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The Greg Hill Show Celebrates Five-Year Anniversary

BSM Staff
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The Greg Hill Show Celebrates Five-Year Anniversary

It was June 12, 2019, when then-Entercom announced that WAAF morning man Greg Hill would move over to WEEI to start a new morning show, The Greg Hill Show. Hill would be taking over for Gerry Callahan, after he had been in that daypart for more than two decades. That new show launched on June 29, 2019, and today marked the five-year anniversary.

On today’s show, producer Chris Curtis said, “So, Greg, I want to wish you a happy five-year anniversary.”

“Is today the day?” Hill asked.

“Five years ago today, this show was birthed to rave reviews,” Curtis quipped. “2019, July 29th, and there were many who said it wouldn’t last the week…The greatest thing about this show’s success is who was most bothered by it. And it is just an amazing accomplishment.”

Curtis went on to say that at the time Hill had his contract renewed towards the end of 2023, he sent a note to Audacy Regional President Mark Hannon saying, “This is truly a tremendous accomplishment, the extension, because of what the headwinds were.” Curtis added, “And Mark was at the front, the tip of the spear, bringing you here and changing the vibe of the morning show and trying this out. And five years later, given the pandemic, given the whole world, everything that’s gone up and down, and it is just amazing.

“And the best part about it is the people we get to meet out and about. That are just genuinely good, decent people…It’s a privilege every day that I don’t think any of us take for granted.”

“No, we are blessed with the greatest radio audience that anyone has ever been blessed with,” Hill said. “And the support that you have given us through good times and through bad will never be forgotten by us.”

“Remember, there were people like, why do you want to go out and meet fans? That’s stupid,” Jermaine Wiggins said. “That’s a dumb idea. That’s just stupid.”

Added Courtney Cox, who has been with the show for three years, “I’ll never get used to it either. Like, when you go out and you meet people and then they say, ‘oh my god, I listen to the show every day.’ Or, ‘it was so funny when this happened’ and they’re referencing something from months ago. Because when you’re in this room, it really does just feel like we’re talking to each other. I actually can’t mentally think of people actually listening in their cars or on any of the other platforms. But it’s so cool. And it’s a testament to Greg, because he put everybody together.”

After kicking around some of their favorite memories of the show, Hill said, “It’s been an absolute fun ride. A lot of fun.”

Binky Lee Joins Mix 98.1 Richmond For Middays

BMM Staff
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Binky Lee Joins Mix 98.1 Richmond For Middays

Binky Lee has added middays to her workday at Audacy’s WTVR (Mix 98.1)/Richmond, VA. The spot was previously held by Kat Simons, who passed away last month.

On her social media Lee said, “There will never be another Kat Simons, but I’m truly honored that I was even considered for this position, and I know I’ll do her proud.”

Lee will continue hosting PM Drive on Top 40 WRVQ (Q94)/Richmond and Rhythmic Top 40 WNVZ (Z104)/Norfolk.

Congratulate her here.

 

104.3 ‘La Voz’ Debuts This Morning In Worthington, MN

BMM Staff
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104.3 ‘La Voz’ Debuts This Morning In Worthington, MN

Radio Works debuted Full Service Spanish 104.3 La Voz (The Voice) this morning on 104.3 KZTP/Worthington, MN. For the past three years, the station has been Christian AC, “The Bridge.”

In addition to local news and information, the music mix will include Urban Latino, Regional Mexican, Central American, and Tropical.

“The Bridge” debuted in March 2021

OpenAI Nearing Bankruptcy As Projections Show More Than $5 Billion in Losses

BNM Staff
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OpenAI Nearing Bankruptcy As Projections Show More Than $5 Billion in Losses

OpenAI could lose $5 billion in 2024, with the company nearing bankruptcy in the next calendar year, according to a new report.

If the company doesn’t receive an influx in capital, bankruptcy is imminent according to The Information. However, with the financial backing of firms like Microsoft, it is likely OpenAI will secure additional funding.

In 2024, the technology firm is set to spend nearly $7 billion on training its Artificial Intelligence models, with an additional $1.5 billion on staff salaries. In comparison, Anthropic — the AI software with the financial backing of retail giant Amazon — is set to spend $2.7 billion total in 2024.

Financial reports show ChatGPT — OpenAI’s chatbot — costs $694,444 per day in hardware costs alone. The San Francisco tech firm earns about $2 billion in annual revenue and has received over $80 billion in seed money to get the projects off the ground.

Despite its mounting losses, the company continues to offer new products. Just last week it unveiled a new AI-powered search engine called SearchGPT. The new offering is limited to 10,000 users per day, but is eyeing quick expansion as users become less impressed by the changes from search behemoth Google.

