Jerry Crowley Joins Salem NYC as General Manager
Salem Communications hires former WOR-AM General Manager Jerry Crowley as General Manager for Salem's two New York City stations – Conservative News Talk “970 The Answer” WNYM-AM and Christian Talk/Teaching WMCA-AM. Crowley was the GM at WOR-AM under its former owner, Buckley Broadcasting, and exited when Clear Channel took over the station. Salem's previous New York City GM, Sean O’Neil, has been promoted to New York Market Manager. O’Neil will report to Salem Radio President David Santrella. Crowley will report to Regional VP Phil Boyce. "With Jerry’s longtime tenure leading one of the nation’s leading talk radio stations, we could have not have found a better match for our stations in New York," says Boyce. "I admired his work from across town during my 14 years of programming at WABC. To get him on my new team at Salem is a huge opportunity to grow the stations' revenues and make an impact on New York radio.” Before becoming GM at WOR-AM, Crowley was the station's Sales Manager. In all, he was with WOR-AM for 18 years. He now says about his new Salem position, "This is an exciting prospect for me and I have never looked forward to a challenge with any more enthusiasm and passion."
Cumulus Closes on WFME-FM in New York City Market
Cumulus Media has officially closed on its acquisition of WFME-FM, Newark, New Jersey, covering the New York City market, from Family Stations for $40 million and Cumulus giving WDVY-FM, Mount Kisco, NY, to Family Radio. Last week, the FCC approved the Cumulus purchase of Family's 94.7 FM. Cumulus will operate WFME-FM as part of its New York City cluster, which includes WABC-AM and WPLJ-FM. Although Cumulus hasn't announced a new format or the new call letters for WFME-FM, many expect the new owner to launch a Country format. Family Stations is retaining the WFME call letters and is likely to use them on the Mount Kisco station, which Cumulus has been programming with a Country format. Now that the deal has closed, we are expecting official announcements of actual plans for the New York City market FM to come soon from Cumulus. There have been reports that the soon-to-be former WFME-FM will be the flagship station for a new Cumulus national Country format.
Bruce Gilbert Joins Clear Channel as SVP of Sports Operations
Clear Channel Media and Entertainment has named veteran Sports radio programming executive Bruce Gilbert to join the company in the newly created role of Senior Vice President of Sports Operations. Gilbert, who joins from CBS Radio Dallas, will report to Carl Anderson, Executive Vice President of News, Talk and Sports Programming for Premiere Networks. In his new position, Gilbert will be responsible for the creation, development and direction of sports programming at CCME, including Premiere Networks and the Fox Sports Radio Network. He will also work with the National Programming Platforms team to expand sports branding across the company's multiple platforms. "This new position serves to reinforce CCME's commitment to creating and delivering the most relevant personalities and content on a local and national level, while leveraging exceptional results for its partners and advertisers," says Clear Channel's announcement. Gilbert has more than 30 years of experience in radio programming and operations. In his most recent role as VP of News, Talk and Sports Programming for CBS Radio Dallas, he was charged with overseeing "105.3 The Fan" KRLD-FM, "NewsRadio 1080" KRLD-AM and the Texas State Network. Prior to CBS, he headed up Washington DC-based Red Zebra Broadcasting as CEO, where he grew the company from three to 13 stations. Gilbert also held the role of VP/General Manager for the ESPN Radio Network, where he led programming, affiliations and sales for the network, and worked with owned and operated ESPN stations. Says Anderson, "We are ecstatic to have one of the nation's leading sports executives join our company. Bruce has an amazing track record and unmatched dedication to building winning teams. His credibility in the sports arena brings a wealth of expertise, knowledge and leadership to CCME." Gilbert tells us, "I'm honored to join the talented team at Clear Channel. The sports business is one of the most dynamic, entertaining, personality-driven businesses in media today. The resources of CCME give us the opportunity to grow our sports brands in an intelligent and fun way, while uniquely serving sports fans, our partners and our advertisers."
