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From Radio Online: Urban One's Radio Division CEO David Kantor will reportedly retire at the end of 2024. Kantor currently oversees Radio One's 57 stations across 13 markets and manages Reach Media's suite of syndicated programs. He has been with the company since 2004. Kantor's career began in local radio research, More...

From Radio Online: Key Networks has partnered with Oceanic Tradewinds to launch "The Mix Factory - Top 40," a new Mix show format for contemporary music stations. The unhosted, four-hour music Mix show is built for stations that want to make their weekends sound more exciting. The show includes 44 More...

From Radio Online: Marketron and BIA Advisory Services are partnering for a webinar on 2024 local media spending on July 25 at 2pm ET. The event will be presented by Marketron CEO Jimshade Chaudhari and BIA Advisory Services VP of forecasting Nicole Ovadia. There is no cost to attend this event. In this webinar, Ovadia More...

From Radio Online: The latest report, "Sports Audio Report: Female Fans" from Edison Research, SiriusXM Media and GroupM explores the unique audio listening habits of U.S. female sports fans and shows how they interact with sports beyond the field. Sports audio plays an integral role in female sports More...

From Radio Online: The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has taken a significant step in its ongoing challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) local radio and television ownership rules by filing an initial brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. The NAB argues that the current More...

From Radio Insight: The latest report, Sports Audio Report: Female Fans with Edison Research, SiriusXM Media, and GroupM explores the unique audio listening habits of U.S. female sports fans and shows how they interact with sports beyond the field. Sports audio plays an integral role in female sports fandom ? 57% of female sports fans ?frequently? or ?occasionally? listened to sports audio content in the last year. Findings were presented in a webinar by Salma Aly, Manager of Research at Edison Research and Sophie Anderson, Associate Director, Podcast Sales Marketing at SiriusXM Media. Top findings among women sports fans include: The majority of females are sports fans: 57% of the U.S. female population age 13+ consider themselves to be sports fans; an estimated 83 million Americans. Female fans use sports to keep their family ties strong: 70% of women sports fans agree that sports brings their family closer together compared to 66% of male sports fans. Female fans leverage sports for social connections: 58% of female sports fans socialize with other people while watching or listening to sports content. Male sports fans are more likely to have cried because of the outcome of a sporting event than female sports fans: 25% of male sports fans say yes, they have cried and 20% of female sports fans say yes, they have cried. Men and women rally behind women?s sports: 32% of male sports fans are following more women?s sports or athletes more than they were five years ago; 26% of female sports fans are following women?s sports or athletes more compared to five years ago. Top findings among women who listen to sports audio: Female fans devote significant time to sports audio content: 33% of female sports fans listened to sports audio content in the last week; 37% of female sports audio listeners spent 5+ hours listening to sports audio in the last week.? Female sports audio listeners are more likely than male sports listeners to listen to sports audio with others: 80% of female sports audio listeners ever listen to sports audio with other people compared to 73% of male sports audio listeners. Female sports audio listeners are turning to podcasts to seek new perspectives: 59% of female sports audio listeners and 67% of female sports podcast listeners say yes that they consume sports audio to hear unique perspectives on sports topics not covered in other media. There is an opportunity with female sports audio listeners as they lack a wide variety of content: 35% of female sports audio listeners agree that there aren?t enough sports audio programs that give different perspectives; 34% agree that there aren?t enough audio programs that cover the sports they like/follow. Aly said, “Like our former first lady Abigail Adams once wrote, ?Remember the ladies.? This is something that we still need to keep in mind, especially when we are creating sports podcasts. We know women really love sports so having more variety and representation for women sports is a must for the industry.? Click here to download the Sports Audio Report: Female Fans. more

