WRNL, Richmond to Launch New Commanders Postgame Show
Audacy announces that sports talk WRNL, Richmond “SportsRadio 910 The Fan” will air the new program “The Postgame Gutcheck,” hosted by station Commanders insider Howard Gutman and his son Collin Gutman after each Commanders game this season. Howard Gutman – who served as Ambassador to Belgium during
the Obama Administration – is also the host of the programs “As I See It” and “Take My Word for It” on sister news/talk WRVA-AM. Collin Gutman hosts “The Gutcheck” on WRNL. Audacy Richmond SVP and market manager Bennett Zier states, “We’re thrilled to introduce ‘The Postgame Gutcheck’ and give Commanders fans a dedicated space to dissect and digest each game this season. Hosted by the dynamic duo of Ambassador Howard Gutman and his son Collin, this show will be a must-listen for anyone seeking in-depth analysis, insider insights and a passionate breakdown of all things Commanders.”
audio solutions, audio sales, and industry AdTech. In his new role, Milano will lead one of Katz’s dedicated digital sales teams and drive Katz’s fast-growing programmatic audio offering, Audiology, the largest programmatic audio marketplace delivering precision data-driven audiences at scale. Milano says, “The timing of my return could not be any better. Digital audio has grown monumentally through industry innovation and programmatic execution becoming more commonplace. Under Scott Porretti’s leadership, Katz’s digital position is well-established and ready to expand. I’m excited to play a role in its current success and new growth.”
Westwood One’s “Dan Bongino Show” and the “Chris Plante Show,” plus Ben Shaprio and FNC’s Guy Benson. KTUC program director Herb Crowe states, “We’re thrilled to unveil ‘Freedom 1400,’ Tucson’s Conservative Talk Station. As we embark on this exciting journey, we’re committed to providing a platform for open dialogues, diverse viewpoints, and robust discussions that matter to our community. With our esteemed lineup of talk show hosts, we’re confident that ‘Freedom 1400’ will become an essential source of information and insight for our listeners.”
plans to sue the Republican National Committee over “their alleged attempt to keep him from participating in Thursday’s debate.” On the program, Elder explained the criteria he has met and why he should be allowed on the debate stage. The AP reports that the RNC qualifications require: polling “at least 1% in three high-quality national polls or a mix of national and early-state polls, between July 1 and Aug. 21, and a minimum of 40,000 donors, with 200 in 20 or more states.”
Long before AM radio was the band dominated by spoken-word programming, its early Top-40 stations were catering to the rabid demand for R&B and rock ‘n’ roll from America’s teenagers. Mark Wainwright – former WSYR, Syracuse morning talk host and a veteran radio performer – writes about a big hit record made on this date 59 years ago. He says, “Surprisingly, that iconic summertime feel-good song almost never made it to vinyl.” 
the next big earthquake, ironically, the station lost power numerous times causing continuous off-and-on power situations that impacted the station’s broadcasts. Zwerling says each time the power went out and the generator kicked on – something that happened numerous times – it put stress on the transmitter and the generator. Complicating matters was that the station’s infrastructure – as well as the phone company’s and PG&E’s — is dependent on the internet and that requires consistent power. This puts stations’ abilities to serve at a disadvantage. 
Bulletin: “Linear TV” is no longer the winner.
exclusive offering, Kim Komando shares insider secrets to empower listeners to unlock the full potential of their digital lives, catering to a diverse audience across music and spoken word radio formats. Today, technology is infused into every aspect of our lives. Kim Komando’s daily programs transcend barriers, enhancing the lives of listeners from all backgrounds” Komando adds, “I’m thrilled to join forces with the industry leader, WTOP, to bring invaluable tech insights to their discerning audience.”
in 1979 from the University of Georgia with a degree in Journalism from the prestigious Grady School of Journalism, she worked in the corporate world and met a payroll. She is a wife, mother and a grandmother. She’s stayed at home and juggled children and working priorities. She says there is no glass ceiling and women can have it all, just not at the same time. A life-long learner, she completed her MA in Political Science in 2021 at the University of Georgia’s School of Politics and International Affairs. Her thesis was on women’s electoral success in the GOP. During her formidable broadcasting career in the Peach State, she has pivoted between holding positions on key talk stations and performing stints in politics and the public sector. These include being state director of field offices for Governor Brian Kemp. She’s also worked for Senator David Perdue in senior staff positions. In addition to her daily duties at WDUN, Zoller serves on the Georgia State Board of Education. TALKERS publisher Michael Harrison says, “Martha Zoller is a perfect ‘go-to’ guest to discuss the Georgia Trump indictment. She’s an independent Republican and moderate conservative without an ax to grind. I have always found her to be an extremely credible source for political discussion of the hot issues – now with the Trump Georgia story boiling on the front burner, she is a talk show treasure for her industry colleagues.” To arrange an interview or set up a connection with Martha Zoller, contact Victoria Jones at DC Radio Company at 917-865-3991 or 
2022, according to data from Comscore. The platform also saw 24 million total multiplatform views and 27 million total multiplatform minutes. OutKick founder Clay Travis – co-host of the Premiere Networks syndicated talk show “Clay Travis and Buck Sexton” – says, “It’s always great to see OutKick’s strong growth every month. We continue to distribute engaging content on topics that reach beyond sports and add talent to our roster that embrace common sense reporting.”
