McMahon: Lessons Learnd from Rebuilding a Struggling Radio News Station. Consultant
Bill McMahon details the myriad reasons he believes people tune in to – and stay with – a radio news station. He explains it in the context of rebuilding a major market news station that had lost its course and dove from being a leader to an also-ran in the ratings. McMahon says that delivering news is the mechanics of what a station does but "news stations are actually in the life enrichment business. News merely provides the vehicle and fuel for helping to make listeners' lives more interesting, meaningful and fun." With that, McMahon presents his beliefs about what constitutes
meaningful content for listeners in order to attract and keep them. Read it all
here.
SiriusXM's Howard Stern Show Being Sued for Airing of Taxpayer's IRS Call. This complaint is filed in US. District Court in Massachusetts as the result of an incident that happened on May 19, 2015. The crux of the suit against the
IRS and the
Howard Stern Production Company is as follows: IRS agent
Jimmy Forsythe had called in to the Howard Stern show from his office and was placed on hold. During that time, plaintiff
Judith
Barrigas called the IRS with a question about "the potential misapplication of her tax refund" for the previous year. At some point, Stern staffers put her discussion with Forsythe on the air, during which Barrigas' personal information, tax matters, etc. were aired. Barrigas says she learned of what was happening after receiving texts and calls alerting her that her conversation was being broadcast. She complained to the IRS which, she alleges, did nothing until she contacted WCVB-TV, Boston's consumer helpline. After the TV station contacted the IRS, Forsythe was put on administrative leave. Barrigas claims she's suffered monetary damages as a result of the incident in addition to various health issues. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, plus a recoup of legal fees.
TALKERS News Notes. Nationally syndicated talk radio host
Michael Medved – whose show is based at
Bonneville's KTTH, Seattle and is distributed by
Salem Radio Network – is featured in a story by
Seattle Times staff reporter
Nina Shapiro. Central to the piece is that Medved is one of a very few conservative talk show hosts who never got on board supporting President
Donald Trump's campaign. Now that Trump is in office, Medved continues to walk his own path – criticizing the administration for
what he thinks is bad and praising it for what he thinks is good. Read the Times piece
here…..
iHeartMedia-owned news/talk outlet KALZ, Fresno "Power Talk 96.7" is getting into the issue of whether the city of Fresno becomes a sanctuary city or not. Last night (2/14), the station held a remote broadcast (pictured at left) as part of a signature drive for a petition asking the city's mayor not to give it sanctuary status. KALZ host
Trevor Carey tells local TV station KFSN-TV, Fresno he and other citizens are concerned that the mayor's recent language on the matter was ambiguous, spurring the petition campaign…..WFTL, West Palm Beach talk show host
Joyce Kaufman took part in the latest Skype Session portion of yesterday's White House press briefing (pictured at right). During the session, Kaufman asked Press Secretary
Sean Spicer about the security issues relative to President Trump's receiving word of North Korea's missile launch while at dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe. News outlets have been questioning whether sensitive issues were discussed in the vicinity of other diners, wait-staff, etc., as photos taken by other diners seemed to indicate. Kaufman asked if there is a SCIF (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) at Mar-a Lago. Spicer answer that there is and it was used by Trump and Abe. She also asked if Trump and Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu would discuss moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Spicer replied he would not "get ahead of" the president on that one.
Trump Campaign-Russia Connection/Flynn Resignation, Russian Spy Ship and Missiles Deployed, ICE Raids, Oroville Dam Scare-State of Infrastructure, Kim Jong Un's Half-Brother Assassinated, Paid Protests Allegations, and NBA-NHL Action Among Top News/Talk Stories Yesterday (2/14). New allegations the Trump campaign was in contact with Russian officials prior to the election and before the inauguration, plus the related resignation of National Security Advisor Michael Flynn; reports of a Russian spy ship near the U.S. coast and the country's deploying of a missile that reportedly violates current arms treaties; the raids being conducted by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau; the concerns about the stability of a spillway at the Oroville Dam in Northern California and White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer's statement that the incident is emblematic of the country's infrastructure issues; allegations that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un's half-brother was assassinated with poisoned needles in Malaysia; speculation that the protests at GOP town halls are populated with people paid by Democratic Party operatives; and NBA and NHL action were some of the most-talked-about stories on news/talk radio yesterday, according to ongoing research from TALKERS magazine.
Sports, Music, Politics and Talk Media. TALKERS publisher
Michael Harrison is joined in a free-wheeling dialogue by his long-time friend, New York City radio broadcaster
Richard Neer as his guest on this week's installment of the award-winning
PodcastOne series "Up Close and Far Out." The two talk about the public's and media's obsession with
Donald Trump, with an emphasis on the infiltration of sports and entertainment by political
passions. Richard Neer brings his diverse background as a legendary Big Apple music radio host (WNEW-FM), sports talker (WFAN) and best-selling author of the landmark book
FM: The Rise and Fall of Rock Radio (Villard, 2001) to the discussion which focuses on the rapid morphing of the traditional left/right talk media paradigm into a more complex resistance/revolution chess game. To listen to the podcast in its entirety, please click
here or click on the "Up Close and Far Out" player box located in the right-hand column on every page of Talkers.com.
