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Pamal Broadcasting AC 100.7 WHUD Peekskill, NY, has added Heather Deluca as its new midday host.
Deluca takes over from Kacey Morabito-Grean, who left WHUD last month for a role outside the industry after 32 years at the station. (BMM 10/24)
Deluca recently held the position of Brand Manager and midday host at Townsquare Media’s Hot AC station, “SoJo 104.9” WSJO in Atlantic City, NJ, until her departure in September. (BMM 9/27)
After beginning her career at “Alice 104.5” WLCE in Philadelphia, Deluca has established herself as a prominent figure in South Jersey since 2000.
Her career includes positions at Modern AC “106.3 The Shore” WKOE and a midday role at Top 40 95.1 WAYV before joining WSJO.
Additionally, she has voice-tracked weekends for all of Townsquare’s Adult Contemporary stations.
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Hot Radio Maine has officially announced the return of its annual Thanksgiving free turkey giveaway, marking its 12th year. The event has established itself as a significant initiative for the station, having provided over 2,500 turkeys to families in Maine since it began.
This year, the stations aim to distribute more than 200 turkeys, reflecting a substantial increase from past years.
The giveaway, supported by Maine’s Credit Unions and That Place in Ogunquit, will take place at the Wells IGA, located at 1517 Post Road, on Tuesday, November 26th.
Turkeys will be handed out on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 11 a.m. until supplies are exhausted.
No cost or registration is required to participate in the event. Community members are encouraged to arrive early, and as in years past, the station asks attendees to allow those in need to collect their turkeys first.
Hot Radio Maine’s Program Director and morning host Ryan Deelon recently highlighted the importance of an upcoming community event in an on-air announcement.
He said, “This is one of the most important events our station holds each year. It’s remarkable to see the growth of this event over the past 12 years. With the rising costs affecting everyone, we are glad to provide some relief to our community members this Thanksgiving. We look forward to seeing everyone on Tuesday.”
Hot Radio Maine is heard on 104.7 FM in Portland and southern Maine, 100.3 FM in Lewiston, Auburn, and Brunswick, and 102.9 FM in Bangor, Brewer, Old Town, and Orono.
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1620 The Zone host Nick Handley has announced he has departed the NRG Media Omaha sports talk station after a two-year stint in morning drive.
Handley returned to the station in 2022 after nine years at crosstown AM 590 ESPN Omaha, where he hosted afternoons. He also served as the play-by-play voice of Nebraska Cornhuskers baseball.
In a post to social media, Handley — who had been paired with Gary Sharp from 6-10 AM — shared that Tuesday was his final day with the station after it declined to renew his contract.
“I obviously wish it would’ve lasted longer, but it’s out of my hands,” he wrote. “I’m not sure what’s next, but I welcome whatever that path is.”
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Football games and football programming can seemingly do no wrong this year. Everywhere you look viewership records are being set, and ESPN’s College GameDay is no different. The No. 1 college football pregame show continued on pace to have its best season ever as this past week drew 2 million viewers on average.
The show was broadcast live from the University of Georgia, site of their game hosting the Tennessee Volunteers. The guest picker for the week was WWE Champion Cody Rhodes.
The final hour of the show, leading into kickoff of the 12 p.m. ET games, saw an average of 2.6 million viewers and the episode peaked at 2.9 million. This makes the season average 2.1 million viewers, good for best all-time.
The show is hosted by Rece Davis who is joined by the crew of Desmond Howard, Nick Saban, Pat McAfee, Lee Corso and Kirk Herbstreit. This coming weekend, they are headed to Ohio State where the Buckeyes have a Big 10 matchup with the biggest surprise of the college football season, the Indiana Hoosiers. Ohio State is currently ranked No. 2 in both major polls, while the undefeated Hoosiers are in at No. 5.
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It was another big week of the ESPN Networks as Monday Night Football featured a Texas-sized matchup between the Houston Texans and Dallas Cowboys. Despite the Cowboys’ struggles, they still manage to draw eyeballs. In fact, 17 million viewers tuned in, on average, to the game making it MNF’s second most-watched Week 11 game in the 19-year ESPN era.
