The Wall Street Journal has tabbed Emma Tucker as its new top editor, becoming the first female editor in the history of the storied publication.
Tucker, 56, has served as the editor of The Sunday Times in London. The Times, likeThe Wall Street Journal, is owned by Rupert Murdoch-controlled News Corp. She will step into the role previously held by Matt Murray, who oversaw the digital growth of the brand during his tenure.
Tucker will begin her new role at February 1st, working with Murray during a transitional phase until March 1st.
According to a report from The New York Times, Murray and News Corp. executives clashed at times over the editorial direction of the outlet. In the report, Murray’s skepticism of the Hunter Biden laptop story was a sticking point of the two parties, which News Corp outlet The New York Post reported on heavily. Murdoch also reportedly raised concerns about the Journal’s objectivity after coverage of the murder of George Floyd.
“She will take over at a time of unprecedented volatility in the world on virtually every front — a time for The Journal to continue to double down on our core and on our unique role in society: delivering in-depth, insightful coverage of the business world and beyond,” The Wall Street Journal Publisher Almar Latour told employees in a memo announcing the move.
Before the NFL season began, it was a forgone conclusion that NFL Sunday Ticket would be making its home on Apple TV+ at the beginning of the 2023 season. That, however, is far from a sure thing.
Sunday Ticket has been an exclusive product for DirecTV since its debut in 1994. While there is no firm update on what the future holds, Mike Florio reports that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell did address the negotiations on Wednesday.
“I would say it’s in a very critical point for us,” he said at a press conference on Wednesday. “We’ve had a lot of interest in this, and we continue to.”
If the package is going to have a new home in the 2023 season, many would assume that a deal is either done or at least close to it. Goodell did not give any specific updates. He simply said that the NFL isn’t in any particular hurry.
“Our decisions are not based on timelines. They’re based on it being the best outcome with the best party.”
Last month, The Athletic’s David Kaplan reported that negotiations with Apple had “gotten silly” as the tech giant learns more and more restrictions that would be placed on the product.
In addition to Apple, Amazon and ESPN+ have both been connected to Sunday Ticket in the past.
Cumulus Podcast Network has added The Shawn Ryan Show, hosted by retired U.S. Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan to it’s expanding podcast portfolio.
Ryan’s YouTube channel has more than 950,000 subscribers with several shows garnering more than 1 million views.
“With long-form interviews, The Shawn Ryan Show documents the realities our soldiers face when they return home from war, uncovering inconvenient truths the mainstream media often ignores,” a Cumulus spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday. “Ryan also talks with experts about a wide variety of related topics, spanning from business to society and culture.”
Ryan produces the show twice every month, with new episodes airing on the first and third Monday of each month.
Mike Francesa and Chis “Mad Dog” Russo have been in the news for a multitude of reasons this week, which caught the ire of WFAN morning host Gregg Giannotti Thursday.
Wednesday, a clip of Russo discussing the sex life of recently-divorced Tom Brady with Howard Stern went viral on social media, saying “Is Tom Brady a good looking guy, and is he the greatest quarterback of all time?” and answering yes, Russo said “you mean to tell me that Tom Brady is going sexless in the last 18, 19 weeks? I would find that hard to believe.”
Earlier this week, Francesa confirmed rumors that he had been in discussions with ESPN’s First Take to surprise Russo during a live show, after a report from Andrew Marchand claimed Francesa was a possible regular debate partner for Mad Dog on the show.
“Somebody needs to knock on his door and say ‘Nobody cares anymore. Nobody’,” Giannotti said.
“Those two are really something,” update anchor Jerry Recco added.
Giannotti’s comments came after the Boomer & Gio crew discussed Francesa’s admission about the First Take rumors, after Francesa said “I don’t know how it got out. It didn’t get out from me,” incorrectly asserting that it “got out” because Francesa had discussed it on an earlier podcast.
In reality, Francesa had discussed doing an alternate broadcast of a game broadcast with Russo. The report from Andrew Marchand of The New York Post about Francesa potentially joining First Take was an entirely different story.
CNN anchor Ana Cabrera has confirmed her departure from CNN.
It was rumored earlier this month that the CNN Newsroom anchor would depart the network. Her exit is not related to CNN’s mass layoffs.
In a statement, Cabrera expressed her admiration for those at the network, but said in a statement it was “time to embrace new challenges and opportunities”.
