• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

It's official. RED APPLE MEDIA owns WABC.

CTListener said:
Sorry, that horse not only has left the barn, it's now on some Frenchman's dinner table.
Click to expand...

Re-read my post.

I never said it HADN'T left the barn. I'm not delusional. And I'm not even sure if came back in some "modern" form *I'd* listen to it, because again, re-read my section about modern DJs. Diarrhea mouths.

But the real question that I *wonder* is, if it came back in some way, would people accept it? I can't speak to that either because I don't know. Some people would argue yes - see NYRMB - but I'm not so sure. Either way, there's no program director that would try it in a major market so it's probably a moot point. Once again, I'm not delusional.

BTW, I truly believe American listeners really don't know what they want. People nowadays like to be told what they want. And they are convinced about what execs *say* is "good". "Hey, this guy says it's good so it must be good."

With regard to music, the recording industry will put out a bag of crap and play it everywhere a to convince everyone it's good. In reality, it's just an ear parasite, not music.
 
Last edited:
drksd4848 said:
But the real question that I *wonder* is, if it came back in some way, would people accept it?
Click to expand...

This is in part why there never was a Beatles reunion. The guys knew their experience was a moment in time. It happened the way it did because of circumstances that existed at that time, and those circumstances can't be repeated. A similar question is asked in religious circles about the second coming.
 
WABC weekend music?

CurtisNEPA said:
Maybe the new owner should consider adding oldies music to the weekends instead of infomercials, similar to what NJ 101.5 is doing. Bring back old jingles during their "Musicradio" heydays, and if possible, air some full-length airchecks that includes Dan Ingram, Harry Harrison, Cousin Brucie, and more.

No need to deal with old tapes... Jingles, uptempo hits of the '60s and '70s (and just a sprinkle of pop, not doo wop '50s) can be branded as WABC Music Weekends. Cousin Brucie won't come back -- and the other legends are frankly, unavailable. Find a couple of former Z100, WYNY and WPIX/Love Songs talents shows, in the NJ 101.5 vein. Celebrate the music but without having to sound like "Rewind."

Have it ready to go the first weekend of spring, 6am Saturday to 8pm Sunday. Make it sound like fun -- something you'd enjoy hearing in the car. And promote the heck out of it also being available on the app so you get full fidelity sound. The new owner says he grew up a fan of Musicradio, let's see if he likes the idea of his new acquisition being a respite from the angst of politics every weekend and carve out a whole new appeal.
Click to expand...
 
I hate to point this out, but the reason they do infomercials on the weekends is because they don't make enough money from their talk shows during the week to pay the bills.

The new owner knows this because HE DOES INFOMERCIALS. So I wouldn't expect him to replace all the infomercials with oldies music.
 
OldiesMaven said:
CurtisNEPA said:
Maybe the new owner should consider adding oldies music to the weekends instead of infomercials, similar to what NJ 101.5 is doing. Bring back old jingles during their "Musicradio" heydays, and if possible, air some full-length airchecks that includes Dan Ingram, Harry Harrison, Cousin Brucie, and more.

No need to deal with old tapes... Jingles, uptempo hits of the '60s and '70s (and just a sprinkle of pop, not doo wop '50s) can be branded as WABC Music Weekends. Cousin Brucie won't come back -- and the other legends are frankly, unavailable. Find a couple of former Z100, WYNY and WPIX/Love Songs talents shows, in the NJ 101.5 vein. Celebrate the music but without having to sound like "Rewind."

Have it ready to go the first weekend of spring, 6am Saturday to 8pm Sunday. Make it sound like fun -- something you'd enjoy hearing in the car. And promote the heck out of it also being available on the app so you get full fidelity sound. The new owner says he grew up a fan of Musicradio, let's see if he likes the idea of his new acquisition being a respite from the angst of politics every weekend and carve out a whole new appeal.
Click to expand...



Sorry, my friend. The only way that's going to happen is if you have the money to buy the time ... and WABC can get more than they are now with infomercials. Even then, nobody knows what RED APPLE MEDIA is planning. Please ... don't go bankrupt!! BTW, it has be tried before in shorter lengths. Not good.

Research the online radio stations. I'm pretty sure that you can find something that works for you.
Click to expand...
 
