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Dr. Laura's Latest Fall From Grace: Northeast Ohio

O

OldAkronite

At one time, a few years ago, Dr. Laura was the fast rising star of the talk radio firmament. Premiere syndicated her show, and she was often paired with Rush Limbaugh on Clear Channel (and other) talk stations. In the west, she was usually heard live 12-3 PM PT, and in the east, even big talkers with local afternoon drive shows ran her the next morning 9-noon ET.

Fast forward to 2001, and the aftermath of 9/11, which saw Dr. Laura lose a lot of those clearances to Premiere's Glenn Beck, especially in the eastern U.S. in that 9-noon slot.

Fast forward to 2005, when Premiere sells the show to a company owned in part by Mrs. Schlessinger herself, "Take On The Day, Inc." (her catch phrase). Premiere continues to handle affiliate sales.

In those 4 years, many stations pushed Dr. Laura to evenings, and many off the schedule entirely. One - a Sacramento talk station which once ran 7 hours of her show both live and recorded - now only runs her for two recorded hours in the evening.

And we now have another glaring example of her fall from the talk radio pantheon.

At one time, before 9/11, Dr. Laura ran 9-noon on 50,000 watt Clear Channel talk powerhouse WTAM/1100 in Cleveland. It's one of America's biggest stations, and is a dominant player in the Cleveland market.

Glenn Beck took over that clearance from her after 9/11, as stations like WTAM were hungry for issues-oriented talk over advice talk. WTAM bounced her off the schedule, as there was no room for her at night (play-by-play sports and local sports talk were incumbent).

Not too long after, Clear Channel bought Salem solid gospel WHLO/640 Akron, and put a talk format on the station. Dr. Laura was a part of the station's initial lineup from 10 to noon. WHLO recently replaced Dr. Laura with another Laura, TRN's Laura Ingraham, and also bounced her off the schedule entirely. (Even more recently, old Dr. Laura nemesis Glenn Beck took the slot after WTAM dumped his show.)

It turns out Dr. Laura has resurfaced, 4-7 PM weekdays, on 500 watt day/75 watt night religious/talk station WCER/900 in Canton. The station has been adding more compatible secular talk to its Christian talk/teaching offerings.

Now, THAT'S a fall from radio syndication grace. From a powerhouse 50KW station, to a regional 5KW station in the next nearby market, to a puny 500 watt station that carries religious programming! I'm not sure what's next...if WCER dumps her, maybe 250 watt day/5 watt night sports formatted WBTC/1540 in Uhrichsville, OH is next...

-OA
 
I think a lot of her "fall" was also attributed to the controversies that she brought on her self,..but as usual OA adds facts to the story to support the drop.....another good analysis OA.


> At one time, a few years ago, Dr. Laura was the fast rising
> star of the talk radio firmament. Premiere syndicated her
> show, and she was often paired with Rush Limbaugh on Clear
> Channel (and other) talk stations. In the west, she was
> usually heard live 12-3 PM PT, and in the east, even big
> talkers with local afternoon drive shows ran her the next
> morning 9-noon ET.
>
> Fast forward to 2001, and the aftermath of 9/11, which saw
> Dr. Laura lose a lot of those clearances to Premiere's Glenn
> Beck, especially in the eastern U.S. in that 9-noon slot.
>
> Fast forward to 2005, when Premiere sells the show to a
> company owned in part by Mrs. Schlessinger herself, "Take On
> The Day, Inc." (her catch phrase). Premiere continues to
> handle affiliate sales.
>
> In those 4 years, many stations pushed Dr. Laura to
> evenings, and many off the schedule entirely. One - a
> Sacramento talk station which once ran 7 hours of her show
> both live and recorded - now only runs her for two recorded
> hours in the evening.
>
> And we now have another glaring example of her fall from the
> talk radio pantheon.
>
> At one time, before 9/11, Dr. Laura ran 9-noon on 50,000
> watt Clear Channel talk powerhouse WTAM/1100 in Cleveland.
> It's one of America's biggest stations, and is a dominant
> player in the Cleveland market.
>
> Glenn Beck took over that clearance from her after 9/11, as
> stations like WTAM were hungry for issues-oriented talk over
> advice talk. WTAM bounced her off the schedule, as there
> was no room for her at night (play-by-play sports and local
> sports talk were incumbent).
>
> Not too long after, Clear Channel bought Salem solid gospel
> WHLO/640 Akron, and put a talk format on the station. Dr.
> Laura was a part of the station's initial lineup from 10 to
> noon. WHLO recently replaced Dr. Laura with another Laura,
> TRN's Laura Ingraham, and also bounced her off the schedule
> entirely. (Even more recently, old Dr. Laura nemesis Glenn
> Beck took the slot after WTAM dumped his show.)
>
> It turns out Dr. Laura has resurfaced, 4-7 PM weekdays, on
> 500 watt day/75 watt night religious/talk station WCER/900
> in Canton. The station has been adding more compatible
> secular talk to its Christian talk/teaching offerings.
>
> Now, THAT'S a fall from radio syndication grace. From a
> powerhouse 50KW station, to a regional 5KW station in the
> next nearby market, to a puny 500 watt station that carries
> religious programming! I'm not sure what's next...if WCER
> dumps her, maybe 250 watt day/5 watt night sports formatted
> WBTC/1540 in Uhrichsville, OH is next...
>
> -OA
>
 
