The war of words between Mark Levin and Tucker Carlson is continuing, and even advancing a level after Levin has elevated the feud.
The two have traded barbs over Levin’s comments that using the phrase “neocon” is a thinly veiled way to criticize Jewish people. Carlson balked at the argument, calling Levin’s statements “peak crazy.”
Later, Carlson argued that Mark Levin made an appearance at the White House because he was “lobbying for war with Iran,” adding that the longtime radio host was “hyperventilating about weapons of mass destruction.”
“The one thing that people like Mark Levin don’t want is a peaceful solution to the problem of Iran, despite the obvious benefits to the United States,” Carlson wrote on X. “They denounce anyone who advocates for a deal as a traitor and a bigot. They tell us with a straight face that Long Island native Steve Witkoff is a secret tool of Islamic monarchies. They’ll say or do whatever it takes. They have no limits. These are scary people. Pray that Donald Trump ignores them.”
Mark Levin was at the White House today, lobbying for war with Iran. To be clear, Levin has no plans to fight in this or any other war. He’s demanding that American troops do it. We need to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons, he and likeminded ideologues in Washington are…
Levin did not take kindly to those remarks from Carlson and shared his thoughts on social media on Thursday.
“Carlson has become a loathsome ass who is increasingly unhinged and pathetic,” wrote Levin. “Our nation’s enemies love him, as do certain vile and weird conspiracy theorists he promotes. I will address him, again, and his barely literate and utterly incoherent social media ramblings on radio tonight. But the good news is, the more he talks and writes, the less relevant and more poisonous he becomes.”
To begin The Mark Levin Show Thursday evening, the nationally syndicated radio host continued his critique by calling Tucker Carlson a “lunatic,” adding that “he is a false prophet, and I mean p-r-o-f-i-t.”
In a nearly 15-minute monologue bashing Tucker Carlson, Mark Leivn used words like “moron” and “paranoid” to describe the former cable news host.
Carlson has yet to respond publicly to the criticism from Levin.
Levin added that he knows who leaked his appearance at the White House to Carlson and “that person will be confronted by” the radio host, who said he “won’t forget it.”
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Morning programming on ESPN will be moving from the South Street Seaport Studios to the new headquarters for The Walt Disney Company this month. The Get Up morning show featuring Mike Greenberg and a rotating cast of commentators is going to begin airing from 7 Hudson Square on Monday, June 9. In addition to Greenberg, several analysts will be in the studio for the premiere episode from the new studios, such as Jay Williams, Dan Orlovsky, Damien Woody, Peter Schrager, Marcus Morris and Markieff Morris.
Two weeks later on Monday, June 23, UnSportsmanLike with Evan Cohen, Chris Canty and Michelle Smalllmon will be on the move along with First Take featuring Stephen A. Smith and Molly Qerim.
Disney employees first began utilizing the new facilities in Fall 2024, and it is the home of several shows within other areas of the company. The headquarters house programs such as LIVE with Kelly and Mark, The View, the Tamron Hall Show and ABC News among others. The aforementioned ESPN morning television shows have broadcast from the Seaport facility since the spring of 2018 and will end their seven-year stretches from the location overlooking the East River and Brooklyn Bridge Park.
“We are ready for Get Up, First Take and UnSportsmanLike to enter their 7 Hudson Square era,” Burke Magnus, president of content at ESPN, said in a statement. “The space has the energy to match the bold conversations and big personalities our fans love.”
The new facilities include cutting-edge technology and production capabilities that enable dynamic live programming and foster synergy across The Walt Disney Company as a whole. This new location also moves the New York-based ESPN television studios closer to the offices for Good Karma Brands and studio location for ESPN New York. Both facilities are located near the entrance to the Holland Tunnel and accessible by subway transportation.
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NBA Commissioner Adam Silver hosted his annual press conference ahead of the NBA Finals on Thursday night, as the league looked ahead to the matchup between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder. Since the matchup was announced, sports media have repeatedly brought up concerns about the potential lack of viewership, given that this year’s Finals feature two teams from some of the smallest markets in the league.
In response to this growing narrative, Silver was asked what he thought about the amount of discussion surrounding the NBA Finals ratings this summer.
