Tag: "Steve Carver"
Friday, July 24, 2015
CBS RADIO Announces Market Manager Changes. Taking over for Marc Rayfield at the CBS RADIO Philadelphia cluster as SVP/market manager is current director of sales David Yadgaroff. Rayfield was recently named market manager for the New York market. Elsewhere in the company, current Boston SVP/market manager Mark Hannon adds the same duties for Hartford, replacing the retiring Suzanne McDonald. CBS combines the SVP/market manager post for both Miami and Orlando and appoints Steve Carver, who replaces Joe Bell in Miami and Dave Robbins in Orlando. They both exit the company. Director of sales Tony Perlongo is promoted to SVP/ market manager in Las Vegas, taking over for the exiting Jerry McKenna; and Mike Valenzuela rises from VP/director of sales in the Riverside cluster to SVP/market manager, replacing Harvey Wells who’s returning to the Chicago area to be closer to family.
Orban Addresses Nielsen-Voltair Issue. Audio processor competitor Orban has been very quiet during the industry-wide discussion about 25-Seven’s Voltair processor but breaks that silence with a press statement released on Thursday (7/23). The statement says, in part, “Some have argued that Voltair is ‘just another form of audio processing.’ However, we believe that there is an essential and fundamental difference between audio processing (like that done by our Optimods) that increases the opportunity of the Nielsen encoder to insert audibly undetectable watermark tones and processing that directly manipulates the level of the watermark, potentially breaking Nielsen psychoacoustic masking model and allowing the tones to become audible. Based on their testing, Nielsen concluded that Voltair can degrade perceptual quality. In an environment where traditional radio is suffering ever-increasing competition from new media, we believe that it is unwise for radio to degrade its audio in an internecine battle whose ultimate winner could be non-broadcast providers. Because Nielsen is a large, global business that depends on producing credible audience measurements, we expect that it will soon solve any problem (if it actually exists) by making improvements to its encoder. Accordingly, we have decided not to add processing to Optimods that directly manipulates the Nielsen watermark signal because we expect that any such effort would degrade audio quality and would soon be rendered obsolete by Nielsen’s encoder improvements. Moreover, we trust the Media Rating Council to thoroughly evaluate any such improvements, as they have already done for the Nielsen PPM system in its current form. While it is true Orban’s Optimod processors are compatible with Voltair, we urge caution.”
Doug Steckler Ends Friday Appearances with Tim Conway Jr. on KFI, Los Angeles. For the last four years, Doug Steckler has been co-hosting the Friday evening edition of Tim Conway Jr.’s show on iHeartMedia’s KFI, Los Angeles. But that is ending and Steckler says in a statement, “I am leaving the Tim Conway Jr. show on KFI where I enjoyed sharing Friday
evenings with the funniest, nicest guy in radio. We had more fun than should be legal. All good things must come to their finish and it’s always better (if still difficult) to get out while you can still hear the laughter. I want to wish everyone connected with the Tim Conway Jr. show the very best in every way. I would like to especially express my profound gratitude to Sheron Bellio, our executive producer, whose creativity, original thinking, laser wit, and supernatural administrative abilities made every Friday a wonderfully conspiratorial caper.” Conway and Steckler co-hosted a talk show on the old hot talk-formatted KLSX-FM, Los Angeles (now CHR KAMP) from 1996 through 2005. Doug Steckler is represented by Jason Insalaco’s Kelton Agency.
WTEM, Washington Adds Craig Hoffman for Redskins Beat Reporter Gig. This will be a year-round gig at Red Zebra Broadcasting’s Washington Redskins flagship WTEM “ESPN 980” for Craig Hoffman as he is named the new Redskins beat reporter. Hoffman was most recently with ESPN O&O KESN, Dallas “103.3 FM ESPN” as a host and update anchor. Red Zebra says he has experience “covering both professional and college teams along with reporting from large national events like the NCAA Final Four. Craig will cover the Redskins year-round and will contribute content to the station’s local shows. He will also be part of the game-day broadcasts on the Redskins Radio Network while producing content for ESPN 980’s website and social media outlets.”
