News

This all has to do with the complicated issue of fractional licensing. Last week, the Department of Justice filed its opening brief in its appeal of the Southern District of New York’s interpretation of the BMI consent decree related to “fractional licensing.”

WLS PD Brian Thomas tells Robert Feder he hopes the legendary Chicago radio host is back on the air in June. Biondi has been off the air since April, recovering from some sort of leg ailment. The 84-year old did release this statement about his status....

Honolulu is saying aloha to TeHani Gonzado as she joins Devon Nekoba as co-host of Rise & Dive. Gonzado is a well-respected kumu hula in Hawaii, and a former Miss Aloha Hula (2000) at the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival.

(By Eric Roads) As the world is more than happy to demonstrate these days, change comes at us fast, and often from unexpected — sometimes shocking – directions. Hardly a day passes that some new scandal or revelation doesn’t come roaring at us, reported by what sometimes seems an increasingly panic-prone media. In the midst of so much drama, you have to know who to trust.

(By Bob McCurdy) The radio industry’s leading headline of late has been its 93% reach metric. Wisely, we are no longer positioning ourselves as the “frequency” medium in such a fragmented, reach-parched media landscape for good reason, as companies typically grow by getting more customers, and getting more customers requires reaching more people.

iHeartMedia St. Louis has debuted the new Majic 103.7, “Today’s R&B and Throwbacks.” The station has kicked off with 10,000 songs in a row, commercial-free. Majic 103.7 will feature artists such as Mary J. Blige, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Maxwell, and Janet Jackson.

Kix Layton has been named Senior VP of Programming for iHeartMedia Greenville. The cluster includes My 102.5, Real Rock 104.9 – Man Up, WSSL 100.5, 92.5 WESC, and Sports Talk station FOX Sports 1440 Greenville. Layton will be responsible for all on-air and digital content and music programming.

It’s the ESPN Chicago 1000 duo’s 10th anniversary on the air and what better place to celebrate than Mexico? The pair broadcast live yesterday and will do so again today, from El Dorado Resort in Riviera Maya.

In part three of our three-part preview of Brad Kelly's Radio Ink cover story interview, we ask Kelly what the giant ratings firm is doing to help radio succeed? after all the radio industry pays bucket loads of cash to Nielsen to produce a product it hopes will be accurate and produce a nice return on their investment.

Earlier this year, Shelly Easton was voted Radio Ink's #1 Country PD. In May, she made Radio Ink's Best Program Directors in America list. Next month, she'll be on Radio Ink's Most Influential Women in Radio list. And Thursday, CBS promoted Easton to VP of Music Programming in Philadelphia for WXTU-FM, WTDY-FM and WOGL-FM. She keeps her role as PD at WXTU.