From Radio Insight: It began with a social-media question about two Bob Seger hits. ?I have a friend who claims to have never heard ?Night Moves? nor ?Against the Wind? in the 43 years he?s been alive. Is this scientifically possible?? Post by @todgoldberg View on Threads It?s a fun question for radio programmers to ponder. Both songs are older than that particular listener, a friend of author Tod Goldberg. Then again, both songs were top-five hits at the time. Both did well enough to go to recurrent, and then to radio stations? gold libraries in multiple formats ? often the first test of a song?s long-term endurance. When we looked at the ?Lost Factor? ? our measure of the enduring nature (or lack thereof) of various hits ? several years ago, both ?Night Moves? and ?Against the Wind? were getting more than a proportionate amount of airplay to the hits they had been in 1976 and 1980 respectively. They had a score of 0.06 and 0.1 respectively; higher than 1.0 would have been ?lost.? Airplay for those songs hasn?t changed significantly in the four years since I began calculating the Lost Factor. Today?s Mediabase panels represent different stations (and a different number of them) than the stats from the now-defunct Broadcast Data Systems. But airplay has remained surprisingly stable. ?Night Moves? got 680 spins last week (vs. 691 when first measured.) ?Against the Wind: had 499 then; 487 now. ?Against the Wind,? as some posters noted, was briefly in the movie Forrest Gump. The listener in question had seen the movie, but not registered the song. When I asked my daughter if she knew it, she immediately replied, ?Yes, it?s in Forrest Gump.? But then she added that she couldn?t conjure more than the title. After a year, Threads has at best diluted, but not displaced, Twitter/X. That said, Threads has turned into a surprisingly robust place for music discussions. Goldberg’s original Seger post drew about a hundred comments. For at least a few respondents, those songs had never left radio.* Post by @boojobonez View on Threads But there are plenty of reasons somebody might not know ?Night Moves? and ?Against the Wind? ? including a number specific to that song.* At Classic Hits in particular, there is only one consensus Seger title, and that?s ?Old Time Rock & Roll? ? a mid-charter in 1979, but a song with a few years? extra currency in listeners? frame of reference thanks to the movie Risky Business. It?s also one of the most enduring ’70s songs as Classic Hits whittles down the decade overall. At Classic Rock, ?Turn the Page? has become the enduring Seger song, but even its spins are diluted by the Metallica cover that younger-leaning rock stations play. The person in question was born a year after ?Against the Wind? was a hit (and four years after ?Night Moves?). Despite the resurgence of ?Bohemian Rhapsody? around that time, discovering music from ?before your time? didn?t happen with the same regularity that it does now. And even now, it doesn?t happen consistently. And Classic Hits is dealing with a target audience that often wasn’t around for “Summer of ’69” as a current, much less songs 5-7 years older. In 1994, when that listener was 13, a lot of their peers were listening to Alternative, Hip-Hop, or both. The stations playing those songs at the time would have been Classic Rock or Mainstream AC. (In that era, Seger wasn?t yet an ?Oldies? artist, although ?Old Time Rock & Roll? was, for obvious reasons, one of the first songs added when Oldies stations did begin playing the ?70s). It?s also worth noting that Seger?s music was conspicuously absent from streaming services until 2017. Before then, I remember seeing at least one article suggesting that Seger was damaging his place in the classic rock canon. My guess is that the passage of time is a bigger culprit ? when I began testing music in Canada 15 years ago, Supertramp and Queen were both similarly huge and enduring ? but that article did come to mind. In general, people are inconsistent with the songs that they know and don?t. It depends on when they started listening to pop music, what their parents listened to, and whether they were away from the radio at some point (e.g., summer camp). Also, as the response to Lost Factor made clear, the songs that endure now are somewhat different if you have access to SiriusXM vs. relying on what large-market stations still play. Everybody has been made to feel old at some point by the song that their kids didn?t know was a remake. Mine was the Sweet Sensation late-?80s version of Diana Ross & the Supremes? ?Love Child,? and the person who didn?t know it was only a few years younger than I was. Streaming, syncs, and the rise of Classic Rock/Classic Hits radio among younger radio listeners have helped listeners with a lot of songs ?before their time,? but the entire history of hit music is still a lot of songs to learn. Listeners want to bond through music. Some of that is finding friends who like the same music, but there?s also an expectation that friends will have the same frame of reference. For one responding poster, ?Eight Miles High? by Husker Du should have been a common-currency song. But for most people, even the semi-hit by the Byrds is obscure now, despite its historical significance as early psychedelia. Post by @scottkmurphy View on Threads Similarly, the closest I?ve ever come to being shouted down in social media was when I asked if Wilco was known enough to count as ?dad rock.? Even if their fans were now of a certain age, I didn?t think their commercial mainstream footprint was large enough to have become now unhip. But there was certainly a quorum among the original poster and his friends. It was also likely generational, most of what I would have thought of as ?dad rock? (including Seger) involved bigger hits, but it was also a generation older than Wilco. I went to school in Southeast Michigan at the height of Seger?s stardom. There, his musical footprint was massive ? going deeper than the hit singles and back well before his 1976 breakthrough with Live Bullet and then the Night Moves album. There are about 20 Seger songs in my phone; none of them are ?Night Moves? or ?Against the Wind,? both of which are permanently fried for me, even as I encounter them less often on the radio.* It’s interesting to note that Seger?s most truly lost hit was also his most recent, relatively speaking. ?Shakedown? was No. 1 in 1987 and the No. 9 song of the year, but with a lost factor of 2.6 (well above the threshold) and a song rarely encountered on broadcast radio. That song is back in the Shazam top 200 because of the new Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, although there were bigger boosts for ?The Heat Is On? by Glenn Frey and ?Hot in the City? by Billy Idol. The former disappeared from the radio over time; the latter has been lost for years. Perhaps in a year, we?ll be wondering how somebody could not know any of those songs. more

