aar SWITCHING TO OLDIES

[FightingIrish]

For all you lib talk foes out there who love to say that talk radio is business and stations have to be able to sell advertising consider this statement by Zwerling regarding why he flipped lib talk in Santa Cruz

"We weren't able to sell one ad in a year and a half."

If you believe this bs, you are more deluded than a supporter of Bush's war in Iraq.

And what kind of 'businessman' keeps a format on the air that hasn't sold an ad in a year and a half? Instead of going out and finding sponsors he went and bitched to the local paper every once in a while. If I was an ad rep and pulled that, I'd be banished from the industry!

I still maintain that if I was running AAR, I would have yanked all the programming from KSCO the minute he started blasting them in the media. Zwerling was a cancer for them, and both parties are better served having severed ties.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Hmmm... very interesting, OMW. I didn't realize CC blew up KABL. Now, it appears they are indeed running news/talk. Dr. Laura has the late morning shift that Rush is in. Also running Hannity, Noory, Doyle, Humphries and Savage. Wonder how long it will be until they take back Rush (as CC has done in other markets). It appears as if they already yanked Coast to Coast from KSCO.

Regardless, this is gonna hurt KSCO in many ways. I really don't think they get much in ratings outside of Rush.

This is mostly a guess, since I haven't seen the numbers, but I'd have to agree.

And they have done better.

12-plus numbers, I know, but the current book for KSCO shows them not a LOT above KRXA! OK, you can say "double", but both are now in the bottom rungs of the M/S/SC 12-plus ratings.

Even with KSCO getting better numbers in the past, KGO has always beaten the heck out of KSCO, and though KGO has gone down a bit in the Fall '06 12-plus ratings, they are still number 4 in the entire market!

KION is indeed back. They weren't burning up the ratings when they were N/T before, but it probably beats what KABL was getting, with the former format and calls of the SF market station...

 

[evnlee]

For all you lib talk foes out there who love to say that talk radio is business and stations have to be able to sell advertising consider this statement by Zwerling regarding why he flipped lib talk in Santa Cruz

"We weren't able to sell one ad in a year and a half."

If you believe this bs, you are more deluded than a supporter of Bush's war in Iraq.

And what kind of 'businessman' keeps a format on the air that hasn't sold an ad in a year and a half?

there are a number of them!! Rob Glazer comes to mind.

How about Joe Weber? When he bought the signal AAR was on in Atlanta, he only kept Franken, and dumped the rest of the AAR lineup? He keeps his 'eclectic' programming on despite sales. He has every right to do this, yet all the 'bloggers' around insist he only did it to shut down AAR. He has been labeled a 'neo con' and a Isreali apologist. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Which is my point, that you guys don't seem to want to understand: when a station owner signs on, he's good. When they dump AAR, he's bad. Even in the case where he's 'not bad' ( Weber ), then someone's got to make some stuff up about him.

FI, you claim "Zwerling's never had a good reputation with left-leaning listeners in town. While some of their intentions may have been good, they always found a way to piss them off."

You are mad that they call listeners that wont support AAR 'hypocrites'.

You say "Listeners were offended by the Zwerlings' boorish behavior", yet you discount and gloss over the reason Momma Zwerling and co. had to go on the air in the first place:

to apologise to angry listeners after Werbe went on the air and launched into 'conspiracy theories' and his ardent opposition to the Afghan War, one month after 9-11.

All in all, this looks like the guy tried AAR, yet got frustrated by the lack of local support for it. So he called them out.

But the fix was in early. I think it was just bad business. You think it was bad blood and politics. We can agree to disagree, but there is definitely a pattern developing here :

 

[Radio_Realist]

"If you believe this bs, you are more deluded OFF-TOPIC, OVER THE TOP POLITICAL HYPERBOLE DELETED"

If you can't recognize over-the-top hyperbole used as a rhetorical tool to make a point, you have no business being in any branch of the communication industry, except perhaps as a technician. No one who cannot recognize hyperbole for what it is should expect to work in radio, or to expect anyone to believe anything that they post in a blog.

 

[FightingIrish]

Hmmm... very interesting, OMW. I didn't realize CC blew up KABL. Now, it appears they are indeed running news/talk. Dr. Laura has the late morning shift that Rush is in. Also running Hannity, Noory, Doyle, Humphries and Savage. Wonder how long it will be until they take back Rush (as CC has done in other markets). It appears as if they already yanked Coast to Coast from KSCO.

