News

Entercom Chicago’s WBBM Newsradio (780AM, 105.9FM) is proud to announce its 22nd annual Good Neighbor Radiothon, benefitting the Salvation Army and its Bed and Bread Club. WBBM News Anchor Pat Cassidy will host the live broadcast on Friday, December 8, starting at 5 a.m. CT.

WDRV Chicago hosts Sherman and Tingle held their 2nd annual fundraiser called, Operation: Santa PAWS, and collected $10,300 dollars in pet supplies and donations. The station partnered with PAWS Chicago -- an organization that builds no-kill communities. More than 8,000 homeless pets die each year on the streets or when placed in shelters.

The Seattle station teamed up with King 5, Saturday, for the kickoff of the 17th annual Home Team Harvest campaign benefitting Northwest Harvest. With a goal of five million meals for families in need of food assistance in the Puget Sound area, on the first day alone enough food was collected for an incredible 4,156,321 meals.

NRG Media CEO Mary Quass says a pair of very big shoes need to be filled now that Chuck DuCoty is retiring from the business. "Not just for the NRG Media team but for the industry as well. Chuck’s love and dedication to the radio industry is legendary and his impact, equally impressive. DuCoty has been NRG's COO for the past 12 years.

On November 30, Dr. Ronald Hoffman’s Intelligent Medicine podcast logged its five millionth download. His nationally syndicated radio show continues to be one of the top health/medical radio programs in the country, airing on more than 120 stations.

SiriusXM is launching a new daily weeknight show and additional weekend shows, all airing on SiriusXM Patriot channel 125. Former White House Chief Strategist and Breitbart News Network Executive Chairman Steve Bannon will return as a regular host along with Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow on the conservative channel beginning December 5.

The podcast is called Endless Thread, and will be hosted by Ben Brock Johnson. Johnson and producer Amory Sivertson will guide listeners through the best stories from “the front page of the Internet” and bring them to life in audio form. Each episode will have a thematic approach.

It was perfect timing. On Monday, Entercom CEO David Field launched a pro-radio marketing campaign in several publications read by big advertisers, hoping to start the conversation that leads to more money flowing to radio. Today, BIA Kelsey released its local advertising projections for 2018 and, despite a whopping 5.2% increase in local advertising spend, from $140.9 billion in 2017 to $151.2 billion in 2018, they are predicting a decline for radio.

(By Wayne Ens) I was impressed on three fronts as I read the Radio Ink story about David Field “putting his money where his mouth is.” First, while other broadcasters are looking at ways to cut their way to success, Mr. Field has faith in radio, and is investing in its success not just to benefit his company, but all of radio. Secondly, he believes in advertising.

Perhaps that will change once radio is fully integrated into Home Speakers such as Amazon Alexa and Google Home. For now, Nielsen says more than two-thirds of AM/FM listening is done away from the home, when consumers are in their cars or shopping.