“I like the fact that people are talking about us. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. It seems a little unusual how much discussion there is around ratings in this league,” said Silver. “It seems like there’s a lot more chatter. For me, it’s just, sort of just walking down the street and fans coming up to me, often, and it frustrated me that the first thing they say is, ‘How are the ratings?’ or ‘What are the ratings going to be?’ as opposed to, ‘Wow, you just had two incredible Conference Finals, what a great playoff series you’ve had.’”
Nonetheless, entering the NBA Finals, playoff viewership ratings were up 3% overall from last year. Specifically, Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Pacers and Knicks—TNT’s final NBA broadcast of the season—drew 8.12 million viewers on Saturday night. That figure made Game 6 the most-watched game of the 2025 NBA Playoffs so far.
Silver reflected further on the league’s mindset regarding public scrutiny.
“It’s part of the culture of the NBA that we’re self-critical,” said Silver. “It’s part of the culture around the league to be looking at what’s bad as opposed to what’s good. I think it seeps into our coverage, quite honestly, sometimes.”
Looking ahead, with the NBA Finals airing on ABC this year, there has been ongoing debate about whether the ratings truly matter. After all, the league is set to embark on its new 11-year media rights deals with The Walt Disney Company (ESPN/ABC), Comcast Corporation (NBC/Peacock), and Amazon (Prime Video), reportedly worth a collective $77 billion beginning next season.
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SiriusXM has parted ways with hosts Michelle Beadle and Cody Decker following the streaming platform’s announcement that Stephen A. Smith is returning to host two shows beginning in September. The Stephen A. Smith Show is set to begin airing on Mad Dog Radio in September, in conjunction with the beginning of the NFL regular season. As a result, the future of Beadle & Decker was left in limbo.
Subsequently, SiriusXM found its resolution after two days of backlash from Beadle and Decker and ultimately released both talents.
“We’d like to thank the callers who made the last couple of days an absolute blast,” tweeted Beadle. “Truly, you don’t usually get such love on your way out. Security usually walks ya to the door. You guys rule. Six hours of how you felt. And you all were heard!”
The release, first reported by The Athletic, came just two days after Beadle and Decker reacted in real time on their show to the news of Smith’s return to the station—news that also included him taking over their time slot. Additionally, Stephen A. Smith stated he had no knowledge that SiriusXM had not informed the duo of the plans for his arrival. Chris “Mad Dog” Russo echoed that sentiment, criticizing his own employer for failing to notify them.
“Well s**t, that was my favorite show,” tweeted Decker following the news of his dismissal becoming public Thursday night.
Michelle Beadle and Cody Decker, who had been hosting a midday show on the channel since August 2023, were reportedly told not to discuss the situation. Nevertheless, they broached the topic on the latest editions of their radio program over the last two days. Beadle, a seasoned broadcaster with more than two decades in the industry, expressed profound disappointment regarding how everything unfolded.
“All I ask is to be treated with respect,” Beadle said. “Well, how many times do I say, ‘I give what I get, I get what I give,’ and so here we are. We’re going to do our shows because we’re contractually obligated to be here.”
Later that evening, she spoke with Front Office Sports about how the announcement was handled and reiterated her personal distaste for Stephen A. Smith, which, she explained, stems from their time working together at ESPN.
To date, SiriusXM has not provided additional comment following the dismissal of Beadle and Decker.
And we’d like to thank the callers who made the last couple of days an absolute blast!! Truly. You don’t usually get such love on your way out. Security usually walks ya to the door 😌. You guys rule. 6 hours of how you felt. And you all were heard! 🧡🧡 Drinks on me…@Decker6https://t.co/pilw4Um5NM
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“It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business,” said Michael Corleone as he came up with a plan to kill the rival mob boss and corrupt police chief in an iconic scene from The Godfather. That phrase has been used throughout time when tough decisions are made all in the name of doing business. It’s been used by corporations, managers, and WWE wrestlers hailing themselves as the “Second City Saint.” This week, ‘Sonny’ was Michelle Beadle, and business was done by SiriusXM.
On Wednesday, the satellite radio company announced that they had come to a multi-year agreement with ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith, where he would be making his return to the platform this September. Smith would be hosting a daily program on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Radio from 1 p.m.–3 p.m., and a weekly show based on “current events, pop culture and commentary” to be announced at a later date.
