News

That news come from The Local Search Association which released a white paper detailing how billions of dollars of co-op advertising dollars go unclaimed every year. Over 40% of small businesses sell national brands that could qualify for co-op. Confusing rules about how to use co-op is a major reason the funds go unclaimed. When asked which media uses co-op funding the most, advertisers said print, 60%; direct mail, 41%; digital, 36%; and broadcast, 36%.

As our nation decides the course of the next four years, following what is possibly the most contentious election in recent history, it is time to look ahead and begin the process of mending fences, healing rifts, and hopefully, looking for ways to compromise and unite. We are, after all and at the end of the day, a nation of, by and large, good and decent people. And toward that goal of healing, radio has a significant opportunity to play a role.

Justin Cole is the new Senior Vice President of Programming for iHeart Chattanooga, effective immediately. Stations in the cluster include US101, 103.7 KISS FM, and ROCK 105. Cole will work with radio station personalities and PDs to oversee on-air content and music programming for all five stations in market.

Entercom reported same-station revenue increased 3% in the third quarter, with August being the strongest month. CEO David Field said local, political, and digital were all up, with National off a bit. Excluding political, Entercom's same-station revenue was up 2%.

Late last week ESPN Radio's Dan Le Batard went off on management in his local Miami hour when someone -- who was not named on the air -- told Le Batard to stop talking about a story that was in the Miami Herald. Le Batard made it clear that was not going to happen.

At its recent Board of Directors meeting, the Radio Advertising Bureau elected a new slate of officers, including Hubbard Radio CEO Ginny Morris who takes over as board chair after a two-year run by iHeartmedia's Hartley Adkins. Newly elected directors include Brian Beasley from the Beasley Media Group, Cherry Creek Radio CEO Jonathan Brewster, Mike Tarter, CEO of Forcht Broadcasting, and Univision Radio's Sabina Widmann.

After disappearing from the top of the Media Monitors weekly chart, The Home Depot is back at number one, a spot is occupies more than any other advertiser on the radio. The home improvement big-box ran 47,284 commercials on radio stations all across the country last week.

Entercom rocker 99.9 KISW in Seattle will present Live Day for the second year on November 22. Both BJ & Migs (AM Drive) and The Mens Room (PM Drive), shows will be completely live, including commercials, announcers, bands, sound effects, and the music. Last year, Live Day had more than 1,000,000 listeners tuning into both shows on air and through the KISW app.

WERO-FM, WRNS-FM, and WQSL-FM in Greenville-New Bern-Jacksonville, NC, held three live remotes on Tuesday, October 25 to collect goods to assist victims of Hurricane Matthew. As a result, one box truck and one 14-foot cargo truck were filled with donations.

Chris Peterson has been named Senior VP of Podcasting for iHeartRadio and Beth Murphy joins iHeartRadio as the Senior VP of Marketing. Previously, Peterson served as the Content Partnerships Manager for TuneIn. He has also worked as the Director of Operations for The Blaze and as Director of Affiliate Relations for Premiere. Murphy was the CMO at Deezer as well as the CMO at Stitcher.