sweep, Deadly Midwestern Storms, Ohio School Shooting Aftermath, North Korean Nukes Deal, Iran Tensions, Health Care Birth Control Controversy and Pop Icon Davy Jones’ Death Among Top News/Talk Stories Yesterday (2/29).  The GOP primary race in the wake of Mitt Romney’s victories on Tuesday; the deadly storms that swept through the Midwest; the Ohio school killings aftermath; the deal struck with North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons program; ongoing tensions over Iran’s nuclear weapons ambitions; the action in Washington over the health care birth control controversy and the death of pop icon Davy Jones were some of the most-talked-about stories on news/talk radio yesterday (2/29).

Alex Jones Rocks Orlando.  Genesis Communications Network nationally syndicated talk sensation Alex Jones is pictured here mugging for the camera at Orlando Jai Alai on February 26 alongside Star Over Orlando‘s WEUS midday talk host Doc Holliday.  Jones’ standing-room-only appearance included a live radio broadcast, a showing of his latest documentary film and an accompanying speech that WEUS says was, “a rousing affair that brought down the house!”  WEUS carries Jones’ radio show live from 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm ET.