The Cowboys came into the game with a 3-6 record and in desperate need of a win. The game was fairly close in the first half, with the Texans holding a 17-10 lead. The second half saw Houston pull away, holding the Cowboys scoreless, as they won by the final score of 34-10. Houston saw its record improve to 7-4 on the season.
The game peaked at 19.5 million viewers late in the first half. It also joins last season’s Super Bowl rematch game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs as MNF’s most-watched Week 11 games.
Viewership numbers for the Week 11 Monday Night Football game include ESPN, ABC, The ManningCast on ESPN2, along with ESPN Deportes and those streaming through NFL+.
The Monday Night Football team of Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Lisa Salters will close out the month of November with a good matchup between the Baltimore Ravens and the Los Angeles Chargers. Then, each game until the last week of the season features at least one team with an under .500 record. Those teams that will be featured on MNF coming up include the 2-8 Cleveland Browns, the 4-7 Bengals playing the 3-7 Cowboys, the 4-6 Chicago Bears and the 2-8 Las Vegas Raiders.
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Cumulus Media layoffs continue, with Aaron “Goose” Seller leaving after 16 months as Program Director and morning co-host at Country W4 WWWW Ann Arbor, MI.
Seller joined W4 in July 2023, shortly after his morning co-host position at Cumulus Country WDRQ in Detroit was eliminated following the station’s sale to EMF.
Prior to his appointment at WDRQ in April 2022, Seller served as the Operations Manager of Adams Radio’s five-station group in Salisbury-Ocean City, MD, and as the Program Director for Rhythmic WOCQ, which later transitioned to Country.
Seller started his radio career in 1999 at the renowned Fisher Building in Detroit, home to Cumulus Detroit. Other stops include positions at WKPK in Traverse City, MI; WLYD in Green Bay, WI; WNHT in Fort Wayne, IN; KKPK and KKMG in Colorado Springs, CO; and KYGO in Denver.
His fellow morning co-hosts, Madison Rally and Brian Welch, will remain in their positions.
Comcast has announced plans to create a separate company to encompass its cable channels — including MSNBC and CNBC — with hopes of selling the assets.
The company will place CNBC, E!, Golf Channel, MSNBC, Oxygen, and USA Network into an independent company. Called SpinCo, it will include digital assets like Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes, too. It will focus on unloading the channels and outlets. The new entity will not include the company’s Bravo cable channel.
“When you look at our assets, talented management team and balance sheet strength, we are able to set these businesses up for future growth,” said Comcast Chairman and CEO Brian L. Roberts, Chairman. “With significant financial resources from day one, SpinCo will be ideally positioned for success and highly attractive to investors, content creators, distributors and potential partners.”
Those channels and digital outlets generated $7 billion in revenue for the fiscal year, records show. However, many of the channels are expected to lose subscribers and advertising revenue, according to S&P Global Intelligence data.
NBCUniversal leaders Mark Lazarus and Anand Kini have been tabbed to oversee the new venture.
“As a standalone company with these outstanding assets, we will be better positioned to serve our audiences and drive shareholder returns in this incredibly dynamic media environment across news, sports and entertainment,” said Lazarus. “We see a real opportunity to invest and build additional scale and I’m excited about the growth opportunities this transition will unlock. Our financial strength will also provide capacity for an attractive capital return policy while allowing for investment in the growth of these businesses.”
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
Cumulus Media has been in the midst of layoffs in recent weeks. WLS-AM 890 news anchor Bret Gogoel has revealed he was included in the cuts.
During his tenure with the Cumulus Media Chicago news/talk station, Gogoel worked as the producer of The John Howell Show in morning drive, and also later hosted Closing Bell Live, a one-hour show focusing on the financial sector during afternoon drive. He also hosted PM Chicago, which focused on local stories around the region. The station ultimately scrapped the shows in favor of national programs hosted by The Daily Wire talents and distributed by Westwood One.
In a post to social media, Gogoel shared he was one of many reductions around the nation.
“Though I want to be mad, I’m more thankful to the station for giving me my start in the industry nearly 8 years ago,” he wrote. “They allowed me to grow from an overnight board-op, to an (executive producer), all the way to midday news anchor while hosting two drive-time shows.”
