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Dennis Prager gets WHK to move

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Nationally syndicated talker Dennis Prager has gone down from a 3 hour to a 2 hour show Monday - Friday on the Salem Radio Network. He's been aired on WHK from 1:06pm-3pm with the first hour airing at 10:06pm. This all to accomodate (sp) Charlie Kirk at 12:06pm. Well, on Monday 2/5/24, there was no change in the timing. However, on Tuesday, 2/6/24 Dennis Prager was on from Noon until 2pm with Charlie Kirk moving up to the 2:06 until 3 pm slot. This :06 stuff is important to the discussion here, because Dennis wanted, and now, starts his 2 hours at the very top of each hour, displacing the newscasts that had, normally, been at the top of each hour. This change from Monday to Tuesday makes sense because now both Prager and Kirk's show will air live... The two hour "Dennis Prager Show" followed by the third hour of Charlie Kirk's show. So far, in the 10pm-11pm hour, one of Dennis Prager's hours airs again.
 
So if his show is 2 hours now and is aired in its entirety from Noon-2pm, there should be no reason to repeat one of the hours at 10pm.
 
Well, I was wrong. During Bob Frantz's show, he announced that "coming up next is Charlie Kirk". Given that Kirk wasn't on the air until 2:06pm, I thought he was mistaken, so I called in on the telephone. I was told that Tuesday's change, where Dennis Prager was on at 12 noon, was "a mistake". Today, Charlie Kirk aired in the noon hour with Dennis Prager starting at exactly 1pm. I told the lady who answered the phone that "I much prefer to have Dennis Prager on at noon and Kirk in the 2 p.m. hour so that all 3 hours would be live". Then I said, "please pass this on".
 
That is the most schizo schedule I've ever seen on a talk radio station. Why not just carry the damned shows as broadcast if they're so interested in network clearance on their own stations?
 
It's silly to be slicing and dicing the shows just so a portion of it is aired "live". Airing the show in its entirety makes more sense even if it is delayed by a few hours.
 
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I'd be surprised if it wasn't just a simple rearranging of spot loads making the "six extra minutes" of talk largely a marketing ploy.
Dennis Prager has said that he asked for two things:
Have the show being two hours instead of the, up to now, three hours.
Have the show start exactly at the top of each hour.

Dennis said that he's got so much going on, that he needed the change. One of the specifics is the, new, monthly, on-line video meetings with Prager for Pragertopiaplus subscribers where they can ask him any question. He writes a weekly column. Another more recent item is a series of children's books. Of course, there's a lot of content on his PragerU site. Fairly recently he's building (probably with help) a series of easy-to-read essays on each U.S. President. I find them to be very good and interesting. It can be said that his 'glass-is-full'. Additionally, he does a lot of traveling to events and speaking engagements.

Starting at the top of the hour adds 6 more minutes to each hour.
 
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It's 10:30 pm on Friday and I'm hearing Sebastian Gorka on 1420.
This, now, makes sense since they now carry the complete Dennis Prager show in the afternoon, and the first hour of Sebastian Gorka's show is bored out by financial advisor Bill Gunderson from 3:06 until 4:00 pm., the 10 pm hour can be used to play the first hour of Gorka's show, like what has been done with Dennis Prager's previously time-shifted first hour.
 
It's silly to be slicing and dicing the shows just so a portion of it is aired "live". Airing the show in its entirety makes more sense even if it is delayed by a few hours.
I agree. However, Salem may be setting up Charlie Kirk as an eventual replacement for Dennis Prager as Dennis is in his 70s now, albeit in fine physical shape.
 
They "slice-and-dice" based on what will make them money. The first half hour of Jay Sekulow's show airs at noon on 1220 WHKW. The entire hour airs on WHK 1420 at 6pm. I would guess that this is a paid-for program. It eats up the first hour of the otherwise live "Officer Tatum Show". So on WHK, Officer Tatum runs live from 7:06pm-9pm, and the first hour is time-shifted to 9:06 to 10pm. Basically, the same thing occurs with "America First with Sebastian Gorka". Bill Gunderson's paid-for financial advice/infomercial show is on from 3:06pm until 4 pm, which coincides with the first hour of Gorka's live show. Gorka covers 4:06-6pm Monday-Friday with the first hour now time-shifted to 10:06pm. You got to do what you've got to do to make money.
 
They "slice-and-dice" based on what will make them money. The first half hour of Jay Sekulow's show airs at noon on 1220 WHKW. The entire hour airs on WHK 1420 at 6pm. I would guess that this is a paid-for program. It eats up the first hour of the otherwise live "Officer Tatum Show". So on WHK, Officer Tatum runs live from 7:06pm-9pm, and the first hour is time-shifted to 9:06 to 10pm. Basically, the same thing occurs with "America First with Sebastian Gorka". Bill Gunderson's paid-for financial advice/infomercial show is on from 3:06pm until 4 pm, which coincides with the first hour of Gorka's live show. Gorka covers 4:06-6pm Monday-Friday with the first hour now time-shifted to 10:06pm. You got to do what you've got to do to make money.
It's pointless to run the re-feeds, however. Just makes the show sound disjointed. Run the remaining live hours and then move on to the next live show.
 
I know I said this in a prior thread, but a radio station should try to avoid breaking format in one of the most important dayparts—if not THE most important daypart—to run an hour-long financial infomercial.

If that's what you have to do to make money, then maybe a format change to something that can turn a profit is in order.
Salem is clearly interested in broadcasting propaganda as well. The owners do have an agenda as well as a profit-making motive.
 
I know I said this in a prior thread, but a radio station should try to avoid breaking format in one of the most important dayparts—if not THE most important daypart—to run an hour-long financial infomercial.

If that's what you have to do to make money, then maybe a format change to something that can turn a profit is in order.
This may be one of the ways that they make a profit.
 
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