Headlines

MediaPost has the details about Sprint, a big advertiser for radio, attempting to cut back on $2.5 billion on the cost side of its balance sheet. The company has created an in-house advertising agency called YellowFan Studios.

Hedge fund Corvex Management, which is run by Keith Meister, a protégé of billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn, disclosed it owns 9.9 percent of Pandora's stock (22.7 million shares) and is pushing the online streamer to explore a sale instead of pursuing a "costly and uncertain business plan."

The hedge fund pushing for Pandora to be sold is also criticizing the company for bringing Tim Westergren back on as CEO and his statements about the future of the company.

(By Ronald Robinson) In a candid and self-effacing editorial, Radio Ink Chairman/CEO Eric Rhoads pleaded guilty to the charge of having his attention drawn away by “shiny objects” -- more often than he was comfortable with. Harsh penalties will not be applied, but “forgiveness” may be indefinitely withheld. Besides, those shiny-object episodes are still considered as standard issue “guy thingies.”

The station has agreed to a three-year partnership with the University of Texas at Arlington and its athletics multimedia rights holder, Learfield's Maverick Sports Properties. KEXB will provide live broadcasts of Maverick men's basketball games beginning with the 2016-17 season.

Mike Savage (pictured) is the General Manager at WBAA in Lafayette, Indiana. Savage says, as of August, WBAA will no longer carry NPR's This American Life because the show will be distributed on Pandora. Savage says that is inconsistent with the mission of Public Radio. He also says host Ira Glass is being disingenuous about what he's trying to do.

The host of This American Life was quick to respond to Mike Savage's decision to drop his program. Glass says he sees things differently, and going on Pandora was not some cynical play for money.

As the court case began in Texas Monday, a group of iHeart's bondholders made a proposal to the company which includes in the "permitted investment" column iHeartMedia not being able to use Broader Media or CC Finco for future financial transactions, among many other items. iHeartMedia made a counter proposal,

Airing 29,316 commercials on radio stations all over America, Burger King jumped to third on the weekly Media Monitors spot chart behind Home Depot (53,196) and GEICO (43,083), which both held on to their number one and two spots respectively. AutoZone moved to fourth, from 10th, airing 26,597 commercials, and McDonald's was fifth with 26,564. Sprint moved into the eighth position, up from number 79, with a strong week running just under 23,000 ads.

Reuters is reporting iHeartMedia has brought in restructuring advisory firm Millstein & Company "to help it evaluate options for its debt, including buying some of it back." The company previously brought on investment bank Moelis & Co. as a financial adviser. iHeartmedia has $21 billion in debt. iHeart, then Clear Channel, was taken private for $26.7 billion in 2008. iHeartMedia had no comment about the Millstein & Company report in Reuters.