News

In our continued coverage of how radio is covering the two political conventions, today we check in with our friends at Westwood One. In Cleveland, the Westwood team included correspondents Bob Costantini, Jim Roope, Alan Scaia, and Karin Caifa. Chas Henry anchored longform coverage and Michael Toscano anchored evening short form special reports.

(By Jeff McHugh) Benchmarks are an essential component for a successful radio show or podcast. Packaged features like “Carpool Karaoke” on The Late Show with James Cordon or “Can’t Beat Kelly” on Fresh FM’s The Tommy Show in Washington, D.C., get listeners familiar with content and characters fast.

(By Loyd Ford) With all the politics and violence that is occupying social media, don’t you think people are looking for fun and entertainment? Of course they are! How will you respond? By taking advantage of this opportunity. You’re in radio!

NPR Digital Services will start using Triton Digital for streaming later this year. Stations were informed of the change last week, according to The Current. NPR uses Limelight to stream and began using Triton for podcast advertising earlier this year.

(By Ronald Robinson) “People tend to get accustomed to their circumstances.” This was a general observation provided by my H/R trainer. He added, “Even when some situations become extremely uncomfortable or even intolerable, we are likely to accept those, as well.” Radio is in one of those very states – and radio tolerates it. Radio also does so without much internal awareness, grumbling, or angst.

Belitsos is a Principal at Bain Capital. Prior to joining Bain in 2005, Belitsos worked at Goldman Sachs where he focused primarily on mergers and acquisitions for companies in the technology, media, and telecommunications industries.

Beasley Media Group’s Sports Radio WFNZ The Fan in Charlotte, NC, is broadening its reach with the move to the FM dial, simulcasting on 102.5 FM. WFNZ was initially only found on 610AM and HD Radio frequency 1037-2. The station is the official home of the Charlotte Hornets and Charlotte 49ers football, as well as the Davidson Wildcats and ECU Pirates.

iHeart pulls the plug on the news-talker for Spanish Sports in San Francisco. Gil Gross joked on his Facebook page that listeners may have been confused by his decision to do the show in Spanish. "It was the only way I could think of to show up Trump's speech. Or it could be that ESPN came by with a big check and Talk910 is now ESPN Deportes."

For years radio has been dodging daggers from companies claiming they are the new shiny delivery system and radio is an old and dead medium. Tell that to Brandon Lancaster of the new Country band called LANco. Lancaster tells Sounds Like Nashville he couldn't believe it when he heard the band's new single being played on Country radio.