Nielsen Addresses Voltair; Plans To Update PPM

Stations Using Voltair Are Free To Continue

THE MOUTH, JULY 22ND, 2015 –– In Nielsen's much anticipated webinar and conference call yesterday where they addressed the growing controversy surrounding Telos' Voltair, perhaps the biggest take-aways was that Nielsen won't support the product and plans to update its own Portable People Meter. According to mediapost.com, which described yesterday's news as anti-climatic, Erik Sass writes: 'After several months of research and testing with a Voltair unit, Nielsen still isn’t taking a position on this, beyond conceding that Voltair may help in certain cases of extreme audio interference. It has added that in these cases, it isn’t clear whether the exposure represents legitimate listening."

Nielsen also repeated its “non-support” for the device. On the other hand, the ratings firm also isn’t telling radio stations to stop using Voltair, although it did reveal that its own experiments with Voltair showed it can produce audible “artifacts” that disrupt the listening experience,' says Sass. Nielsen did reveal new plans to improve PPM measurement through a number of updates, including an enhanced encoding system that should make it easier for PPM to detect the audio watermarks, due in the fourth quarter of the year. Radio stations that have installed Voltair are free to continue using it.

PARAGON: Big Questions Remain For Nielsen

Lab Tests Are Good. Real World Tests Are Better

THE MOUTH, JULY 22ND, 2015 –– Following yesterday's Nielsen announcement, Paragon blogger Larry Johnson wrote: Although this webinar brought us much closer to the promise of reliable measurement with the Portable People Meter (PPM), there are lingering questions that need to be addressed. Through its lab tests, Nielsen acknowledged that there is some listening that Voltair picks up that the current PPM encoding system does not. This “listening” is to low decibel (db) level signals “heard” in environments where the background noise is equal to or louder than the signal.

By extending and amplifying the PPM watermark by which stations are identified, Nielsen contends that–in certain cases–Voltair may be crossing the line in picking up listening that isn’t really listening. Also Nielsen also contends that by picking up such “listening,” the ratings are subject to undue volatility/variability. So Nielsen adamantly does not endorse Voltair; however, the new Nielsen PPM CBET coding enhancement acknowledges and incorporates some of the valid listening that the Voltair systems enhanced and amplified.

Johnson adds, ultimately, only a quantifiable study of known stations with Voltair in use will prove or disprove its validity. Lab tests are good. Real world tests are better. While today was a decent start, Paragon encourages Nielsen to provide amnesty to all stations who are willing to pull back the sheets and allow for a verifiable study of Voltair’s impact. Anything less will keep the guessing game in play, and undermine the reliability of radio ratings..READ BLG HERE

PROGRAMMING: Cumulus Promotes Hayden Green To OM At Florida Cluster

THE MOUTH, JULY 22ND, 2015 –– Cumulus announces that it has promoted radio veteran Hayden Green to Operations Manager for Cumulus Media – Fort Walton Beach/Destin, a newly created position. Green continues as Program Director for Z96/WZNS, a position he has held for the past 15 years..

Green said: “Fort Walton Beach/Destin is my home and it’s a privilege to do what I love in this community. I look forward to working directly with RVP, Pete DeSimone and with Cumulus’ corporate programmers to uphold standards of excellence across all of the brands in our market...”

RESEARCH: Women Make Gains In Newsrooms; Minority Numbers Slide

THE MOUTH, JULY 22ND, 2015 –– In its ninth in a series of reports developed from RTDNA's annual survey of radio and tv newsrooms across the United States, Bob Papper, Professor Emeritus at Hofstra University, revealed that virtually every number in the radio table (shown) is down from last year: news staffs with minorities, minority news directors, minority percentage of workforce and actual number of minorities. The bigger the market, the more diverse, but all the numbers fell from last year.

In radio, women rose in two of the three categories: News staffs with women rose by more than 5 points, and women as a percentage of the workforce went up by 8.1 to its highest level ever at 39.2%. Women were, again, much less likely to be news directors in the South. SEE FULL REPORT HERE

Beats 1 Misses Beat With VMA Nominees

THE MOUTH, JULY 22ND, 2015 –– Not turning out to be a good week so for Apple. Stock prices aside, Beats 1 Radio and other Apple services were down for its highly anticipated Apple and MTV partnership to announce nominations for MTV's Video Music Awards on Beats 1.

According to cultofmac.com, listeners got a rude awakening as Apple servers crashed right before the artists were to be revealed. Errors such as the one shown popped up on numerous devices. Fortunately, operation was soon restored.

