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Budget Woes At WWZN-AM

The ONLY thing that will work on 1510, with that awful tower lease, would be brokered time. Air America would not make money for them, and neither would Classic Country. (Wasn't 1510 Classic Country about 15 years ago? .....as WKK-something?

Yes, Boston, along with Madison Wisconsin, Berkeley, San Francisco, are bastions of liberalism, but I am convinced that humans in general like to use radio to get them angry by listening to 'the other side', which is why 'Rush et al' do well in liberal markets.

WKOXKS's jaunt with Air America was not successful. Reason? It didn't make all the liberals in Boston angry; and there aren't enough conservatives here to angrily support it. How twisted we humans are.....
 
JIBGUY said:
The ONLY thing that will work on 1510, with that awful tower lease, would be brokered time. Air America would not make money for them, and neither would Classic Country.
Click to expand...

I recently spoke about 1510AM to Eddie Andelman. (You might recall he looked into buying the place awhile back and had a look at the books.)

I was told by Eddie that 1510 (even without any listeners!) doe NOT lose money...despite what everyone thinks.

It doesn't make any...but it doesn't lose any either. I asked him how that was possible, and he said with all the income from sold shows on the weekend, etc...and very little spent....it doesn't lose money.

So, I'm taking that from someone who who should be "in the know".

Again, Air America or other Progressive Talk would be cheap to run....Maybe some brokered time overnights and weekends to pay the bills?

Now, moving onto #'s 2 & 3 on my wishlist... ;-)

A couple of suburban AM's with decent signals in and around the city to do 1.) Oldies (between the WJIB playlist and WODS's playlist. 50's-60's songs) 2.) Classic Country. Hillbilly at Harvard type stuff. The highest rated hours on WKLB are the hours for Sun Morning Country Oldies...with stuff that WKLB would never play during the week. These are two formats that there is not enough room for on the FM dial. Are geared to older listeners....and would (I think) have a built in fan base. With a bit of automation on overnights and weekdns...could be cheap to do.

That would round out the market pretty well and ad some choices.


I shouldn't hold my breath, huh? ;-)
 
WKLB does classic country on its HD-2 signal but I don't think they go back as far as they should. At least from when I checked it out. You can sample it on their site. And I'm not about to pay $200 for an HD radio.
 
Keith321 said:
A couple of suburban AM's with decent signals in and around the city to do 1.) Oldies (between the WJIB playlist and WODS's playlist. 50's-60's songs) 2.) Classic Country. Hillbilly at Harvard type stuff. The highest rated hours on WKLB are the hours for Sun Morning Country Oldies...with stuff that WKLB would never play during the week. These are two formats that there is not enough room for on the FM dial. Are geared to older listeners....and would (I think) have a built in fan base.
Click to expand...

The problem with Classic Country or "Real Oldies" is that most sponsors don't want older listeners/clientele.

Bob B. doesn't rely on sponsors with WJIB, and did an on-air fund drive when money was needed, but I wouldn't expect another commercial station to follow his very unconventional example.

raccoonradio said:
And I'm not about to pay $200 for an HD radio.
Click to expand...

You can get one for about half that now...
 
raccoonradio said:
Bro Stair has gotten some other signals too, like the 1530 out of Cincy...

If talk is a poss. format obviously it could become a home to the Air America/Jones shows, but who knows
if that would turn a profit or not. While AAR just added about 11 stations it also lost quite a few
markets (Hawaii, San Diego, etc.) Certainly it's odd that it never caught on here in a bastion of
liberalism but I do acknowledge that lack of a local show/promotion/signal was a part of it--or
it could just be that a format like sports (hello Xtra Sports 1360 San Diego) "sells" better. (Around
here conservative talk also took some ratings lumps recently and we'll have to see how 'RKO does
without Howie, and if Severin picks up listeners as a result).

Me? Classic country, folks. Parton is such sweet sorrow! I'm a sucker for watching those TV ads
with Glenn Campbell or Ralph Emery selling collections of old country (not that I buy 'em but I
do buy some "best of" CDs). From Sporting News Radio to Charlie Pride singin' "Kiss An Angel Good
Mornin'"...
Click to expand...

Classic country is unproven in the market.

AM talk, as a sister to WGBH-FM, is interesting, and the New York model is a good example.

