TALKERS magazine Publishes the 2017 Heavy Hundred of Sports Talk

Tuesday, March 14, 2017 Mar 14th 2017, 12:20, by TALKERS TALKERS magazine Publishes the 2017 Heavy Hundred of Sports Talk.  Yesterday (3/13) marked the publication of the fifth annual TALKERS Heavy Hundred of Sports Talk – formally known as the 100 Most Important Sports Talk Radio Hosts in America.  This annual list is compiled and ranked by the editors of TALKERS magazine – with input from industry leaders.  As with our publication's "sister list," the 100 Most Important Talk Radio Hosts in America, the criteria are a number of hard factors – including ratings and revenue – as well as such soft factors as talent, recognition, impact, service and more.  Executive editor Kevin Casey states, "This annual ranking of the most important sports talk radio hosts is one of the most difficult – but enjoyable – projects we undertake at TALKERS. The reason for that is the partially subjective nature of the criteria combined with the enormous number of talented and successful sports talk hosts working in America. Paring that pool of talent down to 100 is no easy task!"  Casey also notes that TALKERS will be publishing the 2017 Heavy Hundred of News/Talk Radio in April.  See the 2017 Heavy Hundred of Sports Talk here. PodcastOne Executive Chairman Norm Pattiz Guests on Harrison Podcast.  The executive chairman of PodcastOne and noted industry pioneer, Norm Pattiz joins TALKERS founder Michael Harrison for an in-depth conversation about the general state of radio, podcasting and audio media on this week's installment of the award-winning series, "Up Close and Far Out."  The compelling dialogue was recorded this past Friday, inspired by the Thursday release (3/9) of the annual Edison Research/Triton Digital 2017 Infinite Dial Study.  Pattiz sums up his impression of the study as follows, "I was very encouraged relative to the audio medium as a whole by the information that came from the study.  There's good news in it for almost everybody that's in the audio space."  Pattiz and Harrison cover a lot of ground touching upon advertising trends, the evolution of audience measurement metrics, in-car listening habits and much more in this conversation that is a must-listen for radio and audio media professionals.  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. GOP ObamaCare Alternative, Obama Wiretapping Accusations, Trump's Budget Proposal, North Korea Missile Threats, Tennessee Sues Federal Government, Northeast Snowstorm, and March Madness Among Top News/Talk Stories Yesterday (3/13).  The Trump Administration/GOP's alternative to the Affordable Care Act; the ongoing debate over what President Trump meant by his accusation that President Obama wiretapped the Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign; the Trump Administration's federal budget proposal and its effort to shrink Washington's administrative power; North Korea's nuclear missile program and related tensions between China and the U.S.; Tennessee sues the federal government over the latter's refugee resettlement program; the late-winter blizzard hitting the Northeast today; and the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament were some of the most-talked-about stories on news/talk radio yesterday, according to ongoing research from TALKERS magazine.

Infinite Dial 2017

Friday, March 10, 2017 Mar 10th 2017, 13:39, by TALKERS Infinite Dial 2017.  For the 19th consecutive year, Edison Research, in conjunction with Triton Digital, has been researching the use of media and technology by consumers and presenting it as the Infinite Dial study.  The data for 2017 has just been released and media consultant Holland Cooke offers his quick summary of this year's study.  Obviously, the growth of the use of the smartphone – which didn't exist when the annual study began in 1998 – has greatly changed the way consumers use media.  The development of the smart speaker/home assistant – think Google Home or Amazon Echo – offers another technological avenue by which consumers can access media.  Ownership of these devices (among those 12+) is at just 7%, but awareness of the product is 63%.  See Cooke's entire summary here. TALKERS News Notes. This year's March Madness is being aired on SiriusXM – with the help of Westwood One, the exclusive radio rights holder for the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.  In addition to the play-by-play content from the First Four on March 14 and 15 through the Final Four and national championship game in Phoenix on April 1 and 3, analysis and coverage will happen on the SiriusXM College Sports Nation channel…..It's been a while since Bonneville International aired sports talk on KMVP-AM, Phoenix – it programs sports content on KMVP-FM "Arizona Sports 98.7" – but now the station that's been brokered for the last several years is being sold to Spanish-language operator Farmworker Educational Radio Network, Inc.  Kalil & Co. is the exclusive broker…..Cumulus Nashville is presenting cluster-wide promotion called Sports Fest Saturday, April 15 at Nissan Stadium (home of the NFL's Tennessee Titans).  Cumulus says listeners and their families can take part in numerous activities, including visiting with representatives from sports teams around Middle Tennessee, playing catch on the field, listening to interesting speakers and joining the Easter Egg Hunt. 2017 TALKERS Heavy Hundred of Sports Talk to Be Published on Monday. The fifth annual ranking of the 100 Most Important Sports Talk Radio Hosts in America will be published by TALKERS magazine on Monday (3/13). This annual list is compiled and ranked by the editors of TALKERS magazine – with input from industry leaders. As with our publication's "sister list," the 100 Most Important Talk Radio Hosts in America, the criteria are a number of hard factors – including ratings and revenue – as well as such soft factors as talent, recognition, impact, service and more. Executive editor Kevin Casey states, "This annual ranking of the most important sports talk radio hosts is one of the most difficult – but enjoyable – projects we undertake at TALKERS. The reason for that is the partially subjective nature of the criteria combined with the enormous number of talented and successful sports talk hosts working in America. Paring that pool of talent down to 100 is no easy task!" Casey also notes that TALKERS will be publishing the 2017 Heavy Hundred of News/Talk Radio in April. If You Missed Wednesday's TALKERS-PerfectYourPodcast.com Master Class Podcasting Webinar, View/Listen in for Free. On Wednesday, TALKERS magazine and PerfectYourPodcast presented a free master class webinar for radio professionals. It's titled, "How to Launch and Grow a Successful Podcast." PerfectYourPodcast.com was founded by well-known broadcaster Mike Carruthers, host and creator of the long-running, successful syndicated radio series, "Something You Should Know" (now also a top iTunes-charted podcast), who conducted the webinar. It was designed for the professional radio broadcaster who is serious about profiting from podcasting. If you missed it, you can view/listen in on a recording of the webinar through 3:00 pm ET today by clicking here. The Overhaul of ObamaCare Top News/Talk Story for Week of March 6-10.  The Trump Administration's and the GOP's move to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act was the most-talked-about story on news/talk radio this week, landing atop the Talkers TenTM.  At #2 this week was President Trump's accusation that President Obama ordered the wiretapping of Trump Tower during the campaign.  Coming in at #3 was WikiLeaks' recent document dump that contained hacking techniques used by the CIA, followed by the Trump Administration's immigration-deportation policies and the related reports that illegal border crossings are down 40% at #4.  The Talkers TenTM is a weekly chart of the top stories and people discussed on news/talk radio during the week and is the result of ongoing research from TALKERS magazine.  It is published every Friday at Talkers.com.  View this week's entire chart here.