After the release of the Durham Report yesterday, 93.1 WIBC host Tony Katz believes CNN CEO Chris Licht should undergo a bloodletting at the network.
In the report, Special Counsel John Durham claims the Department of Justice and the FBI “failed to uphold their mission of strict fidelity to the law” when it launched a probe into the relationship between Donald Trump and Russian influence in the 2016 presidential election.
The report says FBI officials show a “serious lack of analytical rigor towards the information that they received, especially information received from politically-affiliated persons and entities.”
In response, Katz took to Twitter to criticize not only CNN but also MSNBC and others who reported extensively on the story when it first came to light.
“They lied about everything in Russia, Russia, Russia. And they lied to everyone. And CNN and MSNBC and their political media partners pushed every lie, every day. Never let them forget it. And never trust them again,” Katz wrote.
He continued by saying “Chris Licht should read the Durham Report, then start firing people at CNN. These are not reporters. Fire the propagandists. Start with (Jim) Acosta).”
Chris Licht should read the #DurhamReport, then start firing people at @CNN. These are not reporters. Fire the propagandists.
Delta Media is sticking with sports, but rebranding its stations in Lafayette and Lake Charles, LA. The stations, which were known as “The Game,” will become ESPN 103.7 and ESPN 104.1 in June.
The station’s lineup is getting an overhaul too. ESPN Radio’s Keyshawn, JWill and Max will occupy morning drive. That will be followed by Footnotes with Kevin Foote from 9-11 am. A new midday show called RP3, D-Loh and Meche will run from 11-1 PM and Jordy Hultberg will now air from 1-3 pm.
Matt Moscona is also joining the station’s lineup. His regionally syndicated After Further Review will be on in afternoon drive.
“For three months, we have been working on this partnership with ESPN radio,” Delta Media Corp. Vice President and General Manager Johnette Cochran said in a press release. “We’re so excited to bring the very best shows and content to serve our sports fans in Southwest Louisiana. Onboarding the talented Matt Moscona is a huge value to our afternoon drive. Matt, along with our current sports broadcasters, have a tremendous amount of passion & knowledge for local, regional, and national sports. Our listeners in Lafayette and Lake Charles are in for a treat! It was exciting to seal the deal.”
ESPN 103.7 and ESPN 104.1 will continue to serve as the region’s radio homes for LSU and the Houston Astros.
In an interview with The Messenger on its launch day, former President Donald Trump expressed his surprise at the negative reaction to the ratings his town hall garnered on CNN. Trump believed that CNN should have celebrated the event’s success instead of being “traumatized” by it.
During the interview, Trump also mentioned his astonishment at the hostility he encountered during the town hall, as he assumed the network was attempting to regain viewership.
“I had expected them to maintain a neutral stance, or even improve upon it, in order to regain viewership. Considering they had one of their highest viewership days in years, one would assume they would celebrate their success,” said Trump.
“It was surprising to witness their state of trauma following the event. Instead of reacting as they did, they should have acknowledged the tremendous ratings they received that night, one of the best in many years, and celebrated their accomplishment. It would have been appropriate to “spike the football,” so to speak.”
According to Brian Stelter, the gathering attracted an audience of 703,000 individuals between the ages of 25 and 54, surpassing CNN’s average viewership for the 8:00 p.m. time slot by a factor of five. The following day, Trump expressed that numerous people had their opinions altered after listening to Common Sense, which he described as exceptionally brilliant.
Nevertheless, the town hall faced backlash from certain high-ranking staff members, such as Anderson Cooper, who informed viewers the following day that they had the full entitlement to feel outraged and angry and discontinue watching the channel altogether.
Senior media reporter Oliver Darcy expressed in his Reliable Sources newsletter that it was challenging to perceive how the airing of falsehoods on CNN Wednesday evening served the interests of America.
“Well, I don’t want to say. But everyone else says it was. … I’ve never been so credited with the successes the way I have with this. Everybody — the radical left, fascists, Marxists, communists, and normal people — has said it was a complete victory for Trump. .. But CNN has taken tremendous hits. And I’m surprised they don’t really say that they had a very big ratings night. Truly surprising to me.”
According to The New York Post, CNN has denied rumors that media reporter Oliver Darcy will leave the network. Darcy took over as the network’s media reporter after the firing of Brian Stelter and expressed concerns about his future at CNN after a meeting with cable boss Chris Licht.
