News

It's been quite a week of back-and-forth about the relationship radio has with advertising agencies. On Thursday, we posted a list of questions several advertising agency executives have for radio stations. Today, we have answers from a radio representative. Plenty of answers. And perhaps a little anger and sarcasm thrown in.

Dentsu Aegis Network has upgraded its ad-spending forecast for 2018 to 3.9% -- up from 3.6% in its January projection. Total ad spend around the world is expected to come in at $615 Billion. Dentsu predicts radio will be up 2%. In January the radio projection was 1.3%. The 2019 radio projection is plus 1.2%.

Our week-long series on the love-hate relationship between radio and advertising agencies has stirred up quite a discussion. We're hopeful it's been fair and balanced and that each side is learning about the other. On Thursday, we reached out to Ashley Chase from Independent Brands, an agency in Oklahoma. Ashley's been following the discussion and agreed to an interview.

The weekly one-hour golf talk show on WFAN-FM/New York will be hosted by golf expert Ann Liguori and air Sunday mornings from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. ET, June 17 through September 2. The inaugural show will be broadcast live from the 2018 U.S. Open in Shinnecock Hills, NY.

It's clear Journal Communications and Scripps knew they had a superstar in Beverly Brannigan. Brannigan made it to the Market Manager level from the programming side, which is something we do not see a lot of in our business. Since 2014, Brannigan has been the Vice President and General Manager for the Scripps radio cluster in Wichita. She's also the Vice President of Programming for the entire Scripps radio group. And, of course, she's on Radio Ink's 2018 Most Influential Women in Radio list.

The discussion about advertising agencies and radio has certainly caught fire this week. Yesterday, we heard from two ad agency executives who asked to remain anonymous. They threw out the following list of questions and statements and asked us to see how you might react and answer them. Have at it...

Sun Broadcast Group and Fitz have signed a multi-year extension of their syndication agreement that will continue all Fitz radio products into the next decade. The renewal covers both the daily Fitz Show as well as the weekend Hit List with Fitz countdown show.

Rob Sanchez is iHeartMedia Boston's new Vice President of News, Talk and Sports programming. The iHeart Boston cluster has six stations and Sanchez will be responsible for programming on WBZ NewsRadio 1030, The Newswatch Never Stops, WRKO-AM 680, The Voice of Boston, and Talk 1200, Boston’s Conservative Talk.

Janda Lane has joined Chicago’s WDRV-FM “The Drive.” Roberts will contribute content and information to the station’s afternoon show, hosted by Steve Seaver. She will also provide multifaceted assistance to The Drive’s programming department.

On Wednesday, the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Communications and Technology passed the PIRATE Act. The "Preventing Illegal Radio Abuse Through Enforcement Act’’ calls for an increased penalty of up to $2,000,000 for anyone convicted of operating a pirate station. The bill moves to the full House Energy and Commerce Committee for a vote.