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Longtime CNN Political Director David Chalian has been promoted to Senior Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief, the network has announced.
In this expanded role, Chalian will overseen the network’s capital bureau as well as the political news coverage for CNN. He will continue to lead the daily political reporting across all platforms, as well as polling and decision desk operations.
He will continue to serve as the Political Director in addition to his new executive role.
David Chalian joined CNN in 2013 before being named Political Director a year later. Previously stops include serving as the Vice President of Video Programming at POLITICO, as well as Washington Bureau Chief for Yahoo! News, and television stops with PBS and ABC News.
Chalian takes over the bureau chief role that was previously held by Sam Feist. He departed CNN earlier this year to become the CEO of CSPAN, which he called “an American treasure” when he accepted the job in May.
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Antoine Davis has departed from the midday slot at Bonneville Adult R&B 102.9 KBLX in San Francisco after over 20 years across three tenures. This change is part of recent staff reductions implemented at the station earlier this week.
Posting on Instagram, Davis wrote, “Well, as they say, nothing lasts forever. As difficult as this is to do, I am reaching out to let you know after 20+ years on 102.9 KBLX, it has been decided that it is time for me to move on. I want to thank you for always being kind, considerate, and loving to me all these years on the radio. This is a tough break up but, I do realize life happens to everyone. I’ll miss speaking those iconic call letters “KBLX.” I’m very proud of what I was able to accomplish, and I realize I was the last link to a station we all loved and most of us grew up listening to. That being said, I hope to speak to you soon & a big warm, loving THANK YOU.”
Davis began his career with KBLX in 1998, serving as a weekend host while concurrently hosting the evening slot at Rhythmic CHR 97.7 KWIN in Stockton. He returned to KBLX from 2003 to 2012, during which he hosted position middays and afternoons. In November 2014, he made a comeback co-hosting the morning show.
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WGY News Radio morning host Doug Goudie is the latest name to exit iHeartMedia as the radio company continues to undergo widespread layoffs.
Goudie joined the station in 2021 after previously working for the company at WRKO in Boston. He worked at the Boston station from 2018 until being laid off by the company in 2020, being replaced in middays by The Grace Curley Show. He joined WGY News Radio to originally pair with Kelly Lynch in morning drive, before she departed later that year.
In a video published to social media, Goudie shared that he had indeed by a part of the cuts at iHeartMedia that intend to reduce 5% of the company’s workforce in an effort to save $200 million.
“The corporate ax came down and my neck was under it. So that’s that,” Goudie said. He joked that his first day on the job was the day after the January 6th Insurrection, and his final day was two days after Donald Trump won the race for the White House, noting that it was quite the bookend to his tenure with the station.
“I don’t know what’s next for me. I’m open to everything and anything. I’m just not sure yet … When I know more, I’ll let you know more. I promise.”
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Media research firm Coleman Insights has announced a new product, Validate, a new attribution platform which will help radio stations show the impact of advertising campaigns. Validate helps radio stations show advertisers exactly how over-the-air advertising campaigns generate consumer impressions and drive traffic to websites. This comes as a result of a new agreement with Kamloops, BC-based Pattison Media, which created Validate, and Vancouver, BC-based Momentum Media, which operates and is the worldwide licensor of Validate, through which Coleman Insights has exclusive rights to sell and market the service in the United States.
“Validate will deliver remarkable results for radio stations in the U.S.,” said Coleman Insights president Warren Kurtzman in a release. “For decades, advertisers have sought concrete ways to measure radio’s impact. In addition, I’ve been involved in the sales of services to radio stations for 40 years and I have rarely felt such a universally positive response to a new idea like I’m seeing with Validate.”
Additionally, the announcement said Cox Media Group and Connoisseur Media have signed on as charter subscribers to Validate.
“Radio needs tools that make the impressive results we deliver very clear for advertisers,” said Rob Babin, Executive Vice President, Radio at Cox Media Group. “We believe Validate does that and look forward to our partnership.”
“When I first saw Validate, I knew it was something that could generate revenue for our stations,” said Connoisseur Media CEO Jeff Warshaw. “We look forward to being among the first radio groups delivering this important information to advertisers that demonstrates the power of radio.”
Validate combines streaming listening data with audience estimates from trusted ratings providers, using a proprietary algorithm to estimate total audience reach across both streaming and broadcast. In addition, by reporting on ad performance almost instantly, Validate allows radio sales teams to give advertisers real-time feedback on the effectiveness of their campaigns.
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If you could buy stock in someone’s career, Sibley Scoles would be a very wise play. The 36-year-old former rapper has started to make quite a name for herself in the world of broadcasting in both entertainment and sports. She has had a quick rise in combat sports and is part of the Netflix team covering the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight.