From Radio Insight: Cumulus Media has announced that Shreveport LA VP/Market Manager Tish Boden will relocate to Fayetteville NC in the same role effective August 1. Boden joined Cumulus Shreveport in February 2019 as Director of Sales and rose to VP/Market Manager in December 2020. She previously served as SVP/Sales for iHeartMedia Jacksonville, and General Sales Manager for iHeart New Orleans and Cumulus Myrtle Beach along with Market President for Power 92.3 Inc. in Atlanta and account executive for Univision Las Vegas. She began her career as an AE and on-air at Citadel Broadcasting Little Rock. Cumulus Media SVP/Operations Mark Sullivan said, ?Tish Boden has been an impactful leader with a strong record of success. I?m happy for her to be closer to her family and happy for our team in Fayetteville, as they are welcoming a strong leader. I?m also grateful for the time that I had to work alongside Cheryl Salamone and thank her for her meaningful contributions to the company and to the Fayetteville community. We wish her the very best in her retirement.? Boden commented, “I truly appreciate all the amazing talent in Shreveport and the phenomenal people I?ve worked with there. I am very excited about the next chapter and look forward to joining the awesome team at Cumulus Fayetteville and building on the great success that Cheryl leaves behind. Thank you to Mary Berner, Bob Walker, and Mark Sullivan for this opportunity.? Boden fills the position held by Cheryl Salomone, who announced her retirement earlier this year. more

From Radio Insight: As Rhode Island PBS and The Public’s Radio complete their merger, the combined organization has named Pam Johnston as President/CEO. Johnson recently resigned from her position as General Manager of News at Boston based GBH ahead of her taking this position. She was at GBH from Jun 2020 until May. She began her career in commercial television as a producer at WMTW Portland, WRAL Raleigh, and then Assistant News Director and News Director at WLVI Boston. After a couple years at Lahey Health and Gather.com, she joined PBS’ Frontline as Senior Director of Audience Development in 2012 before rising to Senior Director of Strategy & Audience in 2018. She will begin her new role on August 19 with the first mission to launch an “inclusive engagement process, steeped in listening and learning, which will involve staff and reporters, underwriters and supporters, and the community at large?to develop a new name and brand as the organization continues to bring together its teams, operations, and an enhanced slate of programming.” Former RI PBS President David Piccerelli and The Public’s Radio President/CEO/General Manager Torey Malatia, who have been serving as co-CEOs since the merger approval will remain on for a transition period. Board Co-Chairand former chair of The Public’s Radio Elizabeth Delude-Dix stated, “?The possibilities before us for public media in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts are incredibly exciting, and Pam Johnston has the passion, expertise, and creativity to build a world class organization. Pam is a visionary leader who has a deep understanding of audience engagement, practical expertise in digital transformation, and innovative ideas for the future.? Co-Chair and former RI PBS chair Dave Laverty commented, “Since announcing this merger, the overwhelmingly positive feedback from our team, viewers, listeners, and beyond has reinforced our belief that we will be stronger and more dynamic together. Pam recognizes the magnitude of this opportunity and will be ready on day one to bring people together, and leverage our collective strengths to lead a more powerful and trusted public media source to better serve the community.? Johnson added, “My passion for public media?s mission and service to our local community has never been stronger. I am honored to be stepping into this role at such a vital moment. At a time when trust in the media is eroding and societal gaps are widening, public media can play a critical role in fostering understanding, goodwill, and connection. I believe that here in Rhode Island we have the team, talent, and resources to redefine the very best of what public media can be.? more