In the meeting, Licht reportedly called Darcy to task for airing internal criticism of the network’s town hall with former President Donald Trump. Darcy questioned whether he should quit or if he would be fired. However, CNN spokesperson Matt Dornic affirmed Darcy’s position at the network, stating that he has no intention of resigning and that his newsletter will continue as usual.
During the meeting, Licht allegedly emphasized the need for more objective coverage across all news outlets, not just CNN. Darcy defended his reporting, insisting that it accurately reflected the sentiment within the company. CNN employees were reportedly upset by comments made to Fox News by an unnamed source, describing Darcy as visibly shaken after the meeting.
It is noted that Darcy’s newsletter item had been reviewed and approved by CNN’s top editorial executives, Virginia Moseley and Rachel Smolkin, who were present at the meeting but remained relatively quiet while Licht reprimanded Darcy.
CNN’s CEO Chris Licht is facing significant backlash within the company regarding the town hall with former President Donald Trump. CNN employees were particularly displeased with comments from an anonymous source to Fox News, claiming that Oliver Darcy, the network’s media reporter, was visibly shaken after the meeting with Licht.
According to sources, Darcy’s newsletter content was thoroughly reviewed by CNN’s top editorial executives, including Virginia Moseley, the Vice President of Editorial, and Rachel Smolkin, the Senior Vice President of Global News, both of whom were present at the meeting between Darcy and Licht on Thursday, as reported by Semafor.
During Monday’s Good Morning BT with Bo Thompson and Beth Troutman, it was announced that Charlotte’s News Talk WBT will undergo some changes in both morning drive and afternoon drive with The Brett Winterble Show.
Mark Garrison, the News Director of WBT, has been announced as the new full-time news anchor for Good Morning BT. Additionally, it was revealed that Winterble’s afternoon show will be extended by one hour. The changes are effective immediately.
Mark Garrison had hosted a show called Charlotte at Six, which aired after The Brett Winterble Show.
“It’s been fun for the last nine years to do it,” Garrison told Thompson Monday morning. “We will move some of the features into the morning show; for example, later this week, I have an amazing food truck story for you guys, which I found over the weekend. We will shift it from six o’clock to the morning, I think it will be fun.”
Another aspect of the announcement is that Winterble, who has been hosting the 3-6 PM slot at WBT, will now have an additional hour every evening.
“I am so excited to do this,” Winterble said. “I want to thank Mark [Garrison] for hosting the show for nine years.”
Winterble — who recently signed a contract extension with WBT — has filled in as a guest host for The Rush Limbaugh Show and appeared on TBN and Newsmax TV.
On Monday afternoon, FOX held its annual Upfront event at the Manhattan Center to showcase its growing portfolio of sports, entertainment and news content. The event was standing-room only, and included a surprise appearance from new Major League Baseball analyst Derek Jeter. As the headliner for this year’s event, Jeter stood alongside NFL analyst Michael Strahan and expressed his excitement about joining the FOX Sports team.
“I love the sport,” Jeter said. “I’ve been part of Major League Baseball for 30 years, whether it was as a player, owner or executive. I want that to continue. Then you watch the FOX Sports Team [and] they have a blast. When they reached out and asked me to be a part of it, I couldn’t wait to do it.”
Jeter most recently served as chief executive officer of the Miami Marlins, a role he worked in for four years where he helped make key business decisions to grow the team and foster a connection with the local community. Additionally, Jeter launched The Players’ Tribune in 2014 and helped amplify the voices of professional athletes and connect them with fans, an early foray into the “new media” movement permeating sports media today. Shortly thereafter, Jeter was joined on stage by his former New York Yankees teammate and current MLB analyst on ESPN and FOX, Álex Rodríguez. Strahan asked about his excitement in adding Jeter to the deep lineup of analysts.
“I played with Derek for almost 15 years,” Rodríguez said of Jeter. “He brings his five-championship pedigree to FOX. I think this October is going to be incredible.”
FOX Sports also highlighted its prime NFL package, America’s Game of the Week. It will be the home of must-see matchups, including a clash between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving and a Christmas Day battle between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. The network welcomed a new primary broadcast team of Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen into the fold last year, and reported an average Super Bowl LVII viewership of 115.1 million households – making it the most-watched television program in American history.
The 2023 NFL regular season is the first of a new, 10-year media rights deal, and FOX highlighted that it will broadcast a total of nine Dallas Cowboys games over the eighteen weeks of play.
“Cowboys games are the most powerful hours of content in television every single year,” NFL on FOX sideline reporter Erin Andrews told the audience.
