Another Troubled WRKO Talk Show Host?

[Laurence Glavin]

The programming schedule for WRKO-AM now includes "The Sherman Baldwin Show" on Saturday afternoon. I guess management decided his resume made him PERFECT for WRKO:

http://blog.timesunion.com/business/sherman-baldwin-will-talk-about-his-past/17867/

How many digs will Howie get in in future columns?

 

[Deleted User]

talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel! Coffee Boy & The Empress had to go to the radio wasteland known as Pittsfield for talent? There wasn't another criminal closer than him?

Cripes it's going to cost him more for gas and tolls to do the round trip to Brighton than he is going to make!

If I knew a criminal record would have gotten me more hours in the business I wouldn't have spent all that money on lawyers to get me off with CWOFs and court costs.

 

[Deleted User]

After reading the comments at the bottom of the linked newspaper article, I can see he will be right at home at WRKO

 

[FPB]

If I knew a criminal record would have gotten me more hours in the business I wouldn't have spent all that money on lawyers to get me off with CWOFs and court costs.

There's only one qualifying criteria that will get you a job on 'RKO - "How well can you promote the Republican line?" Afterall, that apparently is the ONLY THING that "entertains listeners", and the ONLY THING that makes radio "commercially successful". It's the "ONLY LOGICAL BUSINESS DECISION"! Oh, wait! A "troubled" talk show host? 'RKO is "scraping the bottom of the barrell"? Doesn't sound all that entertaining, or SUCCESSFUL to me; I mean, from a LOGICAL business perspective!!

 

[raccoonradio]

They are going for a niche--mostly older listeners who may be fiscal conservatives/social moderates (or
conservative). The left has NPR and also WWZN, brokered time. NPR does well in ratings. WWZN fails to show
up, but maybe they don't subscribe, while WRKO does half decent (though a steady decline). WEEI is the big deal
for Entercom and perhaps RKO is an afterthought, but they seem to be satisfied with it...otherwise you'd have anything
from prog talk (Schultz, Steph Miller, Mike Malloy) to oldies to Spanish on WRKO instead by now. WTKK and WXKS
going after same audience

 

[Schuyler]

.....The left has NPR and also WWZN, brokered time. .....

I fail to see how this justifies the almost total domination of the national radio conversation by cartoon conservatives who will make any outrageous statement for the sake of a ratings point.  NPR is not political talk 24/7, unlike WRKO et al, and it's often about as lively as watching paint dry inside a mausoleum.  Sure, Car Talk is a lot of fun, but Click 'n' Clack ain't Rush & Beck.  It's not even remotely a fair comparison and NPR is certainly not the monolithic liberal bogeyman the righties claim it is.  I wish there were a national headcount of the number of NCE's that are NPR affiliates, college stations offering mostly music, and fundamentalist Christian stations.  I'll bet there's more fundies than there are Garrison Keilor affiliates by far!

As for brokered time on WWZN or anywhere else, that's an even more ridiculous attempt to justifiy commercial talk domination by the right.  The Santos schedule can be preempted or disappear at any time, and the idea that some guy must pay a station owner to have liberal radio shows broadcast in a supposedly liberal city speaks for itself.

I know nothing about Sherman Baldwin other than the fact that he's downright superfluous in these parts, buckaroos.  Yee friggin' haw.

 

[raccoonradio]

Conservative talk tends to get ratings and billing and this is why many stations program it, including on some stations that used to have liberal talk: WKOX, WHJJ. As a captalist I believe if something can be popular and make money, fine,
and perhaps libtalk on radio will someday match the level of rightie talk, but so far Hokey Wolfe at Entercom feels
that Tom and Todd , Laura, Charley, Howie, Michael, etc. are the ticket to success. If not you would be reading Jessica Heslam write the following:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
(fictional!! Bear with me) WRKO TO GO LIBERAL TALK
Jason Wolfe of Entercom announced today that WRKO will start to air Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz, Thom Hartmann,
Mike Malloy, Norman Goldman, and a local liberal talk host to be named later. "We feel we can get higher ratings
and billing by catering to the left side of the spectrum," added Entercom's Julie Kahn.

In a related development, a local conservative figure announced he is buying time on WWZN to air Howie Carr,
who was let go by Entercom recently. "We can't pay him much," said the unnamed figure, "but we want to get
the conservative viewpoint out there, even though it isn't popular in this town"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was just on NewsBusters reading a column by Brent Bozell who was complaining about the content of
Fox's Family Guy. He wanted "The Freakin' FCC", as Seth MacFarlane calls them, to step in. Several comments opposed him, saying, "Change the channel...Parents, don't allow your
kids to watch this show--don't let a nanny state government step in...It's hypocritical to oppose government
nanny-statism but allow it here...Well then if you don't like it, boycott all of Murdoch's channels, including
Fox Ne--- oops!" (Paraphrased) You get the idea. Murdoch makes money off both left-leaning entertainment
shows like Fox's Family Guy and American Dad, and also gets high ratings from conservative-leaning
shows on Fox News Channel. These shows are often more popular than shows on CNN or MSNBC. The fact
is, more people want to watch O'Reilly than Olbermann. (I can go into "there are several left leaning channels
and only one right leaning one, though"...)

