Dear blogosphere,
I would be remiss if I didn't post something regarding this horrible incident that took place this morning in Aurora, Colorado.
Personally, I don't have any family or friends in Colorado. But, I send my prayers out to them anyway. I can't even imagine what those involved and the town of Aurora, itself, is going through right now. My prayers are with you, sweet people.
As for the media aspect of it, the media has been dealing with this in the best way they know how. KCNC-TV, the local CBS owned-and-operated station has been at the forefront since the beginning. To see their full coverage of this tragic day, feel free to visit their website at denver.cbslocal.com.
As always, feel free to contact me at aaron.waisler@gmail.com, comment on this post, and/or visit my blog forum on the homepage. KEEP RADIO ALIVE!!
STAY STRONG COLORADO!! OUR PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU!!
Sincerely,
Aaron Waisler
Blogger Extraordinaire
Friday, July 20, 2012
Cox Radio Rolls with the Changes...
Cox Radio has a big corporate announcement to make: They are Downsizing!
They just announced this morning that they are looking to shed some of their radio/TV markets. As of right now, they are looking at selling 28 radio stations and 4 TV stations in slower markets in order to focus on larger markets. They are also on a buying binge, of sorts. They have their eyes on two markets where they will buy 2 stations each. These markets are Jacksonville, FL (WAWS-TV and WTEV-TV) and Tulsa, OK (KOKI-TV and KMYT-TV).
On the radio side, they are planning to sell stations in six markets. These markets include Birmingham, Greenville, SC, Hawaii, Louisville, Richmond, and Southern Connecticut. They will also sell some TV properties: KFOX-TV (El Paso), WJAC-TV (Johnstown, PA), WTOV-TV (Steubenville), and KRXI-TV and operating rights to KAME-TV (RENO)
At the corporate level, several leadership positions will either be eliminated or shuffled around.
Some of these changes include the movement of Former CMG VP Kim Guthrie to SVP, where she will be in charge of radio markets, while former Austin American-Statesman Publisher Jane Williams will take the position of SVP in charge of CMG's TV portfolio. Both will report to former WSB-TV GM and now Executive Vice President of Broadcast, Bill Hoffman.
Former Group Vice President Rich Reis is now the Vice President/GM in charge of all CMG's digital operations.
Former Group Vice President Ben Reed is now the Vice President and Market Manager in charge of the Atlanta CMG radio cluster. He takes over for Dan Kearney, who was recently tapped as VP/Market Manager of CMG's Miami radio operations. Kearney takes over for Jerry Rushin, who is retiring from the company this month.
Many more changes have been announced. For more info, please visit www.allaccess.com.
The moment this article caught my eye, I thought about my friends working both in the New York market and the Atlanta market. I was more worried about my friends working in the Long Island market than I was Atlanta. For CMG, Long Island is a much smaller market (only 2 stations). But, when I read the article further, I was relieved that neither New York or Atlanta is on the chopping block.
You can send me your thoughts and comments, as always, at aaron.waisler@gmail.com, by commenting on this post, and contributing to my blog forum. I hope to hear from many of my readers!!
They just announced this morning that they are looking to shed some of their radio/TV markets. As of right now, they are looking at selling 28 radio stations and 4 TV stations in slower markets in order to focus on larger markets. They are also on a buying binge, of sorts. They have their eyes on two markets where they will buy 2 stations each. These markets are Jacksonville, FL (WAWS-TV and WTEV-TV) and Tulsa, OK (KOKI-TV and KMYT-TV).
On the radio side, they are planning to sell stations in six markets. These markets include Birmingham, Greenville, SC, Hawaii, Louisville, Richmond, and Southern Connecticut. They will also sell some TV properties: KFOX-TV (El Paso), WJAC-TV (Johnstown, PA), WTOV-TV (Steubenville), and KRXI-TV and operating rights to KAME-TV (RENO)
At the corporate level, several leadership positions will either be eliminated or shuffled around.
Some of these changes include the movement of Former CMG VP Kim Guthrie to SVP, where she will be in charge of radio markets, while former Austin American-Statesman Publisher Jane Williams will take the position of SVP in charge of CMG's TV portfolio. Both will report to former WSB-TV GM and now Executive Vice President of Broadcast, Bill Hoffman.
Former Group Vice President Rich Reis is now the Vice President/GM in charge of all CMG's digital operations.
