ESPN Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month

9-13-13

ESPN and ESPN Deportes kick off the month-long celebration with One Naci?n: ESPN Celebrates the 25th Anniversary of Hispanic Heritage Month, a show centered around the countdown of the top 10 most influential Hispanic athletes of all time, airing on both networks Tuesday, September 17 at 8 p.m. ET. Athletes to be highlighted include Roberto Clemente, Mariano Rivera, Lionel Messi, and Oscar de la Hoya. Throughout the last three months, a panel of athletes, journalists, entertainers, and other Hispanic community leaders were invited by ESPN to vote and rank the Top 10 from an initial list of 50 athletes.

One Naci?n will be hosted by ESPN Deportes? Adriana Monsalve and ESPN?s SportsCenter anchor Max Bretos with a lineup of renowned guests that include two of the greatest boxers of all time, Roberto Duran and Julio Cesar Chavez; former MLB stars and ESPN analysts Nomar Garciaparra and Candy Maldonado; Cuban-Puerto Rican softball star Lisa Fernandez; Mexican-America former quarterback Jim Plunkett; the first Hispanic starting quarterback in the NFL Tom Flores; Puerto Rican hall of fame golf star Chi Chi Rodriguez; Puerto Rican actress Rosie Perez; Roberto Clemente?s family, including his wife Vera and two sons Luis and Roberto Jr.; and ESPN commentators Alexi Lalas, Adriana Monsalve, Fernando Palomo, and Jorge Ramos.

The show will also unveil a special donation to the Bresee Foundation and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Los Angeles.  The donation is earmarked for sports equipment and is being made on behalf of ESPN and in honor of the number one athlete on the list.

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Kassof Says Heritage Huge To Country Fans

6-17-13

Research from Mark Kassof & Co. says heritage ? even more than the sound of the music ? is the single biggest reason listeners give for preferring country music on radio. Kassof says 19 percent of 18-64's say country is their favorite kind of music to listen to on radio because they were ?born and raised? listening to it.

The other top reasons listeners give for preferring country include that country music tells a story (11 percent), relates to their own lives (8 percent), is honest and true to life (7 percent), and has words that are easy to understand (7 percent).

Kassof's findings are based on 121 18-64-year-old respondents in the U.S. who volunteer country as their ?favorite kind of music to listen to on radio.? The surveys were conducted from June 5-9. More details, including listener comments, can be found at kassof.com.

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How to Program A Winning Heritage Rocker

4-5-13

Greater Media's Rock station WMMR in Philadelphia turns 45 this year. A great accomplishment for any radio station. Radio Ink will profile WMMR's 45th in an upcoming issue. Along the way the station has had some big names program that station, including Jeff Pollack, Charlie Kendall and current PD Bill Weston. WMMR has become "part of the fabric" of that city according to Market Manager John Fullam.  Kendall was there from 1980 to 1983 before he was shipped to New York to take over WNEW. We asked Kendall what it was like to program a radio station that has become a nationally recognized set of call letters and a totally dominating rock station.

"Programming WMMR was a fabulous experience for me.  The stations was owned by people who empowered their Program Directors to actually ?program? the radio station.  A proud tradition that continues under the ownership of Greater Media.  Jeff Pollack was my predecessor and he had done a good job of giving the station good formatics.  My job was to move the average age from 19 to about 27.  Quite simply, we removed the ?teen? focus of the station and targeted ?young adults?.  We made WMMR ubiquitous at every concert, stadium, club and bus stop in Philadelphia.  We took the station live on location as much as possible. Lots of live concert broadcasts and even when we weren?t live, a WMMR DJ introduced the band and our promotion team put something with out logo in the hands of every person there.  We embraced the local music scene and supported them whenever possible.  This gave us the opportunity to do live Block Parties on Chestnut street, at the shore and elsewhere and drew tens of thousands of people at virtually no cost.  We were the party.  None of this would have been possible without the blessing of our General Manager, Hal Smith.  He let us try and succeed at some stunts many would have said no to.  It would also not have been possible without some truly exceptional talent.  I was lucky enough to find Piere Robert and John Debella to add to Joe Bonadonna, Bubba John Stevens, Anitia Gevenson, Steve Sutton, Michael Tearson,  Steve Lushbaugh, John Bloodwell, Kevin Gunn, Tom Sheehey and more my ancient brain can?t remember right now."

Reach out to Charlie Kendall HERE
We'll have more from Kendall, Weston and John Fullam in an upcoming issue of Radio Ink as WMMR celebrates 45 years.
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Listen to WMMR HERE

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KUZZ to Receive NAB Crystal Heritage Award

2-10-2012

KUZZ-FM in Bakersfield, CA will be the third station in history to receive the NAB Crystal Heritage Award, recognizing a radio station's long-term commitment to community service. The award will be presented during the NAB Show Radio Luncheon on April 17th in Vegas. The Heritage Award honors those stations that have won a total of five Crystal Radio Awards, which recognize radio stations' year-round community service efforts. KUZZ-FM earned its first Crystal Radio Award in 1998.

"It's difficult to underscore the importance of the Crystal Radio Award unless you understand the process it takes to become a finalist," said Sylvia Cariker of KUZZ-FM. "Then being chosen as one of only ten honorees, that's when the eyebrows go up. When I tell people KUZZ has won five Crystals, that's when I hear the whistle that says 'Wow'!"

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