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Bleav Content Joins Cumulus Podcast Network

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Bleav Content Joins Cumulus Podcast Network

Cumulus Media announced Wednesday that the Bleav Network, a sports and entertainment production company with a specialty in producing original, localized content, will be joining the Cumulus Podcast Network.

As part of the agreement, the Cumulus Podcast Network will now be responsible for marketing, monetizing and distributing over 300 shows produced by the Bleav Network, expanding its vast audio repertoire.

“Bleav is thrilled to announce our partnership with Cumulus/Westwood One: an industry-leading, audio-first media company,” Bleav President Eric Weinberger said in a statement. “We are eager to embark on this journey together as we continue to empower our creators and remain on the cutting edge of athlete-driven content.”

Bleav was founded by Bron Heussenstamm in 2018 and covers, “Every team, every topic, everywhere.” Its programming is distributed across various audio platforms – including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music – and also has two free, ad-supported television channels (FAST), with one of them being exclusively focused on football. The partnership makes Bleav the first podcast network to feature a player from every professional and major college sports team, giving fans unparalleled insight and expertise into their favorite teams.

“Bleav has created a broad and deep well of programming for sports fans with content from virtually every professional and major college team in America,” said Suzanne Grimes, EVP Marketing at Cumulus Media and President of Westwood One. “Listeners and advertisers alike turn to Westwood One for the very best sports programming, so it’s a natural fit for us to partner with Bleav and offer our advertisers access to this extensive podcast portfolio.”

Westwood One is the largest audio network in the United States, with Cumulus Media distributing programming in sports, entertainment, news and talk to over 9,400 affiliate stations around the country. The company itself owns and operates 405 radio stations across 85 markets, along with the Cumulus Podcast Network, featuring sports programming including The Jim Rome Podcast, The Rich Eisen Show and To Be The Man featuring Ric Flair.

Bleav has over 500 shows of its own producing over 1,000 hours of original audiovisual content each month. Over 800 hosts appear across the network with 175 professional athletes, connecting fans to their favorite teams while keeping them simultaneously informed and entertained. The network has previously announced partnerships with Gow Media, SiriusXM, Auddia and TuneIn to help expand the reach and distribution of its content.

Mark Simone: ‘This Tucker Carlson Stuff Doesn’t Look Good’

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A barrage of videos and text messages that have painted former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in a negative light continue to leak to the media. 710 WOR host Mark Simone admits it’s not a good look for the departed host.

To begin The Mark Simone Show Wednesday, the New York host mentioned the videos of Carlson airing his grievances with the FOX Nation streaming service, as well as calling a woman “yummy”, among others that have poured out several days of leaks.

“This Tucker Carlson stuff doesn’t look good,” Simone admitted. “The problem with this guy is he talks too much. He won’t shut up…once they put that little mic on your lapel, and you go sit down in the studio, everybody knows to be careful. Because they’re picking you up in the control room, and if they want to, they can record you. And they did it Tucker…Tucker’s just going on and on and on about how he hates FOX Nation, the website, it looks stupid, it’s just too much talking. I think he’s trying to be funny, but it’s just weird.”

Simone then referenced the text messages uncovered by The New York Times that have been widely viewed as racist in nature that purports to show Carlson saying jumping someone the way three MAGA supporters did to an Antifa member is “not how white men fight”.

“What does that mean? I don’t even know what that means, but it’s not good,” Simone continued. “You’re gonna see that quote floating around. More and more of this is gonna come out. Tucker has no response anywhere.”

Audacy CMO: 50% of WFAN Streaming Audience From Outside of New York

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Audacy CMO: 50% of WFAN Streaming Audience From Outside of New York

The value proposition of audio has evolved according to Audacy’s Chief Marketing Officer Paul Suchman. In the company’s most recent State of Audio Report titled “Fuel the Funnel,” Audacy, Inc. proffers a view of the consumption experience trifurcated into stages based on awareness, consideration and conversion. Through data provided by Nielsen Media Research, audio catalyzes this experience at the highest rate of success when compared to other media and garners ubiquity and precise messaging.

“People consume audio all day long, and they lean into it really hard and they trust it,” Suchman said in an interview with Radio Ink. “It’s a great medium for advertisers. Even Nielsen reports that people spend 30% of their day consuming audio media versus other media, and we know it’s underspent.”

Over the last decade, audio has precipitously transitioned to become immersed in the digital space, the focus wherein many Gen Z consumers discover and engage with content. Whether it is through laptops, phones, smart speakers or streaming portals accessed through gaming systems, young people are looking to have their content meet them.

