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Bye bye Matty...

fullabaloney said:
blackgold said:
I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! They're voice tracking in Morning Drive on Coast 93.3 in Providence! No more local radio in Providence! :eek:

PD quoted as saying they needed a more music intensive morning show. In other words, Providence didn't warm up to Matty. Sorry but it's hard to get people to change their morning drive listening habits. It goes beyond the music. The only way is if the show they now listen to does something to alienate them. Pro-FM, HJY, Lite, and B101 have morning shows that have been around for years. Cat Country has undergone some changes over the last couple but I doubt any country listener is gonna switch to 93.3 because they play more music. Knapp tracks four different formats for CC. Whatever happened to jocks having an image that fit their format instead of changing hats with the music? Nobody but nobody is effective at everything.



THat's BS.When I tune into a music station,I want to entertained somehow.I have a cell phone with music in it.There are apps.out there now that you can customize your playlist to your likeing.Then theres that old technology.Called Satelitre radio.
There better off getting something off the bird thats live at least.
 
I can't stand listening to Coast because it interferes with the easier-to-take sounds of traffic, construction work, kids screaming, etc but I decided to give this guy a listen out of curiosity. The fact that Knapp has gone as far as he has tells me that wherever he's done live radio on the right format, he's done a good job and has talent. I would just hate to think that anyone at CC on the local level actually weighed all the options and decided this was the best one. This is one painful radio station. This is the station that has let go the likes of Joan Edwardsen, David Jones, Tad Lemire, Brian Mulhern and countless others in other shifts and yet this is what they have ended up as. There used to be local AM music stations around RI in the 70's and 80's staffed by a few experienced people but a lot of newbies...and they all sounded better than this.
 
I don't hold the premium choice against them for middays, nights, weekends, etc, that's just a sign of the times, more competition, etc. A profit still has to be made otherwise there is no station. But I think they could put a good morning show together, say Tad and KEVIN, with Amy, change the moniker to something like Rhodey 93.3, and otherwise keep the same format and grow the audience. I'm only an armchair PD though.
 
I think they know, as someone else said, it isn't easy to get people to change their morning drive listening routine so they're not going to spend a lot of money on a morning show at this point. Just figure out a way to simulcast TC and Kristin. They're better than anything on Premium Choice anyway.
 
Many opinions, but little facts so far. Here are some facts to move the discussion along:

* Toby Knapp is not premium choice. The show is voice tracked daily.

* Joan, Brian, Tad were all dismissed from the morning show for a reason. Their ratings couldn't justify their paychecks. The shows weren't good and the ratings proved it.

* While Providence has changed their ratings system since the jocks above were on, they were all not in the top 5 when they were dismissed. No different than where Coast is now.

* There are a lot of people who listen to Coast each week, approximately 1/3 of the entire Metro population. So it can't suck as bad as many here think it does.
 
Many opinions, but little facts so far. Here are some facts to move the discussion along:

* Toby Knapp is not premium choice. The show is voice tracked daily.

* Joan, Brian, Tad were all dismissed from the morning show for a reason. Their ratings couldn't justify their paychecks. The shows weren't good and the ratings proved it.

* While Providence has changed their ratings system since the jocks above were on, they were all not in the top 5 when they were dismissed. No different than where Coast is now.

* There are a lot of people who listen to Coast each week, approximately 1/3 of the entire Metro population. So it can't suck as bad as many here think it does.



Hmmm...the above certainly sounds like a post from current Clear Channel management! Here are the real facts: 93.3 has been a ratings black hole for years. Poorly programmed, with all kinds of indecision as to whether it should go after Pro or Lite, a musical disaster with crazy high cume, and virtually no time spent listening. What that generally means is, by trying to please everyone musically, you are only pleasing specific demos for a very short amount of time; and thus, at the end of the day, you are pleasing absolutely no one. Bill Hess got it. No other P.D. has since. The only ratings Coast pulls now come with the Christmas music, and then the numbers plummet returns. As to the personalities that were referenced? Joan was there for what, 20-plus years? Perhaps her show wasn't your specific cup of tea, but give credit where credit is due. Runs like that in the radio biz are super rare and definitely mean something. Tad and Brian? Horribly miscast. Two single guys in their 30s trying to relate to soccer moms, brought in to "young things up" while the station was simultaneously going after Lite musically. Asinine. Both have been successful virtually everywhere else they've been. And since becoming a jukebox with not one live personality, Coast's ratings have dropped even further -- with again, the exception of Christmas. But money is no doubt being saved as there are virtually no salaries to pay in this very sad state of radio, and that is clearly the bottom line.
 
Agree with some of what everyone is saying here. WSNE started messing with that morning show by letting David Jones go and trying to give the show an edge. OK so maybe her numbers weren't what they used to be and she made too much to justify keeping the show, but there were constant changes that lead nowhere. More than one person has pointed to how hard it is to get morning listeners to switch loyalties and I def agree with that but Coast shooed people away from the morning slot then tried to win them back. If they're so successful then explain why they can't at least afford a live AM show? They want more music? In that case hire a decent "more music" jock and a sidekick who can move things along quickly and they won't cost as much as high profile people. Sorry but this Toby Knapp isn't very good-at least not at this station. Whether or not he's premium choice makes no difference. It's the same difference.