Gogoel concluded by stating “I’m excited to see what the future might hold. And to anyone out there looking for a young-ish, motivated newsman, you know where to find me.”
It is unclear if any other personnel at WLS-AM 890 were affected by the ongoing cuts.
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What makes a great storyteller?
I remember talking with a morning show host several years back, and I asked what he thought his main role was. He answered quickly, “I’m a DJ or radio on-air personality.”
While that was technically his job title, it really wasn’t his primary role. On-air talent are storytellers. The role of a storyteller is obviously not unique to those in the industry. Think about your favorite books, movies, TV shows, etc.
There are so many people who come to mind as wonderful storytellers. Some I know personally whom I admire for their innate abilities. If you ever met or worked for the late Ed Christian, founder of Saga Communications you will probably agree that his storytelling talent was riveting.
Kerby Confer is another amazing creative force who has owned more than 200 radio stations over multiple groups throughout his incredible career and I could listen to his stories forever!
On the other hand, we all know those who try their best to tell stories but fall a bit short, go off on tangents, or simply are unable to create the image or share a story that seems disjointed or uninteresting.
Telling a great story is truly an art form that is gifted to some more than others. Great storytellers have the ability to captivate, evoke emotion, and create memories. But what is it that sets the masterful apart from the others?
We certainly need the basis of a good storyline, but if you gave an identical outline to your next-door neighbor and your favorite author, I imagine the latter would create the superior story. But why? What do they do differently?
When dissecting the best stories, at the core is always the ability to connect. Great storytellers have some innate empathy, which enables them to inject emotion through the lives of the characters.
It is the connection that creates the desired shared experience, which in turn creates and evokes a powerful bond. This bond must also feel completely authentic and believable, which then builds trust and belief that more of the same is on the way.
The best storytellers are genuine and rarely fake (unless that quality is part and parcel to a character.) Instead, it feels real and sincere. Nothing about a great story or storyteller seems boring.
From stories in the Bible to the latest John Grisham novel, what is most striking are the characters. They are at the heart of every great story ever told. They all create realistic, multidimensional characters that we relate to and invest in. Characters should have distinct personalities, motivations, and flaws, and emotions that give us reason to care about them.
As a story unfolds, it is through its characters we experience conflict, drama, humor, love, hate, et al. The audience also cares about the characters because they offer some vulnerabilities that make them appealing.
Great storytellers are the best at keeping us hooked by teasing and twisting and keeping us invested like a wide-eyed child sitting on the floor waiting for the outcome.
Great stories also have rhythm and cadence and use compelling narratives with a unique and creative style that adds depth.
I remember writing a novel once that I completed more for enjoyment than anything. In fact, I never published it. I often gave it to friends to read, but I always preferred reading it to them because I felt I could read it the way I wrote it. I never felt confident that the reader would feel what I had intended.
So why bring all this up here? What is my point? On-air personalities from any format should do their best to tell great stories. Salespeople should tell great stories, too! What is extra important is that your story begins with YOU and your own character.
Who ARE you? Does your role follow these storytelling guidelines and will your listeners or prospects care about you because you not only relate to them – but you let your guard down and show them your vulnerabilities?
Think about all your favorite radio personalities, movies, and books, and you’ll quickly realize that it’s not just about what the characters do but more about who they are and how they make you feel.
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I’ve heard many sayings over the years that I’ve tried to apply to what has happened to the radio industry over the past few weeks. It’s no secret that the radio business has been rapidly changing. It’s been more focused on saving money over growing talent for many years now. When computers began to replace carts (remember those) and terms like mp3 and wav became normal everyday talk around the office, it was the beginning of “the old way of doing business is no longer the way business is done.” The first proverbial ‘saying’ of this piece of writing.
On November 4th, I was one of many told by iHeartMedia that my services were no longer required. My business told me that after more than thirteen years I was no longer needed. My laptop came out, my cell phone number confirmed, keycard on the window sill, and I walked out the door. A forty-minute drive to the office on a Monday morning, and five minutes later I was headed home.
I was speechless, and felt destroyed and betrayed by the people I called family. The business that I loved, the craft I had studied told me it didn’t love nor need me anymore. In any business layoffs are meant to be cold and soul-less with no correct way to execute. But on my way home I remembered a saying my father taught me many moons ago. It helped me look deep into myself with the entire situation that was ahead of me.
