Rudy Jay had his final show with 94.1 San Antonio’s Sports Star today. Jay co-hosted “R&R In The Morning,” during the 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. local time slot with station Program Director Rob Thompson.
Jay’s colleague Joe Reinagel, posted the news on X. About an hour later, RJ Ochoa, a writer for ‘Blogging the Boys,’ SB Nation’s site for Dallas Cowboys content, announced he will be taking Jay’s place starting Tuesday.
FOX Sports Radio Knoxville (AM 1340/FM 105.7) announced a new 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time lineup today. The lineup features 10 hours of local programming each weekday.
“The Drive,” heard weekdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. will continue to feature Russell Smith who will now be paired with Houston Kress. Kress had previously been heard in mornings.
A new program has taken over morning drive. “The Morning Show on Fanrun Radio,” hosted by Jon Reed and Bob Baskerville is now airing weekdays from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Reed had been on a midday show previously, Baskerville is new to the station.
“The G.I. Jake Show” with Jake Miller airs at 10 a.m. follwed by a national block from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. with “The Herd with Colin Cowherd.”
Clay Travis and Buck Sexton host one of the largest radio shows in America. Now, they’re turning their focus to the 2024 Presidential election with a new podcast.
The duo has announced a new weekly podcast called 24, which will repurpose content from their nationally syndicated radio show that focuses exclusively on the upcoming election cycle.
In a promotional video for the podcast, Travis called it a great way “to keep tally of everything we’re saying about the upcoming election”, labeling it a “one-stop shop in case you’re busy and just want to know what we said in a particular week”.
The podcast offering will be released every Sunday at Noon ET on The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show podcast feed.
The Nielsen fall ratings book was good to 98.1 The Sports Animal in Oklahoma City. The market’s sports radio leader delivered a 7.4 share in weekday prime (M-F 6a-7p) to rank second. Compared to the summer and last fall, WWLS was up from a 5.6 and 6.4 share respectively.
The Morning Animals featuring Phil Inzinga, Curtis Fitzpatrick, Carey Murdock and Ron Benton delivered a 7.1 share for the fall. That placed them second overall. The morning show was up nine-tenths of a share from last quarter, and 1.5 shares year-over-year.
In the 9a-12p window, Sports Morning with Craig Humphreys, who recently announced his retirement, capped off his final book with a 6.3, fourth place finish. Humphreys was up from a 4.4 in the summer, and 4.8 last fall. For 2024, Matt Ravis has taken over and is incorporating Matthew Meyer into the show. Ravis will also continue his pregame, halftime and postgame responsibilities for Oklahoma City Thunder broadcasts.
The Middle of the Day show with Mark Rodgers amassed a 7.6 share to secure third place this fall. That marked a 1.7 share improvement from the summer. Compared to last fall’s 6.4, the program gained 1.2 shares. The timeframe measured within this category is 11a-2p, which includes one hour of overlap between the two midday shows.
Afternoons were strong as well with the timeslot recording a 7.9 share, second place finish. Drive time on the Sports Animal features three different programming choices including Afternoon Sports Beat with Jim Traber from 2p-4p, Dominant Duo with Traber and co-host Al Eschbach from 4p-4:30p, and the Total Dominance Hour with Traver, Eschbach, Berry Tramel and Dean Blevins until 6pm. Year-over-year the timeslot improved by one-tenth of a share. Afternoons enjoyed a strong three share improvement from the summer book.
Data was not available this quarter for 107.7 The Franchise and The Ref 99.3/1400. Both stations were far behind WWLS in the 12+ demo but specific Men 25-54 numbers were not received by the time of this report.
Ratings reports and analysis are written by BSM and sponsored by Crowd React Media, a division of Harker Bos Group. Learn more about the different ways sports media research can benefit your station and cut through the noise by clicking here.
A bankruptcy hearing originally scheduled for Wednesday afternoon pursuant to the ongoing Ch. 11 case of Diamond Sports Group was postponed. Major League Baseball is trying to receive clarity on the situation surrounding the 11 teams slated to be broadcast by the Sinclair, Inc. subsidiary operating Bally Sports-branded regional sports networks. Sources told the New York Post the league has offered Diamond Sports Group a deal that would reduce the media rights fees it pays for three out of these 11 teams in the 2024 season. MLB would then subsequently receive digital rights for teams under contract with Diamond in 2025.
The hearing has now been rescheduled for next Friday, Jan. 19, an extension granted as discussions with Amazon reportedly continue. Amazon’s Prime Video platform is the home of NFL Thursday Night Football games, recently achieving a 24% increase in viewership (average of 11.86 million viewers per game) compared to its inaugural 2022 season. Additionally, the platform had the exclusive local television media rights to 20 New York Yankees games last season, along with broadcasts of WNBA and Overtime Elite games.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred testified last year in a bankruptcy court about a contentious meeting that took place surrounding the media rights. David Smith, Sinclair Broadcast Group executive chairman, purportedly requested the company acquire direct-to-consumer broadcast rights from the league to strengthen its Bally Sports Plus app.
When Manfred declined the proposal, he said that Smith told him the company would begin to press clubs to diminish rights fees to make sure the company stays profitable in the RSN business. If this venture proved to be unsuccessful, the venture would then enter bankruptcy and begin selectively rejecting contracts. Over the summer, Diamond Sports Group terminated its deals with both the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks, but MLB was ready with its local media department to assume production and dissemination responsibilities.
