> > All I'll say w/o my brain up my butt is this: WTAM dumped
> > Glenn Beck for Jerry Springer. Why, I don't know. The
> > ratings for Jerry's first book were terrible, and if they
> > don't improve, he will be WTAM's albatross.
>
> I'm more than willing to let the jury have two or three full
> ratings books on this one...as I've said before, if ANY
> station can make Jerry work in middays without tanking the
> place, it's WTAM. They could put "Traffic and Weather
> Together On The 10s, 20/20 Sports, Surrounded By Elephant
> Noises" on and still get a 4 share.
Don't forget the horrific eight minute spotload. "LIM," my butt.
> Anyway, the biggest problem I have with the move is that
> Jerry is just NOT THAT GOOD. Even for the core audience,
> which has to find him on the same station that carries Rush
> Limbaugh, he's not all that good. He's better than he was
> on day one, but that didn't take much...and frankly,
> sometimes he sounds bored.
>
> I'm not a huge fan of him, but if it were someone like an Ed
> Schultz instead of Springer, or someone who can at least
> uphold the radio end of doing a talk show, WTAM may have a
> better shot at this "liberal/conservative" mix. If Jerry
> Springer were Jerry Smith, and wasn't the host of the
> popular TV sleazefest, he doesn't have this show. If Jerry
> Springer weren't offered by Clear Channel, and have some
> name recognition here in Ohio, he wouldn't be on 1100.
That's really what has me dubious about Jerry's chances of succeeding on WTAM, period. And I agree: if there was an Ed Schultz in this spot - or even a Randi Rhodes - then WTAM would win, running away. Just think, of all the people they could have sought to replace Glenn, they got Jerry?
And if it WAS a corporate move, then I have to focus the same wrath I've laid on Feec and Luczak of late and place it on WTAM's Methany and Davis. They are THAT powerless and unimaginative?
[ *rhetotical question* ]
> All that said, it'll be interesting to see if 'TAM can pull
> it off.
If they DO, I'll walk to the Oaktree Compound and (with security clearance, of course) apologize to Kevin Methany right then and there. No muss, no fuss - because he will have achieved the impossible.
That being said, I'd like to see WTAM going the local route if Jerry tanks. First off, the time needed to see this though will not justify Glenn returning, especially if he gets decent followings at WHLO and WEOL. Plus, WTAM needs to actually air a *real* local weekday talk show sometime in this millenium...
> I'll note this - remember last book, when sister talk
> WHLO/640 Akron appeared in Cleveland's ratings (12-plus full
> day) for the first time in memory? They're back in Summer
> '05, with a slight uptick.
>
> OK, so it's still down at the bottom, and it's not like 640
> is tearing up the Cleveland market. But it would appear
> possible that Beck listeners in the Cleveland market
> followed him to Akron in larger numbers...that's just a
> guess on my part. In those infamous 12-plus vanity numbers
> (disclaimers all over), WHLO got a higher number than any
> other Akron station, including WNIR and WONE, which both
> make semi-regular appearances at the bottom of the Cleveland
> book...
I'd also note that WHLO's signal, while decent in Avon, is really aimed -- away -- from Cleveland, in an upside-down mushroom shaped signal. Come nighttime in the winter, say bye-bye to 640.
That reason alone is why I see WHLO's performence as astounding. It's one thing to try to turn in to a local station with a miserable signal (re: WERE/1300). But to listen in to a station from another market with an equally bad signal in your area, and that says something.
- nate81<P ID="signature">______________
Nathan Obral
University Partnership Representative: LCCC Student Senate, Elyria, Ohio
Soon-to-be-webmaster - http://www.lcccradio.com</P>
)