NBCUniversal Presentation of Paris Olympics Garners Strong Viewership in Opening Weekend

BSM Staff
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NBCUniversal Presentation of Paris Olympics Garners Strong Viewership in Opening Weekend

The NBCUniversal presentation of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 is off to a fast start with thrilling moments and medal ceremonies throughout the early days of the proceedings. Preceding the athletic competitions though, the Opening Ceremony for the international event broke viewership records as the most-watched iteration of such an event for a Summer Olympics since London 2012.

The intricate production that included odes to the heritage of France, athletes arriving via boats down the Seine and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower elicited a total audience delivery of 28.6 million viewers, according to custom fast national data from Nielsen Media Research and Adobe Analytics. Compared to the last opening ceremony in Tokyo, average viewership improved by a factor of 60%. This viewership takes into account the live afternoon broadcast and replay in prime time.

The Telemundo presentation of the ceremony attained 666,000 viewers for the Opening Ceremony. Additionally, Peacock set a record by presenting the most-streamed Opening Ceremony of all time, accruing more than 2.5 million viewers. The presentation is the No. 1 entertainment event in the history of the platform. Through Sunday, streaming consumption of the Paris Olympics equated to approximately 4.5 billion minutes, surpassing the entirety of the Summer Olympics that took place in Tokyo three years ago.

“[The] Opening Ceremony, one of the most ambitious and complex in Olympic history, was a spectacle for those in attendance in Paris, delivered a huge audience across our NBCU platforms, and set records for Peacock,” Rick Cordella, president of NBC Sports, said in a statement. “Thanks to the tireless effort of our production and engineering teams, and extensive promotion, we are off to a strong start that is in line with the expectations of our NBC stations, and distribution and advertising partners. We are in great position as we look forward to the next two weeks of competition.”

The opening Saturday of the Olympics on NBC, Peacock and other NBCUniversal platforms collected a total audience delivery of 32.4 million viewers. This is up 83% from the opening Saturday of competition that took place in the Tokyo Olympics.

Peacock secured its third-best day of engagement in platform history, taking part in the average of 4.7 million viewers that streamed coverage across NBCUniversal digital platforms. Highlights of the competition included medals for Caeleb Dressel and Simone Manuel in the 4x100m freestyle relays, along with a bronze medal for Katie Ledecky in the 400m free. The events of the day also included beach volleyball, diving, the men’s gymnastics qualifiers and a victory for the U.S. men’s soccer team over New Zealand.

Momentum continued on Sunday with NBC, Peacock and NBCUniversal platforms attaining a total audience delivery of 41.5 million viewers, nearly doubling the viewership of the opening Sunday of competition that took place in Tokyo. Simone Biles lead the United States to the top score in the women’s gymnastics qualifying round within the prime time coverage. Moreover, Leon Marchand won gold in the 400m individual medley in his home country of France and the U.S. women’s rugby team defeated Brazil.

The U.S. men’s basketball team earned a 110-84 victory over Serbia in the first game of its quest for a gold medal, amassing a total audience of 10.9 million viewers on NBC and Peacock. This is a larger audience than the team had for its gold-medal victory in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 against France, a matchup that averaged 9.3 million viewers. The U.S. women’s soccer team attained an average of 4.2 million viewers later on Sunday on USA Network and Peacock.

Peacock earned its second-best day of engagement in platform history on Sunday, which is only behind the AFC Wild Card Game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs that accounted for the most live-streamed event in U.S. history. Sunday’s coverage drew an audience of 6 million viewers on Peacock and NBCUniversal’s digital platforms.

Over the three days of broadcast coverage in Paris, NBCUniversal has attained a total audience delivery average of 34.5 million viewers across Paris prime time (2-5 p.m. EST) and U.S. prime time (8-11 p.m. EST) broadcast windows. As a whole, the viewership is up 79% from the Tokyo Olympics, which averaged 19.3 million in this regard.

ABC News ‘Full Steam Ahead’ for September Debate Despite Reluctance from Donald Trump

BNM Staff
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ABC News ‘Full Steam Ahead’ for September Debate Despite Reluctance from Donald Trump

ABC News says plans for its September debate continue despite former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump putting a temporary pause on participating.

The Trump campaign released a statement last week that said: “General election debate details cannot be finalized until Democrats formally decide on their nominee.”

“I haven’t agreed to anything. I agreed to a debate with Joe Biden,” Trump, said on a press call last week. “But I want to debate with (Vice President Kamala Harris), and she’ll be no different because they have the same policies. I think debating is important for a presidential race, I really do. You sort of have an obligation to debate.”

Trump had previously agreed to debate President Biden on Tuesday, September 10th on ABC News with David Muir and Linsey Davis set to moderate.