Beadle and her co-host Cody Decker were not aware their show or daypart was being taken over this fall before the news was released. Nor should they. Why? Because “It’s not personal. It’s strictly business.”
It was only hours after the announcement by SiriusXM that Beadle and Decker took to the airwaves and acted exactly how you would expect any normal human being to act who is losing their job without being notified by management.
“All I ask is to be treated with respect.”
“Embarrassing.”
“This didn’t feel good.”
SiriusXM’s Michelle Beadle and Cody Decker react to the news that Stephen A. Smith is taking over their timeslot. pic.twitter.com/U601dyBpsN
“This didn’t feel good, I’m not going to lie,” said Beadle.
“All I ask is to be treated with respect,” noted Beadle.
Beadle explained, as Beadle & Decker took the airwaves on Wednesday afternoon, that they were not supposed to discuss the fact their show would be leaving the timeslot they currently occupy. But The Hollywood Reporter thought differently.
In fact, every media outlet (including Barrett Media) had the news before 9 a.m. Eastern Time because Stephen A. Smith announced it on The Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM.
Did SiriusXM handle this with poor taste? Many in sports media believe this notion. How dare they not inform the outgoing show of their successor before the news is released!
Business Always Comes First
This isn’t the first time this has happened.
In 2014, Chicago sports radio station 87.7 The Game hosts Ben Finfer, Alex Quigley, and Julie DiCaro were on the air when Chicago media insider Robert Feder broke the news during their show that the radio station would be folding in a month. Quigley, in fact, knew of the news before Feder broke it and was put in an awful position of explaining that he was told not to tell his fellow co-hosts the news.
“Isn’t there anyone here who has respect for employees?” said Finfer.
“What kind of operation is this?” questioned Finfer.
“What are we doing here? That’s crap,” noted Finfer.
There are several instances you could point to where people are not notified they are being let go, only to find out from outside sources and not the people “doing business.”
Is it harsh? Cruel? Unprofessional?
It shouldn’t and doesn’t matter for SiriusXM, because they’re just doing business.
— Mad Dog Sports Radio (@MadDogRadio) June 4, 2025
Anyone that has worked in sports media at any point in time understands that their next day is never a guarantee. As reach expands with more demand, traditional media companies are finding it harder to rake in more advertising dollars because there are so many untraditional media outlets launching to grab their share.
I was told for my entire career that you haven’t worked in sports media until you get laid off. My first experience was in November after 21 years in the industry. Michelle Beadle has been laid off several times with ESPN and NBC. Cody Decker was a part of seven Major League Baseball teams during his career.
Employers don’t let their outgoing employees know the plans of how they’ll be replaced. Never has happened, and it never will.
What happens to you in business is not what matters—how you react does matter.
Speaking with Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports, Beadle turned becoming the victim of business by SiriusXM into a personal beef with her successor. Stephen A. Smith and Michelle Beadle are not friends, although they were colleagues at ESPN together at several points throughout their careers.
Beadle has held a grudge with Smith going back to his comments on domestic violence during an episode of First Take in 2014 when the Ray Rice video became public. Smith apologized for his remarks and served a one-week suspension. Beadle hasn’t gotten past his comments and has held a grudge with him over it for over a decade.
Stephen A. Smith is now her successor, and Beadle is bashing business by her employer, saying, “It’s a reminder: We’re just all pieces of s**t to someone. If you forgot, there it is.”
If how you react is worth your personal currency, Beadle’s comments show she’s dead broke.
There Is Always Another Place Looking For Talent
Don’t get it twisted—I have empathy for anyone in any line of work who unfortunately loses their job. The world is a rough place to find work; I’ve come to know that personally over the past seven months. When you work in sports media, you are a public figure whose content is consumed in real time for the world to see and react to. What happened to Michelle Beadle and Cody Decker is nothing new that the industry hasn’t done time and time again and will continue to do moving forward.
An employer’s job is to hire the correct people that they feel will advance the company to new levels of success. Sports media is cutthroat for a reason—because the race to stay relevant and earn revenue demands it be so. Every day where any company is not looking at its bottom line and how it can be more consumed, profitable, and important is a lost day.
