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Retirement For Sean Casey - 8/27 - Longtime Boston area radio personality Sean Casey is enjoying his retirement. More on the former WPLM afternoon man is at patriotledger.com.....

Imus Sidekick Hospitalized - 8/27 - Rob Bartlett, who does character voices and sidekick duties on Don Imus's morning show, heard locally on WTKK (96.9 FM), has been hospitalized suffering from multiple blood clots. Docs give Bartlett a good chance for a full recovery.....

Former WSARer Turns Down DA Gig - 8/26 - From the Fall River Herald News: Former WSAR radio personality Keri Rodrigues will not be accepting a post as assistant to the director of the Community Affairs Division for District Attorney Sam Sutter after claiming years of physical and verbal intimidation suffered at the hands of a radio station employee. Rodrigues had intended to begin work on child abuse prevention and senior abuse education and prevention on 8/18, at the DA's office but that start date was pushed back to 8/25. However, Rodrigues did not report for work Monday morning. After reaching her on her cell phone late Monday afternoon, Rodrigues described a hostile work environment at her former radio station that forced her to not only leave her radio job but also give up her new profession with the District Attorney's Office.....

Herald Talks To Donaldson's Alleged Batterer - 8/23 - A Bay State advocate for abused women said the jailhouse love letters written by Ivan Lattimore - the professional slamball player charged with beating Channel 7/WHDH sports reporter Julie Donaldson - illustrate classic batterer behavior. "He is taking no responsibility in these letters for her being hurt," said Toni Troop, spokeswoman for Jane Doe Inc. "Despite his efforts to present himself an as easy-going guy who simply loves her, the facts suggests otherwise." In an exclusive jailhouse interview with the Boston Herald, Lattimore, 30, said he will always love Donaldson and denied hitting her.....

DePetro's Wife Linked To PRO Ratings Scandal - 8/21 - The WPRO (630 AM) ratings scandal has been tied to the wife of the Providence station's morning talk show host John DePetro. So reports Providence's ABC6.....

BZ Radio Is Tops Again - 8/19 - News talk WBZ-AM again tops those monthly "trend" radio ratings for Boston. More here.....

Sox TV Ratings Down - 8/19 - The Boston Red Sox's TV ratings were down the first half of the season. Viewership of Sox games on New England Sports Network dropped nearly 20 percent. The Boston Herald has more.....

Pup Dawg Gets JMN MD Post - 8/19 - Boston's rhythmic WJMN, Jam'n 94.5, promotes morning personality DJ Pup Dawg to music director, replacing Geespin, who is now at co-owned Clear Channeler WWPR, Power 105.1, in NYC.....

WEEI Bolsters Website - 8/19 - WEEI's weei.com website continues its expansion into the digital arena with the addition of six journalists, along with the first upgrade to the web site's content and design. Will Leitch, the founder of sports blog Deadspin.com and New York Magazine contributing editor, will join weei.com editor Rob Bradford and columnist Mike Felger to provide an outsider's look at Boston sports and its fans. Ron Borges, a 24-year veteran of the Boston Globe and Patriots beat writer, will serve as a columnist for weei.com covering the Patriots and national football news. Baseball writing vet Alex Speier will assist in handling the Red Sox beat and serve as online content manager.....

Storms Knock WUMD Off Air - 8/14 - WUMD, the University Of Massachusetts' Dartmouth 10,000-watt FM radio station, was knocked off the air Monday when severe thunderstorms hit the region and damaged the station's transmitter. The station is broadcasting its full program schedule via ite website as crews are working to assess the damage to the transmitter and restore the signal. More from the SouthCoast Herald News.....

Gerry Callahan Faced Canter - 8/14 - Boston Herald sports columnist and WEEI talk host Gerry Callahan tells of his battle with throat cancer last year. In the Herald.....

