106.5 The Pirate to set sail

[radio po boy]

Just read that as of May 1, The Pirate is sunk. New format? FM Talk. Gardner & Sullivan still doing mornings, but they snagged Savage away from WNTM, Schmitt from WABB-AM, and also will air Boortz, and Clark Howard. website is under construction at fmtalk1065.com

The move away from the Pirate makes a ton of sense. It never got to a place they thought it might. Then when 104.1 went Jack, it was over. Just the signal of Jack-FM would make this a very tough battle for 106.5 for that 3 share for that format in Mobile.

I guess Cumulus is going to stroke their ego. Tell themselves they knew what they were doing, etc. If anything, Jack might do okay in P-Cola, also. Just kind of funny that over the past four years Cumulus has gone thru so much just to get that station back to "marginal".

Lagniappe has the full story.

 

[Nate Wesley]

http://www.lagniappemobile.com/articles/264-pirate-to-pursue-talk-format

Odd, the writer mentions 106.5 being Mobile's first all FM talk station, then goes on to mention Wayne Gardner's last stop at WNSP. Sports talk counts, doesn't it? And wasn't there a short lived news/talk format on 105.5 before the debut of WNSP?

Anyway...if I can't applaud the lineup, I can applaud them for a pretty sound business argument justifying the change in direction. There's just more upside to capturing a talk audience (both talkers on AM) than there is fighting it out with the amount of adult hits/classic hits/classic rock/AC from other stations.

106.5 won't have Limbaugh or Hannity, but it will have the next two biggest talk names after them with 50kw of FM that covers both Mobile and Baldwin counties. It makes you wonder what WABB 1480 will do, as they're losing Boortz and Howard.

 

[radio po boy]

I forgot that Boortz, and Howard also were on WABB-AM. Savage, and Schnitt are being grabbed from WNTM. I just realized I screwed that up earlier.

I guess you can say "first" FM Talk since WNSP is niched as sports. Talk AND play-by-play events.

I agree, it might just work out okay for them. I'll just be a little curious to what the format will be for the am show, and how that will sound.

I think signal was a big reason they were able to get those shows. WNTM is good until about Hillcrest after sunset, and WABB-AM? You're lucky to grab it at I-65!

Isn't it funny that every time a station flips to a pirate/jack format the press release always says "Now people don't have to button push for their favorite songs. They're now all on one station!" ..............

Then when the station flips again, the next release always says "There's just too many stations playing the same music."

 

[Mario500]

In the 8:00 AM hour today, I heard "The Laura Ingraham Show" on WABB-AM instead of "The Neal Boortz Show", both of which I don't usually hear on the radio. On Monday, the station was airing "The Laura Ingraham Show" in place of "The Clark Howard Show". WALA-TV's morning newscasts continue to air on WABB-AM, which made a two-year agreement with the TV station in 2007.

I wish WAVH-FM well and I hope the new local morning program will be much different from the program hosted by Ron Fraiser on WABB-AM and "The Uncle Henry Show" on WNTM-AM. Radio listeners in Mobile need to hear more positive things for local talk shows and more interesting discussions such as local broadcasting or computer technology.

 

[Nate Wesley]

The new talker @ 106.5 now means that every Arbitron-rated market in Alabama will have an FM news/talk station to check out except Tuscaloosa and Florence-Muscle Shoals (the two smallest).

106.5 Mobile, 107.9 Montgomery, 92.5 AND 101.1 Huntsville, 101.1 Birmingham, 105.3 Dothan.

 

[radio po boy]

Mario, I really don't think discussing local broadcasting will do them any good. Look at the lack of traffic here! Computer Tech. isn't really a good a.m. show topic, however it could fill some time on the wknd. for 106.5. I don't know if the show is still on, but I heard Kim Komando one wknd somewhere, and that was a real good computer show. That might be your best bet.

 

[tomservo]

Do y'all happen to know if they are using RDS on WAVH? I remember it being active a while back, but off since... Gosh... Ivan?

 

[Mario500]

The new format for WAVH-FM began at 12:00 AM today with "The Phil Hendrie Show". I was awake for the local morning program and I found it very nice, entertaining, and informative, as Wayne Gardner, Sean Sullivan, and Bill Williams discussed past hurricanes.

