News Audio

MPR Reporter Marie Combs Resigns After Editors Kill Story

“Combs said she wrote a draft and presented it to legal counsel for review and that the story was determined to be well-sourced.”

Published

3 years ago

September 16, 2020

Ryan Hedrick

A veteran Minnesota news reporter abruptly resigned after she accused her station of spiking a story she had written about her co-worker’s alleged sexual misconduct.

Reporter Marianne Combs said she spent two and a half months investigating allegations made about a DJ at her Minnesota Public Radio sister station, 89.3 The Current.

Combs said she communicated with eight women all claiming that DJ Eric Malmberg sexually manipulated and psychologically abused them.

The story was first reported by the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Combs wrote on Monday that the women encountered Malmberg while he worked at other stations including the Cumulus Media combo of Classic Rock 92.5 KQRS and Rock “93X” KXXR.

“I also interviewed the directors of a summer church camp who told this DJ he was no longer welcome to volunteer there because of his inappropriate behavior with teenage girls,” Combs wrote in a Facebook post.” I found out that in June he was fired from another job where he worked with children; that organization is now conducting an investigation into his time there.”

Combs said she wrote a draft and presented it to legal counsel for review and that the story was determined to be well-sourced.

“My editors have failed to move forward on the story. They have countered that the DJ’s actions were, for the most part, legal, and therefore don’t rise to the level of warranting news coverage,” Combs said.

Combs won an award in June for her reporting on sex abuse cases at Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis.

Minnesota Public Radio publicly fired Malmberg Tuesday reversing earlier support.

“MPR has made the decision that the audience of The Current is best served by a programmatic change,” the release stated. “As a result, Eric Malmberg will no longer be a DJ on The Current. Our hosts have to be able to attract an audience that wants to listen to them and trusts them and over the last 36 hours those conditions have changed for Malmberg.”

Meantime Combs said she her resignation will serve as a “catalyst for positive change.”

Minnesota Public Radio said they were “blindsided” by Combs’ resignation.

Ryan Hedrick

Ryan Hedrick works for WIBC in Indianapolis as a Morning News Anchor/Digital Content Producer. Prior to moving to Indy, he served as Assistant Program Director and Co-Host of the Morning News Express at WFMD. His career also includes stints at News Talk 103.7 FM in Chambersburg, PA, Sirius XM in Washington D.C., WBEN in Buffalo, NY, and WIBW-AM in Topeka KS where he earned the Kansas Association of Broadcasters (KAB) award for Major Market enterprise reporting in 2016. To connect with Ryan, find him on Twitter @SureToCover.

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News Audio

Terry Foxx Named Director of Talk Programming at iHeart San Antonio and Austin

Published

4 hours ago

October 2, 2023

BNM Staff

(Photo: Terry Foxx)

iHeartMedia has announced Terry Foxx has been named the Director of Talk Programming for clusters in San Antonio and Austin.

Foxx will be “responsible for redefining” the news and sports talk stations in the Texas markets, which includes News Radio 1200 WOAI and Ticket 760 in San Antonio, and AM 1300 The Zone in Austin.

The San Antonio stations currently serve as the flagship for the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs and the nationally syndicated news/talk program The Joe Pags Show. In Austin, iHeartMedia serves as the flagship station of the University of Texas Longhorns athletic programs.

“I’m very excited to work with iHeartMedia and its group of stations in Austin and San Antonio, along with the great people that help make it successful. As a native Texan, I grew up listening to WOAI. I’d like to thank Jason McCollim, Chris Berry, Brian Gann, and Brad Hardin for this incredible opportunity,” said Foxx.

“In Terry Foxx, we’ve found more than an expert, we’ve embraced a true team player who values respect as deeply as we do,” iHeartMedia San Antonio and Austin Senior Vice President of Programming Jason McCollim added. “His commitment to bettering our processes is evident, but it’s his unique blend of diplomacy, empathy, and patience in every interaction that truly sets him apart. With Terry, it’s not just about work, it’s about building lasting relationships.”

Foxx joins iHeartMedia after previously serving as the Director of Programming and Audience at KUT-FM in Austin, the public media station owned by the University of Texas. Foxx has numerous years of experience in the sports radio format, leading stations in Charlotte, Atlanta, and Pittsburgh.

BNM Staff

News Audio

Glenn Beck: Why Would GOP Choose Fox Business to Host Debate?

“Fox Business has about 12 people watching. About eight of them on the second floor of the Fox News Corp.”

Published

5 hours ago

October 2, 2023

BNM Staff

(Photo: Glenn Beck)

The second 2024 Republican Presidential Debate continues to be a point of contention in conservative media circles for a bevy of reasons. TheBlaze founder Glenn Beck is taking issue with the network the debate aired on.

During a TV special late last week, Beck questioned why the Republican National Committee would choose Fox Business Network, which is in an estimated 10 million fewer homes than Fox News, to host an event.

“Why would the GOP want this on Fox? Not Fox News, Fox Business, which has about 12 people watching. About eight of them on the second floor of the Fox News Corp,” Beck said. “Well, no, nope, nope. Sorry. I don’t know if Murdoch’s watching anymore. So maybe there’s 11 people watching that.”

Beck’s comments came after saying Dana Perino was “the best person on there”, before criticizing the anchor for her involvement with the Clinton Global Initiative in the leadup to the debate.

Glenn Beck added that he believed both the Republican National Committee and Fox News are “going down the crapper”, using the debate as his proof.

The longtime radio host also shared his sympathy for Fox News being paired with Univision by the RNC, adding that candidates were put in a difficult situation by the accent of the network’s Ilia Calderón.

“I felt bad for the candidates because I could barely understand what she was saying. And if any of those candidates said ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that’, they would have immediately been called racist of course by the mainstream media,” concluded Beck.

BNM Staff

News Audio

Bill O’Reilly: People Watched Tucker Carlson Interview Because Debates Are Obsolete

“Seven people on the stage yelling at each other? It’s just tedious.”

Published

6 hours ago

October 2, 2023

BNM Staff

A photo of Tucker Carlson and Bill O'Reilly

(Photo: Tucker Carlson)

Tucker Carlson sat down with Bill O’Reilly in an interview designed to compete against the second 2024 Republican Presidential debate. O’Reilly is claiming victory in the battle.

During an appearance on The Ross Kaminsky Show on KOA 850 AM, Bill O’Reilly argued that a small percentage of Americans are actually interested in the debate format.

“It’s obsolete. These things don’t matter anymore. Look, about 9 million people watched the debate. In the last election, about 155 million people voted for President. Less than 5% tuned in for the debate. When Tucker Carlson interviewed me on X this week, 25 million people watched the interview. So 9 million watched the debate and 25 million watched two guys just bloviating,” O’Reilly said.

“The American people are tired of this. The only debate that would matter would be one on one Republican against one Democrat. Seven people on the stage yelling at each other? It’s just tedious.”

While publicly available analytics claim 25 million viewed the interview between O’Reilly and Carlson, many have taken umbrage with the way X, formerly Twitter, counts “views”. Allegations against the social media platform claim X counts placements in timelines as views, rather than actual interactions with the video content.

O’Reilly continued by noting that if he were the leader of a television news organization, he would scrap the debate format and would “assign my toughest interviewer to interview all the candidates one-on-one for about 20 minutes” as an alternative.

BNM Staff