Scoles has worked for Access Hollywood and E! News hosting various red-carpet events. She is also the game day host for the Las Vegas Raiders, has her own production company and is having about as much fun as one can have right now.
I caught up with her as she was in Dallas, the day before the fight.
Dave Greene: How do you describe yourself, Sibley? There are so many different things that you’ve done and experienced at such a young age. How do you tell people who you are and what you do?
Sibley Scoles: Oh my gosh, if I were to break it down, I don’t have a term. I don’t have any specifics on how I got here. I never quit on myself and I’m open to opportunities that interest me.
I did music my whole life and I got an opportunity to host a music show early on and I kind of just took it from there and realized live music and being on stage and conducting the crowd was pretty much what I took into hosting. I grew up watching MTV and VH1 seeing all those hosts and they were very different than hosts are today. I mean, I had a mohawk when I started at E! News and I just was kind of raw talent.
I don’t just show up as talent and so I’ve taught myself along the way and I landed here in sports, and I just take the opportunities. I seize the day, figure things out as I go, and it’s just been great.
And now here with Netflix is kind of full circle for me because when I first started red carpets, the ‘Live from E!’ broadcast team, a lot of them are here now at Netflix and so I get to work with them again almost 10 years later.
DG: What about your love for sports, where did that come from?
SS: So, I always tell this story. I grew up in a household where sports was our love language. My parents met at a World Series game at the Oakland Coliseum and sports has just been something that’s been in our blood.
The Raiders are our team, and I now work for the Raiders so that’s another full circle moment that I never expected or even searched for that opportunity because I just never knew that was a possibility. But when it happened and I got the opportunity, a lot of these jobs, I pitch my ideas. Like I said, I don’t just come in as a talent. I come in to let them know I can help behind and in front of the camera.
So, the sports came from my parents. I give that up to them. I played basketball in high school and a bit in JUCO. Sports has just always been fun for me. I love it and working for the Raiders these last four years has just been a dream.
DG: And what about MMA and boxing? How did you get into that?
SS: So again, another opportunity. Give it up to Shawne Merriman who has the Lights Out brand, giving fighters an opportunity to get into that octagon. He had me come in as a newbie and do post-match interviews. So, I would go a few days early to watch the guys cut weight, meet their families. I really am great at getting involved in whoever is attached to the fighter. And I said to myself, listen, I’ll do this job. I don’t want to mess it up.
So, I will take what I don’t know and that specific knowledge of combat sports and just do my interviews like I do when I sit down with anyone, any other human being and just start from where the heart is at. And so that’s what I do. So, my interviews are more family oriented looking at who are you as a person, as opposed to breaking down the sport. And so, I literally learned from there. That would air on FUBO TV multiple times afterwards.
And then I believe it was MVP, which is Jake Paul’s promotions company. They saw me, I signed for some fights with MVP, and then it kind of just picked up from there.
DG: Since you’ve been around it and you’ve seen it, you’ve got a pretty good perspective of just how crazy the hype is for this fight compared to others. Can you believe the hype for Tyson-Paul?
SS: I mean, when you’ve got Netflix as the platform, it’s pretty cool. And then obviously Jake Paul, I mean, he’s brought back the entertainment aspect that boxing once had, when people came in with the fur coats and everyone really wants to be there because it’s entertainment. It is a beautiful sport. But it’s just kind of cool to have so many eyes on it. And now the generations that span across this card, you’ve never seen anything like that. The age ranges that you have and the caliber of boxers. I mean, this is a legit card. And Mike [Tyson], I’m working with his son Amir on this card as well, and he’s said this, and Roy Jones Jr. said it too, that when they fought, Mike wasn’t in shape. Not in this shape, in this condition. He said, ‘he’s a beast.’
DG: What exactly will you do on the main broadcast?
SS: I’ve already done the open workouts, I hosted that, which was awesome because I got face time with every fighter. And yesterday, I got to meet all the folks in a team meeting. Doing a lot of social today for MVP to cover the final weigh-ins. And then tomorrow for the broadcast, I will be right after the prelims. The main event, I will be talking to all of the celebrities, kind of getting back to my red carpet days. I’ll have my own VIP area where all the VIPs will be at. Otherwise, I will just be running around, pitching ideas with my producer to the trucks.
It’s going to be amazing and great to be a part of. I’ve been just using my personal relationships as well to see who will be ringside, who will be at the fights, who will be here this week to get as many interviews as I possibly can. And we’ll bank those, and those will go to air.
DG: Sounds to me like you will get to have a lot of fun and be a part of the creative process?