Paul Vandenburgh Takes Top Talk Show Honors in Metroland ‘Best Of.’ WGDJ, Albany owner, general manager and morning talk host Paul Vandenburgh’s daily show was named the Best Talk Radio Program in the market by Albany alternative weekly Metroland. Here’s how the entry reads: “This is the show for local issues. Special mention must be made of the must-listen interviews he conducted with local reporters on scene in Dannemora during the prison break. Standard disclaimer: We’re a bunch of liberals and disagree with 75 percent of his opinions, but so what? Who didn’t enjoy it when he went after Troy’s City Hall clown show during the frozen pipes scandal?”
Odds & Sods. Los Angeles-based talk legend Tom Leykis is streaming his program live from the Maximum Yield Indoor Gardening Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center tomorrow (7/25) from 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm PT from the Aqua Camel booth. What is Aqua Camel? It’s a self-watering plant pot system that uses 65% less water. The company is co-founded by Tim Sabean, former Sirius Satellite Radio and CBS RADIO programmer…..Hearst-owned WBAL, Baltimore “NewsRadio 1090” agrees to a new multi-year partnership with the Naval Academy Athletic Association to continue serving as radio flagship for Navy football. This will be the 11th consecutive year WBAL has broadcast Navy football.
Got Old Radio Shows? Opportunity to Monetize Content in Your Basement. One of the largest independent audiobook companies in the world, Blackstone Audio, is looking to expand its product offerings beyond audiobooks into spoken-word, including comedy, opinion pieces, soundtracks (non-musical), old-time radio and TV shows, sports broadcast highlights, and any other forms of spoken-word or subject matter that would be interesting to the audio-listening public. Blackstone would offer the content owners of recorded audio programs that they choose to license or distribute an arrangement under which the content owners would receive the majority of the net revenue from the sale of their content to the public by Blackstone. If you have recorded spoken-word content and would be interested in having Blackstone Audio consider it for licensing or distribution contact Larry Harris at talkharris@olypen.com.
2016 Presidential Candidates and Trump Criticisms Tie for Top Spot on Talkers TenTM. The activities of the candidates for president in 2016 and the criticism of Donald Trump’s recent statements tied for the top spot on the Talkers TenTM for the week of July 20-24. At #2 this week was the Iran nuclear deal. Coming in at #3 was talk about the U.S, immigration policy and the sanctuary city concept followed by threats from ISIS at #4. The Talkers TenTM is a weekly chart of the top stories and people discussed on news/talk radio during the week and is the result of ongoing research from TALKERS. It is published every Friday at Talkers.com. View this week’s entire chart here.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Norm Pattiz’ Courtside Entertainment Names Bob Moore President. Forty-year broadcast management pro Bob Moore rejoins Westwood One founder Norm Pattiz, this time as president of Pattiz’ Courtside Entertainment. Moore most recently was market manager of Cumulus Media’s Los Angeles stations. Prior to that he managed the CBS Radio Los Angeles cluster. Pattiz says he and Moore go back a long way in the business. “Bob Moore is a one of a kind guy. I’ve known him since the 70s when he followed me as the sales manager of KCOP-TV in Los Angeles. I hired him at Westwood One because I thought anybody who could sell KCOP in the 70s could sell anything. He ran my station group in the 90s when we launched Pirate Radio in Los Angeles and bought WNEW and WYNY-FM in New York. I have no doubt that Bob will make a huge contribution to Courtside, the radio business and platforms yet to be discovered. They are all going to need programming. Bob will be joining Katie Walsh and me as our executive team.” On his new position with Courtside, Moore states, “I am extremely excited to be working with Norm Pattiz again. Norm has been a mentor of mine for many years. Working together at Courtside is a great opportunity to use my broadcast experience at stations and working with advertisers in a way that I find extremely appealing.”
