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Mark Levin returns to WNTP 990 AM
- Thread starter jnkiii
- Start date
J
Jul
Guest
Don't get your hopes up that WPHT will bring back Rush. They would be foolish to do that.
Oh my God, the board has changed, but people STILL don't know how NOT to quote a post in a thread when it is the ONLY post in it! Doesn't make any sense at all! What is wrong with people?
Julius May (Be Wrong Again) said:
Off topic. Plus, consider the content of the post. Whether or not WPHT actually takes Rush back (they will), it certainly would not be a foolish thing for them to do. As discussed ad nauseum in several other threads.
Levin grew up in Cheltenham, hence his desire to be on this market.
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FredLeonard
Guest
I do it because I've had OPs get poster's remorse and come back and change the post or replace it with "whoops" or some such. I want to make sure it's clear what I replied to. The fact it annoys you is just frosting on the cake.
Interesting that Salem keeps cutting into their own line-up of hosts to take shows from outside - not always shows consistent with Salem's kinder, gentler, more civil, more Christian approach to conservative talk.
I realize that some people on this board are hopeful that a major station will carry Limbaugh but as was mentioned previously, Limbaugh is more of a liability than an asset.
Radio station owners that want to be able to wake up each morning knowing that their personalities won't put their foot in their mouth.
Rush has done it far too often giving many owners long lasting headaches.
Radio station owners that want to be able to wake up each morning knowing that their personalities won't put their foot in their mouth.
Rush has done it far too often giving many owners long lasting headaches.
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The internet can take care of destroying the minds of those who aren't careful in establishing the veracity of their media sources. Talk shows are, of course, opinion media, not strictly news sources, though the shows are supposed to be playing off of political news.
It is interesting that NTP is delaying their own Hugh Hewitt to carry Levin live at 6P. They did that when they debuted the secular talk format splitting Hewitt 6-7PM and 10 to midnight when Savage was fed live from 7 to 10P. But Levin's first run on NTP was delayed to a 9PM start. Maybe money speaks louder these days...
Levin's more of an independent voice than Hewitt, though both lecture on and practice constitutional law in their day jobs.
And so far it doesn't look like Savage will be cleared on NTP this time, unless Cumulus wants to settle for 3 to 5A where Savage was under previous syndication with TRN. Or maybe they'll pay to displace Medved at 3P?
It is interesting that NTP is delaying their own Hugh Hewitt to carry Levin live at 6P. They did that when they debuted the secular talk format splitting Hewitt 6-7PM and 10 to midnight when Savage was fed live from 7 to 10P. But Levin's first run on NTP was delayed to a 9PM start. Maybe money speaks louder these days...
Levin's more of an independent voice than Hewitt, though both lecture on and practice constitutional law in their day jobs.
And so far it doesn't look like Savage will be cleared on NTP this time, unless Cumulus wants to settle for 3 to 5A where Savage was under previous syndication with TRN. Or maybe they'll pay to displace Medved at 3P?
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We keep explaining this, and you never listen.
Ratings mean nothing. Billings mean everything. They couldn't sell spots in Rush to cover the carriage fees. Even with lower ratings, their current lineup is more profitable than Rush and Hannity were.
The only way they would bring Rush back would be if Premiere gave it to CBS free or at least much cheaper. Even then it would be iffy.
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FredLeonard
Guest
Dear Dittoheads: If Rush is such a great programming asset, how come IQ did not make it? And explain how WPHT got comparable AQH numbers and better billings without him.
When the IQ sale goes through, and Rush is not cleared in this market (or on some weak stick), let's see what happens to WPHT's numbers when they are the only game in town. I suspect WPHT is playing wait and see. We have no indication WPHT and Premiere are even talking. If WPHT gets the entire right-wing talk audience back, then they don't need to bother with Rush. If Rush on a weak stick manages to put a dent in WPHT's numbers after all, they can always get him back.
But Rush didn't do all that well on taking WPHT's audience with him. Even less well at taking advertisers with him.
Conservatives are supposed to be so big on business and they keep ignoring that radio is one.
When the IQ sale goes through, and Rush is not cleared in this market (or on some weak stick), let's see what happens to WPHT's numbers when they are the only game in town. I suspect WPHT is playing wait and see. We have no indication WPHT and Premiere are even talking. If WPHT gets the entire right-wing talk audience back, then they don't need to bother with Rush. If Rush on a weak stick manages to put a dent in WPHT's numbers after all, they can always get him back.
But Rush didn't do all that well on taking WPHT's audience with him. Even less well at taking advertisers with him.
Conservatives are supposed to be so big on business and they keep ignoring that radio is one.
R
RD Representation
Guest
Some posts in this thread have been moved to Take it Outside:
http://radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?653512-TIO-Levin-Returns-to-WNTP-990-AM
http://radiodiscussions.com/showthread.php?653512-TIO-Levin-Returns-to-WNTP-990-AM
Both stations, IQ and WNTP, will run Levin concurrently until K-Love takes over 106.9. Levin has even recorded announcements to run on IQ, saying, "Hey, soon you'll tune here to find me and I'll be gone. My new home is NewTalk 990, WNTP. Why not tune there now so you don't have to search for me later?"