But the point is that many enjoy right-leaning radio too, and thus the ratings and billing success. Why does
Santos have to buy time? Because Entercom, CBS (OK, they do have Leveille), Greater Media, and Clear
Channel want to have right-leaning shows because they're more successful. They prefer not to go left.

Ask Jason Wolfe to consider airing lefty shows and see what his response is. Ask Greater to make
WBOS "92.9 Progressive Talk" (or shift the WTKK lineup thusly) and see what they say. Might they? Who knows.

If WWZN gets ratings comparable to WRKO, fine. It would be the peoples' choice. Again I don't know if they even subscribe to the ratings service but WXKS in one month has already done better (admittedly with a better
signal) than prog talk did at 1200 in two years of operation. And the comparison holds water when you consider that that first month did not include the ratings Jeff Katz may have been getting as a local host; similarly,
the old WKOX 1200 under prog talk also had no daily local host.

 

[Schuyler]

So, if it makes money, it's good for the public? OK. Sure.

And to think I used to use your pelt as a hat...

 

[raccoonradio]

If it's makes money, it's good for the public?

Michael Moore "Fahrenheit 9/11"
Rolling Stone magazine
Al Gore, "An Inconvenient Truth"
Today's music
The New York Times, Boston Globe, et al
Letterman, Olbermann, Family Guy

They make money too. Conservatives might not like that but they do.

 

[Schuyler]

And these examples relate to the "public airwaves" how? C'mon. There are also illegal activities (on and off air) of which neither lefty loons nor righty rednecks approve, and they make money, but so what?

 

[Laurence Glavin]

Let's take a look at Salem Communication' recent history with right-wing chatter. First they spend millions to buy an AM at 970 right in the middle of the dial; erect towers and install a 50KW transmitter at least for daytime use; then program it with almost-tenured right-wingers who stay on some of their other properties regardless of ratings. After a year or so, the results are in: way, way down in the lower depths of the ratings spectrum, really no better than WWRL-AM 1600 with 25,000 watts days. Are they at all chastened by this, so they never repeat this mistake again? Uh-uh...they're repeating the process in the D of C...spending 3-plus-million buckaroos for WWDC-AM 1260, on which they will air the same fare as the aforementioned NYC AM. And remember: Salem is a PUBLICLY-TRADED company with a fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders to try to put ratings-garnering, revenue-generating programs on its O&Os. Actually, they're putting the
"******" in fiduciary as it turns out.

 

[Don Juan]

Let's take a look at Salem Communication' recent history with right-wing chatter. First they spend millions to buy an AM at 970 right in the middle of the dial; erect towers and install a 50KW transmitter at least for daytime use; then program it with almost-tenured right-wingers who stay on some of their other properties regardless of ratings. After a year or so, the results are in: way, way down in the lower depths of the ratings spectrum, really no better than WWRL-AM 1600 with 25,000 watts days. Are they at all chastened by this, so they never repeat this mistake again? Uh-uh...they're repeating the process in the D of C...spending 3-plus-million buckaroos for WWDC-AM 1260, on which they will air the same fare as the aforementioned NYC AM.

But somehow it works for them. Salem has made more money from it's online offerings than it did from it's radio properties. But (like Disney), the radio properties help propel the online offerrings....and help elevate the stature(?) of it's on-air hosts....and therefore their online presence.

Somehow it works for them and their fiduciary responsibilities.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/quotes/salem-communications-corporation/salm/nas/historical-prices?tf=y%2C5&gran=m

Can Progressives make this same thing happen?

 

[FPB]

But the point is that many enjoy right-leaning radio too, and thus the ratings and billing success. Why does
Santos have to buy time? Because Entercom, CBS (OK, they do have Leveille), Greater Media, and Clear
Channel want to have right-leaning shows because they're more successful. They prefer not to go left.

I, of course, agree that many people like conservative talk, and "thus the ratings" - but not the success. Listenership for traditional commercial radio is much smaller than it once was, and the ratings don't reflect this. The ratings only reflects who's getting what slice of an ever shrinking pie (audience size). The troubles that the once giant WRKO is experiencing is telling that the claim to "success" simply doesn't bear itself out anymore.

And I agree that the remaining audience for radio is older and conservative. The corporations created this - whether on purpose or not. They're now in the position that the only audience around is conservative. But this doesn't mean that people DON'T like listening to progressive values on commercial radio. It means they have to be coaxed back TO radio.

One would think that since the audience for radio IS shrinking, the Suits in the board rooms would do something to attract them. If people are turning away from radio because it doesn't provide the variety they want (which is my belief) it would make business sense to PROVIDE that variety.