“My heart is full of gratitude for the incredible opportunities I’ve had at CNN to serve our viewers and to work alongside extraordinary journalists. CNN has been like a family. I love my colleagues and believe in the mission of the organization.
Cabrera has been with CNN for nearly a decade, and said she will take some time before her next move.
“I’m firmly committed to my work as a journalist in the next stage of my career. But for now, I look forward to hitting pause and spending some extra time with my family.”
A report from Variety claims its expect she’ll join NBC News, adding the 11:00 AM hour on MSNBC has been without a permanent anchor since Craig Melvin began focusing on Today.
SiriusXM host Megyn Kelly has decried the use of “conservative” as a smear tactic used by media members, after The Washington Post called Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss “conservative journalists” after their roles in releasing the “Twitter Files”.
During her show Wednesday, Kelly claimed he isn’t a conservative or a Republican, and lamented that he continues to be labeled with those monikers.
“These are not conservatives. I know a lot of conservatives, these are not two of them,” Kelly said. “They do this to me too. Every article that quotes me or has a segment of mine — ‘Conservative podcaster, Megyn Kelly,’ I’m not a conservative, I’m not even a Republican. I don’t know what I am. I’m not political. I’m independent and I have strong viewpoints on various things, but they don’t all run conservative.”
Kelly continued by noting The New York Times called her a conservative in a story on her opinions of the Paul Pelosi attack.
“You can see my voting records for the past 20 years. I’m a registered Independent, I have been for two decades. Do your homework.’ It’s a way of smearing you. And I don’t consider it a negative, I just don’t consider it true.”
Barstool Sports has been fined “not less than $250,000” by the Ohio Casino Control Commission after violations of state law during an appearance at the University of Toledo.
According to a report from the Toledo Blade, Barstool was given notice of the violation after the OCCC claimed it was in violation of two statutes: targeting or advertising gambling to those under the age of 21, and avertising on or near a college campus.
The company hosted its Barstool Tailgate Show on Tuesday, November 15th ahead of the University of Toledo’s game against Bowling Green.
OCCC spokesperson Jessica Franks told the Blade Barstool was “encouraging folks to preregister; they were advertising the Sportsbook”.
Sports betting is not legal in the state of Ohio until January 1st.
A spokesperson for Penn Entertainment — Barstool’s parent company — said it looks “forward to the opportunity to address this directly with the Ohio Casino Control Commission through its regulatory process”.
Franks added that while the Commission takes gambling in Ohio seriously, it simply looks for “egregious violations”.
“We do take responsible gambling very serious here at the commission, especially the fact that sports gaming hasn’t even officially launched,” Franks said. “We do take this very seriously, (but) we do not actively seek out to fine or sanction companies.”
Penn Entertainment has 30 days to take action, which could include requesting a hearing or seeking a settlement.
We’ve made it to day 4 of BNM’s Top 20 of 2022 series presented by Steve Stone Voiceovers. If you’re checking in here for the first time and missed this week’s prior announcements, check out who made our lists among the News/Talk radio format’s top National Shows,Major and Mid Market Morning Shows, and Major and Mid Market midday shows. The results are collectively determined by 44 radio industry programmers and executives from 15 companies in 36 cities. Their participation is greatly appreciated.
After today, we will still have three days left to go. Still to be presented are the format’s top program directors, radio stations, and original digital shows. We were going to keep it simple and just say ‘Digital Shows’ but we wanted to make sure it’s understood that the programs listed in the category were built specifically for digital, not radio programs that get turned into repurposed digital content.
As a format, News/Talk radio programming is available on over two thousand stations. The only larger format is country. We try our best to make sure the top shows, hosts, programmers and brands are listed for voting consideration but also allow room for our voters to add nominees if for some reason someone isn’t listed on our document. Additionally, though we triple check everything before publishing our lists and hope to present the perfect layout, sometimes things slip through the cracks. If you notice an error, please let us know. We want to shine the light on the format’s best brands and shows in a way that makes them feel proud to be recognized, not frustrated by an incorrect detail.
As you review these results, please keep in mind that they represent the collective opinions of forty four industry programmers and executives. If your show didn’t make the list, it doesn’t mean you’re no good, not successful or critically important to your employer. In other words, don’t beat yourself up over it. Though it’s cool to be recognized, there are way more good shows out there than there are slots.