SS: I never want to step on anyone’s toes when I work with teams. But I’m so independent when I am on sets because I’ve been doing it for so long. I’m comfortable in all these spaces. For me, if I’m committing to something, I’m going to go all the way.
DG: What do you make of Jake Paul as a boxer?
SS: I think this is going to be a really big, major, huge change in his life once he gets into that ring with Mike Tyson. But I will say, watching him for the last two years that I’ve witnessed, personally and done interviews with him back-to-back at MVP, he’s grown as a fighter. He takes it seriously. He loves the sport. And I think he’s ready. He’s got the mouthpiece for it as well. He knows he’s always got a response. And he knows how to put on a show. He knows how to entertain. He is taking it seriously. He’s changed teams up recently, too, added more guys. It’s just been cool to see his progression. And the fact that he takes it seriously, like that’s what I look at. And his mom was ringside for the weigh-ins.
DG: Have you, can you, or will you make a prediction?
SS: I’m not going to make a prediction. I want to see a good fight. I know they’re not going to go the distance. I would love to see a knockout. I love when the heavyweights get in there. That’s my favorite weight class. And I just think it’s going to be a whole slugfest.
And again, the eyes that will be on during this fight, I think they said 280 million. The numbers are going to be insane. And again, spanning over different generations and different ages and new people who have never even watched boxing before.
I think it’s going to be interesting to see what happens in there. But again, talking to Mike at open workouts, seeing him this week and just the intensity that he has, he’s not messing around.
DG: What’s next for you? Do you have your sights set on certain things or just going to continue taking opportunities as they come?
SS: I’m already in that transition right now of manning the ship behind the scenes. I have my production company, Teeny Rich Production, that I started the same time I started in boxing. I actually just completed principal photography on a documentary, which is now going to be a feature with a boxer named Julian ‘Quiet Storm’ Smith. He’s got an incredible story. We are currently looking for a home for it. And that’s going to be one of my first projects. I have two others that I’m going to start working on at the top of the year.
So that is the goal for me to get back to creativity behind the scenes. And then getting back into the music space that I started in, because whether it’s music that I do or another artist, because I have a lot of relationships in that field as well, and just be a full-fledged production company.
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The lineup for the 58th annual CMA Awards has been expanded to include a host of talented artists. Joining the event are Eric Church, Kacey Musgraves, Kelsea Ballerini, Luke Combs, Riley Green, Brooks & Dunn, Jelly Roll, Cody Johnson, Ella Langley, Noah Kahan, Megan Moroney, and Bailey Zimmerman.
The lineup includes the previously announced performers: Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Sierra Hull, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes, Ashley McBryde, Post Malone, Shaboozey, Chris Stapleton, Teddy Swims, Thomas Rhett, Molly Tuttle, and Lainey Wilson.
The 2020 Entertainer of the Year, Church, is set to take the stage for an impactful performance. He will be joined by two-time Entertainer of the Year and three-time nominee Combs, who is expected to perform his hit “Ain’t No Love in Oklahoma.”
Additionally, five-time nominee Johnson and three-time nominee Moroney will perform, with Moroney singing her rising single “Am I Okay?”
Three-time nominee Musgraves will join the stage with her song “The Architect.” First-time nominee and performer Zimmerman will present “New to Country.”
Ballerini will join first-time nominee and performer Kahan to deliver their nominated duet “Cowboys Cry Too.” Vocal Duo nominee Brooks & Dunn will feature three-time nominee Jelly Roll on stage for a performance of “Believe.” Additionally, first-time performers Langley and Green are set to perform “You Look Like You Love Me.”
The awards ceremony is set to be broadcast live from Nashville‘s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, November 20, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. (CT) on ABC. It is available for streaming on Hulu the next day!
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Trust continues to fall in journalism around the nation, and CBS News President Wendy McMahon says the industry can’t ignore that any longer.
While speaking at the 2024 Giants of Broadcasting event earlier this week, McMahon shared that while the state of news media may be precarious, organizations and individuals must persist in their missions to provide crucial information for the American public.
“It’s also true that we can’t ignore the number of surveys that indicate a growing lack of trust in journalism, in what we do,” McMahon said. “Fact-based journalists are continually buffeted by purveyors of disinformation and misinformation. We are attacked, we are called fake news or worse.”
She added that the industry must block out the noise of those who have grown increasingly critical in recent years.
“We cannot define ourselves by those who look to dismiss what we do,” she said. “We need to stand firm for fact-based, objective journalism. This doesn’t mean that we don’t need to evolve, that we don’t need to constantly be listening to our viewers, listening to America,” McMahon said. “But we need to do so while upholding our values. I often talk about the need to need to retain and defend your ‘why’ while courageously exploring your ‘what’ and your ‘how.’”
