Bob Lobel @ WCAP in Lowell???

[Hammertime]

Former Channel 4 sports guy Bob Lobel has got to be pretty desperate on getting his name out in the limelight again by taking a weekday afternoon gig, from 1-3, with the sparsely-rated WCAP AM in Lowell. Two questions readily come to mind here:

1) Is WCAP actually paying Lobel to do this show? Last year, 'CAP had nationally-known comedian Jimmy Tingle doing a weekly show, which was "buried" on late Saturday mornings (who the heck actually listens to a radio talk show on Saturdays or Sundays?) and he didn't even last three months on-the-air. Rumor had it that Tingle just did that gig to establish a nice portfolio for himself so he could go onto bigger and better talk radio jobs that actually paid money. WCAP, incidentally, is notorious for doing that with most of its on-air personalities as they agree to 'barter' their business interests and/or political agenda in lieu of receiving a salary. This seriously calls into question here: Is Lobel basically just following in Tingle's footsteps?

2) Why the heck would a poorly-rated radio station like WCAP "bury" Bob Lobel on weekday afternoons from 1-3? Take a look at who 'CAP has on its weekday morning and afternoon rush-hour -- arguably, the most popular time-slots for any "talk" radio station -- and literally none of these imbeciles could even carry Bob Lobel's jock strap. Granted, Bob Lobel may be considered a "has-been" but at least that's a lot better than all the other 'CAP talk show hosts and on-air personalities, who could justifiably be construed as, "never-were's". Although, if you refer back to Question #1, and view Lobel's stay with 'CAP as a very short-term arrangement, then I guess it makes perfect sense to have Lobel stay weekday afternoons from 1-3 for a couple months and then see what he wants to do after that.

 

[raccoonradio]

Admittedly the focus is on weekdays and drive time but people do listen to radio on weekends (on the way to the supermarket? on the way to the movies, or whatever) even if stations (especially talkers) tend to
do informercials and second-stringers on weekends. Forget where I read it but it's said more people
listen to weekends than you'd think. (Barry Scott might disagree with what you say re: weekends. Some
people must be listening.)

>>(who the heck actually listens to a radio talk show on Saturdays or Sundays?

As for WCAP maybe the ratings seem low but they probably have quite a few listeners in the Merrimack
Valley, which is their focus. Live and local, even if they don't get powerhouse ratings. They may do well,
considering.

It's not a powerful station (well, 5kW but not 50kW) and it's not based in Boston, it's Lowell. And btw
in the most recent 6+ right here on radio info, their ratings were 3 times as high as Worcester's WCRN.
WWZN by comparison gets a "dash" (or asterisk). I don't know the ratings in 35-64 though.

http://www.valleypatriot.com/VP1111poulton.htm

 

[rib00]

Lobee has been doing a show from 1-3 for at least a year now up in NH. Maybe this is a syndication of that show though he does touch on UNH sports on that station.

http://www.wtplfm.com/bob-lobel-show

He also has one with Upton Bell on Sunday mornings on 1200 WXKS.

He's never really gone away.

 

[ArtSpooner]

I have to agree about "who the heck actually listens on Saturdays or Sundays?" The only sports talk that I listen to on weekends is the football show on WEEI. The best thing about the show is that they don't take calls. I noticed a long time ago that the real knuckleheads haunt the phone lines on weekends. As untalented as Mustard and Johnson are, they managed to attract the dregs of nut cases and gave them all the time they wanted, which made their show even worse. I assume that's still the case, I haven't listened in years.

The horrible callers are not limited to just their show though. The people who get blown up regularly during the week are right at home on weekends and they seemed to call every show.. Danny from Quincy, Jack from Lynn, Joey the phony gangster, Steve from Fall River, John from the Cape, et al are all given ample time to deliver their soliliquies without being interupted. If I was an advertiser, I'd definitely want a reduced rate for weekends.

Lobel was always one of my favorites. I wish him the best.

 

[Blackroc]

attract the dregs of the nut cases

The first call on the Sterns/Fred S. postgame show started out ok but quickly moved into Brady is an agnostic rant and started praising Tebow.
The weekend is crazy on that station (you forgot Ralph from Cranston). At least these people are off the streets.

 

[vmorrison]

I just read the Valley Patriot Story about WCAP. Does this Poultin guy walk around in his National Guard outfit all the time?