Ratings Fraud Affects WPRO - 8/12 - In what radio insiders say is a rare occurrence, Arbitron revised ratings for the local morning market after it was discovered that a media-related household in East Greenwich apparently tried to cheat by turning in six ratings diaries. The greatest change in the Spring 2008 ratings for the Providence-Warwick-Pawtucket market in the lucrative morning drive period - Monday through Friday from 6 to 10 AM - when WPRO-AM fell four slots from fourth place to ninth place among listeners ages 25-to-54, based on rankings released by the station. More from Providence Business News.....

Line-up Changes For 890 ESPN - 8/11 - In a move to expand local programming and help meet Boston's appetite for local sports talk, 890 ESPN Radio has announced a new afternoon and drive time program line-up. Beginning Thursday, 8/14, Channel 5/WCVB news and sports anchor Bob Halloran will team with current 890 WAMG sports reporter Mike Salk for "Salk And Halloran" which will run weekdays between noon and 2 PM. A new drive time show, "Lew And Mike," hosted by the sports talk team of Lew Goldstein and Mike Vallee will air between 4 PM and 6 PM. The Lew and Mike show had run on AM 1510 The Zone. Halloran's entry into the station lineup is a welcome home of sorts. Before joining WCVB's "SportsCenter 5," Halloran was at ESPNews where he spent three years as an anchor and writer for ESPN.com. Salk has been 890 ESPN's Red Sox reporter for the past two years, and will continue in that role. He also can be heard on ESPN's national programming.....

Rodrigues Leaves WSAR For DA's Office - 8/6 - After hastily resigning from radio station WSAR in Fall River MA, former talk show host and program director Keri Rodrigues has landed on her feet as a member of the Bristol County District Attorney's Community Affairs Division. More from the South Coast Herald-News.....

Arbitron To Re-Issue Providence Ratings - 8/6 - From Radio Online: Arbitron said Tuesday that it would re-issue its spring market report for Providence on 8/11 after six metro diaries were found to have been returned from a media-affiliated household. The revised results is expected to "substantially" affect estimates for Citadel's number one-rated new talk WPRO-AM in some demos and dayparts. Estimates for several other stations in the market may also be affected "to a minor extent," said Arbitron.....

Talks Underway To Renew O&A's Deal With Satrad - 8/6 -

From FMQB: Talks are taking place between Sirius XM and Opie and Anthony (right) for a contract renewal, revealed super agent Bob Eatman on their morning show yesterday. The negotiations come less than a week after Sirius XM satellite radio CEO Mel Karmazin appeared on their program to reassure O&A that he wants them to be a part of the newly merged satellite radio companies. Eatman also revealed that CBS Radio is waiting to see if O&A's new Sirius XM deal will keep them on terrestrial radio. If it does, then he suggested that O&A will likely make a return to CBS rocker WYSP in Philadelphia. O&A are currently heard on CBS rocker WBCN in Bsoton, plus CBS rockers in NYC and Cleveland.....

Westport To Lose Boston's Fox25 - 8/5 - Cable company Charter Communications next month will drop WFXT-TV, the Dedham-based Fox affiliate television station, from the lineup for Westport MA customers. News of the change comes amid ongoing complaints about Charter. The St. Louis company is taking steps to boost local customer service, the subject of frustration for many residents. Charter on Thursday started blacking out primetime network programming on Fox25, which serves the Boston area, and the company plans to drop the station entirely 9/23. That means Westport customers will no longer see Boston's local news programing, which differs from Providence's Fox affiliate, WNAC-TV. SouthCoastToday.com has more.....

CBS Could Unload Hartford Cluster - 8/1 -

Yesterday, CBS Radio announced that it'll be selling about 50 "mid-market" radio stations in the near-term. Today, radio trade pub All Access tells us that four CBS stations in Hartford are on an unofficial list of "likely" properties to be unloaded. Including news talk WTIC-AM, adult contemporary WRCH, contemporary hit WZMX, and hot adult contemporary WTIC-FM. Stay tuned.....

