News

Despite a few big brand marketers stating they are reevaluating their digital ad spending, it doesn't seem to be stopping the flow of dollars to digital in any way. According to new data released by BIA/Kelsey, small and medium-sized businesses plan to spend 62.2% of their ad budget on some form of digital in 2018 -- that's up six percent over 2015.

Take that Apple. The team at TagStation announced Wednesday that the NextRadio app is now available in South Korea, allowing listeners to tune to local FM stations via the FM radio chip in their smartphones. TagStation has previously focused expansion of the NextRadio app in North America and Latin America, making South Korea its first country outside of the Americas.

The answer is no, not really. MediaPost has the details about a survey of 1,000 people done by Sharethrough and Qualtrics about where they get their news. Most of them do not trust social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, which comes as no surprise as more stories come out about how Russia used social media to try to influence the U.S. election.

The head of National Public Radio’s news department Michael Oreskes was placed on leave Tuesday after being accused of sexual harassment by two women who claimed he made unwanted advances toward them while he worked at the New York Times nearly 20 years ago. Here's the statement from NPR...

Entercom corporate has confirmed that former Beasley Philadelphia PD Matt Nahigian is the new Program Director at 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, replacing Don Kollins. Nahigian left Beasley's 97.5 The Fanatic in Philadelphia a few months ago. Nahigian confirmed the move on Facebook, where this picture of the PD and his family was also posted...

On Monday, WCCO-AM (Minnesota) radio legend Roger Erickson died at the age of 89. Erickson began working in radio in 1959. One of the many things he was known for was his 5 a.m. program giving morning warnings, telling everyone that their school was closed. He was also part of the Boone and Erickson show for 37 years. Erickson retired in 1998 and was inducted into the broadcasting hall of fame in 2001.

After a six-month absence from terrestrial radio, Mudflap and Palmer returned to the air, Tuesday, on New Country WWKT 99.3 The Cat, hosting mornings in Florence/Sumter, SC.

Black Diamond Broadcasting has named their selection for the newly created Director of Business Development position. Shannone Dunlap, whose first day is November 1, spent the last decade as the General Manager of Alpha Media in Saginaw, Michigan.

WPGC 95.5/Washington DC has a new MD. DJ Flexx is taking on the role in addition to his on-air hosting duties, weekdays from 3-7 p.m. Flexx started his radio career at WPGC-AM Flava 1580 in 1995, honing his skills, not only as a mix-show jock but also as a radio personality, and was quickly hired by sister station WPGC 95.5 the following year.

It's a given: More and more listeners are making user-friendly personal smart speakers (Amazon's Alexa devices, Google Home, etc.) their first choice for audio. Can the industry capitalize on this to expand radio's reach? We are going to answer that question in 14 days.