Tag Archives: media database

PR Newswire’s Audience Research Group continually updates the media database that powers our MEDIAtlas service, and our popular Microlists, which let you target niche audiences on the fly.  Here’s a summary of recent media and blogger updates.

A new year means out with the old and in with the new, at least for ABC Network (http://abc.go.com). The network launched a new show in its afternoon lineup called “The Revolution”. The show replaces “One Life to Live” in the network’s 2:00 p.m. ET time slot. ‘The Revolution’ is hosted by Ty Pennington, Tim Gunn, Harley Pasternak, Dr. Jennifer Ashton and Dr. Tiffanie Davis Henry. Broadcasted from ABC Times Square Studios, these six experts will help women transform aspects of their lives including body, health, style, mind and environment. Each week, the show highlights one woman over the course of five months. Executive Producer is J.D. Roth. You can follow The Revolution on Twitter http://twitter.com/therevolution or on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/therevolutiononabc.

The Washington, DC region received a late news gift in January with the addition of a second all-news station to the area. WNEW-FM, 99.1 on the dial, is now broadcasting news 24/7. Michelle Dolge is the News Director and you can send news to this CBS station via email: desk@wnew.com. Amy Morris and Bill Rehkpf are the Morning News Anchors. The station is on the web here: http://washington.cbslocal.com/station/wnew-99-1-fm/ and tweets here: https://twitter.com/WNEWNews

Univision (http://www.univision.com) will now be providing English subtitles to their telenovelas in an attempt to attract the non-Spanish speaking audience. Televisa has countered this move by teaming up with Lionsgate to create new English telenovelas with the same Spanish flare.

There is no doubt that the Hispanic population has grown in the US, and that their votes are really important. Univision’s Anchor Maria Elena Salinas was given the first interview with President Barack Obama after his State of the Union Address, beating out ABC’s Diane Sawyer for the interview.

Dylan Byers on Media is a newly created blog produced by The Politico (http://www.politico.com) which will feature a combination of politics and Media. Political Media Reporter Dylan Byers (dbyers@politico.com)  is the author of the blog. The blog will serve as a replacement for the Ben Smith blog, which ceased continuation when Ben Smith recently accepted a position as Editor-in-Chief at BuzzFeed. For more information, visit http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/  You also follow Dylan Byers on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/dylanbyers

First on television and now in a magazine, Reality TV stars are getting their own weekly magazine. Reality Weekly (http://www.realityweeklymagazine.com) launched last month but so far has not been as successful as hoped. But it’s still early and publisher American Media is not giving up just yet. The Editor-in-Chief is Richard Spencer. Send him tips at tips@starmagazine.com. Reality Weekly is a sister publication of Star Magazine.

While still only in the testing stage HGTV Magazine (http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv-magazine/package/index.html) is a hit! The newest Hearst publication has already produced solid subscription numbers and Hearst will make the decision whether or not to keep the magazine in its line-up shortly. The magazine will parallel the programming on the HGTV Television Network. The Editor-in-Chief is Sara Peterson (speterson@hearst.com) and the Associate Editor is Rachel Jacoby (rjacoby@hearst.com).

The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News (http://www.philly.com) are raising their rates at the newsstand. The increase will be 25 cents. The Inquirer and Daily News will now cost a dollar each during the week.

Colorful Meteorologist John Bolaris has mutually parted ways with Philadelphia’s FOX 29, WTXF-TV. Bolaris recently was interviewed in Playboy about being robbed in Miami last year by two professionals. The station apparently did not like the way he represented the station in the article. You can read about it here: http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/entertainment/celebrities_gossip/John-Bolaris-no-longer-employed-by-Fox-29.html . The meteorologist is famous for his missed call when he was at WCAU-TV in Philadelphia and wrongly predicted the snow “Storm of the Century”. His blown call at the time forced him to move on to a new gig.

Condolences to the family of retired CBS Correspondent Richard Threlkeld. He was recently killed in a car crash. He was 74.

Going forward, KNBC-TV will be known as NBC4 Southern California (http://www.nbclosangeles.com). The re-branding is part of the station’s makeover in an effort to boost ratings and standings among local stations.

Los Angeles Daily News Columnist Dennis McCarthy is retiring from the newspaper business after 40 years of service.

Geraldine Baum has bid farewell to the Los Angeles Times. Baum had been with the paper since 1989 and was most recently New York Bureau Chief. Tina Susman will take over as the new Bureau Chief.

OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network (http://www.oprah.com/own) has decided to part ways with long-time Oprah Executive Lisa Erspamer. Erspamer who has worked with Oprah for 18 years will be replaced by Discovery Channel executive, Rita Mullin.

Veteran newsman George Lewis has announced his retirement. Currently the Senior Technology Correspondent at NBC Television Network and MSNBC/Microsoft-NBC, Lewis began working for NBC in 1968. He started his career covering hard news and his resume includes coverage of some of history’s biggest stories. Among them: the Vietnam War, Tiananmen Square, Operation Desert Storm, the Iranian hostage crisis, the Exxon Valdez oil spill as well as two Olympics and the infamous O.J. Simpson trials.

