Air America Radio: "Another Fine Mess"

[fred flintstone]

AAR's move to 1600 WWRL is a train wreck waiting to happen.

WWRL is keeping their current morning show, which is totally inconsistent with AAR's programming. Sam Greenfield and Armstrong Williams do a Black-targeted local morning show. It would fit in fine with Radio One's syndicated Urban Talk line-up but with AAR's programming it will kill any chance to build audience flow.

In addition, the "Sam and Armie" program is not ready for prime time in a major market. Chemistry between the two (often bickering) hosts is poor. The show largely features a group of same-old-same-old, round-up-the-usual-suspect regular callers like small market radio shows.

Other drawbacks for AAR on WWRL: A poorer signal than 1190 WLIB. And the worst possible dial position.

No word on who gets the late morning slot on WWRL? Jerry Springer is still not listed among the AAR hosts "coming" to WWRL. Will one of two local evening hosts (Larry Elder or Ron Daniel) pick up the slot?

No word, either, on the future of WLIB legacies, Mark Reilly and Wayne Gellman. AAR was required to take them as part of their deal to lease WLIB. Do they stay with Inner City or move with AAR? If they stay with Inner City, does Rachel Maddow pick up two more hours?

Also no word yet on what happens with Alan Colmes' radio show, currently on WWRL.

On the plus side (in addition to the apparent absence of Jerry Springer), WWRL gets LIVE traffic reports from Shadow Traffic, with an in-market traffic reporter. In addition to not being pre-recorded, as are AAR's traffic reports on WLIB, WWRL's reports are complete, not rushed and not truncated.

But AAR is in a beggars-can't-be-choosers situation in the Big Apple.

Still no word on the future of WLIB either. The smart move would to pick up Radio One's syndicated Urban Talk line-up (Rev Al Sharpton, Michael Eric Dynson and Two Live Stews) with Mark Reilly doing a local Urban Talk morning show.

What would be really interesting, however, would be for WLIB to stay with progressive talk (Bill Press, Stepahnie Miller, Thom Hartmann, Ed Schultz, Peter B. Collins, Alan Colmes and Doug Basham would fill the schedule nicely). Some radio Darwinism would be good for the progressive talk format. ;D

 

[FightingIrish]

From what I've heard, the agreement is a straight barter, as opposed to a lease (unlike WLIB). That would make AAR primarily a syndicator of programming (in addition to having a 24/7 schedule available). Obviously, they realized that AAR can at least get them in the ratings book.

AAR gets a 12p-12a clearance on WWRL, which is more than they get on some other affiliates. And they cleared some of their strongest shows as well. Not bad.

And in a market like NYC, beggars can't be choosers. There's not a lot of AM signals that cover close to the whole market. The big sticks like WABC, WINS, WOR, etc. are doing well with whatever they're doing. Many of the rest are ethnic and religious peashooters. WWRL's signal is not a big dropoff from WLIB. I'd say, if one were to rank NYC AM stations relative to reach and power, WWRL is the next step down. Given the availability of decent stations in the area, this is a win-win. Because a 1000-watter would never work with that format.

As for WLIB, they screwed the pooch with Michaels and his group. Now, with only a few weeks to go, there's no programming yet. Radio One's talk network? WWRL's leftovers? Yeah, real ratings winners there. :

And, WWRL will likely experience the same ratings for their morning and mid-morning shows that they are now - non-existent. Unless they've got something super special planned for the 9-12 slot (Miller?).

 

[Scribbler]

AAR's move to 1600 WWRL is a train wreck waiting to happen.

WWRL is keeping their current morning show, which is totally inconsistent with AAR's programming. Sam Greenfield and Armstrong Williams do a Black-targeted local morning show. It would fit in fine with Radio One's syndicated Urban Talk line-up but with AAR's programming it will kill any chance to build audience flow.

Sam Greenfield is a white liberal and Armstrong Williams is a black conservative. And yes, they're now doing a "black-targeted" local morning show, but both are talented talkers capable of doing a show targeted at a more general audience. And yes, they bicker, just as liberal Ron Kuby and conservative Curtis Sliwa do over at otherwise all-conservative WABC. "Bickering" seems to work well at the number one talk station in the market. I also assume that Greenfield and Williams have contracts at WWRL that will expire at some point. If they don't work out under the new format, they could be replaced. That's the way the radio biz works.

 

[fred flintstone]

Sam Greenfield is a white liberal and Armstrong Williams is a black conservative. And yes, they're now doing a "black-targeted" local morning show, but both are talented talkers capable of doing a show targeted at a more general audience. And yes, they bicker, just as liberal Ron Kuby and conservative Curtis Sliwa do over at otherwise all-conservative WABC. "Bickering" seems to work well at the number one talk station in the market. I also assume that Greenfield and Williams have contracts at WWRL that will expire at some point. If they don't work out under the new format, they could be replaced. That's the way the radio biz works.