Sports USA Media Appoints Bob Moore as President
Sports USA Media names Bob Moore as President, according to an announcement from Sports USA Founder and CEO Larry Kahn. "I've known Bob Moore for over 30 years," says Kahn. "His experience in working with play-by-play sports rights and creating programming around them is a perfect fit for us. Bob has worked with multiple teams, including the L.A. Dodgers, the L.A. Kings, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Anaheim Ducks, the Oakland Raiders, the USC Trojans, the New York Giants, and the Brooklyn Nets. Bob's knowledge and background will be key factors in the continued growth of Sports USA Media." Says Moore, "I have long admired Larry for building the largest independent play-by-play sports network and am eagerly looking forward to helping him expand his play-by-play business and making a major statement in the digital space. We all know the demand for live sports is growing for both the audience and the radio stations. We will be announcing several major expansions for Sports USA Media over the next several months. If NBC, CBS and ABC can dedicate 24-hour sports television and radio networks, I think we can say the space is secure." Sports USA Media, we're told, is the largest independent national syndicator of live play-by-play sports in America. The company broadcasts an NFL doubleheader every Sunday throughout the regular season and a College Football Game of the Week every Saturday. Sports USA is also the home of The Joe Morgan Show, hosted by the legendary baseball Hall of Famer and three-time Emmy Award winner. We reported on December 28 that Moore had exited as President of Courtside Entertainment "for a new position to be announced." He said at the time he would "announce his future plans soon."
Jennifer Hansen Promoted at Radio Disney Stations Group
Jennifer Hansen is promoted to VP of Ad Sales for the Radio Disney Stations Group, leading the sales efforts for the company's 31 owned stations. Hansen most recently was Executive Director of Sales for the Radio Disney Stations Group. She joined Radio Disney in 2000 as Station Manager in Cleveland and in 2004 she was promoted to Regional Director. In 2009 she expanded her role to include management of the Local Activation Sales Group. Says EVP of Disney Media Sales Rita Ferro, "Jennifer is a strong leader within our radio sales organization. In her new expanded role on our Disney Media senior leadership team, she will work closely with the network and digital sales leads to further drive, integrate and maximize the contribution of our station group sales team." Prior to joining Radio Disney, Hansen was Regional Sales Manager for Clear Channel predecessor AMFM Broadcasting in Montgomery, Alabama.
Matt Rodriguez Named KFWB-AM/Los Angeles General Sales Manager
Matt Rodriguez is named General Sales Manager at "News Talk 980" KFWB-AM, Los Angeles. "Putting Matt in charge of our overall sales and sports efforts is a great win for KFWB," says KFWB-AM General Manager Valerie Blackburn. "He has raised the bar in generating sales wherever he's worked and is a valuable addition to our team." Rodriguez most recently was the General Manager of Amaturo Group's Southern California cluster – including "Playlist 92.7 FM" which he launched in 2011. Previously, Rodriguez was GM at Azteca America's Channel 26 in Tampa. Rodriguez has also worked for CBS Radio's KDKA-AM, Pittsburgh, among other stops. Says Rodriguez of his new position, "I'm extremely excited about the opportunity for growth at as such a heritage station as KFWB,"
SiriusXM Added Two Million Net Subscribers in 2012
SiriusXM reports it ended 2012 with 23.9 million subscribers, with 2 million net subscriber additions for the year. Says interim CEO Jim Meyer, "SiriusXM set a post-merger record of 2 million net additions in 2012, and we expect to report financial and operating results that meet or exceed all of the guidance we provided for 2012. Net self-pay subscriber additions in 2012 increased over 30% to more than 1.6 million, turning in our best performance since 2008. Our unparalleled programming and product innovations, such as On Demand programming and the soon to be launched customization feature, will allow us to continue our strong record of growth driving our subscriber base to exceed 25 million in 2013. With our laser like focus on cost efficient growth and customer service, we will continue to achieve double digit growth in adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow allowing us to return substantial capital to stockholders through our $2 billion stock buyback program." New subscriber and financial guidance for 2013 anticipates revenue of over $3.7 billion, adjusted EBITDA of over $1.1 billion, free cash flow approaching $900 million, self-pay net subscriber additions of approximately 1.6 million, and total net subscriber additions of approximately 1.4 million.
