One theory: Beasley gets 98.5 and would sell 92.9 to keep under cap.Any spillover sports could go on another FM.Or may Hubbard or Cox move in?
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One theory: Beasley gets 98.5 and would sell 92.9 to keep under cap.Any spillover sports could go on another FM
Hoping Hubbard enters the Boston market. I think its the best bet for the all news by day / talk by night format continuing as is at WBZ 1030.
Hoping Hubbard enters the Boston market.
So, RKO goes to iHeartMedia.
Do they run local programming on their stations, or, will RKO flip to all nationally-syndicated shows once the change takes effect?
Before everyone goes into complete meltdown over the future of WBZ-AM, remember that iHeart also owns WLW, and they still seem respectable—they even do overnignt local TOH news.
No news blocks on any of IHeart's stations. ****ing cheap channel
Yes it does.Doesn't the overnight trucking network originate at WLW? I think that used to be trucking bozo show taking advantage of WLW's skywave throughout the mid-west overnight which later was simulcast/syndicated on sister stations (at one time WHAM in Rochester NY used to carry it).
Not a chance, and I hope I'm wrongOops, I thought WGAN was iHeart but I see it is Saga. In any event iHeart has stations around New England that could leverage the BZ newsroom.
Didn't know the trucking show was WLW only now but proves the point iHeart will leave local shows alone even late nights.
The only thing to do now is roll tape (or mp3 recorder technically) on WBZ real soon to capture what it sounds like in the waning days of CBS ownership and then keep fingers crossed that iHeart takes good care of it.
iHeart takes its knocks and deserves many of them - but they do have a big presence with AM stations and seem to have an interest in running them unlike some owners. They even took on WOR and have pumped in some money to revive it. The big problem they have now is debt from a leveraged buyout - at some point that will get cleaned up and will reduce the cost cutting pressure. They do have a strong streaming platform as well - stronger than any other radio group.
Its a wait and see thing. For all we know Entercom would do more damage than iHeart. When iHeart bought their Cape Cod stations, I expected them to be negatively impacted but they really didn't touch anything. Same programming, same local hosts. Other than sacrificing some WCIB coverage to benefit 101.7 in Boston nothing much happened. They may have added news room staff at WXTK by a couple people.
Interesting thing in Boston is it is increasingly looking like WBUR and WGBH are in the mix for the all news crown and they have pretty deep pockets so iHeart could easily kill the goose if they cost cut BZ. The live overnight show helps the morning show - lots of people get up 4am and start with Bradley Jay and then stay on into the news at 5am. If you listen to the overnight, the calls seem to really decline halfway thru - around 3am - then pick back up a lot in the last hour. There is a small window when the night owls have finally gone to bed and the early risers are not up yet. If they kill that show they may lose some of the early risers as listeners to the morning news.
Also consider WBZ as a news hub for all the iHeart stations in New England feeding stories to WGAN, WXTK, and all the iHeart stations in the region - that may be part of the end game.
WBUR and WGBH ARE NOT ALL NEWS STATIONS!