This reminds me of when Westwood One sold WNEW-AM to Bloomberg. WQXR-AM, which became WQEW, was going to pick up on the adult standards format, and ran announcements on WNEW telling people to tune to 1560 to continue "hear music from the Great American Songbook."
Low Ratings and Cheap Talk
Captain and others would be wise to continue turning a deaf ear to poorly-reasoned emotional arguments.
True. But without ratings, you get less in billings unless your demographics improve. PHT just has significantly less in ratings after their calling card show was taken from them.
Pure speculation. You don't know that. If you did, you could cite at least one reasonable source. Even a 'somebody at PHT told me' would be better than an improbable conclusion bred by partisan constipation.
What we do know is that Premiere offered Limbaugh to IQ and IQ took him along with the other two Premiere hosts and several weekend shows. We also know that WPHT did not at any time announce that they were dropping Limbaugh. (That false premise came from the partisan cartoon squads. Do not be taken in by fake, huffy "news" blogs. Choose your media sources with care.)
What we can reasonably surmise is that WPHT had no plans to drop Limbaugh at the end of his contract even after ditching Hannity and Beck. This is a pretty safe bet because they had no one to fall back on even though Premiere announced they were pulling Limbaugh four months before his contract with PHT ended. The new local hosts weren't setting the world on fire then either.
Smerconish got no traction anywhere with his terrestrial syndication 'centrist' act which is why he's now safely tucked away gathering dust on satellite channel 124 along with raw speeches and contextless political press releases that make CNN and C-SPAN look positively exciting by comparison.
Upon losing the hapless Smerconish, 1210 scrambled to pull in Dick Morris who still doesn't sound ready for prime time. With national name recognition amongst conservative media audiences, he can't be coming cheap. It also belies the notion that 1210 was intent on steering away from any controversy.
Reason suggests that ratings-getter Limbaugh returns to 1210 after 106.9 signs off so that 1210 has an audience to sell to advertisers during Limbaugh and other 'safer' dayparts.
Emotion doesn't want to listen.
Captain and others would be wise to continue turning a deaf ear to poorly-reasoned emotional arguments.
Emotion. said:
True. But without ratings, you get less in billings unless your demographics improve. PHT just has significantly less in ratings after their calling card show was taken from them.
Emotion. said:
Pure speculation. You don't know that. If you did, you could cite at least one reasonable source. Even a 'somebody at PHT told me' would be better than an improbable conclusion bred by partisan constipation.
You don't know that either. The current lineup is not keep the ratings up. The post-Phillies numbers will likely prove instructive.Emotion. said:
What we do know is that Premiere offered Limbaugh to IQ and IQ took him along with the other two Premiere hosts and several weekend shows. We also know that WPHT did not at any time announce that they were dropping Limbaugh. (That false premise came from the partisan cartoon squads. Do not be taken in by fake, huffy "news" blogs. Choose your media sources with care.)
What we can reasonably surmise is that WPHT had no plans to drop Limbaugh at the end of his contract even after ditching Hannity and Beck. This is a pretty safe bet because they had no one to fall back on even though Premiere announced they were pulling Limbaugh four months before his contract with PHT ended. The new local hosts weren't setting the world on fire then either.
Smerconish got no traction anywhere with his terrestrial syndication 'centrist' act which is why he's now safely tucked away gathering dust on satellite channel 124 along with raw speeches and contextless political press releases that make CNN and C-SPAN look positively exciting by comparison.
Upon losing the hapless Smerconish, 1210 scrambled to pull in Dick Morris who still doesn't sound ready for prime time. With national name recognition amongst conservative media audiences, he can't be coming cheap. It also belies the notion that 1210 was intent on steering away from any controversy.
1210 and Premiere will negotiate a price satisfactory to each because each is motivated to reach a deal. Hopefully the astute reader can now see how silly and uninformed speculation about "iffy" and "free" looks. And yet we'll continue to hear it over and over again.Emotion said:
Reason suggests that ratings-getter Limbaugh returns to 1210 after 106.9 signs off so that 1210 has an audience to sell to advertisers during Limbaugh and other 'safer' dayparts.
Emotion doesn't want to listen.
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FredLeonard
Guest
Musichead: Pot (you) is calling kettle (Emotion) black.
You speculate. You have no source. And you have a clear animus to Smerconish.
In any case, time is passing and we shall see.
And as time passes, no station - 1210 or anyone else - is running "Rush is coming" promos.
You speculate. You have no source. And you have a clear animus to Smerconish.
In any case, time is passing and we shall see.
And as time passes, no station - 1210 or anyone else - is running "Rush is coming" promos.
Yes, that's what speculation is. I explain the reasoning behind my speculation and I don't make up data to suit an agenda.
Smerconish isn't off the air because of any animus I might have toward him. He's off because he didn't draw listeners and lost the ones he had from 1210 when he changed his political agenda. That rang fake with listeners, and they responded accordingly. Search on Smerconish and read some of the comments.
Indeed we will. 1210 would be sacrificing a large audience if they passed up the standard-bearer of their format. (They might even be courting another new competitor.)
