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Breaking News at WXNT!!

T

TalkRadioGeek

Guest
Not only the fact that they took off Hannity a couple days ago, and Dennis Miller starts in a couple of weeks, now this from All-Access:

ALL ACCESS hears that ENTERCOM Talk WXNT-A/INDIANAPOLIS PD ANDREW LEE
is exiting to join an as-yet-unnamed Talk station as OM/PD. As a result,
ENTERCOM INDIANAPOLIS Cluster OM SCOTT SANDS adds PD duties for WXNT.

[EDIT]

[EDIT-post truncated because originating material is copyprotected. Unauthorized use of copyrighted content is in violation of Radio-Info's TOS.]
 
I am sorry to see that there has not been more reaction to this.

Congrats to all involved. Every person mentioned is a good person who cares about the industry and is a positive addition to WXNT. They have all had a hand in the station before, so it is nice to see people who work hard get rewarded. Andrew Lee has done a lot for me in my career, and I am sure that wherever he is going, the new station is going to be great. WXNT went a long way while he was there, and he really cared about the product.
 
moline7 said:
I am sorry to see that there has not been more reaction to this.

Congrats to all involved. Every person mentioned is a good person who cares about the industry and is a positive addition to WXNT. They have all had a hand in the station before, so it is nice to see people who work hard get rewarded. Andrew Lee has done a lot for me in my career, and I am sure that wherever he is going, the new station is going to be great. WXNT went a long way while he was there, and he really cared about the product.
Click to expand...

Went a long way? Does that mean syndicating all but three or four hours of programming a day during the week, then losing all those shows to another station? I really enjoyed listening to WXNT when I had to work the occasional night shift downtown with Savage, Doyle, and Ingram. But the station lost all those. Plus it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put something in automation for 21 hours a day. WXNT had some cool shows, but to say they have gone a long way is over doing it.
 
moline7 said:
I am sorry to see that there has not been more reaction to this.

Congrats to all involved. Every person mentioned is a good person who cares about the industry and is a positive addition to WXNT. They have all had a hand in the station before, so it is nice to see people who work hard get rewarded. Andrew Lee has done a lot for me in my career, and I am sure that wherever he is going, the new station is going to be great. WXNT went a long way while he was there, and he really cared about the product.
Click to expand...

I think the reason there's been little/no reaction to this is because this almost seemed like a foregone conclusion. Entercom sent Lee to Indy to turn WXNT into something that could compete against WIBC and the plan failed miserably, due to lack of interest and lack of marketing. One live radio show isn't going to generate the arbitron data and neither will (as is my understanding)pre-recorded newscasts.
 
Lee wasn't fired from WXNT, he is moving on, probably to a better job. Wanna be probably doesn't remember how bad WXNT was 2 or 3 years ago. There were constant posts on this very board about how bad the programming was, how horrible the automation system they ran was, and many other complaints. Most of the bugs in their system have been worked out, and I don't think you can site any talk show host in the market who is more local then their morning guy, Abdul. Garrison mostly discusses national politics, and Dave the King doesn't really have any content, just traffic, weather, and guys who appear at One-Liners. Amos only caters to one audience. WTF doesn't even have local content, and won't even have Saturday "Tradio" shows until AUGUST!"

Two things about Wanna B's points that he/she might not understand yet:

Mancow, Savage, Doyle and Ingraham work for TRN, a syndication network, they were a package. They struck a deal with an FM station. WXNT and Lee didn't do anything to lose those shows. Their biggest sin was being an AM signal. People don't scan the AM dial. People will scan FM.

Money isn't free-flowing at most stations. Radio management can't just grant a smaller station thousands of dollars to advertise and staff a station. You'd be suprised how much of WIBC and WXNT is actually board-oped by a human being. Cumulis Indianapolis is more willing to put up billboards then Entercom. WIBC, to most people, is the ONLY AM station on the dial. Radio has always, and will always, find the cheapest way to present the best content, and since the creation of NBC and CBS, sydication has been the best way.

Americans are so impatient, and afraid of change. Personally, I hated Hannity and Ingraham, and I love Beck, so I am glad we have some different choices now.

If you look at old WXNT filings, WXNT started with almost the identical programming line-up that WTF has.
 
I fully understand FM has an advantage over AM. What I am saying is that if Limbaugh were offered a slot on 93.9 I doubt he leaves. Why? Because like it or not, WIBC is a power house and can keep its top air talent. I moved to Indy five years ago. The only thing I see different in those five years is no Indianapolis Indians. So I guess we should thank Lee for that. But when your entire evening line up from 3 pm on just bolts out the door for a "better" offer, I think it says something about the station they were at. Mainly they didn't see any chance of improving their status on WXNT. And if you think Abdul is some sort of great prize in the mornings, you are way off there too. I'm not sure what you could do with WXNT. I wasn't knocking Lee for the job he's done. I was challenging the guy's statement "WXNT went a long way."
 
WXNT could lose those liners that say "the truth has finally come to Indy" as well as the ones about them being a great source for news. They have no new truth and they are not the place to go for news. Their audience is smart enough to know that. They should promote what they are, not what they would like to be.
 