Former Group Vice President Ben Reed is now the Vice President and Market Manager in charge of the Atlanta CMG radio cluster. He takes over for Dan Kearney, who was recently tapped as VP/Market Manager of CMG's Miami radio operations. Kearney takes over for Jerry Rushin, who is retiring from the company this month.
Many more changes have been announced. For more info, please visit www.allaccess.com.
The moment this article caught my eye, I thought about my friends working both in the New York market and the Atlanta market. I was more worried about my friends working in the Long Island market than I was Atlanta. For CMG, Long Island is a much smaller market (only 2 stations). But, when I read the article further, I was relieved that neither New York or Atlanta is on the chopping block.
You can send me your thoughts and comments, as always, at aaron.waisler@gmail.com, by commenting on this post, and contributing to my blog forum. I hope to hear from many of my readers!!
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
BREAKING NEWS: CW TO AIR HISTORIC MUSIC FESTIVAL IN LAS VEGAS!
It was just announced this morning that the CW Television Network, a network owned and operated by both CBS and Time Warner (through Warner Brothers) will officially become the broadcast partner for Clear Channel's 2nd annual iHeartRadio Music Festival taking place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas later this year. The festival is scheduled to take place September 21st and 22nd with the broadcast taking place October 1st from 8-10pm.
According to All Access, here is what Clear Channel Media and Entertainment President John Sykes had to say: "The inaugural iHEARTRADIO MUSIC FESTIVAL was an amazing experience for our listeners and music fans across AMERICA, and this year's lineup is again going to exceed all expectations. With CW as the Festival's TV broadcast partner, we can give people who can't be in LAS VEGAS the ability to watch this extraordinary event from their own living rooms."
The CW also had some words to say regarding this partnership: "The CW is thrilled to partner with CLEAR CHANNEL to bring our viewers the exclusive TV broadcast of 2012 iHEARTRADIO MUSIC FESTIVAL," said CW Pres. MARK PEDOWITZ. "What better way to kick off our new FALL season than with many of the music industry’s biggest acts on The CW."
This sounds like a great partnership to me!! Since, I can not be in Las Vegas at the time of this historic sold-out event, I will definitely be watching as well as listening live through Clear Channel's on-line radio stream!! Tune In!!
To learn more about this historic partnership, please visit www.allaccess.com, feel free to email me at aaron.waisler@gmail.com, or, as always, comments are always welcome! Thanks so much and KEEP RADIO ALIVE!!
According to All Access, here is what Clear Channel Media and Entertainment President John Sykes had to say: "The inaugural iHEARTRADIO MUSIC FESTIVAL was an amazing experience for our listeners and music fans across AMERICA, and this year's lineup is again going to exceed all expectations. With CW as the Festival's TV broadcast partner, we can give people who can't be in LAS VEGAS the ability to watch this extraordinary event from their own living rooms."
The CW also had some words to say regarding this partnership: "The CW is thrilled to partner with CLEAR CHANNEL to bring our viewers the exclusive TV broadcast of 2012 iHEARTRADIO MUSIC FESTIVAL," said CW Pres. MARK PEDOWITZ. "What better way to kick off our new FALL season than with many of the music industry’s biggest acts on The CW."
This sounds like a great partnership to me!! Since, I can not be in Las Vegas at the time of this historic sold-out event, I will definitely be watching as well as listening live through Clear Channel's on-line radio stream!! Tune In!!
To learn more about this historic partnership, please visit www.allaccess.com, feel free to email me at aaron.waisler@gmail.com, or, as always, comments are always welcome! Thanks so much and KEEP RADIO ALIVE!!
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
So long, Neal Boortz...but not until next year!!
Neal Boortz, host of the nationally-syndicated radio talk show The Neal Boortz Show, has announced his retirement this past Monday. He will officially hang up the microphone for the final time on January 21st of next year, which happens to also be the day of our next president's inauguration ceremony. He cites the need to spend more time traveling with his wife of nearly 40 years, Donna.
Cox Media Group, owners of his flagship radio station in Atlanta (WSB-AM), and Dial Global, his distributor, have announced that his replacement will be former Presidential candidate and acclaimed businessman, Herman Cain. Herman had hosted a show of his own on WSB, but it never attained national syndication because he had to call it quits due to his presidential candidacy earlier this year. His show will not only be locally-based like his last go-round, but it will be nationally-syndicated.
