Mark McCray is returning to his old stomping grounds.
The longtime Program Director and host is returning to West Palm Beach as to head up Fox Sports 640 WMEN for Hubbard Radio. He’ll also program R&B station X102.3.
“It’s an honor to have the opportunity to help lead Hubbard’s great brands like WMEN and WMBX for a second time,” McCray said in a statement. “West Palm Beach has always been a special market for me and have some of the best listeners anywhere! Thank you to Elizabeth Hamma, Bruce Logan, Greg Strassell, Dave Bestler, and Ginny Morris for asking me to join their already stellar team.”
McCray most recently worked as the President of Programming and Operations for Clear Media Network in Dallas, a venture he co-founded with Gary Spurgeon. He’s also worked at stations in Dallas, Austin, and Chicago among others.
Having Mark come back to the station he launched 20 years ago is a very special homecoming,” said Elizabeth Hamma, Senior Vice President and Market Manager of Hubbard’s West Palm Beach cluster. “WMBX is a legendary brand in South Florida with a long record of success and community service including being nominated by the NAB for a prestigious Marconi Award.”
Mark McCray Returns to FOX Sports 640
LIV Golf Final Round Streaming Numbers Take Big Drop
The LIV Golf Tour had plenty of discussion surrounding it going into this week’s event at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Whether it’s discussion about which golf commentators were coming or potentially coming or it was the protests by 9/11 families, attention was paid to the event. But according to the YouTube streaming numbers, the event was down compared to the last LIV event in Portland.
Twitter account @Robopz paid attention to the third (final) round and saw a drastic decrease in the streamed numbers. The event in Bedminster saw a total decline of 19.7% from the event in Portland and a drop of 12.2% in the final 3+ hour window, supposedly when the most interest would be paid.
It’s not the best news for the tour but it is hard to tell since this event was so openly criticized because of its funding and the location of this event. The next LIV Golf Tour event is in September.
Beasley Broadcast Group Sees 8.8% Revenue Increase in 2nd Quarter
Beasley Broadcast Group revealed an 8.8% revenue increase for the 2nd quarter of the year, compared to 2021 numbers.
The company also explained a $5.4 million operating loss and a net loss of $14.5 million.
“The operating loss in the second quarter of 2022 primarily reflects an $8.6 million non-cash impairment loss due to an increase in the discount rate used in the analyses to estimate the fair value of FCC licenses and goodwill in a rising interest rate environment. For the comparable three months ended June 30, 2021, the company recorded $1.5 million of other operating income, net from life insurance proceeds related to the death of George Beasley, the company’s former chairman. As a result of these factors, Beasley reported a net loss of $14.5 million, or a negative $0.48 per diluted share, in the three months ended June 30, 2022, compared to net income of $0.2 million, or $0.01 per diluted share, in the three months ended June 30, 2021.”
“Beasley delivered another period of strong top-line results in the second quarter, reflecting solid year-over-year growth across all of our revenue sources,” said CEO Caroline Beasley. “Net revenue increased 8.8%, inclusive of a 4.3% rise in audio revenue and a 34.3% rise in digital revenue, with digital accounting for 16.5% of second-quarter net revenue.
“Digital remains a central component of our revenue diversification strategy, and the momentum we are seeing in our digital business is further underpinned by our ability to grow digital revenue 37% on a quarterly sequential basis, while also improving our digital margin. Our new business performance was robust this quarter, as we recorded $7.8 million in new in new business revenue was a 60% increase from the first quarter of the year and a 16% growth year-to-year.
Beasley also has acquired what they call a “white-label digital agency” that will see an influx of cashflow in the next revenue numbers.
“Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on controlling what we can control, maximizing our growth opportunities, managing our expenses and capital structure, serving our audiences and advertisers, and delivering results for our stockholders,” Caroline Beasley said.
Keith Brake Departs Bison 1660
Bison 1660 Assistant Program Director and afternoon host Keith Brake has left the station.
The host of “The Brakedown” had also served as the play-by-play announcer for the North Dakota State University’s women’s basketball program.
After originally tweeting his final day would be August 12th, Brake announced Friday would be his final day with the station.
Brake’s departure comes on the heels of Jeff Culhane also departing Bison 1660 to become the voice of the Florida State Seminoles. Culhane was the Program Director of the station, as well as the football and men’s basketball play-by-play voice.