In the wake of the Trump statement, many questioned whether or not that previously scheduled debate would still take place. When asked where the network stood, a source told CNN preparations are “full steam ahead” despite the volatility surrounding the event.

On Truth Social, Donald Trump stated that Fox News should host the next debate. Subsequently, the network sent letters to both the Trump and Kamala Harris campaigns proposing a Tuesday, September 17th debate moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. That proposal came before the Trump campaign decided to pause participating in debates, however.

Trump has aired his displeasure with ABC News in recent weeks. He currently is the plaintiff in a lawsuit against the organization and anchor George Stephanopoulos after the longtime newsman said the former President was guilty of rape during a March interview of Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) after a jury ruled he had sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s. Trump claims the decree from the judge in the case explicitly states he was not found to have committed rape.

3 Towers Broadcasting To Acquire Three Stations in Kokomo, In

BMM Staff
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3 Towers Broadcasting To Acquire Three Stations in Kokomo, In

3 Towers Broadcasting is set to acquire Hoosier AM/FM’s three Kokomo, IN stations.

Under LMA, effective August 1, 3 Towers will begin operating AC WZWZ (Z92.5), Rock WMYK (Rock 98.5), and Sports WIOU-AM (The Score).

Hoosier AM/FM hangs on to its four stations in Marion, IN.

3 Towers, which has been buying stations across Indiana for the past few years, operates the “Giant FM” brand on its formats, including Hot AC, Country, AC, and Classic Rock. The company also operates news publications.

95.5 WSB Raises More Than $2 Million in Latest Care-a-Thon

BNM Staff
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95.5 WSB Raises More Than $2 Million in Latest Care-a-Thon

95.5 WSB set a new record in its 24th annual Care-a-Thon for the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta last week.

The station raised $2,011,402 in donations for the children’s healthcare organization, which topped last year’s figure of $1.9 million.

The event, held last Thursday and Friday, was hosted by station personnel like Chris Chandler, Mark Arum, Eric Von Haessler, and former hosts like Clark Howard — who personally donated $20,000 — and Scott Slade. Slade originally developed the idea for the radiothon nearly a quarter century ago. In that time, the station has raised $34 million to support the research and programs based at the Atlanta healthcare facility.

“There was not a dry eye in that room when the $2 million announcement was made,” 95.5 WSB Director of Content Ken Charles told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We all do this to make a difference. The feeling of helping during these two days each year can never be duplicated.”

Limiting Media Access is a Bad Look For the NFL and the NFLPA

Jason Barrett
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Limiting Media Access is a Bad Look For the NFL and the NFLPA

I read a column on Friday in the Washington Post that left me scratching my head. New NFL Players Association executive director Lloyd Howell told Mark Maske he wants to restrict media access to the locker room. Howell said he doesn’t want to prevent reporters from doing their jobs but believes changes are necessary.

No changes are expected for the 2024 season, but conversations with the league have begun. Whether or not the league supports the NFLPA’s demands in the future remains to be seen.

Howell’s key point was that players don’t want to interviewed while they’re naked. Reporters don’t enjoy that either. Both sides should be in agreement on that. However, once it’s up to the players to find other ways to make time for interviews, it becomes a problem. What follows next is less access, less transparency, and less real-time reactions to the news of the day. Access and timeliness are vital for professionals to tell stories. That becomes compromised when players control the situation and handcuffs are placed on the media.

I’m bothered by this issue for two reasons. First, coverage of leagues, teams, and individuals are vital for fans. They deserve transparency from those they support and pay money to see. Secondly, leagues expect larger increases for their programming during each contract cycle. Yet the job of covering them continues to get harder. This policy has been in place for decades. Do you really think it’s a critical issue? Or is it more of a case of teams and players wanting more control?

Given how much fans and media outlets pay to watch, read, listen, and air the content, you’d think pro sports leagues would offer more access for greater dollars. ESPN, NBC Sports, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, and Amazon should be unified in their request for full access. So too should be all newspaper and radio outlets. The league relies on the media to promote its game and players, and pay for doing so. All involved in the game of football have benefitted from that business relationship. Making it harder for media members to do their work likely increases negative coverage of the NFL because human beings don’t react well to being restricted.

This issue is mostly about professionals inside the locker room, but it extends beyond that too. Radio outlets deal with teams constantly offering little beyond gameday content and access. There are exceptions like the Patriots and 49ers who have been excellent to radio partners, but most seek controlling the narrative, wanting the majority of inventory, and limiting access.Yet they expect broadcasters to cut big checks for airing their games.