Regardless, this is gonna hurt KSCO in many ways. I really don't think they get much in ratings outside of Rush.

This is mostly a guess, since I haven't seen the numbers, but I'd have to agree.

And they have done better.

12-plus numbers, I know, but the current book for KSCO shows them not a LOT above KRXA! OK, you can say "double", but both are now in the bottom rungs of the M/S/SC 12-plus ratings.

Even with KSCO getting better numbers in the past, KGO has always beaten the heck out of KSCO, and though KGO has gone down a bit in the Fall '06 12-plus ratings, they are still number 4 in the entire market!

KION is indeed back. They weren't burning up the ratings when they were N/T before, but it probably beats what KABL was getting, with the former format and calls of the SF market station...

Quite frankly, I'd love to see daypart breakdowns of this market.

I'm willing to bet KSCO does fairly decent during Rush's shift, then all listeners scatter to the winds. They can't be doing anything the rest of the day, not with an overall share that low! This reminds me of Minneapolis, where Rush has been on a 100,000 watt FM station for the past year, after 18 years at KSTP. Needless to say, KTLK-FM is doing terrible in the ratings, with an overall rating only a fifth of a point ahead of the independently-owned 1,000 watt liberal talk station out in the west suburbs (KTNF). In fact, Ed Schultz in the afternoon on KTNF beat Sean Hannity and established local guy Jason Lewis on KTLK-FM in all demographic breakdowns in the most recent book.

 

[evnlee]

For all you lib talk foes out there who love to say that talk radio is business and stations have to be able to sell advertising consider this statement by Zwerling regarding why he flipped lib talk in Santa Cruz

"We weren't able to sell one ad in a year and a half."

If you believe this bs, you are more deluded than a supporter of Bush's war in Iraq.

And what kind of 'businessman' keeps a format on the air that hasn't sold an ad in a year and a half? Instead of going out and finding sponsors he went and bitched to the local paper every once in a while. If I was an ad rep and pulled that, I'd be banished from the industry!

I still maintain that if I was running AAR, I would have yanked all the programming from KSCO the minute he started blasting them in the media. Zwerling was a cancer for them, and both parties are better served having severed ties.

It seems my last post was deleted. Oh well.


"And what kind of 'businessman' keeps a format on the air that hasn't sold an ad in a year and a half?"

Joe Weber, owner of the now defunct AAR affiliate in Atlanta (used to be WWAA, now WMLB ) puts his stuff on the air regardless of sales. He also owned and operated a bakery that he sold for a major profit, so I do not question his business acumen.

"Zwerling was a cancer for them, and both parties are better served having severed ties."

Just another in a long line of blatant personal attacks against a station owner that dumps AAR. I hardly see how losing any affiliates ( even ones that underperform, or cannot demand ad revenue ) helps AAR.

It seems Zwerling earned the ire of left coast liberals by having to apologise for Peter Werbe's outrageous comments and conspiracy thoeries, that, according to the Sentinel ( I know, FI, it's a neo con rag )they had callers complaining about. Of course, that little nugget of info doesn't make it into the posts, or are deleted.

The pattern continues : station owner drops AAR, blogger denigrate station owner online.

Even if they can't sell ads :

 

[BossRadioDJ]

From All Access, Monday, January 29 (12:52 PM EST):

AIR AMERICA RADIO has announced that it has a letter of intent to sell the network to real estate mogul STEPHEN L. GREEN's SLG RADIO LLC for an undisclosed price.

The deal, if approved by the bankruptcy court, will close by mid-FEBRUARY. GREEN is the brother of longtime NEW YORK liberal political leader MARK GREEN. At the same time, the network announced that AL FRANKEN willleave the network after FEBRUARY 14's show, replaced by THOM HARTMANN, whose AAR-syndicated show was running at the same time as FRANKEN's.

I'll start by saying that I'm a friend of Michael Zwerling. I've known him for a few years, and the first thing I'll say about him -- aside from the simple fact that he's a great friend to have -- is that he is first and foremost a radio guy. He loves radio. He's been in radio since he was a kid. He's had offers to sell his stations, but he loves being a station owner ... because he's a radio guy.

I first met MZ at a Broadcast Legends lunch a while back; he just happened to be sitting at the same table I got lucky enough to sit at that day. After the lunch, a group of us got into a discussion about the heritage of KOMY as a Top 40 station back in the 1960s. I began at that time pestering him about taking KOMY to an Oldies format that reflected its heritage.

