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Finance Talk noon on RKO, replacing first hr of Charley Manning

raccoonradio said:
bostonradio's tweet to me about RKO doing finance talk weekdays came true.
Starting Sept 9: noon-Lunch Money with Barry Armstrong
Click to expand...

This is brokered time. Since he could be losing WBIX come Nov 1, when it switches to Catholic programming (although there have been rumors that the brokered time would continue on 1060), his first choice might well have been to replace the clearance he got there (9:00 to 11:00AM M-F) in kind. It's possible (but it seems unlikely) that the noon hour on WRKO will be a repeat of one hour of his 9:00 to 11:00 show, which seems certain to continue (even if no longer with Armstrong as host) on WBNW and WESO (stations that Armstrong owns) and on WPLM (AM), which he LMAs essentially full time.
 
Dan - Inaccurate.

Check other markets.
WBBM WKNX. Business Hour shows in the middle of the day work.

These are successful programs.

He has a content only media presence on Fox and NECN. Same here
 
Shark, I believe you are referring to KNX in L.A. I don't think they use "W" to start callsigns on the West Coast yet... (although they sound like neat calls for an East Coast sister station...)

"Lunch Money"... Sounds like the title of a show on Fox News 2 - excuse me, Fox Business Network...
 
SharkBites said:
Dan - Inaccurate.
Click to expand...

What, exactly, is inaccurate? That Armstrong wanted to be on WRKO's huge signal during the week to replace the big signal of WBIX, which may drop his 9:00 to 11:00AM show due to a switch in ownership and programming? Business talk during the noon hour on the stations he owns (or in the case of WPLM, LMA's essentially full-time) is quite new (probably last six months--and I think less). Armstrong's Money Matters show has been running from 9:00 to 11:00AM on WBNW for (my guess) more than six years. Remember, Armstrong OWNS WBNW and could have put the show on at any hour he pleased. He also successfully syndicated the 9:00 to 11:00AM show to stations he does not own in New England and elsewhere. So he has a LONG and successful connection with mid-morning business talk.

He has now branched into business talk throughout the day on his own stations and, although uncertainties about WBIX may not have figured in his plans with respect to WRKO, the likelihood of his losing WBIX almost certainly motivated him to think about leasing weekday time on WRKO, where he has been leasing weekend time for maybe the last six months. It could have been his idea or WRKO's idea to schedule his new show at noon.

Anyhow, if you are going to take issue with something I wrote here, it would be much better to single out what I said that you object to and use the board's quote facility to make clear what you are talking about. Simply labeling an entire posting as inaccurate when you mean some particular part of that posting strikes me as bad form.
 
IF Dan had said (and I don't think he did) "I don't know if finance talk would work", maybe SharkBites would have replied,
"Inaccurate. Check other markets..."--in other words, he would be saying, "oh, but it WOULD
work".

However I don't think Dan said anything like that. Possible?
 
OK is it that Mannings numbers are so weak, that Entercom is willing to toss him under the bus and start brokering time on weekdays, or is Armstrong that good that they think the PPM's are going to go up along with their bottom line.


I can tell you that this will drive me away from WRKO even more.


With the mid term elections weeks away I figured that was the reason they went with Manning to begin with, now just months into his tenure they are slicing hours away from his shift.

Maybe if Baker wins the corner office Manning can get a hack job.
 
The colon cleanser infomercial was indeed an indication of how far down the tubes RKO has fallen.

A news talk station does not do financial or money or advice or whatever this guy is doing during the midday hour. It doesn't happen unless they are in dire straits indeed.

Recall, if you will, WEEI under Helen Broadcasting. Doug Stephan actually programmed an exercise program in early afternoon. Exercise on the radio. The end of WEEI as a news station quickly followed. Stephan, meanwhile. became the morning-man-of-all-seasons for a collection of commodes from coast to coast.

Bust your own format at your peril. 'RKO continues to trrash its own format, which has ostensibly been newstalk.

It's over.

Last one standing, kindly turn out the lights.
 
thirdendorsed said:
The colon cleanser infomercial was indeed an indication of how far down the tubes RKO has fallen.
Click to expand...

Before you condemn WRKO and Entercom as strongly as you just did, I suggest that you listen a time or two to Armstrong's program. Even though both his program and the colon cleanse infomercials are leased time, they do not belong in the same category. Armstrong's mid-morning show on his own stations (WBNW, WESO) and LMAed station WPLM (AM) is generally well done. It is both informative and entertaining and is not a hard sell--although there are occasional plugs for firms that, I assume, buy or barter time from him. I find the plugs for Armstrong's own financial services business to be rather infrequent, pretty low key, and inoffensive.

And once again, because someone is bound to bring this up, as I have said in the past, I am not a client of Armstrong's firm nor do I have any financial interest in his businesses. I have, however, been a client of an attorney who appears regularly on Armstrong's shows.
 
Recall, if you will, WEEI under Helen Broadcasting. Doug Stephan actually programmed an exercise program in early afternoon.

Ummm..I worked for WEEI right up until Helen B'Castng sold it, and don't recall that exercise program, nor Doug even being involved with the station.

