What do you mean? Are you saying that he was purchasing the time himself? Possibly, but it was my belief that Syrett was an employee. There were no disclaimers preceding or following his broadcast.
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COAST-TO-COAST AM Sounding Arthritic
- Thread starter sdwulfdawg
- Start date
Wasn't this a Canadian broadcast? Isn't the host Canadian?
Gawd, if only.
Unfortunately, from what I can gather, Coast to Coast listeners will be subjected to George for some time yet:
Sadly, that quote is not taken from a press release dating from 2010 or so. Rather, it is from a press release dating from June of last year.
Coast to Coast AM Host George Noory Renews Long-Term Deal with Premiere Networks | Premiere Networks
LOS ANGELES, June 29, 2021 – Premiere Networks today announced an exclusive long-term agreement with George Noory to renew and extend his relationship with the company.
I am not sure how many years "well into this decade" means, exactly, but it appears that, barring a sudden and surprising contract buy out, George will be hosting C2C for a while yet.
(Note to George: we can't start to miss you if you won't leave!)
I haven't heard Syrett in years, but your mention of him prompted me to listen to some of his YouTube stuff.
Art Bell in his heyday would be difficult for just about anyone to surpass (though some of his late-career shows were phoned in). However, as far as Noory is concerned, Syrett is streets ahead of him.
(Of course, when the bar is resting on the ground, it isn't difficult to clear it.)
Between ourselves, I hope your guess proves correct, and Coast gets some new life breathed into the show. It could certainly do with it.
Here's another quote from that Premiere Networks press release:
I can think of a few people who would have been happier if you hadn't, but what's done is done, I suppose.
Yes, Syrett's show airs on Zoomer Radio, CFZM 740 out of Toronto and its final broadcast is on Sunday August 28th.
Googled the guy. There's a lot of information about the show, including show clocks.
It looks like he's ended up being carried only on one station, CFZM, with various shows being available via YouTube and some streams.
Being relegated to just one station is a tough slog financially. If that station isn't seeing enough revenue to pay for the show, there's no shot of remaining viable. As we've said here before; ad agencies aren't interested in buying spots after 9PM.
Are all of Coast's spots barter?
Coast may suffer from a lot of things, but a lack of spots does not appear to be one of them. It might be interesting to explore how those spots are paid for (if, it turns out, they are paid for).
Does he discuss his leaving on his website somewhere? I ask because a visit to strangeplanet.ca did not yield any mention of this, so I am guessing this is something he mentioned on-air, is that right?
CFZM is a rich man's toy, I believe, much like WABC in New York. Stations like that can defy expectations and survive without the ad revenue normally expected.
Really? Do you actually have inside knowledge that these businesses intentionally lose money? Somehow I doubt you do.
It's been a while, but I recall most are with maybe one or two avails an hour for optional local spots. You've probably noticed that many stations run promos or PSA's in those local breaks.
They're dirt cheap network spots, most being comp to throw-in for contract sweetening. I doubt many are sold specifically for that show.
I didn't say they lose money. They have thinner profit margins than a station owned by a publicly traded corporation would have. Hence, the ad revenue "normally expected."
Again, are you an insider as to their finances? "Thinner profit margins" makes it sounds like you have insider knowledge.
What are their margins? Most stand alone radio properties run on a good day between 10% and 15%.
Yes, that sort of thing is possible sometimes. I understand Howard Hughes more or less ran KLAS-TV in Las Vegas as his personal TiVo in the late 1960s.
Being the station owner meant that, not only could Hughes view whatever movie he wished on any television he liked, it also meant he could stop a particular movie whenever he liked.
Say, for instance, he missed a scene. He would simply call up the station and order them to replay that particular scene (or, depending on his mood, the entire film) all over again. Also, if he was watching a particular film and decided, halfway through, that he simply didn’t like what he was seeing, well, he would phone in and order them to play another, different movie.
(And if the viewing audience didn’t like it, well, what did he care?)
So Hughes had a great time watching what he wanted, whenever he wanted. As for both the TV station employees and bemused viewers at home who were under the impression that the employees were shamefully drunk and/or completely negligent in their running of the station…well, you can imagine the depths of their frustration.
Of course, there is always a bright side to everything.
In this case, the bright side was that Hughes insisted that the films be played sans commercial interruptions (after all he owned the station; there was no need to run ads). So while viewers at home may have never seen the endings to some films (or, possibly, were forced to view Ice Station Zebra more times than they may have wished), at least the movies they did see were shown ad-free.
Great stuff (and an excellent example of what a set of deep pockets can mean provided they are deep enough).
OK, you got me. No insider knowledge, just going by what others in the business have posted about WABC and CFZM in various RD threads. But would investors and analysts be happy with 10-15% profit margins if that's what iHeart was reporting, or would they expect 20-25%?
Depends on a lot of factors like; what's the market, including associated competition, able to withstand? What's your annual expenses, including FTE's and inflation? What's the station or group cash-flowing?
Everybody expects more, but sometimes market conditions just don't allow it.
He talked about it on-air Sunday night. That episode is currently up on YouTube and without actually having to view it you can look at the comments section as well as the chat replay and see a few posts about it.
Thank you, Kelly A, for checking on this. I don't listen on a weekly basis and hadn't realized that Syrett no longer gave a shout-out to his affiliates.
Perhaps some of Syrett's revenue came from the mentions he gave to psychic fairs, author appearances and other gatherings of that nature.
Again, I'm not into any of this...I'm just a DXer who found it refreshing to hear something other than politics or Brother Stair on the AM dial...and all the way from Canada to boot!
That's a gross over-simplification. Howard Hughes started KLAS, and even built a house behind the station which still stands today. I've been through the house. These were the early days of TV, so of course someone who started the station would have input as to what ran on it. Remember that Hughes owned a movie studio too. Comparing some rumor posted by someone with no insider knowledge of the way a station operates today, with something from seventy plus years ago to make a point, is just silly.
That's the way it worked when the founder of a new radio or TV station came on the air. Many stations were built with the implicit purpose of promoting another business. With Westinghouse it was radios and appliances. RKO was movies. Same with Hughes.
It isn't the same in 2022. Radio and TV has existed for 100 years.
Again, how long ago was this? How many other TV stations were in Las Vegas then?
Things have changed you know.
Thank you for bringing that to my attention. I found this link on YT:
where Syrett talks for a couple of minutes about wrapping up the show this coming Sunday beginning at the 4:45 mark.
I have heard about Syrett off and on during the years and he seems like a fairly popular host, though I cannot say a glance over the offerings on his YouTube channel turns up anything to tempt me. However, there appears to be a fair bit of overlap between what he does and what C2C typically covers and a decent-sized audience always seems to be around for that kind of material.
In any event, I am sorry to hear he is ending his show on CFZM 740. Judging from the matter-of-fact way he spoke of the radio programme ending on YT, it sounds like he may simply have grown tired of doing it. However, late night radio does not seem to offer much nowadays in the way of chat shows and his programme going away will mean even less being on offer.
I will try to tune into the show on the 28th. It sounds like it could be interesting and, who knows, he may talk about why he has decided to stop doing the programme.
(Oh, and: if anyone is interested, apparently he will still continue doing a show on Sauga 960 AM from 4-6PM weekdays.)
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That's the impression I got also, Radio Chap. Syrett noted that he had other streams of income as well as other interests, so it seems like he just wants one less thing on his plate.
And although he does the show remotely these days, he used to have to travel to Zoomer's studios every Sunday night to be there by 11:00. I imagine that was a grind too.
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