A few months ago, I invited MZ on a tour of the old KRE studio building in Berkeley, which is being refurbished by the California Historical Radio Society. (MZ had worked there back in the late 1960s while attending Cal-Berkeley.) Also along on the trip were a pair of Top 40 legends, John Mack Flanagan and Tommy Saunders. It was just a small group -- five or six people -- and it was so much fun hearing these guys trade stories and recollections.

Afterward, we had lunch together and the excitement about personality-oriented radio and how it "used to be" was Topic A. Shortly thereafter, I appeared as a guest on MZ's "Saturday Special" to talk about personality radio in the Bay Area back in the 1950s and 1960s, and I think that's when the die was finally cast -- from then on, the talk about doing something fun with KOMY started to sound like it might become reality.

I was invited to a meeting with the KSCO/KOMY team a few weeks ago -- the Zwerling family, the general manager, program director, production director and other key members of the staff -- and every single person in the room was energized about the thought of revitalizing KOMY into a fun, exciting, entertaining radio station again. The thought was that it might take several weeks to get everything together...

A quick aside: I'd say that if you have to categorize my politics, I'm a lifelong Democrat. I'm a moderate but progressive thinker. I don't care for the term "liberal" because it's a false blanket term, the same way "conservative" is. But the bottom line for me is that I thought the Air America programming simply wasn't entertaining, and the Franken show in particular wasn't good radio. I'm a fan of Al Franken the comedian and writer, but as a radio guy, Al Franken just isn't that good.

Anyway, we patched together a "sample format" for KOMY with some home-brew imaging and a very limited collection of music -- basically everything I had on my computer, with a few other songs we could scrape together -- and demoed it for the station staff. Despite its obvious faults, everyone loved it. Last Thursday morning, MZ asked if it would be possible to put that "KOMY demo" on the air as a temporary fill until the "real" KOMY could go on the air. A half-hour later, the "demo" went live on 1340 AM.

Please note that the programming being played now is just filler; it is automated, but it isn't what will end up on the station in the next few weeks. The idea is to make KOMY sound like you're back in the 1960s again, with fun contests, promotions, personalities and music. It may take a while to get everything up to speed, but the first step was the biggest.

And please don't think of this as some vast right-wing conspiracy. I look at it as radio for people who still know how to use a radio. The core group of listeners that KOMY is trying to attract are people who don't need to be trained; if the programming is entertaining, they'll find the station. If not, you have to admit that the cause was noble.

New KOMY website (beta): http://www.KOMYradio.com


DJ

 

[FightingIrish]

Thanks for posting Boss.

Quite frankly, I think the new format is a wise choice. It's one that many programmers are shying away from. Not many stations are eager to play 50s and 60s anymore. Clear Channel, however, flipped the AM standards station in my market to a 60s-70s format, and it sounds great.

I do hope that the Zwerlings are committed to making it work. I've heard many horror stories about that place and the lack of effort in selling either of their stations (it sounds as if Limbaugh is their meal ticket), and a format geared toward an older audience is not a slam-dunk. It's gonna be a challenge to make it work.

Nonetheless, as a fan of oldies, I am glad that the format (and not the watered-down 70s-80s version creeping onto the FM dials) is still alive on the airwaves. And, as stated before, I think the Zwerling/AAR divorce was way overdue. Both are better served without each other.

 

[evnlee]

I'll start by saying that I'm a friend of Michael Zwerling. I've known him for a few years, and the first thing I'll say about him -- aside from the simple fact that he's a great friend to have -- is that he is first and foremost a radio guy. He loves radio. He's been in radio since he was a kid. He's had offers to sell his stations, but he loves being a station owner ... because he's a radio guy.

A quick aside: I'd say that if you have to categorize my politics, I'm a lifelong Democrat. I'm a moderate but progressive thinker. I don't care for the term "liberal" because it's a false blanket term, the same way "conservative" is. But the bottom line for me is that I thought the Air America programming simply wasn't entertaining, and the Franken show in particular wasn't good radio. I'm a fan of Al Franken the comedian and writer, but as a radio guy, Al Franken just isn't that good.

DJ

thanks for the post, and for defending the Zwerlings. I don't know them personally, but I suspected it was always more 'about radio' and less about 'politics'.

