Headlines

Westwood One is launching a new genre, “Classic Rock X,” on Forever Media’s WRQY (Rocky 96.5) in Wheeling, WV. The format was developed in conjunction with Forever Media and will soon be featured in more of their markets, as well as offered to the marketplace at large.

Hubbard Radio’s WTOP in Washington, DC, is once again radio's highest-billing radio station, taking in $67.8 million in 2017, according to BIA/Kelsey. That's three years running now for the all-news station. Hubbard Market Manager Joel Oxley tells Radio Ink he's very proud of his WTOP team.

(By Deborah Parenti) For all the ink devoted to San Diego radio personality Kevin Klein, and the highly controversial promotional stunt he used to market his new morning show, we may not know the whole story. Certainly, no one is talking and Klein himself appears to be MIA and in a state of limbo...

BIA/Kelsey is out with some new data that says radio's over-the-air revenue declined 2% in 2017. However, the good news is radio's digital revenue jumped 9.7%. Was that big jump in digital enough to keep radio above the flatline?

That will be the topic at the NAB next week, moderated by Jacobs Media President Fred Jacobs. The session, called "Fast Tracking Radio's Future," will include Beasley CEO Caroline Beasley, CMG Executive VP Bill Hendrich, Jacobs Media's Paul Jacobs, Entercom Senior VP Tim Murphy, and NAB Executive VP of Strategic Planning Steve Newberry.

Christian Torres was operating illegally at 100.9-FM in Bridgeport, Connecticut, from a business; William Cotter, at 104.7-FM, also in Bridgeport, from a residence; and Nnanna Okoro was cited for a pirate station at 87.9-FM Irvington, New Jersey, from a house he owns. All three were given 10 days to shut down and explain to the FCC why they were operating radio stations illegally.

Yamanair Creative, a Compass Media Networks Company, has hired imaging company Benztown to provide production elements for Yamanair’s exclusive services Cash by Creative and SPECbyte. Yamanair provides custom creative to stations and their sales representatives in over 400 markets.

He's a man of the people. Will we someday see him kissing babies in Iowa and New Hampshire? Hometown Broadcasting General Manager Robert Wagner says Chairman Pai just happened to be passing through Danville, Kentucky, and wanted to stop by to say hello. At first Wagner thought it was an April Fool's joke, until he found out that's just the way Pai rolls.

According to Nielsen's latest quarterly Audio Today Report, McDonalds was radio's biggest advertiser on music stations, spending $46.1 million. On spoken word stations, Zip-Recruiter spent $11.1 million leading the way.

In the latest Nielsen Audio Today Report, Managing Director Brad Kelly says AM/FM radio continues to reach more people each week than any other medium. 93% of the American population continues to tune into your radio stations every week. Not too shabby for a medium approaching 100 years of age.