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josh said:
Heh - for years I have regarded formats like this as "angry white male" radio.
But meanwhile, back with WPHT, as with most AM radio, the question becomes, "What formats remain that anyone will want to listen to on AM?"
Conservative talk: WNTP; old WPHT content jumped to FM
Liberal talk: Iffy business proposition - look at WWKB in Buffalo. Most liberals would rather hear news & current affairs (a genre abandoned to public radio) than opinions.
News / weather / traffic: KYW owns this category
Sports: Gone over to FM
Music: Only MYL / Standards make any sense
Local issues / talk: Does anyone care? Probably not economically viable given the book value (!) of the station
Religious talk / gospel: WFIL already doing
So what's left, folks?
Richard in Allentown
rdcuffpa1 said:
What's left is lifestyle talk -- a Philly vibe that transcends run of the mill political partisan crap. I envision something with engaging hosts, at least 5 am - 7 pm, who don't mail it in every day like the current folks. Something less political, and more like "you and me against the world" -- and it can delve into the quirky small hassles that are part of our lives as well as the big issues. Think morning FM radio around the clock, but with less sex and Hollywood and more substantive ideas. If I want raw national politics I can go to 106.9 -- give me something fresh!
OLDNUMBER 7,
I like your idea!
The host would be a friend like many of the personalities of the past. It's someone you would want to welcome into your home. Someone you would feel comfortable going out to dinner with. A real friend. I really like that idea.
Could you imagine going out to dinner with Rush/Hannity/Savage? To have to listen to them complaining all night long and you can't shut them off - I'd be running home as fast I can
I do believe OldNUMBER7, there is a station that matches your plane of satisfaction to some degree. It's not all talk though. Listen to the LIFT FM morning show (7 AM - 12 PM) and tell me what you think.
I like your idea!
The host would be a friend like many of the personalities of the past. It's someone you would want to welcome into your home. Someone you would feel comfortable going out to dinner with. A real friend. I really like that idea.
Could you imagine going out to dinner with Rush/Hannity/Savage? To have to listen to them complaining all night long and you can't shut them off - I'd be running home as fast I can
I do believe OldNUMBER7, there is a station that matches your plane of satisfaction to some degree. It's not all talk though. Listen to the LIFT FM morning show (7 AM - 12 PM) and tell me what you think.
josh said:OLDNUMBER 7,
I like your idea!
The host would be a friend like many of the personalities of the past. It's someone you would want to welcome into your home. Someone you would feel comfortable going out to dinner with. A real friend. I really like that idea.
Could you imagine going out to dinner with Rush/Hannity/Savage? To have to listen to them complaining all night long and you can't shut them off - I'd be running home as fast I can
I do believe OldNUMBER7, there is a station that matches your plane of satisfaction to some degree. It's not all talk though. Listen to the LIFT FM morning show (7 AM - 12 PM) and tell me what you think.
Thanks for the tip, I will check them out.
Look, what I'm talking about here isn't rocket science. Jersey 101.5 is pretty close to what I'm talking about -- calling out the politicians when they need it, then switching to watercooler stuff. Just this morning, I was listening to Big Daddy on 94.1 -- this guy can talk about ANYTHING, not just sports. So why can't we have hosts on regular talk stations who can talk about more than politics?
E
EZway2go
Guest
OldNumber7 said:
That sounds a lot like the old "Rambling With Gambling" morning show on WOR from 2 or 3 decades ago (not the current version, which is on the political side). It was more of a magazine-type program covering just about everything. You felt you were sitting around the breakfast nook sharing a cup of coffee with the hosts.
WLW's morning show with Jim Scott in Cincinnati and the nationally syndicated Wall Street Journal This Morning come close, but the pre-recorded interviews sound too structured and regimented. I realize they're trying to squeeze in what they can given their time constraints, but it takes away from the spontaneity. Nevertheless, it's "news you can use" with a delivery style that grows on you—and not as monotonous as a hard-core news format.
E
EJ204
Guest
In some other markets, CBS continues to have a successful 50,000 watt Talk station, even against an FM station running Hannity, Beck, Coast to Coast, etc.
In Pittsburgh, KDKA is #4 while FM Clear Channel Talk station WPGB is #7. KDKA seems to find interesting Talk hosts for local shows. In St. Louis, KMOX recently dropped to #7. Maybe that's due to a lot of listeners switching over to Christmas music on FM. Usually KMOX is #3 or #4, even though it also has an FM Talk competitor, running Hannity and Savage. KFTK is #13. (KMOX still runs Rush but is local the rest of the day.)
In Minneapolis, WCCO chased away its Clear Channel FM compeitor. WCCO runs local Talk shows all day. Clear Channel put an FM Talk station on against it a few years ago, running Rush, Hannity, Beck, Coast to Coast, etc. The FM Talk station failed. Clear Channel switched the FM station to Sports and relocated Rush and his buddies to an AM station.
Of course, in all those cities, there's no KYW. So even if KDKA, KMOX and WCCO are mostly Talk, they are also their market's news leader. Even if you might not be a big fan of their Talk shows, you listen to these stations for their news. In Philadelphia, that can't happen. KYW is the news leader. You punch 1060 when you want news, traffic, weather. You don't punch 1210. WPHT has to make it on its Talk shows alone.
