News

Following Monday’s break-up episode of ABC TV’s The Bachelor, myTalk107.1 (Twin Cities) showed support for one of its own. After Arie Luyendyk, Jr. dumped his Prior Lake, MN-resident fiancée Becca Kufrin, the station quickly posted 26 digital billboards across the Minneapolis/St. Paul market in her support.

Nate Bell has been named Program Director of 97.9 WJLB, “Detroit’s Hip-Hop & R&B,” and Mix 92.3, “Detroit’s R&B and Throwbacks.” As PD, Bell will be responsible for day-to-day programming oversight of 97.9 WJLB and Mix 92.3.

Brooke Morrison has been named Afternoon Personality for Channel 96.1, “#1 For All The Hits In Charlotte,” effective March 26, and broadcasting weekdays 2 to 7 p.m. Morrison will play a variety of Top 40 music from artists such as Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes, The Chainsmokers, and Bruno Mars.

Joe Pags, host of the popular nationally syndicated radio show, The Joe Pags Show, will join iHeartMedia Boston’s WRKO-AM 680, “The Voice of Boston,” for weeknights, beginning Monday, March 5.

On Tuesday's earnings call, Radio One CEO Alfred Liggins was asked a question about radio's pricing pressure. His answer was that radio has been living with pricing pressure for quite some time and that's due to radio's two largest companies having balance sheet issues. So why is David Field's name in the headline?

WLUP was one of the two stations, along with WKQX, that Cumulus was going to purchase from Merlin Media. It had been a Rock station for over 40 years, but as of today it is no more.

Dick Broadcasting, Myrtle Beach, has named Charlie Steele Operations Manager for WYAV-FM, WRNN-FM, WYMB-FM, WKZQ-FM, and WRNN-FM. Steele was previously PD for heritage Classic Rock station WQMF and Active Rock station WTFX in Louisville. 

For one of the most iconic radio brands a major market has ever seen, there was no week-long walk down memory lane. There was no reminiscing about how the jocks of old broke barriers and broke rules to produce great content. There were no rock star interviews about how much the station meant to them back in the day. There was just a memo and a flick of the off switch. Poof. Gone.

And CEO Alfred Liggins made a point to call out the burger chain, which has been one of Radio One's biggest advertisers for years. In the first quarter of 2017, McDonald's spent $1 million across all Radio One stations. Liggins says McDonald's changed agencies, changed strategy to reach the urban audience using radio, and spent a fraction of that $1 million in Q1 2018.

It's a theme we're getting used to hearing from public radio companies. A banner political year (2016) is hard to match in an off-political year (2017). Net revenue for Urban One's radio division in Q4 of 2017 was off 7.5%, excluding political revenue was flat for the quarter.