Baltimore, Birmingham, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem. The show airs on SiriusXM’s College Sports channel in addition to radio stations in 12 of the top 50 markets across the country including Washington, Tampa, Portland, Charlotte, Pittsburgh, Austin, Kansas City, Raleigh, Nashville, Norfolk, Jacksonville, and New Orleans. Guests on the program over the years have included Serena Williams, Kevin Durant, Simone Biles, Jerry Rice, Snoop Dogg, Michael B. Jordan, and more.
earlier this year. RTDNA says the awards honor “outstanding achievements in broadcast and digital journalism… the Murrow Awards recognize local and national news stories that uphold the RTDNA Code of Ethics, demonstrate technical expertise and exemplify the importance and impact of journalism as a service to the community.” Some of this year’s winners in the radio category include: Audacy’s WBBM-AM/WCFS-FM, Chicago (Breaking News); KDKA-AM, Pittsburgh (Feature Reporting); KMOX, St. Louis (Newscast); and iHeartMedia’s WBZ-AM, Boston (Excellence in Innovation). 
worked at Saga Communications’ Bellingham, Washington stations for decades hosting his program “The Zone” on both news/talk KGMI-AM and sports talk KPUG-AM. Saga says, “He was a skilled broadcaster of sports at all levels, but was especially known for his knowledge of and dedication to Whatcom County high school teams, their athletes and coaches. His family thanks the community for their outpouring of support, and says they’ll announce plans for a memorial in coming days.”
Radio station personnel could be facing the worst environment – ever!
Tuesday (8/8), Cumulus filed suit against the duo on August 4 claiming they are in violation of several clauses in their contracts with the company. McDowell and Kemp left Cumulus last month after they were unable to come to terms on a renewal to remain with “The Ticket.” The sticking point was their desire to explore digital initiatives outside of their work with Cumulus. They have since launched a podcast via Patreon that Cumulus says violates their six-month non-compete. The company also alleges the two have violated the non-solicitation and non-disparagement clauses of their contract and additionally alleges they have “commandeered” company-owned social media accounts, threatened to release “conversations Defendants illicitly recorded” with company executives. Cumulus is seeking “emergency injunctive relief” plus attorneys’ fees and costs. McDowell told listeners to the podcast released on Sunday (8/6), “We’re working with certain advisors. We’ve been advised that we are doing nothing wrong, so don’t stop, for now. So right now, we are putting this out there, and what’s in store for tomorrow? I don’t know.” 
The fourth and final round of ratings data from Nielsen Audio’s July 2023 PPM survey has been released for 12 markets including Austin, Raleigh, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Nashville, Providence, Norfolk, Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, Greensboro, Memphis, and Hartford. Nielsen’s July 2023 sweep covered June 22 – July 19. Today, TALKERS magazine managing editor Mike Kinosian presents his Ratings Takeaways from this group of markets. In Milwaukee, iHeartMedia news/talk WISN dips one-tenth to finish with a 9.7 share but remains locked in the #1 rank, while Good Karma Brands crosstown news/talk WTMJ falls 1.6 shares to finish the survey with a 7.9 share that takes the station from #2 to #4. In Providence, Cumulus Media news/talk WPRO-AM/WEAN-FM rises three-tenths for a 6.2 share finish and rises to the #6 rank, while iHeartMedia crosstown news/talk WHJJ loses three-tenths to finish with an 0.2 share good for the #18 rank. In West Palm Beach, iHeartMedia talk outlet WZZR-FM adds a half share for a 1.9 share finish that lifts it to the #12 rank, while Hubbard Broadcasting news/talk WFTL dips three-tenths for a 1.3 share finish that leaves it ranked #13. 
launch of a new weekly preview show called “Big Blue Kickoff Live” to be hosted by Giants.com’s John Schmeelk and WFAN’s Shaun Morash airing on Saturday mornings during the regular season. In addition, all three WFAN daily shows will broadcast live from Giants training camp on Monday (8/14), beginning at 6:00 am with “Boomer & Gio,” followed by “Brandon Tierney & Sal Licata” and “Evan & Tiki.” Audacy New York market president Chris Oliviero says, “WFAN is proud to grow our long-standing partnership with the New York Football Giants. More opportunities for fans to connect with Big Blue is our commitment, one that goes beyond Sunday and extends year round.” 
