Headlines

After much speculation that the Pandora founder and two-time CEO would step down, Tuesday was the day. As the Board begins its search for a new CEO, CFO Naveen Chopra will step in as interim CEO. Westergren is also out as a Pandora board member. President Mike Herring and CMO Nick Bartle are also gone.

The changes keep coming from the pure-play streamer. On the same day Pandora made it official CEO and founder Tim Westergren was leaving, the company announced it was winding down operations in Australia and New Zealand. Pandora had been serving those two countries with its curated music service since December of 2012. Here's the official company statement...

According to BIA/Kelsey's updated 2017 U.S. Local Advertising Forecast, radio stations in New York will receive about $992.2 million of the $13.7 billion spent on local media. Direct mail will receive the most ($3.57 billion), digital came in second ($1.78 billion), followed by TV over-the-air ($1.73 billion), mobile ($1.54 billion), then radio ($992.2 million).

From Borrell & Associates' most recent 12-week study of small businesses, this question: Do local businesses buy advertising on feelings or facts? This week's chart illustrates what 2,293 of them are doing. Using a sliding scale of "100% Gut" to "100% Data," Borrell asked the business owners to indicate how they decided to buy media.

Radio was well represented Tuesday at the annual Gracie's Luncheon in New York City. At this all-star table were the NAB's John David, ABC Radio's Steve Jones, talk show host Joan Hamburg, Radio Ink Publisher Deborah Parenti, CBS Radio's Chris Oliviero, the recently retired Harvey Nagler from CBS News Radio, Heather Cohen from the Weiss Agency, and Broadcast Attorney Frank Montero.

WMJX-FM in Boston won a Gracie Tuesday for MAGIC 106.7’s Exceptional Women radio show. Show host Sue Tabb (pictured right) and producer Kendra Petrone received the Gracie in the “Soft News Feature” in honor of their “Then You Stand” submission. Exceptional Women has now earned 25 Gracies, in addition to 20 local and national awards.

The Southern California Broadcasters Association has published its Quarterly Market Guidance Report for the third quarter of 2017. The organization says Southern California’s estimated gross domestic product will exceed $1.5 trillion in 2017, making it the 16th largest economy in the world with Los Angeles County alone ranking 21st with a gross domestic product of $644 billion.

U.S. podcast advertising revenues are expected to come in at over $220 million in 2017, according to the first-ever IAB Podcast Advertising Revenue Study. That's an increase of 85 percent over the $119 million total from 2016. So what kind of ads are advertisers most likely to run? Here's your answer...

This year at the Conclave attendees will get to ask a panel of high-level radio executives ‘almost’ anything. The panel will include: Kevin LeGrett, President/Southwest Division iHeart Radio; Peter Bowen, VP/Market Manager Cumulus Chicago; Bill Hendrich, EVP/Radio Cox Media and Greg Strassell, SVP/Programming Hubbard Radio. The Conclave is July 26 through 29.

Cumulus Media has been associated with Air Force Academy sports for 35 years and that partnership will continue. A new deal with IMG College – which represents the school’s multimedia rights – has been signed to keep the Falcons with the broadcast giants.