Former 7 Announcer Dies - 8/1 - DCRTV hears that Chris Clausen, who was an announcer whose voice was heard on promotions and public service spots for many TV stations, including Channel 7/WHDH a few years ago, died on 7/29 in Orlando after suffering a stroke.....

NPR Buys PRI's PI Division - 8/1 - Public Radio International is selling its Boston-based Public Interactive division to DC-based National Public Radio for an undisclosed price. PI is an application services provider offering tools and services for public radio station websites.....

Hummel Quits 6 - 7/31 - Jim Hummel, an ABC6 reporter for the past 13 years who is known for the "You Paid For It" investigative segments, turned in his resignation to the Providence station. Hummel said that the station had wanted him to renew his contract, but he told his manager he was "just not comfortable with the direction that the station is going." The Providence Journal has more.....

Comcast: Earning Up, Fewer Subscribers - 7/30 - Area media giant Comcast reported an 8 percent rise in second-quarter earnings and its cable TV subscriber count slid 0.6 percent, or 138,000 households, to 24.6 million. Stock analysts called the earnings and only modest subscriber count decline very good, given that the second quarter is usually weak and cable TV operators face increased competition from telco video. Broadcasting And Cable has more.....

Jim Thistle Dies - 7/30 -

Undaunted by near-freezing temperatures and a ferocious January wind, longtime Boston newsman Jim Thistle (left) clung to the satellite mast of a television truck in 1982, in a last-ditch effort to broadcast images of the World Airways plane crash at Logan Airport. "We had been at his house eating supper that night when we got the call," said lifelong friend Clark Booth, who worked with Thistle at WBZ/Channel 4 and WCVB/Channel 5. "He's out there holding this thing, and people were saying, 'That thing's radioactive, Jimmy'... He was just determined and willing to do the hard work." Thistle - the city's preeminent news director, who pioneered extended evening television newscasts - died of cancer yesterday at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He was 66. More from the Boston Globe.....

10 Reporter Fuels Tourism Flap - 7/30 - A WJAR television reporter whose recent two-part series called into question the effectiveness of Rhode Island tourism centers - and set off a storm of controversy - is leaving Channel 10 as of tomorrow, the station's general manager confirmed yesterday. Station general manager Lisa Churchville would not say whether the departure of Leslie Yeransian was related to her report, which resulted in the station issuing an on-air apology and its ombudsman criticizing the reporting. More from the Providence Journal.....

WODS DJ Fined - 7/29 - Barry Scott, of CBS oldies WODS in Boston, has been found guilty of disturbing the peace and resisting arrest, with a fine of $600 for the two charges. Stemming from an incident at a Provincetown party last summer. More at innewsweekly.com.....

O&A Add Norfolk, Await Satrad Renewal - 7/28 - NYC-based morning radio duo Opie and Anthony get added by Norfolk VA's extreme rock WROX, which will run the show tape-delayed from 10 AM to 2 PM. In other O&A news, the WXRK morning duo is coming to the end of its contract with DC's XM Satellite Radio in two months. Still no word about whether they'll get renewed by the newly-merged SiriusXM entity. O&A are also heard CBS Radio rocker WBCN in Boston.....

Robert Novak Battles Brain Tumor - 7/28 -

DC-based political columnist Robert Novak (left) was admitted yesterday to a Boston hospital where he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. In a written statement given to his publisher, Novak said: "On Sunday, July 27, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I have been admitted to Brigham And Women's Hospital in Boston, where doctors will soon begin appropriate treatment. I will be suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period." More from humanevents.com. Last week, Novak was ticketed for running his car into a homeless man on a downtown DC street.....

WTTT Calls To NYC - 7/25 - Salem swaps the longtime WWDJ calls from is NYC area religious station with its Spanish religious outlet WTTT in Boston.....

