Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Tim Van Horn of KWAM, Memphis is This Week’s Guest on Harrison Podcast
. TALKERS founder Michael Harrison describes him as “one of the most likeable radio talk show hosts in America.” Tim Van Horn, host of “Wake-Up Memphis” – heard mornings on heritage station KWAM, Memphis – is this week’s guest on the award-winning PodcastOne series “The Michael Harrison Interview.” Van Horn is familiar to radio and TV audiences in Memphis. For
over a quarter century, he’s been a longtime meteorologist at NBC affiliate WMC-TV, a play-by-play commentator of Memphis 901 soccer games on ESPN+ and a radio personality on iHeart’s WREC-AM before joining the Todd Starnes-owned independent news/talker in 2020. Van Horn is a prime example of a local personality and family man whose roots run deep within a community and is considered an upstanding friend and a neighbor to the local population. Harrison and Van Horn take a deep-dive into the world of local radio and the elements that keep in ticking as an iconic medium of American culture. To listen to the podcast in its entirety, please click here.Michael La Crosse to Lead Programming at iHeartMedia Sacramento. Programming pro Michael La Crosse is named SVP of programming for iHeartMedia’s Sacramento station group that includes news/talk outlets KFBK and KSTE and five music outlets. La
Crosse will continue to oversee the iHeartMedia Portland market as vice president of programming and will serve as program director for adult contemporary KBEB “92.5 The Breeze.” iHeartMedia National Programming Group EVP
Maynard says, “Michael is an outstanding programmer and human. He has worked closely with Sacramento and many other iHeartMedia markets over the past few years and I couldn’t be more excited to formally expand his leadership responsibilities and influence.” La Crosse comments, “I’m very humbled to get the chance to work with the amazing team in Sacramento. With a brand-new station like ‘KISS 107.9’ and a station like NewsRadio KFBK, that is celebrating its 100th anniversary, our stations are as diverse as Sacramento itself.”
Ernie Brown Moves to Morning Drive on WBAP, Dallas-Fort Worth. News and talk radio pro Ernie Brown moves from his late morning daypart to morning drive on Cumulus Media’s news/talk WBAP, Dallas-Fort Worth. Brown joins Hal Jay as co-host
of “WBAP’s Morning News” from 5:00 am to 9:00 am. WBAP program director
Bruce Collins says, “Ernie is exactly what we were looking for. He’s the ultimate professional broadcaster that knows how to relate to the
audience and understands the biggest stories of the day that resonate with our target audience. We’re excited to have him as our new morning show leader.” Brown comments, “We’ll talk about the issues that matter to WBAP listeners: inflation, gas prices, grocery prices, supply chain shortages, your money, covid, and of course the Cowboys! I’ve worked at great stations and organizations all over the country including KOGO in San Diego, ‘America’s Radio News’ in Washington, D.C.,
Western Journal – Phoenix, and KOMO in Seattle and hosted a national late night talk show called ‘America at Night.’ This is an incredible opportunity to get to work with Hal Jay and the talented WBAP morning team. I want to thank Cumulus DFW RVP/market manager
Dan Bennett and PD Bruce Collins.”
Podtrac Announces Top Podcast Publishers for June 2022. The ranking of top podcast publishers for June of this year from Podtrac based on unique monthly
audience (UMA) has been released and
iHeartRadio holds down the top spot with a U.S. unique monthly audience of 30.3 million. At #2 is
Wondery with a UMA of 23.8 million.
NPR follows at #3 (UMA 18 million),
The New York Times is #4 (UMA 11 million), and
NBC News is #5 (UMA 9.1 million). You can see the complete ranking of the top 20
here.
Audacy Unveils Updates to App and Website. The company announces that it has begun to make updates to its digital platform in the form of new features on the Audacy app and website. The company says, “We’ll be rolling out these enhancements over the coming weeks and months, with each release focused on positively impacting Audacy’s digital, podcasting, data, analytics, and ad tech capabilities. At the heart of these
updates lives truly interactive radio. We’re giving our listeners even more control over streaming radio with additional interactivity to both live and on-demand content. We’re also improving the discovery and curation of our radio and podcast content, presented seamlessly together within an evolved interface and user experience.” Initial updates include: 1) enhanced rewind in which listeners can rewind live news, sports, and news/talk stations and hear it all again; 2) curated discovery of content in which listeners are immersed into a personalized, interactive experience that is customizable, based not just on their favorite stations or podcasts, but also on their topical interests across news, sports and music; and 3) enriched podcast listening giving listeners access to nearly 3 million podcasts plus exclusive binging of Audacy Originals. The app also now presents radio and podcast content together, allowing listeners to consume the latest content from the shows they love along with the topics they’re interested in.
NAB Reveals 2022 Marconi Award Finalists. The finalists for the NAB’s 2022 Marconi Awards in numerous categories have been revealed. In the category of Legendary Station of the Year, three spoken-word stations made the cut: Audacy’s all-news KCBS-AM, San Francisco; Audacy’s all-news KRLD-AM, Dallas; and Bonneville’s news/talk KTAR-FM, Phoenix. Network/Syndicated Personality of the Year nominees
include:
Ramsey Media’s
Dave Ramsey,
Premiere Networks’
George Noory, and Premiere’s
Dan Patrick. News/talk and sports talk personalities making the finalist round include, in the Major Market Personallity of the Year category:
Mike Felger and
Tony Massorotti, WBZ-FM, Boston;
Greg Hill, WEEI-FM, Boston; and
Danny Parkins and
Matt Spiegel, WSCR-AM, Chicago. In the Large Market Personality of the Year category, finalists include:
C4 and
Bryan Nehman, WBAL-AM, Baltimore and
Tony Katz, WIBC-FM, Indianapolis. In the Medium Market Personality of the Year category, finalists include:
Harlen the Sports Guy &
Pigskin Bob, KYKX-FM, Tyler, Texas and
Kevin Miller, KIDO-AM, Boise, Idaho. The five finalists in the News/Talk Station of the Year category are: Audacy’s KNX-AM, Los Angeles;
Hubbard Radio’s KTMY-FM, Minneapolis-St. Paul;
Townsquare Media’s WKXW-FM, Trenton;
iHeartMedia’s WLW-AM, Cincinnati; and
Cox Media Group’s WSB-AM, Atlanta. And the five finalists in the Sports Station of the Year category are:
Cumulus Media’s KNBR-AM, San Francisco;
Beasley Media Group’s WBZ-FM, Boston; Audacy’s WIP-FM, Philadelphia; WMFS-FM, Memphis; and WXYT-FM, Detroit.