I have been listening to WXNT since Abdul came to town, and they did indeed come a long way. For a 99lb wuss like XNT to compete with a bully like Cumulus is absurd at best. Sure, losing Hannity, Savage and Ingram is a setback, but it really isn't their fault. Unless they beat IBC (another bully of the airwaves) they weren't going to be able to pay anywhere near the money Cumulus did for the Hannity/Ingram/Savage package. Not even close. But O'Reilly, Miller, Boortz and Beck isn't a bad lineup, either.
 
Side note:

I was flipping around the cable universe last night and caught a little bit of Abdul guesting on O'Reilly talking about the 6th grade kids having sex at school story.
 
Today on WXNT Neil Boortz spent 10 minutes talking about how Dennis Miller has no experience doing a talk show and how only really dumb programmers will air his show. All this while XNT is promoting Miller's arrival. Boortz also pointed out that Miller will be on at the same time he is, letting the cat out of the bag that Miller will be tape delayed here. Not much XNT could do short of having some sudden technical difficulties with the Boortz feed.
 
ten_four said:
Side note:

I was flipping around the cable universe last night and caught a little bit of Abdul guesting on O'Reilly talking about the 6th grade kids having sex at school story.
Click to expand...

Yup, he was there. Guess he was the Fox guy on the scene in Indy.

Back of Book Segment
Students have sex in front of class
Guest: Abdul Hakim-Shabazz, WXNT-AM

Two 6th graders in Indianapolis engaged in sexual intercourse while other students were in the room. Radio host Abdul Hakim-Shabazz elaborated on the incredible story. "We wondered how two kids could have sex in the classroom and the teacher not know. One radio caller told us the room is shaped like an 'L' and the teacher doesn't have a full line of sight. [EDIT]

[EDIT-truncated for copyright concerns]
Click to expand...
 
to be a player in an AM local news market - you have to have immediate response/reports for news. That's why people stay with IBC - they know if they are in their car, and something happens that is news worthy, IBC is more likely to give that report than XNT. When you know EVERYTHING is canned or syndicated, you feel you may be missing something if news "breaks out." XNT doesn't give that "comfort" to listeners.

having said that - it's irritating when there is bad weather approaching, and IBC stays with their WNBA basketball -- have heard that MANY times. Also, when Rush is airing, the will RARELY break in with a major traffic backup - which again, is another reason people listen to IBC - they could do MUCH better with that.

They could do MUCH better than Wilson and Garrison, but you have to put up with wilson to get the up to the minute news, traffic, etc.

I prefer Boortz over garrison - and used to switch over to hannity when rush was over, but had to flip back to IBC for traffic, etc. Very inconvenient. Too bad xnt couldn't have had a pm drive host with the same purpose.

the only way for anyone to even ATTEMPT to take some of IBC's audience would be to have local hosts ALL DAY! I'd give that a chance (other than 1-4pm).

And that tape-delay of Rush SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED BY EIB. Should either be live or give it to someone who will air it live - two hour delay is ridiculous for their "ad driven" noon news hour - dryest part of the day for IBC.
 
WXNT, like most automated newstalk stations, record their news and traffic 5 minutes before it airs. Not much changes in a story in 5 minutes. And there is someone running their board 24 hours a day.
 
someone running the board 24 hours per day vs a station that has NEWS REPORTERS is not the same thing. Are the board ops capable/allowed to come on the air and begin talking about bad weather? Other than a recorded soundbyte?
 
They have limited news credibility. Most people who listen to them know that.
They do have some good syndicated shows. The latest trend has them now even being beaten by WNTS though.
 
If you actually listened to their product, you'd realize their news is often days ahead of WIBC. They break more stories than IBC and do a much better job of getting the info out there.

Of course, perception is reality, and WIBC does have the image of being the news leader... but WXNT is consistently putting out a much better news product than them, and with a tiny little staff to boot.

Too bad people like you will never give them the credit.
 
I agree. Abdul practically runs down to the state house after his shift to get late breaking news there. They have regular news during the day when the signal is strong enough to reach farther than two block. Perception is that IBC is better, but I would never listen to Wilson, even if you pay me.
 
We can give them plenty of credit but that won't give them more listeners. Maybe Abdul does what he does well, but if most people aren't interested in what he does, what does that accomplish? Maybe Dave Wilson talks about "nothing". So did Seinfeld. If people enjoy that they're doing something right.
 
That's a lot different than saying they have 'limited credibility' and 'most people who listen to them know that.'

I'd argue that the people who do listen to XNT listen because of their credibility. The problem isn't news credibility - it's simply marketing. An AM signal like 1430 needs to market aggressively to get people to sample the product... otherwise it doesn't matter. In my opinion, XNT is the most entertaining and best AM station in town, and I believe that a lot of people would agree if they knew about it. Until Entercom decides to spend some money to promote the station though, they're not going to get good ratings...

Anyone who says they have 'limited credibility' simply doesn't know what they're talking about.
 
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