As it pertains to sports radio, those listening to the format represent dedicated fans of the aural medium more so than others, according to Audacy, and it is a business in which the company has made a significant investment. The company owns and operates iconic sports audio brands across the United States, including WFAN, WEEI, 97.1 The Ticket, and 670 The Score among others.

“We love sports audio and its fans,” Suchman said. “Listening to audio, particularly when you’re a fan, is just an amazing experience.”

These radio stations operate in local markets; however, their content is available to stream online or through the Audacy mobile app. As a result, radio hosts around the world have the ability to connect to a broad network of consumers, some of whom may have a penchant for localized content despite not living in the same market.

“Sports stations are distillings of community, right?” Suchman asked rhetorically. “On WFAN, our sports station in New York, 50% of our listeners on the stream come from out of state. It’s displaced New Yorkers consuming that content. They want that content and conversations in their home city from voices they know [and] from voices that they trust.”

The company affirms that audio should continue to be broadcast to cars, a reason why it is still a point of emphasis for a company doing things in a variety of more modernized spaces. There are a variety of advertisements played over the air though that prioritize efficiency and reach rather than accentuating the distinctive qualities of the medium to more effectively communicate a message. New Balance, for example, engaged in an advertising campaign specialized for listeners of the sports audio format through podcasts. In the end, the campaign achieved its goals and attained a 342% return on advertising spend.

“This comes back to the whole state of audio: reach; frequency; plus precision,” Suchman said. “When New Balance and their agency wanted to boost awareness and track sales on their basketball sneakers, our sports podcasts reached those younger basketball fans who wanted that performance and they wanted to be very trendy as well.”

Audacy outlines various key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine if the objectives are being reached, some of which include brand awareness, web visitation and app downloads. Through a wide array of measurement tools, the company looks to guide advertisers into allocating funds into audio-based programming with the mission of generating compelling content and an affinity with each individual listener.

“People are coming to audio because they can have long-form, real, deep personal conversations with their listeners,” Suchman said. “So when you have a distribution strategy that allows a Gen Z consumer to get that audio content wherever they are; however they are; whenever, then you have the people they love, trust and listen [to]. It’s an absolute winning combination there.”

Newsmax Debuting Show to Rival Fox News’ The Five

BNM Staff
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Newsmax Debuting Show to Rival Fox News’ The Five

Newsmax is preparing to debut a new television show that will rival the wildly popular program The Five on Fox News.

Radio host Chris Plante, Newsmax host Jean Pellegrino, and three yet-to-be-announced hosts will anchor the program that will attempt to compete against the Fox News show.

Newsmax has seen a recent surge in the ratings after Fox News fired Tucker Carlson last week. However, The Daily Beast had reported Newsmax’s interest in creating a program similar to The Five in conjunction with Carlson’s exit.

“Newsmax is testing a number of shows, as we regularly do, and it would be a mistake to claim we are officially making any program changes at this time,” a Newsmax spokesperson said about the report at the time.

The Five is hosted by Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters, Dana Perino, and Jeanine Pirro. It is routinely one of the highest-rated shows on Fox News, and has often been the top-performing program on the network.

A report from Mediaite claims Newsmax will debut the program on Monday, May 8th.

Daniel Jeremiah: ‘Chargers Will Never Tell Me Who They Are Drafting’

BSM Staff
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Daniel Jeremiah just finished up his 11th year working the NFL Draft for NFL Network. He had an eventful week whether it was predicting the first round trade between the Arizona Cardinals and Houston Texans or getting peed on while holding a dog on set. If there’s one thing for the audience to know, Jeremiah is talking to everyone to get any information he can for the viewer. 

Jeremiah was a guest on the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast this week and he said that people in other NFL organizations still talk to him about players because he would never give away any information he is given.

“I’ve never ever burned anybody. If anybody has ever told me anything, I would never burn them. I think people don’t understand the savvy that goes along with being a general manager, head coach, coordinator, director of college scouting, or player personnel executive. They are not dumb. These guys are not going to be like we are taking this guy.

“We talk about players all the time. It’s helpful for me because I can bounce things off them and there’s times they will say you need to watch this guy, there’s a lot of people that really like this guy. That’s a good piece of information…We are really just talking about players and talking about football and they are never going to tell me this is the guy we are going to take and I’m never going to put them in a compromising position to give me that information.”

When Jeremiah isn’t on NFL Draft coverage, he works the Los Angeles Chargers games on radio alongside Matt “Money” Smith. Coincidentally, he has never predicted a Chargers 1st Round pick.

