Headlines

After fielding a question about the possibility of more stations being sold, following the $12.2 million sale of WPZR-FM in Detroit, Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins wanted his employees to listen to what he had to say and not pay attention to rumors.

He was fired from SiriusXM in July of 2017, three years after his former radio partner Anthony Cumia was fired from the satellite company after going on a racist tirade on Twitter. On Wednesday, Westwood One announced it is launching a new podcast With Gregg "Opie" Hughes, one half of the former syndicated radio team, "Opie and Anthony." The first podcast will be May 7.

Beginning in June, Sun Broadcast Group will offer national ad sales support for the Envision's 24/7 Weather Network. Sun Broadcast Group CEO Jason Bailey said, “We know how important staying local and relevant is to our advertisers and we strive to deliver quality content to them—it’s great to have a partner like Envision Networks, who share that sentiment.”

For the fifth year in a row, WBGL/Champaign, IL, formed a team to participate in the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon to raise awareness about human trafficking. Together, WBGL listeners and those in the races raised over $83,000.

Cumulus Media has announced that the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has confirmed the Company’s Plan of Reorganization. The Company expects to emerge from Chapter 11 before the end of the quarter, after the conditions to the Plan are satisfied.

Southern California Broadcasters Association President Thom Callahan is not a big fan of Spotify and he's put out an 'alert' to members as ammo to use with their advertisers. Callahan says, The PR spin machine for Spotify has been in overdrive this week after releasing its quarterly earnings. "We’ve seen this movie before and it was called “Pandora”. Remember them?"

Urban One is selling WPZR-FM (Praise 102.7) in Detroit to Educational Media Foundation for $12.7 million. EMF CEO Mike Novak tells Radio Ink the company will put its K-LOVE format on that frequency.

After a mini-retirement, Mike Francesa was back on the air at WFAN Tuesday afternoon. He said it was nice to be back and a little surprising to be back. He also said, "I missed doing the show, I admit it." Francesa said he wasn't going to go through everything that went on because "some of it is none of your business."

How many radio lives does Josh Innes have? The last time we wrote about Innes was during the Superbowl when he got himself kicked off Radio Row for arguing with another radio host, something he's become known for. He's at it again.

Of course, that's assuming one of your radio stations even has a News Director these days. According to the 2018 RTNDA/Hofstra Newsroom Survey, small market news directors are making $30,000 per year. In medium markets, they are making $35,000. In large markets the salary jumps to $53,000. And in major markets, the median salary for a news director is $82,500.