Exercise on the radio. The end of WEEI as a news station quickly followed,

IIRC, what finished off the news format was that the station was sold to the Boston Celtics. The all news format, which had been a money loser for a while and was being kept alive on pizza profits, was history as soon as the Celtic bought the station. It didn't matter what the station was programming pre-sale, the Celtics wanted to signal for one, and only one, reason.

I thought this was pretty well known, but obviously it isn't. Even anti-Entercom rants deserve to have some factual basis.

Regards,
TSB
 
DanStrassberg said:
Armstrong's mid-morning show on his own stations (WBNW, WESO) and LMAed station WPLM (AM) is generally well done. It is both informative and entertaining and is not a hard sell--although there are occasional plugs for firms that, I assume, buy or barter time from him. I find the plugs for Armstrong's own financial services business to be rather infrequent, pretty low key, and inoffensive.
Click to expand...

Well said. It would be pretty tough to equate this sort of show with something like the insufferable unlistenable "Drew Mortgage" train-wreck on WCRN.

People who are living in some sort of rose colored fantasy world need to get over it...and soon. The glory days of a WRKO with the likes of Gene Burns, Jerry Williams, and David Brudnow are long since past.

Entercom is simply doing what it can to keep money coming in to WRKO in the middle of a recession, not to mention the difficulties of staying competitive on the AM band.
 
Just a few things to add: I once remember Barry Armstrong describing Money Talk host Bob Brinker as being "soft as a grape." I think Brinker has a much better track-record than most other broadcast financial hosts. And Barry and his cast of characters were big on Countrywide Mortage for the LONGEST time. For those following the housing crisis, you'll remember Countrywide was one of the poorly run companies that helped put the U.S. economy where it is today. Barry is low-key, but in my opinion, very insidious. I know. I once managed a station he BOUGHT time on. 'RKO is making another bad decision, unless they're about to be Boston's next Business Station.
 
Whether Armstrong's show is good or lousy is beside the point. The question is whether this move is smart programming. Sticking an hour of something unrelated to the wall-to-wall conservatalk format creates a pretty big "tune-out factor" right in the middle of the day. And while it may bring in revenue in the short run, the long term effect of too much inconsistency is that listeners and advertisers will find another station.
 
Schuyler said:
Whether Armstrong's show is good or lousy is beside the point. The question is whether this move is smart programming. Sticking an hour of something unrelated to the wall-to-wall conservatalk format creates a pretty big "tune-out factor" right in the middle of the day. And while it may bring in revenue in the short run, the long term effect of too much inconsistency is that listeners and advertisers will find another station.
Click to expand...

Schuyler, I conquer....and u are the winner!! Dan S, I have a lot of respect for your opinions and views in this business of "show" and radio. I'll say this, I will man up and apologize to Armstrong and his "mini me" if my predictions turn out to be a flop......but dig this: Schuyler right on the money (no pun intended). This is NOT smart programming by any means. This move will not only put an end to Armstrong's radio career (no matter how much money he has) and it will have an everlasting effect on WRKO's reputation and radio broadcasting ethics. The idea that they kept saying NO to Armstrong for many years because they weighed his talent over his wallet....and now????....Well, times have changed as you know, everybody wants to be richer and more famous right?....just flash some money around. Unfortunately, this will cost WRKO way more money in the long term than their clear short term thinking. Is it finally time to say goodbye to WRKO??????? I'm said to predict, YES!
 
OreoJoe417 said:
This is NOT smart programming by any means. This move will not only put an end to Armstrong's radio career (no matter how much money he has) and it will have an everlasting effect on WRKO's reputation and radio broadcasting ethics.The idea that they kept saying NO to Armstrong for many years because they weighed his talent over his wallet....and now????....Well, times have changed as you know, everybody wants to be richer and more famous right?....just flash some money around. Unfortunately, this will cost WRKO way more money in the long term than their clear short term thinking. Is it finally time to say goodbye to WRKO??????? I'm said to predict, YES!
Click to expand...

I would be surprised if Armstrong were not a Republican, though perhaps from the dying (already dead?) breed called moderate Republicans. But it would be interesting to know how many stations whose mainstay is conservative talk also carry Dave Ramsey's financial-advice program. Ramsey doesn't often talk politics, but when he does, he makes it clear that he is as conservative as some of the most rabid right-wing talkers. I don't see Ramsey hurting any station that mixes him with the best-known conservative talkers. And if Ramsey is a good blend with conservative talk, then I argue that so is Armstrong. If you are looking for people to blame for WRKO's death spiral, I think you need to name the no-talent "personalities" they've lined up and the management that decided to bet on them, not the guy who is buying one hour a day to run what I expect to be a pretty decent financial talk show.

BTW, Armstrong announced today (9/3/2010) that today's appearance on his Money Matters show on WBNW et al, would be his last appearance on Money Matters, so apparently, his WRKO show will not be a repeat of Money Matters.
 
