News

Wrestling fans will be happy to see that PodcastOne has added sports-entertainment star and former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Vince Russo to the network’s lineup of podcasts hosted by WWE alumn.

Just days after Nielsen sent out a press release touting AQH growth for radio since its enhanced CBET product was rolled out, consultant Richard Harker has unleashed a series of blogs criticizing the ratings firm and PPM. In his latest blog, Harker asserts that the more robust encoding from Nielsen is causing stronger tones and some listeners are now able to hear those tones.

That's exactly half of what the campaign needs by June 30. The folks behind the SAVE KPLU campaign say everything is on track to raise the money needed for 88.5 FM in Seattle to become an independent, community-licensed station.

On Monday, Ryan Kliesch will begin hosting mornings on Majic 95.5 (KKMJ-FM) in Austin. Kliesch heads to Austin from Denver where he hosted mornings on Country KYGO. Prior to that, Kliesch spent 10 years on Top 40 WRVW (107.5 The River) and Country WSIX (The Big 98) Nashville.

Radiate Media, which provides traffic solutions in the United States, has announced that it has entered into an option agreement to sell all of its assets to Global Traffic Network, a supplier of traffic information to broadcasters in Australia, Brazil, Canada, and the UK.

That's what Cumulus-owned WWWM-FM is doing to rebrand its HOT AC station in Toledo. Market Manager Andy Stuart said: "The Star name never took hold in the market and did not convey all of the improvements we made to the station, especially the announcers and music selection. The brand name Channel gives us a real opportunity to show that we are making Toledo radio great again. "

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is partnering with Univision to host the annual St. Jude Promesa y Esperanza (Promise and Hope) radio event Thursday and Friday.

A hearing over iHeartMedia's debt began in State District Judge Catherine Striker's court in San Antonio Monday. iHeart is suing 15 bondholders who, the company says, are trying to force it into bankruptcy by triggering bond defaults that would require $15 billion of its $20 billion debt to be repaid quickly. The bondholders do not like that iHeart set up a subsidiary called Broader Media and transferred 100 million privately traded shares of Clear Channel Outdoor. They say its a shell company and they want the shares returned to the Outdoor division. At the hearing, iHeartMedia Senior VP and Treasurer Brian Coleman said the transfer is part of a strategy called "Project Indigo."

In February, Eric Zane lost his job on the nationally syndicated Free Beer & Hot Wings Morning Show. Since he was let go, he's been doing podcasts. Zane announced Monday that Cumulus sports station WBBL has hired him for the morning slot. Cumulus had no official comment on Zane's announcement.

Dr. Ronald Hoffman’s syndicated Intelligent Medicine show airs on more than 70 stations across the country. Hoffman's podcast has now been downloaded over two million times.