Greiner Nashville-Bound As iHM Metro President
iHeartMedia’s area president for New York markets Albany and Poughkeepsie, as well as Sussex (New Jersey), Howard Greiner, transfers to Nashville where he becomes metro president. He will report to iHeartMedia division president Nick Gnau. Greiner will oversee all aspects of operations across multiple platforms, including broadcast, digital, mobile, social, and live events. According to iHeartMedia markets group president Hartley Adkins, “Nashville is an extremely important market for iHeartMedia. Howard continues to demonstrate strong leadership. With his expertise in media, advertising, and sales, I am confident he will build upon the incredible success and strong reputation that iHeartMedia Nashville has with its listeners, advertising partners, and the community.” Before joining iHeartMedia, Greiner held various executive roles in media and advertising. He spent two decades in Nashville. Included in iHM’s six-station Nashville cluster are news/talk WLAC and Black Information Network news affiliate WNRQ-HD2. Among persons 6+ in Nielsen Audio’s July 2024 sweep, WLAC (1.3) and WNRQ-HD2 (.3) finish at #18 and #21, respectively.
Earlier this week (8/14), TALKERS reported the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas Houston Division approved Audacy’s prepackaged plan for reorganization under Chapter 11 on February 20 (2024). The company was awaiting the FCC’s blessing on the plan to complete reorganization and its Debtor-in-Possession credit facility in the aggregate principal amount of $32 million, maturing next Monday (8/19). Audacy asked the Court to extend the maturation date to September 30, 2024. After a 1:00 pm (CT) hearing yesterday (8/15), U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez – as expected – approved an emergency motion allowing Audacy to extend its pause on certain financial obligations beyond the original deadline. Audacy stated in its second quarter 2024 financial report that it expects to receive FCC approval in the third quarter of this year.
SiriusXM’s coverage of the Democratic National Convention will begin next Monday (8/19) at 7:00 am (ET) with Zerlina Maxwell’s “Mornings with Zerlina” on Progress (channel 127). Throughout the week she’ll interview politicians and experts, as well as provide her analysis of the previous night’s key moments. Another Progress host, Michelangelo Signorile, will walk throughout Chicago’s United Center, interviewing politicians; spokespeople; and experts. “Tell Me Everything” host John Fugelsang (9:00 am – 12:00 noon, ET) will anchor primetime coverage onsite. Meanwhile, SiriusXM POTUS (channel 124) hosts Steve Scully and Julie Mason will do their shows live from Chicago all week. Among others, Mason’s early confirmed guests include Colorado Senator Michael Bennet; Michigan Representative Debbie Dingell; Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley; and Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Weeknight political program “RealClearPolitics” (6:00 pm – 7:00 pm, ET) will broadcast live from the POTUS set on “Media Row” throughout the DNC. In addition to hosting their own shows, Scully and Mason will anchor special primetime coverage from inside the arena starting at 8:00 pm (ET), where they’ll provide analysis and also air the night’s big speeches.
NPR and participating member stations will begin coverage of the Democratic National Convention from Chicago next Monday and Tuesday (8/19
Connoisseur Media Connecticut is looking for a talk show host for weekdays on WICC-AM/FM. This position will work a four-hour live talk program to air Monday through Saturday. The ideal candidate will be able to book guests, create compelling local content, field listener phone calls, and pivot subject matter as the local news cycle dictates. The station also has an opening for a morning news reporter for weekdays. This position will work weekdays during the Melissa in the Morning Show. The ideal candidate will be able to travel to Fairfield County locations and report live, collect and edit audio, post on social media, and deliver produced stories that can run throughout the day.
continue to direct corporate marketing for Cumulus Media, Westwood One, and the Cumulus Podcast Network. Since 2016, Chauncey has overseen ad sales solutions, creative services, and audience development for Westwood One. Other moves include Jason Soderberg being elevated to vice president, podcast operations and production in which he’ll be responsible for managing all audio and video production for the podcast network as well as platform relations and Megan Devine being promoted to vice president, podcast sales planning and yield optimization. 
reveal that AM/FM ads far outperform most social media ads. For example, the firm Adelaide found that for revery $1,000 spent on AM/FM ads it would require spending $2,635 on Facebook ads for the same amount of attentiveness. However, it also found that just $698 of YouTube ads would yield the same degree of attentiveness as $1,000 of AM/FM advertising. The blog post also addresses the myth that video ads are necessarily more effective than audio ads. 
