News

Night host Ralphie will flip shifts with MD and late night host Melony Torres, starting Monday, September 26. Torres (pictured left) will be on air 7-11 p.m. and Ralphie (below) will follow directly through to 3 a.m. The pair have been at the station since 2015 and 2012 respectively.

Kim Guthrie's career continues to soar. She's now been promoted to President of Cox Media Group. The former TV news reporter joined the company in 1998 and is currently Executive VP of National Ad Platforms and President of Cox Reps. She'll take over for Bill Hoffman, who's retiring at the end of the year after a 38-year career.

ABC TV in Tampa is reporting that WQYK morning man Dave Mckay died of a cocaine overdose. The 55-year-old was found dead in his St. Petersburg apartment on August 4 when he did not show up for work. The Medical Examiner's report also showed alcohol and cardiovascular disease contributed to his death, according to ABC.

The announcement came from Cumulus' Grand Rapids VP/Market Manager Jeff Cartwright, who said Lori Bennett has been promoted to Ops Manager for the company's five-station cluster in that market.

That's according to the latest research from eMarketer. The firm says programmatic ad spending will continue to grow at double-digit rates for years to come. The radio industry is just now getting into programmatic, and that was a hot topic at the Radio Show in Nashville last week.

The announcement was made Monday that 20-year media vet Dan Dibley will co-host weekday mornings, 6-10 a.m., at 97.5 The GAME (KGMZ-FM), with Joe Fortenbaugh and NFL veteran Lorenzo Neal.

Last week, we reported that ESPN continues have record setting download months from its 40-plus shows. On Monday, the sports network released more details, including the specific shows consumers were downloading the most. Many were original programs, not rebroadcasts of other shows.

Veteran Active Rock personality and programmer Madd Maxx Hammer will retire at the end of this year. His career began in 1976 at KIBS in Bishop, CA.

Media Monitors reports that in the last 10 days the Democratic candidate for President dropped over 15,500 spots on radio stations in the 85 major markets it monitors. Gary Johnson ran 1,827 spots, down from 12,171. The Donald Trump campaign only bought two spots.

In a week that saw Geico hold its lead as radio's biggest advertiser (38,647 spots), according to Media Monitors, Burger King leapt from #17 all the way to number two with 26,585 commercials aired. Close rival McDonald's was #3.