"iHeart happens." I just don't like when "iHeart happens" on 'BZ.
-
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
Howie Carr WRKO
- Thread starter valleyradiodx
- Start date
Tired Of It All
Banned
"iHeart happens" waaaaaay, waaaaay too much!
The RKO stream is still running promos for 97.7 The Beat.
I find that if I listen to an iHeart program through their app, it's not uncommon for it to cut into a program segment and shove an ad at me.
Also, sometimes the stream stops, and starting it up again makes you sit through the introductory ad(s) again. It would be nice if their ads just lined up with the ad breaks that the over-the-air programming has.
One time I noticed that the bottom of the hour break at :30 had gone well past the :45 minute mark and was still running ads when it was supposed to end at :45, so I switched to another station carrying the same show and the next segment was already underway.
Also, sometimes the stream stops, and starting it up again makes you sit through the introductory ad(s) again. It would be nice if their ads just lined up with the ad breaks that the over-the-air programming has.
One time I noticed that the bottom of the hour break at :30 had gone well past the :45 minute mark and was still running ads when it was supposed to end at :45, so I switched to another station carrying the same show and the next segment was already underway.
Up until about a month ago, for WBZ's stream, at least, the stream and on-air feeds were identical. Recently, however, a lot of the sponsored ads for on-air are replaced on the stream by those blasted (I'm being polite) iHeart promos, which, as you rightly point out, are not even well synchronized with the on-air commercial feed. Both CBS and its unworthy successor Entercom were notorious for this and I hated it.
This happens when their app experiences a network hiccup and has to 'reconnect' to the stream. By reconnecting the server on their end 'sees' you as a new connection and kicks off the introductory ads again, its not smart enough to realize you're reconnecting.
Tired Of It All
Banned
By the time Jesse comes on, whatever it was that he talked about at 9 or 10 in the morning when he was live, is now old news. I don't get why RKO wants to air a show at 7 at nite that aired at 9 or 10 (or whatever time he comes on live) in the morning, it doesn't make sense. At least when Pags came on at 7 his first two hours were live and then a replay of his first hour from 9 to 10.
Why?
because it is cheap to air and after 7:00PM nobody is listening to WRKO since their night pattern stops at 495 to the west on a good night
Howie used to talk about how "you can't get us west of Kenmore Sq after dark". Other stations were added to his
network including WCRN; when WRKO was Sox flagship Howie would say people could tune to WCRN to get his
last hour due to Red Sox pregame on 680--and in case of earlier sunsets it was a good opportunity for those to the west.
WEEI 850 had/has similar problem though they're just full ESPN at this point. "Hello! I am wondering what happens to
WEEI in the evenings..." a listener once called, referring to the loss of signal (the call was replayed later as part of a promo for
a night show...)
As for the being pre-empted by Red Sox games, the Sox had RKO as a flagship for awhile--2007 World Champions bumper sticker
had RKO logo on it. Of course competition came in 2009 with The Sports Hub. By a strange co-incidence, about 2 weeks after
Sports Hub's debut, WEEI suddenly became the Sox flagship (they had done occasional games) as Entercom wanted to boost their sports reputation
on one station instead of "we'll put the games on RKO and help them get listeners for their talk shows..." 2 years after
that, of course, they went FM.
So much for signal problems for some Red Sox listeners after dark.
network including WCRN; when WRKO was Sox flagship Howie would say people could tune to WCRN to get his
last hour due to Red Sox pregame on 680--and in case of earlier sunsets it was a good opportunity for those to the west.
WEEI 850 had/has similar problem though they're just full ESPN at this point. "Hello! I am wondering what happens to
WEEI in the evenings..." a listener once called, referring to the loss of signal (the call was replayed later as part of a promo for
a night show...)
As for the being pre-empted by Red Sox games, the Sox had RKO as a flagship for awhile--2007 World Champions bumper sticker
had RKO logo on it. Of course competition came in 2009 with The Sports Hub. By a strange co-incidence, about 2 weeks after
Sports Hub's debut, WEEI suddenly became the Sox flagship (they had done occasional games) as Entercom wanted to boost their sports reputation
on one station instead of "we'll put the games on RKO and help them get listeners for their talk shows..." 2 years after
that, of course, they went FM.
So much for signal problems for some Red Sox listeners after dark.
Tired Of It All
Banned
LOL, yep, good point!
Yep, 50,000 watts doesn't get you very far these days. Exhibits A, B, C, D: WEEI, WCRN, WXKS, WRKO, respectively.
Kelly talks about what happened yesterday (@9am). Pags talks about what happened today (@6pm). Like you said, by the time 7pm rolls around, its stale. Might as well listen to a week-old podcast at that point.
Now that Pags is on at 10, I only catch his show on weekends when I'm in the car and I can listen to the podcasts. At least right now... when I go back to the office full time and I'm a captive audience again I will be looking for something to listen to between 10 and 11 and again from 1-3, so I may catch his podcasts then rather than over the weekend when I'm out and about in the car running errands. I can't listen to Pags live from 6-9 as I'm busy putting my 2 year old daughter to bed during those times.
When I listen to RKO in my car, its through my phone and the bluetooth connection to my radio, not the radio itself. Listening to the radio itself drives my wife bonkers with the static (she's clearly never going to make it as a ham operator
) so when we started dating 8 years ago so I started getting in habit of simply streaming radio through my phone rather than using the radio.I've always been curious about a station's streaming numbers, and the demo of those listening through the stream vs. listening on a dial. I imagine @ 56 I am probably at the upper end of those comfortable with the technology listening to a stream - although some technology makes it easier (my father @ 82 can now tell Alexa to listen to the howie carr show, although he would have had no idea how to set it up had I not done it for him, and my mom @ 78 has learned how to watch her soaps through the NBC app on the iPad I gave her).
I would think streaming would play a larger role in a station's listening audience these days, and consequently you'd want to tailor your programming not just for those stuck in a car with a radio. However, perhaps the converse is true -- you don't care that much since with streaming you can't possibly compete against all the other stations out there streaming as well, since your market is no longer 'local' but 'international' and streaming is a low percentage of the total listenership.
The Metro ends right about there too.
It is near impossible to monetize streaming, especially outside of your MSA.
If you are on a streaming platform, they may sell ads and give you a cut, but as far as airing local commercials nationwide it can get sticky WRT talent fees and music licensing if I had to venture a guess.
But with the quality of Howie's spots lately, he is back to spackle and paste quality ads with some of those snake oil products he is pushing.
From the podcast, he sounds pretty burned out and has no interest in returning to right wing talk radio.
the next time he talks into a mic it will be to ask you if you want fries with that.
.
He was a minor market talent that probably worked for cheap, hence his working for Howie Carr, he left there for God knows why and did the podcast thing....
With radio contracting the way it has for the last few years it is hard to stay in it unless you are a big name or willing to work for free.
People are walking away and I can't say I blame them, the latest being Dana Marshall ex WBOS and now Ex WXRV... she hung up her cans the other day, also one half of the WATD morning show decided there was life outside of radio and left too
- Status