Triton Partners with eXelate to Deliver Targetable Streaming Audio Ads
Triton Digital announces a partnership with data and analytics engine eXelate, that Triton says will enable them to integrate eXelate data into its advertising solutions "to deliver highly targeted in-stream audio ads." Through this partnership, Triton will deliver streaming audio ads based on data and insight on consumers’ online purchase intent, household demographics, and behavioral propensities, says the company. "This data will enable Triton to further optimize ad targeting leading to increased monetization for music publishers." Says eXelate CEO Mark Zagorski, "This is truly a win-win development that the audio streaming world has demanded for years. The integration of Triton Digital's access to massive global inventory of over two billion online and mobile audio impressions each month and eXelate’s rich data pool of billions of proprietary data points creates a high impact, targeted audience pool that will lead to increased consumer engagement and more revenue for both publishers and advertisers." Triton Digital COO Mike Agovino adds, "This partnership opens radio up to new digital dollars that it hasn’t tapped prior. eXelate's consumer data will strengthen Triton's offerings and will lead to a game-changing shift in how advertisers will allocate advertising spend, with a premium on streaming audio placements."
TuneIn and CBS Radio 'Enhance' Their Licensing Agreement
TuneIn and CBS Radio announce an enhancement to their multi-year licensing agreement. TuneIn listeners will now have access to all of CBS Radio's 80 music stations, as well as a variety of stations available exclusively online. This non-exclusive deal follows a previous announcement to make CBS Radio's sports, talk and news stations available. As part of the deal, stations such as KROQ-FM and KAMP-FM, Los Angeles; WCBS-FM, New York; WUSN-FM and WXRT-FM, Chicago; and WVEE-FM, Atlanta, will be available via TuneIn. CBS Radio's stations will continue to be available online and through mobile devices via Radio.com. "We are extremely pleased with the results of our partnership with TuneIn, with reaction from listeners being extremely positive," says CBS Local Media COO Anton Guitano. "By growing our relationship with TuneIn to include our music stations, we continue to significantly expand our CBS Radio audience, while benefiting from the unmatched distribution, monetization and analytics solutions offered by TuneIn." TuneIn CEO John Donham tells us, "This is a great day for anyone who loves music, particularly for the tens of millions of people who use TuneIn every month to discover new artists and songs. CBS Radio is an innovator in music programming, and now TuneIn listeners everywhere can enjoy these marquee stations from wherever they are."
HD Radio Receives Expanded Support from Automakers
iBiquity Digital Corporation announces "expanded support for HD Radio Technology from a wide array of automakers," telling us that there are now 29 automotive brands that currently offer or have announced plans to offer HD Radio audio, traffic or data features. "Now that most automakers have launched HD Radio Technology for the digital AM & FM audio features, many OEMs, including Toyota, Lexus and Mitsubishi are planning to use the digital broadcasts to receive traffic and data information as well." iBiquity Digital President/CEO Bob Struble says, "We are very pleased with the continued rapid roll out of HD Radio Technology in cars as we head into 2013. Seven additional automakers have added HD Radio receivers to dozens of new vehicle models in the last year and Toyota, Lexus and Mitsubishi have announced plans to be the first car manufacturers to use the HD Radio system to bring subscription-free real-time digital traffic information to their drivers. We are excited about the future, as more automakers will soon announce added or expanded HD Radio advanced audio, traffic and data features."
Behind the Microphone: The Ins and Outs of Radio
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