The Commission’s Media Division has rejected an attempt by a potential buyer to resurrect the license of WALE-AM in Providence-Greenville, RI; the agency took the station off the air in 2014 because the owner failed to file a license renewal…
Author: Jay Mitchell
Duke Wright, 83.
The president and CEO of Midwest Communications—a privately owned multi-market station group, a true rarity these days—died earlier this month. Duey “Duke” Wright bought his first station in Wausau in 1958. Over the years, the company expanded, and now owns…
Scott Shannon Has Left the Building.
Mr. Shannon capped a stellar 40-plus-year career with a super signoff party featuring radio and entertainment superstars and well-wishers from all over the place—not the least of whom was “radio’s best friend,” Art Vuolo, who, as usual, recorded the whole…
Radio-Friendly Senator Appeals to Carmakers.
Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), a ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, sent a letter to 20 carmakers asking them to keep AM radio on the dashboards of their vehicles. In the letter, Senator Markey requested written responses to three…
Rap Music Is Tops in 23 States.
That’s according to WiseVoter, who also found that Country was second by being favored in 22 states, while the Rock format is only predominant in five states. America’s favorite artist? Take a guess. (Hint: the first name rhymes with shmailor.)
Norm Pattiz, 79.
The founder of Westwood One and PodcastOne died in early December. From humble beginnings as a salesman at KCOP-TV in Los Angeles, Mr. Pattiz formed Westwood One to syndicate just three shows—a Motown series; “Dr. Demento”; and “Off the Record,”…
New Awards Program for Techies.
The National Association of Broadcasters, in conjunction with Amazon Web Services, has a new awards program to recognize people and companies who develop, and products that are developed, representing outstanding innovations in media technology that promote conservation and reusability of…
Three CPB Board Members Confirmed.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting saw Senate confirmation of three board members—one of whom, Ruby Dee Calvert, will be serving a second term, while Kathy Im and Diane Kaplan will be serving their first terms. Ms. Im is the Chicago-based…
Two less Stations in the Database.
At the end of the year 2022, Lake Powell Communications took off the air Country KPGE AM and FM translator K252FG (98.5), and Variety Hits KXAZ and translator K261BX (100.1), all licensed to Page, AZ. Lake Powell Communications owner Janet…
The Enemy of My Enemy. . .
The National Association of Broadcasters finds itself on the same side as SoundExchange in opposing the new streaming royalty rates for radio—although for diametrically opposing reasons. The NAB, on behalf of the radio industry, argues that a rate increase to…