I am not a huge fan of Neal Boortz, but still a fan nonetheless. I will miss his humor and I know Mr. Cain, as accomplished as he is, will have big shoes to fill.
And remember, folks: He still has about six months left on the air!! He is not going anywhere anytime soon!! But, nevertheless, I, for one, will be listening as much as I can before the Neal Boortz mic is hung up for the last and final time!!
If you want to see what your fellow radio lovers have to say about this topic, click here
If you have any questions about this breaking news story, please feel free to comment on this post or email me at aaron.waisler@gmail.com and I will try to reply.
Thanks so much and remember, KEEP RADIO ALIVE!!
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Atlanta officially makes "news"
Hello blogosphere,
Atlanta officially made news today with the launch of an all-news station.
All-News 106.7 officially made its debut at 5am this morning, contrary to popular belief. It was originally announced that WYAY would switch at 5am from their classic hits format to a 4-hour documentary about all-news and then, at 5pm, would be their official launch. But, instead, they jumped directly in to all-news (with no documentary interruptions) at 5am.
There are mixed emotions and reviews about this new station. A few people posted on All News 106.7's Facebook page saying, quote, "You lost a listener". Others say kudos to a great launch. I agree with the latter. I have listened to a few other all-news outlets make their debut and this is one of the better launches. They worked out many of the kinks and they sound great.
Here are some of the elements (traffic, weather, etc) to the station:
Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5
If you have any further questions about this new format/station or any other post, please feel free to contact me at aaron.waisler@gmail.com, comment on this post, or post on my forum on this blog. Don't forget to check me out at my new writing outlet, Examiner.com, where I am the official "Atlanta Media Examiner".
Thanks so much and KEEP RADIO ALIVE!!
Atlanta officially made news today with the launch of an all-news station.
All-News 106.7 officially made its debut at 5am this morning, contrary to popular belief. It was originally announced that WYAY would switch at 5am from their classic hits format to a 4-hour documentary about all-news and then, at 5pm, would be their official launch. But, instead, they jumped directly in to all-news (with no documentary interruptions) at 5am.
There are mixed emotions and reviews about this new station. A few people posted on All News 106.7's Facebook page saying, quote, "You lost a listener". Others say kudos to a great launch. I agree with the latter. I have listened to a few other all-news outlets make their debut and this is one of the better launches. They worked out many of the kinks and they sound great.
Here are some of the elements (traffic, weather, etc) to the station:
- Traffic on the 6's: Traffic is provided by a fellow Cumulus Media subsidiary, Right Now Traffic. The morning reporter is former Kicks 101.5 traffic reporter Greg Talmadge and the afternoon shift is done by former "Atlanta's Greatest Hits" DJ, Kristen Charles
- Weather on the 6's: Weather is outsourced to Fox-owned-and-operated Fox 5 Atlanta with the primary meteorologist being Joanne Feldman and others being Jeff Hill and Chief Meteorologist Ken Cook does the evenings
- Business Report: Business is provided by business publication "Atlanta Business Chronicle" with many reporters taking different shifts
- News Updates: Top of the Hour and Bottom of the Hour news updates are provided by Cumulus-distributed ABC News Radio, with many reporters.
- News: News is provided by All-News 106.7's own staff of reporters, many coming from the now-defunct CNN Radio.
Atlanta News, Weather, Traffic, and Sports | FOX 5
If you have any further questions about this new format/station or any other post, please feel free to contact me at aaron.waisler@gmail.com, comment on this post, or post on my forum on this blog. Don't forget to check me out at my new writing outlet, Examiner.com, where I am the official "Atlanta Media Examiner".
Thanks so much and KEEP RADIO ALIVE!!
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
I'M BAAAAACCCCKKKK!!
I'm Baaaaackk!!
I apologize for being away for a while...school has been occupying most of my time. Let me quickly summarize what is going on the world of radio as of late:
The most recent development is that of ESPN New York effectively acquiring a classic urban station by the name of 98.7 KISS FM. It was a very complicated deal where another urban station in town was also involved. 98.7 KISS FM's intellectual property rights were sold to WBLS, a station founded by the late civil rights leader Percy Sutton. Unfortunately, his family's company, Inner City Broadcasting (or ICBC Broadcast Holdings), is in deep bankruptcy and ready to go under. KISS FM's intellectual property rights were sold to WBLS's creditors under the name of YMF Media. ESPN comes in to play as they buy the 98.7 frequency from Emmis Communications, KISS FM's former owners, who is also coincidentally in major financial trouble.