KTLK, Los Angeles Adds Local Talk to PM Drive on Progressive Outlet. Tapping former KNBC-TV anchor David Cruz for the 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm talk show gives Clear Channel’s progressive talk outlet KTLK a high-profile Hispanic broadcaster on the staff and the ability to address Los Angeles issues in drive time. CC Los Angeles president Greg Ashlock states, “This is a fresh new look at Southern California through the eyes of a well-known, veteran network television and radio journalist very familiar with the Latino community in the nation’s second largest market.” Local Hispanic organizations are quick to praise the move. Approval from two such organizations – Latino Institute for Corporate Inclusion and the Latin Business Association – is included in Clear Channel’s release announcing the move. Cruz’ program bumps WSJRN’s “Daily Wrap with Michael Castner” from the PM drive slot.
WGN, Chicago’s Judy Pielach Adds Coordinator Duties. Reporter/anchor Judy Pielach takes on the added responsibilities of news room coordinator in the WGN, Chicago news room. She’ll work closely with program director Bill White on scheduling and assignments in addition to her reporting and anchoring work.
CBS Radio Promotes Two in Local Sales in Los Angeles and Chicago. Peter Bowen has been the director of sales at CBS Radio’s Chicago cluster for the past six years. He moves to the Los Angeles operations in the same role where he’ll work with SVP and market manager Steve Carver. In Chicago, CBS ups all-news WBBM general sales manager Mark Day to director of sales for the entire Chicago cluster under SVP and market manager Rod Zimmerman.
Another Public Radio Station Drops Music for News and Information. Cal State Sacramento-owned KXJZ-FM, Sacramento announces it’s dropping the daily jazz programming on the station – known as Capital Public Radio – to focus on news and info and is moving the jazz to other frequencies. The station will still feature some music shows on the weekend but is opting for more programming from NPR such as “Talk of the Nation” and “Fresh Air” plus the local “Insight” show and programming from PRI and BBC.
Dr. Evelyn Higgins Show Adds Sunday Program. The Main Street Radio Network-syndicated and Lifestyle TalkRadio Network-distributed Dr. Evelyn Higgins show is now producing a Sunday program. The show airs live Saturday from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm and now will be heard on Sunday from 9:00 am to 10:00 am as well. The program was launched nationally in November and is heard in more than 22 markets.
Michigan Radio Creates Mid-State News Bureau. Pubcaster Michigan Radio – operating stations in Ann Arbor, Flint and West Michigan – announces the establishment of a Mid-Michigan news bureau based in Jackson and headed by Steve Carmody. News director Vincent Duffy states, “We’ve long had daily coverage of Southeast and Western Michigan from our bureaus in Detroit and Grand Rapids, but there are many equally important stories taking place in mid-Michigan that are of interest to our audience. Our hope is that this bureau will assist us in covering important Michigan issues and events that take place in the cities of Lansing, Jackson and Battle Creek and their surrounding communities.”
GOP Primaries/2012 Presidential Race Most-Talked-About Story on News/Talk Radio for Week of January 9-13. Fresh off the New Hampshire Primary election with the South Carolina Primary looming, the GOP race and the larger 2012 presidential contest landed atop the Talkers TenTM chart of the top stories and people discussed on news/talk radio this week. Coming in at #2 was the growing concern over Iran’s military ambitions and its nuclear weapons development coupled with the assassination of one of its top nuclear scientists this week. At #3 was Iran’s sentencing a former U.S. Marine to death after accusing him of being a spy. Coming in at #4 was the tepid U.S. economic data. The Talkers TenTM is published every Friday at Talkers.com and is the result of ongoing research by TALKERS. View the entire chart here.
TALKERS Weekly Affiliate Roundup. Compass Media Networks’ “Free Beer & HotWings” show featuring Gregg Daniels, Chris Michaels and Eric Zane adds KXRX-FM, Tri-Cities, Washington and WBSX-FM, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania…..The Wall Street Journal Radio Network’s “Daily Wrap with Michael Castner” picks up KTAR-FM, Phoenix; KHOW, Denver; and KEX, Portland…..The DIRECTV-produced and Premiere Networks-distributed “Nick & Artie” sports-centric show – hosted by comics Nick DiPaolo and Artie Lange – adds KILT, Houston; KHTK, Sacramento; KTCT, San Francisco; and WMTI-FM, New Orleans…..“America’s Healthcare Advocate” with Cary Hall adds KDKD-FM, Clinton, Missouri.