WGN and the Blackhawks Announce Three-Year Extension
The Chicago Blackhawks and Nexstar Media Group’s WGN-AM, Chicago announce a three-year extension to their broadcast rightsholder deal. The agreement will keep Blackhawks hockey on WGN
through the 2026-27 National Hockey League season. Troy Murray and John Wiedeman have also agreed to a three-year extension for live game coverage with pregame, intermission and postgame shows led by Joe Brand. WGN VP/GM Mary Sandberg Boyle comments, “The Chicago Blackhawks are a premium sports franchise, and we take pride in being able to deliver exciting Blackhawks hockey to the best fans in the NHL, wherever and however they choose to listen. In addition to providing high-quality, live game broadcasts, the collaborative partnership between WGN Radio and the Chicago Blackhawks ensures that fans and partners will be superserved for every game.”
Group’s general manager for Christian talk WAVA-FM, Washington, DC Chuck Olmstead. Olmstead tells TALKERS, “It was an amazing day to be at that at that gathering. I met some amazing people. One Jewish woman I interviewed has a home in Bethesda, MD as well as a home in Israel. She was at her home in Israel on 10/7 and continued to stay in Israel but came back for the rally. She was articulate and had a great story to tell. It is interviews like that, that are hard to distill down to sound bites.”
2022, which ended on Oct. 1, 2022. The bulk of that revenue and profit came from its domestic business at $14.6 billion and $2.81 billion, respectively.” The filing also shows how important cable television is to ESPN’s bottom line. Canal writes, “The bulk of the sports segment revenue came from affiliate fees at $10.8 billion followed by advertising at $4.4 billion and subscription fees for ESPN+ at $1.1 billion. ESPN typically has the highest carriage fees, or fees pay-TV providers pay to network owners to carry their channels, of all basic cable networks. According to an estimate from SNL Kagan, ESPN charges pay-TV operators $8 to $9 per subscriber.” 
alumni and Washington, D.C. insider with L.A. street credibility promises a daily dose of what’s trending in national politics that goes beyond the headlines… now airing five days per week, ‘A More Perfect Union’ promises to deliver national news of consequence, informed opinion, and analysis beyond the headlines… This one-hour national public affairs program, executive produced by Tavis Smiley, will feature notable journalists, industry leaders, lawmakers, changemakers, tastemakers and ordinary people motivated to do their part to reach beyond today’s divisions, make sense out of news of the day, and offer us all a chance to build a more perfect union.”
Duran and iHeartPodcasts including a new, original progam called, “Thinking Out Loud with Elvis Duran.” The first episode features a conversation with singer-songwriter Kesha. Additionally, the network will be home to the replay podcast of “Elvis Duran and the Morning Show.” Duran says, “We’re excited to launch this network and connect with even more listeners and fans. I’m confident the audience will love the variety of personalities, including Tommy DiDario and Medha Gandhi, and the entertaining programs that we’ll be presenting. I’m also looking forward to sitting down with a wide range of people on my new podcast and taking a deep dive in whichever direction they choose – something I’m not always able to do on my radio show. It’s going to be a fun adventure together!”
streaming content, the industry is at a critical crossroads. TuneIn On Air digitally optimizes the reach of audio content to over 30 million TuneIn users across the country. Accessibility of AM content also increases to over 200 connected devices that partner with TuneIn, including, but not limited to, Amazon Alexa; Google Home; Sonos and Bose speakers; all iPhones and Android-based phones; and Tesla, Fisker and VinFast electric vehicle integrations.” TuneIn CEO Rich Stern adds, “The future of AM Radio is on the top of all of our minds. TuneIn is committed to helping AM radio thrive in the digital world. It offers such a vast and rich library of audio programming that is integral to millions of Americans’ daily lives. Offering AM broadcasters the opportunity to digitize through TuneIn On Air for free is one way we can build a brighter future together.”
Media’s mission is to refocus our attention on state and local issues, and we’re doing that by building a network across Wisconsin of hometown radio stations that are bringing as much local and state-based content to the airwaves as we possibly can.” The piece says that Civic Media has been acquiring radio stations, but it appears it is leasing at least some of them, such as WMDX-AM/W224EG, Madison “Mad Radio” which is owned by Good Karma Brands. Regardless, it is presenting programming on about a dozen stations with its eye on having about 20 stations in its network. 
three segments. The Multiplatform Group (including broadcast stations, networks and sponsorships & events) reports Q4 revenue of $732 million – a 0.9% increase over Q4 2021. Broadcast revenue grew $3 million, while Networks declined $5.5 million (4.1%). Revenue from Sponsorship and Events increased by $8.1 million (12.1%). The Digital Audio Group reports revenue of $301 million in Q4 of 2022 – up 10.2% 
over Q4 of ’21. Podcast revenue increased by $16.4 million (16.9%). The Audio & Media Services Group reports Q4 2022 revenue of $94.5 million – an increase of 44.3% over the same period in 2021. iHeartMedia chairman and CEO Bob Pittman says, “We are pleased to report another quarter of solid operating results for iHeart in consumer usage, revenue, and earnings growth. The fourth quarter was our best quarter for Revenue and Adjusted EBITDA – and on a full-year basis, in 2022 we generated the highest revenue and the second highest Adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow year in iHeart’s history. Even in this continuing challenging and uncertain economic environment, we continue to make strong progress in our transformation of iHeart into a true multiplatform audio company – driven by innovation, supported by data and technology, and powered by the largest sales force in audio – and we are positioning iHeart to take advantage of the coming economic recovery.” 
One thousand or so of the sellers that I mentioned sit in the multi-platform group, and they certainly sell all the assets we have. We have this mantra at the company that ‘Any seller can sell anything any day of the week wherever they live and work,’ and that has rung pretty true. That’s driven most of our growth in podcasting over the last two, three, four years at the company.” He also credits iHeartMedia’s history as a radio company with educating him about how radio personalities have developed the art of conversation. “But I have learned firsthand and talked a lot about the extent to which broadcast radio talent has honed this craft of conversation over the last hundred years and certainly the last few decades, and the extent to which that has driven our medium, just sheer talent hitting the medium, but also with an awareness of the medium.”