Rob Gronkowski, who began to make regular appearances with the NFL on FOX throughout the regular season and the playoffs, spoke to the crowd about the importance of commercials following a presentation where the network touted the size of its audience and viewership numbers. In fact, FOX reported a total reach of more than 225 million people and an accumulated 347 billion minutes of content watched across its platforms.
“I can always be myself no matter what the situation is, and you know this is my kind of crowd because I love commercials,” Gronkowski said. “I think everyone in this room has called my agent just a few times.”
Gronkowski, of course, received notoriety for his live “Kick of Destiny” commercial with FanDuel, which promised to give its bettors a share of $10 million in bonus bets if he made a field goal kick. Unfortunately, he missed the kick and was chided for it by FOX Corporation’s President of Advertising, Sales, Marketing and Brand Partnerships, Marianne Gambelli.
“How did you miss that kick at the Super Bowl last year?,” questioned Gambelli. “Come on – seriously, you cost me money.”
Gambelli mentioned the vision of FOX Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch of creating a company focusing on live sports, premium entertainment and news. She subtly addressed Netflix – which chose to cancel its in-person upfront presentation and opted for a fully virtual experience instead – along with Paramount Global which is not holding an upfront event altogether.
“We didn’t cancel. We didn’t move out of upfront week,” Gambelli said. “We’re here for you.”
Followed my Fox ad sales chief Marianne Gambelli. 'We didn't cancel, we didn't move out of upfront week. We're here for you' pic.twitter.com/4qSd3d0hZk
Much of the event was centered around Tubi, an ad-supported streaming service and over-the-top content provider (OTT) that experienced a 44% growth in viewership year over year. The platform delivered during Super Bowl LVII, amassing over 1 billion views on TikTok, 4.2 million video views minus TikTok and generated 6.8 billion potential impressions.
“Tubi is the No. 1 AVOD in the US, and they’re just getting started,” said FOX Sports host Charissa Thompson. .We’ve just heard about the connections Tubi builds with its users. Connection with audiences is what FOX is all about.”
Podcasts produced by FOX Sports, Outkick, FOX Entertainment and FOX News Media were also in the spotlight. The catalog averages 30 million monthly downloads in the United States and contains over 100 titles – including Undisputed, Hot Mic and Flippin’ Bats. According to measurements from Podtrac, FOX Audio Network ranks 10th in unique podcast listeners.
At the start of the event, Strahan appeared alongside celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay where there was no shortage of explicit language as attendees eagerly anticipated announcements and showcases of what is to come. FOX unveiled a variety of new content in its entertainment division; however, it has yet to release its schedule, which it will reportedly do on June 6. Yet there were two broadcast dates to be announced – both in college football.
Andrews revealed that FOX will broadcast Deion Sanders’ debut as head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes in the team’s matchup against the TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday, Sep. 2. Additionally, FOX will bring viewers the traditional college football clash between the Ohio State Buckeyes and Michigan Wolverines on Saturday, Nov. 25. Kickoff times for these matchups have not yet been revealed, but both are likely to be part of Big Noon Saturday, which is the top window across all of college football with ratings that continue to rise.
Amid the ongoing acquisition of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) and Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc., no mention of WWE Friday Night Smackdown was made at Monday’s event. The current media rights deal between FOX and the WWE expires after 2024, and there have reportedly been no conversations regarding an extension. Additionally, the WWE was not included in the network’s slate of new programming this fall, some of which includes a new music guessing game show, the return of Kitchen Nightmares and a celebrity holiday “bricktacular” on Lego Masters.
The sports portion of the event also included an appearance from Carli Lloyd, an analyst for the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023. Lloyd was a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team and played a pivotal role in the team winning two FIFA Women’s World Cup championships in 2015 and 2019. She recently worked with FOX Sports as a studio analyst on soccer coverage, including the international FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 tournament.
“The growth of women’s soccer has been amazing, largely due in part to what we did in 2015 and 2019, and with the coverage and the support of FOX,” Lloyd said. “America loves a winning team and [we] captured, in my opinion, two of the greatest World Cups that have been won. It was truly amazing. Let’s see if they can do a three-peat.”
Over the course of the 55-minute presentation, there were multiple occurrences where the crowd did not seem into it, much to the chagrin of Andrews who threatened that they would not get to drink at the bar afterwards. As Andrews concluded the event, FOX Sports analysts Michael Strahan, Rob Gronkowski, Álex Rodríguez and Derek Jeter received the loudest ovation of the day when they began tossing autographed baseballs and footballs to the crowd, capping off a presentation with few announcements about new programming. There is seemingly more to come amid the Writers Guild of America strike, uncertainty with the WWE and hints of an increased move into the digital space. Nonetheless, FOX looks to build off of a record year of viewership and continued growth in the digital sector as it gears up for Super Bowl LIX and the prime time debut of impending NFL on FOX analyst Tom Brady.
