Byron Allen gets the Colbert timeslot

[Calhoun]

Don't recall specific verbiage, but he very vocally and angrily challenged Allen's intelligence and integrity. The particular episode was in the fall of 2016, either the same night as or shortly after one of the Trump v. Clinton debates, so probably Sept/Oct 2016. One of the more entertaining nights listening to C2C.

Coast to Coast AM - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia

Coast to Coast AM is an American latenight radio talk show that deals with a variety of topics. Most frequently the topics relate to either the paranormal or conspiracy theories. The program is distributed by Premiere Networks, both as part of its talk network and separately as a syndicated program

alchetron.com

"John Barbour was dumped mid-interview by George Noory on September 27, 2016 for what Noory deemed excessive profanity. However, Barbour refuted this in another interview, citing differences of opinion about some of the people about which he was telling anecdotes."

Found this while looking for a recording of the show. Don't know about "excessive profanity." Not saying there wasn't bad language, Barbour and Noory were stepping on one another as their discussion got more intense. With the delay, maybe he heard it and the audience didn't. And things got intense only when Allen's name was raised. So, "....differences of opinion about some (read: one) of the people about which he was telling anecdotes."

 

[vchimpanzee]

I liked Byron's sitcom about the president of the United States. Marla Gibbs, Jackee Harry and Gladys Knight played some of the wacky relatives.

 

[Mark Roberts]

CBS says Byron Allen isn't the long term solution for late night. It's a one year deal. They're still interested in other ideas:

CBS Says It Will Develop New Late Night Concepts After Axing Stephen Colbert, but ‘Immediate Profitability’ Is the Focus With New Byron Allen Deal

Paramount TV Media chairman George Cheeks says late night is still a work in progress at the network. The Eye did a one-year deal with Byron Allen to air his “Comics Unleashed” at 11:35 p.m. as a time...

www.yahoo.com

The Los Angeles Times version of that story, which only popped up on one of my feeds today, draws an explicit link between licensing costs for NFL football and cuts in CBS's programming budget.

Quote:

Because of last year's Paramount change in ownership, the NFL has the ability to reopen the network's TV license deal, which is expected to increase the cost of retaining the NFL by as much as $1 billion a year, potentially cutting into CBS' programming budget.

"Capital allocation is always a major consideration," [George] Cheeks said. "But I would harken back to something David Ellison said recently, which was content investment was mission critical to the future of this company."

(end quote)

Content investment would seem to be the opposite of what CBS is about to do with late night. No wonder they're framing it as short-term for present-day convenience. Between the political drivers and the increased cost of NFL licensing, I have a feeling that the one-year deal won't be the end of it.

 

[TheBigA]

Content investment would seem to be the opposite of what CBS is about to do with late night. No wonder they're framing it as short-term for present-day convenience. Between the political drivers and the increased cost of NFL licensing, I have a feeling that the one-year deal won't be the end of it.

As I said, George Cheeks is putting the best face on a bad situation. BTW its important to know that Cheeks is a holdover from the Redstone days. It would be interesting to get Ellison's take. My view is Ellison will be selling CBS at some point once the WBD deal settles.

 

[Mark Roberts]

As I said, George Cheeks is putting the best face on a bad situation. BTW its important to know that Cheeks is a holdover from the Redstone days. It would be interesting to get Ellison's take. My view is Ellison will be selling CBS at some point once the WBD deal settles.

What I found interesting was the explicit link between NFL licensing and budgetary constraints, caused by the change in ownership re\opening the NFL deal. I wonder how many other CBS deals have been reopened as a result of the ownership change.

I still lean toward politics being the main driver behind Colbert's cancellation...he was a convenient target at a time when expenses were likely to go up elsewhere in the company. But I can't totally discount the budgetary factors.

 

[davideduardo]

I don't normally do this on this site but @TheBigA wrote in part:

"In the 70s, CBS turned over the programming of its O&O radio stations to Mike Joseph's Hot Hits format."

This is patently false. First, Mike Josephs' "Hot Hits" format was a product of the early 1980s, not of the 1970s.

