Activity Stream

From Radio Insight: This content is for members only. Visit the site and log in/register to read. more

From Radio Insight: Stephens Media Group is selling its four stations in Alexandria LA to Mark Porter’s Globecomm Media for $350,000. Globecomm previously owned two stations in El Campo TX and Porter hosts the self-syndicated Classic Country show “Saturday Night Gold“. He has also programmed stations in Alexandria and served as Operations Manager for First Natchez Radio in Natchez MS. In the deal, he will acquire Country “LA 103.5” KLAA Tioga, Christian AC “104.3 The Bridge” KEZP Bunkie, Classic Country “105.5 K-Buck” KBKK Ball, and AC “Sunny 106.9” KEDG Alexandria. Stephens recently closed on its purchase of KEDG, which it previously LMA’d for $332,000. The deal is structured with Globecomm paying $10,000 upfront, two monthly payments of $1,275 and then monthly payments of $3,571.03 for 118 months. Stephens retains its cluster in Monroe LA and stations in California, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington. more

From Radio Insight: After being off the air since suffering a fall in November that caused a spinal cord injury, Salem Media Networks has announced that Dennis Prager will hand over all of his affiliates to the Charlie Kirk Show starting Monday, March 31. Both shows are currently fed in the same 12-3pm Eastern timeslot, but since Kirk’s show is only two hours long, Jack Posobiec will continue to fill-in the third hour. Salem says that Prager is going through extensive rehabilitation because of the injury. Once he is cleared to return, which Salem say will be on Tuesday, June 3, Prager will take over the final hour of the timeslot with Kirk airing from 12-2pm Eastern and Prager from 2-3pm. Salem Senior VP of Spoken Word Phil Boyce said, “Dennis may have some physical limitations at the moment, but his wit, wisdom, insights and passion are as strong and as clear as ever and we are delighted at his spirit and resolve to return to his audience. We want Dennis to remain a part of the Salem family and want his millions of loyal fans to continue to hear his voice. Affiliates of Charlie will continue to get the Kirk show with no interruption, and affiliates of Dennis will soon get Charlie Kirk as a strong and able replacement.? Salem previously had announced the cut-back of Prager’s show to two hours in January 2024 offering an hour of Kirk’s show to affiliates in place of the third hour. This will now flip-flop their roles. more

From Radio Online: Salem Radio Network has announced that radio host Charlie Kirk will move to the stations currently carrying Dennis Prager's show. The change, effective from Monday, March 31, comes after Dennis Prager sustained a spinal cord injury last November. Charlie Kirk, who has been broadcasting during the same More...

From Radio Online: Radio remains a cornerstone in the U.S. media landscape, driven largely by the charismatic appeal of its personalities rather than its music playlists, according to findings from the 21st annual Techsurvey. Conducted by Jacobs Media, the survey garnered insights from nearly 25,000 dedicated radio listeners, More...

From Radio Online: Wave Sports andamp; Entertainment (Wave), known for its sports storytelling, has unveiled its latest project, "House of Maher," a new original series starring Olympic medalist and internet sensation Ilona Maher. The series, which Ilona hosts alongside her sisters Olivia and Adrianna, is set to premiere on March 25 More...

From Radio Online: iHeartPodcasts, in collaboration with London Audio from Paris Hilton's media company 11:11 Media, has announced a new true-crime series, "My Friend Daisy." This limited series dives into the murder of 19-year-old Daisy De La O and the role of social media platform TikTok in tracking down her killer. The More...

From Radio Online: On the verge of presenting one of its significant annual events, The Infinite Dial 2025, Edison Research is set to unveil the latest trends in digital consumer behavior on Thursday. Supported by major industry players such as Audacy, Cumulus Media, and SiriusXM Media, the report continues its New Study More...

From Radio Online: Radio One/Richmond, VA elevates Stacey Trexler from Director of Sales to Vice President andamp; General Manager, effective immediately. Trexler brings over two decades of experience in the media industry, with a substantial portion of her career spent at iHeartMedia in Richmond, where she held various roles, More...