T'would be akin to KYW forgoing traffic reports due to the cost. CBS knows that they make up that cost elsewhere with the increased listenership they get thanks to the traffic reports. 1210 is paying bucks to advertise Dick Morris on Fox News Channel and elsewhere. Limbaugh as a lead-in is built-in advertising for Morris and the format. Premiere knows this which is why they charge top dollar for Limbaugh.
I'm pretty sure 1210 understands this as well. Had IQ never dropped in for a visit, Premiere and 1210 would have negotiated and Limbaugh would have stayed on 1210 for another contract. It's likely that that negotiation is belatedly going on right now.
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FredLeonard
Guest
Musichead, you ignore the following....
Right-wing talk has an audience advertisers don't want. And many advertisers don't want to be associated with Rush or with the format, in general. The format has run it's course. The party is ending.
No matter how attached Bain Capital, which controls Clear Channel and other corporate types are attached to it. No matter how much the Babbits in station management and sales, and their buddies at the country club like (even if they don't actually listen). No matter what dittoheads post on message boards. The industry needs to come up with something new, or hang it up. It's over. Stick a fork in it.
So are traffic reports, for that matter. A good idea and innovative 55 years ago. Now useless.
Right-wing talk has an audience advertisers don't want. And many advertisers don't want to be associated with Rush or with the format, in general. The format has run it's course. The party is ending.
No matter how attached Bain Capital, which controls Clear Channel and other corporate types are attached to it. No matter how much the Babbits in station management and sales, and their buddies at the country club like (even if they don't actually listen). No matter what dittoheads post on message boards. The industry needs to come up with something new, or hang it up. It's over. Stick a fork in it.
So are traffic reports, for that matter. A good idea and innovative 55 years ago. Now useless.
Where is this? It must only be on Xfinity because I have never seen any of these on FNC on FiOS and Verizon has the bad local commercials just like Comcast.
I wonder if Limbaugh acts as a "loss leader" for some talk stations. Similar to what Wawa does with cigarettes: they sell them at the lowest possible cost allowed by law. Will that cause them to make money off of cigarettes? Possibly, but they'd have to sell them in volume. Now, what other benefit does Wawa have from doing this? They hope people, while they're there to buy cigs, buy their overpriced food, particularly beverages, that they make a huge profit on.
Limbaugh draws people to a station. It makes people aware of the station. Maybe while they're there, they'll check out other programs on the station. Oh, and those other programs are local, so the station can sell 18 minutes of spots an hour, compared to 10 or less if they're carrying syndicated product.
Look around the U.S.: While there are lots of examples of stations that program all syndicated conservative talk all day (Beck-Limbaugh-Hannity), there are also those that air only Limbaugh and surround him with local programs during the rest of the daylight hours. One needs to look only a little bit west to see an example of this: WEEU, Reading. Local 6 am to noon, then Limbaugh, then local 3 to 7 pm. No Beck, no Hannity, no third-string conservative syndicated host during the daytime.
This is why I think there is a good chance Limbaugh will wind up back on WPHT. They can keep all their current local daytime hosts, just decrease their shifts from four to three hours. By re-adding Limbaugh, PHT gets more cume.
This is also why I think Beck and Hannity won't be back on PHT. This template -- Limbaugh the only syndication from morning drive through midday and afternoon drive ... is a template many other talk stations are already using. Unless you're a Clear Channel talker like WAEB or WILM, in which case you go with all syndication except AM drive.
Hannity's syndicators have bigger problems to solve. They need to find replacement stations for him in the Cumulus markets he's losing in a little more than three months. Where CC already doesn't have a talk station in the market, they have a problem. Philly is just one market among many at the moment where they have a clearance problem for Hannity.
Limbaugh draws people to a station. It makes people aware of the station. Maybe while they're there, they'll check out other programs on the station. Oh, and those other programs are local, so the station can sell 18 minutes of spots an hour, compared to 10 or less if they're carrying syndicated product.
Look around the U.S.: While there are lots of examples of stations that program all syndicated conservative talk all day (Beck-Limbaugh-Hannity), there are also those that air only Limbaugh and surround him with local programs during the rest of the daylight hours. One needs to look only a little bit west to see an example of this: WEEU, Reading. Local 6 am to noon, then Limbaugh, then local 3 to 7 pm. No Beck, no Hannity, no third-string conservative syndicated host during the daytime.
This is why I think there is a good chance Limbaugh will wind up back on WPHT. They can keep all their current local daytime hosts, just decrease their shifts from four to three hours. By re-adding Limbaugh, PHT gets more cume.
This is also why I think Beck and Hannity won't be back on PHT. This template -- Limbaugh the only syndication from morning drive through midday and afternoon drive ... is a template many other talk stations are already using. Unless you're a Clear Channel talker like WAEB or WILM, in which case you go with all syndication except AM drive.
Hannity's syndicators have bigger problems to solve. They need to find replacement stations for him in the Cumulus markets he's losing in a little more than three months. Where CC already doesn't have a talk station in the market, they have a problem. Philly is just one market among many at the moment where they have a clearance problem for Hannity.
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