> I think a lot of her "fall" was also attributed to the
> controversies that she brought on her self,..but as usual OA
> adds facts to the story to support the drop.....another good
> analysis OA.

Thanks. :)

Dr. Laura's controversies? Well, she could weather many of 'em with her strong support from religious-based conservative listeners and groups. That wasn't the biggest problem she had...the biggest was the turn away from advice talk by news/talk radio stations after 9/11. All of a sudden, three hours of telling women to stop messing around with their boyfriends seemed horribly out of place in the post-9/11 world.

Her other biggest problem is the desire of stations to have local talk in the 9-noon slot (ET). That's how she lost markets like Washington, DC, where WMAL/630 recently installed Michael Graham (ex-WRVA/Richmond, WTNT/DC) into that time slot. With an established local show from 6-9 PM, there wasn't room for her in evenings, either.

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
My NEW blog is at Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
She recently was dropped from WKRC-AM in Cincinnati, in favor of Dave Ramsey.
 
she's run out of material..."doctor Laura my husband wants me to join a swingers club, what should I do?.....What's Dr L going to say?
 
In Hartford WTIC AM 1080 (Owned by Infinity 50KW clear channel) Dr. Laura aired 10AM-12PM and 7PM-8PM Monday-Friday. Then WTIC changed their schedule and Clark Howard began airing 7PM-10PM. I also think I remember WTIC breifly carrying Dr. Laura at 3PM. Some time after 9/11/01 WTIC dropped Dr. Laura's 10AM-12PM airing in favor of local programming.

In May 2002 upstart talker WNTY AM 990 (2500 watts day/80 watts night. They were owned ADD Radio Group) picked up Dr. Laura and aired her 9AM-12PM. The stations morning man (who was also the GM, GSM, and PD) used to brag that they carried Dr. Laura for 3 hours a day as opposed to the other station. In April 2003 WNTY became WXCT and they moved Dr. Laura to the live 3PM-5PM timeslot. Dr. Laura aired in this timeslot until WXCT was sold and flipped to Spanish in May 2004. One of the problems with Dr. Laura airing 3PM-5PM was in December WXCT would power down to 80 watts at 4:15PM. Their 80 watt signal is very weak and doesn't cover most of the COL.<P ID="signature">______________
~Jay Clark~
</P>
 
Good point. Her show was very predictable. If you heard one Dr. Laura show you heard them all. Post 9/11 world analogy makes sense. WDEL/Wilmington DE also dropped her show and went with local conservative talk, Rick Jensen (station PD) from 9am-12noon.


> Dr. Laura's controversies? Well, she could weather many of
> 'em with her strong support from religious-based
> conservative listeners and groups. That wasn't the biggest
> problem she had...the biggest was the turn away from advice
> talk by news/talk radio stations after 9/11. All of a
> sudden, three hours of telling women to stop messing around
> with their boyfriends seemed horribly out of place in the
> post-9/11 world.
>
> Her other biggest problem is the desire of stations to have
> local talk in the 9-noon slot (ET). That's how she lost
> markets like Washington, DC, where WMAL/630 recently
> installed Michael Graham (ex-WRVA/Richmond, WTNT/DC) into
> that time slot. With an established local show from 6-9 PM,
> there wasn't room for her in evenings, either.
>
> -OA
>
 
> Now, THAT'S a fall from radio syndication grace. From a
> powerhouse 50KW station, to a regional 5KW station in the
> next nearby market, to a puny 500 watt station that carries
> religious programming! I'm not sure what's next...if WCER
> dumps her, maybe 250 watt day/5 watt night sports formatted
> WBTC/1540 in Uhrichsville, OH is next...

"Dr." Laura was dumped off 1180 WHAM Rochester in a similar pattern - cutbacks and then el-gone-o.

However, I question the theory she was dumped because of the "post 9/11 mentality." Joy Browne has not suffered her downfall, and TV therapy talk (Dr. Phil) has hardly been hurt.

"Dr." Laura's problem is the same one that afflicts all of those who preach holier-than-thou rhetoric. First, her show started as a stealth religious indoctrination and graduated into something you'd expect from Focus on the Family. Although many relished her trashing of stupid callers who disagreed with her, the rhetoric got heavier and heavier.