After having his wrongful termination lawsuit dismissed last month by a California-based federal judge, former Sacramento Kings play-by-play announcer and KHTK host Grant Napear has amended his case against station owner Bonneville International.
Napear was fired in 2020 for tweeting “All Lives Matter” while discussing the unrest as a result of George Floyd’s murder. Grant sued Bonneville in 2021 claiming the company discriminated against his religious beliefs.
Napear’s amended suit challenges that Bonneville fired him for cause, and claims that the use of “All Lives Matter” isn’t offensive and was an “expression of his sincerely held Christian religious belief” based on Unitarian Church principles.
The company asserts that there was no discriminatory motivation behind Napear’s firing and that his termination was justified.
Mike Valenti isn’t a fan of the new Big Ten media rights deal, which doesn’t officially go into effect until July 1.
Monday on 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit, the Michigan State alum offered his reaction to the Big Ten’s recent announcement that the Spartans’ game against Ohio State in November would be in primetime on NBC.
Valenti said he didn’t think football fans tuning in on November 11 would be particularly interested in a potential Ohio State blowout win.
“America is gonna be punished by having to watch a series where MSU has been outscored like 200-7, in primetime,” he said. “Who does that help? Who’s that good for?”
Valenti also took issue with the fact that Penn State’s annual Beaver Stadium whiteout game would be taking place against Iowa and air on CBS in primetime on September 23. Typically the whiteout game is reserved for either games against the Nittany Lions’ significant rivals or top ten opponents.
Mike felt like FOX having the priority selection of national games for the Big Ten doesn’t lend a hand to the other networks with later windows or to the fans.
“The reality is the money can come in, and the schools can pocket it, and they can pay their players and do whatever they want. It’s making for bad television,” he said. “I don’t want to watch Penn State/Iowa at 8 o’clock at night. That’s got noon written all over it. MSU/Ohio State it should be on Jefferson Pilot 11 a.m. kick like it’s 1994.”
As the primary rights holder for the conference, FOX will always get first pick of games on the Big Ten slate. The network prioritizes the earliest window of each college football Saturday with its Big Noon Saturday package. Those early kickoffs are not always popular with fans. In fact, it was cited amongst the reasons that Oklahoma is leaving the Big 12 for the SEC.
The full TV schedule for the 2023 season hasn’t been released. Last year the conference announced early-season TV schedules around Memorial Day.
St. Louis Cardinals fans watching games on Bally Sports Midwest now have the option to hear a Spanish-language broadcast via the SAP button on their remotes.
The team and network announced Monday that by switching to Spanish, fans will be able to hear radio broadcasters Polo Ascencio and Bengie Molina calling the action. Their Spanish radio call has been airing on 880 AM La Tremenda.
“It’s another great tool for making our Cardinals organization more inclusive, specifically for our Hispanic viewers and our Latino players’ families, who want to hear Cardinals games broadcast in their own language,” said Cardinals Spanish Broadcast Coordinator Celina Allen.
Ascencio and Molina have been the team’s Spanish broadcast crew since 2016. The team expanded their Spanish radio network to seven stations this season.
WFAN host Evan Roberts drew the ire of Tampa Bay Rays fans last week with his on-air claims that the team’s hot start to the season is illegitimate.
On Monday co-host Craig Carton returned to the afternoon show after taking a couple days off to attend his daughter’s college graduation, and said it was crazy checking social media and seeing Evan being lambasted.
“I go online I see Evan getting in fights with wrestlers that I’ve never heard of, I see Evan being attacked by a low-rated Tampa Bay radio show, I see Evan being attacked by low-rated YouTube video hosts – including my main man Todd Frazier – who I have a great relationship with,” Carton said. “You have really put me behind the 8-ball.”
“The entire city of Tampa is pissed at you,” he later added.
Roberts embraced being public enemy number one among Rays fans, and Carton said ultimately what people in Tampa think of Evan and the show is worthless. He lumped in baseball YouTubers as well, saying the criticism by some is nothing more than an attempt to get attention.
“It’s another one of those YouTube shows that nobody ever heard of until they attacked people with an audience like us,” Carton said. “I love shows like that.”
