UPDATES FROM THE WORLD OF RADIO

Hello Blogosphere,

I think it is time to update you on some of the goings-on in the radio world in the past few months.

It was announced today that Tribune Company, the long-bankrupt owner of the famous WGN radio among other assets, has finally emerged from bankruptcy. Tribune is now under the ownership of senior creditors including Oaktree Capital Management (no stranger to radio...also owns Dial Global Radio Network and station owner Townsquare Media), JP Morgan Chase, among others. Tribune has been in bankruptcy for the longest time because of a hostile takeover by Chicago real estate mogul Samuel Zell back in 2007.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the media coverage of Hurricane Sandy. In my opinion, radio did an incredible job of getting the word out to the listeners. Here are some of the aspects: Many New York radio clusters were struggling to get by themselves due to equipment failures and evacuations. For example, on Long Island, the Connoisseur Media cluster (KJOY, B-103, etc.) switched in to all news mode...part with their own staff and part using another outlet. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Connoisseur Long Island has a deal with Cablevision's local news channel, News 12, which allows the former to carry the latter's feed during an emergency like this. Another example was Cumulus Media's WABC-AM. This legendary station broadcasted its former sister station, WABC-TV, which is now owned by Disney, due to its deal with them and the former ownership. Other stations such as the legendary WOR utilized the feed of WNBC-TV. Overall, great effort by the media industry as a whole.

About two months ago, the controversial Michael Savage show has come back on the air...but, here's the kick: It is on a new network. Mr. Savage won a legal dispute with his former syndicator, Talk Radio Network. Now, Cumulus Media Networks, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Cumulus Media, has graciously signed a contract with Mr. Savage to air his political talk show on over one-hundred of their 500+ stations. Shortly after this announcement, Cumulus Media announced that they will add Mr. Savage's show to their NYC flagship station, 77 WABC.

I want to wish all of my readers a happy and prosperous new year! I hope you are enjoying yourself! Stay safe and I will see you in the New Year!

Stay tuned tomorrow as I dedicate a special post to looking back on 2012 in radio! I hope you will join me!