News

A group of over 40 musicians have signed a letter to lawmakers urging the passage of the American Music Fairness Act, a proposed law that would tax radio to play their music. The letter comes as the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to refer the American Music Fairness Act to the full House chamber.

Cumulus Media's D.C.-area talk station WMAL (105.9 FM) raised more than $405,000 during its Operation Fisher House radiothon. The charity campaign started December 1 and went over the course of two days.

The Radio Mercury Awards says Sherman Winfield, the executive director of marketing and communications firm VMLY&R, will be the lead judge for its 2023 competition. Award categories for the 32nd annual competition will be announced in January.

Cumulus has hired Travis Daily to serve as its program director for Salt Lake City-area country station KUBL (93.3 FM, The Bull). Daily comes to Cumulus from Beasley Media Group's Tampa stations, where he worked as operations manager.

iHeartMedia says it has promoted DJ Pup Dawg to the position of program director at its Boston-based hip-hop station WJMN (94.5 FM, Jam'n). DJ Pup Dawg has spent his entire radio career with iHeartMedia, starting in Los Angeles before moving to WJMN in 2002.

Premiere Networks says country radio stations will be given access to a new holiday special hosted by musician and radio host Granger Smith. The program is available to Premiere affiliates across the country over the holiday season through early January.

True crime reigned king among podcasts in 2022, according to a new list of top podcasts published by Apple. Of the top 10 programs streamed on Apple Podcasts, four were from the true crime category, including the top overall podcast of the year.

A new memoir penned by Emmis Communications founder and CEO Jeff Smulyan has earned positive reviews from a number of notable celebrities and athletes, including broadcaster David Letterman and former National Football League quarterback Andrew Luck.

Sergio Bustos will join Miami-based public radio station WLRN (91.3 FM) as its vice president of news in early 2023. Bustos will join WLRN after a lengthy career in reporting and editing, most recently for the USA Today Network.

New data released by Edison Research shows SiriusXM, Spotify and iHeartRadio were the top podcast networks by audience in the United States for the third quarter of 2022. SiriusXM reclaimed the top position from Spotify, the data showed.