Mark Mason Returns to KEX, Portland for New Midday Talk Show.  Portland radio personality Mark Mason is returning after a three-year hiatus to iHeartMedia’s “News Radio 1190” KEX to host a new midday talk show, beginning Monday (1/23).  Mason co-hosted the “Mark & Dave” show with Dave Anderson on the station for 18 years.  Anderson lost his battle with pancreatic cancer last year.  Mason says, “After I lost my good friend and co-host Dave Anderson, my perspective on life changed and I wanted to return to the Portland community that embraced me.  I’m excited to return to the KEX family and bring my 100% hate-free brand of talk radio back to Portland.”  KEX says the new 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm program will offer Mason’s “uplifting perspective on pop culture, national news, politics and currents events, as well as reports on local news, traffic and weather.”  KEX program director Cort Webber comments, “We are thrilled to have Mark back home at KEX where he belongs.  The place just hasn’t been the same without him.  We’re excited to kick off a new year and a new administration with a new show from an old friend.”  Mason continues to serve as the public address announcer for the Portland Trailblazers, a role he has held for the past 21 years.

Emmis Promotes Conner to Lead Network Indiana.  Longtime Emmis Terre Haute general manager James Conner is taking over the general manager role for the company’s Network Indiana, effective January 30.  Network Indiana is a statewide service providing news, sports and business programming to affiliated radio stations.  Emmis Indianapolis senior vice president and general manager Chuck Williams states, “James will lead Network Indiana with a mission to continue our history of building meaningful value with our Network Indiana team and for our affiliates.  Network Indiana is a strong brand and an important ingredient in the success of our Emmis Indianapolis Radio Division. James will be focused on helping our team grow Network Indiana relationships, operations and of course, growing value for this historic Emmis Brand.”  The company says Conner has successfully managed the radio stations in Terre Haute the last 22 years, noting that the cluster has consistently accounted for more than 40% of the market revenue.

Trump Inauguration Top News/Talk Story for Week of January 16-20, 2017.  The Inauguration of the 45^th President of the United States and the protests against Donald Trump tied for the most-talked-about story on news/talk radio this week, landing atop the Talkers Ten^TM.  At #2 this week was the last days of the Barack Obama presidency.  Coming in at #3 was the several cabinet confirmation hearings, followed by the Chelsea Manning commutation at #4.  The Talkers Ten^TM 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 magazine.  It is published every Friday at Talkers.com.  View this week’s entire chart here.

Tags: Chuck Williams, Dave Anderson, Emmis, iHeartMedia, Indianapolis, James Conner, KEX, Mark Mason, Network Indiana, news/talk radio, Portland, Talkers Magazine

Category: Front Page News, Industry News