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AAR 1200/1430 could be gone

raccoonradio

raccoonradio

A post on boston-radio-interest says that CC may be pulling the plug on Air America Boston on/after
Friday whether or not a buyer is found for the network. Fans of the likes of Stephanie Miller, etc.,
may want to try to contact WRKO or WTKK to see if they can catch on there...or where else would it go?
 
If this is indeed true, the scenario remains: WKOX gets signal closer to Boston then goes to conservative talk:
Rush, Beck, Drudge, Noory (all ripped from WRKO since Premiere is controlled by CC, right?)

So Friday's big change may not be just country and classical on new frequencies...stay tuned.
 
raccoonradio said:
A post on boston-radio-interest says that CC may be pulling the plug on Air America Boston on/after
Friday whether or not a buyer is found for the network. Fans of the likes of Stephanie Miller, etc.,
may want to try to contact WRKO or WTKK to see if they can catch on there...or where else would it go?
Click to expand...

What a big suprise?! They've been running on borrowed time since CC started this mess.
They've been a non-player here since day one. Crappy signals. Zero marketing. Awful line-up from AAR.

I'd seriously worry more about the future of your boy Howie on 'RKO, though. He's swimming with the sharks and that only means trouble.
 
>>Zero marketing

What about all the billboards/taxi top ads (Franken, etc.) and the articles in Globe, Herald, Ch. 4; Franken
and Miller's appearances in town, etc.? As for crappy signals, at night and outside 128 certainly, but
look where WXKS is: 5 miles or so from Cambridge and Boston. And WKOX has a half decent day signal
at least. Though this time of year, with early sunsets...

Howie's local rep and half-decent ratings will keep him on the air I'd think, and if for some reason he were
dumped, a station like 'TKK could pick him up. 'RKO is banking on big ratings from Sox games and they'd
hope people would tune in at other times for people like Howie.
 
see my above new thread for comments on the viability of the format.

Clear Channel was about as supportive of Boston's Progressive Talk as Rich Carberry and WRKO were for the Jay Diamond or Johnny Angel shows. Zero support. Throw a few crumbs, disrupt the flow with sports and the soccer stuff, then point to it and say "abject failure" as Rich Carberry did.

AM 1430 actually did Bob Bittner a big favor because that audience, no doubt, found AM 740.

Clear Channel did an absolutely terrible job - they did NO FAVORS to Stephanie, Randi, Ed, etc. with those
dreadful PSAs and even Jimmy Tingle who can get on one's nerves. He's fine for stand up comedy, but that
annoying voice does not translate to radio very well. Those factors - and the awful signal - killed the idea.

Imagine DePetro on AM 1430? What was that Fixx song? Less than zero.

I would miss listening to the talk found on AM 1430, but it does deserve another setting.
 
raccoonradio said:
>>Zero marketing

What about all the billboards/taxi top ads (Franken, etc.) and the articles in Globe, Herald, Ch. 4; Franken
and Miller's appearances in town, etc.? As for crappy signals, at night and outside 128 certainly, but
look where WXKS is: 5 miles or so from Cambridge and Boston. And WKOX has a half decent day signal
at least. Though this time of year, with early sunsets...

Howie's local rep and half-decent ratings will keep him on the air I'd think, and if for some reason he were
dumped, a station like 'TKK could pick him up. 'RKO is banking on big ratings from Sox games and they'd
hope people would tune in at other times for people like Howie.
Click to expand...

What about taxi tops and billboards? They're owned by Clear Channel Outdoors so it didn't cost them a penny to run it.

Real marketing is a TV spot campaign during local newscasts or national talkshows or newsmagazines, cross-radio spots on Kiss108 and Jamn 94-5, daily print ad buys, local cable ads. Two promo visits to plug a book or two articles in the Boston Globe every six months months is not marketing. Even a useless sports station like ESPN Boston buys local TV time during national sports telecasts. At least they're trying to survive. CC never did anything to push Prog Talk here. They got ratings strictly on a word of mouth and on-line communities.

So you're saying they'll use night-time sports programming on a *talk* station to boost ratings for other dayparts? And, when you need Red Sox games to promote your afternoon talk show you're asking for trouble on all fronts.
 
raccoonradio said:
A post on boston-radio-interest says that CC may be pulling the plug on Air America Boston on/after
Friday whether or not a buyer is found for the network. Fans of the likes of Stephanie Miller, etc.,
may want to try to contact WRKO or WTKK to see if they can catch on there...or where else would it go?
Click to expand...

Stephanie Miller will be fine, she isn't Air America. She is syndicated by another company, but on Air America Stations. So no matte what happens to AAR, she ain't goin' no-where.
 
Oldbones said:
brightonboris said:
They got ratings strictly on a word of mouth and on-line communities.
Click to expand...

What ratings? Did they ever even show up?
Click to expand...

They show up every month in Arbitron 12+ and have for as far back as I remember. They are not at the head of the pack for certain but they are ahead of a few of the bigger AM's in the market that get no ratings (for example WBIX). It was no blockbuster but for the signal was fine. The only explanation is that CC can't sell progressive talk. My guess is that they won't pick up a copy of the Phoenix and cold call their advertisers. Another point is that most of the recent flips have been to in-house CC products (most notably, Fox Sports Radio, which actually is Fox in name only, comletely owned by CC). My guess is that CC has decided to move any lower ratings product completely in-house to maximize profits.
 
I always figured clear channel put AA on the air for political purposes - cover their butts against a possible backlash against being the biggest owner. Now they've sold, and the new owners might not care about playing that game. Everyone knew the network would fail - not because its liberal, but because their programming sucks.

