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970 is the New ESPN

Jim Trefney said:
Give me a good oldies station that goes deep like WJPA or XM's decades channels played before the merge. Add some personality like we had on 13q, 96KX, WPEZ, 1250 WTAE under Captain Show Biz's tutalage, along with a nice jingle package, a touch of reverb and a sales staff that is passionate about the format and you've got a winner.

A winner in 1975, yes.
 
I'll miss Tony Bruno on the FOX Sports Radio Network.

Otherwise, to pick up on an earlier proposed format, I have always wondered why there haven't been more entertainment talk shows, let alone an entertainment talk station. My guess is simply that this sort of conversation is actually on the radio, but instead of a talk show like Doug Hoerth ran it is topic content for morning shows and other DJs.

The only thing I would ask is since entertainment is so broad, how would one program it? If anything, the problem with Hoerth's show was that he never left 1965. In 1985, that was one thing. By 2005 it was a difficult listen.

Or let's look at this. This morning WDVE had one of their regular guests, the guy who runs the Mr. Skin website. Now, I'm sure this guy gives WDVE a pretty penny to appear, but let's say he wants to be on WENT.

Do you cater to him in the hopes of gaining that audience, knowing that it will kill another show that might cater more towards family entertainment? On WDVE, okay, their audience is a bit different than Wish 99.7; Mr. Skin is okay (though I would think there are some parents driving their kids to school who would otherwise have on WDVE who may be changing the channel).

If you cater to a youthful audience, then is that actually a risk because this audience is already getting their entertainment news from The X and the local CHR? If you cater to more of a middle age audience, how do you balance it?


This is why I think the format you suggest hasn't been done. Oh, there's tremendous potential. But there's also going to be a lot of hit or miss before the formula works- and I would believe the format would be different from market to market.
 
Pratte4Life said:
The only thing I would ask is since entertainment is so broad, how would one program it? If anything, the problem with Hoerth's show was that he never left 1965. In 1985, that was one thing. By 2005 it was a difficult listen.

That is a very salient point. Being a bit of a history buff I enjoy hearing people talk about things that were
before my time, like Beano Cook's descriptions of the Pittsburgh sports scene in the 40's and 50's. But I
realize that is not everyone's cup of tea and certainly not the way to make a dent in the book.
 
Pratte4Life said:
Otherwise, to pick up on an earlier proposed format, I have always wondered why there haven't been more entertainment talk shows, let alone an entertainment talk station. My guess is simply that this sort of conversation is actually on the radio, but instead of a talk show like Doug Hoerth ran it is topic content for morning shows and other DJs.

I believe that's a case of short-sighted programmers not being able to tell a good show from a bad show. When the "Man Station" was on the air, the John McIntyre/Gab Bonesso (I'm not sure of the spelling) debacle was pretty bad. It wasn't that the concept of an entertainment talk show was bad, it was just that particular example was really bad. It seems that the suits decided that since a bad entertainment talk show didn't work, no entertainment talk show would work.

There are some pretty entertaining non-political talk shows on public radio, like "Car Talk", "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me", and "Prairie Home Companion". I can't understand why commercial radio couldn't do to the kind of entertainment programming that public radio is known for what cable TV networks did to the kind of educational programming that public television was noted for. All the concepts for the content on cable networks like the History Channel, the Food Network, Discovery, DIY, and others is pretty much stolen from the kind of shows that used to fill up the hours on stations like WQED and WQEX.

I haven't heard the DVE Morning Show in almost three years, but I remember that around ten years ago it was really funny. They didn't play very many records. A show like the DVE Morning Show, but with even more comedy bits and maybe live, in-the-studio musicians performing would make a good morning anchor show. If they could find stars as funny as Krenn used to be before he retired on the job about four or five years ago, that could be a start.

Pintek's morning show on KDKA around ten years ago was relatively entertaining, and had a lot of non-political content. I used to look forward to when he had Joanna Langford as a guest to do her bit. There are plenty of authors and actors with books and movies to plug whose press agents would love to have them interviewed. So a show like that could be a good choice for post-drive to lunch. Mara Davis here in Atlanta has an interesting noon-hour bit. She plays all requests based on some off-the-wall theme, like songs with a day of the week in the title. She also interviews people. There must be talent in Pittsburgh who could do that kind of show.

For the afternoon, just find someone similar to whoever does the morning imitation of Pintek's show from a decade ago.

For PM drive, just find someone like Doug Hoerth who isn't mired in the 1960's. Such people should exist. It's just a matter of finding one.

After drive time, who cares? Most folks are at home watching TV. Seriously, that's when plugging into the satellite or else doing a rotating series of different shows every week could be used as a breeding ground for new talent.

From midnight to AM Drive, air audio books of public domain literature classics.

What I've suggested above will never, ever happen. I know that. There's no need to point it out. I already know that no commercial radio station will ever attempt anything like that. But I had 10 minutes to kill before dinner, and typing that idea out was fun for me.
 