The station's new World Wide Web page was online this morning and I shared my feelings about the new format on the weblog, but it was all taken down and replaced with this message: "New Site for FM Talk 106.5 Coming Soon..."

The station is available to Internet users at the following address:

http://66.197.151.54:8002/listen.pls

 

[ruger22com]

My 2 bits?
The pirate COULD have been a monster. The problem was with sullivan. He is a terrible morning jock, no comedy, no one-to-one communication, plain anoying to lisen to along and with that Joann chick, one of the biggest tune out factors to ever come along.
Shaun is a real nice guy who just plain sucked on the air and drove listeners away while listening to his own press from the zoo days. The ONLY reason he was there, was his stepdaddy owned the station (must be nice huh?)
Wayne Gardner is one of the best straight men around, and killed at KSJ when he had a funny sidekick to play off of. But unless sullivan was going to do the smart thing (for daddy's company) and step down, that was never going to happen. middays were o.k...and charlie ocean is one of the best afternoon jocks around. Combined with the terrible talent and way- to-tight playlist at the rocket, the pirate was a station that could have made a ton of money, but did not. Too bad shauns stepdad does not know anything about radio, as there is some real talent there (even in sales with bill Roth).

SO now they will do talk radio on FM....good luck selling that.

 

[Nate Wesley]

SO now they will do talk radio on FM....good luck selling that.

I don't know ruger...they'd probably do pretty fair selling to Baldwin County businesses alone, assuming they don't have to resort to dollar-a-holler pricing.

 

[mrjay]

i hafta disagree with ya there buddy....i worked with sean part time back when he was on the zew (back in 99-2000 when i was doing the college thing). as i recall he was the afternoon jock then and had a pretty good following (myself included, even when i worked there and before i worked there). as i recall the newspapers and magazines and their polls showed he had a good following as well. i always enjoyed him more in the afternoons but i will say when i heard him - especially as the years went on - it became more and more "burnt out" for him - more monotonous.

no offense, i have no idea if that's his average as i am **NOT** a morning person. i did not and still don't have any problem at all with him (well, except for his famous re-write "off the air" of marc cohns walking in memphis... LOL....but i'll keep that to muhself)

i'll never forget the weekend i started working there - sept 8 1999 - the zew had become 80s only for the weekend and the following monday sean stunted that he was baracadding himself in the studio and taking the zew back.

that was some good $hit...

 

[nv4phil]

It's a shame that WAVH killed "The Pirate"..... but Jack is so similar to The Pirate, and Jack has no DJ's.... so, Jack wins...

 

[ruger22com]

on the other hand, the zoo never had ratings placing it in a competitive sales postition. it was almost like a college station.
I also worked with shaun at another station before he worked at the zoo, and like I said, he is a nice person and has a pretty good radio knowledge, but his on air performance is just not there. he does not communicate with listeners on a one-to-one basis, he sounds like he is reading to himself instead of communicating, and he is not at all funny (the role he needed to play). as for his newspaper exposure, that was all the lan-yap...where he also works, and also has its "best of mobile" rankings decided by people writing in, where the winner can vote for himself over and over again to win. (I know a dentist who had the girls in his office enter hundreds of times so he would get the free publicity of winning.)
Bottom line? Radio is a cold business, and as nice as shaun is as a person, he is doomed to failure by his own lack of talent.

 

[Gibson23]

You guys talk like 92 Zew is a dead forgotten entity. It is still very much alive and gradually it's numbers have been growing (even before the pirate ship sank). They stream online (with 2 side channels..the only station in the area to do that). Plus all the concerts they bring to Mobile. And they seem to always be active in the community.

 

[radio po boy]

Zew is a niche format. Their numbers aren't going to move very much because the cume is low. But, the audience is a very loyal bunch. TSL is where Zew wins. As far as the concerts, and being active in the community? They do very well serving their audience. You gotta make that commitment if you're Zew. That format almost requires that level of involvment for any kind of success. It's made easier when your staff is as passionate as that staff is.