Kilmeade Visits Affiliate WCHV, Charlottesville
Pictured above are FOX News Channel and FOX News Radio talk personality Brian Kilmeade (left) and WCHV, Charlottesville PD and morning host Joe Thomas (right) during Kilmeade’s visit to his affiliate station. Kilmeade participated in a meet-and-greet with listeners and helped collect enough money and food donations to feed 4,300 Central Virginians with the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank! In the photo above, Thomas is showing Kilmeade his old staff jacket from his time working at WRCN-FM on Long Island when it was a rock station. Kilmeade’s radio show is carried on the JVC Media station and Kilmeade often uses the WRCN studios for his program.
“It’s much better working with Tatjana than against her. She is a powerhouse seller and a dependable colleague. Audacy’s Austin sales team is set to have a successful future with her influence.” Deegan comments, “I am grateful for the opportunity to lead the incredibly talented sales team at Audacy in Austin under the leadership of Doug. For the second time in my career, I am eager to learn from him and cannot wait to bring everything I’ve got to the table!”
The headlines haven’t been kind to journalism lately. That recent
most recently serving as division sales manager for Carvertise, previously held SVP, GSM, and national sales director roles with the cluster. Philadelphia markets group president Jeff Moore says, “We are fortunate to welcome Anthony Fuscaldo back to iHeartMedia Philadelphia as senior vice president of sales. With his proven track record of driving revenue growth, attracting top talent and fostering strong client relationships, we are confident he will lead our sales team to new heights of success. Welcome home, Anthony!”
Audacy Podcasts. The story notes that there are no staff reductions as a result of this. The goal of the change is to “streamline the brands for advertisers and to put a further emphasis on the Audacy brand.” The story also says that “Pineapple Street Studios, which primarily works with third-party partners such as HBO, Netflix and Spotify, will retain its branding as it moves under the Audacy Podcasts umbrella.” 
Nashville-based Today’s Christian Music network (TCM) is not affected by these transactions. Salem Media Group CEO David Santrella comments, “Salem remains steadfast in our commitment to paying down debt and reducing our overall leverage. The sale of these radio stations helps achieve those goals. At the same time, we are focused on the stations staying in mission format. We are happy to be working with our good friends at EMF to continue impacting lives through music. We are grateful for our staff at these stations that have worked tirelessly over the years. With this change, Mike Blakemore, Salem’s VP of CCM programming, will provide focus and leadership to programming TCM, which remains an important part of Salem’s content offerings.”
February 2024 PPM Data – Information for the February 2024 survey period (February 1 – February 28) has been released for Austin, Raleigh, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Nashville, Providence, Norfolk, Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, Greensboro, Memphis, and Hartford.
forecast to account for 70.2% of political ad spend in 2024, down from 77.9% in 2020. As with past presidential elections, in 2024 over-the-air TV (TV OTA) will get the largest share of political ad dollars in local with an estimated $4.6 billion in forecast spending. Add in TV Digital, and the number rises to $4.9 billion. PC/Laptop will be the second highest at $1.3 billion, followed by Cable TV at $1.1 billion. Cable TV is the only media channel forecast to be down from 2020 in this category, by nearly $183 million. Coming in fourth is relative newcomer Connected TV/Over-the-top TV (CTV/OTT), which is forecast to grow to $1.0 billion in 2024 from only $74 million in 2020. Over-the-air radio remains steady with $536 million in 2024, up 16% from 2020.”
important sports moments and “105.7 The Fan” personalities’ favorite memories. Celebratory programming includes two live broadcasts of the “Big Bad Morning Show” hosted by 
other platforms. Titled, Hendrie, and produced by Freestyle Digital Media and directed by Patrick Reynolds, the film features people like Hendrie’s one-time program director David Hall as well as comedians and Hollywood figures talking about the unique radio program Hendrie launched in 1990 in which he held kooky conversations with offbeat characters – all played by Hendrie himself – in real time. Hendrie tells KCAL-TV, “It was completely original… and it satirized something that I thought needed satirizing – talk radio.” 
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. 
1. Financial solvency laws. Consolidation is not the problem; it actually saved the radio industry. The problem is the 1986 rule change that dropped financial solvency requirements for station ownership. Prior to 1986, stations could not be purchased with debt. A potential owner had to prove that they could meet the expenses of a station through the duration of its license. Once the financial efficacy rule was dropped and stations could be purchased with debt, the industry was financially decimated. Prediction: Financial solvency laws will be re-instated.
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.”
February 2024 PPM Data – Information for the February 2024 ratings period (February 1 – February 28) has been released for New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Nassau-Suffolk (Long Island), Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, San Jose, and Middlesex-Somerset-Union (New Jersey).