News

Look out Pandora and Spotify, iHeartRadio now has 100 million registered users. The company says the app has been downloaded more than a billion times and has 85% brand awareness among consumers.

Just one day after announcing 16 lawmakers have joined the Local Radio Freedom Act, the NAB says nine more have signed on. The LRFA now has 164 cosponsors in the House and 18 in the Senate.

Atlanta’s WPZE Praise 102.5 FM is the latest station to give to St. Jude’s Research Hospital. The 10th Annual St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Radio-Thon, held Thursday, March 9 at the Radio One Atlanta studios raised a fantastic $306,261 in cash and pledges -- a record-breaking total for the station.

News Radio 610, Manchester's News Traffic and Weather radio station, and News Radio 96.7, Portsmouth's News Traffic and Weather radio station, held the third annual "Make 12 Hours Count" radiothon. When it was over, the grand total raised was almost $140,000 to benefit Veterans Count

In the back-and-forth battle between Bubba The Love Sponge and Nielsen, Bubba has filed a new counter-claim against the ratings firm over allegations he tampered with ratings. Bubba claims Cox demanded Nielsen pressure Beasley to fire in Tampa. And if Nielsen did not implement the "death penalty" sanction, Cox threatened to file a lawsuit against Nielsen, seek an MRC audit and Congressional inquiry into Nielsen’s PPM data collection adequacy.

Yesterday we reported that Entercom has hired Richard Schmaeling to replace CFO Steve Fisher on April 18. Today we know what the company will pay Schmaeling. His base salary will be $525,000 through April 30, 2018. Schmaeling will receive a monthly car allowance, reimbursement for moving expenses, and lodging of up to six months.

At a meeting of the Cumulus Board on Monday Cumulus founder Lew Dickey, who was Vice Chairman of the Board, resigned. The reason given was "to pursue other professional interests." In their 2011 agreement the Dickey family is entitled to designate one member of the Cumulus Board. Lew informed the Board that he was designating his brother John Dickey to replace him.

This week, J. Anthony Brown announced that as of April 17 he'll be a permanent member of the Steve Harvey Morning Show. Harvey is syndicated by Premiere, which did not confirm what Brown announced. Brown was part of the Tom Joyner Morning Show for 20 years until November 2016 when it was announced he would no longer be part of the show. In January of 2016, Brown walked off the Joyner show and said he was quitting.

Mark Wildman has been promoted to EVP for Strategic Partnerships at Westwood One. Wildman will now lead the company’s new business development initiatives for both the network and spot sales. Wildman joined Westwood last October from William Morris where he was responsible for selling media, sponsorship, and content programs.

It didn't take long to find out where Doug Gottlieb was headed after leaving the CBS Radio Sports Network. On Wednesday, Fox Sports Radio announced Gottlieb would be taking over the afternoon drive slot as of April 24. He replaces the Jay Mohr Show which ended back in January.