The CBS News President added that it is important for networks to double down on the mission of journalism to combat the mistrust.
“Never before has the work of a journalist been more important,” Wendy McMahon said. “Never before has the work, the mission, the profession felt so precarious.”
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Throughout the year, Johnjay Van Es and Rich Berra, hosts of the Premiere-syndicated “Johnjay & Rich Show,” actively contribute to their community through their #LOVEUP charity, which supports children in foster care.
They are also involved with The #LOVEPUP Foundation, a program created by the duo that facilitates the re-homing of dogs at no cost to adoptive families. Recently, they hosted their annual #LOVEPUP Family Fest offering a day filled with music, food, and puppies to celebrate their ongoing commitment to these causes.
An estimated 7,000 to 10,000 attendees gathered at the #LOVEPUP Family Fest, an event that brought together dog rescues from across Arizona, facilitating the adoption of nearly all available pets.
The day also showcased live musical performances by notable acts, including Shinedown, Country artist Austin Burke, and the acclaimed Rich Berra Band.
The #LOVEPUP Family Fest, conceived by Johnjay Van Es, has proven to be a lucrative event, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in non-spot revenue for participating radio stations.
The festival has successfully expanded into new markets, including Dallas, Colorado, Georgia, and Portland. Radio affiliates interested in hosting their own #LOVEPUP Family Fest in their area are encouraged to reach out for more information.
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Third-quarter financial results for Urban One have been released, and overall, the company saw a decline of more than 6% in total revenue during the quarter.
The company reported $110.4 million in revenue during July, August, and September. That’s down from the $117.8 million it earned during the same quarter last year.
Urban One saw decreases in several sectors. Radio was down 3.6%, while cable TV dropped 13.3%. Digital advertising also saw a decline of 4.1% during the quarter.
“Our cable TV business continues to suffer from subscriber churn and audience delivery shortfall, impacting both advertising and affiliate revenues, which were both down double-digit percentages in Q3,” Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins said.
However, the company was buoyed by a strong political advertising year, with $3.5 million being spent during the timeframe.
Despite the decrease in revenue, the company did limit its expenditures. Its interest expenses decreased to $11.6 million down from $14 million during the same quarter in 2023.
The adjusted EBITDA for Urban One for the quarter was $25.4 million. That was down from the $34.6 million from last year’s third quarter.
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Woodward Communications is set to acquire a second cluster of stations in Springfield, IL, while simultaneously divesting its recently acquired stations in Bloomington, IL.
Woodward recently completed its acquisition of Neuhoff Media’s seven radio stations for $4.3 million. (BMM 10/2) As part of this deal, Woodward will take over Mid-West Family Broadcasting’s stations in Springfield, which include News/Talk 92.7 WMAY-FM, Rock 97.7 WQLZ, AC 98.7 WNNS, and Classic Hits “102.5 The Lake” along with 970 WMAY/94.7/102.5.
These stations will complement Woodward’s existing lineup, which features Hot AC “99.7 The Mix” WXAJ, Country 104.5 WFMB-FM, and Sports Radio 92.3″ 1450 WFMB.
To adhere to ownership regulations, the company will spin off Variety Hits “96.7 Bob-FM” WCVS-FM. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
In Bloomington, Great Plains Media is set to expand its operations with the local marketing agreement for Variety Hits “97.9 Bob-FM” WBBE, previously based in Woodward.
Great Plains currently owns several stations, including Conservative Talk “Cities 92.9” WRPW, Adult Contemporary “Magic 99.5” WZIM, and Country “107.7 The Bull” WIBL 92.1. Additionally, the company has announced plans to divest its other two stations, “Rock 96.7” WIHN and Hot AC “Now 100.7” WWHX, to undisclosed operators.
Woodward Communications President/CEO Tom Woodward said, “We are excited about this opportunity and look forward to integrating Mid-West’s solid brands into our Springfield operations. Over a period of time our plan is to co-locate all of the stations and related operations into Mid-West Family’s current office and studios, which we believe will create synergies that will benefit our employee owners, our customers, and the community.”
Woodward Springfield Market Manager Kevin O’Dea is set to oversee the newly combined Springfield cluster. O’Dea began his radio career in 1978 as an Account Executive with Mid-West Family Broadcasting’s WMAY Springfield.
Recently, he was honored with the Illinois Broadcaster Association’s 2024 “Vincent T. Wasilewski Broadcaster of the Year” award. He will continue reporting to Kelly Radandt, the overall Marketing Manager for WCI’s radio groups in Appleton, WI, and Illinois.