Although Sinclair counsel previously predicted that the Diamond business would go away, the RSN operator expects to continue broadcasting through the 2024 MLB season. The company came to agreements with both the National Basketball Association and National Hockey League that reverts the media rights back to the leagues at the conclusion of the season.
MLB is asking for clarity with its regular season approaching, part of the rationale behind its filing to compel assumption or rejection of telecast rights agreements. There is an enigma surrounding the television homes for the Cleveland Guardians, Minnesota Twins and defending World Series champion Texas Rangers in 2024 since Diamond is reportedly only willing to broadcast them under revised deals.
Amazon is reportedly exploring a potential investment in Diamond Sports Group, having conversations with the company about its future. Yet it was reported by the New York Post that MLB recently rejected a deal that would have granted Amazon streaming rights for 11 of its teams over multiple seasons, something the league was unwilling to concede. Manfred also reportedly stated that it would need to be involved in a digital deal, especially since Diamond only has streaming rights to five MLB teams – the Detroit Tigers; Kansas City Royals; Miami Marlins; Milwaukee Brewers and Tampa Bay Rays.
Before the new year, MLB issued a court filing conveying that the Debtors needed to be prepared to assume or reject the telecast rights agreements prior to Dec. 31, 2023. The league has emphasized that there has been a continued theme during proceedings that the Debtors are “just ‘one step’ away from a breakthrough.” At this point though, the league is searching for clarity ahead of the year so it can make necessary preparations and ensure competitive balance. There have reportedly been residual effects on spending this offseason related to the bankruptcy case, evidenced in a report from NextTV surrounding payroll cuts by the Minnesota Twins.
Senior lenders of Diamond Sports Group are owed approximately $650 million and have a desire for the company to cease operations after the 2024 MLB season and sell profitable media contracts to other networks, according to sources within the New York Post report. Conversely, junior lenders – owed a collective $8 billion – want to reportedly pay off the senior lenders and ensure that the company continues its business. These junior lenders are also reportedly involved in settlement talks taking place between Diamond and its parent company over a lawsuit that alleged Sinclair engaged in misconduct wherefore it illicitly obtained $1.5 billion.
If a financial settlement is reached between Sinclair and Diamond, junior creditors would then look to use the proceeds and potential windfall from a new Amazon deal, along with other cash and receivables from Diamond, to completely remunerate senior creditors, according to sources within the Post report. From there, the junior creditors would reportedly assume the business and look to improve its future standing amid a changing media marketplace.
The 2024 Presidential election will be a consequential one, no matter who wins or loses. Nationally syndicated host Dana Loesch argues that she might be the only person in the news/talk format who will root against her own self-interests in the race for the White House.
While discussing the latest Republican Presidential primary debate on The Dana Show Thursday, Loesch contended she is the only host who will but others ahead of herself when it comes to politics.
“You guys know where I am. I — unlike everyone else in this industry, whatever you want to call it — actually will go against my own best interest because I can’t stand blowing smoke up your backside,” stated Loesch. “I simply cannot. Can’t stand it. I tell you where I’m at. Not as a way to tell you what to think, just so you know where I’m coming from.”
Dana Loesch continued by noting she simply has her audience’s best interest in mind, before noting she has a general mistrust of politicians.
“I honestly don’t care what you do. I don’t want to sound mean, but I’m also going to if I see somebody gaslighting you. I’m going to call it out, I don’t care who they are. I’m only in this as a voter and for voters because, also not to sound mean — and I’m gonna say that a lot today — I hate these people. Maybe hate is a strong word. They’re not people that I would chill with.”
Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes started a podcast together after their high-profile exit from GMA3 for an extramarital affair. KFI AM-640 afternoon host Tim Conway Jr. joked he’s obsessed with the pair’s show.
“I’m addicted to it. My wife catches me every night listening to it on headphones. I can’t stop with these two,” Conway Jr. said sarcastically. “With these two talking about themselves, it really is great. I even go back to old episodes and listen, looking for little nuggets.”
Conway Jr. then played a clip from one of their recent episodes where the pair took a dating compatibility test, with the subject matter turning to their sex lives. The dating expert they were taking the test with began suggesting what type of intimacy the two preferred, down to the nitty-gritty details, which neither one denied.
That’s when the Los Angeles-based host joked he had heard enough.
“That’s a little bit too much information for me, there,” Conway Jr. said with a chuckle.
Tim Conway Jr. then shared concern that Holmes admitted on the podcast that when he was initially going through the public scandal and the fallout of his marriage, he was having 18 drinks per day to deal with the public pressure.
Following a record year in viewership for the NFL, it’s no surprise the NFL Network also posted record highs in viewership in 2023. Good Morning Football, NFL Network’s daily morning show, and NFL GameDay posted viewership gains this season.
NFL Network’s acclaimed morning show Good Morning Football posted its highest regular-season viewership since 2017 and was up 16 percent versus 2022. This is despite losing longtime hosts Kay Adams and Nate Burleson, replacing them with Jamie Erdahl and former New England Patriots defensive back Jason McCourty.
Meanwhile, three iterations of NFL GameDay posted viewership gains in 2023 and was the most-watched year in the programming block’s history. Sunday GameDay programming was up 5 percent versus 2022, NFL GameDay Live, the 1-7:30 p.m. ET edition, was up 10 percent versus 2022, and NFL GameDay Highlights, the 7:30 p.m. ET program, was up 5 percent from last year.