From Radio Insight: After months of promotion and excitement, Chappell Roan has released her first country song, “The Giver,” continuing to expand her artistry and audience. She debuted it on Saturday Night Live in November where she also performed*“Pink Pony Club”. It was uploaded to YouTube but quickly taken down. Still, fans continued to play the track through third-party YouTube channels from fans who uploaded it.* The day after release,*“The Giver”*debuted at #3 on Spotify, and would’ve been #1 if Playboi Carti didn’t simultaneously release his 30-track album*“MUSIC”. Five days later, it’s still #4 and the official SNL performance is back online. Surprisingly, radio hasn’t been quick to jump on it despite the obvious passion for all her music. Three massive hits within a span of one year, along with so many others that could’ve been.*“Good Luck, Babe!”,*“HOT TO GO!”*and*“Pink Pony Club”*each took a long time for Top 40 radio to catch up, so it’s not shocking to see that*“The Giver”*wasn’t an obvious immediate add.* By contrast, many stations were quick to jump on Benson Boone’s*“Sorry I’m Here For Someone Else”*after two days. Since then, that song has completely dropped out of the Spotify Top 200, and we have not received any requests for it. Ross on Radio?s Sean Ross wrote an excellent piece last week about some Boston stations and their take on this song: Right now,*“The Giver”*is #43 on Top 40 and #74 on Country airplay. Lizzo –*“Still Bad”:*Despite the title, the actual song itself is pretty good. Lizzo also has a history of songs with tons of first-week adds, but only three massive hits, but everything in between was forgettable.*“Still Bad”*didn’t even debut in the Spotify Top 200, it has less than 2 million views on the view in 6 days, which if you watch first-week streaming numbers for big artists, is not a large number. Interesting though, it’s already #28 on Top 40. Lizzo has a new album called*“Love in Real Life”*coming this summer, with a title track that was released, but not worked, three weeks ago. (It has already become a chart hit in Australia!) We’ll follow up with this song in a couple weeks to see if it gains traction. Alex Warren –*“Ordinary”*&*“Burning Down”:*Two wonderful songs by another Atlantic artist, formerly of the TikTok group Hype House. He’s 24 years old, born Alexander Warren Hughes in Carlsbad, California. Both songs are doing well, but in different ways. Having a radio hit is still vital to turning an artist into a household name, especially when it comes to people over 35 who don’t frequently use streaming or social media to scout new music.* While both songs are singles,*“Burning Down”*is the one being promoted to Top 40 right now, despite*“Ordinary”*being the obvious and most popular of the two. It’s #8 on Shazam and #20 on Spotify in America (but really #15 because of the five new Playboi Carti songs above it), with 4.8 million views on the YouTube video which came out three weeks ago.*“Burning Down”* has 3.5 million views over months of airplay, isn’t in the Spotify Top 200 and has never gotten any requests on Liveline. This is very similar to the Gracie Abrams story we wrote a few months ago when radio was playing “Close to You,”*then took a while to switch to*“That’s So True”*which was #1 on Spotify. Perhaps*“Ordinary”*and*“Burning Down”*both became radio and streaming hits. Buried Treasures of the Week Wiz Khalifa, Bruno Mars & Snoop Dogg –*“Young, Wild & Free”:*Another lost oldie but goodie. This is a catchy Rhythmic anthem that dominated the early 2010s, just like Wiz, Bruno and Snoop. It’s been a top Gold request on Liveline for nearly 5 years and is loved by people of all ages. It actually samples two songs,*“Toot It and Boot It?*by YG (2010) and*“Sneakin’ In the Back”*by Tom Scott & The L.A. Express (1974). It peaked at #7 on Billboard, #10 on Top 40 and #1 on Rhythmic where it also finished #3 for the year 2012. Bruno Mars is hotter than ever, and everyone loves Snoop Dogg*oh yeah, and Wiz Khalifa; what’s he doing nowadays? NSYNC –*“Bye Bye Bye”: This may be old news, but Deadpool and Wolverine’s use of this song in the movie last July helped revive this already massive Y2K classic, the biggest of NSYNC’s career. Still, the song continues to stream well on Spotify and get daily requests on Liveline. The majority of people requesting it are not Millennials: It’s young kids and teenagers. The same demo Pop radio seems to ignore so often, despite their love for older songs which radio has overlooked. Playing throwbacks on Pop radio is not bad. If a song is big now, has strong audience support no matter the age, it should be considered (although “Here Comes The Sun”*by the Beatles is still massively popular and gets requests every couple weeks, but obviously there are limits). 25 years is not that old for a massive classic gold these days. Surprisingly,*“Bye Bye Bye”*only got to #4 on Billboard, but #1 on Top 40 where it finished #3 for the year 2000. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Liveline with Mason more