TOP NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Schumer Tells Dan & Maz She Went All The Way With R2-D2

THE MOUTH, JULY 22ND, 2015 –– Amy Schumer and Bill Hader were on with Dan and Maz on 2DayFM in Sydney Australia said she wished she'd thought up the idea of posing in flagrante delicto with droids R2-D2 and C-3PO in GQ. "I would do it again, right now. And I really did have s** with them," Schumer joked. "Star Wars" fans caused a clamor on social media last week over Schumer's appearance on the cover of the mag's August issue, which depicted her wearing Princess Leia's iconic slave costume from "Return of the Jedi" and sucking on humanoid C-3PO's finger.

Jay-Jay Springs To Dom’s Defense In 'Crotch-Gate' Runner up on New Zealand’s Dancing With The Stars, Chrystal Chenery wants (MSBC regular) Dominic Harvey disciplined. His wife and fellow DWTS contestant, and co-host on The Morning Show on The Edge in New Zealand, Jay-Jay Harvey, is defending him as a "sensitive, caring" man. Dom has been at the centre of a growing spat with Chrystal. She has called for Harvey to be "held accountable" for posting an inappropriate screenshot from Sunday night's live final on social media. The image, which showed Chenery in the midst of performing a split, was posted to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Dom has since deleted the offending post. In a long message in defence of her husband posted on Facebook, Jay-Jay wrote that his "main aim in life is to make people laugh".

Going to MSBC in Chicago? Happy to connect with you there. Call me on +44 7752 416905. Twitter: @GrahamMack Web: www.mackmedia.co.uk Email: graham@mackmedia.co.uk

T-Mobile Teams With Piolin Show To Reach Hispanic Americans

THE MOUTH, JULY 22ND, 2015 –– Alliance Radio Networks today announced that T-Mobile has chosen nationally syndicated morning show, El Show de Piolin, as a national partner in reaching and engaging Hispanic Americans through a multi-platform sponsorship across radio, events and social media initiatives. Hosted by one of the most widely recognized Hispanic radio personalities in the U.S., Radio Hall of Famer and author Eddie Sotelo-- known to millions as "Piolin"-- El Show de Piolin currently airs on 44 Alliance Radio Networks station affiliates.

The sponsorship includes T-Mobile on-air endorsements and advertising during Piolin's hour-long morning show each weekday. T-Mobile will also sponsor El Show de Piolin's Listener Call-In Hotline, as well as integrated social posts within Piolin'ssocial media presence which reaches more than 2.2 Million Latinos.

Boston Host Dishes On Rival Show's Changes

THE MOUTH, JULY 22ND, 2015 –– Here's one you don't hear often. 103.3 Amp/Boston's morning host, AJ Taormina decided to weigh-in on the recent exit of long-time producer Kendra Petrone from crosstown's legendary Matt Siegel Show.

Referencing an article in the Boston Herald, TJ sympathized with Petrone who was informed that her position was being eliminated. Then, while driving home she gets an email announcing their new morning show producer. TJ says, reportedly, they hadn’t taken Kendra off the company email list and she got the notice.

As Jockline reported last week, Kendra’s replacement is Medha Gandhi, who arrives from WNCI in Columbus, Ohio, where she was executive producer of the Dave & Jimmy show and their syndication network for eight years. LISTEN HERE

NBC'S Lester Holt On Rating's Roll; Taylor Swift Tops Nominations For VMA Awards

NBC's Lester Holt On A Rating's Roll - [ZAP 2 IT]

Charlize Theron Says She Once Invited Potus To A Strip Club - [BREITBART]

ACT SURPRISED : Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran And Beyonce Lead Video Music Awards Nominations - [E ONLINE]

Nicki Minaj And Taylor Swift Engage In Twitter Exchange Ove VMA Nominations - [RYANSEACREST]

Judge Giving Joan Rivers' Death Suit Special Attention - [PAGE 6]

David Beckham Hopes He'll Be Recognized On Fox's 'Knock Knock' - [THE WRAP]

LOOK: Adam Levine Shaves His Head - [ET]

[WATCH] Donald Trump Gives Out Lindsey Graham's Cell PHone Number During Speech - [HEAVY]

Karlie Kloss Covers 'Self' Magazine's Best Body Issue - [FASHIONISTA]

Elvis Jumpsuit To Be Sold On ebay - [NME]

'We Are Now One Company' Says Mike McVay About WWO Downsizing

THE MOUTH, JULY 21ST, 2015 –– Following recent news of Westwood downsizing, Cumulus EVP/Corporate Programming and Content, Mike McVay, said "We are now one company. It has taken awhile to fully integrate all of our great assets that we have acquired over the last 4 years but we are now there. That means we can now take advantage of the complete talent pool in our company," said McVay. He added "This will improve the quality of the 24/7 products by tapping into market leading talent across our company." He listed three ways this will be accomplished:

1) 24-hour formats will be hosted to a large degree by top-quality and experienced Cumulus announcers from the company’s radio stations in markets like Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Atlanta, and Buffalo. This takes advantage of the best personalities in every format, regardless of where their show originates.