Director of Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation (MGH Voice Center). Dr. Zeitels says, “The Broadcasters Foundation has done amazing work over many years. I am impressed with their transparency and their commitment to providing aid to broadcast industry individuals in dire need. I am pleased that VHI will partner with the Foundation to help educate broadcasters throughout the US about voice problems they may be experiencing.” Through the efforts of Dr. Zeitels, Julie Andrews (the iconic actress who lost her singing voice) joined VHI at its incorporation as its Honorary Chairwoman. Dr. Zeitels is her current physician and surgeon. Since then, legendary vocalists Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Roger Daltrey of The Who, Lionel Richie, and Keith Urban as well as broadcasters such as Joe Buck and Dick Vitale have provided invaluable support to the VHI to forward its mission. 
following response to the company’s decision: “The Writers Guild of America East is devastated that Audacy, the second largest radio company in America, today announced that they are shutting down WCBS Newsradio 880, a trusted news source for New Yorkers since 1924. There were 23 WGA East members laid off by Audacy, and we expect the company to comply with the applicable provisions in our collective bargaining agreement, including guaranteed severance. Audacy is the owner of more than 200 radio stations in nearly 50 markets. The closure of WCBS Newsradio 880 is another example of consolidation by a major media conglomerate, which ultimately deprives the public of critical local news stories with different perspectives. Audacy’s decision is even more egregious given that this is a critical election year. This is a giant loss for New York City and the news industry at large.”
that partner with Audacy’s own sports talk stations. Some of the key takeaways from this study include: 1) Sports fans are 4x more likely to trust brands that support their teams; 2) Listeners are 4x more likely to catch a brand’s message on sports radio than on TV; 3) 73% of fans spend more time following their favorite teams on sports audio than sports-related digital media; and 4) Brands that advertise on Audacy sports stations enjoy a 40% lift in usage. 
City; KOSY-FM, Cedar Rapids; KXIC-AM, Iowa City; and WFXN-AM, Quad Cities. The company says programming will highlight sports from University of Iowa, Iowa State University, various high schools and other local sports topics. The program lineup is: “The Morning Rush with Travis Justice and Ross Peterson” from 6:00 am to 8:00 am; FOX Sports Radio’s Dan Patrick from 8:00 am to 11:00 am; FSR’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” from 11:00 am to 12:00 noon; “Miller and Condon” from 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm; and “The Drive with Heather and Sean” from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm.
65 after a battle with cancer. Burns hosted a show on WGDJ from 2012 through 2014. After leaving her radio show, she became director of operations at Veterans Miracle Center, where veterans and military personnel could get new items they need at no cost. 
Malone – an unapologetic liberal on a station comprised of conservative talk hosts – anchored the 9:00 am to 10:00 am hour. He posted to X, “I’ll have more to say later, but after decades of loyalty to my company, they fired me after my show today and didn’t give me a chance to say goodbye to my listeners. I’m grateful for all of the support I’ve received for so long.” Malone was a longtime cast member on the “Lanigan & Webster Morning Show” on WMJI-FM, Cleveland. His program on WTAM debuted in April of 2022. 
success of our digital transformation strategy led to a 10.4% year-over-year increase in same-station second quarter digital revenue, partially offsetting ongoing challenges related to softness in the audio advertising spot market. Digital revenue accounted for nearly 22% of total second quarter revenue, in-line with our full-year 2024 goal of 20% to 25% of total revenue. On the new business front, our dedicated sales teams are leveraging the audience reach and engagement of our platform to attract new advertisers. We have and will continue to see the benefit of political revenue through the end of year, and at the same time, we are taking aggressive action to address near-term challenges through expense management initiatives, which drove approximately $2 million in expense savings compared to the prior year. We expect to achieve $10 million in annualized expense savings.”
“If you missed Biff & Bev in-the-Morning, you missed…” It’s a donut: produced open and close, with an aircheck clip in the middle.
acquisition of five radio stations and one translator in Lafayette, Indiana on May 31, 2024, and that the stations were operated by Saga for one month during the second quarter of 2024. Saga paid a quarterly dividend of $0.25 per share on June 28, 2024. The aggregate amount of the quarterly dividend was approximately $1.6 million. To date, Saga has paid over $132 million in dividends to shareholders since the first special dividend was paid in 2012. Saga’s balance sheet reflects $24.1 million in cash and short-term investments as of June 30, 2024, and $26.2 million as of August 5, 2024.