Urban AC is proven. WILD-AM did ratings besting what you see from FMs in the market (WBOS), and that was as a daytime only.
 
Ciao said:
Classic country is unproven in the market.
Click to expand...

There's a lot of things on the radio that don't get ratings...that are still on the air. Someone mentioned that WKLB's best ratings are for their Sunday Oldies program.


Ciao said:
Urban AC is proven. WILD-AM did ratings besting what you see from FMs in the market (WBOS), and that was as a daytime only.
Click to expand...

I'm hoping an FM picks that one up.
 
>>WKLB's best ratings are for their Sunday Oldies program.

If Greater had an AM in town (1150 for example) they could run country oldies there. They do have the
HD channel for now.
 
1510 did have successful days once upon a moon. It was the flagship station for the Red Sox and Bruins at one point, also had a good news, talk, and sports format.. Pat Whitley, Dr. Joy Browne, and Glen Ordway are some notable former WITS 1510 staff. One idea would be for "Scott Shannon's True Oldies Format" on 1510 since there Oldies 103 isn't really Oldies anymore.. That format certainly would a good nod to it's WMEX hertiage.
 
I bet WWZN wishes they'd never gotten rid of "Dakota from Braintree".
 
sp113 said:
Ciao said:
Classic country is unproven in the market.
Click to expand...

There's a lot of things on the radio that don't get ratings...that are still on the air. Someone mentioned that WKLB's best ratings are for their Sunday Oldies program.


Ciao said:
Urban AC is proven. WILD-AM did ratings besting what you see from FMs in the market (WBOS), and that was as a daytime only.
Click to expand...

I'm hoping an FM picks that one up.
Click to expand...
Until These Dumba$$ out of town Radio Owners , go out of business , Rock and Sports and Garbage Talk will be the only choice in Boston . Most of these Folks on this board think Gangsta Rap ( WJMN ) is Urban A/C . I have nothing against Rock if its a good station ( WHJY Providence ) ,but Boston has to many lousy rock stations, and WEEI is a very good sports station , but The Zone and 890 Sucks , and dont get me started on racist Talk stations ( WTkk,WRKO ).Boston Radio Stinks so bad ! Fire Lemon Jack ( WJMN & WXKS PD ) .
 
Jo Jo Kracko said:
One idea would be for "Scott Shannon's True Oldies Format" on 1510
Click to expand...

Why do people keep wishing for more syndicated far on the air in Boston.

Raccoonradio is always bemoaning certaiun sydicated shows he would like to see on the air, and I've heard people mention this Scott Shannon format a few times.

Most syndicated programming sucks. (and doesn't do very well.) We should be pushing for real radio...live and local.

BTW...Didn't they used to Carry Scott Shannon's format in Worcester? I think I've heard it on WCRN....and I didn't think it sounded very good.
 
true, but I'm just arguing for shows that could maybe replace other syndie shows. I'd rather hear
Dennis Miller than Mike Savage, for example. And thankfully Phil Hendrie IS on the air here now.
I have always said live and local is your best bet but some syndie can help.
 
Keith321 said:
Jo Jo Kracko said:
One idea would be for "Scott Shannon's True Oldies Format" on 1510
Click to expand...

Why do people keep wishing for more syndicated far on the air in Boston.

Most syndicated programming sucks. (and doesn't do very well.) We should be pushing for real radio...live and local.
Click to expand...

That would be ideal, but I think the question was, how to keep running radio stations like WWZN that have been financial graveyards on the cheap, but with different programming. A live and local staff costs a lot of money. Only a few of the highest profile AM's can afford them. Most syndicated or satellite-fed programming is very inexpensive, some of them are even free to affiliates, supported by national ads.
 
I am hardly of the mindset that radio is dead (not even the big AMs), but high-band and/or low-power AM is basically dead. The key for these stations is survival. They will never be anything great if they already aren't. Yes, there are a couple high-band success stories (1510 in Nashville is WLAC, which does pretty decent, although it's 50kW gets out better) but most stations are in the gutter. Figure out how to make money with them, regardless of how unsexy, and stick with it, or you're toast.
 
KJCB said:
Yes, there are a couple high-band success stories (1510 in Nashville is WLAC, which does pretty decent, although it's 50kW gets out better)
Click to expand...

Sure does...I used to be able to pick it up in the Boston area when WMEX would sign off on Sunday nights back in 1973...
 
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