People in the News

Cumulus Media has tapped Scott Vertical of WDVD (96.3 FM) in Detroit to host a new morning show for Ann Arbor's adult album alternative station WQKL (107.1 FM). Vertical takes over for Martin Bandyke, a 40-year radio personality in southeast Michigan, who recently retired.

Hubbard Broadcasting's Washington, D.C.-based news outlet WTOP (103.5 FM) says Michelle Basch and John Aaron will host WTOP's morning news program weekdays from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. Eastern Time. Basch joined the station in 2006; Aaron joined one year later.

Premiere Networks is marking the 20th anniversary of George Noory's hosting duties at the syndicated overnight program "Coast to Coast AM." The program reaches millions of listeners on over 640 radio stations across the country.

Dori Monson, a right-of-center radio host with KIRO (710 AM, 97.3 FM) in Seattle and an announcer for the Seahawks football team, died on New Year's Eve at the age of 61. A spokesperson for the radio station said he was hospitalized after a "cardiac event."

Newsmax Radio says it has reached an agreement with Binnie Media to bring "The Rob Carson Show" to several stations in New Hampshire. The show will be distributed in nearly two dozen markets when the stations add the program in January.

Former Alabama star Mark Ingram will be the sideline reporter on the Crimson Tide Radio Network for the Sugar Bowl broadcast tomorrow. The Saints running back, who's out with an injury, joins a cast of rotating sideline reporters filling the role of Rashad Johnson who took a coaching job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Steve Bowers, the host of "Blue Suede Forever" on Jackson, Tennessee's WNWS (101.5 FM), will retire on Thursday, the station announced. His retirement caps more than four decades of broadcasting in various markets.

Colorado Public Radio says it has hired Dana Meyers to serve as a new host for its adult album rock channel, Indie 102.3. Meyers joins CPR and Indie 102.3 from WZBA in Baltimore, where she served as host and program director.

YEA Networks has announced that Charlotte Allison-Watts is retiring. Watts joined YEA in June of 2019 after spending 9 years in Sales with iHeartMedia Dallas.

Wright was the long-time CEO of Midwest Communications, a company he helped launch back in 1958. He was also on Radio Ink's 40 Most Powerful People in Radio list for the past 9 years. The cause of death, according to COO Michael Wright, was natural causes. Here's what the industry is saying about this long-time broadcaster...