News

Start the bidding! More than a hundred items are going on the block for ESPN Radio’s 12th Annual ESPY Day Auction to benefit The V Foundation for Cancer Research. They include tickets to prime sporting events, autographed memorabilia, unique experiences with athletes, celebrities and behind-the-scenes experiences.

AdsWizz, in partnership with National Public Media, has launched Podwave, a marketplace for podcast-specific advertising. The company announced that Podwave will provide its publishers with ad creatives specifically tailored to podcast content, and creates a dedicated venue for advertisers targeting the in-demand audiences of premium podcasts while providing them with detailed metrics.

United Stations Radio Networks has signed a deal with producers the Baka Boyz to handle the advertising sales in all the programs created, hosted, and distributed by the Baka Boyz. The programs airing now are the Baka Boyz All Star Hit Mix which is geared toward CHR and Rhythmic CHR, and the Baka Boyz Hip Hop Master Mix which is a more Urban program.

Sometimes-controversial political talk jock William J. Kelly’s The Citizen Kelly Show has been expanded to middays on AM 1590 WCGO. The Emmy award-winning producer and commentator starts his noon to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday, shift this week in the Windy City.

In June, and for the fourth consecutive month, ESPN Audio broke its record for the number of podcast impressions with 47.6 million. That's an increase of 63% over the previous June (29.2 million) and it breaks the record set in May (41.2 million). From the ESPN Radio Talk lineup, the Dan LeBatard Show was number one with 5.9 million impressions.

NextRadio is now live in the Google Play store in Canada, allowing over a million consumers with FM radio-compatible smartphones to download the app. NextRadio President Paul Brenner said, “This expansion was a natural next step as many handset makers provide the same phones in Canada, making it easier for them to turn on the FM chip for both countries at the same time.”

It's all about relationships with clients, and apparently more and more clients are not comfortable with the relationships they have with advertising agencies. One of radio's biggest strengths has been the ability to develop strong long-lasting relationships with clients. A new study by a company called Advertiser Perceptions found that 58% of respondents plan to review their agencies in the next year.

Here's an update on radio's largest advertising category. Autodata reports that U.S. light-vehicle sales improved 1.5% year over year to 8.65 million units in the first half of 2016. That's a record. Sales increased 2.5% to 1.5 million units in Jun 2016.

Home Depot, that is. According to the Media Monitors weekly spot chart, The Home Depot aired over 63,000 commercials on radio stations all across the country. GEICO held on to the number two spot with 40,621 spots. AutoZone moved up to third from 10th, airing 35,208 commercials. Rounding out the top five were Lowe's at number four with 31,136 and Burger King with 27,484.

High Plains Radio Network in Plainview, Texas, is expanding into a third state. After acquiring a three-FM station cluster in Mt. Home, Arkansas, Monte Spearman’s High Plains Radio Network is picking up another trio of FMs, this time in Altus, Oklahoma: KEYB-FM, KJOK-FM, and KKRE-FM from Altus FM Inc. The purchase price of $750,000 includes $600,000 for the assets and a $150,000 three-year consulting agreement.