Business plans have never meant to be public knowledge. Your employer is not your friend, parent, or significant other. It’s a job, simply put. Why?
Because…
“It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s just business.”
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Last month, WrestleMania and WWE fans invaded Las Vegas. A city that is known for its glitz and glamour. Where LED billboards assault your senses, advertising everything from AC/DC at Allegiant Stadium to Barry Manilow at Westgate and 3/2 single deck blackjack at the Palms.
And yet, the WWE managed to cut through all that noise. It did so with a mighty assist from every hotel and resort that wanted a piece of the action. And of course, a taste of the money brought to town by 124,693 fans that attended and the others that just came to be close to the action.
Driving down the strip, walking Fremont or driving through Summerlin, it was impossible to miss that the WWE was in town.
Radio could learn a lesson from WrestleMania.
Launching a new radio station or a new morning show means cutting through the noise. You cannot succeed by simply borrowing the famous line from “Field of Dreams,” “If you build it, they will come.”
They won’t. Launching any product requires building awareness, creating interest and creating FOMO.
When I launched Jeny 107.3 in Cleveland, I was especially proud of the rollout and awareness campaign we put together leading up to the format flip.
First, we had billboards all over the city that simply stated “#WHOISJENY?” It didn’t take long for the TV stations, other news outlets, and entertainment publications to bite and start the speculation.
Graphic Jeff Lynn Archives
It ranged from a wife seeking revenge on a cheating husband. To the name of a prostitute that a well-known local person had recently been caught with.
After fanning the flames with the billboard, we took it to phase two.
Campaign-type signs that you stick into the ground started going up at every on and off-ramp in the city. And at high-traffic surface streets and around downtown.
We purchased sidewalk chalk and stencils, and #WHOISJENY started appearing on sidewalks downtown and the flats. And even on the sidewalks in front of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Bumper sticker-type stickers we plastered on traffic light poles, in the bathrooms at popular restaurants and clubs. Even inside the Cleveland Guardians’ (then Indians) stadium. Caution: In retrospect, this might have been borderline vandalism, so be careful.) 5×7 sheets were tacked to every grocery store billboard, coffee house community board and in convenience stores.
Don’t forget the social media sites where you can seed the message and drive the curiosity.
It was a lot of work. But we had a staff that was into it and often tried to top one another where they could get the message.
It was a great setup. We waited as long as we felt we could to register the URL, walking the fine line of someone squatting on the jeny domain, and knowing that as soon as it was registered, someone would catch it and the news would get out.
In the end, it did, but by then the campaign had served its purpose.
Jeff Lynn Archives
There is one word of caution. If you are going to create such a build-up, then you have to have the station as close to perfect as possible on day one. After all that buildup, when you get that audience sample, be ready to hook them, because you will likely get only one shot.
Have your imaging perfect and your music rotations very tight so that you are presenting your best songs when they tune in. You can slowly let the playlist breathe over time, but launching with 100-125 songs is a solid strategy.
Don’t listen to the people in your building who are in your ear about hearing Morgan Wallen every 40 minutes. They are NOT your normal consumers. You cannot go wrong launching with a tight tight list.
Here’s the flipside to that. When I worked for Entercom (now Audacy), we put together two people to create a new morning team. They had never worked together, and one was a stand-up comic who had never done radio.
I rolled out a pre-launch campaign that started two weeks before the show launch. I remember the counsel of then Entercom head of programming Pat Paxton, who told me “that show is not going to be great on day one, and you are setting an expectation they won’t live up to. You have to build a foundation before putting a nice fancy roof on it.”
In that case, it makes sense because no matter how much you try, the show will probably have some rough spots on day one and probably day ten.
However, when launching a station, you can strive to make it as close to perfect as possible, and a strong setup will lead them to your door.
So, whether you don’t know the difference between Triple H and Triple A, take a lesson from WrestleMania. Dominate the market with your message.
Let them know you are ready to rumble.
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Eric Wellman is PD of Q104.3, New York’s Classic Rock station and Brand Manager for Classic Rock iHeart. He has been with the station for 25 years. During that time, he has managed to knock out most of his direct competitors.
