Round Three of February PPMs Released
The third of four rounds of ratings data from Nielsen Audio’s February 2024 PPM survey has been released for 12 markets including Portland, Charlotte, San Antonio, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Orlando, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Kansas City, and Columbus. The survey period covered February 1 – 28. Today, TALKERS magazine managing editor Mike Kinosian presents his Ratings Takeaways from this group of markets. In Portland, Alpha Media’s news/talk KXL-FM slips one-tenth to finish with a 6.9 share (6+, weekly AHQ share) but remains ranked #2 in the market, while iHeartMedia’s news/talk KEX-AM adds three-tenths for a 1.5 share finish good for the #21 rank. In San Antonio, iHeartMedia’s news/talk WOAI sheds three-tenths to finish with a 2.7 share and falls one spot to the #14 rank, while Alpha Media’s news/talk KTSA is steady at a 2.3 share but rises two spots to the #16 rank. In Salt Lake City, Bonneville’s news/talk KSL-AM/FM rises nine-tenths for a 6.4 share finish but remains ranked #2, while iHeartMedia’s KNRS-AM/FM dips four-tenths to a 3.1 share but stays put at the #13 rank. See Mike Kinosian’s complete Ratings Takeaways from this group of markets here.
with Michael Barbaro and Sabrina Tavernise (#4), “Call Her Daddy” with Alex Cooper (#5), “Morbid” with Alaina Urquhart and Ash Kelley (#7), and “My Favorite Murder” with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark (#8). And Dateline NBC’s (#3) 20-year veteran Andrea Canning is part of the team of correspondents on the true crime pod.” However, women to listen to male-hosted shows as the study reveals “The Joe Rogan Experience” was #2 on the most recent chart. “New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce” was #6 on the chart and was lifted to this “new height” by the obvious Taylor Swift connection.
senior adviser at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, will serve as a spokesperson for the association and will help develop and execute messaging strategies to advance broadcasters’ policy agenda before Congress and the Federal Communications Commission. NAB EVP, public affairs and chief of staff Michelle Lehman says, “Gaby is a seasoned policy communicator whose years of government service have equipped her with a profound understanding of effective and strategic communications. Broadcasters will benefit from Gaby’s deep expertise in shaping messaging on the most important issues facing our industry, and we are thrilled to have her on the team.”
Ryan,” to the company’s sports talk WXYT-FM, Detroit “97.1 The Ticket.” In Detroit, Ryan will serve as network pregame, postgame and weekday fill-in host, beginning April 1. Ryan comments, “I’ve carried around a post-it note for 14 years with three sports stations written on it, including ‘97.1 The Ticket.’ My longterm goal was to get a full-time job at one of them. I am so excited to join one of the best media teams in the country as I unlock this long-awaited achievement.” 
outlets. Hartman currently serves in the same role for the company’s Chattanooga stations, a position she will continue to hold. In Memphis, Hartman succeeds Dan Barron, who was recently named SVP and market manager in New Orleans. Audacy regional president Claudia Menegus comments, “Memphis and Chattanooga are lucky to have Nichole’s leadership as a vital building block to local market success. She continues on a path of consistent career growth and will elevate our Memphis market by delivering exceptional performance for our team, partners, and audiences.” 
unique visitors and CNN.com had 110.9 million (down 6% from last year). FOX News Digital has led CNN.com and NYTimes.com in multiplatform total views and multiplatform total minutes in recent years but CNN.com relinquishes the lead in multiplatform unique visitors (similar to radio’s cume) for the first time since Comscore has been reporting digital ratings. 
Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina “The Fan Upstate.” The program takes over for “Offsides with Marc Ryan,” as Ryan moves to the company’s WXYT-FM, Detroit “97.1 The Ticket.” Audacy Greenville-Spartanburg SVP and market manager Steve Sinicropi states, “‘WIRE 2 WIRE’ allows us to elevate Diesel, who has worked alongside Marc for years, and Cole, who has done a great job with every sports assignment we’ve given him. ‘WIRE 2 WIRE’ will be a live, local sports show with knowledgeable, well-known local talent, and I know sports fans will love it.”
subscriptions, and more. Veritonic CEO Scott Simonelli comments, “We take pride in our collaborations with visionary leaders, amplifying the impact of our solutions and elevating the value delivered to our clients. This seamless integration empowers us to furnish our clients with even more comprehensive, insightful, and actionable data. It equips them to finely tune their audio campaigns, ensuring optimal results while instilling confidence in the allocation of their advertising budget across channels.”
votes in Florida’s primary elections today (3/19). Gallagher was first in line this morning and posted this picture on “X” (formerly Twitter) as he left the polling place, and it received more than 15,000 views in the first 30 minutes. Gallagher adds, “In Chicago, most voters will view it twice. Or more.”
