Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.
ESPN reports The Pat McAfee Show had its largest single-show audience ever when this week’s Tuesday show hit 50 million views across all platforms. The significance of the Tuesday show was Aaron Rodgers doing his weekly guest appearance on the day it was announced his former teammate Davante Adams had been traded to the New York Jets.
The platforms listed to calculate the total daily audience are ESPN, ESPN+, Instagram, YouTube, X and TikTok. On X McAfee has 3.1 million followers while his YouTube page has 2.66 million subscribers. On Instagram, McAfee has 2.2 million followers while on TikTok that number is 1.7 million.
Rodgers and the Jets were coming off a 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football, the first game the team had played since firing head coach Robert Saleh. On the episode, Rodgers said he was upset about the game but then saw a text and a missed call from Adams and things changed. “Obviously really excited,” Rodgers told McAfee about his thoughts on the trade. “Davante is a phenomenal player and a dear friend.”
McAfee replied to a post ESPN Public Relations put out about the episode hitting the milestone number saying, “This is wild to see…Thanks to Mike Foss for the research and reminding us just how dumb this all is. Thank you so much for letting us do this for a living. Sports are awesome annnnnnd…Aaron Rodgers Tuesday still has its fastball.”
This is wild to see.. thanks to @foss for the research and reminding us just how dumb this all is..
Thank you all so much for letting us do this for a living.
Sports are awesome annnnd… @AaronRodgers12 Tuesday still has it’s fastball
Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.
The famous 94 WIP Wing Bowl promotion is about to be the subject of a documentary. Angelo Cataldi told Mike Missanelli that Audacy wouldn’t let his former co-workers appear in the film.
While appearing on the 97.5 The Fanatic midday show, Cataldi discussed the upcoming film, while Mike Missanelli — who has a prominent role in the film — stated Audacy “wanted nothing to do” with the film.
“They didn’t cooperate with it,” Angelo Cataldi stated. “Here’s what happened. The reason you have a major role, you move along the narrative throughout. It’s amazing what a great job you do in this film. That would have been — they even told me that’s what Al Morganti was going to do. But WIP didn’t want to sign off on it. They didn’t want to embrace this event because, justifiably, the last few years of the event were something they were not proud of.
“So, none of the people at WIP were able to directly participate in it, unfortunately,” continued Cataldi. “But I’m still holding out hope that they’ll see the finished product and go ‘Wow, this gives you a really good sense.’ This was one of the greatest annual radio promotions in the history of the medium!”
The Wing Bowl was founded in 1993 by Morganti and Cataldi At its peak, the Wing Bowl attracted nearly 20,000 attendees before it was ended in 2018 after the Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LII.
The promotion is set to be documented in the upcoming film No One Died: The Wing Bowl Story, which will debut at the Philadelphia Film Society on Tuesday, October 22nd.
Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.
Monty Jett, South Carolina radio personality known as the “voice of Hilton Head,” has passed away at 76. According to his family, he suffered a heart attack.
His family shared the news on Facebook, “It is with heavy heart that I share that our dad Monty Jett passed away at 6:00 am this morning. He left as if starting his final morning show in the sky- right on time. We know how much you all love him and we’ve been reading your memorials as we kept vigil by his side. He went very peacefully. He brought so much joy to everyone, but the biggest joy was time spent with his 5 children, 6 grandkids and 4 great-grands, and his wife he loved so much he married her twice. Cheers to you Daddy”
Eli Manning was a guest on Andrew Marchand’s Marchand Sports Media podcast. Amongst several topics, the two talked about what it was like dealing with the New York media as a player with the New York Giants and how he and Peyton ended up doing the ManningCast on ESPN2 after first doing it on the phone together.
Marchand asked Manning about his personality and how we are seeing more of it now. Manning explained, “I was very conscious being in New York and with this New York media I never wanted them to think I wasn’t all in on being the quarterback of the Giants and if I said stuff sarcastically or if I was seen being goofy or anything but just, ‘this guy only cares about his football and that’s all he’s working on.’ I just didn’t want them to have something else they could go back to [and think] ‘this guy’s not taking it serious’ or ‘he’s got a laid-back personality’ or whatever it might be. So, I never wanted to be called goofy or silly in any way and that’s a little bit of my personality.
“When I’m with my buddies, with my teammates, those guys see that side of me. But I was pretty standoffish to the New York media. Even if I was doing a commercial or something, I didn’t really want to seem silly in any sense. I didn’t want them to somehow bring that and turn it against me in any way.”
Manning said that changed when he stopped playing. He said he didn’t think he needed to hide his personality as he did when he was a player. “Now, I’m [on ManningCast] with my brother and just kind of doing fun stuff. So, I think I can act fun and let the true personality come out.”
Marchand and Manning talked about the Chad Powers show which is being made to air on Hulu. Powers was the character Manning played in Eli’s Places when he was filmed participating in Penn State’s walk-on tryouts. Manning said he filmed a cameo for the show recently in Atlanta and has been involved whenever they have asked him.