million reported in Q2 of 2022, primarily due to a $16.8 million increase in non-cash impairment charges to the company’s FCC licenses and investments, partially offset by an increase in other income, net due to a $5.2 million gain on the sale of one of the company’s investments and an increase in the effective tax rate for the current period. Townsquare CEO Bill Wilson says, “I am pleased to share that Townsquare’s digital growth engine continued to drive results in the second quarter, demonstrating its strength and resiliency, as we delivered second quarter net revenue and Adjusted EBITDA that met our previously issued guidance… With its differentiated and sophisticated products and solutions, our Digital Advertising segment was once again our largest driver of growth, increasing second quarter net revenue by 11% year-over-year… The strong cash generation characteristics of our assets allowed us to produce $31 million of cash flow from operations in the first six months of 2023, an increase of $8 million 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 nearly 9% of our total shares outstanding, repurchase and retire approximately $13 million of our Unsecured Senior Notes at a discount, and pay a high-yielding dividend to our shareholders during the first six months of the year. We also ended the quarter with a strong cash balance of $50 million and net leverage of 4.36x, retaining financial flexibility moving forward.”
July 2023 PPM Data – Information for the July 2023 sweep has been released for Washington, Boston, Miami, Seattle, Detroit, Phoenix, Minneapolis, San Diego, Tampa, Denver, Baltimore, and St. Louis.
iHeartMedia’s financial by segment, broadcast radio revenue was $429 million, a decline of 7.2% over Q2 of 2022. Network radio was $122 million (down 4.2%), digital revenue (excluding podcast) was $164 million (down 1.6%), and podcasting revenue was $96.7 million (up 12.9%). iHeartMedia chairman and CEO Bob Pittman says, “We are pleased to report that our second quarter 2023 results reflected Adjusted EBITDA slightly above the midpoint of the guidance range, and more than double the Adjusted EBITDA we generated in the first quarter, and our consolidated revenue were above the guidance range. The continued positive performance of our Digital Audio Group, led by our Podcasting business, and the significantly improved relative performance of our Multiplatform Group during this soft advertising period, are encouraging metrics for us, and we’re seeing indications of improving macroeconomic trends which we expect to have a positive impact for us in the second half of the year, with most of that impact in Q4.”
What happens when the world-wide leader is for sale? When they stopped spanning the globe 25 years ago, I thought the budget cut would help the leader. I could still hear the great Jim McKay describing the agony as Vinko Bogataj rolled down that ski slope in utter defeat. There were so many different images of the thrill of victory, but for most of the 37 seasons of “Wide World of Sports,” the agony of defeat was forever connected to that helpless Yugoslavian skier.
She was the agent I enjoyed working with most over three decades I was an active real estate investor. We remain good friends, and her technique informs the work I do coaching agents – and attorneys and financial advisors and other professionals – who host ask-the-expert radio shows.
the journal refers to AM, FM, online and satellite talk radio, cable news/talk TV, and talk podcasting.
Springfield, MA, joined TALKERS as its managing editor almost a quarter-of-a-century ago in 2000. The big story during that pre-9/11 year was the excruciatingly inconclusive presidential election between Texas Governor George W. Bush and Vice President Al Gore that took over a month to settle.
ongoing challenges related to the economy and softness in the national spot market, Beasley’s successful digital transformation, continued local audio leadership and revenue diversification initiatives, combined with our proactive initiatives to reduce expenses, resulted in net loss declining by more than $4 million in both the quarter and year-to-date periods, compared to the same periods in 2022, as well as quarterly adjusted 
EBITDA growth of 16.8% and 2023 year-to-date Adjusted EBITDA growth of 28.1%. During the quarter, we made additional progress with reducing leverage and strengthening our balance sheet as we repurchased another $3 million of our debt at a discount and lowered quarterly interest expense which support our goal to drive cash flow growth. We are generating cash from operations, and we expect to continue to generate positive cash flow for the full year. Our digital strategy delivered second quarter digital revenue growth of 14.8% year-over-year and accounted for 19.4% of total second quarter revenue. Our digital revenue is primarily derived from our owned and operated assets, with our proprietary content creation driving the largest increase with the best margins and third-party products that come with a higher cost. Our talented sales teams have been able to combine our over-the-air and digital platform offerings to create marketing campaigns and brand solutions that provide great results for our clients. Our continued strong digital revenue growth has moved us to within a few basis points of reaching the bottom end of our goal of digital revenue accounting for 20% to 30% of total revenue and we remain laser focused on this initiative as a means to diversify and complement revenue in a cash flow positive manner.” Beasley reports its total debt as of June 30, 2023 was $287 million. 
apologize for the pain I caused WUSA sports reporter Sharla McBride. As has been reported, I insensitively used the terms ‘Barbie,’ ‘Barbie girl,’ and ‘chick’ when talking about Ms. McBride, a fellow broadcaster who I did not know or recognize when she walked by our broadcast position. My attempts to be humorous and topical backfired, and I needlessly deprecated a professional colleague… I have reached out to Ms. McBride to apologize. When she feels ready, I hope that we can have a conversation and that I will have the opportunity to reiterate my apology to her in person. I hope that Ms. McBride and the listeners who heard me will forgive me. I am better than this, and I promise to demonstrate that going forward.”