“I’m with them half the year and have a good relationship with just about everybody in their building. We talk all the time. It’s not like we avoid football. They would never tell me who they are going to take and I’m not going to ask them.”

Before Jeremiah went to NFL Network, he was a college area scout for the Eagles, a national scout for the Browns, and then a west coast area scout for the Ravens. As for whether or not he would go back to scouting in the future, he said that the work-life balance and being part of a team both at NFL Network and with the Chargers makes it a move he doesn’t see happening.

“I’ve had some opportunities over the years and it wasn’t the right time. The more I’ve done this, I’ve got 2 kids still in high school. I’ve struck a nice balance here. The one thing I missed with the team was being affiliated with a team and that camaraderie you kind of miss amongst the group no matter what level you are at with an organization, there’s something about being a part of that. For the last 5 years, being able to do these Chargers games and travel on the road with them, that’s kind of given me a little bit of that fix that I’ve missed from a team side of things.”

Jesse Watters Calls ABC News ‘Unprofessional’ After RFK Jr. Interview Edited

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ABC News admitted it edited an interview with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., removing his anti-vaccine comments. Fox News host Jesse Watters argued against the decision during his program Tuesday.

Watters claimed “ABC decided the audience wasn’t allowed to hear” Kennedy’s stance on the COVID-19 vaccine, saying the network decided viewers “could only hear one side”.

“That’s not journalism. It’s the anchor’s job to come to the interview prepared. And if RFK says something that she doesn’t think’s backed up by facts, she can challenge him,” argued Watters. “The audience deserves to hear both sides of the argument. And then they can decide what to believe. If a guest makes a misleading claim, you say why the claim is misleading, and then you let the guest respond.

“He’s running for president. Voters have a right to hear what he has to say. But ABC is so lazy and unprepared and unprofessional and so scared of their advertisers that they hacked the interview to death and then slandered the candidate with a cheap disclaimer once he was out the door and couldn’t respond.”

ABC News reporter Linsey Davis sat down with Kennedy after he announced his intention to unseat President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee in the 2024 presidential election.

“We should note that during our conversation, Kennedy made false claims about the COVID-19 vaccines,” Davis said. “We’ve used our editorial judgment in not including extended portions of that exchange in our interview.

“RFK Jr. is one of the biggest voices pushing anti-vaccine rhetoric, regularly distributing misinformation and disinformation about vaccines, which scientific and medical experts overwhelmingly say are safe and effective based on rigorous scientific studies,” Davis said as she introduced the story.

Joel Embiid Credits Inside The NBA For Driving MVP Win

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Tuesday night on Inside the NBA, Charles Barkley announced Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid as the recipient of the 2023 National Basketball Association’s Most Valuable Player Award, and it was a moment long in the making.

Since his debut in 2016, Embiid has been one of the most effective players in the league, but he is not sure he would have reached that point without the candid assessments given to him by Barkley and his colleague Shaquille O’Neal. Embiid won the award with 73 of 100 first place votes, with Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić and Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo receiving the other 27.

“You guys were all on me about, ‘I’ve got to be dominant,’” Embiid said on Inside the NBA. “To this day, I still remember that conversation and that helped a lot and that changed a lot when it came to the way I went about my business, so thank you.”

Embiid had received criticism in December 2019 from Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley, both implicating that Embiid was a “soft” player while facing the Bucks and Antetokounmpo. They expressed their opinions during that night’s halftime show and did not hold back, prompting host Ernie Johnson to define the criticism as “harsh.”

“You’re playing S-O-F-capital T,” O’Neal said at the time. “When you go 1 for 10, it ain’t your coaches fault; it ain’t your teammates fault. It’s your fault, period.”

“The Sixers’ biggest problem is they don’t have a leader,” added Barkley. “When I got to the NBA, I was fat and lazy, and thank goodness I met Moses Malone. I said, ‘Moses, why am I not getting to play?’ He said, ‘Because you’re fat and lazy.’ He made me lose 50 pounds to get in shape.”

A few nights later, Embiid returned to the court and scored 38 points with 13 rebounds and six assists in the 76ers’ 115-109 win over the Celtics. Following the game, Embiid participated in a postgame interview with the Inside the NBA crew and received effusive praise from both O’Neal and Barkley.

“When you’re a great player – and you are a great player – you have to set the tone for your team every single night,” Barkley said. “….I just need you to lead this team every single night. I’m going to stay on you – I know you get mad at me sometimes – but I’m going to stay on you because you’ve got a chance to be the best player in the world.”

Ironically enough, the 76ers are currently battling the Celtics in a playoff series where Embiid missed Game 1 due to a knee sprain. According to senior lead NBA insider for The Athletic and Stadium Shams Charania, Embiid intends to make his return tonight for Game 2 in Boston.

