News

According to Bloomberg, Spotify will begin offering news and political coverage with a goal of pulling listeners, and revenue from radio. Eight companies, including BuzzFeed and Refinery29, will produce new programming for a Spotify program called Spotlight. BuzzFeed is producing a four- to seven-minute daily newscast.

Alex Silverman has been promoted to Assistant Director of News and Programming for WCBS 880 Newsradio in New York. Silverman will help manage the day-to-day news coverage for the station, and its website and social media channels, in addition to his current reporting and anchoring responsibilities.

Major film roles, FOX Sports NFL predictions, and television appearances haven’t stopped comedic personality Rob Riggle from embarking on a new journey that gives fans access to his daily life and inner thoughts – a podcast. Sarah Tiana will be Riggle's co-host.

Dave Levora has been named morning host for Davenport, Iowa’s WOC 1420, “The Quad Cities Place To Talk,” effective January 29. Levora will serve as morning host on WOC’s AM Quad Cities, weekdays 5:30 – 9 a.m. with the station’s Program Director Dan Kennedy.

Cumulus Media-Syracuse’s WSKO (The Score 1260) is adding a new daily local sports show to its lineup. Drive Time Sports will broadcast weekday afternoons, 3-6 p.m. Host Paul Esden has served as executive producer and sports update reporter for the Bud & The Manchild show, also heard on WSKO 10 a.m.-noon every weekday.

Houston was hit hard in 2017. Hurricane Harvey, and the flooding that followed, wreaked havoc on that city. CMG has three stations in Houston, and they remained on the air the entire time, providing vital information to listeners. And that's because CMG Houston Market Manager Mark Krieschen has a detailed plan that his team practices every year.

​As last year’s horrific disasters, from hurricanes to earthquakes, demonstrated all too acutely, the importance of radio in providing lifesaving information and communications cannot be denied or compromised. Is your station ready?

As part of its Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Cumulus has asked for court approval to dump several contracts in Chicago, including those with the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bulls and the Merlin stations it has been LMAing since 2014, WKQX-FM and WLUP-FM.

According to Cumulus, the company operating the stations formerly owned by Randy Michaels, WLUP-FM and WKQX-FM in Chicago, have lost $8.4 Million since 2014. Cumulus says the stations, net of LMA fees, lost $1.5 million in 2014, $800,000 in 2015, $1.1 million in 2016 and $5.1 million in 2017. The LMA fee Cumulus was paying to Merlin was $600,000 per month.

In a perfect world there would be one simple, credible measurement system where all audio listening, whether over-the-air, on a device, via third-party apps or podcasts, could be neatly packaged for an advertiser to see exactly how many listeners a radio station has. The reality is that technology does not exist, and who knows if it ever will. On Thursday, the MRC released new standards it's hoping will lead to more credibility on the digital measurement side.