Dave Ramsey To Get Lou Dobbs' Timeslot On WOR February 27

[DToTheJ]

In a move I have speculated that would make much sense, WOR will be moving station newcomer Dave Ramsey to the 2-4 PM time slot that becomes available with the end of Lou Dobbs' radio show, which looks like it will end on Friday, February 24th.

Meanwhile, no word on what will fill the evening vacancy.

http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2391793&spid=24698

 

[wadio]

Ugh! WOR is fast moving away from becoming a viable news/talk alternative back to being the hodgepodge of programming it was before. This is obviously a financial decision to generate cash without regard to the future. I wonder if Rick Buckley would have allowed it.

There's a recent trend in talk radio away non-stop partisan politics toward more general news oriented topics as well as less angry "lecturing" and more fun. The new Huckabee show may be Cumulus' attempt to fill that void, which will now exist quite notably in NYC between 2 and 4 pm where the only available news/talk will be Rush and Hannity -- two of the three most angry, humorless, partisan talk show hosts in the country! Could this be the perfect time for someone to launch an FM talker?

Meanwhile, with Dave Ramsey on WOR and the trucking show on WABC, it's time for New Yorkers to forget about local issues. Let's get out the tractors and pitchforks and start slopping the hogs! Yee-Haw -- ain't radio great?

 

[TTalkradio1]

I wonder if WOR would have kept Bob Grant if they had known the next hosts who took his slot wouldn't be successful, and also Grant still broadcasts.

 

[radioguy39nj]

New York talkradio now sinks below the level of market #200! It is decidedly the worst in the country! I didn't know Dave Ramsey, Rush and Sean have such a following in New York that local issues are irrelevant! I guess there's nothing to talk about in New York! What do I know?

Merlin had a chance (and probably still does) to run a freight train through this format hole with a hybrid news/talk outlet on 101.9 FM that concentrates on local NY tri-state area issues and events and even gossip. Why do they insist on challenging all-news WINS and WCBS which have been firmly entrenched for more than four decades? IIRC, advertisers expected a hybrid news/talk outlet on 101.9. Instead, they got a poorly executed all-news format.

There are plenty of local or mostly local news/talk outlets all across the country, KFI LA, WGN Chicago, KIRO-FM Seattle, KTAR-FM Phoenix, WLW Cincinnati being some examples. None of those are top 20 markets, other than Chicago and LA. Why not New York?

 

[radiophiler]

Even WPHT in Philadelphia is local 13.5 hours per day.

Merlin missed the boat in NYC. But, it's not too late. Plus, some of their current talent could probably do talk as well as, maybe better, than they can do news.

 

[TTalkradio1]

Radio in NY is the worst it's been in the twelve years that I've been listening to it. I only listen to Mark Levin and Rush.

 

[wadio]

Actually there's no reason to air Dave Ramsey live since the show isn't tied to current events -- they could run shows from last month and nobody would know the difference.

I wonder if WOR jumped the gun by making this decision just before the new Huckabee show was announced.

6-10 Gambling
10-12 Gallagher
12-3 Huckabee
3-6 Paterson

That would be a real news-talk station, at least for 12 hours a day. Just sayin'.

Of course there are pesky considerations such as: how much revenue would be lost by shifting Joan Hamburg to evenings, weekends or wor.com, and how much more money is Ramsey paying WOR for live clearance?

 

[disney fanatic]

I hope Lou Dobbs is leaving the station at WOR for now. Remember back many years when that show was syndicated in the afternoons on WGNY when it was "Hudson Valley Oldies" on 1220 AM and 1490 AM back around 2006 or 2007 to be exact before it became "Fox Oldies". It was not a great fit on an oldies station to mixed with political talk.

 

[radioguy39nj]

Even WPHT in Philadelphia is local 13.5 hours per day.

Merlin missed the boat in NYC. But, it's not too late. Plus, some of their current talent could probably do talk as well as, maybe better, than they can do news.

WPHT dropped Rush and Sean to concentrate on more local Philadelphia centric topics. That has happened elsewhere as well. However, WOR and WABC haven't received or choose to ignore the memo. WOR and WABC must think there's no market for local talk in NY. When last I checked the ratings, CBS' three live and local AM outlets (sports WFAN, all-newsers WINS and WCBS) were way ahead of WOR and WABC.

Talkradio in NYC is definitely minor league!

 

[radioguy39nj]

Radio in NY is the worst it's been in the twelve years that I've been listening to it. I only listen to Mark Levin and Rush.

I only listen to WFAN and occaisionally, WCBS-AM for news.

 

[wadio]

Radio in NY is the worst it's been in the twelve years that I've been listening to it.

For years I never listened to all-news radio because I prefer talk. Lately WCBS-AM represents about 20% of my radio listening because so often there's nothing on WABC and WOR besides infomercials or Dave-Ramsey-type infotainment shows.

 

[DToTheJ]

Merlin missed the boat in NYC. But, it's not too late... some of their current talent could probably do talk as well as, maybe better, than they can do news.

From what I see, Merlin is going all-in with all-news - that's their game plan here and in Chicago, and will likely also be the case once they set up shop in Philadelphia. Of course, Randy Michaels does have some talk radio (overseeing) experience in his resume, so it's certainly not out of the question. Who knows, maybe Merlin does reconstruct their strategy and "like magic" the all-news stations morph into 'round-the-clock local news/talk stations.

 

[radioguy39nj]

How long can Merlin go all-in with all-news getting miniscule shares on full power FMs in NY and Chicago? IMHO, they won't do any better in Philadelphia. In all three markets (New York, Chicago, Philadelphia) Merlin is up against long established CBS all-news juggernauts. Merlin's strategy of getting all-news listeners from FM music stations seems far fetched to say the least. Randy says he doesn't want WBBM's listeners? He might want to rethink that!

Becoming the third man in to just about any format almost never works. WNWS (NBC's flagship NIS station) tried to become NY's third news station (on 97.1 FM) and got nowhere back in the 70s. In the 80s, the old WKTU (92.3 FM) and WAPP (103.5 FM) tried to become NY's third top 40 station behind WHTZ and WPLJ and quickly crashed and burned.

Merlin has a better chance, particularly in NY, going with mostly local news/talk, something listeners aren't getting from WABC and WOR. IMHO, listeners have likely migrated to all-news WINS and WCBS because of the lack of local NY focus on the talk stations.

Just my opinions! I don't get paid to make these decisions!

 

[DToTheJ]

In addition to the "third station" theory, Fresh 102.7 has been the third man - or should I say "third woman" - in terms of adult contemporary radio in this market, and quite frankly, they've lasted much longer than I expected. When it first went on the air, I thought this "laundry detergent radio" format wouldn't last. They might not ever eclipse Lite FM, and may go toe-to-toe with WPLJ, but they must be doing something right since they're still around.

 

[radioguy39nj]

In addition to the "third station" theory, Fresh 102.7 has been the third man - or should I say "third woman" - in terms of adult contemporary radio in this market, and quite frankly, they've lasted much longer than I expected. When it first went on the air, I thought this "laundry detergent radio" format wouldn't last. They might not ever eclipse Lite FM, and may go toe-to-toe with WPLJ, but they must be doing something right since they're still around.

Fresh is billing and rating higher than 92.3 NOW, which means if WFAN simulcasts on FM, 92.3 would be the most likely choice.