People in the News

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai was interviewed by WJR Detroit's Paul W. Smith on the Paul W. Smith Show, Friday morning. Pai, who has been an occasional guest on WJR as FCC Commissioner, called WJR to say he'd be in Detroit today and graciously accepted Smith's invitation to appear on today's St. Patrick's Day show.

Geoff “G-Off” Owens, that's who. Owens will program iHeart's two Hip Hop stations, JAM'N 107.5 in Portland and KUBE 104.9 in Tacoma. Owens will also host afternoon drive on both stations, a position he’s held at JAM'N 107.5 since 2012. He replaces Senior VP Tim Herbster who was covering those jobs.

Radio imaging voiceover and jingle company Benztown has appointed Katrina Woolverton as General Counsel, a newly created position. Woolverton is a graduate of Southwestern University Law School in Los Angeles and San Diego State University.

Legendary artist Stevie Wonder will be honored by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, with its inaugural Key of Life Award at this year’s ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO in Los Angeles, April 13-15. He will also appear in a keynote “I Create Music” session.

The singer will be a guest of Chicago's B96 (96.3 FM) at the new CBS Radio Chicago Culinary Kitchen on March 20. Rexa will be the first guest artist to show off her culinary skills while being interviewed by B96 morning show hosts J Niice, Showbiz Shelly, and Producer Gabe, in front of a studio audience of approximately 20 winners.

Rich Lieberman is reporting that Michael Savage was confronted and physically attacked Tuesday night after eating dinner at Servino's Restaurant in Tiburon, CA. The report says the mugger kicked Savage's dog then threw the syndicated talker to the ground.

Emmis CEO Jeff Smulyan is either going to need a bigger shelf or add a trophy room onto his house. Smulyan is being awarded the 2017 Lowry Mays Excellence in Broadcasting Award by the Broadcasters Foundation of America. Here are just a few of the honors and awards one of radio's most respected broadcasters has earned so far.

Mark Fuhrman is the new Area President for the West Virginia Region, which includes Huntington, Parkersburg, and Wheeling. Fuhrman joins iHeart from IMG College, where he was GM and managed Thundering Herd Sports Marketing for Marshall University in West Virginia.

The Radio Television Digital News Foundation awarded ABC Radio VP/GM Steve Jones the First Amendment Service Award this week. The award honors those in local or network news who work in an off-air, management, largely behind-the-scenes role. Here Jones is accepting the award from ABC News’ Robin Sproul who introduced him at the event in Washington, DC.

Las Vegas Hip Hip/R&B station REAL 103.9, has a new APD and MD: the exotically named Roxy Romeo. Romeo is currently the 10 a.m.to 3 p.m. personality with the station and she’ll retain that role as well. REAL features artists like Drake, Future, Chris Brown, J Cole, and Migos.