Actually, it was a product of the late 60's when Mike use WKAQ (AM) in San Juan, PR, as the prototype for a very fast rotation version of Top 40 with things like multiple jingles, rapid-fire talk and such. The root cause for the creation of that version of Top 40 was the fact that WKAQ refused to drop its high-rated AM Drive news block, so Mike wanted to hit the listeners the rest of the day with the very biggest songs only.

WKAQ began that format approach, abandoning block programming, in

Second, with the exceptions of the 96.3 frequency in Chicago, the 98.1 frequency in Philadelphia (which was an early adopter of the Mike Josephs format),

As I said, not an early adopter at all.

and the 93.1 ffrequency in Los Angeles (which, as far as I know, wasn't using the Mike Josephs package though it was top-40 for two years between 1983 and 1985), none of the CBS O&O's ever were top 40 during the 1970s.

True. And Mike also consulted a number of non-CBS stations with variants of that format approach. In every case, Mike implemented slightly different, market-based, versions of his formatics in each market.

Finally, "Hot Hits" is not a format. Top 40 (later renamed CHR by a magazine) is the format in question. "Hot Hits" is a manner or method or style of execution of that format.

 

[umfan]

This is patently false.

Not a shock considering the source.....

 

[davideduardo]

It's NOT "patently false." Here's what Mike Joseph's own page says about Hot Hits:

I already posted about the 1968 prototype of the "Hot Hits" model, so your reference to Mike's own description is absolutely correct. Mike took advantage of his deal with the major newspaper in Puerto Rico to adapt Top 40 to an unusual situation under which the newspaper wanted to keep their morning news block which got shares in the 20's in the 6 AM to 10 AM slot.

The widow of Angel Ramos (owner of the paper since around 1930), Argentina Hills, ran the radio, TV and newspaper operations after his death. She was referred to Mike Joseph by one of her friends in the television business on the mainland. Because she had no interest or experience in radio, she fully delegated the programming of WKAQ Radio to Mike, who even could (and did) overrule the local general manager, Reynaldo Royo.

 

[michael hagerty]

Mike Josephs' "Hot Hits" format was a product of the early 1980s, not of the 1970s.

Ted, Mike Joseph launched “Hot Hits” on WTIC-FM in Hartford on May 12, 1977:

 

[davideduardo]

Ted, Mike Joseph launched “Hot Hits” on WTIC-FM in Hartford on May 12, 1977:

And, as I said, in 1968 on WKAQ (AM) in San Juan. Same mechanics, same rotations... just in Spanish.

 

[brian4]

The Los Angeles Times version of that story, which only popped up on one of my feeds today, draws an explicit link between licensing costs for NFL football and cuts in CBS's programming budget.

Quote:

Because of last year's Paramount change in ownership, the NFL has the ability to reopen the network's TV license deal, which is expected to increase the cost of retaining the NFL by as much as $1 billion a year, potentially cutting into CBS' programming budget.

"Capital allocation is always a major consideration," [George] Cheeks said. "But I would harken back to something David Ellison said recently, which was content investment was mission critical to the future of this company."

(end quote)

Content investment would seem to be the opposite of what CBS is about to do with late night. No wonder they're framing it as short-term for present-day convenience. Between the political drivers and the increased cost of NFL licensing, I have a feeling that the one-year deal won't be the end of it.

Interesting. I wonder would a Network blink and publicly state they are not carrying NFL programming because it is too expensive? I doubt the NFL will care, because there is another outlet ready to jump on a TV package.

 

[TheBigA]

I wonder would a Network blink and publicly state they are not carrying NFL programming because it is too expensive?

ABC has the Super Bowl next year, and they're asking $10 million for a :30 spot. So the networks are just passing the expense to advertisers:

Disney Seeks $10 Million for Super Bowl Commercials, but Advertisers Push Back (EXCLUSIVE)

Disney Seeks $10 Million for Super Bowl Commercials, But Advertisers Push Back

variety.com

Ultimately the nets can also increase their fees to affiliates, and they ultimately get passed to consumers through higher cable TV fees.