You'll just have to forgive the lefties that will continue to slander the Zwerlings. They are having a bit of a party recently, and aren't thinking clearly. :

 

[BossRadioDJ]

thanks for the post, and for defending the Zwerlings. I don't know them personally, but I suspected it was always more 'about radio' and less about 'politics'.

You'll just have to forgive the lefties that will continue to slander the Zwerlings. They are having a bit of a party recently, and aren't thinking clearly. :

To be honest, slander is too harsh of a term here. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone believes that their opinion is correct. There isn't always a right answer, and everyone isn't going to agree all the time with everything.

Not everyone is going to like the new format. Not everyone is going to like that Air America is no longer carried by the station. Not everyone is going to like every song (if not, stick around -- they're only about two-and-a-half minutes long!) and the formatics may not be everyone's cup of tea. But, if you grew up in the 1960s in this area, this is going to be like rediscovering an old friend.

DJ

 

[FightingIrish]

Well, for what it's worth, I just checked my email box, and lo and behold, there was one from Michael Zwerling himself.

He said my article was mostly accurate and thought it was written pretty well. Found it pretty entertaining and feels I should write screenplays.

Not sure if he was being sarcastic or not, but nonetheless, a rather funny email. I'll give him credit for that, though I currently have no reason whatsoever to change any of what I have written.

I replied back, asking him for permission for a direct quote, as I do publish emails (or the occasional correction or clarification) on my blog from subjects I write about. In the past, this has included station managers, insiders and owners, guys like Tom Athans, and even hosts themselves.

 

[evnlee]

For all you lib talk foes out there who love to say that talk radio is business and stations have to be able to sell advertising consider this statement by Zwerling regarding why he flipped lib talk in Santa Cruz

"We weren't able to sell one ad in a year and a half."

If you believe this bs, you are more deluded than a supporter of Bush's war in Iraq.

And what kind of 'businessman' keeps a format on the air that hasn't sold an ad in a year and a half?

there are a number of them!! Rob Glazer comes to mind.

How about Joe Weber? When he bought the signal AAR was on in Atlanta, he only kept Franken, and dumped the rest of the AAR lineup? He keeps his 'eclectic' programming on despite sales. He has every right to do this, yet all the 'bloggers' around insist he only did it to shut down AAR. He has been labeled a 'neo con' and a Isreali apologist. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Which is my point, that you guys don't seem to want to understand: when a station owner signs on, he's good. When they dump AAR, he's bad. Even in the case where he's 'not bad' ( Weber ), then someone's got to make some stuff up about him.

FI, you claim "Zwerling's never had a good reputation with left-leaning listeners in town. While some of their intentions may have been good, they always found a way to piss them off."

You are mad that they call listeners that wont support AAR 'hypocrites'.

You say "Listeners were offended by the Zwerlings' boorish behavior", yet you discount and gloss over the reason Momma Zwerling and co. had to go on the air in the first place:

to apologise to angry listeners after Werbe went on the air and launched into 'conspiracy theories' and his ardent opposition to the Afghan War, one month after 9-11.

All in all, this looks like the guy tried AAR, yet got frustrated by the lack of local support for it. So he called them out.

But the fix was in early. I think it was just bad business. You think it was bad blood and politics. We can agree to disagree, but there is definitely a pattern developing here :

wierd. I posted this sunday, but it got lost in the ether


I'm glad to see Zwerling turned out to be an OK guy~ I always suspected as much

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

My impressions of MZ had nothing to do with his treatment of the libtalk format on KOMY. In fact, considering the presence of a full-time competitor which beat him to the air with the format, I always felt 1340 going with AAR was kind of silly. Maybe going with full-tilt oldies is what they needed to do in the first place...the station has never really done well with ANY kind of talk "complement" to KSCO, even as a second-tier conservative talk sister to 1080.

Mr. Zwerling has quite a history in the market, and not all of it is well-received. But he's managed to plug away with KSCO there.

 

[ajhenderson]

Zwerling is nuts, and he couldn't have put together a worse lineup for a PTer, but I remember a few years I spoke to him about his station. He kept telling me how much better KSCO was than cross-town KNRY, which brokered most of the day, and called them a "paytoilet". I still love that term.

Also, yes, KSCO is something of a joke, but just like the 2 talkers in Riverside-San Bernardino get clobbered by KFI, it's hard to compete. That's why these almost-embedded markets have so many schlock stations with infomercials and other crap. It's not that people in Monterey aren't listening to Rush, it's that they're listening to him on KSFO. And as to Savage being "too expensive", that's either untrue or shows ZBS' ineptitude... TRN is more than happy to take barter.