WBZ & WXKS Top Boston Radio Heap - 7/25 - CBS Radio news/talk WBZ scored a 6.9-6.3 finish in the Boston spring '08 Arbitron ratings race, tying Clear Channel CHR/top 40 WXKS (6.1-6.3) in persons 12+ for the top spot. The winter '08 12+ winner, Clear Channel rhythmic WJMN, dipped 7.0-6.2, but Entercom news/talk WRKO made a big jump, going 3.8-5.3. Pulling in to the fifth position, Greater Media AC WMJX moved back 5.6-5.2. Of note outside the top five, Entercom sports WEEI was off 5.3-4.8; Greater Media country WKLB soared 3.9-4.4, while classic hits sister WROR climbed 3.0-3.4; and CBS Radio hot AC WBMX was up 2.9-3.2. In the rock wars, CBS Radio classic rock WZLX slid 3.1-2.6, Entercom active rock WAAF improved 2.0-2.3, and CBS Radio alternative WBCN moved back 2.1-2.0. More from Radio And Records.....

Goldklank's Apology Letter Revealed - 7/24 - Ex-Channel 7/WHDH General Manager Randi Goldklank blames her infamous airport tirade on a boozy concoction and claims her actions “were completely out of character” in the apology letter she was forced to write to the state police. MediaBiz obtained her April 28 letter through a freedom of information request - her first personal apology. In her four-paragraph apology, Goldklank says she had consumed "some" alcohol before boarding the Boston-bound plane. The Boston Herald has more.....

7 & 56 To Launch HD News - 7/23 - Rumors have circulated for several months that Boston's NBC/CW duopoly would be going high-definition sometime in 2008. Boston television viewers will be seeing HD local news on Channel 7/WHDH and Channel 56/WLVI as early as next week - 7/28 or 7/29. Sunbeam-owned WHDH and WLVI will become the second New England television station to broadcast HD local news, behind Hearst-owned Channel 5/ WCVB, which has been broadcasting in HD since May 2007. Boston TV News has more.....

New MD At UMB - 7/23 - John Laurenti, who has had stints at WBOS, WZLX, and WHJY, is named music director at non-comm adult alternative WUMB in Boston.....

Hartford's Broadcast House Coming Down - 7/22 - Broadcast House on Constitution Plaza in Hartford - the former home of WFSB/Channel 3 and originally dedicated in the early 1960s as the home of WTIC-TV (3) and WTIC-AM (1080) and WTIC-FM (96.5) - is being torn down to make way for a new building, says the Hartford Courant.....

Jayna To WDAQ - 7/22 - The new midday host on Danbury CT's contemporary hit WDAQ (98.3 FM) is Jayna, who comes from WAZR in Harrisonburg VA.....

Mike Mullaney To XRV Mornings - 7/21 - Mike Mullaney lands the morning gig at adult alternative WXRV (92.5 FM) in Boston. He'll also be operations manager and program director. He leaves the assistant program director and music director slots at CBS's hot adult contemporary WBMX (98.5 FM). Mullaney worked at XRV back when it signed on in 1995. He replaces Ron Bowen, who left the morning gig at XRV last month.....

Cain & Carr Make Hall Of Fame - 7/18 - The National Radio Hall Of Fame at the Museum Of Broadcast Communications in Chicago has announced its 2008 inductees, and the list includes the late WHDH morning man Jess Cain, and WRKO afternoon host Howie Carr. An induction ceremony will take place in November.....

Kerry Collins Back To PRO-FM - 7/17 - After about 16 months in mornings at Citadel's rhythmic contemporary WWKX, Hot 106 in Providence, Kerry Collins heads back his old gig - nights at contemporary hit WPRO-FM. Where he did nights until March 2007.....

