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iHeart worries were overblown?

W

Wimmmex

I remember people were shouting from the rooftops that WBZ and WRKO were going to be decimated by iHeart.

WBZ would turn into all syndicated talk programs...and the news would be killed off.

WRKO would simply rebroadcast Beck, Rush, Hannity, Levine, C2C, etc.

None of this has happenned. If anything WBZ sounds brighter, with some new life pumped into it, local talk continues 7PM to 5AM.

WRKO has not added more syndicated talk....and they (finally) got rid of Dave Ramsey.
 
Wimmmex said:
I remember people were shouting from the rooftops that WBZ and WRKO were going to be decimated by iHeart.

WBZ would turn into all syndicated talk programs...and the news would be killed off.

WRKO would simply rebroadcast Beck, Rush, Hannity, Levine, C2C, etc.

None of this has happened. If anything WBZ sounds brighter, with some new life pumped into it, local talk continues 7PM to 5AM.

WRKO has not added more syndicated talk....and they (finally) got rid of Dave Ramsey.
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I know I probably should just let this go, but I do miss Rod Fritz and, especially, Michael Coleman on WBZ, and that familiar voice of Bill Smith on WRKO. While I think Nicole Davis does a superb job during her mid-day news shift, I also think Jim Ryan was pretty darned good with his Traffic On The Threes.
 
So far, other than the endless iHeart promotions and some unfortunate personnel decisions, they seem to have left WBZ alone. I don’t listen to WRKO so I can’t comment.

However if they’re smaller market stations are any indication they initiate changes slowly over many years hoping long time listeners don’t notice.

IHeart has decimated once well respected news/ talk stations in Worcester and Providence. They still bill themselves as news stations but their anything but...

Just yesterday morning, WTAG had the same prerecorded traffic report during the 5 a.m. news that they have been running forever. Then they followed that up with a prerecorded weather forecast from Friday morning. Do they think listeners don’t notice?

From reading some of the posts in this site, it sounds like WRKO and especially Talk 1200 have many of the same issues.
 
DavidZ said:
IHeart has decimated once well respected news/ talk stations in Worcester and Providence. They still bill themselves as news stations but their anything but...
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How well have they managed NewsRadio 560 WHYN?
 
DavidZ said:
The Jim Polito show from WTAG is simulcasted in morning drive so IMHO...just as bad.
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iHeart is notorious for ditching local favorites and airing out-of-town talent on many of their stations, including on their two prizes in Boston, viz, KiSS108 and Jmn94.5, so if these two were not spared, why should any other possession of theirs?

Being newly acquired by iHeart must make the employees feel like frogs in a pond who don’t realize the water is slowly being heated. (Not sure I made the exact analogy I wanted but I hope you get the picture.)
 
According to posts on boston-radio-interest, iHeart apparently laid off their longtime worker (or at least CBS's) Top Of The Hour Ding (chimes) from WBZ. Previously, this sound would be heard right at the top of the hour but given delay for HD, etc., it can't totally be accurate.
"Synchronize your watches!" One can find the current time (time dot gov) online anyway. Usually consulted on the days the clocks move forward or backward.

Stations like WCBS, the old WEEI newsradio 590, WBZ, and KCBS were known to do the top of the hour ding. KCBS still may. WTIC has the letter V in morse code at the top of the hour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mc3jiAgA0rU
about 1 min and 9 sec in
 
raccoonradio said:
According to posts on boston-radio-interest, iHeart apparently laid off their longtime worker (or at least CBS's) Top Of The Hour Ding (chimes) from WBZ.
Click to expand...

TTBOMK that chime belonged to CBS, not WBZ. It was part of the package that was fed from the network that included the CBS News Radio cast.

As I recall, WBZ was originally part of the NBC Radio Network. So I don't think that chime was used on WBZ until the 90s.
 
My impression so far is they are trying to tone down the news anchors more into reading the news without a lot of dramatic pauses or other flair that sometimes was present before. Frequently it was used to make some unspoken editorial comment on what was just read. Rod Fritz was more high energy, dramatic vs Nicole Davis calmer type presentation. I know Joe Matheui left before iHeart but Josh is on the calmer side and doesn't throw in the editorial pauses and comments like Joe did. Maybe Nicole works for less or there are other factors but in general it seems like they are going for that somewhat toned down sound.