If you wish to stay informed on each day’s results, it’d help us out if you’d give us a follow on Twitter at @BNMStaff, visit us on Facebook at Barrett News Media or sign up for our daily newsletter, ‘The Rundown‘ by clicking here. You can also bookmark this website to stay updated on future news/media industry content. Your support is greatly appreciated.
As it pertains to the voting, here are a few key things to be aware of.
#1 – Our voters were asked to pick their Top 20 selections for each category in exact order based on a few key factors; quality of show (ear test), originality, ability to entertain-inform-connect across multiple platforms, ratings success, clearance (national shows) and industry buzz. Remember, our voters live in different cities, have different tastes, work for different groups, and value certain factors higher than others. This isn’t a perfect system but it’s the best one we’ve been able to create to showcase the industry’s best. Having done this for seven years for the sports talk format, we’re going to stick with it until another approach makes more sense.
#2 – Our executive panel consists of program directors and corporate executives from a number of top broadcasting companies including Audacy, iHeart, Cumulus, Beasley, Hubbard, Good Karma Brands, Cox Media Group, Radio One, Alpha, Bonneville, FOX News Radio, Hearst, Federated Media, Zimmer Communications, and Westwood One. We involve a large number of people in order to receive feedback from all parts of the country, and to avoid the results heavily favoring one company.
#3 – A total of 35 shows in the Major Market N/T Afternoon Shows category appeared on ballots turned in by our executive panel.
Which brings us to today’s category – Major Market News/Talk Afternoon Shows. For the third time in three days, KFI in Los Angeles reigned supreme. This time, the station’s afternoon show John and Ken earned the top spot recognition. BNM congratulates John, Ken, Robin Bertolucci and the entire KFI team on being voted #1, and every other show which earned a spot on this year’s list.
Now, here are the full results of “BNM’s Top 20 Major Market News/Talk Afternoon Shows of 2022!”
Additional Notes:
John and Ken cruised to a 78 point victory in the afternoon category. The KFI drive time tandem were also the recipient of the most first place votes among all shows with nine (9).
Coming in 21-25 were Michelle Durham & Jay Scott Smith, Slater & Lou, The PM Rush, Russell & Hunter, and Michael Wallace & Steve Scott.
The closest contests saw Vince Coglianese finish 3 points in front of Charles Feldman, and Carl Demaio finish 1 point ahead of Leo Terrell.
Of the 35 shows to receive votes, seven (7) received at least one 1st place vote.
Here is the remaining schedule for the BNM Top 20 of 2022.
Thursday December 15 = The Top 20 Major/Mid Market N/T Radio Afternoon Shows of 2022
Friday December 16 = The Top 20 Major/Mid Market N/T Radio Program Directors of 2022
Monday December 19 = The Top 20 Major/Mid Market N/T Radio Stations of 2022
Tuesday December 20 = The Top 20 Original N/T Digital Shows of 2022
A reminder, BNM will have a big announcement following the Top 20 series on Wednesday December 21st. Make sure to visit the website that day to learn what else we’re up to.
We’ve made it to day 4 of BNM’s Top 20 of 2022 series presented by Steve Stone Voiceovers. If this is the first time browsing our website and you missed this week’s prior announcements, be sure to check out who made our lists among News/Talk radio’s top National Shows,Major and Mid Market Morning Shows, and Major and Mid Market midday shows. The results are collectively determined by 44 radio industry programmers and executives from 15 companies in 36 cities. Their participation in this process is greatly appreciated.
After today, we will still have three days left to go. Left to be presented are the format’s top program directors, radio stations, and original digital shows. We were going to keep the last category simple and call it ‘Digital Shows’ but we want to make sure it’s understood that the programs listed in the category are specifically created for podcast/video/OTT, not repurposed radio programs, so that’s why the word ‘original’ is added to the category title.
As a format, News/Talk radio programming is available on over two thousand stations. The only larger format is country. We try our best to make sure the top shows, hosts, programmers and brands are listed for voting consideration but also allow room for our voters to add nominees if for some reason someone isn’t listed on our document. Additionally, though we triple check everything before publishing our lists and hope to present the perfect layout, sometimes things slip through the cracks. If you notice an error, please let us know. We want to shine the light on the format’s best brands and shows in a way that makes them feel proud to be recognized, not frustrated by an incorrect detail.
As you review these results, please keep in mind that they represent the collective opinions of our industry panel. If a show didn’t make the list, it doesn’t mean it isn’t good, successful or critically important to its employer. In other words, don’t lose sleep over it. It’s cool to be recognized but there are way more good shows out there than there are slots available.