Herald Sports Reporters Join WEEI - 7/16 - From Radio Online: Entercom/Boston has announced that Boston Herald sports reporters Michael Felger and Rob Bradford are leaving the newspaper to join weei.com in a move that's meant to enhance the position of WEEI Radio Network's website. It all starts with enhanced coverage of the Red Sox playoff push and the 2008 Patriots season. The addition of Felger and Bradford comes on the heels of Tim Murphy's appointment as VP/general manager of weei.com. Felger, a veteran Herald sports reporter, has previously served as the New England Patriots' beat reporter, and as co-host of "Sports Tonight" on Comcast SportsNet. He will provide ongoing content for weei.com, including his weekly "Patriot's Report Card." Felger will also serve as a host on WEEI radio.....

61 To Launch Early AM News - 7/16 - FTVLive tells us that Hartford's WTIC/Channel 61, moving up the start of the "Fox 61 Morning Show" to 4:30 AM next month in its battle with, among others, WFSB.Channel 3. Channel 61 will also challenge Channel 3 and WVIT/Channel 30, in late-night news by adding an 11 PM ewscast. Tribune-owned Channel 61 is going extremely local, according to station officials. Its morning show, which now runs weekdays from 6 AM to 8 AM, will expand to 4:30 AM starting 8/4.....

Public Radioers Oppose Satrad Merger - 7/9 -

A batch of public radio organizations, including American Public Media, Public Radio International, WNYC/New York, and WGBH/Boston, have informed the Federal Communications Commissions that they oppose the satellite radio marriage of NYC's Sirius and DC's XM. "We believe that consolidating these two competing broadcasting operations will reduce the diversity of programming and choices available to consumers," they jointly commented. More from FMQB.....

7er Alleges Assault - 7/9 - Channel 7/WHDH sports reporter Julie Donaldson, who said she was injured in an assault last month, testified yesterday that her boyfriend threw her against a wall and punched her in the face. More from the Boston Globe.....

Former BCNer Nabs DC-Baltimore PD Post - 7/7 - Dave Wellington is the new program director at Clear Channel DC rocker DC101 and sister Baltimore alternative rocker WCHH, Channel 104.3. He comes from CBS Radio's alternative rock WBCN, where he worked four years.....

St. John Leaves B101 - 7/7 - Tom St. John leaves oldies WWBB in Providence for a techie job with Greater Media in Boston. He has been assistant program director and music director of B101.....

Bozo Is Dead - 7/4 - Larry Harmon, who turned the character "Bozo The Clown" into a show business staple that delighted children for more than a half-century, died Thursday of congestive heart failure. He was 83. Although not the original Bozo, Harmon portrayed the popular clown in countless appearances and, as an entrepreneur, he licensed the character to others, particularly dozens of television stations around the country. The stations in turn hired actors to be their local Bozos. More from AP.....

Former RKOer Found Guilty Of Murder - 7/3 - James Keown has been found guilty of the slow, poisoning murder of his 31-year-old wife. A Middlesex Superior Court jury has declared the former WRKO (680 AM) employee guilty of first-degree murder in Woburn. Judge Sandra Hamlin sentenced Keown to life in prison without parole, the mandatory sentence. There's more in the Boston Herald.....

Burlington Sees Red Over JMJ - 7/2 - The town of Burlington CT is trying to prevent the Archdiocese Of Hartford from using its radio tower on Johnnycake Mountain because of its recent decision to pull ecumenical programming from the airwaves. The town believes the transformation of WJMJ from an ecumenical station to an all-Catholic station violates a 1987 agreement between the town and the archdiocese over the use of the tower, First Selectwoman Kathleen Zabel said. More from the Hartford Courant.....

Rush Re-Signs - 7/2 - Righty talk radio titan Rush Limbaugh inks a new eight-year deal with Clear Channel-owned syndicator Premiere Radio Networks. The contract includes his three-hour daily show, the 90-second "Rush Limbaugh Morning Update," as well as promotions for "The Limbaugh Letter" and rushlimbaugh.com. Terms were not disclosed, but it's rumored to be worth $400 million in total, or about $38 million a year. Oh, Limbaugh gets a big write-up in this Sunday's NY Times.....

Older news goes to DCRTV's News Archive. Copyright Dave Hughes/DCRTV.....