Another development as of late is the formation of an all-news radio station in Atlanta, my hometown. Cumulus Media, a company owned and operated by the Dickey brothers, prominent Atlanta businessmen, is converting 106.7 Atlanta's Greatest Hits, a station it bought through its merger with the bankrupt Citadel Broadcasting Corporation, to all-news. Cumulus is not very familiar with this format. So, many Atlanta media outlets are assisting Cumulus in this endeavour. For example, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, a business publication owned by the American City Business Journals division of Advance Publications, is providing business reports. WXIA (11Alive) is also assisting in the endeavour. The station is scheduled to launch its new format any day now.
*Update: The launch date is officially this coming Tuesday (May 29th), although a so-called "soft launch" is expected to happen some time this weekend.*
*Correction: It has been announced at the time of launch that the Fox owned-and-operated television station will be providing weather reports throughout each broadcast day. 11 Alive has yet to become involved in some way, shape, or form. I hope this clears some things up.*
As you might have heard, CBS Television Stations' flagship WCBS-TV is now one-half of a duopoly, two stations owned by a single company in one geographic area. CBS bought WLNY, an independent locally-owned television station on Long Island. Many plans having to do with this deal have been announced. For instance, the former Tribune Company-owned WPIX-TV General Manager, Betty Ellen Berlamino, has been named as the GM for this newly acquired station. Also, all news broadcasts as of now have been put on hold due to the acquisition. They will resume news broadcasting from the WCBS-TV studios at the CBS Broadcast Center, CBS's main production and distribution facility, some time in July. WLNY's former studio will still be used not as a broadcast facility, but as a public affairs show studio and a revamped Long Island bureau. *Update: CBS has officially launched the revamped Channel 10, as of July 2nd!! They debuted a morning show by the name of "The Couch" which features Z100's Carolina Bermudez as one of the anchors among others. Stay tuned for more!!*
This next story is close to my heart because I interned at these stations. The Long Island Radio Group, a division of Massachusetts-based Barnstable Broadcasting, back in March announced that they will be selling their four-station cluster to Connecticut-based Connoisseur Media. The deal was valued at 23 million dollars, according to radio-info.com. So far, none of those that I worked with were affected. *Update: Connoisseur Media has officially closed on the four Long Island stations formerly belonging to Al Kaneb's Barnstable Broadcasting.The deal was closed officially last week.*
That's all for now...these are only some of the big stories making news.
For more information, please feel free to email me at aaron.waisler@gmail.com or post on my forum page of this website. Some good websites to go to for more info on any of these or others are www.radio-info.com and www.allaccess.com. Thanks for reading and KEEP RADIO ALIVE!!
I apologize for being away for a while...school has been occupying most of my time. Let me quickly summarize what is going on the world of radio as of late:
The most recent development is that of ESPN New York effectively acquiring a classic urban station by the name of 98.7 KISS FM. It was a very complicated deal where another urban station in town was also involved. 98.7 KISS FM's intellectual property rights were sold to WBLS, a station founded by the late civil rights leader Percy Sutton. Unfortunately, his family's company, Inner City Broadcasting (or ICBC Broadcast Holdings), is in deep bankruptcy and ready to go under. KISS FM's intellectual property rights were sold to WBLS's creditors under the name of YMF Media. ESPN comes in to play as they buy the 98.7 frequency from Emmis Communications, KISS FM's former owners, who is also coincidentally in major financial trouble.
Another development as of late is the formation of an all-news radio station in Atlanta, my hometown. Cumulus Media, a company owned and operated by the Dickey brothers, prominent Atlanta businessmen, is converting 106.7 Atlanta's Greatest Hits, a station it bought through its merger with the bankrupt Citadel Broadcasting Corporation, to all-news. Cumulus is not very familiar with this format. So, many Atlanta media outlets are assisting Cumulus in this endeavour. For example, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, a business publication owned by the American City Business Journals division of Advance Publications, is providing business reports. WXIA (11Alive) is also assisting in the endeavour. The station is scheduled to launch its new format any day now.
