Happy New Year and welcome back to reality after the Christmas and New Years break.
If you were checked out for the most part since mid-December, here’s a quick rundown of the news you may have missed, plenty of which has not been reported elsewhere.
Format Changes
Lots of ’em. We’ve logged over two dozen format changes so far since December 26. And the biggest one may not have happened yet as it is expected that Cumulus Media brings News/Talk 820 WBAP Dallas to FM on Wednesday.
Business & Sales
The FCC completed its long-delayed 2018 Quadrennial Review deciding against making any significant changes to its ownership rules.
Salem Media Group announced it will voluntarily delist from the NASDAQ exchange, received a new $26 million revolving line of credit, and sold its publishing division.
Max Media is selling its two stations in Denver, Rhythmic AC “Jammin 101.5” KJHM Watkins and Classic Hip Hop “Flo 107.1” KFCO Bennett, to Christian operator Pillar Media.
Dave and Linda Miller’s Yaquina Bay Communications shuttered their five stations in Newport and Lincoln City OR after Oregon Coast Bank foreclosed on their studio and tower properties.
People Moves
- Radio One syndicated host Russ Parr departed his WMMJ Washington DC based show.
- CBS Sports Radio launched a new weekday lineup.
- iHeartMedia Classic Rock “105.9 The Rock” WNRQ Nashville will debut a new morning show.
- Hubbard Sports “101 ESPN” WXOS St. Louis is adding former St. Louis Cardinals play-by-play voice to its morning show.
Obituaries
Radio lost a number of notable names over the holidays including Phoenix stalwart Supersnake, Detroit Rock icon Ken Calvert, 48 year WCMS Norfolk host Joe Hoppel, notable newscaster Tom Foty, Coast-To-Coast AM host turned educator Ian Punnett, and longtime KCRW leader Ruth Seymour.
Ratings
Nielsen released the December PPM monthlies over the holiday break. Among the highlights:
- iHeartMedia’s “106.7 Lite-FM” WLTW New York and “99.9 KESZ” KESZ Phoenix set new December monthly highs following the move to Christmas music.
- iHeartMedia’s newly launched “Magic 93.9” WMIA-FM Miami jumped out the gate 2.3 to 3.2 and jumped to #1 18-49 and #2 25-54 in its first full weekly.
- Adult R&B set new highs in two Florida markets with Cox’s “Star 94.5” WCFB Orlando up 9.0 to 9.8 and Hubbard’s “X102.3” WMBX West Palm Beach climbing 8.1 to 8.7.
- A number of heritage brands including Audacy News 880 WCBS New York, Mediaco Hip Hop “Hot 97” WQHT New York, and a long list of heritage Top 40s including “B96” WBBM-FM Chicago, “Kiss 108” WXKS-FM Boston, 101.3 KDWB Minneapolis, “Kiss 95.1” WNKS Charlotte, 97.9 WNCI Columbus, and “92 Pro-FM” WPRO-FM Providence fell to all-time or multi-decade lows.