Basically, the station is “The” stand-alone Classic Rocker, actually, Rocker in general, in the New York/New Jersey area.
His history in the business includes a list of A-players who helped him get to where he is today. The journey began in January of 1988 in college radio with a two-hour block, programming Classic Rock on WDCR AM.
It morphed into PM Drive and Program Director of 99 Rock, WFRD. One of the few commercial college radio stations in America and one of the only ones that was both student-run and extracurricular.
Two years later, in 1991, he was running WBFL, B107, in Bellows Falls, VT. He was PD, PM Drive, Production Director and anything else needed. It was an AOR station whose main claim to fame was that Joe Perry briefly attended high school in the area.
“Steven Tyler’s sister still lived across the river in Charlestown, NH, a fact we learned when she woke him up at 7 a.m. and put him on the air with our morning man,” explains Wellman. “We were also a beta test station for a brand-new technology that would later become known as voice tracking. Utilizing the B.E. Core 2000 audio switcher, 3 NSM 100-disc CD jukeboxes. With a TM Century gold disc library and an Audiovault system with 24 gigs of memory. It held a total of 11 hours of audio!”
“In 1994, I was hired by Bob Buchmann and Jeff Levine to come to WBAB on Long Island as the Program Coordinator. I was elevated to Operations Manager in 1996 when Jeff Levine left. And eventually PD briefly when Bob left to take over WAXQ, Q104.3.”
“He brought me to Q104.3 as APD in early 2000. When he left in 2008, I was made Program Director. I’ve been doing that ever since. A few years later, I added the title of Brand Manager for Classic Rock for iHeartRadio as well.
“It’s hard to think of the greater metropolitan New York area as a community,” admits Wellman, “But we try to walk the line of being both that major market authority and being very, very granular, down to the streets and neighborhoods.”
“With half our audience in New Jersey and Long Island, it’s very important to be as local as we can be. We are your friends who happen to live/work in Manhattan, come hang out at your neighborhood bar and shout out your kid’s graduation.”
“The station that got you through the horrific 9/11 attack, Superstorm Sandy, the massive blackout etc., with trusted information and a friend/therapist. We connect this gigantic network of small towns and neighborhoods and generations of Classic Rock listeners.”
The station has two main passion projects: The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, which supports first responders and veterans in honor of Stephen, who ran through the battery tunnel on 9/11 to help save people in the towers. And God’s Love We Deliver, an organization that brings medically tailored meals to people who are too sick to feed themselves (and their families, too, if needed), all free of charge.
“We do multiple events throughout the year for both, including teams of Q listeners led by our morning co-host Shelli Sonstein, who just completed the tower climb up the World Trade Center,” says Wellman.
“And the Tunnel to Towers walk/run in the fall, which traces the route that Stephen took that day. We have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the foundation.”
“God’s Love We Deliver” is the recipient of our annual Christmas Concert with Trans-Siberian Orchestra, who generously donate from every show they do.”
“We are also a founding partner of the Love Rocks NYC benefit concert, which happens in March at the Beacon Theater with a star-studded lineup that has included everyone from Keith Richards to Joe Walsh. Robert Plant to Dave Grohl and tons more with a house band that is Hall of Fame. That show has raised tens of millions to help God’s Love and their mission.”
“And our annual 104 Grand in the Sand promotion is currently underway. We give listeners a chance to win a ‘golden shovel’ on air to join us on the Jersey Shore and literally dig up one of 104 mini treasure chests.”
“They correspond to amazing prizes like concert tickets, trips to resorts in the Caribbean, Las Vegas and Ozzy’s last show in England, and even a brand new Jeep! As you might guess, it’s over $104,000 worth of prizes.”
“The event itself is a huge party, and it stops traffic on the boardwalk with people who come to watch! It’s been so successful that we’ve spun off a winter version called Dough in the Snow, which we do at the Mountain Creek ski area in February. Cold but fun!”
“Our transmitter is on the Empire State Building,” Wellman admits in awe. “When that stops giving you a tingle, you should quit! It’s a challenge every day in the most competitive market in the country.”
Q104.3 website
“We have to stitch together what is really three different markets. Jersey, the five boroughs and Long Island (plus upstate and SE Connecticut) into one cohesive brand. It’s a lot of ground to cover!”
