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iHeart WONK's DC

AMRocks said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjtNT0S1Pbw

Using an HD-2 signal and 104.7 translator.

It's probably a good idea. News and Talk are HUGE in DC. iHeart wants a piece.

Unfortunately, I have NO idea what a "WONK" is, (although they try to explain it on that highly produced video.) I think they made it up.
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Sigh. Best radio station in the area, gone.

And if you've never heard the word "wonk" then you've not been paying attention. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wonk

- Trip
 
"Wonk" is a Clintonism; it's "know" spelled backward. Fortunately, it appears to have faded from common usage, unlike the invented active verb "grow" as in "grow the economy." (One expands the economy. The economy grows as a result. One does not "grow the economy.")

This Wonk-FM sounds like a promotion for an IHeart webstream. IHeart broadcasts most if not all of its music streams on HD channels, I assume for royalty purposes. The Wonk translator likely exists for promotional and clearance purposes, not for ratings. I can't imagine too many people in the D.C. market are clambering to hear snippets of Geraldo and WLW's talkers on a daily basis.
 
American University in DC has been using "wonk" in their slogan for a long time. It might be enlightening to see their explanation of the term, and why they think it is "uniquely Washington". https://www.american.edu/ucm/wonk-campaign.cfm
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
American University in DC has been using "wonk" in their slogan for a long time. It might be enlightening to see their explanation of the term, and why they think it is "uniquely Washington". https://www.american.edu/ucm/wonk-campaign.cfm
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. I think we can conclude that the term has great meaning for the intended audience, even if it is not as widely understood in the rest of the nation.

Perhaps this is a good example of a station that understands its local market?
 
Checking out WONK FM I've heard bits of conservative talk radio from across the nation, all saying the same things pretty much. Yawn. WMAL, and to a lesser degree WWRC, already have this covered.

There goes any audience the small 104.7 signal had, Radio Sputnik at 105.5 will probably have better (but still very low) numbers.
 
To iHeart's credit, for some reason unlike most of their radio stations, the stream for this one opens and starts playing immediately with one click.

I Googled "WONK-FM," clicked on the link, https://www.iheart.com/live/wonk-fm-7311/, and without the usual having to wait 10-15 seconds for all the third-party crap to load and sit through a video pre-roll add, the station just started playing.

That's the way internet streaming should be - 1) make it as simple as possible for the listener to access, 2) get the listener engaged, 3) THEN sell the listener something. And the advertising should be AUDIO to reach listeners in cars, joggers, etc. who aren't looking at their screens.

WONK seems to be an interesting concept relying on input from iHeart stations from around the country.
 
JBraddock said:
"Repurposing content." It's all the rage.
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Absolutely. If we're in the content business, and content is king, then there's nothing wrong with repurposing it. How many times have people watched old TV shows? If you do a great show, or a great bit, make it available in different ways so people can hear them on demand.
 
After listening to WONK-FM this morning from 5 to 6 am I have to retract everything I said in my first post.

FWIW, this morning the stream behaved just like all iHeart radio streams and it took +/- 30-sec. to get the content streaming.

But the biggest issue is the content.

First, the anchor was trying to be "entertaining" by adding cutesy little comments like, "Yea! Oh-Oh! Oh-No!" etc. It's the same kind of vamping done by the morning traffic person on WMAL and Kennedy on Fox News. They sound like little children trying to get attention. It's the same kind of annoying delivery that I believe helped sink the all-news FM station that was tried in NYC a few years ago.

But the biggest problem is that the station doesn't have a consistent sound. Talk has a rhythm to it. It takes listeners awhile to "get into" a talk show which is why you can't judge a show by its first few weeks of ratings. The problem with WONK is that the talk styles from the various affiliates are so different that they don't flow well from one another. By the time you've adjusted to one discussion, the next one is so different that it takes awhile to adjust.

This morning WONK played some short clips from a couple of stations, then three long segments from the WOR morning show. And since the second and third WOR clips were from after the original WOR commercial breaks the hosts set up the topic all over again.