From Radio Online: Cumulus Media appoints Tish Boden to Vice President and Market Manager for its cluster in Fayetteville, NC, effective August 1. She steps into the role held by Cheryl Salamone, who announced her retirement earlier this year. Boden moves to Fayetteville from the company's co-owned group in Shreveport, where More...

From Radio Online: Audacy Podcasts inks a strategic partnership with Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey to handle sales, distribution and production for their series "Office Ladies." The show had previously been with SiriusXM since its launch in October, 2019. "Office Ladies" will move to Audacy on August 14 on the Audacy app and More...

From Radio Online: The Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWMF) has announced the inaugural Gracies Day of Giving on July 26, in honor of the late Gracie Allen's birthday. This special day is dedicated to raising funds that directly impact the foundation's mission of creating positive change in More...

From Radio Online: Audacy names Chris Brown as the new radio play-by-play announcer for Buffalo Bills football broadcasts on WGR-AM, beginning with the 2024 season. Brown, the interim announcer last season, will continue as Bills Insider for the station, co-hosting "One Bills Live," weekdays at 1pm ET on WGR 550 and simulcast More...

From Radio Online: Westwood One has announced that a new podcast, "Bongino Report Early Edition with Evita," launches its inaugural episode on Tuesday on the Cumulus Podcast Network. In this first podcast extension under the Bongino umbrella, Gen Z journalist and culture analyst Evita Duffy-Alfonso joins the Bongino Report More...

From Radio Insight: Sun Broadcasting CHR “Hot 93.7” WHEL Sanibel/Fort Myers FL has added Jay Styles as afternoon host. Styles most recently was APD/MD/afternoon host at Hubbard CHR “Movin 92.5” KQMV Seattle from 2021-22 until relocating back to Florida to be closer to family. He previously spent five years at Hubbard’s 100.3 WSHE Chicago as local producer/host for the the syndicated Brooke & Jubal show before moving to afternoons from 2018-21. Styles began his career at CHR WPXY Rochester NY and has previously served as morning host at WJJS Roanoke and WABB Mobile, Music Director at WBHV State College PA, WAPE Jacksonville and KAMX Austin, APD/MD at WHZT Greenville SC and ZFZZ Cayman Islands, and Program Director at Hot AC ?Play 98.7? WSJT Tampa. He is also tracking nights for Mel Wheeler Inc. CHR “K92” WXLK-FM Roanoke VA. Styles joins Premiere Networks’ Elvis Duran and the Morning Show on the WHEL lineup. https://www.instagram.com/p/C9awqjsSxeB-8DgxEvTiNSxpQzzZShn_WLWsxg0/ more

From Radio Insight: Woody Wood and Jim Chandler are teasing their return to Nashville morning radio starting Monday, July 22. On a “Woody & Jim Tell All” YouTube stream on on Sunday evening, the duo announced their upcoming return, but not disclosing the station until a press release comes out this week. Also in the live stream, they discussed their exit from iHeartMedia CHR “107.5 The River” WRVW Lebanon/Nashville in May 2023 commenting that they hold no ill-will towards the station or local management as their cuts were determined at the corporate level and local management was “as blindsided as we were”. Wood and Chandler spent 25 years at from 1998 until their layoff. The duo also spent seven years together at ?Fly 92? WFLY Albany NY. Wood previously worked at stations in Allentown PA, Dallas, Philadelphia and San Diego before being paired with Chandler, who began his career in Buffalo and Rochester NY and first co-hosted mornings at WFLY with Todd Pettingill from 1988-91. more