When I asked Wellman about the challenge of sharing such a large gold library with so many other formats, his answer had me in stitches. “Luckily, we outlasted our market-wide competition,” he says. “There isn’t anyone left that we share more than 25% with.”
“We stay fresh by continuously living in the present moment with our artists while respecting the past. We constantly ask our audience what they want to hear, and then we listen to them! When they get tired of something, you’ll know it. We are always searching for the next artist to add to our repertoire. Who will get pissed off when they find out they’re Classic Rock. (I’m looking at you Linkin Park….)!”
Wellman says he’s also looking for the next generation of great DJs and programmers. “That’s what’s missing from the industry right now. We have squeezed out so many entry-level positions. I don’t know where you would go to learn the ropes now.”
Wellman admits it’s the job he has always wanted, and despite the challenges, it’s still the only one he can imagine doing.
“I’m extremely lucky to have the faith of those I work for. Tom Poleman, Thea Mitchem, Steve DeLusant, Bernie Weiss and many more. And the most amazing air staff I could ever imagine,” he says. “Three literal Hall-of-Famers in Jim Kerr, Shelli Sonstein and Carol Miller. And the rest that should be. Maria Milito, Ken Dashow, Gerry Martire, Ian O’Malley, Jonathan Clarke, Marc Coppola, Ralph Tortora and Trevor Marden.”
“Rick Gangi, who is my creative services director (image production in English), is my consigliere and an all-around psychopath. He’s been with me the entire 25 years and is really the secret weapon to keeping this place sounding its best. His collaborations with our voice guy, Brian Christopher, make me laugh out loud constantly. It is a team. It is a family. It is amazing.”
Follow Q104.3 on FB @Q1043NY, X @Q1043, YouTube @Q1043NewYork, IG @Q1043, and TikTok @Q1043NY
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ABC World News Tonight has long been on top of the broadcast nightly news ratings in total viewers, while NBC Nightly News has rested firmly in second place. But the key demographic totals have featured a much tighter race. That race got even closer during the final week of Lester Holt leading the NBC News show.
During the week of May 26th, World News Tonight with David Muir continued to hold the lead in the overall viewership category, with 7 million viewers compared to the 5.7 million seen with NBC News.
In the Adults 25-54 demographic, however, the race was incredibly close. ABC News remained on top, with 884,000 viewers from the sector, while NBC Nightly News saw 831,000 viewers. That difference of 53,000 viewers is the smallest it has been in 2025.
CBS Evening News continued its slide, falling to the lowest figures on 2025, finishing with 3.6 million viewers for the week on average, with 490,000 coming from the key demographic.
For the week that encompassed Memorial Day, each of the three major network newscasts was down compared to the previous week. ABC World News Tonight saw a 2% decrease in viewership. CBS Evening News saw the largest decrease in audience, as its total viewership dropped by more than 8%. NBC Nightly News, buoyed by it being the final week of Lester Holt anchoring the broadcast, saw a decline of less than .5%.
CNN Slide Continues
During the week of May 12th, CNN averaged 405,000 total viewers in the primetime window. That represented — at the time — a new low for 2025, which was set in the week before the inauguration of Trump at 448,000.
The slide has only continued since that week, with May continuing to see a slump below the 400,000 total viewers category.
The week of May 19th slipped below 405,000 total viewers in primetime, ending the week with an average of 386,000 total viewers.
While the network continues to lag well behind other networks like Fox News and MSNBC, it continued to top MSNBC in the key Adults 25-54 demographic.
However, that ended during the week of May 26th. MSNBC surpassed CNN in the key demographic, as it finished with 65,000 compared to 61,000 for CNN. That week also saw the decline in total viewership continue as CNN finished the week with an average audience of 374,000 in primetime. That figure represented an almost 8% decline to the previous low set during the week of May 12th.
Despite the slide for CNN, it was not alone in the primetime window featuring decreased audiences. The week of May 26th, which included the Memorial Day holiday, saw Fox News and MSNBC with slumping viewership figures.
During the week, Fox News saw its audience decrease by 5.5% compared to the previous week, as it finished with 2.3 million total viewers in the daypart. MSNBC saw a downturn of 9% in the total audience figure between the week of May 19th and May 26th. It finished the final week of May with 718,000 total viewers in primetime.