Mike Missanelli to Co-Host Eagles Postgame Show. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that longtime Philadelphia sports media personality Mike Missanelli, who exited Beasley Media Group’s WPEN-FM “97.5 The Fanatic” in May of this year, is working
with
JAKIB Media Partners to co-host a Philadelphia Eagles post-game show beginning this fall. The paper says that Missanelli and former
NBC Sports Philadelphia analyst
Seth Joyner are joining
Derrick Gunn and
Devan Kaney on JAKIB’s YouTube channel. The program will stream after each Eagles game this fall. As the
Inquirer notes in its story, JAKIB Sports streams three daily live programs including “Birds 365,” hosted by
John McMullen and WIP host
Jody McDonald; “Sports Take,” hosted by Gunn,
Barrett Brooks, and
Rob Ellis; and “The National Football Show” hosted by
Dan Sileo.
Audacy: Study Confirms Ad Engagement Increases with Each Audio Exposure. The results of an audio study conducted by independent market research consultancy Alter Agents in partnership with Audacy and media agency Spark Foundry, show that ad engagement climbs with each audio exposure across industry categories, audio platforms and genres. Audacy says that this distinctive content peak study shows that “exposing audiences to audio messages consistently offers resounding benefits in brand equity and sales. Audio seizes attention and builds intention, frequency after frequency. It offers brands opportunities for engagement and impact throughout the life of a campaign.” Audacy and Spark Foundry devised a custom neuroscience study in partnership with Alter Agents to gauge audiences’ second-by-second engagement (i.e., Immersion) with audio content and advertising, across advertiser categories, audio platforms, and genres. Spark Foundry provided samples of its clients’ advertisements in the retail, financial services and QSR industries. Over the course of a week, participants (national sample of P18-54) were exposed to a randomized rotation of audio content and advertisements up to 15 times. The team measured brand KPIs (e.g., brand opinion and intention to purchase) through a follow-up survey. Audacy SVP of research and insights Idil Cakim says, “The study, based on an incredibly rigorous design that combines neuroscience and survey methodologies, proves the strength of audio in the media mix. Audio’s ability to scale its effect through higher frequencies shows its unique ability to engage and drive value.”
Squad SCOTUS Protest, January 6 Hearings/Georgia Probe/Bannon Trial, Biden Approval Ratings, Midterms/2024 Race, The Economy, House Same-Sex Marriage Bill, COVID-19, Russia-Ukraine War, and Heatwave/Climate Change Among Top News/Talk Stories Yesterday (7/19). The Supreme Court Roe v Wade protest at which U.S. Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and others were arrested; the ongoing January 6 hearings, the investigation into former President Donald Trump’s alleged attempt to change Georgia’s 2020 election results, and the contempt of congress trial of former White House strategist Steve Bannon; President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings; the November midterm elections and speculation about the 2024 presidential nominees; the state of the U.S. economy as inflation and falling financial markets affect Americans; the U.S. House passes a bill protecting same-sex marriages; the rising rate of BA.5 subvariant COVID-19 cases; Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine; and the record-setting European heatwave were some of the most-talked-about stories on news/talk radio yesterday, according to ongoing research from TALKERS magazine.
Zimmer Communications Seeks News/Talk PD for Missouri Stations. Zimmer Communications in Columbia and Jefferson City, Missouri is looking for a news/talk program director. The ideal candidate would embody our company’s core values, have
outstanding organization, share our deep passion for the power of radio, be a wizard at solving problems, understand how to communicate with different personalities, create and execute a vision for future success, have news/talk radio experience, and be a service-based leader. See more about
Zimmer Communications here. To apply, email your resume, mp3, social sites, and anything else you feel we need to know about you to
RadioJobs@ZRGmail.com. Please include ‘News/Talk Program Director’ in the subject. No phone calls, please. Zimmer Communications is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Salem Media Group Seeks Producers. Attention producers! Salem Media Group is looking for producers. Salem has great radio stations, the Salem Radio Network, the
Salem Podcast Network, and the
Salem News Channel, and we always need producers to help us create our great products. If you have experience producing radio or TV shows, please send your resume and keep ‘em coming to: Phil Boyce, Senior VP of Spoken Word Formats, Salem Media Group
Philip.boyce@salemmedia.com. Salem is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Tags: Audacy, Bruce Collins, Cumulus Media, Ernie Brown, Hal Jay, iHeartMedia, iHeartRadio, JAKIB Media Partners, KCBS-AM, KFBK, KRLD-AM, KSTE, KTAR-FM, Marconi Awards, Michael La Crosse, Mike Missanelli, Morning Drive, NAB, news/talk, news/talk radio, NPR, Philadelphia, Podtrac, Sacramento, SVP of programming, Talkers Magazine, The New York Times, WBAP, Wondery, WPEN
Category: Front Page News, Industry News