From Radio Insight: Skyview Networks is debuting a new weekly Classic Rock show hosted by YouTuber Adam Reader in October. “Classic Rock U” will be producer in partnership with Hubbard Radio Chicago and launch on Hubbard’s “97.1 The Drive” WDRV Chicago/96.9 WWDV Zion IL, 94.7 KSHE St. Louis, and 100.7 KSLX Phoenix. Reader has gained over one million followers to his YouTube channel “Professor of Rock“, which features long-form interviews with Rock musicians from the 1960s through 90s. The new program will be a weekly, four-hour show designed for weekends featuring a mix of music combined with conversations from his portfolio of artist and band interviews. Reader commented, ?As a kid growing up in a small town in Idaho, my dad raised me on Rock ?N? Roll, and like many Gen-Xers, Classic Rock radio and MTV, when they used to play music, were my windows to the world. I listened to Casey Kasem?s American Top 40 countdown every week and was dazzled by the stories behind the songs and the artists who created them. It was such an education. Music has always been an anchor of my soul, so this a dream come true to continue the tradition of playing the songs, sharing the stories and honoring the artists that have created the soundtracks of our lives.? WDRV Brand & Content Director Keith Hastings stated, ?This is incredibly fresh Classic Hits and Classic Rock content that combines the powers of radio with a YouTube star. Classic Rock U allows Adam’s exclusive interviews and rich storytelling to be featured between the songs themselves in a highly compelling show that jumps out of the speakers.? Jeanne-Marie Condo, President of Network Partnerships and Chief Revenue Officer of Skyview Networks said, ?Adam?s special YouTube show and his extraordinary talent has brought Classic Rock U to life, serving as a celebration of creativity and innovation. We are excited for what will be a treasured show by many for its rare access to the legends of Classic Rock, and we look forward to delivering a unique and immersive listening experience for our audiences and advertisers.? more

From Radio Insight: The number of names on the programming/content side to be cut at Alpha Media continues as Alex ‘Bo Matthews’ Gutierrez exits as SVP/Programming for the San Jose cluster. Matthews has led ?K-Bay Country? 94.5 KBAY Gilroy/92.1 KKDV Walnut Creek and Hot AC ?Mix 106.5? KEZR San Jose since May 2022 after spending four years overseeing the company’s Dayton and Canton OH properties. Prior to joining Alpha Media, he spent his career at iHeartMedia rising through the ranks from on-air in Youngstown OH and Fort Myers FL to Program Director of WPLA and WFKS Jacksonville, WAKS and WMMS Cleveland, and WEBN and WKFS Cincinnati and then Senior VP/Programming in Cincinnati. He also serves as President of IGAG Productions overseeing the management of his son, musician/DJ Alex Angelo, whose weekly mixshow airs on a number of CHR and Hip Hop stations. Matthews told Country Aircheck, which first reported on his exit, “I am very proud of what we were accomplishing at KBAY, have loved being a part of country music and am excited for what’s next for me.” more

From Radio Online: YouTube superstar Adam Reader, known as the Professor of Rock, launches his new radio show "Classic Rock U" in partnership with Skyview Networks. With over one million subscribers on YouTube, Reader's content of nearly 700 interviews includes some of the most legendary musical More...

