Top News/Talk Media Stories for Week of July 3 – 7
The candidates for the Republican and Democratic nominations for the 2024 presidential race and the top campaign issues was the most-talked-about story in news/talk media this week, landing atop the Talkers TenTM. At #2 this week was the various legal battles facing former President Donald Trump, followed by the recent Supreme Court decisions and the federal judge ruling that government agencies cannot order social media platforms to pull content at #3. The Talkers TenTM is a weekly chart of the top stories and people discussed in news/talk media and is the result of ongoing research from TALKERS magazine. It is published every Friday at Talkers.com. See this week’s complete chart here.
programming and spoken-word radio. Energy, enthusiasm, and experience within the genre is a must. You will be responsible for all aspects of programming including managing on-air staff, imaging, station strategy, developing and executing revenue generating sales & programming promotions, website & social media, digital content and have a strong understanding of the core audience(s). 
gained unauthorized access to a significant amount of data belonging to Townsquare Media. According to their statement, the threat actors allegedly possess a staggering 251GB of the company’s data. This includes files sourced from the company’s servers and workstations, explicitly targeting those created within the past year.” The story does not indicate how much money the hackers are asking for, but they are reportedly giving Townsquare a week to respond before making the data public. 
the company to serve as managing editor for Arizona News Radio and California Headline News, as well as afternoon anchor for California Headline News. Gilliland served in the position for almost 13 years before leaving to work for the Arizona Lottery. Gilliland takes over for the late Steve Clawson, who passed earlier this year.
Whitey Gleason back to Sactown Sports. The credibility that Whitey has with the sports audience in Northern California coupled with Chris’ passion and knowledge of the Sacramento Kings will certainly make this show a perfect fit for our ever-expanding ‘Sactown Sports’ brand.” Gleason most recently served with Audacy’s KGMZ-FM, San Francisco “95.7 The Game,” and prior to that he was part of the “Rise Guys” show on KHTK. Watkins has been with “Sactown Sports” for nine years, most recently as the host of “Chris & Co” and co-host of the “Return of the Roar” podcast. 
Westchester Radio, Inc to religious broadcaster Hope Media Group for $8.15 million. WVIP-FM has been airing programming brokered to Caribbean broadcasters. The O’Shaughnessy family still owns the company’s other station – news/talk WVOX-AM. O’Shaughnessy died in May of 2022 at the age of 84.
opportunity to mix and mingle not only with their peers, but with talent, managers, and executives; and to increase their awareness of the Broadcasters Foundation charitable mission.” BFoA president Tim McCarthy adds, “We’re very excited about this new initiative. It’s imperative that we reach the next generation of broadcast industry leaders with our message of help and hope, while giving them an opportunity to network with higher level professionals who they may not otherwise have an opportunity to meet.” The two-hour event is free, but space is limited, and advance registration is required. 
Congratulations! You’ve made to the halfway point this year.
dedicated to talk (Monday through Thursday as Friday nights belong to 
into the future. Her expertise will be instrumental in leading our continued success and delivering high-quality content across our platforms.” Most recently, Todd has been serving as chief reputation officer and SVP of global public affairs at a beauty and wellness company. During her career, she’s spent 25 years as a television news anchor and reporter working in Washington, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City, including 10 years at KSL-TV where she was a top-rated late news anchor. Todd comments, “Bonneville is a company known for being a trusted source through its commitment to excellence and delivering content that matters. I look forward to returning home and working alongside the talented team to create meaningful experiences and engage audiences across multiple platforms. Together, we will continue to build on the strong foundation and innovate in the ever-evolving media landscape.”
show, as well as NBA analyst Jeff Van Gundy, ESPN television personality Suzy Kolber, and others. These layoffs come as little surprise as Disney had announced earlier this year that it would be eliminating some 7,000 positions across the entire company.
Charles Steinhauer says, “We’re excited to welcome USRN into the Gemini XIII ecosystem. We will be able to build on current successes and existing sales infrastructure to immediately grow and make Gemini a destination for producers, advertisers and sponsors looking to deliver to unique audiences. The integration of Gemini XIII’s digital expertise and podcasting prowess will result in a robust content ecosystem that provides an immersive and diverse range of audio experiences for listeners across platforms.” USRN chairman and CEO Nick Verbitsky comments, “Spencer Brown, CEO of Gemini XIII, and Charles Steinhauer have a track record of success in network radio having built Dial Global from the ground up. I am pleased that they will have the opportunity to continue to build United Stations, a company I started along with Dick Clark over thirty years ago and has been a leader in network radio.”
inductee worked most of his career in Chicago, spinning the hits at stations including WLS, WCFL, WMAQ, WBBM and WJMK. A private family interment has been held.
