News

Many of the 17 trophies were awarded to the old CBS Radio stations because, of course, they were well-known for their news stations. They are all now under the Entercom umbrella so when you combine the power of 1010 WINS and WCBS-AM in New York City with WBEN in Buffalo, the result is 17 Associated Press awards, including 8 first-place category wins.

Hubbard St. Louis Radio Group was recognized with multiple awards at the 2018 Missouri Broadcasters Association Annual Convention, held June 1-2 at the Lodge of Four Seasons in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. The haul included three First Place awards.

Manatee County (Bradenton, FL) Sheriff Rick Wells says Bubba The Love Sponge (Todd Clem) has committed to purchase 9 ballistic vests for the MCSO K9 unit at a cost of $1,550 per vest. Wells says Bubba heard the dogs were in need of the vests and thanks to his generous donation, "the MCSO K9 unit will be better equipped for dangerous service they provide each day."

A two-hour weekend country show hosted by Michael Knox has been added to the Focus 360 roster. Knox has produced 21 number one career singles, with over 18 million albums and 40 million singles sold. The show is called Know Country 360.

Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier, co-creators of the chart-topping Crimetown podcast series and the Emmy and Peabody award-winning The Jinx — The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst have launched The RFK Tapes, a new podcast series that re-examines the murder of presidential candidate Robert Kennedy.

The Radio Advertising Bureau, BMI and the Mentoring and Inspiring Women in Radio Group will present the 11th annual “Rising Through the Ranks” Seminar on August 15-16 at BMI’s Nashville office. The deadline to apply for one of the 20 scholarships BMI is offering is today.

Vegas Stats & Information Network, a network dedicated to sports gambling information, has announced a partnership with former CBS Radio CEO Dan Mason, who will join VSiN as an advisor and investor, participating in all aspects of the company’s operations. Mason is also an advisor to iHeartMedia and that role will not change with this new position at VSiN.

Kathy Smith is the new VP/Market Manager for Cumulus' six radio stations in Eugene, OR. Smith moves to Cumulus from Alpha where she was GSM for Alpha's seven radio stations in Portland, OR. Prior to that, she was Director of Strategic Sales and Marketing, and GSM for Entercom's six-station cluster in Portland.

WKKO-FM/K100 Toledo PD and morning show host Gary Shores will pass the programming duties over to Ohio native Jerry Mac. Mac joins K100 from Community Broadcasters in Elmira, where he was Operations Manager.

(By Ray Cole) I have fond memories of my friendship with longtime local radio executive Joe Bilotta. Sadly, he passed away on June 1, 2018 after putting up one helluva fight against pancreatic cancer over the last two years-plus. He was only 69.