News

Mid-West Family Broadcasting South Bend General Manager Jim Roberts has accepted the position of National Account Manager at Futuri Media. Jim has been with the South Bend stations, including WNSN-FM, WZOC-FM, WQLQ-FM, and WSBT-AM, and FM translator on 96.1, since 1996.

WPRT-FM ESPN 102.5 The Game and the Nashville Predators have signed a three-year extension through 2021, securing The Game as the official flagship station and broadcast partner of the Nashville Predators Radio Network.

(By Barry Cohen) If I had a big enough stop sign, I would project it across the U.S. so every radio station sales manager could see it. Why, you ask? Because I would tell each and every one of them to stop competing with other radio stations in town.

Local Radio Networks has signed with ABC News Radio to bring ABC’s award-winning service exclusively to LRN affiliates. LRN affiliates will have access to the worldwide resources of ABC News and ABC News Radio.

(By Ronald Robinson) It can’t be denied: Radio surely had one hell of a run. Even in the days when radio was third in the Print/TV/Radio hierarchy, there was money to be made – lots of money. I was working for a TV/AM/FM combo that sported the finest of facilities, and where my AMer alone was raking in $5 million a year — in late-‘70s dollars! 

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.