 

[raccoonradio]

When it comes to sports talk shows maybe not many people listen but certainly 98.5 must have had
some listeners with Pats-Broncos on Sunday, and this Sat. they will have listeners for Pats-Dolphins.
Each of the FM sports talkers do have extensive pre-and-post game talk (EEI's being The Real Post Game
Show, even if it's only an hour or so before leading into Sun. Night Football or something else). Maybe
people catch part of the games while on the way to shop or whatever. If hardly any people listen to
_games_ on the weekends, then clearly CBS and Entercom spent way too much money on Pats, B's,
Red Sox, and Celtics rights! Talk, again, could be another matter.

 

[paulfromlowell]

I guess the Lobel show didn't last long on WCAP. It was on a couple of times last week but now this week it has been back to Jack Baldwin and his former show with no mention of Lobel. Maybe the check the Colonel wrote (in uniform) bounced (again) and Lobel said "Thanks but no thanks".....Anyone have the complete story?

 

[ArtSpooner]

attract the dregs of the nut cases

The first call on the Sterns/Fred S. postgame show started out ok but quickly moved into Brady is an agnostic rant and started praising Tebow.
The weekend is crazy on that station (you forgot Ralph from Cranston). At least these people are off the streets.

In my opinion anyone who calls a sports radio show (or any other kind of show , I guess) is somewhat off their nut. I picture most of these people like the character that Patton Oswalt played in that movie (name escapes me). They sit around all day preparing their little speech and finally get their chance to tell the world what they think. Some of them, like the ones I mentioned, seem to make their calls their reason for living. Danny from Quincy seems to think that all of the listeners remember everything he says and constantly refers to his prior statements. Others like John from the Cape are just stark raving lunatics. Most of them just want attention and have found that the only way anyone has ever paid attention to them is if they say negative and preposterous things, as do Steve from Fall River and Joey the gangster. Sounds a little like a certain drive time host on 98.5.

The obvious answer is "don't listen". That's hard to do because these screwballs can strike at any second. You're listening to an interesting discusion about the Sox or Celtics and suddenly it's John from the Cape calling the Red Sox racists. Or Steve from Fall River complaining about the draft from six years ago. Or Tony from Bridgewater demonstrating why people should go beyond the third grade in school.

And how do you know they're off the streets. One of these weirdos may be in the car right behind you, screaming into his cell phone. Many times I've read about hosts being criticized for being rude to the callers. I actually find that somewhat entertaining. Most of these head cases don't deserve to be treated politely.

 

[raccoonradio]

I do think the WEEI Whiner Line callers are funny though, especially the ones who play accordion and sing parody songs, do comedy shtick, etc.

>>They sit around all day preparing their little speech and finally get their chance to tell the world what they think.
That's something host JT The Brick wishes more people would do--prepare what they're going to say,
have some passion, etc., "don't put us to sleep"

The "shout over each other" hosts may turn off people but they do OK in the ratings...even if, as I have joked, one station has guys in their 30s living in their mom's basement and the other has guys in
their 50s still living in mom's basement.

>>finally get their chance to tell the world what they think
Which is one basic idea of talk radio, a chance to vent and express one's opinion. Perhaps a
town meeting of the air. Hosts like Jerry Williams were great at getting people to have their say.

I don't know who John From the Cape is; I'm more familiar with the likes of toothless Yankee
fans from Gloucester. Ciao!

Mostly I find myself tuning in to WEEI for Sox games and the Whiner Line, and 98.5 for Pats and
maybe B's games, but usually not much else.

 

[ArtSpooner]

I understand that callers are a necessary component of talk radio. I don't include whiner line callers in with the nut jobs. Those calls are in the interest of comedy. I just think they could do a better job of limiting the so-called celebrity callers. I imagine a collective groan from all over New England when the host says "it's Steve from Fall River". I believe the great Jerry Williams (or was it Guy Mainella ?) would limit callers on his show. I find it hard to believe that either sports radio station is hard up for callers. However if you are really unlucky you may hear a caller five or six times on a weekend, on both stations. It was at that point that I decided that music was the way to go on weekends.

I bet that you've heard John from the Cape. As a matter of fact he called Dale and Bob Ryan this AM and a texter said he called with the same exact rant on Mike Adams' show last night. He used to call Dale and Holley almost every day complaining about the Red Sox lineup. He then started accusing the Red Sox of racism because of their treatment of Manny, which is pretty laughable, considering the team management. He usually ends up screaming like a madman before they hang up on him or blow him up. I don't know why they continue to take his calls.

I think, with the methods of electronic communication available to the call screeners, they could keep tabs on these too frequent callers, and improve the quality of their programs. Isn't the preponderence of "celebrity callers" cited as one of the chief reasons that 98.5 overtook WEEI in the ratings? They did away with the horrible big show co-hosts they should do likewise with the wacko callers.