2) All 24-hour formats will remain staffed and configured as they are today, utilizing Westwood One’s market leading patented STORQ automation platform as well as Cumulus’s best in class studio automation platform - OpX. This production method has been thoroughly tested in Westwood One’s syndication of the Nash Icon and Classic Hip Hop 24-hour formats.

3) While many current Westwood One announcers will still be heard on weekday and weekend dayparts, the integration of our company into one programming platform has affected some WW1 announcers. All departing announcers will be eligible for vacancies at Cumulus radio stations.

More Details Of CBS Radio Leadership Structure Revealed

THE MOUTH, JULY 21ST, 2015 –– Following yesterday's news of Scott Herman's promotion to Chief Operating Officer at CBS Radio, further details of it organizational structure for the senior leadership team were released in an inner-office memo from CBS Radio President, Andre Fernandez (R).

Reporting to Scott Herman in his new role, Bob Philips, Market Mgr. of its Baltimore cluster; will assume responsibility as Senior Vice President/Director of Sales. The New York Market Manager position will be filled by Marc Rayfield, who will be leaving his post as Senior Vice President and Market Manager in Philadelphia. A new leader in Philadelphia will be announced in the near future.

Ezra Kucharz, President of Local Digital Media, will now report to Fernandez and Peter Dunn, who runs the CBS Television Stations Group. Ezra will take on the additional responsibility of managing all digital sales across the two local businesses.

Chris Oliviero (far left) retains his primary role as Executive Vice President, Programming and will add oversight of our Research activities to his responsibilities.

Rich Lobel (left)will continue to lead Altitude, our cross-platform sales solutions unit, as the group’s Executive Vice President and CMO. The team’s focus will remain on developing national sales opportunities for clients using CBS’s local media assets. Rich will now report to me. - Stacey Benson will oversee the division’s financial operations in her current role as Senior Vice President, Finance.

Jo Ann Haller, Karen Mateo, and Mark Zulli will continue to lead our efforts in Legal, Communications, and Human Resources, respectively.

Indy Lands 3rd Country Station With Debut Of BIG 98.3

THE MOUTH, JULY 21ST 2015 –– iHeartMedia Indianapolis announced the debut of BIG 98.3, Indy’s NEW Hit Country. BIG 98.3 will feature The Bobby Bones Show in mornings beginning August 16th. "Launching BIG 98.3 is the result of the tremendous popularity of country music in Central Indiana. Country fans are looking for an entertaining morning show and a station that better fits their lifestyle. They want a station they can identify with and call their own," said Rick Green, Market President, iHeartMedia Indianapolis.

Garrison Keillor Says He's Retiring, And This Time 'He Means It'

THE MOUTH, JULY 21ST, 2015 –– Garrison Keillor, creator and host of "A Prairie Home Companion," said in an interview with The Associated Press on Monday that he plans to step down after next season. Following four decades of folksy comedy sketches about Lake Wobegon, his mythical Minnesota hometown, he leaving his show heard by 4 million listeners on nearly 700 public radio stations.

Beginning next week, Keillor will take summer bus tours for live shows for a 30-city "America the Beautiful" cross-country tour, billed as his farewell tour. "I have a lot of other things that I want to do. I mean, nobody retires anymore. Writers never retire. But this is my last season. This tour this summer is the farewell tour." Keillor said he tapped musician Chris Thile of the bands Punch Brothers and Nickel Creek to succeed him full-time as host in September 2016, following guest-hosting spots.

Keillor said he plans to stay on as executive producer, but only "an admirer" and "a gray eminence" of the on-air show, which he said will keep its Midwestern focus. "I'm perfectly willing to do whatever needs to be done. I can certainly come on the show as a guest, you know, I can do the warm-up. I can stand in the wings and wind up microphone cord," Keillor said. He also he would like to make another movie. A movie version of "A Prairie Home Companion" hit theaters in 2006.