 

[FPB]

Let's take a look at Salem Communication' recent history with right-wing chatter. First they spend millions to buy an AM at 970 right in the middle of the dial; erect towers and install a 50KW transmitter at least for daytime use; then program it with almost-tenured right-wingers who stay on some of their other properties regardless of ratings. After a year or so, the results are in: way, way down in the lower depths of the ratings spectrum, really no better than WWRL-AM 1600 with 25,000 watts days. Are they at all chastened by this, so they never repeat this mistake again? Uh-uh...they're repeating the process in the D of C...spending 3-plus-million buckaroos for WWDC-AM 1260, on which they will air the same fare as the aforementioned NYC AM.

But somehow it works for them. Salem has made more money from it's online offerings than it did from it's radio properties. But (like Disney), the radio properties help propel the online offerrings....and help elevate the stature(?) of it's on-air hosts....and therefore their online presence.

Somehow it works for them and their fiduciary responsibilities.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/quotes/salem-communications-corporation/salm/nas/historical-prices?tf=y%2C5&gran=m

Can Progressives make this same thing happen?

So what your're saying in both cases - Salem and the Mouse - is that Radio, by itself, is not really at the heart of their economic engines. Can Progressives do this? Maybe. Why not? But is that what you want radio to be going forward?

 

[Don Juan]

But is that what you want radio to be going forward?

Absolutely not. While I didn't originally mind a few specialty stations on the AM dial...it seems like the entire AM dial is turning into a "utility band" of stations that are one stop short of a PA system.

Seems to many operators have stopped striving for getting the most listeners possible, and have opted to super serve a much smaller constutuancy.

I don't know if the AM dial can support mass appeal broadcasting anymore. I'd like to think so.

 

[DanStrassberg]

First they spend millions to buy an AM at 970 right in the middle of the dial; erect towers and install a 50KW transmitter at least for daytime use;

No towers were required for WNYM's 50 kW-D upgrade. The station is using the same three self-supporting towers in Hackensack that it has used under various call signs since it moved there more than 50 years ago from S Kearney, where, for many years, it had been WAAT Newark. You want to spin yarns to make your points? Fine. But make sure the yarns are accurate. BTW, WWRV 1330 (not to be confused with WWRL 1600 or WWRU 1660) is diplexed into WNYM's three towers and runs 10 kW-D/5 kW-N DA-1 from them. Salem does not own WWRV.

As for WWDC, the station languished technically under Clear Channel's ownership. I don't think any sort of power increase is possible, but if Salem wants to repair the facilities (much as Greater Media did with 1150 here during their brief period of ownership), I'm all for it. Even though I don't like the ultra-right-wing programming, I do like the idea of AMs having technical facilities that work as intended.

The point is that there are many ways to evaluate whether a radio company is looking after its shareholders' interests. Keeping the technical facilities in good condition, repairing them when they are not, and upgrading them when technically and economically feasible are also part of an owner's responsibilities.

 

[CygnusX1]

If it's makes money, it's good for the public?

Michael Moore "Fahrenheit 9/11"
Rolling Stone magazine
Al Gore, "An Inconvenient Truth"
Today's music
The New York Times, Boston Globe, et al
Letterman, Olbermann, Family Guy

They make money too. Conservatives might not like that but they do.

The Boston Globe and NY Times make money?

 

[raccoonradio]

Apparently the Globe and Times do, else both would have shut down by now. I think it was about a yr ago when the dire forecast of the Globe shutting down led them to increase the price and make cutbacks but while
they recently said that the price increase led to a decrease in readership/circulation, they're still around. The profit may be less but they must be at least breaking even by now. Or yes, making a profit. There are no more forecasts of a shutdown. Other papers have ceased publication but not them.

Before the election, 1260 in DC was billed as Obama 1260 and 570 as McCain 570. Shortly after or around
the inauguration, the former became Money 1260 (as noted at the time by conservative Bob Parks
http://www.black-and-right.com/2009/02/02/obama-1260-dud-radio/ ) and 570 went to Freedom 570
I think (they did take on Ed Schultz, but Schultz was replaced by Jeffrey Kuhner, the over-enunciating
conservative Wash. Times writer who is "thinkingk" of "goingk" national...he does do fill-ins for Savage and Doyle
( http://www.freedom570am.com/ )

Both were owned at the time by the owner of the Washington Redskins, I believe, but now you have Salem
with 1260. And yes I do remember their ownership of then-WTTT 1150, now WWDJ, with conservative talk.
They decided to become Spanish religion. Not as good a signal as 1200--btw I picked up 1200 fairly
well just north of Plaistow NH yesterday afternoon)

Some conservative shows do have liberal listeners/callers (Josh from VT and Steve from Montreal on
Howie's show for example). btw I was up in VT over the weekend, where prog talk used to be on 1390
and 1070 at various times. The latter is a relatively weak daytimer but I note that it was coming in fairly
well along I-89 even down to Waterbury (current format: Bloomburg Radio). A progressive hotbed like
Burlington, which once had "Boynie Sandizz" (as his NY accent puts it) as mayor, couldn't support prog
talk, or at least the owners up there didn't want to keep it going. Mr Sanders and Patrick Leahy are the two senators for the Green Mt State and let me note that the very nice science center I visited yesterday in
Burlington has part of their name devoted to Mr and Mrs Leahy (don't know if they donated money or
they just wanted to salute his efforts...)