Clear Channel Releases Q1 Financials: CCM+E Up 2%.  This morning Clear Channel released financial data for the first quarter of 2014 and the Clear Channel Media + Entertainment group ? radio stations, Premiere Networks, Total Traffic + Weather, iHeartRadio and related live events ? saw income rise 2% compared to the same quarter a year ago.  The company says ?Media + Entertainment revenue rose $14 million, or 2% compared to the same period of 2013, driven primarily by higher revenues at our traffic and weather business reflecting new product offerings and the impact of strategic sales initiatives, as well as higher national sales fueled by growth in the telecommunications, healthcare and automotive categories, and higher digital advertising revenue benefitting from an increase in total listening hours on our iHeartRadio platform. Partially offsetting these revenue gains was a decline in our local revenues.  Operating expenses were up $26 million during the first quarter of 2014 versus the same period in 2013, due primarily to higher compensation expenses driven by investments in our national and digital sales forces, and increased production costs for events such as the iHeartRadio Country Music Festival, as well as greater digital streaming and performance rights expenses driven by increased total listening hours and revenues.  OIBDAN decreased $13 million, or 6%, to $200 million in the first quarter of 2014.?

WPHT Personalities to Debate GOP Party, Conservative Movement Future. The WPHT, Philadelphia ?Talk Radio 1210? air staff will be together on the same stage for the very first time today (Thursday, 4/24) at 5:00 pm to participate in ?Super Talk Debate? at Victory Beer Hall?s XFinity Live in South Philadelphia.  Personalities Dom Giordano, Dick Morris, Gary R?nel, Chris Stigall, and Rich Zeoli will discuss/debate subjects such as the future of social issues in American politics; foreign policy intervention; the GOP?s view on marijuana legalization; and how Republicans can win the Senate in 2014 and the White House in 2016.  The format will be presidential debate style.  Each participant will be at a podium, make opening and closing statements, and answer questions from the audience and moderator Larry Kane.  Rick Grimaldi and Dr. Anthony Mazzarelli will host the post-debate show at 6:30 pm.  By voting online, listeners will decide the winner.  Voting will continue until next Monday (4/28) at 5:00 pm when Morris and R?Nel will announce the results.

Wilkes-Barre Radio Personality Bud Brown Retires from WILK.  Longtime Wilkes-Barre radio pro Bud Brown calls it a career after signing off from Entercom?s news/talk WILK-AM/FM yesterday morning (4/23) after 40 years on the air.  PAHomepage.com reports Brown is a native whose career began in New Jersey before he returned home to work at WBRE and then WILK.  Brown tells the site, ?I got along with all my coworkers.  I respected them.  I felt mutual respect returning and I think that more than anything else is what I treasure most about all the things about all the days on the air.?

Russian Aggression in Ukraine/Obama vs Putin, 2016 Presidential Race-Mid Term Elections, the FCC and Net Neutrality, President Obama?s Asia Visit, and U.S. Drone Strikes in Yemen Among Top News/Talk Stories Yesterday (4/23).  Russian?s involvement in the unrest in Ukraine and analysis of President Obama?s handling of Vladimir Putin; speculation about candidates in the 2016 presidential election and the looming mid-term elections this year; controversy over the FCC?s ?open internet? policy to be announced today; President Obama?s visit to Asian nations excluding China; and the state of al Qaeda after U.S. drone strikes on terrorist targets in Yemen were some of the most-talked-about stories on news/talk radio yesterday, according to ongoing research from TALKERS.

Tags: 2014, Bud Brown, Clear Channel Media & entertainment, OIBDAN, Q1, retires, Revenue, TALKERS, WILK-AM/FM, Wilkes-Barre

Category: Front Page News, Industry News