>>>Or let's look at this. This morning WDVE had one of their regular guests, the guy who runs the Mr. Skin website. Now, I'm sure this guy gives WDVE a pretty penny to appear, but let's say he wants to be on WENT.<<<

Are you saying Mr. Skin pays WDVE to be on the show? There isn't a dime changing hands. It's free publicity for his site.
 
Boss Radio said:
>>>Or let's look at this. This morning WDVE had one of their regular guests, the guy who runs the Mr. Skin website. Now, I'm sure this guy gives WDVE a pretty penny to appear, but let's say he wants to be on WENT.<<<

Are you saying Mr. Skin pays WDVE to be on the show? There isn't a dime changing hands. It's free publicity for his site.

Right. And Santa Claus brings presents on Christmas Eve.
 
Speaking of Santa Clause, I saw on another board that Q92.9 is going to be playing the Christmas music before 3ws on Light Up Night. Anybody know when 92.9 is going Christmas? They alluded "earlier than 3ws".
 
Raymond said:
Speaking of Santa Clause, I saw on another board that Q92.9 is going to be playing the Christmas music before 3ws on Light Up Night. Anybody know when 92.9 is going Christmas? They alluded "earlier than 3ws".

That's interesting because Saul HATES Christmas music. Maybe this is the end of Q?
 
I will remove myself from the discussion of the Mr. Skin interviews as I do not wish to take a shower at this time.

However, on to Beano Cook- consider what makes his interviews work is that he is adept at making Army-Notre Dame in the 1940s seem contemporarily relative.

It's like when Shirley Povich was still writing in the 1990s. He did not write his columns in a lamentful "It was better back when" position that so many veteran media types can take. That only puts off a younger audience and brands the vet as unable to adjust.

Rather, Povich could compare and contrast Mark McGwire with Babe Ruth and suddenly there was a broader appriciation of McGwires run for the record books.

As long as Beano isn't calling "The Four Horsemen" the most famous quartet in American sports history, he often can do this.

Yes, Beano may still seem to suggest Notre Dame is better than they really are, but for the most part he's really good at mixing Terrelle Pryor with Roger Staubach.


As such, I would suggest that's why his guest spots are so entertaining and have multi-generational appeal.
 
Talk, what you have suggested is generally already being done by music radio stations.

Consider WDVE. The music is, obviously, entertainment. They'll discuss things of pop culture interest humorously. The only thing they aren't doing so much is taking calls.
 
Beano is a crazy old man who lives in 1962 and is on for comic relief. He says the same things over and over and has no grip on what's happening today. He is to talk show guests what "Cookie Lady" is to callers.
 
Pratte4Life said:
This morning WDVE had one of their regular guests, the guy who runs the Mr. Skin website. Now, I'm sure this guy gives WDVE a pretty penny to appear...

Boss Radio said:
Are you saying Mr. Skin pays WDVE to be on the show? There isn't a dime changing hands. It's free publicity for his site.

Let's all pause now and think of what the Mr. Skin website would look like if Clear Channel acquired it... :-\
 
cingram said:
540 is an LMA with Birach, and (again, only a guess) presumably would move back to the studios at the
transmitter site in Canonsburg, unless Disney/ABC has other plans for it, which I doubt.

C.
Bring back Zeke Jackson!! ;D
 
johnsummers said:
Bring back Zeke Jackson!! ;D

A few Zeke Jackson questions:

1). What was his real name?
2). Was his father on KDKA back in the 1930's?
3). When he signed off WARO each evening at sunset, he had a rather lengthy preamble before flipping the off switch. One of his phrases during the sign off was a tribute to "The Dutchess". Anyone know what that meant?

I saw him one time at the studios when I was just a young pup. The only really vivid memory was that he showed me a wooden broom handle, the purpose of which was to reach the plate on button on the transmitter. He explained that lightning strikes were so frequent up on the hill that he used the broom handle to reach back behind the console to switch the plates back on. I seem to recall the 250 watt rig was a Collins.
 
It was a Collins, using 4-125s (2 modulators, 2 RF) They also had a Collins console and limiter. I helped put that station on the air 53 years ago. (WCNG, the station with you in mind)

I never met Zeke. If I can remember the CE's name I'll try to contact him as I'm sure he can fill in some of the blanks.
 
Raymond said:
Let's all pause now and think of what the Mr. Skin website would look like if Clear Channel acquired it...

Wouldn't it look like the DVE website? That's all porn anyhow.

Yes, but it was more interesting porn when the Hot Moms page was made up of all locals and
you would stumble across people you actually know on there. ("hey, did you see our kid's
fourth grade teacher on DVE Hot Moms?")
 
That's an interesting question you bring up.

How far did the "Hot Moms" page go?

I mean, Pittsburgh isn't the bible belt. I can understand if the fourth grade teacher is picking up extra money at the local brothel why you wouldn't want her to continue to teach, but if the fourth grade teacher is picking up extra money doing some local modeling, is that so bad?
 
Re: How far did the Hot Moms page go? Not very far. Some lingerie or bikini pics. At first it was called the MILF page, but they changed it to "Hot Moms" once people figured out what the letters stood for.
 
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