You never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
It’s been over two weeks since that moment, and I can say without a doubt the pain of the moment was realized. However, the opportunity it presented was to re-invest time both personally and professionally into myself. After all, time is the most valuable thing we all have, and it feels like we never have enough of it.
I have time now, and that feels powerful. My plan is to find ways to be better each day, and it’s as simple as following these four steps.
#1 – Try Something New
I’ve re-invested my time and energy over the past few weeks in trying new ways to curate content in an ever-growing digital age. How to cut a sharper reel and increase reach and engagement. What programs work best for the top content creators, and how can I get my hands on them? When I first entered radio, the excitement was in the curiosity of the creative. How do I play with this EQ to make the VO sound a little deeper? Where is the proper place to cross fade this segment into a random movie drop that fits the topic of the conversation?
What was once the electrifying feeling of putting together a highlight package with just audio when I was an intern is now reborn with a YouTube short of my IRL (in real life) phone call with AT&T customer service in video form now to share with the world. If the future belongs to those who believe in trying new things, I want to be ready for that future.
#2 – Connect
The luxury of over twenty-one years in broadcast media is that you get to meet all sorts of people on your journey. They come from many different walks of life. The payoff of that luxury is when you fall, that network of people picks you up. There are not enough words to describe the feeling of getting a text/email/call/DM from someone who saw that you were let go and just wanted to reach out to comfort, chat, or engage in some potential business.
Hundreds of people have reached out over the past two weeks to chat, offer their experience as advice, provide comfort and laughs, and help me heal. That energy fuels me to take time each day to reach out to not only people who I’ve networked with before but also to step out and attempt a connection with people who don’t directly work in the business I’m familiar with. Taking that approach has expanded my horizons of how valuable my skill set is. How much can I still learn and absorb from others? It’s taught me that there are no limits on what could be the next step for me.
WDAE members Jay Recher, Aaron Jacobson, John Mamola and Zac Blobner at the 2024 BSM Summit in New York City
#3 – Lift Up Everyone
It wasn’t just myself whose journey hit a significant speedbump over the past couple of weeks. Many friends also learned they were no longer needed. We may not have had the same position before, but we do now. The single biggest thing I could do is the same thing that I felt I excelled at as a manager of two brands, lift up from within. I’ve always felt a great manager must recognize and elevate talent and assist them when they’re in need. What was once filling in running the sound board for their show is now recommending them to people for opportunities.
Time spent previously creating digital marketing for a station promotion around a show is now spent sharing, liking, retweeting, reposting and encouraging those to do the same on social media. If life is a mountain, the goal of any manager should be to find your path and help as many good people as you can reach the top. That doesn’t stop, and will never stop.
#4 – Breathe
We are all humans who go through the emotions of life. Being told your services are no longer needed is not meant to be rainbows and sunshine. The secret of being happy is accepting where you are and making the most of it. For the first time in a long time, I’ve found time to breathe. No more weekly meetings, play by play plotting, scheduling, social media marketing, promotion planning, client calls, spreadsheets, pdfs, etc.. The plan was to be better each day, but courage to do so doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says try again tomorrow.
By following the process of these four steps I’ve found myself better prepared for the next step. I am encouraged by the possibilities to return to radio while intrigued about potential opportunities elsewhere. Also, I’m excited to see what’s next for others I’ve been trying to encourage and help. For the first time in a long time I’m trying to take better care of myself. I couldn’t be prouder of the example I’m setting for my children. The feedback I’ve received from management and teammates at my former employer has given me happiness and confidence to continue every day.
Conclusion
At 43 years old, I’ve never felt more motivated that the future is bright. While the past few weeks have been dark for the business we love, I hope those who share my situation find solace in the approach I’ve taken. It shows you that your story is not over. This is just your next chapter, trust the author.
John Mamola is an experienced sports radio programmer who until recently led WDAE and WFLA in Tampa, Florida. He has spent over two decades in sports radio including starting his career in Chicago at 670 The Score. To reach him for advice or to discuss professional opportunities, email him at JohnMamola@gmail.com.