What brought her walls crashing down, however, were the various expose articles done revealing her trashy nude shots, her horrid relationship with her own mother, a not-so-hot home life, and the revelation that the woman was as qualified to provide professional therapy as Fluffy the Hamster. OxyRush doesn't devote his three hours to rail against drug users, and Double Down Bill Bennett's own gambling addiction has never been the basis of his show. But when someone purports to tell you how to live your life and what poor judgment you used, and then the glossies turn up, the audience is going to flee for the hills.
 
I just have one question..were Dr. Laura's ratings trending down on 9/10/01? If not, her lack of clearances had nothing to do with listeners abandoning the show in droves due to controversies.<P ID="signature">______________
I'll get back to you when I think of a cute quote</P>
 
> > Now, THAT'S a fall from radio syndication grace. From a
> > powerhouse 50KW station, to a regional 5KW station in the
> > next nearby market, to a puny 500 watt station that
> carries
> > religious programming! I'm not sure what's next...if WCER
>
> > dumps her, maybe 250 watt day/5 watt night sports
> formatted
> > WBTC/1540 in Uhrichsville, OH is next...
>
> "Dr." Laura was dumped off 1180 WHAM Rochester in a similar
> pattern - cutbacks and then el-gone-o.
>
> However, I question the theory she was dumped because of the
> "post 9/11 mentality." Joy Browne has not suffered her
> downfall, and TV therapy talk (Dr. Phil) has hardly been
> hurt.
>
> "Dr." Laura's problem is the same one that afflicts all of
> those who preach holier-than-thou rhetoric. First, her show
> started as a stealth religious indoctrination and graduated
> into something you'd expect from Focus on the Family.
> Although many relished her trashing of stupid callers who
> disagreed with her, the rhetoric got heavier and heavier.
>
> What brought her walls crashing down, however, were the
> various expose articles done revealing her trashy nude
> shots, her horrid relationship with her own mother, a
> not-so-hot home life, and the revelation that the woman was
> as qualified to provide professional therapy as Fluffy the
> Hamster. OxyRush doesn't devote his three hours to rail
> against drug users, and Double Down Bill Bennett's own
> gambling addiction has never been the basis of his show.
> But when someone purports to tell you how to live your life
> and what poor judgment you used, and then the glossies turn
> up, the audience is going to flee for the hills.
>

I have to admit, at one time I did listen to Dr. Laura on a fairly regular basis. But then, several years back, she became a practicing Jew. Now that's all fine and good, mind you, but when she would start making Bible references to her callers, I figured that I had had enough of her. Things like: "Karen, let me ask you something. What do you think Moses would do in your situation?"---And then the dopey housewife Karen (Whose never even heard of Moses, or any other leading figures from the Bible, for that matter!) would rather predictably say to Dr. Laura: "Excuse me, Dr. Laura? I don't get you. What do you mean by that?"---It was when exchanges like that started to happen on her show (Rather frequently, I might add!) that I decided that I had had enough of Dr. Laura and I just tuned her out.
 
> It was
> when exchanges like that started to happen on her show
> (Rather frequently, I might add!) that I decided that I had
> had enough of Dr. Laura and I just tuned her out.

I don't at all discount that she basically wore out her welcome with even some of the usual conservative talk audience. Only some of this may be ideological, though. And some of it may have been losing some of her base put off by her past indiscretions.

But I still believe the biggest factor was the turn away from advice talk on news/talk stations after 9/11. Premiere/Clear Channel fueled a lot of it with Glenn Beck's show becoming available right around that time...it gave stations an easy issues talk option in the 9-noon ET time slot. But other stations dropped Dr. Laura for similar reasons.

And as far as Dr. Joy Browne is concerned, she got dropped as well on many issue-oriented conservative talk stations. One station - where I worked - used to air her middays. Our PD noted that the male-dominant issue-talk audience basically turned off the station at 9 when Dr. Joy's show started, then came back at noon for Rush. Dr. Joy wasn't seen as being compatible with the male 25-54/35-64 audience we were trying to get, so she was gone. The station now airs TRN's Laura Ingraham till 10, then Cox/Jones/WSB's Neal Boortz from 10-noon.

Dr. Joy still has her affiliates, sure, but I bet many of them nudged her into nights/weekends in favor of issue-oriented talk in middays or drive times. Some of that is the post-9/11 desire to have more issues talk, but much of it is that audience compatibility thing...which the world after 9/11 nudged stations into realizing, basically.

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
My NEW blog is at Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned something that I would suggest was a major factor in her decline: her TV show.

It was supposed to be the transition that would rocket her to the super-big-time, as it did for Limbaugh (for a time). But it failed spectacularly, and I think that was a big contributor to the radio audience turning away.

