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Will Cumulus Renew Savage's Contract?

G

Gregg.

Michael Savage is hinting that his Cumulus contract may not get renewed. According to Chicago radio blogger Rich Lieberman, Savage has been giving out messages on his show that people can get him on his website, Facebook or Twitter, if he's "not here." Lieberman attributes this speculation to Cumulus' money problems.

But the truth is, quite a few Cumulus Talk stations are not carrying his show anymore, including KABC Los Angeles, WLS Chicago and WMAL-AM-FM Washington. WJR Detroit postpones him till 11pm and only runs two hours. WABC NYC also runs him for only two hours, 3-5pm. WABC has been adding a few new Westwood One syndicated shows, from Chris Plante and Ben Shapiro.

So could Savage's days be numbered at Westwood One?


http://richliebermanreport.blogspot.com/2018/04/is-cumulus-screwing-with-michael-savage.html
 
He's been an outlier in the syndication world for a while, and I'm not sure if he would prefer being on his own, outside of the Cumulus system. In other words, the parting could be mutual, and the bankruptcy could just provide a convenient opportunity for both parties.
 
Because of the time slot when Savage is live (3pm eastern), not many stations in the eastern or central time zones air him live. Any station that can afford a local host in PM drive will air a local host, any station that can't afford a local host will go after Hannity first.

I don't see much downside for WW1 to canning Savage and replacing him with, let's say a duo of Sarah Palin and Paul Ryan.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
I don't see much downside for WW1 to canning Savage and replacing him with, let's say a duo of Sarah Palin and Paul Ryan.
Click to expand...

They really haven't been taking that route lately. More likely they'll promote an afternoon driver at one of their stations. Preferably someone under the age of 50.
 
Financially, Cumulus (and WW1) is on the ropes. Their best move would be to lowball Savage. If he takes it, great. If not, they can promote a younger (and less expensive) host.

You know what consumers have a lot of these days? Choices.
So do advertisers.
And so do talk radio programmers. If Savage were getting it done business-wise, stations like KABC, WLS, WMAL, etc. would still be running him. They've got choices, and so does Cumulus/WW1.
 
mrkadison said:
If Savage were getting it done business-wise, stations like KABC, WLS, WMAL, etc. would still be running him. They've got choices, and so does Cumulus/WW1.
Click to expand...

The interesting thing is that even though KABC is getting awful ratings, they'd rather spend the money on local hosts than run syndication. That says a lot.
 
mrkadison said:
Financially, Cumulus (and WW1) is on the ropes. Their best move would be to lowball Savage. If he takes it, great. If not, they can promote a younger (and less expensive) host.

You know what consumers have a lot of these days? Choices.
So do advertisers.
And so do talk radio programmers. If Savage were getting it done business-wise, stations like KABC, WLS, WMAL, etc. would still be running him. They've got choices, and so does Cumulus/WW1.
Click to expand...

I used to record his 3rd hour online, but I stopped because he rarely did more than 1 segment of the 3rd hour before playing back his first hour for the remainder of the show.
 
I remember when Savage was with his previous syndicator, his 3rd hour consisted on a guest doing a monologue with someone throwing wild tracks of Savage saying things like "That's unbelieveable" in. No interaction with the guest.
 
Cumulus probably could find something to fill the slots Savage would vacate, but I think they'll offer him less than he's getting and try to keep him. I have no idea what he makes from his radio program, but Cumulus tape delays him in many markets.
 
gr8oldies said:
I remember when Savage was with his previous syndicator, his 3rd hour consisted on a guest doing a monologue with someone throwing wild tracks of Savage saying things like "That's unbelieveable" in. No interaction with the guest.
Click to expand...

I wonder why he gripes about WABC not carrying his 3rd hour? He also takes shots at Curtis Sliwa for being live and local. (during what would be his 3rd hour)
 
umfan said:
Cumulus probably could find something to fill the slots Savage would vacate, but I think they'll offer him less than he's getting and try to keep him. I have no idea what he makes from his radio program, but Cumulus tape delays him in many markets.
Click to expand...

It's interesting how we all, self included, use terms that no longer reflect reality... like "tape delay".

I wonder how many Millennials know what "tape delay" means. :rolleyes:
 
I would think most millennials know what "tapes" refer to (and probably experienced audio cassettes and VHS in their childhood), and would understand the concept of "tape delay" even if it's not in the most literal sense. Maybe once we get into "generation Z", it's a different story.
 
TheBigA said:
The interesting thing is that even though KABC is getting awful ratings, they'd rather spend the money on local hosts than run syndication. That says a lot.
Click to expand...

You're referring to KABC's Mon-Fri schedule, yes? Because KABC's weekend schedule is littered with Purity Products and local/national shows paying for placement. (Which also says a lot.)
 
I forgot to mention Atlanta, where Savage is not on 106.7 WYAY or Dallas, where Savage is not on WBAP but on Cumulus' second tier talk station, 5000 watt 570 WLIF.

NYC: WABC 770...3-5pm.
LA: KABC 790...Does not air. (Heard on Salem's 870 KRLA.)
Chicago WLS 890...Does not air.
San Francisco KSFO 560...Noon-3pm (Flagship station.)
Dallas WBAP 820...Does not air. (Heard on Cumulus' 570 KLIF.)
Atlanta WYAY 106.7...Does not air.
Detroit WJR 760...11pm-1am.

It looks like Cumulus thinks Ben Shapiro is the rising star in the Westwood One line-up, even though he only does one hour each weekday. WABC bumped Curtis Sliwa's 5pm show to air Shapiro. Curtis still co-hosts Noon-3pm with Rita Cosby. And Shapiro is now heard in Chicago at 9pm. WLS took an hour away from John Batchelor to get Shapiro on the schedule.
 
Ben Shapiro is awful.

Management thinks they can pander to a young audience by putting a young person in the chair. It doesn't work. Think Andy Dean and the other guy who was on WNYM who's name I can't recall.

OTOH, Buck Sexton is a relatively young talk show host who does an excellent show out of NYC. Naturally he's not on in NYC but sounding good on some small town affiliates. He's not a whiny, fast-talking hack.

WABC needs creative people over there running the show and finding hosts people will actually want to listen to.
 
wadio said:
WABC needs creative people over there running the show and finding hosts people will actually want to listen to.
Click to expand...

10 million people a month listen to his podcast, so obviously people want to listen to him.

You don't. That's OK. You don't have to listen to him. You have lots of other choices.
 
I should add that my post was in the context of AM RADIO where listeners aren't used to hearing people talk at 200 words per minute. That's not likely to change no matter what management hopes. The demo is what it is, in large part due to the ancient medium.

BTW, where does the 10 million podcast listeners per month stat come from? I wasn't able to find any hard numbers, only positions. It appear that Shapiro went from #2 on iTunes in August 2017 (probably due to the news of his campus controversies) down to #43 this month.

http://www.itunescharts.net/us/artists/podcast/the-daily-wire/podcasts/the-ben-shapiro-show/

And part of that number may be due to subscription feeds. Doesn't necessarily mean people are actually listening.
 
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