If you wish to stay informed on each day’s results, it’d help us out if you’d give us a follow on Twitter at @BNMStaff, like us on Facebook at Barrett News Media or sign up for our daily newsletter, ‘The Rundown‘ by clicking here. You can also bookmark this website to stay updated on future news/media industry content.
As it pertains to the voting, here are a few key things to be aware of.
#1 – Our voters were asked to pick their Top 20 selections for each category in exact order based on a few key factors; quality of show (ear test), originality, ability to entertain-inform-connect across multiple platforms, ratings success, clearance (national shows) and industry buzz. Remember, our voters live in different cities, have different tastes, work for different groups, and value certain factors higher than others. This isn’t a perfect system but it’s the best one we’ve been able to create to showcase the industry’s best. Having done this for seven years for the sports talk format, we’re going to stick with it until another approach makes more sense.
#2 – Our executive panel consists of program directors and corporate executives from a number of top broadcasting companies including Audacy, iHeart, Cumulus, Beasley, Hubbard, Good Karma Brands, Cox Media Group, Radio One, Alpha, Bonneville, FOX News Radio, Hearst, Federated Media, Zimmer Communications, and Westwood One. We involve a large number of people in order to receive feedback from all parts of the country, and to avoid the results heavily favoring one company.
#3 – A total of 52 shows in the Mid Market N/T Afternoon Shows category appeared on ballots turned in by our executive panel.
Which brings us to today’s category – Mid Market News/Talk Afternoon Shows. For the first time this week, WLW in Cincinnati did not grab the top spot in a mid market category. That’s because our voting panel placed their support behind WIBC’s Hammer and Nigel. The Indianapolis duo won a tight race against Charlotte’s Brent Winterble to secure the top spot. BNM congratulates Jason Hammer, Nigel Laskowski, David Wood and the entire WIBC team on being voted #1, as well as every other show which earned a spot on this year’s list.
Now, here are the full results of “BNM’s Top 20 Mid Market News/Talk Afternoon Shows of 2022!”
Additional Notes:
Hammer & Nigel won this category by 11 points over Brett Winterble. The Indianapolis drive time show and Winterble’s Charlotte program were tied for the most first place votes among all shows with four (4).
Coming in 21-25 were Jack Riccardi, Afternoon News with Jeff Caplan, Terry Meiners, Mark Blazor, and Bob Lonsberry.
The closest contest was for spots 2-4. Brett Winterble finished 2 points ahead of Jeff Katz, who was 2 points in front of Dana and Parks. Rod Arquette also held on to 20th place over Jack Riccardi by 2 points.
Of the 52 shows to receive votes, eleven (11) received at least one 1st place vote.
Here is the remaining schedule for the BNM Top 20 of 2022.
Friday December 16 = The Top 20 Major/Mid Market N/T Radio Program Directors of 2022
Monday December 19 = The Top 20 Major/Mid Market N/T Radio Stations of 2022
Tuesday December 20 = The Top 20 Original N/T Digital Shows of 2022
A reminder, BNM will have a big announcement following the Top 20 series on Wednesday December 21st. Make sure to visit the website that day to learn what else we’re up to.
WFMD Radio in Frederick raised $145,126 during its annual fundraiser Christmas Cash for Kids. Working in conjunction with the Salvation Army of Frederick, MD, the program has helped to raise more $2.5 million in 22 years.
“Every year we are amazed by the outpouring of generosity of the people who make it a point to be a blessing to the families of Frederick in need,” said WFMD host Bob Miller. “We have been blessed by people who take time from their busy lives to pull it all together.”
Christmas Cash for Kids has been a holiday tradition in Frederick County. It has evolved into the largest single provider of children’s toys, and clothing for those who would otherwise not have a Christmas
In 2000, Christmas Cash for Kids moved from the Z-104 WWVZ to 930 WFMD. Without Christmas Cash for Kids, hundreds of parents in Frederick County would not be able to provide a Christmas for their children
“Connoisseur Media is proud to continue this long-standing tradition in partnership with the Salvation Army, our staff, partners, volunteers, and sponsors,” WFMD General Manager Mike Banks said. “Of course, none of this would be possible without the generous support of our donors in Frederick and the surrounding counties. Christmas Cash for Kids has become a passion project for us all.”
