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Bob Frantz out at WHK

skiwest

skiwest

Bob Frantz just posted on Facebook that today was his last day at WHK. His local show fell victim to corporate budget cuts. His time slot will be replaced by syndicated programming. He will however still fill in for other Salem hosts.
 
Mike Gallagher is now airing live in Bob's time slot. Previously, he was delayed until 11:00 pm. We'll have to see what other lineup changes will be forthcoming.
 
I wonder if there is a chance he could return to WTAM? Maybe he could replace one of the syndicated midday shows. He would likely get better ratings.

Brinda just left recently. Wills and Snyder are in their late 60s, not sure how much longer they plan to stick around.
 
The "Radio Tech Gods" don't like this move. Right now, in the 11:00 am hour, "The Mike Gallagher Show" is unlistenable as the feed is constantly cutting out badly.
 
radiofollower said:
Budget cuts? I think that Bob was the only local guy on the station. Broadcast radio is collapsing as we speak.
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Funny. "Broadcast radio" is just fine. You turn it on, and it's there. However advertising continues to decline. Salem doesn't want to go into debt, so it continues to hold the line on costs. If local radio attracted enough local money to pay for it, there would have been no change. So they will replace local with syndicated because there's still revenue for national talk.
 
Frantz is in his late 50s. Bob doesn’t strike me as the news/info show type. I think he’s a good talk personality but he’s a poor fit for WTAM’s relatively fast paced morning program.

I’m not sure who’d succeed Wills/Snyder but considering the way radio is going, the odds are just as likely that it’s from out of town than something local.
 
His Facebook post mentions what he'll do next:

The decision was not performance related, and in fact, the company has asked me to continue to guest-host their national programming, which I will do, including Tuesday morning at 6 AM. As for the local show, however, it is now officially over.
I intend to start a new live stream program, probably hosted on Rumble, in the very near future. It will be a daily 1-2 hour show, and will feature the same great guests and commentary that we have provided on WHK for the last 11 years.
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Niteflight76 said:
Frantz is in his late 50s. Bob doesn’t strike me as the news/info show type. I think he’s a good talk personality but he’s a poor fit for WTAM’s relatively fast paced morning program.

I’m not sure who’d succeed Wills/Snyder but considering the way radio is going, the odds are just as likely that it’s from out of town than something local.
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Right. I doubt Frantz would be interested in doing morning or afternoon drive time. But maybe they could find a slot for him somewhere else.

Maybe Bloomdaddy could move to mornings if/when Wills retires. I'm sure they would want someone live and local in that timeslot.
 
Quite frankly Mr. Frantz shows that he is very aware of where the listeners are going by taking his show to the internet. It is not beyond belief to say that he might garner a larger audience on line than he had on a regional AM station that has outlived its usefulness.
I wish him well.
 
Santa fe said:
Quite frankly Mr. Frantz shows that he is very aware of where the listeners are going by taking his show to the internet. It is not beyond belief to say that he might garner a larger audience on line than he had on a 5000 watt AM station that has outlived its usefulness.
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Let's put it this way: You know they're listening for YOU and not for the station or anyone else. The hard part is monetizing it. I'm sure he's thought about that. From what I can see, a creator can get paid for posts on Rumble based on the audience:


 
I find it ironic that Salem & other conservative hosts made hay when mainstream media laid off hosts & staff due to budget cuts citing being woke as the reason. I guess being non woke has income problems too.
 
These guys that have been around for decades probably command a pretty hefty salary. Cheaper to run a syndicated format across several stations. And I'm sure the syndicated people are getting a nice chunk of change but it's financially easier to spread the cost around to several stations.
 
Salem also cut a local talk host on KRLA in Los Angeles just before Thanksgiving. I'm not sure how many local hosts are left across the company. Can't be a ton.
 
A problem with cutting all local hosts is that only the local hosts can talk about most local issues. Can you "hear" Mike Gallagher talking about the Browns move to Brookpark, (Bob Frantz did), or Hugh Hewitt getting into City of Cleveland politics (unless there's a national tie to the topic). Bob Frantz did.
 
johnbasalla said:
A problem with cutting all local hosts is that only the local hosts can talk about most local issues. Can you "hear" Mike Gallagher talking about the Browns move to Brookpark, (Bob Frantz did), or Hugh Hewitt getting into City of Cleveland politics (unless there's a national tie to the topic). Bob Frantz did.
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And Bob Frantz will continue to do so on his podcast. A lot of this kind of thing is moving in that direction. It's moving in that direction because the finances of local broadcasting can't support that kind of thing anymore. There are cheaper ways to do it on a one-to-one basis.

There was a time when broadcast radio was the only way to get that kind of information to the public. That's no longer the case.
 
skiwest said:
I wonder if there is a chance he could return to WTAM? Maybe he could replace one of the syndicated midday shows. He would likely get better ratings.

Brinda just left recently. Wills and Snyder are in their late 60s, not sure how much longer they plan to stick around.
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Wills I believe is in his early 60's, so he has some years left. Snyder is older.

Live talent has slowly been decreasing over time in favor of syndication on WTAM.. This is especially true on weekends. So I doubt we will hear Bob on WTAM especially during the day, maybe weekends...
 
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johnbasalla said:
A problem with cutting all local hosts is that only the local hosts can talk about most local issues. Can you "hear" Mike Gallagher talking about the Browns move to Brookpark, (Bob Frantz did), or Hugh Hewitt getting into City of Cleveland politics (unless there's a national tie to the topic). Bob Frantz did.
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Actually, Hugh Hewitt is from Ohio and he does periodically talk about Browns, Cavs, Guardians and Buckeyes, albeit briefly.
 


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