Newsmax finished the week with an average audience of 211,000 total viewers in primetime. Meanwhile, NewsNation averaged 84,000 total viewers in the window.
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WLS-AM 890 morning host Ray Stevens is coming up on the one-year anniversary of taking over the daypart from previous host Steve Cochran.
The Country Radio Hall of Famer wasn’t an unknown commodity to Chicago news/talk listeners after previously hosting on the station. But morning drive is a different animal, and his return to the station was a different time.
Ratings needed improvement. So did revenue. And Ray Stevens had a plan to grow both.
When he spoke with Barrett Media days after being announced as the WLS-AM 890 morning host, Stevens said it was imperative for he and the station to hit the streets to meet both listeners and advertisers.
Mission accomplished.
“I talked about having to get after it, having to get out and be out on the street and work hard,” said Stevens. “We did that, and we are doing that. Ratings have shown an improvement. I know they have. And then we’ve increased revenue to brought a lot of local businesses back on board.”
Ray Stevens implemented a pair of features to bookend the week, with a segment honoring local military veterans and active duty servicemembers on Mondays and a segment that highlights area first responders on Fridays.
The station has been active in the community, too, with both its programming and events. The station has worked with local animal shelters, the area’s last remaining drive-in movie theater, along with countless parades and local charities to create an impact in the Windy City.
It’s what Stevens is most proud of as he ends his first full year in the daypart.
“That is an important element to do,” said Stevens. “In a day and age where marketing dollars aren’t so readily available, you’ve got to get out there and be on the news. We’ve done a lot of new local news hits, both on Fox 32 and then on ABC 7.”
Seeing the response from listeners has been a motivating factor to continue the work in the community.
“It makes me feel that there’s still relevant to what we do. It makes you feel like, ‘Ok, you can use those tools to let people know that radio is still a viable tool, one for advertising and two for getting the word out,” he shared. “If you do good content, they’re going to find you.”
On the revenue side, the station’s morning show has focused on local advertisers and put efforts into putting on events for listeners. Stevens pointed one promotion in particular that
“We did a non-traditional Thanksgiving at a local restaurant in Carroll Stream, Illinois, and we did our non-traditional Thanksgiving for WLS-AM 890, which is Italian beef and hot dogs for all our listeners. It was just a celebration. And I think people were happy, at least our listeners were happy,” said Stevens. “It made you feel good to know that the audience that you’re reporting to coalesce with, they’re really there. Those are the kind of events you want to be part of.”
The station’s morning show has also tried to focus on local issues, like a spat between an American Legion hall and a municipality that was ultimately mediated by Stevens on the air.
“We invited the American Legion on, we invited the village on, and we kind of worked it out. I think that’s what you do. You look for what’s local,” he shared. “You’ve got to be uber local, especially that we’re the only local day part on the air, and we work around the clock to make it seem like we’re in the community 24/7. You just look for the opportunities that make sense, and you utilize those.”
When Ray Stevens took over mornings at WLS, he was also hosting middays at sister-station KCMO Talk Radio in Kansas City. He ultimately decided to leave the show in Kansas City behind in an effort to focus all of his attention to his morning show in Chicago.
And while he was sad to say goodbye to KC, he believes it has set him up for success at WLS-AM 890.
“I have so much more time to go on sales calls, to not go right down the hall to a KCMO,” Stevens said. “In this extra time that I have, we plan, we think, we strategize, and I bet you we meet every day for at least a half hour … I can be out on the street, I can be over and be on the 11 o’clock news, I can do TV, and I can be on sales calls, selling this radio station.
“We’ve really brought in a lot of local ad revenue with some of the relationships that I have. It’s made a world of difference to be able to be there and be able to go out on the street, or work it for the station once I’m off the air.”
Despite the success he’s seen in his first year, Ray Stevens believes that his best days at WLS-AM 890 are still ahead of him.
“The WLS brand is historic and legendary, but there’s a long way to go,” he said. “But this small success that we’ve had so far, I think it shows these folks that I’m working with and paired with — and I’m working with a really good crew — that if you put in the work, you’ll see the results.”