DanStrassberg said:
OreoJoe417 said:
This is NOT smart programming by any means. This move will not only put an end to Armstrong's radio career (no matter how much money he has) and it will have an everlasting effect on WRKO's reputation and radio broadcasting ethics.The idea that they kept saying NO to Armstrong for many years because they weighed his talent over his wallet....and now????....Well, times have changed as you know, everybody wants to be richer and more famous right?....just flash some money around. Unfortunately, this will cost WRKO way more money in the long term than their clear short term thinking. Is it finally time to say goodbye to WRKO??????? I'm said to predict, YES!
Click to expand...

I would be surprised if Armstrong were not a Republican, though perhaps from the dying (already dead?) breed called moderate Republicans. But it would be interesting to know how many stations whose mainstay is conservative talk also carry Dave Ramsey's financial-advice program. Ramsey doesn't often talk politics, but when he does, he makes it clear that he is as conservative as some of the most rabid right-wing talkers. I don't see Ramsey hurting any station that mixes him with the best-known conservative talkers. And if Ramsey is a good blend with conservative talk, then I argue that so is Armstrong. If you are looking for people to blame for WRKO's death spiral, I think you need to name the no-talent "personalities" they've lined up and the management that decided to bet on them, not the guy who is buying one hour a day to run what I expect to be a pretty decent financial talk show.

BTW, Armstrong announced today (9/3/2010) that today's appearance on his Money Matters show on WBNW et al, would be his last appearance on Money Matters, so apparently, his WRKO show will not be a repeat of Money Matters.
Click to expand...

Well said Dan. We'll all watch and see......should be interesting to see it all play out either way right??!! The idea though that Armstrong's lack of knowledge when it comes to being a "radio talent" is what I believe will be the stake in the heart of WRKO. NOON TIME!!! Are you kidding? Unfortunately for Armstrong, he is the guy that pushes WRKO, and some management folks too I imagine, right over the edge and right out the door! Armstrong and his entourage of ONE will then have to resort back to using WBNW to push that money machine of that financial business he needs to keep running......Don't sell that radio station just yet Barry Armstrong, I imagine he'll need it!!!!
 
OreoJoe417 said:
Well said Dan. We'll all watch and see......should be interesting to see it all play out either way right??!! The idea though that Armstrong's lack of knowledge when it comes to being a "radio talent" is what I believe will be the stake in the heart of WRKO. NOON TIME!!! Are you kidding? Unfortunately for Armstrong, he is the guy that pushes WRKO, and some management folks too I imagine, right over the edge and right out the door! Armstrong and his entourage of ONE will then have to resort back to using WBNW to push that money machine of that financial business he needs to keep running......Don't sell that radio station just yet Barry Armstrong, I imagine he'll need it!!!!
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that anything can be done about WBNW's abysmal night signal. I live 12.6 miles due east of the E Acton site, right in front of the pattern maximum. On many nights the signal is unlistenable. I think more towers would be necessary to increase the night power and I don't think the site can accommodate more towers in any location that would be useful to WBNW. Even though the site is a Superfund site (toxic-waste dump), it took a huge effort to get approval to build the existing four towers back in 1989. We're talking here about the NIMBIEST of NIMBY places! Also, there are a ton of stations on 1120 that need to be protected, including Canadians that will never be built and two in Maine, the closer of which may have already run out of time to build. Very costly business with a highly questionable payoff.
 
TSBench said:
Recall, if you will, WEEI under Helen Broadcasting. Doug Stephan actually programmed an exercise program in early afternoon.

Ummm..I worked for WEEI right up until Helen B'Castng sold it, and don't recall that exercise program, nor Doug even being involved with the station.

Exercise on the radio. The end of WEEI as a news station quickly followed,

IIRC, what finished off the news format was that the station was sold to the Boston Celtics. The all news format, which had been a money loser for a while and was being kept alive on pizza profits, was history as soon as the Celtic bought the station. It didn't matter what the station was programming pre-sale, the Celtics wanted to signal for one, and only one, reason.

I thought this was pretty well known, but obviously it isn't. Even anti-Entercom rants deserve to have some factual basis.

Regards,
TSB
Click to expand...

Sorry, but when I say exercise show on the radio, I mean exercise show on the radio. WEEI ran an exercise program on the radio during Stephan's reign as program director (CORRECTION: He was, according to his USRN bio, operations manager) Perhaps it was after the sale, which belies the suggestion that the Celtics immediately took it all-sports.

I think Rod Fritz may have even hosted a segment or two, but I would never want to paint him with that brush without confirmation. But there was exercise programming on the station while Stephan was driving the station into the ground rather than building on its news heritage. Amazing how BZ was playing the hits (well the former hits. Make that the wicked former hits) until the first Gulf War, went wall-to-wall war, decided to stay with all news and became a solid #1 for decades. Stephan blew off this audience with exercise on the radio, and you could look it up.

I confess I do not recall how long the Celtics owned the station prior to the flip to all sports (featuring the worst morning show ever, Andy Moes teamed with a guy nobody ever heard of again and a woman who ended up doing weekend overnights at WKXW Trenton; afternoons with former traffic maven Janet Prensky [in her one and only media gig doing sports] teamed with Glen Ordway and Col. Mustard at night.
 
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