News

Aaron Leiker's new company 25-7 Media is purchasing KLMR AM &FM in Lamar, Colorado, and KBLJ-AM and KTHN-FM in La Junta, Colorado, from Cherry Creek Radio. It's Leiker's first foray into ownership, although he's been hooked on radio since he was a freshman in high school. We wanted to know why this 35-year-old jumped into radio ownership, when all we hear about these days is how younger people are only interested in digital. So we asked him.

United States Trustee William Harrington has filed an objection with the bankruptcy court over Cumulus' plan to pay out millions of dollars in bonuses while the company is in Chapter 11. And while Harrington is objecting to all of the bonuses being paid out, the objection will not impact a plan to pay out bonuses previously approved by the court on February 8, to hundreds of employees.

Maire Mason has been named VP/GM for SBS in New York where she'll manage WSKQ-FM Mega 97.9FM and WPAT-FM Amor 93.1FM. Mason replaces Eric Garcia who exited SBS last week to work for Univision. The 30-year radio management veteran most recently worked for Cumulus as ​VP/GM in New York. She's also worked for Merlin Media, Univision, and CBS Radio.

Eric Lauer has been named DOS for Entercom’s Milwaukee cluster, which includes KISS-FM (WXSS-FM), The Mix (WMYX-FM), and The Fan (WSSP). Prior to joining Entercom Milwaukee, Lauer held sales management roles with Cox in Florida and Georgia. Most recently, he was a GSM for Scripps Milwaukee.

New York Mets flagship station WOR-AM has named Ray Martel the new Executive Producer for Mets broadcasts. Martel has been with WOR for over two years as an Associate Producer of Len Berman in the Morning. Before joining WOR Martel was a producer at WFAN for 13 years, when they carried The Mets.

Audioboom announced Tuesday morning its intention to purchase Triton Digital Canada, the parent company of Triton Digital for $185 million. The deal will be a reverse takeover, and once complete, the new company will be called Triton Digital Group.

Media marketing veteran Gus Swanson has been appointed to the position of Marketing/Promotions Director for heritage Adult Contemporary WARM 106.9 (KRWM-FM) in Seattle.

The Nebraska Broadcasters Association will welcome Dave Otradovsky (Dent) into the NBA Hall of Fame, August 14 in Lincoln, during the 84th Annual NBA Convention. The Hall of Fame was established in 1972. Dent is the owner and General Manager of KVSH-AM in Valentine.

Twenty-seven Detroit and Ann Arbor stations will pause at 9 a.m. Wednesday for a special tribute to a long-time advertiser who passed away Monday after a bout with cancer. Eighty-seven-year-old Art Van Elslander, owner of Art Van Furniture, was a loyal advertiser to radio for many years.

(By Wayne Ens) When you consider all the time and effort that go into prospecting and presenting, it's understandable that some salespeople think of “the close" as the end of a complex selling process. But professional radio marketing consultants understand that the close is really just the beginning of a solid, sustainable relationship with their clients.