So WONK sounds very uneven and disjointed to me. Not a good listen. As with any talk format I'll try to give it a chance by listening a bit more, but I have my doubts.
 
wadio said:
First, the anchor was trying to be "entertaining" by adding cutesy little comments like, "Yea! Oh-Oh! Oh-No!" etc. It's the same kind of vamping done by the morning traffic person on WMAL and Kennedy on Fox News. They sound like little children trying to get attention.
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Did you ever watch Talk Soup on E!? That's what this is based on. That show had a professional comedian as the host. Trying to be entertaining? Yes I understand it's been a while since talk radio attempted in any way to be entertaining. Usually they're attempting to be authoritative. That's part of the problem. Talk radio lost it's way.

wadio said:
But the biggest problem is that the station doesn't have a consistent sound. Talk has a rhythm to it.
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That's because it's not one guy talking for four hours. It's a bunch of unrelated bits. It's like comparing a Greatest Hits album to an original properly sequenced album. Two different things. This station isn't attempting to be WMAL. It's designed to be something different. It sounds like they've succeeded at their goal. You just don't like it. But it wouldn't surprise me if we see more of these stations around the country, because talk radio needs to be refreshed and reinvented.
 
I don't know how much I agree with you about needing time to get into a topic or a host. I think it's just fine for a program to whip around.

For example, in sports talk for the most part you spend 8-12 minutes on a topic, take a break, and come back with a new topic. 4 topics an hour. One of my gripes with sports talk is that the same host hour after hour can get stale. So maybe taking 10 minutes of Dan Patrick and mixing it with 10 minutes of Rich Eisen and 10 minutes of Jason Smith could be appealing.

But I'm not sure how much of the sports talk example applies to news/talk. Since the news talk hosts seem more monolithic in their thinking/talking points.
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
But I'm not sure how much of the sports talk example applies to news/talk. Since the news talk hosts seem more monolithic in their thinking/talking points.
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Then again sports talk is entertaining, and appeals to a wider demographic, while talk radio has become one guy talking about one subject endlessly. And the cable news channels have done the exact same thing. Meanwhile there's a lot of news that doesn't get discussed. People need an alternative to the endless trump talk.
 
TheBigA said:
Did you ever watch Talk Soup on E!? That's what this is based on. That show had a professional comedian as the host. Trying to be entertaining? Yes I understand it's been a while since talk radio attempted in any way to be entertaining. Usually they're attempting to be authoritative. That's part of the problem. Talk radio lost it's way.
Click to expand...
Says you. Talk radio's ratings are fine in most markets, and those stations, mostly AM, are going to serve that audience what they want until they're gone. That's about all they can do. Trying to soften up substance for the kids by putting M.C. Chucklehead into the mix isn't going to do it. Talk Soup was light take on fluff news. That's not what talk radio does well today. If IHeart can build something out of this mess, more power to them. But repurposing content takes effort. You can't just plunk chunks of it down and hope for the best.

It's like comparing a Greatest Hits album to an original properly sequenced album. Two different things. This station isn't attempting to be WMAL. It's designed to be something different. It sounds like they've succeeded at their goal. You just don't like it.
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Have you actually listened to the station? Or are you just pontificating from 30,000 feet? Successful greatest hits collections are carefully sequenced for maximum listenability. The best ones don't just plunk the material down in chronological order.
 
JBraddock said:
Says you. Talk radio's ratings are fine in most markets, and those stations, mostly AM, are going to serve that audience what they want until they're gone.
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And this is an alternative to all that. People in DC have multiple choices for talk. This is something different. What's the problem? One station diverges from the official format talking points, and regular listeners don't like it. No surprise there. Maybe there is another way to do talk besides what everyone else is doing. This is a step in that direction.
 
JBraddock said:
Talk radio's ratings are fine in most markets, and those stations, mostly AM, are going to serve that audience what they want until they're gone.
Click to expand...

Talk radio's ratings are, for the most part, composed of folks over 55.

A good example is WGN in Chicago... in 25-54, it is not even in the top 25... and that's in a market driven substantially by agency business that ignores 55 and over. And now, even in 12+, it is down to an average of 12th to 13th.

And billing is off 40% in the last 7 years.

Even often mentioned KFI is down to 7th in 12+ and 19th in 25-54, using a three book rolling average.

That's not "fine".
 
DavidEduardo said:
Talk radio's ratings are, for the most part, composed of folks over 55.
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What it really comes down to is attention span. Older retired people can devote 4 hours to listen to Rush or a particular host. Younger folks have less time, and want their media to get to the point quicker. Rush can spend 20 minutes building his case. That's too long for a younger listener. Assuming the younger listener even cares what Rush's point is. So having a station that plays the essence of a talk show, the hit version if you will, might work better for those who don't want to listen to an entire show.
 
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