Cross-town KRXA is a good operation. Yeah, their ratings suck, too, but they got a pretty decent (day) stick for not much $$, and are doing well from what I hear. They have passion. Peter Collins won't be the next Ed Schultz, but he's a pro and knows the business. I woudn't listen to the station, but at least it's not a looney bin like the competition. Although, from what I hear, the new KOMY sounds pretty good for an oldies station.

 

[evnlee]

Zwerling is nuts, and he couldn't have put together a worse lineup for a PTer, but I remember a few years I spoke to him about his station. He kept telling me how much better KSCO was than cross-town KNRY, which brokered most of the day, and called them a "paytoilet". I still love that term.

Also, yes, KSCO is something of a joke, but just like the 2 talkers in Riverside-San Bernardino get clobbered by KFI, it's hard to compete. That's why these almost-embedded markets have so many schlock stations with infomercials and other crap. It's not that people in Monterey aren't listening to Rush, it's that they're listening to him on KSFO. And as to Savage being "too expensive", that's either untrue or shows ZBS' ineptitude... TRN is more than happy to take barter.

Cross-town KRXA is a good operation. Yeah, their ratings suck, too, but they got a pretty decent (day) stick for not much $$, and are doing well from what I hear. They have passion. Peter Collins won't be the next Ed Schultz, but he's a pro and knows the business. I woudn't listen to the station, but at least it's not a looney bin like the competition. Although, from what I hear, the new KOMY sounds pretty good for an oldies station.

Well, it's very interesting to see all those people now calling Zwerling 'NUTS', but I tend to think that he wasn't viewed as that 'nutty' when he put some AAR hosts on. IIIRC, some bloggers even wen't so far to proclaim that move as 'brave' and 'imaginative'.
:

 

[FightingIrish]

Zwerling is nuts, and he couldn't have put together a worse lineup for a PTer, but I remember a few years I spoke to him about his station. He kept telling me how much better KSCO was than cross-town KNRY, which brokered most of the day, and called them a "paytoilet". I still love that term.

Also, yes, KSCO is something of a joke, but just like the 2 talkers in Riverside-San Bernardino get clobbered by KFI, it's hard to compete. That's why these almost-embedded markets have so many schlock stations with infomercials and other crap. It's not that people in Monterey aren't listening to Rush, it's that they're listening to him on KSFO. And as to Savage being "too expensive", that's either untrue or shows ZBS' ineptitude... TRN is more than happy to take barter.

Cross-town KRXA is a good operation. Yeah, their ratings suck, too, but they got a pretty decent (day) stick for not much $$, and are doing well from what I hear. They have passion. Peter Collins won't be the next Ed Schultz, but he's a pro and knows the business. I woudn't listen to the station, but at least it's not a looney bin like the competition. Although, from what I hear, the new KOMY sounds pretty good for an oldies station.

Well, it's very interesting to see all those people now calling Zwerling 'NUTS', but I tend to think that he wasn't viewed as that 'nutty' when he put some AAR hosts on. IIIRC, some bloggers even wen't so far to proclaim that move as 'brave' and 'imaginative'.
:

Hmmm..."some bloggers even wen't so far to proclaim that move as 'brave' and 'imaginative'"?

Got any links for these 'bloggers'?

 

[evnlee]

Zwerling is nuts, and he couldn't have put together a worse lineup for a PTer, but I remember a few years I spoke to him about his station. He kept telling me how much better KSCO was than cross-town KNRY, which brokered most of the day, and called them a "paytoilet". I still love that term.

Also, yes, KSCO is something of a joke, but just like the 2 talkers in Riverside-San Bernardino get clobbered by KFI, it's hard to compete. That's why these almost-embedded markets have so many schlock stations with infomercials and other crap. It's not that people in Monterey aren't listening to Rush, it's that they're listening to him on KSFO. And as to Savage being "too expensive", that's either untrue or shows ZBS' ineptitude... TRN is more than happy to take barter.

Cross-town KRXA is a good operation. Yeah, their ratings suck, too, but they got a pretty decent (day) stick for not much $$, and are doing well from what I hear. They have passion. Peter Collins won't be the next Ed Schultz, but he's a pro and knows the business. I woudn't listen to the station, but at least it's not a looney bin like the competition. Although, from what I hear, the new KOMY sounds pretty good for an oldies station.