appointed by the company’s board of directors. This committee established the ratio on June 5. The 1-for-30 reverse stock split reduced the number of outstanding shares of the company’s Class A common stock from approximately 137.5 million shares (excluding unvested restricted stock) to approximately 4.6 million shares (excluding unvested restricted stock) and reduced the number of outstanding shares of the company’s Class B common stock from approximately 4.0 million shares to approximately 135 thousand shares. Proportional adjustments were made to the number of shares of Audacy’s Class A common stock subject to outstanding equity awards, as well as to the applicable exercise prices. Trading of Audacy’s Class A common stock was halted on May 5 on the New York Stock Exchange after the share price fell about 12% to $0.09 per share. The NYSE is moving to delist the stock but Audacy is currently appealing that determination. 
community. With the launch of this station, we aim to not only serve our listeners but give them a reliable home for the news they seek and the information they rely on every day.” Americano Media’s talent includes award-winning journalists Lucia Navarro and Carines Moncada, as well as popular radio hosts Dania Alexandrino and Lourdes Ubieta. Americano Media produces 18 hours of original programming each weekday from 6:00 am to 12:00 midnight ET. American Media chief executive Ivan Garcia-Hidalgo says, “This collaboration with Alpha Media is a natural fit for Americano. We take pride in delivering the finest Hispanic news/talk programming in Spanish, and we are happy to bring that programming to the large Hispanic audience in Bakersfield.”
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!”
opportunity to nominate and vote for their favorite Black-owned business in Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana. A total of 10 winners will be selected to receive $100,000 of in-kind media on iHeartMedia Chicago radio stations and a small business development cohort from the Chicago Urban League. The categories include restaurants; beauty salons; churches; fashion; medical professionals; day care centers; nightlife; fitness trainers/gyms; financial/insurance; and realtors/brokers. iHeartMedia Chicago president Matt Scarano states, “I have a personal commitment along with iHeartMedia Chicago to support Black-owned businesses in Chicagoland. We are providing a tremendous marketing and advertising opportunity for Black-owned businesses to access our station brands with the ‘Brilliantly Black’ Business Awards. We are thrilled to partner with the Chicago Urban League as we continuously work together to support Black-owned businesses in Chicagoland.”
“During the past decade, I’ve absolutely fallen in love with the people of Central Virginia. This community has been so welcoming to my family and I cherish having the chance to help out a bit by serving as an advocate for special needs kids, saluting our law enforcement officers, and sharing vital news and information.” Audacy Virginia SVP and market manager Bennett Zier comments, “Jeff is a great citizen of Virginia and continues to be an important part of the WRVA family.”
is currently heard on Bell Media’s CKLW, Windsor, Ontario. Noory comments, “It’s great to be back on CKLW – The Big 8. What’s even cooler is that this was the first radio station I applied to work at when I was 21 years old living in Detroit. I’m looking forward to working with the team at Orbyt Media to expand ‘Coast to Coast AM’ across Canada!”
networking and mostly music. As the Latino community grows in Suffolk County, we found that they have no full-time news and information source, no outlet for them to express their thoughts or hear the talk radio that they want. We knew that we needed a sister station to ‘LaFiesta’ that was dedicated to the community and was their ‘LI News Radio’ or WINS. Ana developed the concept of live, local, community talk radio for this demo and named it ‘En Vivo’ — or ‘Live,’ now all I had to do was find an outlet for this amazing concept she developed. When WLIM 1440 and 93.3 became available we knew we had to make the move and bring them into the JVC cluster.” Carbalo adds, “Long Island ‘En Vivo’ knows today’s decisions affect our community tomorrow and the best tool to drive us to a better future is information. News, politics, finance, sports, entertainment, health & lifestyle – we cover it all. Long Island has a huge Hispanic population that continues to be underserved. That was made abundantly clear during the pandemic. Long Island needed information in Spanish… So now we have a dedicated source that will not only deliver relevant information about what happens in our area but also educates and creates opportunities for the Hispanic population to prosper by providing the tools and resources they need.”
lineup including “Two Pros and a Cup of Joe with LaVar Arrington, Brady Quinn & Jonas Knox,” “The Dan Patrick Show,” “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” and more. Gray president Tony Gray says, “WAAW is extremely excited to bring FOX Sports to local Augusta sports fans. We’re confident that the home of the Masters Tournament will embrace the station’s new format.”
The presentation, sponsored by Backbone Networks, was introduced by John Fredericks, host/owner of the John Fredericks Radio Network (pictured above) and facilitated by WRHU-FM/WRHU.org, Hofstra University, GM, John T. Mullen (pictured at right). The panelists (pictured below left to right) included Mark Chernoff, sports reporter, “107.1 The Boss,” Long Branch, NJ/sports talent coach; Grace Blazer, VP, national NTS brand coordinator, director of news and AM programming Florida region, iHeart Radio; and Spike Eskin, VP programming, WFAN, New York and CBS Sports Radio. 