From Radio Insight: Longtime 105.7 WAPL Appleton/Green Bay WI co-host Rick McNeal is stepping down from the morning show at the Woodward Communications Classic Rocker after being off-the-air with health issues for the past few months. McNeal has been with WAPL since 1985, mostly partnered with Len Nelson from 1985 until 1999 and 2003 until Nelson’s firing in March 2021. He has been with Andrew ?Cutter? Puyleart since April 2021. McNeal had been off the air since March when a fall led to a hospitalization and developing a bacterial infection. He called into the morning show this morning to announce his departure, although if heath allows he will make guest appearances. WAPL had already begun the search for Cutter’s new co-host. McNeal and the station shared the following message: Hey folks, it?s with heavy hearts that we announce some tough news. We had exciting plans to celebrate Rick?s retirement and honor his remarkable 39-year career of entertaining Northeast Wisconsin at WAPL. Unfortunately, due to his ongoing health issues following the WAPL International Incident in early March, Rick is now stepping away. As a result, we?re now faced with moving forward without him as we start the search for a new co-host to join Cutter in the morning. It?s a tough spot all around, no doubt about it. Sucks for him, sucks for you, sucks for us. If Rick is feeling up to it, he may return as a guest in the future. Let?s come together to send Rick our best wishes and gear up to welcome a new voice to the team. Stay tuned for updates on his upcoming benefit event. ? Rick McNeal and WAPL Feel free to send cards or correspondence to: WAPL-FM c/o Rick McNeal PO Box 1519 Appleton, WI 54912 more

From Radio Online: Provoke Insights and RAB will team up with a live presentation entitled "Get Up to Speed." During the presentation, Provoke Insights researcher and strategist Jordin DeSenzo will examine key trends in automotive preferences and purchase behavior by consumers and radio listeners. The live presentation will More...

From Radio Online: iHeartMedia Asheville, NC flips Alternative W266CP the new "Throwbacks 101.1," Asheville's Classic Hip Hop and Randamp;B, effective immediately. The new format will air songs from artists including Usher, Nelly, Beyonce, Jay-Z, 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. The station will also feature Big Boy in the Morning More...

From Radio Online: ENCO Systems, Benztown and Compass Media Networks introduce a new voice cloning feature for their SPECai spec spot creation product for radio. The first-of-its-kind feature gives SPECai users even more customization, diversity and choice in creating spec spots for clients. SPECai More...

From Radio Online: Southern California Public Radio (SCPR) and LAist appoints Alejandra Santamaria as President and CEO. She most recently served as interim President, GM and VP/Director of Sales for Univision Los Angeles. Santamaria will join SCPR and LAist in July succeeds CEO Herb Scannell, who recently retired from the More...

From Radio Insight: ENCO Systems, Inc.,*Benztown, and Compass Media Networks*introduce a new voice cloning feature for their award-winning SPECai spec spot creation product for radio. The first-of-its-kind feature gives SPECai users even more customization, diversity, and choice in creating high quality, high impact spec spots for clients. SPECai uses advanced AI technology to generate fully produced spec spots in English and Spanish, including regional accents. SPECai?s innovative new voice cloning feature allows users to easily clone voices they have the authorization to use in creating a spec spot. SPECai replicates the authorized voice, analyzing a user-uploaded audio sample, which users can then customize to suit the intended tone or emotion. SPECai?s immediate turnaround dramatically reduces the costs and labor associated with manual voice cloning processes, with production times reduced from hours to seconds. Ken Frommert, President, ENCO Systems, Inc., said: ?The voice of the business or radio station now has a powerful tool to lend more credibility to their AI spec spots. SPECai has already changed the game for radio broadcasters and advertisers seeking to streamline and reduce the costs of ad production. Our instant voice cloning feature amplifies SPECai?s value proposition by providing users with a simple and straightforward workflow to upload their own samples of voices they are authorized to use, and create compelling ads that more effectively connect audiences and sponsors.? The voice cloning feature is a premium add-on feature available in the SPECai user interface. To experience SPECai and its new voice cloning feature firsthand, contact Nancy Abramson at nabramson@compassmedianetworks.com*for a demo. more

