I wish WHK would air the first hour of Hugh Hewitt live at 3:00 pm and either move the stock show to a different timeslot or just drop it. Airing a pre-recorded stock show in the 3:00 pm timeslot when there is likely to be breaking news (which happens to be the case today) doesn't make sense.
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Stock Show on WHK
- Thread starter skiwest
- Start date
WHK makes good money by airing "Best Stocks Now" as "Gunderson Capitol", or Bill Gunderson, himself, pays the station to air the show. If he's going to pay for airtime, he certainly doesn't want a weak timeslot. I'd be ok with the show moving to Noon - 1:00 pm now that Dennis Prager is no longer there. But, if Bill doesn't want that time slot, the paying customer gets what he wants.
Is WHK really that desperate for money? They must be saving a bundle now that Bob Frantz's salary is off the books. If Gunderson knew how many people were actually listening to his show on WHK (nobody), I doubt he would want to continue paying for airtime. Airing a pre-recorded show in drive time is stupid. I believe it is recorded in the morning. WHK should be airing live programming at least until 6:00 pm.
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I don't know their financial situation, but to get out of debt, WHK's owner, Salem Communications, sold their more advertiser-friendly "Fish" Christian music stations, to K-Love, Inc. (I think that's the former EMF's new name). It would be interesting to know how many stations air "Best Stocks Now", and at what times. I would think the better the quality of time is that a brokered show airs, the higher the price is to buy that time.
I've caught the Gunderson show a couple of times. It seems informative....and definitely a welcome change to non-stop political news commentary. Reminds me of the days when talk radio stations were more general-oriented (politics, lifestyle, sports, current events, etc.)
The parent company, Salem Media, is a consistent money loser. They lost $35 million on $212 million of revenue last year, for a profit margin of -16%.
They will take whatever money they can get.
WHK is Salem. Salem is WHK. Local management in Cleveland isn't doing anything that the parent company in California isn't approving.
You should enjoy WHK while it lasts. Things don't look good (profit & loss wise) for Salem.
IMHO their business model is not working. They really should sell or give the stations to a non profit.* This would give the listeners a chance to fund it. If the programming attracts folks with donations, it stays on the air. If not unless some Billionaire writes a check it goes away.
* There could be a tax angle.
So then why is WHK not airing the first hour of Hugh Hewitt at 3:00 pm?
Because Salem makes more money selling that hour as paid programming. And it needs every dollar it can get right now.
Why would they pre-empt the first hour of Hugh Hewitt, a Salem Show, to air a non-Salem paid program? That doesn't make sense.
There is no local management in Cleveland. Earlier this year, Salem cut the Cleveland GM role. They now share a regional GM, Mike Murphy, with a couple of other Great Lakes markets. Mr. Murphy is based in Minneapolis.
Who would want to buy WHK? Hopefully not another religious/Christian broadcaster. There are enough of those in NE Ohio already. A format that is missing from the OTA airwaves would be nice, maybe smooth jazz or soft hits.
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It pains me to say this since WHK meant so much to so many in the past, but there is little hope it will ever have a wide appeal commercial format again, especially a music format. Outside of going dark, religion or foreign language is what's left. I can't see anyone, even a local operator or group, taking on the facility with its aging antenna farm on land likely worth more than the license.
Under prior ownership, plans were put forth to increase power and maximize the signal, but they were never pursued. Had they done that, the outlook may not be so bleak. I would hope that the call sign would be preserved by someone on an FM station here if the station goes dark or changes hands.
Under prior ownership, plans were put forth to increase power and maximize the signal, but they were never pursued. Had they done that, the outlook may not be so bleak. I would hope that the call sign would be preserved by someone on an FM station here if the station goes dark or changes hands.
IMHO They should figure out how to improve their FM Translator coverage. Of course that might take money which I understand is in short supply at Salem.
WAKR is soft hits.... and jazz on AM, an inferior signal at that?
I dont think ive ever heard a worse idea for a format on a marginal am than that