Headlines

After we ran our story yesterday updating you on Bubba The Love Sponge's latest counter-claims against the ratings firm, we heard from Nielsen bright and early in the morning. Their statement was short and sweet:

That's according to a new report from Borrell & Associates called "How Franchisees Are Changing Marketing Expenditures." Borrell surveyed 500 local franchise operators and the new report says these franchisees spend 67% more than the typical local business and are heavy buyers of digital, which recently overtook direct mail as their number one media choice.

Yesterday, we told you about the drama at WDFD-AM in Detroit regarding the firing of Monica Conyers (she says she quit). WDIV-TV in Detroit got hold of the internal memo station owner Kevin Adell distributed to employees. He gave seven reasons why she was fired, stating, "Monica Conyers is the same person you saw in City Council with her sense of entitlement."

(By Eric Rhoads) In any business, innovation is critical to survival, because no business should be the same as it was a year ago — or five years ago. In radio, innovation should be occurring in at least three areas: how you sell and service your advertisers, how you create content and service your listeners, and how you operate the back end that no one sees.

(By Paul Cramer) The “Uber-fication” of society has made it possible to fulfill human desires with ease and convenience. It’s also enabled consumers to be more fickle and to brand-switch near-instantly when they have a poor user experience. The consumer now has an unprecedented amount of control.

Look out Pandora and Spotify, iHeartRadio now has 100 million registered users. The company says the app has been downloaded more than a billion times and has 85% brand awareness among consumers.

Just one day after announcing 16 lawmakers have joined the Local Radio Freedom Act, the NAB says nine more have signed on. The LRFA now has 164 cosponsors in the House and 18 in the Senate.

Atlanta’s WPZE Praise 102.5 FM is the latest station to give to St. Jude’s Research Hospital. The 10th Annual St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Radio-Thon, held Thursday, March 9 at the Radio One Atlanta studios raised a fantastic $306,261 in cash and pledges -- a record-breaking total for the station.

News Radio 610, Manchester's News Traffic and Weather radio station, and News Radio 96.7, Portsmouth's News Traffic and Weather radio station, held the third annual "Make 12 Hours Count" radiothon. When it was over, the grand total raised was almost $140,000 to benefit Veterans Count

In the back-and-forth battle between Bubba The Love Sponge and Nielsen, Bubba has filed a new counter-claim against the ratings firm over allegations he tampered with ratings. Bubba claims Cox demanded Nielsen pressure Beasley to fire in Tampa. And if Nielsen did not implement the "death penalty" sanction, Cox threatened to file a lawsuit against Nielsen, seek an MRC audit and Congressional inquiry into Nielsen’s PPM data collection adequacy.