That's really the story. At some point, consumers will pay more for TV regardless of what happens.

 

[TheBigA]

Here's an interview with Byron Allen where he explains how he got the Colbert timeslot:

Byron Allen on how CBS handed him Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ time slot

The comedian-turned-media mogul spoke to NBC News this week about how “Comics Unleashed,” as well as his majority stake in Buzzfeed, will help him grow his media empire.

www.nbcnews.com

He made them an offer they couldn't refuse.

“I said, ‘OK, do you like money?’” he said in an interview this week. “They said, ‘Yes!”

Allen is friends with Colbert — the two go way back. He urged CBS to “not put on another show” if it went through with canceling the cancellation. He said he told the network, “I’ll buy the time period, and you can save over $110 million.”

 

[Steel Nerves]

Interesting. I wonder would a Network blink and publicly state they are not carrying NFL programming because it is too expensive? I doubt the NFL will care, because there is another outlet ready to jump on a TV package.

CBS tried that in 1993. They made it clear they had lost money on their last NFL contract, and low-bid the rights for the new contract. Fox jumped in and outbid them by $100 million per year for a 10 year contract. It blew a hole in CBS programming and thee ratings for the entire Sunday night schedule, including 60 Minutes, dropped like a rock.

Here's A wIkipedia summary. 1994–1996 United States broadcast television realignment - Wikipedia

Live sports and breaking news are about the only things the traditional networks can use to compete with streaming services, and it won't be long before one of the services wants to bid for the entire NFL package.

 

[Don CT]

Any ratings for his first show Friday night.

 

[TheBigA]

Byron Allen's debut gets less than a million viewers. But at least he didn't criticize the president:

Stephen Colbert's MAGA-coded replacement flops in debut: report

Stephen Colbert wrapped up "The Late Show" last week after alleged pressure from President Donald Trump on his parent network, but his replacement isn't exactly filling the gap, according to new reporting. The series finale of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert drew more than 6.7 million...

www.rawstory.com

The show filling Colbert's time slot on CBS, Byron Allen's "Comics Unleashed," drew only 995,000 viewers with its first episode,
Late-night talk shows hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon topped more than 1.5 million viewers on the same night that Comics Unleashed debuted, according to The Daily Beast, which noted that Kimmel aired a rerun that night.

 

[umfan]

Byron Allen's debut gets less than a million viewers. But at least he didn't criticize the president:

Stephen Colbert's MAGA-coded replacement flops in debut: report

Stephen Colbert wrapped up "The Late Show" last week after alleged pressure from President Donald Trump on his parent network, but his replacement isn't exactly filling the gap, according to new reporting. The series finale of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert drew more than 6.7 million...

www.rawstory.com

Those are actually decent numbers for that content, sondering how economically its produced.

 

[CTListener]

Those are actually decent numbers for that content, sondering how economically its produced.

Curiosity probably accounts for a good percentage of those initial numbers. Let's see where the ratings settle after the show's been on for a few weeks. Maybe there's a place for mainstream, largely unpolitical comedy on late night TV (I actually believe there is.) and CBS will have a cash cow on its hands. Definitely possible given the difference in budgets between Comics Unleashed and The Colbert Report.

 

[Don CT]

Curiosity probably accounts for a good percentage of those initial numbers. Let's see where the ratings settle after the show's been on for a few weeks. Maybe there's a place for mainstream, largely unpolitical comedy on late night TV (I actually believe there is.) and CBS will have a cash cow on its hands. Definitely possible given the difference in budgets between Comics Unleashed and The Colbert Report.

Obviously not as Colberts ratings went up after he went political.

 

[ted chittenden]

Those are actually decent numbers for that content, sondering how economically its produced.

The other thing to keep in mind (if I'm remembering this correctly) is that Mr. Allen is paying CBS for the timeslot, meaning that the network doesn't have as much of a vested interest in Mr. Allen's ratings as they did Mr. Colbert's. On the other hand, if Mr. Allen's ratings go only down from here, Mr. Allen might want to reconsider the idea of paying CBS to air his shows.