News Radio
News Media Reacts to Justice Stephen Breyer Retiring
The news media world is reacting to Breyer retiring and the next person Biden should appoint to replace him.

Published
4 months agoon
By
Eduardo Razo
NBC News’ Pete Williams reports that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will be retiring from the bench. As a result, President Joe Biden will have the opportunity to nominate the first justice of his presidency.
Breyer’s announcement of his retirement comes months after speculation whether his decision to step down for the express purpose of letting Biden and Congressional Democrats uphold the ideological balance of the court.
The news media world is reacting to Breyer retiring and the next person Biden should appoint to replace him.
SiriusXM host Joe Madison has already the ideal replacement to replace the outgoing Breyer.
It’s finally time to see a Black woman on the Supreme Court. #breakinghttps://t.co/nQsu1XLZCK
— Joe Madison (@MadisonSiriusXM) January 26, 2022
Radio host Erick Erickson states that Biden needs a young judge and that Democrats won’t get too far left.
Breyer had largely been a pro-business liberal Justice. With a 50/50 Senate, the left is probably not going to be able to get someone too far left of Breyer on those issues. One thing — Clarence Thomas is younger than Breyer and served longer. Biden needs a young judge.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) January 26, 2022
MSNBC’s Kyle Griffin states that the president has the opportunity to appoint someone that can serve for several decades.
President Biden now has the chance to appoint a successor to Breyer who could serve for several decades on the Supreme Court. https://t.co/o1JSBYXj3O
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 26, 2022
Fox New’s Guy Benson believes that if there’s no ideological shift on the court is at stake, the appointment could be a smooth transition.
Breyer replacement process could be relatively LOW octane, especially if Biden nominates a mainstream liberal jurist. No ideological shift on the Court is at stake & more than a few Senate R’s may conclude this isn’t not a smart fight to pick. Could be smooth or even bipartisan.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) January 26, 2022
Radio host Clay Travis believes Breyer’s retirement is sending a strong signal to the Democrats.
Stephen Breyer is retiring from the Supreme Court sending a very strong signal that Democrats aren’t confident in retaining the Senate this fall.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) January 26, 2022
Ben Shapiro believes that Breyer’s departure is a sign of what will come at the midterm elections later this year.
Justice Breyer can read tea leaves. And he knows November will be a wipeout for the Democrats, so he's getting out while the getting is good.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) January 26, 2022
Chip Franklin made it known that he had Justice Breyer retiring before Clarence Thomas.
Who else wishes Clarence Thomas was retiring from the Supreme Court instead of Justice Breyer? ✋
— Chip Franklin.com (@chipfranklin) January 26, 2022
Liz Wheeler wants Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema to think hard when it comes to replacing Supreme Court Justice Breyer.
I hope Manchin & Sinema don’t forget that Biden called them white supremacists when they refused to abolish the filibuster. Think HARD about that during hearings to replace Supreme Court Justice Breyer.
— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) January 26, 2022
Keith Olbermann believes that a minority appointment will be blocked, but he ponders who will be stopping that nomination.
Let's see what nonsensical minority mob rule bullshit @LeaderMcConnell makes up for trying to block the SCOTUS nominee unless it's Kimberly Guilfoyle or the Q Shaman or Kyrsten Sinema.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) January 26, 2022
Eduardo Razo
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
News Radio
WOLB’s Larry Young Recovering After Having His Leg Amputated
WOLB’s Larry Young has been off the air since April 10.

Published
20 hours agoon
May 19, 2022By
Ryan Hedrick
A popular Baltimore radio host is recovering after having his leg amputated due to an allergy triggered by his Type 2 diabetes. According to the Baltimore Sun, WOLB’s Larry Young has been off the air since April 10.
“I knew I had a problem,” Young told the paper. “I didn’t know it was as severe as it was. When I got to the hospital, the doctors gave me two options: amputation or death. That is a terrible thing to hear.”
Young has been hosting the morning show on the Urban One-owned station for nearly three decades. He reportedly is planning to retire at the end of the year.
“Larry is a wonderful person, and we all miss him terribly,” said WOLB GM Howard Mazer. “I’m sure all of our listeners are looking forward to his return.”
Young is no stranger to health scares. 18 years ago, he was rushed to the hospital after suffering a heart episode. Young said at the time, doctors gave him less than a 1% chance of surviving.
“The word ‘no’ is not in Larry’s vocabulary,” Mazer said. “He will go out of his way to help someone, no matter what.
Former mayor Catherine Pugh will fill-in during Young’s absence.
Ryan Hedrick
Ryan Hedrick serves as the Co-Host of the Morning News Express at WFMD. He started in radio at 17 years old, doing sports and news for his high school radio station. He then spent several years at WFMD in Frederick, MD before joining WBEN in Buffalo, NY. In 2016, while working at WIBW-AM in Topeka KS, Hedrick earned the Kansas Association of Broadcasters (KAB) award for Major Market enterprise reporting. Hedrick grew up in Southern California where he attended Cal State University of Northridge. He can be found on Twitter @SureToCover.
News Radio
NPR Inks Three-Year Partnership with Take 1
Under the agreement, which started in January 2022, Take 1 is delivering NPR with exact, XML-based transcriptions for over 30 daily and weekly programs and limited series.