The only people who were likely to listen to programming that was about being liberal instead of about being entertaining would be devout liberals. The media attention that Franken and the rest got was plenty to market it to the devout. The devout chose NPR because its better programming.
 
Just throwing ideas out here

Flipping to FOX Sports is a bad idea. A 4th Sports station is not needed. There's already WEEI, WWZN, and WAMG/WLLH. WXKS/WKOX is not needed. Maybe until they get the new 50KW stick turned on WKOX can go back to it's previous Leased Ethnic Format and I don't know. Simulcast WXKS-FM on 1430. Run Leased Ethnic on both stations. Launch La Neuva Rumba 1200-1430 Boston's #1 Spanish Language Music Station. Go back to the previous formats - Ethnic on 1200 Standards on 1430. What about 1200-1430 The Touch an Urban AC/Classic Soul/Gopsel Station?

How about selling both stations to Bob Bittner for $26.30? :D (1200+1430=2630)

Worst Case Senarios: WXKS/WKOX becomes the 3rd? bible thumper station. (CC killed 2 AM Oldies Station in PA for Bible Thumping - 1470 Allentown, 1340? Reasing) Or they become the 4th Sports Talk Fomrat.
 
I also agree with Johnwas5. If you want programming with a left tilt there's NPR. And if a liberal talk network were to do half decently, hosts like those on Jones might be a safer bet.

As for Fox Sports WEEI
currently runs them nights and weekends. There are three sports networks on radio (major ones at least):
ESPN, Sporting News, and Fox Sports. Probably one too many. Not sure what kind of ratings SNR gets
but there has been talk they may not survive. In a city like Boston I can see maybe two full time sports
stations, with a blend of local and national product. (And consider you have WRKO running Sox and Celts
too...You have to wonder if Entercom would consolidate WEEI onto 680 and put talk on 850...possibly.)

So does 1430 or 1200 switch to sports? Maybe no room for them, unless they make some kind of deal to
move Sporting News network there--or even ESPN, which has been on 890 and 1400. If ESPN felt that
1200 and 1430 would cover the area better than 890 or 1400...(and keep in mind 1200's tower move...)

Ethnic? Dollar a holler religion? Or that conservative-talk scenario.
Would CC sell off one of them to Salem and they could put religion/conservative talk on it? What does
Salem own here, 590, 1150, 950...can they get one more under a cap, or buy 1200 or 1430 and sell off
one of their weaker signals?

What else: classic country? smooth jazz? Or dare we say R&B (RIP WILD)? A black-oriented station in town?
(Kind of what happened to WLIB which went to black gospel)
 
I mentioned this _possibility_ (loss of progtalk on 1200/1430) on an Air America related board and someone said they got off the phone with "Joe Mavvie, program director for Boston's Progressive Talk" and he
said the possible loss of the prog. talk format was "news to him"...FWIW...
 
Steph would be a great choice for WRKO... agree or disagree with her, the show is very entertaining.

we definitely don't need a fourth sports station.... and JT the Brick on the overnight is like nails against a chalkboard.

I imagine it'll be another right-wing talk format... who's missing in this market? Liddy? Beck?
 
Oh I'd expect Beck to be on WRKO (as he already is, Sat. nights)...unless the CC/Premiere connection leads
to, yes, conservatalk on 1200 w/ Premiere hosts: Rush, Beck, Noory, Drudge.

JT the Brick can be nails on a chalkboard but it's fun to hear him rant when the Yankees lose. A couple yrs back when A-Rod killed a big potential rally in the 9th inning of the deciding game against the Angels, JT was doing his own kind of play-by-play on the air: "And he hits into a double play! Oh my God! A-Rod is a DOG! He's a
DOG with FLEAS!" THAT was funny. (and for the record, his sidekick Tom Looney is a liberal from what I've
heard...)

One could almost imagine if Premiere pulled its shows from WRKO, they could go to another format (like
I said, move WEEI there, but then do WHAT with 850?) and the conservative AM talker in town (well besides
1150) would be 1200: Howie could even jump there! But we're getting ahead of ourselves (and note that when I mentioned the AAR-gone-in-Boston rumor to an Air America messageboard, someone replied that they talked
to the WKOXKS PD and that it was "news to him". But whether it happens Friday or not, what with the
volatile situation at CC, it might happen eventually...Either a dropping of the format or a sale.

S. Miller might be a good fit for 'RKO, even if tape delayed (if they should go local at 9 am once the
replacement for DePetro is named)
 
raccoonradio said:
I mentioned this _possibility_ (loss of progtalk on 1200/1430) on an Air America related board and someone said they got off the phone with "Joe Mavvie, program director for Boston's Progressive Talk" and he
said the possible loss of the prog. talk format was "news to him"...FWIW...
Click to expand...

if you're going to start rumors in here, at least get the correct names and titles of the people involved. it's joe mazzei, not mavvei. he's not their pd. he's a pr/marketing person for clear channel boston. plus, if they're going to dump progressive talk, he'll be the last one in the know. the corporate calls all the shots anyway.
 
I was just directly quoting the response I got from someone on AirAmericaPlace...spelling is right from the guy
who replied to me (and I didn't talk to anyone at the station, but this guy did)
 
raccoonradio said:
WKOX/WXKS site discussion board is gone.

Get Deval Patrick to buy the station and put libtalk back on :)
Click to expand...
[EDIT]
where do you get these rumors???? the discussion board on their site
is still there :

http://www.wkoxam.com/cc-common/EMTboard.html

take a break from all your internet rumor searches...you shouldn't be posting
and listening to howie at the same time. it obviously impares your ability to think clearly.


[EDIT-inflammatory]
 
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