In the 70s and 80s, 96.5 WWDB used to be a great Philadelphia Talk station, well before there was any trend to put Talk on FM. The station was local 24/7. Someone was taking calls and communicating with the audience at 4am on a Sunday. Some hosts leaned left, some were moderate, some leaned right.
When I listen to WPHT I hear local hosts that seem like Rush-Light. Other than Smerconish, the hosts are parroting the same Republican Talking Points but not as well as Rush and Hannity can do it. Why have local hosts if they're only going to sound like lesser versions of the national hosts on 106.9? Especially since Syndicated Conservative Talk has never done well in Philadelphia, not even when WPHT was trying to do it. Yes, for one book during the elections, WWIQ shot up to #10. But immediately, they're back to #17 today.
If Michael Smerconish is the face of WPHT, why not have hosts who are like Smerconish? Moderate on some issues, liberal on some. But they also have to be interesting to listen to and make you want to tune in everyday so you don't miss anything.
Of course, for a station that recently dropped to #22, that's a tall order.
.
In Pittsburgh, KDKA is #4 while FM Clear Channel Talk station WPGB is #7. KDKA seems to find interesting Talk hosts for local shows. In St. Louis, KMOX recently dropped to #7. Maybe that's due to a lot of listeners switching over to Christmas music on FM. Usually KMOX is #3 or #4, even though it also has an FM Talk competitor, running Hannity and Savage. KFTK is #13. (KMOX still runs Rush but is local the rest of the day.)
In Minneapolis, WCCO chased away its Clear Channel FM compeitor. WCCO runs local Talk shows all day. Clear Channel put an FM Talk station on against it a few years ago, running Rush, Hannity, Beck, Coast to Coast, etc. The FM Talk station failed. Clear Channel switched the FM station to Sports and relocated Rush and his buddies to an AM station.
Of course, in all those cities, there's no KYW. So even if KDKA, KMOX and WCCO are mostly Talk, they are also their market's news leader. Even if you might not be a big fan of their Talk shows, you listen to these stations for their news. In Philadelphia, that can't happen. KYW is the news leader. You punch 1060 when you want news, traffic, weather. You don't punch 1210. WPHT has to make it on its Talk shows alone.
In the 70s and 80s, 96.5 WWDB used to be a great Philadelphia Talk station, well before there was any trend to put Talk on FM. The station was local 24/7. Someone was taking calls and communicating with the audience at 4am on a Sunday. Some hosts leaned left, some were moderate, some leaned right.
When I listen to WPHT I hear local hosts that seem like Rush-Light. Other than Smerconish, the hosts are parroting the same Republican Talking Points but not as well as Rush and Hannity can do it. Why have local hosts if they're only going to sound like lesser versions of the national hosts on 106.9? Especially since Syndicated Conservative Talk has never done well in Philadelphia, not even when WPHT was trying to do it. Yes, for one book during the elections, WWIQ shot up to #10. But immediately, they're back to #17 today.
If Michael Smerconish is the face of WPHT, why not have hosts who are like Smerconish? Moderate on some issues, liberal on some. But they also have to be interesting to listen to and make you want to tune in everyday so you don't miss anything.
Of course, for a station that recently dropped to #22, that's a tall order.
.
EJ204 said:
This has always been the great paradox about CBS. WPHT would be a better station if it used KYW news and KYW's news gathering resources to compliment its talk programming. But of course, CBS doesn't want talk lovers who also like KYW not to tune in to KYW lest its ratings fall. Neither do they want the WPHT programming to get too "newsy" for the same reason. As a result, WPHT is by far the weakest of the CBS major market talkers both in sound and performance. It's just a bunch of blowhards filling time on the air; not a true heritage full-service talker like the examples above (and WBZ in Boston).
OldNumber7 said:
A similar (though not identical) analog exists up in Buffalo - where Entercom's 50kW WWKB essentially takes up space vs. the co-owned local news-talk leader WBEN. It seems that the economics of radio are screwed up if it's more in Entercom's interest to squander a wasted 50kW signal on WWKB and retain ownership of it, vs. selling the asset to someone who would actually value it, but then successfully counterprogram against WBEN.
But since I am not a buyer nor seller of radio stations, the logic of this thinking escapes me.
Richard in Allentown
OldNumber7 said:josh said:OLDNUMBER 7,
I like your idea!
The host would be a friend like many of the personalities of the past. It's someone you would want to welcome into your home. Someone you would feel comfortable going out to dinner with. A real friend. I really like that idea.
Could you imagine going out to dinner with Rush/Hannity/Savage? To have to listen to them complaining all night long and you can't shut them off - I'd be running home as fast I can
I do believe OldNUMBER7, there is a station that matches your plane of satisfaction to some degree. It's not all talk though. Listen to the LIFT FM morning show (7 AM - 12 PM) and tell me what you think.
Thanks for the tip, I will check them out.
Look, what I'm talking about here isn't rocket science. Jersey 101.5 is pretty close to what I'm talking about -- calling out the politicians when they need it, then switching to watercooler stuff. Just this morning, I was listening to Big Daddy on 94.1 -- this guy can talk about ANYTHING, not just sports. So why can't we have hosts on regular talk stations who can talk about more than politics?
Good idea but no one wold listen.
J
Jul
Guest
1210 need to hire more talk show hosts, instead of using these fill ins that fill in on other talk stations across the US.
J
Jul
Guest
Also they need to hire someone for 10 PM-1 AM Monday-Friday, instead of using various people to host that slot.
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