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A Sign Of WRKO Financial Desperation ?

C

Casablanca

Guest
Turned on WRKO at 10 AM Saturday to hear that they are running some infomercial with some bogus medical doctor spewing out medical advice on his 800 number and also by the way selling his vitamim line.

Well, this is the level to which WRKO has now sunk and a sure sign of desperation that Julie "The Executioner" Kahn is in her death throws at RKO.

WRKO : - Pay For Play Radio - Deperation City ! ! !
 
WBZ has run this kind of stuff before--at 3:30 am, though.
(I think a few years ago 'RKO ran some on Saturday afternoons. These days they have other
things to air, like the Red Sox)

Actually in a world where people rise to the level of their incompetence, Kahn and Wolfe will probably
keep their jobs. You know, just like on the Mary Tyler Moore finale episode where everyone got fired
except the inept Ted Baxter. (whose actor, the late Ted Knight, can be heard in a Howie sound clip,
taken from Caddyshack: "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha (clap)"
 
from the lineup page of WRKO.com:

SATURDAY
10:00AM 11:00AM Healthy Living from the Cooper Aerobics Center

SUNDAY
8:00AM 9:00AM Unconventional Wisdom Investment Show
9:00AM 10:00AM The Protecting Your Wealth Show
(prob an informercial too)

WTKK airs informercials only on Sundays at 5 am
WBZ, as I mentioned, runs them around 3:30 am on early Sat. or something
 
Heard Later: Sponsored By "New Balance" Sneaker Company.
Hmmmm?????????
Wonder if Entercom bartered this program for "RENT" since their Boston studios are in.....'drum roll'.....THE NEW BALANCE BUILDING.

Very inter rest ting ;)
 
None of this should be a surprise. Back in September 2005, I helped my in-laws move from New York to Florida. After loading up the U-haul the Friday night before, we got up at 5 a.m. on Saturday to start the drive down. We were listening to 1010 WINS, I believe, hoping to catch some traffic, and there was this obnoxious infomercial program about investments, constantly flogging the 800#. I thought, this is NYC's biggest news station, and one of the top stations, and they have this crap on? Sad. Thankfully, at 6 a.m., the regular programming came back on.
 
Don't forget that WBZ also runs infomercials in the form of talk shows Sunday nights between "60 Minutes" and Jordan Rich.
 
Laurence Glavin said:
Don't forget that WBZ also runs infomercials in the form of talk shows Sunday nights between "60 Minutes" and Jordan Rich.
Click to expand...

I guess the big difference is that WBZ didn't fire Casablanca 25 years ago.

Regards,
TSB
 
Casablanca said:
Heard Later: Sponsored By "New Balance" Sneaker Company.
Hmmmm?????????
Wonder if Entercom bartered this program for "RENT" since their Boston studios are in.....'drum roll'.....THE NEW BALANCE BUILDING.

Very inter rest ting ;)
Click to expand...

Errrr...why would Entercom be paying rent to New Balance?

Regards,
TSB
 
Actually, the "Rubber Company" ran "Sounds of Sinatra" on Saturday afternoons which wasn't too smart either but the gee-em was too busy showing Bill Clinton what to do if he ever got into the ovaloffice and the peedee was too sloshed to notice that music didn't fit the talk format. No station is perfect but these owners seem to be acting out of desperation not knowing how to build an audience and scavenging for buck under any rock they can find whether it hurts their credibility --- assuming they ever had any --- or not.

TSBench said:
Laurence Glavin said:
Don't forget that WBZ also runs infomercials in the form of talk shows Sunday nights between "60 Minutes" and Jordan Rich.
Click to expand...

I guess the big difference is that WBZ didn't fire Casablanca 25 years ago.

Regards,
TSB
Click to expand...
 
I think it's just a case of Entercom trying to generate revenue in an otherwise weak daypart, any way they can. Seems to me this is why ANY station runs infomercials, particularly on off-hours and weekends.
 
I think it's just a case of Entercom trying to generate revenue in an otherwise weak daypart, any way they can. Seems to me this is why ANY station runs infomercials, particularly on off-hours and weekends.

Yep. Just saw the recent nationwide billing figures for radio, and, IIRC, local spot was down 4%, national spot was down 1%, but non-spot and non-traditional was up 6%, so the non spot-related stuff was paying a lot of the bills.

I noticed today that Channel 7 was running paid programming during early fringe. When the VHFs are running infomercials during the day, not to mention the UHF's and cable ops that run infomercials everywhere outside of sales prime, the idea that talk radio stations running them in place of programming that nobody ever listens to is a sign of financial desperation is more of a sign of deperation on the part of the poster who actually thinks it is meaningful.

Regards,
TSB
 
Open your eyes. It is a sign of the times. A recession is on the way. It will get worse. The Gold hawkers are back on radio too. 'Buy Gold before the times get worse' pitch.



TSBench said:
I think it's just a case of Entercom trying to generate revenue in an otherwise weak daypart, any way they can. Seems to me this is why ANY station runs infomercials, particularly on off-hours and weekends.

Yep. Just saw the recent nationwide billing figures for radio, and, IIRC, local spot was down 4%, national spot was down 1%, but non-spot and non-traditional was up 6%, so the non spot-related stuff was paying a lot of the bills.

I noticed today that Channel 7 was running paid programming during early fringe. When the VHFs are running infomercials during the day, not to mention the UHF's and cable ops that run infomercials everywhere outside of sales prime, the idea that talk radio stations running them in place of programming that nobody ever listens to is a sign of financial desperation is more of a sign of deperation on the part of the poster who actually thinks it is meaningful.

Regards,
TSB
Click to expand...
 
Open your eyes. It is a sign of the times. A recession is on the way. It will get worse. The Gold hawkers are back on radio too. 'Buy Gold before the times get worse' pitch.

Thanks for the heads-up.

Are the meds starting to wear off?

Regards,
TSB
 
Thank you for letting me use some of yours.

TSBench said:
Open your eyes. It is a sign of the times. A recession is on the way. It will get worse. The Gold hawkers are back on radio too. 'Buy Gold before the times get worse' pitch.

Thanks for the heads-up.

Are the meds starting to wear off?

Regards,
TSB
Click to expand...
 
AvenueA said:
could be but Casa's right this time.
Click to expand...

Right. Sure. Of course, WRKO has been running this stuff for years, but now Casa pounces as just another excuse to call people names...people who actually work in radio...and to predict their imminent firings. Of course, he's been right about those same predictions so many times before.

Do yourself a favor and get a new act. This one is boring, tired and predictable. We get it already: WRKO is a horrible station. You have yet to find even one person who disagrees with that. Repeating the same mantra for the 3,497th time on this board is the ultimate waste of bandwidth.
 
Casablanca said:
Wonder if Entercom bartered this program for "RENT" since their Boston studios are in.....'drum roll'.....THE NEW BALANCE BUILDING.
Click to expand...

New Balance doesn't own the building. "The New Balance Building" is a moniker of convenience, since NB is the tenant which takes up the most room in the building and has their logo on it.

But, of course, Casa never lets facts get in the way of a good insult.
 
The former CEO of New Balance owns the building, I believe. Either way, tenants usually sign five or ten year leases, so I doubt the infomercial has anything to do with rent.

Infomercials are just a sad fact of media life now as publicly traded companies focus their resources on key revenue generating areas and cut corners where they can. Hastening their demise in the interest of short term goals? One could certainly make that case.
 
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