Time.com’s (http://www.time.com) Executive Director Catherine Sharick (catherine_sharick@timeinc.com) has been promoted to Managing Editor. Sharick joined Time.com in 2002 as Web Producer. The timing coincides with Time.com’s launch of Time Business. This vertical will be overseen by Scott Medintz and will cover subjects such as Wall Street, trends, small businesses and more. Other Time.com verticals include Ideas, Entertainment and Newsfeed and Lightbox.

The Conde Nast empire is planning to expand. The company has committed to 1,138 million square feet of office space in the new World Trade Center. They have agreed to a 25-year lease before the project is even finished. The expected completion date of the tower is sometime in 2014.

Meredith, publisher of Better Homes and Gardens reports a loss in revenues from $36 million, compared to last year at, $42 million. Despite the decrease in profits, the circulation revenues increased – online orders for print magazine subscriptions doubled to 500,000, an increase from 2011.

The Chicago Tribune (http://www.chicagotribune.com) will begin offering voluntary buyouts to newsroom staffers in an effort to trim down costs due to financial difficulties. The buyouts will be available to all editorial staff with the exception of top departmental management.

Toledo television stations WTOL-TV (CBS) (http://www.wtol.com) and WUPW-TV (FOX) (http://www.foxtoledo.com) will combine their efforts in sharing news, access to studios, master control, technical facilities, maintenance and promotional efforts.

The Miami Herald (http://www.miamiherald.com) has just announced its soon to be new home located on the grounds of the former U.S. Southern Command Headquarters in Doral, FL. Publisher and President David Landsberg has made the announcement after having signed the lease at its new address located on 3511 NW 91st Avenue, which will soon be renamed One Herald Plaza at Westpointe Business Park. The changes are said to take place some time in May of 2013.

Former Miami Reporter at WSVN-TV, Rene Marsh (Rene.Marsh@turner.com), joins CNN Newsource as a National Correspondent. She will be based in the Washington D.C. bureau.

CNN – Cable News Network announced the promotion of Rick DiBella (rick.dibella@turner.com) who has been promoted to Executive Producer. Prior, he served as a Senior Broadcast Producer and a Senior Producer for “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer”. Also making moves is former Bloomberg Correspondent Lizzie O’Leary (lizzie.oleary@turner.com), who has joined the CNN Network as Aviation and Regulation Correspondent. Charley Keyes steps down from his position as Senior National Security Producer. He retires after 24 years of being with the network. On another note, the network welcomes Flora Zhang (flora.zhang@turner.com) as a New York-based Opinion Editor. She recently served as a Co-Editor for The New York Times blog called “Room for Debate”.

The Seattle Times (http://www.seattletimes.com) announced plans last month that at least 20 employees were going to be laid off throughout the company. This number includes 5 newsroom staff members. Another 10 to 12 layoffs were said to be coming later in the year as well.

Back Porch View (http://www.backporchmagazine.com) is a new quarterly magazine from the Flathead Valley Montana region. The magazine features articles about family life, frugal living, sustainable living and work-at-home enterprise.  Chris Friar is the Editor: crisfriar@yahoo.com.

Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, CA) — The McClatchy Co. announced the consolidation of its five California newspaper’s copy desks to the Sacramento Bee (http://www.sacbee.com). The move is expected to create 20-30 jobs at the Bee.

Sacramento’s Capitol Weekly, a magazine focused on California government and politics, is no longer producing its print publication. They will continue online only for now, and can be found at: http://capitolweekly.net . John Howard is the Editor: news@capitolweekly.net

WVUE-TV‘s Jennifer Hale is pulling double duty and adding Sports Reporting to her resume. In addition to Reporting and Anchoring the news for the local New Orleans FOX affiliate, Hale is covering NFL games for FOX Sports. Jennifer is on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenHale504

Khloe Kardashian Odom, the newest high-profile resident of Dallas, TX, is now hosting a midday show on KDMX-FM. She and husband Lamar, who plays Forward for the Dallas Marvericks, moved to Big D in December 2011. Khloe is on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/KhloeKardashian.

KHOU-TV (http://www.khou.com) in Houston, TX, has added new social media features to its iPad application. Facebook and Twitter links are now embedded in the news app to create the full social media experience for the user. Also, since adding these features, the average time spent browsing the site has increased.

Javier Garcia has been named General Manager of US Hispanic Business & Operations for Yahoo.

Luis Fernandez-Rocha has been named Senior Vice President of Telefutura after the resignation of German Perez-Nahim.

ImpreMedia and its six publications are still at a crossroads. While the staff has been working without settling a contract since May 2010, there is now word that Argentine newspaper La Nacion is trying to purchase ImpreMedia.