Limiting commercial inventory, and offering limited access to the head coach, general manager, and top players makes these deals less attractive. Players can’t be forced to appear and promote the organization, but coaches and executives can. I know radio executives who fight frequently with team executives for interviews, and their social media departments for promoting the upcoming game or a player appearance on the team’s radio station. However, if a host takes a coach or player to task on the air, PR is quick to call, and preach the importance of partnerships.

Having been a part of play-by-play deals, I believe stations don’t get enough back. If you’re in a deal and generating big revenues, I get it. You’re going to be hesitant to ask for more. That doesn’t mean though that you shouldn’t. The team won’t think twice to offer you less and ask for an increased rights fee.

Are you getting seats on the team plane? A suite or healthy number of tickets? Training camp, NFL Draft, and gameday exclusivity? Merchandise? A weekly call with the head coach and/or GM? Access to those same folks for an off-season promotion or appearance? Social media support to promote your brand, games, and scheduled appearances? I’m sure there’s more we could add to this list, but if all you’re gaining is the right to air a game, use trademarks, and sell spots, you’re not getting enough back.

The league could limit media access in the future. If they honor the NFLPA’s request, additional requests will follow. Some groups are never satisfied. What follows next? Local media outlets and reporters working with even more restrictions? Less access, and more limitations will force outlets to look closer at how much value they get in return for their investments.

It’s ballsy for the NFLPA to seek limiting the press, the same group that elevates their players, coaches, and executives, helping them earn record salaries. The NFL is king, and probably will be for decades. Media professionals are well aware of this. They know, because they’ve played a role in growing interest in the league. You’d like to think the NFL and its players association understand the importance of what that relationship provides. Sometimes though you have to remind them. Here’s hoping it doesn’t come to that.

Deep Fakes, Funny Stories, the Election, and Truth

Perry Michael Simon
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Deep Fakes, Funny Stories, the Election, and Truth

Is it too much to ask that everyone do a little fact-checking before spreading deep fakes or other stuff on social media or the radio or anywhere else?

Apparently, it is, and I’m not bringing this up only about the JD Vance couch thing, which at least everyone seems to know started as a joke. Stuff like that happens all the time, and I’d like to think that we’re all at least savvy enough to recognize broad satire when we see it. And I’m not talking about the interpretation of candidates’ comments – reasonable minds may differ about practically everything Donald Trump says or does, maybe because he isn’t sure of what he means himself when he goes off-script. That’s all common, especially in election years and especially in recent years.

But what do you do with deep fake videos? How do you handle deceptively edited audio or video? Do you uncritically take one side’s word about its opposition? This is happening right now, and while it may be “fan service” – giving your partisan audience what it wants to hear – it’s dishonest and a black eye for the news media in general.

One example is from what has become the headquarters of misinformation, Twitter/X, where owner Elon Musk seems to be hell bent on destroying any semblance of utility by posting misleading or inaccurate memes and videos or approvingly commenting on them. The latest example is his lifting someone else’s deep fake video of Kamala Harris “saying” things she never really said in an attempt to discredit her, stripping away the credit, and posting it without labeling it fake or parody. People can plausibly watch the video and assume it’s real and true. It isn’t, but the user probably doesn’t know that. And you might see that, take notes, and then talk about it on the radio as true – hey, you saw and heard it with your own eyes and ears! – or report on it as fact or use it as background for other stories.

Don’t do that. Don’t do that for anything. Not trust-but-verify, but don’t-trust-and-do-verify. Especially in an election year, you, and your audience, will be bombarded with “news,” flooded with memes, fed stories that make someone look bad, and you, as a partisan yourself, might be tempted to just run with it, because, hey, it’s entertainment, right? Your listeners, viewers, and readers will eat it up, so what’s the problem?

The problem is credibility. The problem is adding to the avalanche of lies that passes for political discourse in 2024. Now, I don’t want to be the No-Fun League here, but there are plenty of colorful and entertaining issues on both sides to talk about without using questionable sources and fake stories. At the same time the Vance couch story took flight, there were actual, verifiable stories about him that were just as provocative, the cat lady comments and the dolphin thing. You didn’t need the couch gags, funny though many may have been.

It’s become a little tougher to fact check these days; even mainstream media has had its questionable moments. On the other hand, you should know which organizations are generally safe and which are not. ABC or CBS are one thing, Gateway Pundit is quite another. You do not want to use the latter to verify anything.

Yet you should make sure what you’re talking about or reporting on is true. You do not want to spend a lot of time or column inches (are we still doing that on the internet?) on something that turns out to be untrue. Again, you don’t have to be first on everything, but you do have to protect your reputation and be reliable yourself. There are plenty of people, inside and outside of the news media, who will be posing a problem by spreading trash. Be the solution.

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