Stern Rips Into Fargo Reporter After Jab Over Forbes' Report

THE MOUTH, JULY 21ST, 2015 –– A local TV morning show in Fargo has drawn the wrath of SiriusXM's Howard Stern after his shocked reaction to Howard Stern's income as posted in Forbe's top earner's list. "How is Howard Stern making $95 million a year?" the host asked incredulously. Among the Celebrity 100 ranking of the top-earning stars, Stern was rated 5th, making $95 million, making him one of radio's biggest earners.

On yesterday's show, Stern launched into a four-minute tirade against Fargo TV Host Chris Berg, host of "North Dakota Today." "The reason I worked so hard is so I wouldn't have to live in Fargo, North Dakota, honestly. No offense if you live there. I'm pretty sure if you're living there, you're trying to get out ... Gee whiz ... I didn't know Fargo still existed ... Good lord. Well, anyway," Stern said. .. Taking further aim at Berg, Stern said, "Leave Fargo, get a show and work on your comedy chops and work on being interesting."

Ironically, America's Got Talent," airs on the same network of which Berg's station is an affiliate. "Sirius satellite radio is the best thing to happen to Fargo, North Dakota, because they can now get national programming on their radio and not have to be stuck listening to two nitwits who don't understand the business," Stern said. Read more in The Forum.

[WATCH] Seacrest Shares What/Who He'll Miss Most On 'Idol

THE MOUTH, JULY 21ST, 2015 –– As next season's American Idols draws to a close, Ryan Seacrest, one of its last remaining original cast members says he's going to miss a lot of things about the show, but there's one person who he'll always miss most. Join Seth Meyers on NBC's 'Late Night on Monday when asked "Who will you miss most? Or, who have you missed most?," Seacrest didn't surprise Meyers by answering, "I'm still missing Simon."

"I was going to say, yeah," said Seth. "I'm still missing Simon. That's the one," said Ryan. "You guys had a very nice chemistry. That's a rare thing that you guys found," said Seth. "It was incredible. It was the sport of just insulting each other back and forth," said Ryan. "Yeah!" said Seth. Seacrest added, "He’s a terrific individual who's one of the sweetest guys that you're ever going to meet in the business. He's got a really big heart, he's generous and he’s been a great friend of mine. That being said, we love to compete." WATCH HERE

[WATCH] Radio Host In Shock After Fiancé Proposes At Airport

THE MOUTH, JULY 21STST, 2015 –– Popular KTFM/San Antonio morning co-host Rachel "Blondie" Jones tells mysanantonio.com she’s still “in shock” after her boyfriend, Staff Sergeant Toby Wescoe of the U.S. Marines, surprised her at the airport with a marriage proposal. Wescoe and Blondie who have dated for two years had the question popped right after she landed in Baltimore, Maryland, on Friday. She had flown there to meet Toby’s family.

He got down on one knee at the airport, produced a ring and asked her to be his wife. After cries of disbelief, she said “yes.” Her KTFM co-host Nugget Johnson announced her engagement on the radio yesterday morning. Toby is stationed in Pittsburgh, the two haven’t had time to set a date, much less plan a wedding. She'll return to the air next Tuesday, but meanwhile, enjoy VIDEO HERE

Westwood One Seeks Content Marketing/Design Manager

THE MOUTH, JULY 21ST, 2015 –– Westwood One is seeking a well-rounded content marketing and design manager to join our content marketing team. We’re looking for someone with a proven track record creating and distributing compelling content marketing pieces that rise above the competition, inspire others to take action, and drive lead generation.

The ideal candidate will have a positive attitude, efficient project management skills, pro-active thinking, hustle, and prior experience crafting engaging content marketing campaigns. Read more HERE

Grooveshark Co-Founder Passes Away At 28; Miley Cryus To Host This Year's VMA's

Blake and Miranda Call It Quits - [AP]

Miley Cyrus Hosting This Year's VMA's - [MTV]

Grooveshark Co-Founder Passes Away At 28 - [VARIETY]

Carol Burnett To Receive SAG Lifetime Achievement Award - [LA TIMES]

'Xena: Warrior Princess' Reboot In The Works - [THR]

OUCH: Wash. Nets Blame Taylor Swift For Postponed Game - [NME]

PSY Crashes Rolls Royce - Leaves In A Porsche - [PAGE 6]

Teresa Giudice TV Comeback Coming Sooner Than You Think - [E ONLINE]

Bill Cosby Cut From Black Stuntmen Doc - [DEADLINE]

Nicole Kidman Dazzles On Cover Of Vogue - [RACKED]

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