“I’ve been on some of the calls with the writers, read through the scripts and try to be helpful in any way just to give an idea of just what’s realistic, what’s totally unrealistic…it’s been a fun project, Michael Waldron the writer and Glenn Powell reached out to me two years ago with this idea and of how they kind of see turning this story of Chad Powers into a real college football story and the thing that really attracted me to it and wanting to do it is that [the writers] are huge college football fans…they want to highlight college football.”
Marchand came back around to the New York media and said Manning was probably aware of what he was getting into and maybe would have a better understanding of dealing with the media. Manning replied, “I don’t think anyone understands the New York media when they first come in. I don’t think it’s something you could ever prepare for…I was really excited about coming to the Giants organization and just their history of success…and I remember, after my first rookie minicamp…and all of a sudden, the New York media is saying I had a really bad day at my first practice and they’re showing clips from it and it’s from warm-ups…and I overthrow a guy who’s running 50% speed. I was like ‘wow’.”
Manning said he always felt like in high school and college the media was with him and wanted him to succeed, but with the New York media he felt like “they’re out for blood.”
He told Marchand he had no plans to get into broadcasting. That like his dad and Peyton, it was more important to be around his kids and see and participate in their activities more than traveling around the country spending time in broadcast booths.
“I didn’t think I’d be very good at it and didn’t have a desire to do that,” Manning said. “My dad had the chance to do some radio for the Saints, but never went into the booth…he wanted to be around to coach our little league teams and be there for Friday nights when we played high school football.”
The ManningCast was also discussed and Manning explained how he and Peyton would sometimes watch parts of big games together while talking on the phone. Now, they do it in the studio.
Manning recalled when he was presented with the idea, saying, “When Peyton called me and said, ‘Do you want to watch football from your couch, be on a zoom and you can make fun of me, does that sound interesting?’ I was like, yes that sounds more my speed, I can do that.”
Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.
Patty Hixson, Regional Vice President of Cumulus Fresno/Stockton/Modesto, received recognition at the Marjaree Mason Center’s 41st Annual Top 10 Professional Women and Leading Business Awards.
The awards ceremony took place on Wednesday, October 16th, at the Fresno Convention & Entertainment Center. This event recognized ten outstanding women from the Central Valley for their professional achievements, their role as community role models, and their commitment to giving back.
Patty Hixson said: “I’m honored and humbled to be recognized among this astute group of leaders. Giving back to the community is a central part of my DNA, and I thank the Marjaree Mason Center for this award and for its important efforts supporting all women in our community.”
Hixson’s career spans 32 years in the California Central Valley. She also served on the Board of Directors of the Greater Fresno Area Chamber of Commerce.
The Top 10 Professional and Leading Business Awards benefit the Marjaree Mason Center, the only dedicated provider of domestic violence shelter and supportive services in Fresno County since its inception in 1979. T
The Marjaree Mason Center has been a crucial resource, supporting and empowering adults and children impacted by domestic violence. Its mission includes preventing and addressing the cycle of abuse through education and advocacy. Over the years, the Marjaree Mason Center has helped thousands of women and families find hope and healing.
Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.
As Election Night approaches, Todd Starnes is set to host a special offering for news/talk radio stations across the country.
Election Night Across America with Todd Starnes will be a live, six-hour special that will broadcast from 6 PM to Midnight ET and is free for stations to carry.
Starnes will host the program and feature reports from correspondents in every battleground state and will also converse with more than two dozen pundits and poll experts. Reports will also air live from election headquarters for both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
“Our team is really excited about providing radio stations with fun and energetic election coverage,” Starnes said. “What makes our program unique is that we will also be taking calls from listeners across the nation.”
Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.
SiriusXM has announced it is expanding its partnership with NBC News to create two additional channels dedicated to content from the organization.
A simulcast of the network’s streaming channel NBC News NOW will be made available on channel 798, as well as the SiriusXM app. NBC News NOW features shows hosted by anchors like Hallie Jackson, Kristen Welker, Kate Snow, Morgan Radford, and Zinhle Essamuah, among others.
The satellite radio provider will also launch a new channel dedicated to Dateline NBC called Dateline 24/7. Heard on channel 107, Dateline 24/7 will provide constant content from the true-crime brand. In the latest Triton Digital podcast rankings, Dateline NBC was the fourth-place finisher in the Top Podcasts By Weekly Average Downloads.
The addition of the two new channels coincides with the already established channels on satellite radio with Today Show Radio, and simulcasts of CNBC and MSNBC on SiriusXM.
Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.
The Connecticut Broadcasters Association (CBA) honored its 2024 Hall of Fame inductees and acknowledged exemplary achievements in broadcasting during a ceremony at the Aqua Turf Club in Plantsville on October 15.
The event celebrated the first-ever CBA Station Awards, known as “The CBAs,” establishing a new tradition that recognizes outstanding achievements in radio and television broadcasting throughout the state.
Industry professionals from Connecticut’s radio and television sectors convened for an event that celebrated outstanding broadcasters, personalities, and programming.