I suppose what Curtis and Kuby do could be called "bickering" but somehow it works when they do it. Same for Regis and Kathy Lee/Kelly. Or Siskel and Ebert (although it took them several seasons to get their act together and rise above petty bickering). IMHO it does not work for Sam and Armie. Their act is the textbook definition of "bicker' (petulant or petty quarreling) and it's just no fun or interesting to listen to.

With a good producer and PD, I could see Sam and Armie getting their act together and broadening their appeal. If they move away from Urban Talk, that could provide an opening for ICBC's WLIB and Radio One.

 

[dampier]

But AAR is in a beggars-can't-be-choosers situation in the Big Apple.

I think this is the bottom line right here. Unless they build a mini-net out of a bunch of low power rimshotters, their only other alternative is HDRadio, which means they'll have no listeners at all. If libtalk continues to prove viable, eventually a big station will run with it, but they need at least five years before that is going to happen IMHO.

I think Alan Colmes won't be around for long (ie. when the contract expires, buh-bye). He is an anathema for AAR listeners. He'd be better off on WLIB post AAR.

AAR would have an easier time with an African American audience if they had a weekday African American political host. Chuck D on Sunday nights doesn't cut it, although his show is inviting to a broad audience who wants to chill on a Sunday night.

 

[Scribbler]

The New York Amsterdam News has a long article about the WLIB and WWRL situations. The lede is about the speculation that Radio One will be leasing WLIB, but the article also quotes WWRL's Rennie Bishop about what the lineup will be at his station.

Bishop, who also serves as WWRL's program director, said he was happy about Air America's move to WWRL. The current Air America lineup of "Springer on the Radio" with Jerry Springer, "The Al Franken Show," "The Randi Rhodes Show," and "The Majority Report" with Janeane Garafalo and Sam Seder will follow "The WWRL Morning Show." Replacing the station's local programming about health issues with the Air America lineup was difficult, however, Bishop said, "I believe everything is important, but some things are more important: health is important, but politics is more important in our community right now."

Notice the mention of Springer and no mention of Malloy. My thought is that WWRL is probably locked into a pre-existing contract with Fox to carry Alan Colmes. XM carried Colmes on its Air America channel for a while until the Fox contract ran out there, and then switched to Malloy.

http://www.amsterdamnews.com/news/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=71678&sID=4

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

Springer may not make the jump, despite that article. I would not be terribly surprised to see Stephanie Miller in that slot, especially if WLIB doesn't mount a competing liberal talk format after 9/1.

It is interesting, though, that the names on the "Welcome" banner on the WWRL web site, have been removed:

http://www.wwrl1600.com/

The graphic did not list Springer, but did list Al Franken, Randi Rhodes and I believe both Sam Seder and Mike Malloy. All the names have been removed as of this afternoon.

 

[fred flintstone]

The Amsterdam News article focuses mostly on the likelihood (at least in the writer's estimation) that Radio One's line-up will move into WLIB.

The article also says AAR has had cash flow problems and was sometimes late with the rent, which "strained" the relationship between AAR and Inner City Broadcasting.

The wording of the article suggests the writer may have simply listed the current AAR post-AM drive network line-up (including Springer) without verifying specifically which shows would make the move. (For some reason, when newspaper writers do stories about radio, their reporting gets sloppy.) The article also makes no mention of the fate of WWRL's two other local talk show hosts. Much or WWRL's soon-to-be-discontinued schedule is brokered; no great loss.

The question remains: Do people in New York realize the AM band goes all the way to 1600 (and now beyond that to 1710)? And are they aware that there is anything up there? No station above 1130 has ever been a player in New York radio and few - if any - people have ever had a pre-set above that. (And the player at 1130 I'm referring to is the late-great WNEW, not WBBR).

 

[FightingIrish]

The question remains: Do people in New York realize the AM band goes all the way to 1600 (and now beyond that to 1710)? And are they aware that there is anything up there? No station above 1130 has ever been a player in New York radio and few - if any - people have ever had a pre-set above that. (And the player at 1130 I'm referring to is the late-great WNEW, not WBBR).

The NYC area does use that band. Lots of traveler information stations. WWRU in Jersey City is the first station to inhabit the expanded band. They're at 1660, and initially, I remember picking up that station all the way in Minnesota.

Here's a list:

http://www.recnet.com/cdbs/fmq.php?latd=40.7042&lond=73.9179