<<or 8-TRACKS, God bless them. Every one ended up unraveling in the car! GRRRRRRRRRR >>

I was a cassette guy, actually. Sad that a new owner enters the playing field and won't try and rock the boat. Infomercials might bring in money -- but they do ZERO to recycle audience. Fall asleep to WINS, you wake up with news pre-set on your radio. Fall asleep to LITE FM, you wake up with soothing music and a friendly host. Fall asleep to 710 or 770 on a weekend night. Hang on: YOU DON'T. You listen to something else. So come Monday morning, the start of a new work week and your radio is not ready for Len Berman or Bernie and Sid. It's set to what you tuned into when you TUNED AWAY from the infomercials. What do you want, Mister New Owner? Short term bucks or an investment in your future??
 
Cumulus has zero sense of innovation or original thinking. They'd be the last operator to do that -- and then there was all the debt (some that remains, even post chapter 11). That company would not be risk taker.

Now there's a new kid on the block. Let's see if he is willing to bring positive attention to his property. Doing the "same old, same old" is not going to make waves or create buzz on platforms like this.
 
OldiesMaven said:
Cumulus has zero sense of innovation or original thinking. They'd be the last operator to do that
Click to expand...

They took lots of risks on lots of things. That's how they got $2 billion in debt.

There's nothing innovative or original in playing oldies. There's also no money in it unless the listeners pay for it. That's why no one else wants to do it.
 
OldiesMaven said:
Cumulus has zero sense of innovation or original thinking. They'd be the last operator to do that -- and then there was all the debt (some that remains, even post chapter 11). That company would not be risk taker.

Now there's a new kid on the block. Let's see if he is willing to bring positive attention to his property. Doing the "same old, same old" is not going to make waves or create buzz on platforms like this.
Click to expand...

Well, RED APPLE MEDIA is going to really have to go to work with Monday through Friday before much happens on the weekend. That's going to take quite a bit of time. Don't expect much to happen Saturday or Sunday, if anything, right away. Even then, that 48 hours will have to produce a lot of $$$$. Oldies ain't it and I can't see management tossing out existing paying customers unless they don't pay the bills.

For those looking for it, a weekend oldies audience probably won't stay over for Bernie and Sid on Monday either.
 
>>They took lots of risks on lots of things. That's how they got $2 billion in debt.>>

THEY forgot that when you forget to focus on listeners, all the "right sizing" and "pooling of resources" is for naught. The target audience tuned them out. Public radio grew. All news remained steady. (Yes, sat-rad siphoned off some former WABC listenership, too).

Red Apple is not $2B in debt. They spent $12.5 million to get a seat at the table. Do they want to grow the business, or are content with a financial blueprint that failed the previous owner? That's the challenge.
 
OldiesMaven said:
(Yes, sat-rad siphoned off some former WABC listenership, too).
Click to expand...

Unlikely that number is at all significant, since there are only some 30,000,000 SiriusXM subscribers in the entire nation, with only a small fraction of them in range of WABC's signal, and most of those NYC subscribers were never WABC listeners in the first place. Satellite radio is still very much a niche, and people choose to pay for it for many reasons, including commercial-free music and comprehensive sports coverage, neither of which have anything to do with the existing audience for any right-wing talk station anywhere, let alone WABC.
 
OldiesMaven said:
Do they want to grow the business, or are content with a financial blueprint that failed the previous owner? That's the challenge.
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? Do you even know? They aren't going to "grow the business" by playing oldies, if that's what you think.
 
TheBigA said:
What are you talking about? Do you even know? They aren't going to "grow the business" by playing oldies, if that's what you think.
Click to expand...

Right. What's the purpose of building a listener base that can't be monetized? Plus, who is going to listen to music on AM anyway?
 
OldiesMaven said:
Yes, sat-rad siphoned off some former WABC listenership, too
Click to expand...

Not much... for the reason already mentioned and the fact that NYC has always had the lowest in-car listening of any market in the US due to the huge usage of public transportation.

If any factor has made New York City radio listening different from all the rest of the US, it is the much smaller number of in-car listeners.
 
DavidEduardo said:
If any factor has made New York City radio listening different from all the rest of the US, it is the much smaller number of in-car listeners.
Click to expand...
Actually, there have been some of us in NYC who have subscribed to satellite radio.

In February 2003, I chose XM instead of Sirius because I did not (and still don't) have a car, and XM had a boombox that I could use at home. Later, I bought listener-invented kits that made XM receivers portable. That was before XM began selling official portable receivers. It was a great experience to be a part of a small but devoted group of XM listeners in NYC. During the last ten years, I have been using less expensive music streaming alternatives; therefore, I no longer subscribe to satellite radio.

Back to the original topic, there has not been any reason for me to listen to WABC, and the new ownership is not going to change that.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom