WLW, Cincinnati’s Bill Cunningham Wrapping TV Show.  According to a report by WVXU.org’s John Kiesewetter, longtime WLW, Cincinnati afternoon drive personality Bill Cunningham is declining to renew his deal with Tribune Broadcasting to produce three more seasons of his eponymous TV show that airs on the CW Network.  Citing the hectic schedule he has to keep to do both the television program and his WLW and Premiere Networks Sunday evening radio shows, Cunningham told WLW listeners he wants to spend more time with his grandchildren.  Cunningham was recruited for the television show by Tribune president of strategic programming and acquisition Sean Compton, a former Clear Channel programming executive who joined Tribune when former Clear Channel Radio president Randy Michaels became chief of Tribune.  The first season of the show was syndicated by Tribune but seasons two through five aired on the CW Network.

Bold Gold Media Group CEO Vince Benedetto Interviewed on ‘Up Close and Far Out with Michael Harrison.’  One of the rising young stars of radio station group ownership, Vince Benedetto, is the guest on this week’s installment of the PodcastOne international hit “Up Close and Far Out with Michael Harrison.”  Benedetto, who just turned 40, bought his first station at 29.  In slightly more than a decade, he has built Bold Gold Media Group into a chain that owns and operates nine radio stations, fifteen broadcast frequencies, and multiple digital media platforms throughout Eastern Pennsylvania and Upstate New York.  Benedetto is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, a former Air Force captain and Air Force OSI special agent, where he worked on counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism and felony level investigative efforts for the Department of Defense.  In 2013, Bold Gold was nominated for a Pennsylvania Governor’s ImPAct Award for Entrepreneurialism and Vince was recently named by RadioInk magazine as one of the “Top 30 Under 40 Rising Stars in the Radio Industry.”  Benedetto also established and runs a non-profit foundation providing support for young people entering broadcasting and studying the U.S. Constitution.  In the podcast, Harrison and Benedetto discuss the extremely positive aspects of radio ownership that still exist in 2016 and analyze broadcast radio’s transition into the digital era.  They examine the differences between the Boomer and Millennial generations (as well as Generations X and Y) and Benedetto applies his experience in the US intelligence community to the principles of operating a media business as well as commenting on the nation’s present positioning in the struggle against international terrorism.  To listen to the entire podcast please click here or click on the “Up Close and Far Out” player box located on every page of Talkers.com and RadioInfo.com.

The Presidential Race, the Battle Against Islamic State, Putin’s NATO Threats, Zoo Gorilla Killing, the Memorial Day Holiday, and the NBA and NHL Playoffs Among Top News/Talk Stories Over the Weekend.  The activities of the candidates for president and the weekend’s Libertarian Party debate; the ongoing fight against Islamic State and the push by Iraqi forces to reclaim Falluja; Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to prevent U.S. missiles from being places in NATO countries Romania and Poland; the case of the rare gorilla killed in the Cincinnati Zoo after a child had entered the animal’s enclosure; the Memorial Day holiday and the weekend’s NBA playoff and the start of the NHL Finals were some of the most-talked-about stories on news/talk radio over the weekend, according to ongoing research from TALKERS magazine.

Tags: Bill Cunningham, Cincinnati, CW Network, Michael Harrison, podcast, PodcastOne, Premiere Networks, Sean Compton, Talkers Magazine, Tribune, Up CLose and Far out, Vince Benedetto, WLW

Category: Front Page News, Industry News