Well, it's very interesting to see all those people now calling Zwerling 'NUTS', but I tend to think that he wasn't viewed as that 'nutty' when he put some AAR hosts on. IIIRC, some bloggers even wen't so far to proclaim that move as 'brave' and 'imaginative'.
:

Hmmm..."some bloggers even wen't so far to proclaim that move as 'brave' and 'imaginative'"?

Got any links for these 'bloggers'?

Yeah, I knew that one was coming. I looked and alot of those 'bloggers' do not carry 'archives'.

that's why I typed 'If I Recall Correctly'.

Hit a little close to the bone there, FI? ;D

 

[FightingIrish]

Zwerling is nuts, and he couldn't have put together a worse lineup for a PTer, but I remember a few years I spoke to him about his station. He kept telling me how much better KSCO was than cross-town KNRY, which brokered most of the day, and called them a "paytoilet". I still love that term.

Also, yes, KSCO is something of a joke, but just like the 2 talkers in Riverside-San Bernardino get clobbered by KFI, it's hard to compete. That's why these almost-embedded markets have so many schlock stations with infomercials and other crap. It's not that people in Monterey aren't listening to Rush, it's that they're listening to him on KSFO. And as to Savage being "too expensive", that's either untrue or shows ZBS' ineptitude... TRN is more than happy to take barter.

Cross-town KRXA is a good operation. Yeah, their ratings suck, too, but they got a pretty decent (day) stick for not much $$, and are doing well from what I hear. They have passion. Peter Collins won't be the next Ed Schultz, but he's a pro and knows the business. I woudn't listen to the station, but at least it's not a looney bin like the competition. Although, from what I hear, the new KOMY sounds pretty good for an oldies station.

Well, it's very interesting to see all those people now calling Zwerling 'NUTS', but I tend to think that he wasn't viewed as that 'nutty' when he put some AAR hosts on. IIIRC, some bloggers even wen't so far to proclaim that move as 'brave' and 'imaginative'.
:

Hmmm..."some bloggers even wen't so far to proclaim that move as 'brave' and 'imaginative'"?

Got any links for these 'bloggers'?

Yeah, I knew that one was coming. I looked and alot of those 'bloggers' do not carry 'archives'.

that's why I typed 'If I Recall Correctly'.

Hit a little close to the bone there, FI? ;D

Uhhh... no.

 

[evnlee]

Zwerling is nuts, and he couldn't have put together a worse lineup for a PTer, but I remember a few years I spoke to him about his station. He kept telling me how much better KSCO was than cross-town KNRY, which brokered most of the day, and called them a "paytoilet". I still love that term.

Also, yes, KSCO is something of a joke, but just like the 2 talkers in Riverside-San Bernardino get clobbered by KFI, it's hard to compete. That's why these almost-embedded markets have so many schlock stations with infomercials and other crap. It's not that people in Monterey aren't listening to Rush, it's that they're listening to him on KSFO. And as to Savage being "too expensive", that's either untrue or shows ZBS' ineptitude... TRN is more than happy to take barter.

Cross-town KRXA is a good operation. Yeah, their ratings suck, too, but they got a pretty decent (day) stick for not much $$, and are doing well from what I hear. They have passion. Peter Collins won't be the next Ed Schultz, but he's a pro and knows the business. I woudn't listen to the station, but at least it's not a looney bin like the competition. Although, from what I hear, the new KOMY sounds pretty good for an oldies station.

Well, it's very interesting to see all those people now calling Zwerling 'NUTS', but I tend to think that he wasn't viewed as that 'nutty' when he put some AAR hosts on. IIIRC, some bloggers even wen't so far to proclaim that move as 'brave' and 'imaginative'.
:

Hmmm..."some bloggers even wen't so far to proclaim that move as 'brave' and 'imaginative'"?

Got any links for these 'bloggers'?

Yeah, I knew that one was coming. I looked and alot of those 'bloggers' do not carry 'archives'.

that's why I typed 'If I Recall Correctly'.

Hit a little close to the bone there, FI? ;D

Uhhh... no.

here's a little gem from a very close source:
http://ltradio.blogspot.com/2005/07/komysanta-cruz-picks-up-aar.html

that is essentially a link to this:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/July/13/local/stories/04local.htm

Funny, I dont see anything here calling the Zwerlings 'brave' , nor do I find anything here calling him 'nuts'.

