Headlines

Former CBS Radio President Dan Mason, who will be interviewed by Spanish Broadcasting System EVP/Programming Jesus Salas at The Radio Ink Hispanic Radio Conference March 22 and 23, will be the speaker at a special luncheon during Conclave 41 in July.

The next Edison Research/Triton Digital Infinite Dial webinar is Wednesday, March 10, at 2 p.m. Eastern. It's the 24th time the survey is being done, which takes a close look at consumer behaviors around media and technology.

Radio executives have high hopes that political ad spending is going to pull the industry out of its flat-to-down revenue-growth quicksand. Media Monitors has put together a snapshot of which candidates are spending money on radio as we edge closer to actually casting votes. They compiled data from Omaha, Des Moines, and the Quad Cities of Iowa/Illinois to show what's happening in Iowa and in New Hampshire. They also pulled data from Boston and Portsmouth-Dover, NH. Here are the findings...Picture courtesy CNN.com

iHeartMedia Seattle VP of Programming Rich Davis said, "It's no secret that Seattle is a competitive market and these changes align our brands in a way that capitalizes on each station's strengths and gives us the best opportunity to win while providing a fresh new experience for our audience. Here are the changes involving four of iHeart's seven stations in the Seattle market.

Of course the first thing you are probably wondering is, could this be a joke? Apparently not. The next question you might ask is, why? NPR first reported that Univision is taking a 40% stake in the satirical website. They also have the right to buy the company outright.

WCKG is opening up their airwaves to new programs with a nationwide talent search. Operations Manager John Spataro is calling all business-oriented content creators to apply at WCKG.com to see if they have what it takes to be a major market radio host.

Larry Wilson is Radio Ink Magazine's Radio Executive of The Year. The issue, in which Wilson appears on the cover, is out this week. The Alpha Media CEO is in the midst of creating his second large radio company, which will consist of 252 stations in 54 markets once the deal with Digity closes (which is expected soon). His first big company was, of course, Citadel which he sold to Forstmann Little back in 2001 for $1.2 Billion. Wilson and his team created a culture in radio that many people loved to work for at Citadel and that has carried over to Alpha. Here's an excerpt from our cover story with Wilson where we ask him to tell us why people love to work for him.

For the past 16 years the Country Radio Seminar has been held at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Nashville. This year the event is being held (Feb. 8 - Feb. 10) at the Omni Hotel. It's a change that took a lot of planning and plenty of hard work after being settled in one location for so long. Radio Ink's special Country Radio Seminar issue will be released on February 8. The issue will feature an interview with the President of the Board of Directors at CRS, Emmis' Charlie Morgan about the CRS changes.

(by Wayne Ens) I’m angry at radio’s resolve to take a back seat to digital. While I don’t deny the powerful role of digital in marketing, digital budgets should be coming from print, direct mail, and yellow pages, not from radio. In fact, radio should be perfectly positioned for revenue increases.