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So, how about that Elon Musk and Donald Trump feud on Thursday, huh? News/talk radio stations and TV networks couldn’t have asked for better content.
Yet, I’m not certain news/talk radio handled that gift from the content heavens correctly. That’s a generalization, which is something that I usually try to avoid. Nobody really wins when you paint with a broad brush. But I think the shoe still fits.
I tuned through several news/talk radio stations on Thursday afternoon after Elon Musk took his ongoing feud with Donald Trump to whatever is above a thermonuclear level by asserting that the sitting President of the United States is featured in the files of noted prolific pedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, which is why — according to the claims made by Musk — the files haven’t been released by the government.
The overarching response and reaction from afternoon hosts around the country was about the seriousness of the matter, what this means for the country, etc…and I think that’s the wrong approach.
This is a comedy story, in my estimation. This is entertainment at its core. And, to me, it highlights the main issue I have with the news/talk radio format: it often takes matters entirely too seriously and forgets that the content is supposed to be entertaining.
Not every topic is the most serious story that’s ever hit the airwaves. Not every segment needs to be filled with “angry guy yells about politics” radio. Many in the format act as if they’re quasi-politicians, afraid to say the wrong thing that would anger either Trump or Musk and their legion of sycophants by insulting either or both of them.
This is the juiciest red meat imaginable dangling off the entertainment bone for news/talk radio hosts. And many didn’t jump on it like they were starving. There are so many ways to make this a fun, engage, entertaining, and enjoyable topic for listeners.
Yet, as I scanned the stations yesterday, I heard few laughs. There were many hosts lambasting Musk for having the audacity to go against Trump. Others questioned why Trump would turn against such a strong ally.
But, if you ask me, that’s missing the forest for the trees. One host who absolutely knocked it out of the park was SuperTalk 99.7 WTN afternoon host Matt Murphy. I listened to his show longer than any other Thursday afternoon for three reasons: he was interesting, he was compelling, and he was entertaining.
I think it’s easy to forget that listeners show up to be entertained. Are there listeners looking to be informed, have their beliefs confirmed, or who hate-listen? Undeniably. But more than any other reason, they’re looking for entertainment.
And if seeing a couple of billionaires publicly bicker to the point that they’re lobbing wild, inflammatory accusations and threats at one another didn’t set off your Entertainment Censor (patent pending), I’m just not sure what will.
I’m sure that there’s the flip side of the coin that believes the President of the United States feuding publicly with the world’s richest man is well beneath the office and shouldn’t be viewed as entertainment and should be treated as uncouth. I totally understand that standpoint. But, to borrow a phrase from comedian John Mulaney, I agree, but we’re well past that.
Too many hosts today are so laser-focused on winning the political policy discussions or worried about hyping up topics in an attempt to make them the most consequential story of the day, week, or month, that they forget the whole purpose of the genre entirely. High-importance sells, I get it. But so does entertainment.
I’d like to believe that news/talk radio doesn’t simply exist as an avenue to espouse conservative political talking points. I’d like to believe that news/talk radio hosts don’t come to the format to play dress up as the Mayor/Governor/Senator/President. Furthermore, I’d like to believe that there are enough news/talk radio producers, programmers, or hosts that recognize that entertainment has always been the goal of a great show.
There are so many Rush Limbaugh impersonators in the news/talk radio genre today. Which wouldn’t be a bad thing if they could remember what early Rush Limbaugh sounded like, and not “Crusty Old Man Yells at Clouds” Rush Limbaugh of his final few years on the air. The news/talk GOAT earned that status by his sharp wit and interest in turning political topics into entertainment. Not by bitching into the microphone all day that Republicans are good and Democrats are bad. That isn’t entertaining and literally anyone can do that type of show. And when that’s the case, I wouldn’t be too confident when I went into my next contract negotiation.
But you know what not everyone can do? Be entertaining. Make topics that should be boring or mundane interesting, engaging, and compelling. That’s what separates the great news/talk hosts from the good and average. So I was disappointed to hear so many different hosts take the ultra-serious angle about one of the more preposterous stories in recent memory.
Entertainment has been, should be, and — hopefully — always will be the goal of the best of news/talk radio. I hope you lean into that.
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