From Radio Insight: Hope Media Group is bringing 247 Music Ministries’ Contemporary Worship network “Worship 24/7” to Houston and Evansville. The network has launched on Hope Media Group’s 91.3 K217GB and KSBJ-HD2 Houston and 100.1 W261CW/91.5 WJWA-HD4 Evansville. The Houston signal had been carrying the group’s Spanish Christian “Vida Unida” network, while the Evansville translator had been carrying Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation’s 90.7 WPSR Evansville. Worship 24/7 is also heard on Hope Media Group’s 96.3 KKWA West Linn/Portland OR via an LMA that took effect last October. Hope Media Group President/CEO Joe Paulo stated, ?We have the technology and capability to further pursue our mission of engaging people to love Jesus, serve others, and spread Hope. Our strategic relationship with Worship 24/7 allows us to serve more people today and prepare for the future as HD radios become more prevalent.? Worship 24/7 President and General Manager David Harms added, ?We love collaborating with Hope Media Group, and it?s exciting to see how quickly God is expanding the reach of Worship 24/7 through this partnership. We will continue to seek any and every opportunity that will serve to ignite a listener?s passion for God through worship.? more

From Radio Insight: Southern California Public Radio’s LAist has selected Alejandra Santamaria has President and CEO succeeding the recently retired Herb Scannell. Santamaria joins LAist and its network based at 89.3 KPCC Pasadena/Los Angeles from Univision where she worked in multiple roles for the past three decades. She held roles in Los Angeles as Research Director, account executive, Senior Account Executive, Local Sales Manager and Director of Local Sales between 1993 and 2014 before relocating to the company’s Phoenix cluster as VP/Director of Sales and then President/General Manager between 2014 and 2019 when she returned to Los Angeles as VP/Director of Sales and was Interim President/General Manager in 2022-23. Santamaria stated, ?Los Angeles is my home and I am thrilled to lead one of the premier mission driven organizations serving my community. My career has been aligned with a media organization that has meant a lot to me because of their mission to empower, educate and inform Latinos like my own family. I am ready to bring those skills and passion to LAist. The reporting LAist is doing is some of the best in the world. Now it?s our job to shine a brighter light on great reporting and continue to be a resource for Angelenos.? SCPR Board Chair Drew Murphy added, ?Alex is the leader LAist needs today and for the future. Public radio remains a vital, important part of the Los Angeles media ecosystem and we are confident that her experience and talent is ideal to shepherd us forward, helping us to deliver on our mission, while remaining financially sound, in order to continue our role as an essential resource for our community.? more

From Radio Insight: Derald ‘Woody’ Johnson is coming out of retirement to host afternoons at North American Broadcasting Company’s “Country 103.9” WJKR Worthington/Columbus OH starting Monday, July 22. Johnson is best-known for his two decade run in mornings at iHeartMedia Country 92.3 WCOL from 2002 until the end of 2021. He also hosted mornings at “98.9 The River” WRVF in the early 1990s and briefly pulled double-duty in afternoons on News/Talk 610 WTVN in 2018. ?We are incredibly excited to welcome Woody Johnson to the Country 103.9 family,? said Brian Dytko, North American Broadcasting General Manager. ?His experience and deep connection with our listeners make him a perfect fit for our afternoon show. We look forward to the energy and passion he will bring to our station. We know our listeners will be as thrilled as we are to have him back on air.? ?It?s an opportunity to which I couldn?t say ?no.? The ability to reunite with no less than seven former super-talented co-workers/friends without needing that 3 a.m. alarm on a terrific sounding station. Country 103.9 is poised to make some waves.?, said Woody Johnson. I?m tan, rested, and ready. I’m so excited about reconnecting with Woodhead Nation, and I may be even more pumped to welcome in new listeners who?ve never previously listened. It will be a ?Live? show with plenty of my style of ?Info-tainment.? We?ll make the drive home fun .. with way fewer commercials!? more

From Radio Online: Amazon will debut its 10th Prime Day event this week. From July 16-17, Prime members will get access to millions of deals. Since the inception of Amazon Prime Day, the audio audience has been the engine of e-commerce purchases. This week's Cumulus Media | Westwood One Audio Active Group blog examines how More...

From Radio Online: WABC in New York and the Red Apple Audio Networks are broadcasting and streaming live from the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Monday through Thursday. Programs slated for live broadcast and streaming on WABCRadio.com are Sid Rosenberg (6-10am), The Dominic Carter More...