From Radio Insight: After exiting Townsquare Media Portland ME last July, Jadd Naamani is remaining in the market as Program Director and morning co-host alongside Michelle Taylor at Binnie Media Country “99.9 The Wolf” WTHT Auburn/Portland. During his nearly four year tenure he first served in the dual role of Brand Manager/morning host at AC 94.9 WHOM and afternoon host at Country 97.5 WOKQ Dover NH. He then moved from mornings at WHOM to afternoons at CHR “Q97.9” WJBQ, while adding the PD duties at that station as well in February 2022. Before arriving in Portland, Naamani programmed iHeartMedia CHR ?92.1 The Beat? KTBT Tulsa OK. He also spent seven years at CHR ?Z107? WERZ Portsmouth NH as Promotions Director from 2012-2015 and PD from 2015-2018, hosting afternoons during his entire tenure. Naamani fills two openings at WTHT where he replaces Chris Clare as PD following Clare’s departure last April for WYCT Pensacola and Andy Austin’s exit from mornings last summer to become an equity partner and Director of Content/morning host at Port Broadcasting’s “Seacoast Oldies” 1220 WWSF/104.3 W282CS Seaford ME. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jadd (@jaddontheradio) more

From Radio Insight: Radio One Richmond has promoted Stacey Trexler from Director of Sales to Vice President/General Manager. Trexler has served as Director of Sales for the cluster since February 2019 after an eighteen year run at the iHeartMedia turned Audacy cluster in the market where she rose from Account Executive to Local Sales Manager and then General Sales Manager. She will succeed Marsha Landess, who will now focus exclusively on Charlotte NC after leading both clusters since 2019, while reporting to Co-President Audio Division Eddie Harrell Jr. Harrell said, “We are pleased to promote Stacey to Vice President and General Manager of our Richmond market. Stacey’s track record of success made her the right person at the right time to lead our operations in Richmond. She will continue to build on the accomplishments of , who has moved to Charlotte to run our radio cluster in that market.” Trexler stated, “I am incredibly excited about the opportunity to take on this new role and continue working alongside the talented individuals at Radio One Richmond. I look forward to collaborating with our teams to drive innovation, strengthen our local presence, and deliver outstanding content and experiences to our listeners and advertisers. I believe that there is power in audio and look forward to finding new ways to connect our advertisers with the community that we serve.? more

From Radio Insight: Donze Communications’ “Classic Rock 93.1″ KBDZ Perryville MO is expanding its programming to St. Louis’ northwestern suburbs as it has begun simulcasting on East Central Broadcasting’s 101.7 KWUL-FM Elsberry MO. KBDZ covers areas south of St. Louis. KWUL-FM had been running a mix of Classic Rock and Americana as “K-Wulf“. Its programming remains on 920 KWUL/101.5 K268CT St. Louis. Program Director Randy Raley said, “In the last year, we have expanded our listener base exponentially with the additions of St. Louis legends Katy Kruze, Radio Rich Dalton, Ted Habek and Michelle Holliday. Our next upgrade to the station is expanding our signal, that’s the thing our listeners wanted most. This expansion allows us to bring the best classic rock to even more fans, delivering the same quality music and legendary artists that define our station. While most corporate radio stations are slashing budgets, we have live voices on in all dayparts including overnights. Classic Rock 93.1, now on 101.7 FM, means more access to the music that guides your day, whether you’re on the road, at work, or just listening. KBDZ is different as we don’t play the same 300 songs every day. We play music from the 60s to the Foo Fighters in a great mix.” more

From Radio Insight: ICS Communications’ duo of 1580 WXGT/92.9 W225BS Columbus and 1550 WQCD/92.9 W225CM Delaware OH have dropped their Oldies “My 92.9” identity flipping to Spanish Tropical “Rumba” on Tuesday beginning an LMA to Spanish language programmer and consultant Daniel Melendez. The “Rumba” brand and format is temporary as the stations will flip to Regional Mexican “La Grande 92.9” on April 1. That will bring back the brand utilized in the market by Radio One’s 102.5 WWLG Baltimore OH until the company took over operations of “Mega 103.1” WVKO-FM and ended its lease of WWLG last fall. Melendez previously programmed WVKO-FM under former operator TSJ Media. The two signals were the final home of Alternative “CD 92.9” WWCD until its sign-off in February 2024 followed by a five-week stint as Alternative “93X” WXGT before bringing launching the Oldies brand last March. more

From Radio Online: Urban One, alongside its new philanthropic arm, Urban One Cares, has launched a new podcast entitled "Altadena: After The Fire." Hosted by Colby Colb Tyner, SVP of Programming for Urban One's Audio Division, the podcast aims to keep the story of the Altadena wildfires in the public eye, providing a detailed More...