Headlines

That's according the first-quarter edition of BIA/Kelsey’s Investing In Radio Market Report. That's slightly down from 2014, which BIA/Kelsey said was $14.9 billion. And it's way off from the number the RAB reported in early March ($17.3 billion).

As a result of our Tuesday commercial load story, with former CBS Radio President Dan Mason, Meredith College Professor of Mass Communication, Doug Spero reminded us of a piece he recently wrote for The Huffington Post called, We'll Be Right Back After These Messages." In it Spero quotes consultant Becky Brenner who said listeners are responding to all those ads. (pictured).

The leadership at PodcastOne is hopeful the roster of talented podcasters they've assembled will be worth paying for. Until now, running ads within podcasts was the primary way to make money at podcasting. PodcastOne is trying to add another revenue stream.

Broker Dick Kozacko tells Radio Ink that Murphy Communications has sold KMUR-FM in Bullhead City, Arizona, to the Christmas Brick Foundation. Murphy owns several other stations in Arizona, while the Christmas Brick Foundation, located in Park City, Utah, picks up their first station.

The Katz Media Group is arming radio managers and sellers with more data to back up how important a role radio can play in the 2016 election. On Monday, Katz released its third report as part of “The Local Vote 2016”– a single-source tool commissioned with Nielsen.

With the Wisconsin primary one week away, Donald Trump joined Sykes for an interview Monday. Sykes is a conservative backing Senator Ted Cruz. He told Trump, “Here in Wisconsin we value things like civility, decency, and actual conservative principles.” And the interview got nastier from there.

Perhaps Bernie Sanders' big win on Saturday was propelled by his domination on radio last week. According to Media Monitors, Sanders' campaign ran 3,358 spots and another 696 were run by the Healthcare Workers’ PAC National Nurses United For Patient Protection. That made his grand total for the last 10 days 4,054.

No succession plan or CEO search for Pandora. The abrupt change was announced in a press release Monday that founder Tim Westergren is back as CEO, replacing Brian McAndrews. McAndrews succeeded Joe Kennedy in September of 2013.

Shares of the Internet pure-play dropped nearly 10% following the CEO announcement so, at least for now, Wall Street is not looking at the change too positively. Westergren taking over follows a swirl of rumors about Pandora possibly being bought.

In his latest blog, immediately following the change at the top of Pandora, Cumulus/Westwood One CMO Pierre Bouvard asks the question, "Will Pandora be to streaming what MySpace was to social media?" Bouvard says Edison Research's latest Share of Ear study reveals why trouble is brewing for Pandora, specifically in the 18-24 demo.