Will they keep "turning up the heat slowly" - who knows but a lot of what iHeart did when the company was first put together may not be the same playbook they are using now. Time will tell but a lot of the station gutting took place 10 years ago or more and once done there probably wasn't much reason seen to change it. Also now they have a much stronger push on the iHeart application and the podcast component of it needing content that local shows can provide there is potentially and extra way to justify the local overnight shows. With these more recent acquisitions maybe they will tend more toward status quo if the station is making its numbers. Looking at the stations on the Cape purchased a couple years ago - they have hardly changed at all. If anything WCOD seems to have a couple new DJ's during hours were they didn't have any before and WXTK a couple extra people doing news. Of course these stations always ran lean but they certainly could have gutted weekend local/non-paid time talk shows on WXTK or gone syndicated in AM drive on a couple of the music stations. They did play the technical game with 101.5/101.7/101.9 to boost 101.7 but who wouldn't if they had the chance.
 
raccoonradio said:
Stations like WCBS, the old WEEI newsradio 590, WBZ, and KCBS were known to do the top of the hour ding.
Click to expand...

WBBM even inserted a tone at the bottom of the hour.

As you mentioned, the HD delay makes time chimes inaccurate. Why do HD stations continue using them?

TheBigA said:
TTBOMK that chime belonged to CBS, not WBZ. It was part of the package that was fed from the network that included the CBS News Radio cast.
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WBZ never broadcast the CBS Radio TOH newscast.
 
If the station knows the amount of delay, they can easily set their clocks ahead to compensate for the delay.
 
spt87 said:
Time will tell but a lot of the station gutting took place 10 years ago or more and once done there probably wasn't much reason seen to change it.
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Keep in mind that (in my rough estimation) local revenue for radio dropped 25-30% from it's high about 10 years ago.

Local revenue has never recovered....so you are right, there isn't "much reason seen to change it." (*""it" being the spending model.)

We had a major reset about 10 years ago and we are now living in the new reality of radio.

Values have plummeted, and there are more sellers than buyers right now.

I think iHeart knows that if they kill any life that WBZ has right now, it will never recover and it is DOA. Their strategy is to keep some life in this station while it has value and can bill reasonably.

My $.02
 
TheBigA said:
Correct, but as a CBS O&O they had access to the chime. There were several stations that ran the chime, then their local newscast. But it was a CBS chime.
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Maybe so, but it sounded like the old Group W TOH "beep" that was also heard on WINS. It did not sound like the "ding" that precedes the CBS Radio newscast: CBS Radio News Sounder. (Sorry for all the technical jargon.)
 
True - it seems once an AM is killed it is pretty hard if not impossible to revive it. There have been exceptions but not many. I think the bigger strategy is to get the iHeart app. everywhere including on car dashboards to keep the stations relevant if/when listening shifts from AM/FM to internet streaming. It is actually pretty cool now that on Xfinity I can talk in the remote and have WBZ come up streaming thru the cable box and playing on my stereo.
 
Kemosabe said:
Maybe so, but it sounded like the old Group W TOH "beep" that was also heard on WINS. It did not sound like the "ding" that precedes the CBS Radio newscast
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Does WINS still use it? These sounds are all trademarks, just like the call letters. WBZ-AM uses those letters under license from CBS Corporation. If the beep belonged to Westinghouse, it also belongs to CBS Corporation, and may not have been included in the sale.
 
TheBigA said:
TTBOMK that chime belonged to CBS, not WBZ. It was part of the package that was fed from the network that included the CBS News Radio cast.

As I recall, WBZ was originally part of the NBC Radio Network. So I don't think that chime was used on WBZ until the 90s.
Click to expand...

I think you're both way off on this.

Yes, the TOH time tone (not "chime") does appear to have disappeared, but I don't think it belonged to CBS. I used to listen to WBZ back in the 60s, when they had NO network affiliation (other than their own Group W), and the TOH time tone was there even then.

My understanding was that the tone was inserted at the transmitter, not at 1170 SFR, since the transmitter is not subject to all the digital processing and time delay. That means listeners on the iHeartRadio app do NOT ever hear the tone.

It's a WBZ tradition. C'mon, iHeart, bring it back.
 
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