Oh and saying they can't suck because people listen is like saying Transformers is a better movie than Midnight In Paris because it will win the box office this weekend.
 
If you Toby Knapp was live instead of voicetracked, everyone would be bowing and blessing. You wouldn't even be able to tell the difference if someone didn't tell you. Ed McMann got the best midday ratings B101 ever had and he was voicetracked. I am not condoning voicetracking, but I would bet that the harshest critics haven't even listened to Toby.
 
What's sad is that we all criticize because we want the station to succeed. If done correctly they could wage war on Pro or Lite and make things interesting.
 
The bottom line is this -- when Clear Channel started firing their live personalities back in late 2006, it had absolutely nothing to do with ratings performance. It was a calculated and incremental company wide decision to do things as cheaply as possible on a national level. Ratings no longer mattered. You look at a cash cow like HJY. It makes money hand over fist in every single daypart, and always has. But when all was said and done, only afternoons and mornings were allowed to remain live. To this day, Paul and Al are running away with the #1 slots in every relevant demo, and regardless, their salaries were cut to the bone...as was Geoff Charles's. B101 suffered the same fate, as they are down to one live shift. And this is a station that is currently #3 in every demo that matters. No other company in the market followed suit. Citadel, Entercom, Cat -- every single major daypart remains live...although, Cumulus has notoriously followed the Clear Channel blue print, so we'll see what happens going forward. Clear Channel was determined to automate every station at all costs, Andrew ratings be damned. Coast serves as the most glaring example, as it has never been more irrelevant from a ratings standpoint. Ditto, HJJ -- with their one live show. Clear Channel is the most glaring example nationally of this trend, as their incompetence and mismanagement over the last ten years put them in this position. Talent, hard work and performance are the last things that are rewarded. And be prepared for that to only get worse moving forward.
 
AND ratings be damned...NOT Andrew! That's a "smart" phone's spell check for you! LOL!
 
And for the sake of accuracy, B101 is #4 in all of the relevant demos...not 3. Perhaps they could be 3 if not for all of the voicetracking and automation! My bad...
 
Bye Bye Matty

WSNE 93.3 represents absolutely EVERYthing that is wrong with radio in general and CC in particular. Why would anybody care enough to even listen. There is nobody there, it's a waste of a signal.
 
Clear Channel cuts the live talent because they can. The ratings illustrate that people still listen despite there being a minimum amount of staff. If the ratings tanked to zero, then the appropriate market research and changes would be made. The people posting here are a small minority. The days of personality driven radio on most music formats is over. As the younger demographics age and mature, they're looking for more 'Pandora' on the dial and less 'Heritage PRO-FM'.

I haven't listened to WSNE in years. However, I do like B101. I don't find their 'Premium Choice' jocks any better than local personalities that have been on in the past, but I do enjoy their 'Classic Hits' music format. I switch between them and Cool102 frequently, depending who is in a stopset. The fact that B101's ratings have actually gone up in most cases since they cut most of their live talent illustrates how much people don't care about personalities anymore in the majority of music formats. In RI, people know that if they need up-to-the minute news or information, they're going to tune to WPRO-AM, not B101. If something notable is going on, or there is an emergency, everyone knows who to turn to. Management knows this as well.

I still think live and local can work on a music station in RI. I miss stations like 103.7 WWRX that did it well with their format. However I think the time of conglomerates running live and local are pretty much coming to an end. The only owners that can compete will be those that don't have a massive debt load that can afford some salary to pay live talent for some of the dayparts. I've heard on other parts of the Internet that up to 30-40 % of Citadels and Clear Channels operating revenues go to debt service. Just imaging what they could do to shore up low performing stations if they had that operating revenue back!
 
There's only one thing we can do now: petition the govermnent to break up Clear Channel! (And while we're at it, Entrecom, Radio One, Cumulus and CBS Radio!)
 
I loved Matty and have been listening to him since I was a kid. Now there is not even a decent show to listen to in Providence. Pro-Fm had a good show, but then they let Will Gilbert go. Now I can't even stand listening to the show or the station. What a screw up! The management in the build should be blown out for doing that. HJY sounds old, music on B is good but the morning show on that station is bad as well. Brian is good on Ctk, but the girls with him are awful. Put Will and grab Jessica and put them on. That I would listen too! I read on Will's Facebook page that he is still out of work! What is wrong with these stations in Providence? Put him on the guy knows the market and the business and has been on the air in the state for a long time. Good bye Matty you will be missed now that radio in RI is so bad.
 
There's Mike Sheridan on WOON/1240 in Woonsocket from 5-8 in the morning. I think he's on Coffee An' as well from 8-9 alongside Dave Balfour & others.
 
blackgold said:
There's only one thing we can do now: petition the govermnent to break up Clear Channel! (And while we're at it, Entrecom, Radio One, Cumulus and CBS Radio!)

Clear Channel, Entercom, and Cumulo-nimbous yes. Petition to break up Radio One and Al Sharpton will have your neck broke. There's nothing wrong with CBS radio. They're very small. And they sold off a number of stations in smaller markets recently.
 
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