*Update: The launch date is officially this coming Tuesday (May 29th), although a so-called "soft launch" is expected to happen some time this weekend.*
*Correction: It has been announced at the time of launch that the Fox owned-and-operated television station will be providing weather reports throughout each broadcast day. 11 Alive has yet to become involved in some way, shape, or form. I hope this clears some things up.*
As you might have heard, CBS Television Stations' flagship WCBS-TV is now one-half of a duopoly, two stations owned by a single company in one geographic area. CBS bought WLNY, an independent locally-owned television station on Long Island. Many plans having to do with this deal have been announced. For instance, the former Tribune Company-owned WPIX-TV General Manager, Betty Ellen Berlamino, has been named as the GM for this newly acquired station. Also, all news broadcasts as of now have been put on hold due to the acquisition. They will resume news broadcasting from the WCBS-TV studios at the CBS Broadcast Center, CBS's main production and distribution facility, some time in July. WLNY's former studio will still be used not as a broadcast facility, but as a public affairs show studio and a revamped Long Island bureau. *Update: CBS has officially launched the revamped Channel 10, as of July 2nd!! They debuted a morning show by the name of "The Couch" which features Z100's Carolina Bermudez as one of the anchors among others. Stay tuned for more!!*
This next story is close to my heart because I interned at these stations. The Long Island Radio Group, a division of Massachusetts-based Barnstable Broadcasting, back in March announced that they will be selling their four-station cluster to Connecticut-based Connoisseur Media. The deal was valued at 23 million dollars, according to radio-info.com. So far, none of those that I worked with were affected. *Update: Connoisseur Media has officially closed on the four Long Island stations formerly belonging to Al Kaneb's Barnstable Broadcasting.The deal was closed officially last week.*
That's all for now...these are only some of the big stories making news.
For more information, please feel free to email me at aaron.waisler@gmail.com or post on my forum page of this website. Some good websites to go to for more info on any of these or others are www.radio-info.com and www.allaccess.com. Thanks for reading and KEEP RADIO ALIVE!!
Friday, February 24, 2012
"Dead People TV"
Good morning fellow blogreaders...I realize I haven't posted in a while. I have been incredibly busy. But, this just caught my eye.
Why are we, all of a sudden, streaming funerals? What is our fascination? I understand that Whitney Houston just passed away, but, do we really need to stream her funeral? In my view, broadcasters and fans should just leave the family alone during their time of grief. It would be one thing if it was a public memorial. But, since the family requested a private funeral, broadcasters and fans need to stay out of it and give the family their time to grieve their lost loved one.
Now, it was just announced today that the funeral of former Mets Hall of Famer Gary Carter, who recently passed away, will be streamed not only on the church's website, but also on a purely media website, cbsnewyork.com. What is this...funeral tv/radio? I don't get why people can't just leave the family alone.
They might as well just create a permanent TV network/stream all about funerals and dead people. Maybe that will make people happy....I think not!!
Thank you for listening to my rant and...broadcasters...read the memo and LEAVE THE FAMILY ALONE!!!
KEEP RADIO ALIVE!!
To contact me about this story, feel free to email me at aaron.waisler@gmail.com, comment on this story, or post a new topic in the forum and discussion board on the front page of this blog.
Why are we, all of a sudden, streaming funerals? What is our fascination? I understand that Whitney Houston just passed away, but, do we really need to stream her funeral? In my view, broadcasters and fans should just leave the family alone during their time of grief. It would be one thing if it was a public memorial. But, since the family requested a private funeral, broadcasters and fans need to stay out of it and give the family their time to grieve their lost loved one.
Now, it was just announced today that the funeral of former Mets Hall of Famer Gary Carter, who recently passed away, will be streamed not only on the church's website, but also on a purely media website, cbsnewyork.com. What is this...funeral tv/radio? I don't get why people can't just leave the family alone.
They might as well just create a permanent TV network/stream all about funerals and dead people. Maybe that will make people happy....I think not!!
Thank you for listening to my rant and...broadcasters...read the memo and LEAVE THE FAMILY ALONE!!!
KEEP RADIO ALIVE!!
To contact me about this story, feel free to email me at aaron.waisler@gmail.com, comment on this story, or post a new topic in the forum and discussion board on the front page of this blog.
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