located another device that had many if not all of the text messages. Those messages were produced to Smartmatic in the litigation. Newsmax also notes that it informed the Special Master that neither Ruddy nor any senior staff sought to hide text messages or emails, which in many cases were also collected from dozens of other Newsmax witnesses in the case and produced to Smartmatic. Newsmax separately filed a Motion for Sanctions against Smartmatic on May 13, 2024, and a Motion for Contempt against Smartmatic on July 16, 2024. Both of those motions remain pending. In its motions Newsmax argues that Smartmatic and its executives have misled Newsmax, the Special Master, and the Court about the Department of Justice’s ongoing criminal investigation into Smartmatic in which the agency alleges that Smartmatic and several of its senior executives participated in an international scheme involving a multi-million-dollar bribe allegedly made to an election official in the Philippines in exchange for the company getting nearly $200 million in contracts. 
The fourth of four rounds of ratings data from Nielsen Audio’s July 2024 PPM survey has been released for 12 markets including Austin, Raleigh, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Nashville, Providence, Norfolk, Jacksonville, West Palm Beach, Greensboro, Memphis, and Hartford. The survey period covered June 20 through July 17. Today, TALKERS magazine editor Mike Kinosian presents his Ratings Takeaways from this group of markets. In Raleigh, iHeartMedia’s news/talk WTKK-FM adds three-tenths to finish with an 8.9 share (weekly, 6+ AQH share) that keeps it locked in the #3 rank, while Curtis Media’s news/talk WPTF is up one-tenth for a 0.6 share finish good for the #23 rank. In Milwaukee, iHeartMedia’s news/talk WISN adds a half share to finish with a 13.0 share that keeps it ranked #1 for the eleventh straight month. (Good Karma Brands’ crosstown competitor news/talk WTMJ ceased subscribing to Nielsen several months ago.) In Nashville, Cumulus Media’s news/talk WWTN-FM rises 1.2 shares for a 6.7 share finish that lifts it to the #3 rank, while iHeartMedia’s news/talk WLAC adds three-tenths to finish with a 1.3 share and remains ranked #18. 
Wall Street investors do not put up money for traditional radio and television stations.
comments, “Our second quarter results mark the first quarter that our consolidated revenues increased year-over-year since Q4 2022. We continue to see strong momentum in our podcast business, our Digital ex. Podcast business, and have seen sequential improvement of our Multiplatform Group’s year-over-year revenue performance. This performance is built on iHeartMedia’s strong and unparalleled audience and demonstrates the progress we are making in maximizing the monetization of it.” Company COO and CFO Rich Bressler adds, “We continue to see signs of improvement throughout our business and the broader advertising marketplace, and our second quarter 2024 results were in line with, and in the cases of revenue, slightly above guidance. Our high-growth Digital Audio Group revenues were up 10% year over year, and represented 31% of our company’s revenues, and our Multiplatform Group revenues exceeded our previously provided guidance. Our full year 2024 political revenues are currently pacing approximately 20% higher than the last presidential election cycle, which gives us confidence that this will be a record political year for us, and we expect to see a significant year-over-year improvement in our full year Adjusted EBITDA performance.”
$22.2 million, a decline of 26.7% from the same period in 2023. Urban One CEO and president Alfred C. Liggins III states, “On a same station basis our radio division finished Q2 -5.6% excluding political, and -3.0% with political. We saw a sequential improvement in national revenues vs. Q1, which was offset by weaker local revenues. Q3 core radio revenue is currently pacing down 6.9% on a same station basis, down 5.1% including political, and up 7.0% overall. We are starting to see a significant uptick in political advertising revenues, and remain optimistic for the remainder of the year, which should benefit both our radio and digital divisions. Our Cable TV business continues to suffer from subscriber churn and audience delivery shortfall, impacting both advertising and affiliate revenues, although we are seeing a bounce-back in ratings and delivery in Q3. Our digital business experienced weaker advertising demand than prior year but remains well positioned for the second half of the year, particularly with political and CTV advertising. During Q2 we repurchased an additional $35.5 million of our 2028 notes at 78.0%, and we ended the quarter with approximately $132.4 million of cash.”
-hourly money news reports Monday through Friday in middays and PM drive. Robison most recently served as evening news anchor at Townsquare Media’s WKXW-FM, Trenton New Jersey 101.5.” Compass Media Networks also names Joe Mackay director of audio sales. The 25-year radio sales pro, based in Chicago, will manage advertising sales relationships throughout the West Coast and Midwest. Also joining the company as manager of sales planning is Laura Schaeffer. The 10-year radio industry pro will help manage customer relationships and assist sales executives and management with sales proposals and inventory management. She is based in New York.