And by the way, I would not blame the TV failure on the incredible hostility the show got from the left and from the advertisers who became afraid to buy the show. The show was lousy. She was horrible on TV, just awful. All the publicity, both positive and negative, gave her a huge audience at the start, but it vanished almost immediately because she was just plain bad.

That began the decline of the radio audience too, although I'd agree with other posters here that the one-note shtick she did just got tiresome. My memory is that her star was falling fast already when 9-11 hit.
 
> Thingslike: "Karen, let me ask you something. What do you think
> Moses would do in your situation?"

And Karen's problem was probably something like whether she should quit her day job and stay at home with the kids. We all knew her husband was secretly crafting a golden calf in the basement though!


---

"I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I take vengeance on them." - Jules from Pulp Fiction. :)
 
Dr. Laura's TV Show and Decline

> And by the way, I would not blame the TV failure on the
> incredible hostility the show got from the left and from the
> advertisers who became afraid to buy the show. The show was
> lousy. She was horrible on TV, just awful. All the
> publicity, both positive and negative, gave her a huge
> audience at the start, but it vanished almost immediately
> because she was just plain bad.

If I recall correctly, her TV show got trounced in the ratings in Los Angeles, for one. Reruns of "Bonanza" on a weak independent station got more viewers than her show did on CBS's O&O in the market! And if she was getting killed in the ratings in Los Angeles, her home market and where she's been on KFI for years, it wasn't a good sign.

> That began the decline of the radio audience too, although
> I'd agree with other posters here that the one-note shtick
> she did just got tiresome. My memory is that her star was
> falling fast already when 9-11 hit.

I'm not sure if I'd say she was "falling fast", but her star was certainly losing its luster even before 9/11. The appetite for issues talk after that tragic event provided PDs and GMs with a very convenient out to get rid of her show.

And Glenn Beck was already being prepared - before 9/11 - for syndication by Premiere. He ended up doing national shows in the weeks after 9/11 under CC's "America Under Attack" ad-hoc network, but Premiere took the opportunity to move up his already-planned national launch because of the demand. As I recall, Beck was doing 9-noon on the ad-hoc network in addition to his then-regular afternoon drive slot on WFLA/Tampa.

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
My NEW blog is at Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
> It was supposed to be the transition that would rocket her to the super-big-time, as it did for Limbaugh (for a time).

EFM began syndicating Limbaugh in 1987 and his show didn't start until 1992. He had already hit the super-big-time by then. I remember his show as being so-so. I never did see Schlessinger's but I just can't see her doing television and I don't doubt the reports that it was dreadful.<P ID="signature">______________
Jerry

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts" - late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan</P>
 
> Our
> PD noted that the male-dominant issue-talk audience
> basically turned off the station at 9 when Dr. Joy's show
> started, then came back at noon for Rush.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

We have a winner!

Laura, if I can quote Tom Leykis, is a shrill shrieking shrew.

If your bread and butter is men 35+, why drive them away?

Her 15 minutes are up. File her with G. Gordon Liddy in the "C-list hosts" folder.<P ID="signature">______________
...co-moderator of the Satellite Radio, Phoenix, and San Diego boards...</P>
 
> > Thingslike: "Karen, let me ask you something. What do you
> think
> > Moses would do in your situation?"
>
> And Karen's problem was probably something like whether she
> should quit her day job and stay at home with the kids. We
> all knew her husband was secretly crafting a golden calf in
> the basement though!
>
>

That's one thing that turns me off about Dr. Laura. She expects all the mothers to stay home with their kids. With taxes as high as they are, it very often takes two incomes to support a family these days.


> ---
>
> "I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in
> my wrath. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I
> take vengeance on them." - Jules from Pulp Fiction. :)
>
 
You'd really be amazed at how little of the second income actually goes to the family's bottom line, after wardrobe, communting, daycare and everyting else. The second income may pay taxes on the first, if that. It depends on priorities, I guess.


> > > Thingslike: "Karen, let me ask you something. What do
> you
> > think
> > > Moses would do in your situation?"
> >
> > And Karen's problem was probably something like whether
> she
> > should quit her day job and stay at home with the kids.
> We
> > all knew her husband was secretly crafting a golden calf
> in
> > the basement though!
> >
> >
>
> That's one thing that turns me off about Dr. Laura. She
> expects all the mothers to stay home with their kids. With
> taxes as high as they are, it very often takes two incomes
> to support a family these days.
>
>
> > ---
> >
> > "I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them
> in
> > my wrath. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I
> > take vengeance on them." - Jules from Pulp Fiction. :)
> >
>
<P ID="signature">______________
I'll get back to you when I think of a cute quote</P>
 
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