“97.5 The Fanatic” as Andrew Salciunas moves from middays to partner with incumbent morning host John Kincade for the “Kincade and Salciunas” 
program, effective today (3/18). Kincade has been serving as the morning host since January 2021. Salciunas, has spent the past 10 years working his way up the ladder at the station, most recently hosting the 10:00 am to 2:00 pm show since Anthony Gargano left that role after a now-settled contract dispute with the company. In a statement, station PD Scott Masteller says, “I am truly excited to pair John and Andrew for a new sports show that will reflect the energy and passion of the Philadelphia sports fan.”
writer Bob Cooney to middays. The question Tornoe asks is what about Mike Missanelli? “Rumors have been swirling in sports radio circles the past few days about the return of Missanelli, once the station’s biggest star, whose sudden exit from his afternoon show in 2022 after 15 years shocked listeners.” Tornoe says that Missanelli has been in contact with management but there’s nothing to report and Missanelli isn’t talking. PD Scott Masteller tells the paper, “Mike’s name has come up. He’s a great talent, and we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. A lot of people are interested in the radio station right now. So, I’ll leave it at that.” The current PM drive show is “The Best Show Ever?” hosted by Tyrone Johnson, Ricky Bottalico and Jenn Scordo. 
news/talk/sports WXLM-AM, New London. The first match aired last Saturday (3/16) versus New Mexico United. An additional nine matches will air on the two stations. Cumulus regional vice president Holly Paras says, “I am delighted that our stations will enter into this new broadcasting partnership with Rhode Island FC and help to bring the Southern New England community the passion and drama of this new team and exciting sport.”
weakness in the national and network marketplace, and first-time hurdles in our Subscription Digital Marketing Solutions segment. In total, Digital now represents 51% of Townsquare’s 2023 net revenue and 55% of our 2023 Adjusted Operating Income, and maintained a 30% Adjusted Operating Income margin, consistent with 2022’s margin. The strong cash generation characteristics of our assets allowed us to produce $68 million of cash flow from operations in 2023, an increase of $18 million, or +35%, as compared to the prior year. We could not be more pleased to share that given our strong cash position, we were able to repurchase and retire approximately $27 million of our Unsecured Senior Notes at a discount during the year. In addition, we repurchased $17 million of our common stock, and paid a high-yielding dividend while also investing in our business. We also ended the year with a strong cash balance of $61 million and net leverage of 4.43x, retaining financial flexibility moving forward. Despite the lack of tailwinds at our back in 2023, I am very pleased with how the Townsquare team navigated the progressively challenging economic landscape. We outperformed competitors and gained market share due to our local focus and our digital platform. I believe that our performance over the past several years has demonstrated the efficacy of our Digital First Local Media strategy and validated our focus on local markets outside of the Top 50 U.S. cities, reinvigorating my confidence in our business model and our path moving forward.”
firm to complete its audits of the consolidated financial statements and internal control over financial reporting included in the Form 10-K. Urban One expects its auditor will issue an unqualified opinion on the consolidated financial statements. The reason for the delay is that Urban One has identified material weaknesses in its internal control over financial reporting and as a result, expects some of its internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls will be ineffective as of December 31, 2023. The Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, will describe these material weaknesses, and the Company is implementing plans to remediate them. The company says it does not anticipate any changes to its previously audited financial statements, nor does it expect to report financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2023 that are materially different from the financial guidance range previously provided by the company during its third quarter earnings call.
from 8:00 am to 10:00 am ET on 90 Audacy stations nationwide. Led by Nick Kostos and Ken Barkley, co-hosts of “You Better You Bet,” “BetQL Countdown to Tip-Off” will serve as breakdowns of the men’s college basketball tournament, featuring a mix of sports betting insight. The show will also welcome talent from across Audacy’s portfolio of sports stations.
and WEPN-AM), but Karmazin said the move had nothing to do with his company not renewing its lease on WEPN-FM (which ends later this summer) but that it’s a company decision. TALKERS noticed that news/talk WTMJ, Milwaukee did not appear in Nielsen’s January PPM survey and reached out to GKB for an explanation, but the company did not reply to our request. Karmazin told Best, “It’s outdated to use one form of media to measure a show, especially one that doesn’t reflect the entire listening audience and viewing audience across all the different ways we distribute our media now.” 
NBCUniversal News Group’s “Dateline NBC” jumps two spots to #2, bumping audiochuck’s “Crime Junkie” to #4. NPR’s “Up First” remains in the #3 position. Other radio-related podcasts of note include Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Dan Bongino Show” rising one spot to #6, Salem Podcast Network’s “The Charlie Kirk Show” slipping two places to #17, and Cumulus Podcast Network’s “The Mark Levin Show” falling three spots to #27. 
started 29 years ago. Whether it’s helping the first-time gun buyer sort out what she needs to buy, or exposing politicians who claim to be supporters of the Second Amendment while putting restrictions on this right, there’s plenty to talk about. Responsible gun ownership is strong, and I’m glad to be part of movement.” The program – currently heard on more than 260 stations – airs live on Sundays from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm ET. 
Sports,” on Monday (3/18). The program will cover the athletes, coaches, teams, and sports that have contributed to the explosive worldwide growth of women’s athletics in recent years. The rotating cast of female sports broadcasters includes Laura Okmin, Maggie Gray, Olivia Harlan Dekker, Amber Theoharis, and Amy Lawrence.