Boomer & Gio: Jets vs Giants Makes Sense For Monday Night Football Opener

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Football fans are eagerly anticipating the official release of the 2023 National Football League schedule, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter recently reported that the league is aiming to make it public on Thursday, May 11. One possibility that has been considered is having the New York Jets face the New York Giants in a Week 1, interconference matchup on ESPN’s Monday Night Football. The game falls on the 22-year mark of the tragic September 11 attacks and would be an enticing draw because of the presumed Jets debut of quarterback Aaron Rodgers. On Wednesday morning, WFAN’s Boomer & Gio morning show spoke about the potential for carrying out this matchup and what it would mean to the city of New York.

“I do know for a fact that the Jets and Giants would be open to playing each other [on] Opening Weekend,” show co-host Boomer Esiason said. “I do know that.”

“How could you not when it’s on 9/11 and it’d be a national TV game,” concurred show co-host Gregg Giannotti.

The Jets and Giants are scheduled to play one another in the third week of the preseason, meaning that a regular season-opening matchup would take place a mere two weeks later. Yet Giannotti does not believe that to be a concern because of the contrast in offensive and defensive schemes, along with personnel. The Giants qualified for the postseason last year for the first time since 2016, while the Jets have not returned since advancing to the AFC Championship game in 2010.

Since both teams have made a wide array of acquisitions this offseason and are expected to contend for a Super Bowl championship, they will likely be more prominent on nationally-televised games throughout the 2023 NFL regular season. In fact, Esiason reported that he knows the Jets will be playing six games on national television, indicative of the maximum a team is allowed per NFL rules and regulations.

“They will get the maximum with Aaron Rodgers, as you would expect especially with all the expectations of them being a really good team and it being New York and everything else,” Giannotti said. “So they’ll get the full complement of the national TV games.”

An opening matchup between the Jets and Giants, while it makes sense to broadcast on Monday Night Football, could slot into the 4:25 window on the preceding day. The question would then pertain to which network would broadcast the games, something that is no longer a given depending on the home team with the forsaking of the cross-flex model.

“There’s going to be a lot more moving around of games and the conference affiliations with CBS and FOX,” Esiason said. “Sundays aren’t going to be nearly what they had been in the past, but the playoffs are going to remain AFC [on] CBS, NFC on FOX, and ESPN. Obviously they’ll move games around to NBC, to ESPN, and stuff like that when we do get to the playoffs.”

Newsmax No Longer Carrying Benny Johnson’s Weekend Show

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Newsmax No Longer Carrying Benny Johnson’s Weekend Show

Conservative political commentator Benny Johnson will no longer see his The Benny Report air on Newsmax.

Johnson, the Chief Creative Officer of Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA, rose to prominence as a writer at BuzzFeed before moving to The Daily Caller and Kirk’s activist organization. He has also previously worked at Breitbart, TheBlaze, and National Review.

According to the network, the move was Johnson’s decision.

“Newsmax is no longer carrying his weekend show as Benny decided he wanted to focus on his social media channels,” a Newsmax spokesperson told CNN’s Oliver Darcy.

The 35-year-old Johnson has more than 1.2 million followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

The Benny Report aired on Newsmax on Saturdays at 9:00 PM ET.

Trump Advisor: ‘CNN Executives Made A Compelling Pitch’ For Town Hall Event

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Earlier this week, CNN announced a town hall event with former President Donald Trump. The 45th President will field questions from New Hampshire Republicans and undecided voters in the televised event moderated by CNN This Morning’s Kaitlan Collins. An advisor to the former President said the event was too good to pass up.

“Going outside the traditional Republican ‘comfort zone’ was a key to President Trump’s success in 2016, a Trump adviser told Vanity Fair. “Some other candidates are too afraid to take this step in their quest to defeat Joe Biden and are afraid to do anything other than Fox News. CNN executives made a compelling pitch.”

CNN claims it has approached “every major presidential candidate and potential candidate about participating” in a town hall event.

“The heart of the pitch is that this has been a central part of our campaign coverage, and it’s something we take really seriously and that we really do quite well,” CNN Political Director David Chalian said.

Chalian admitted that Trump is a “unique candidate” not only because of his status as a former President but also due to his recent civil and criminal legal troubles. However, Chalian added that Trump will still be held to CNN’s “typical standard” for accountability.

“The primary focus of a presidential town hall is to have the candidate interact with the voters, and that’s why we convene these things—because we think it’s so important to the process of voters making their choices,” he concluded.

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