Headlines

The way the CBS announcement — to explore ways to get out of the radio business — is being reported, you would think CBS CEO Les Moonves came up with the idea the night before the CBS shareholder meeting. Everyone with a pulse inside the industry was aware this was a possibility.

Kelly Harrington is a Communications Manager and writer for Reach Media in Dallas. She also leads Reach Media’s social media initiatives, which include the wildly popular Tom Joyner Morning Show. Harrington has only been in radio for about five years but she's clearly one of the industry's rising stars. We spoke to Harrington and asked her to share her secrets, including why she's passionate about radio, how she believes we can make the industry better, and why she's been so successful at what she does.

Earlier this week Univision launched an upgrade to its digital app Uforia that included more than 25 mood curated stations, an alarm clock, car mode features and much more. Mark Lopez is Univision's GM of Digital. We spoke to Lopez about the importance of the Uforia upgrade, which has now been downloaded over 4 million times and has 14.5 million streaming sessions per month. (NOTE: A panel at next week's Hispanic Radio Conference will focus on Smarter Digital Strategies)

The NBA's Los Angeles Clippers and iHeartMedia have signed a new deal to bring the team over to AM 570 LA Sports/KLAC. The first game to be broadcast on the station will be Saturday night. The Clippers had been on KFWB-AM (980) since 2009 but have been looking for a new radio partner since the station changed to a foreign-language format last month. Clippers games will also be heard on The Patriot, KEIB AM 1150, when there are conflicts with Dodgers baseball.

WFLS has raised $136,089 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with a two-day radiothon. The station has raised $727,404 since 2011. The three-day fundraising event kicked off with the radiothon on March 10 and 11, and was hosted by Steve Waters and Jessica Cash from the 93.3 WFLS Morning Show.

After a five-day stunt, Hubbard has flipped it's "Modern Music" station (KLCK-FM) in Seattle to Rock and will feature artists such as AC/DC, Foo Fighters, Van Halen, Nirvana, and Guns ‘N Roses. Entercom has a Classic Rock (KISW) and Alternative Rocker (KNDD) in the market, and CBS also has a Classic Rocker (KZOK) in Seattle. Hubbard will kick off the new KVRQ-FM 98-9 with 12,000 songs in a row.

CBS Radio consists of 117 stations in 26 markets, including clusters in every one of the top 14 markets. BIA estimated CBS stations generated nearly $1.3 billion in 2014 and CBS Radio consistently has five of the top 10 billing radio stations in the country. They are iconic brands such as WCBS in New York, WBBM in Chicago, KYW in Philadelphia, KMOX in St. Louis, KDKA in Pittsburgh, the list goes on and on. Here's a complete listing of the stations many companies will be salivating to get a shot at purchasing...

In all likelihood radio's two biggest players will not be participating in what will probably be the sell-off of some of radio's best radio stations and brands. With debt and revenue issues facing iHeartMedia and Cumulus, most of the financial experts we spoke to Tuesday believe those two companies will not be involved in any CBS deals. And, as Media Services Group broker Bob Heymann tells Radio Ink, in all likelihood, it will not be one buyer, they will be sold as market clusters. So who are possible buyers? Let the speculation begin.

Broker Bob Heymann says we should keep an eye on Field. "Entercom is a very good candidate to pick off clusters." And Field has consistently said he would be open to looking at deals that made strategic sense to the company. Being bullied by the DOJ over the Lincoln Financial deal has probably worn off by now, and with only one station in Los Angeles Field might be thinking, KCBS, KNX, KROQ, and KRTH would look pretty cool emblazoned with an Entercom logo.