News

810 & 103.1 WGY and 99.5 The River -- both in Albany, NY -- announced Friday that the 18th annual Cares for Kids Radiothon raised more than $280,000 for the Bernard & Millie Duker Children’s Hospital at Albany Medical Center. The 25-hour live broadcast took place May 5 and 6.

iHeartMedia San Diego, the flagship radio broadcaster for the San Diego Chargers Radio Network, announced today that Nick Hardwick will be the new play-by-play color analyst for the Chargers, starting with the 2016-17 NFL season.

Alpha Media, Fredericksburg, VA announced that they have raised $1,112,000 for local charities. WFLS, WNTX, WVBX, and WWUZ teamed up with the Community Foundation of the Rappahannock River Region for a 36-hour fundraiser. The Foundation's goal is to advance local philanthropy.

Scripps Radio Tulsa has hired Steve Hunter as the new operations manager for the station cluster, including KVOO, KHTT, KXBL, KBEZ, and KFAQ, effective immediately. Hunter spent the past 22 years in Tulsa, Oklahoma, as the operations manager for Cox Media Group.

WUSF Public Media has announced the hiring of Cathy Carter as lead education reporter and Julio Ochoa as editor of Health News Florida. Carter will be responsible for leading WUSF’s education coverage. Ochoa comes to WUSF from The Tampa Tribune.

Radio executives have been very quiet on Voltair since the controversy began. Not only did they not want to rub Nielsen the wrong way by admitting they had the unit, they didn't want their competitors to know they were using it, just in case it was improving the ratings. Alfred Liggins is one of the few who's never been afraid to speak his mind.

For the three months that ended March 31, Cumulus reported revenue of $268.5 million, down 0.9% compared to the first quarter of 2015. The company took in $3.2 million in political advertising in the first quarter, however, that positive revenue was offset by Westwood One which took in $3 million less than in 2015.

Mary Berner says yes. She's been hard at work trying to change the culture she's been very critical of since taking over the company after Lew Dickey was pushed out. Berner says the company has new cultural values described by what she calls "FORCE" or Focus, Responsibility, Collaboration, and Empowerment. She says it's become a rallying cry across the company and she's not surprised the company has embraced it.

With net income of $24.7 million from the radio stations Cumulus operates, it still lost (net) $14 million in the quarter, compared to $12 million a year earlier. Westwood One lost $2.8 million and the company reported a $36.3 million loss in the corporate department. CEO Mary Berner says she is acutely aware that the challenges Cumulus faces with the balance sheet are significant.

Radio One reported net revenue of $109.1 million from all divisions in Q1, an increase of 3.1% over 2015. Revenue from the radio division decreased 0.5% for the quarter. Radio growth came from Radio One's Charlotte, Cleveland, and Washington D.C. markets, with Houston, Indianapolis, and Philadelphia experiencing the most significant declines.