He only gets called 'nuts' when he pulls AAR off. NO mention of his 'blistering diatribes ' against liberals from the LT blog or the Sentinel. In fact it says :
"Move over, Rush Limbaugh.

As of Monday morning, liberals can tune into talk radio stars Al Franken and Randi Rhodes on KOMY-AM 1340.

The deal was finalized Tuesday, said Michael Zwerling, who owns both stations.

"People have been asking for it for years, and we’re going to give it to them, big time," Zwerling said.

Since Air America launched in March 2004, Zwerling said he’s been trying to broadcast the programming throughout the Monterey Bay Area.

But network representatives wanted Zwerling to carry more of their programming than he bargained for, meaning he would have to cut some local news shows.

"We were able to convince them that six hours of prime time is plenty in Santa Cruz," Zwerling said. "We didn’t want to commit our whole station because we wanted to leave some space for locals."

An independent voter who says he leans slightly right of center, Zwerling believes "there are always two sides to every story."


Yeah, that's one nutty guy. Sheesh. Same old pattern again. :

 

[FightingIrish]

Zwerling is nuts, and he couldn't have put together a worse lineup for a PTer, but I remember a few years I spoke to him about his station. He kept telling me how much better KSCO was than cross-town KNRY, which brokered most of the day, and called them a "paytoilet". I still love that term.

Also, yes, KSCO is something of a joke, but just like the 2 talkers in Riverside-San Bernardino get clobbered by KFI, it's hard to compete. That's why these almost-embedded markets have so many schlock stations with infomercials and other crap. It's not that people in Monterey aren't listening to Rush, it's that they're listening to him on KSFO. And as to Savage being "too expensive", that's either untrue or shows ZBS' ineptitude... TRN is more than happy to take barter.

Cross-town KRXA is a good operation. Yeah, their ratings suck, too, but they got a pretty decent (day) stick for not much $$, and are doing well from what I hear. They have passion. Peter Collins won't be the next Ed Schultz, but he's a pro and knows the business. I woudn't listen to the station, but at least it's not a looney bin like the competition. Although, from what I hear, the new KOMY sounds pretty good for an oldies station.

Well, it's very interesting to see all those people now calling Zwerling 'NUTS', but I tend to think that he wasn't viewed as that 'nutty' when he put some AAR hosts on. IIIRC, some bloggers even wen't so far to proclaim that move as 'brave' and 'imaginative'.
:

Hmmm..."some bloggers even wen't so far to proclaim that move as 'brave' and 'imaginative'"?

Got any links for these 'bloggers'?

Yeah, I knew that one was coming. I looked and alot of those 'bloggers' do not carry 'archives'.

that's why I typed 'If I Recall Correctly'.

Hit a little close to the bone there, FI? ;D

Uhhh... no.

here's a little gem from a very close source:
http://ltradio.blogspot.com/2005/07/komysanta-cruz-picks-up-aar.html

that is essentially a link to this:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2005/July/13/local/stories/04local.htm

Funny, I dont see anything here calling the Zwerlings 'brave' , nor do I find anything here calling him 'nuts'.

He only gets called 'nuts' when he pulls AAR off. NO mention of his 'blistering diatribes ' against liberals from the LT blog or the Sentinel. In fact it says :
"Move over, Rush Limbaugh.

As of Monday morning, liberals can tune into talk radio stars Al Franken and Randi Rhodes on KOMY-AM 1340.

The deal was finalized Tuesday, said Michael Zwerling, who owns both stations.

"People have been asking for it for years, and we’re going to give it to them, big time," Zwerling said.

Since Air America launched in March 2004, Zwerling said he’s been trying to broadcast the programming throughout the Monterey Bay Area.

But network representatives wanted Zwerling to carry more of their programming than he bargained for, meaning he would have to cut some local news shows.

"We were able to convince them that six hours of prime time is plenty in Santa Cruz," Zwerling said. "We didn’t want to commit our whole station because we wanted to leave some space for locals."

An independent voter who says he leans slightly right of center, Zwerling believes "there are always two sides to every story."


Yeah, that's one nutty guy. Sheesh. Same old pattern again. :

Is there a point to all of this? If so, what exactly are you trying to say? Sounds to me like you're arguing against yourself. KOMY picked it up, the paper reported it, and I cited it. So what?

BTW: Thanks for reading!