Published
1 day agoon
May 18, 2022By
Eduardo Razo
NPR has announced a new partnership as the radio company reached a three deal with Take 1 which will transcribe its news, analysis, and podcast programming.
Under the agreement, which started in January 2022, Take 1 is delivering NPR with exact, XML-based transcriptions for over 30 daily and weekly programs and limited series. Furthermore, the company will provide the stats with turnaround times varying from a few days to just a few hours.
“Almost all of my searches for transcribers show most U.S. providers cannot handle NPR’s high volume, high accuracy, and rush deadlines at an affordable price, and competitive businesses based abroad are unfamiliar with the intricacies of American-English accents, slang, idioms, and cultural references,” Laura Soto-Barra, NPR RAD chief (Research Archives & Data Strategy) said.
“NPR poses an added challenge due to the many specialized subjects we cover, from world politics to science and medicine. Still additionally, the tech requirements and the format that allows the transcript to be ingested in the NPR systems present additional challenges not all companies can resolve. We’ve known the Take 1 team for many years, we’ve used their translation services in the past, and they were one of the very few I knew that could deliver against this brief.”
The multipurpose core of NPR’s transcripts signifies that accuracy and fast turnarounds are equally crucial to the company. In addition to being dispersed to NPR’s network of member stations, the transcriptions that Take 1 constructs are posted on the NPR website to make the content available.
“Almost all of my searches for transcribers show most U.S. providers cannot handle NPR’s high volume, high accuracy, and rush deadlines at an affordable price, and competitive businesses based abroad are unfamiliar with the intricacies of American-English accents, slang, idioms, and cultural references,” says Laura Soto-Barra, NPR RAD chief (Research Archives & Data Strategy).
“NPR poses an added challenge due to the many specialized subjects we cover, from world politics to science and medicine. Still additionally, the tech requirements and the format that allows the transcript to be ingested in the NPR systems present additional challenges not all companies can resolve.” She continues, “We’ve known the Take 1 team for many years, we’ve used their translation services in the past, and they were one of the very few I knew that could deliver against this brief.”
Eduardo Razo
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
News Radio
WBEN’s Tim Wenger Recounts Covering Buffalo Mass Shooting as News Broke
“I received a phone call from a source that I have within the Buffalo Police Department who said he thought it would be a good idea if we had someone at the Tops Market on Jefferson Ave,” Wenger said.

Published
2 days agoon
May 18, 2022By
Eduardo Razo
This past weekend, an alleged White Supremacist went into a Buffalo supermarket in a predominantly black neighborhood and killed ten people.
One of the news media outlets leading the coverage in Buffalo was Audacy “Newsradio 930” WBEN. The radio station jumped in to fill the nation and its residents as to what went on.
In an interview with Inside Radio, Brand Manager Tim Wenger, talked the website through its coverage as soon as the news broke about the shooting.
“I received a phone call from a source that I have within the Buffalo Police Department who said he thought it would be a good idea if we had someone at the Tops Market on Jefferson Ave,” Wenger said.
“I did a little bit of research while I was on the way and discovered there was an active shooting situation (…) We had heard eight, and then nine and then 10. It just kept escalating over the course of a couple of hours on scene before finally, there was official word from authorities in the form of a press conference.”
Wenger then discussed how the story was developing, keeping the entire station on high alert to what was coming out and why they needed to be on top of the information.
“This happened in a really close-knit community where people know each other. It’s not a typical urban environment where everybody just kind of goes about their business,” Wenger added.
“This is a community that fought for that store to be there years ago. And we’re just trying to give everyone a voice and not decide for anybody what needs to happen but listen to everybody and let the community decide what needs to happen.”
Eduardo Razo
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.