CBA President Mike Ryan hailed the evening as a success, highlighting the enthusiasm exhibited by both stations and attendees. “Our stations enjoyed themselves, the friendly competition, and the camaraderie with industry colleagues. And we added six deserving people to the CBA Hall of Fame. Everyone is already talking about next year.
2024 CBA Hall of Fame Inductees:
John & Carol Babina: Pioneers of noncommercial radio, the Babinas founded WMNR Fine Arts Radio in Monroe, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. The couple has mentored numerous high school and college stations across the state.
Dom Bordonaro: A highly regarded broadcast engineer for nearly four decades, Bordonaro contributed to major technical advancements at multiple stations, including Connoisseur Media.
Mark Davis: Multi-Emmy Award-winning Chief Political Correspondent for News 8 and WTNH.com, Davis has been a cornerstone of Connecticut broadcasting for 37 years, known for his insightful reporting and popular radio call-in show, “Dial Mark Davis.”
Scot Haney: Morning weather anchor and co-host of “Great Day Connecticut” on Channel 3/WFSB-TV, Haney has been a familiar face since joining the station in 1998. His community work and weather expertise have made him a beloved figure in the state.
Dick Robinson: A broadcasting veteran of nearly 70 years, Robinson is best known for founding the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, which has trained thousands of broadcasters. He continues to host “Dick Robinson’s American Standards by the Sea” and remains active in philanthropy.
2024 CBA Station Awards (“The CBAs”):
Best Engineer: Fred Santore, WKCI-FM
Best News Reporter: Morgan Cunningham, WTIC-AM
Best Talk Show: Melissa in the Morning, WICC-AM
Best Air Personality: Danny Lyons, WEBE-FM
Best College Radio Organization: ICE Radio, CT State Community College Manchester
Best Community Initiative: Chaz & AJ Toy Drive, WPLR-FM
Best Morning Show: Brian & Company, WTIC-AM
Best Promotion: $5,000 Fugitive, WWRX-FM
Station of the Year: WEBE-FM
The event highlighted Connecticut broadcasters’ essential contribution to keeping the public informed and entertained while also celebrating the talent and dedication that drives the state’s radio and television content.
Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.
Triton Digital has released its September Podcast Ranker, and to no surprise, shows from NPR, Dan Bongino, Megyn Kelly, and Charlie Kirk are near the top of the list.
In the latest Top Podcasts By Weekly Average Downloads rankings, shows from NPR — NPR News Now and Up First — occupied the top two places. Dateline NBC finished fourth, as the top four finishers were unchanged from the previous month.
The Dan Bongino Show dropped one place to sixth during September. Pod Save America from SiriusXM also saw a decline by one place, finishing in eighth.
The Megyn Kelly Show, also from SiriusXM, dropped one spot outside the top 10, ending the month in 11th. The Charlie Kirk Show from Salem Podcast Network was also down one place to 15th, while The NPR Politics Podcast finished in 16th.
Other news podcasts of note include a 13-place jump for The Shawn Ryan Show (22nd), The Daily Show: Ears Edition finished 24th, while Consider This from NPR and The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show took home the 25th and 26th spots, respectively.
In the Top Sales Networks By Weekly Average Downloads sector, iHeart Audience Network was the top group with nearly 70 million downloads, according to Triton Digital. SiriusXM was second, with NPR, Wonder, and Audacy Podcast Network rounding out the top five places.
Barrett Media produces over 20 stories per day on the music, news, and sports media industries. Stay updated on the latest happenings by signing up to receive our newsletters straight to your inbox.
Fox News anchor Bret Baier sat down for a high-profile interview with Kamala Harris on Wednesday, and he told Mark Levin he wasn’t initially thrilled with the outcome.
Baier was a guest on The Mark Levin Show moments after the interview aired during his Fox News program. And he admitted he envisioned the conversation with the Vice President going in a different direction.
“There was a slight bit of frustration,” said Baier. “I had so much stuff to get to and I was hoping it was really gonna be this civil back and forth. It was good for her to come on, and I think she should do more of them, but I was just trying to get through the talking points. It took a while, and it was a little bit of interrupting and getting in on the breath.”
“You weren’t angry, you weren’t rude,” Levin reassured Baier. “She was never going to allow this to be a regular interview where you ask questions and she answers the questions directly. She had an agenda.”
When Mark Levin asked what the mindset of an interviewer in that tense situation was like for Bret Baier, he likened the situation to a similar experience he had while interviewing former President Barack Obama in 2010. He shared that, similarly to the Kamala Harris interview, he was told one length of time was available for the conversation before that was changed at the last moment. And Baier believes that changes the way you have to ask questions during the interview.
“You have an out-of-body experience and say ‘Either I jump in — and appear rude — or we’re gonna get rolled here.’ I wish I didn’t talk over, I wish we could have just stopped, but she wanted to keep going. But I’m happy she came on. I think that’s a breakthrough. I hope she comes back, or some people will come back, and we’ll continue to have the discussion … When I left, I felt horrible. I had this feeling of ‘Oh my gosh, what did I leave on the table?’ But actually, when I watched it, I think there were some fruitful things that came out of that, and there were some newsy moments.”
