Headlines

The Home Depot ran 47,000 fewer spots last week than it did two weeks ago, however, 63,293 commercials on radio stations all across the country was still enough to take the top spot on the Media Monitors weekly chart. Lowe's was a distant second with 37,256, followed by GEICO (36,701), JC Penney (31,273), and AutoZone (27,160). There were no major movers on the chart last week.

The company has launched a new format from a translator operating at 94.7 in Charlotte. The station is called "94.7 Smoke" and the format is Southern Rock. Smoke launched at 6 a.m. on Monday with 10,000 songs in a row commercial free.

In New Orleans, Cumulus moves its NASH Country station from 92.3 to 106.1 and launches a new Alternative Rock station, ALT 92.3 FM, on WRKN-FM. Market Manager Pat Galloway said, “WRKN-FM stands tall at 100,000 watts and 2,000 feet, twice as big as any radio station in New Orleans or Baton Rouge."

The Philadelphia station’s 11th Annual John DeBella Veterans Radiothon raised the impressive sum which goes to the Veterans Multi-Service Center. The VMC’s mission is to provide services, programs, opportunities, and advancement to veterans.

After a social media backlash, CBS' KNCI in Sacramento apologized to its listeners for cancelling a performance by Lindsay Ell. The reason for the cancellation: Ell is dating morning man Bobby Bones. Bones is syndicated by iHeartMedia-owned Premiere and heard on KNCI competitor 92.5 The Bull in Sacramento.

Football season will be here before you know it now that both the NBA and NHL seasons have concluded. On Monday, AdLarge Media announced the schedule of NCAA College Football Games from Touchdown Radio, the network founded by former University of Miami QB Gino Torretta. AdLarge handles national ad sales for the network. Here's the schedule of games...

And that City's Mayor wants an apology from the syndicated morning man. Last week, Harvey got into a heated debate with a caller over the Cleveland Cavaliers (Harvey is a Cavs fan). Harvey told the caller to "enjoy your nice brown glass of water." As everyone knows, Flint has had water problems for years. Mayor Karen Weaver sent a letter to Harvey asking for an apology.

Today the ten day Talent Radio Institute will begin at Central Washington University. Hubbard CEO Ginny Morris says, “Compelling and relatable on-air talent is what separates local radio from all other audio entertainment services. Our investment in the National Radio Talent System at Central Washington University is an extension of Hubbard Radio’s commitment to do our part to nurture and grow the talent pipeline for the industry."

(By Bob McCurdy) TV plays a large role in many local advertisers’ media plans and we wanted to determine if the qualitative profile of the heaviest radio listener differed from that of the heaviest TV viewer. We discovered they do, and they differ a lot.

(By Roy Williams) According to cognitive neuroscientists, the most important gift of the human race is our ability to attach complex meanings to sounds. The written language was developed only to make the spoken language permanent.