Fox News' Glenn Beck Loses Radio Show In NYC, Phila.

[OhioMediaWatch]

Wow...Parker/Spitzer is basically being watched by their family members.

I think Beck's biggest problem may not be the ratings, but the fact that the show may not be advertiser friendly.

Even Rush struggled with that, especially early on, and pretty much all issues talk show hosts have lists of advertisers that don't want to be heard on those shows.

Rush's biggest advertisers have been, historically, names like Snapple...which rode Rush's show and Howard Stern, I believe it was, to national prominence.

What kind of sponsors does Glenn Beck's radio show have nationally? The only one I can name off the top of my head is Goldline, not exactly a mainstream advertiser.

 

[TheBigA]

What kind of sponsors does Glenn Beck's radio show have nationally? The only one I can name off the top of my head is Goldline, not exactly a mainstream advertiser.

This is where the commitment time comes in. Even if Beck gets a big national sponsor, what does that do for the affiliates? What a big name like Beck has to do is help the stations sell. And that takes time.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

This is where the commitment time comes in. Even if Beck gets a big national sponsor, what does that do for the affiliates? What a big name like Beck has to do is help the stations sell. And that takes time.

I'll have to listen to WTAM and see what kind of local sponsors his show gets.

 

[LKellerIII]

One glance at the electoral map and its fairly easy to ascertain that Beck would have a better shot at generating ratings in the South, the Midwest, etc.

I'm not saying Beck doesn't have listeners in larger markets like NYC or Philly, just that most of his listeners are probably concentrated in the mid to smaller markets...

You can never tell. The ultra-right wing Michael Savage made a huge splash in San Francisco Bay Area radio (his home town) - and that led to his radio show being syndicated. Even though the Bay Area is the most politically liberal region in the country, Savage obviously filled a need. Limbaugh is popular here too, though he's not #1 in his time-slot.

And Savage is currently without an affiliate in SF.

That's not due to lack of popularity. Savage left KSFO (Disney when he started, then Citadel) for a better syndication deal - and from what I understand, he burned his bridges there. Pathetic KTRB-AM picked up his show when they made a pitiful attempt at a talk format, but when the owners went into bankruptcy, they dropped his show to save money. I'm surprised that he hasn't been picked up by KNEW (Clear Channel).

And I'm not expressing my personal preferences here - I can't stand the guy. I'm just making the point that right-wing hosts can be popular in big cities, even a place as liberal as San Francisco.

 

[scott5]

One glance at the electoral map and its fairly easy to ascertain that Beck would have a better shot at generating ratings in the South, the Midwest, etc.

I'm not saying Beck doesn't have listeners in larger markets like NYC or Philly, just that most of his listeners are probably concentrated in the mid to smaller markets...

You can never tell. The ultra-right wing Michael Savage made a huge splash in San Francisco Bay Area radio (his home town) - and that led to his radio show being syndicated. Even though the Bay Area is the most politically liberal region in the country, Savage obviously filled a need. Limbaugh is popular here too, though he's not #1 in his time-slot.

And Savage is currently without an affiliate in SF.

That's not due to lack of popularity. Savage left KSFO (Disney when he started, then Citadel) for a better syndication deal - and from what I understand, he burned his bridges there. Pathetic KTRB-AM picked up his show when they made a pitiful attempt at a talk format, but when the owners went into bankruptcy, they dropped his show to save money. I'm surprised that he hasn't been picked up by KNEW (Clear Channel).

And I'm not expressing my personal preferences here - I can't stand the guy. I'm just making the point that right-wing hosts can be popular in big cities, even a place as liberal as San Francisco.

KTRB picked him up when KNEW dropped him. KNEW picked him up when he left KSFO and at the same time he was dropped by sister station WABC in NYC. I wouldn't call that a better syndication deal it was a stupid egoistical move by TRN or Savage.

 

[BRNout]

That's not due to lack of popularity. Savage left KSFO (Disney when he started, then Citadel) for a better syndication deal - and from what I understand, he burned his bridges there. Pathetic KTRB-AM picked up his show when they made a pitiful attempt at a talk format, but when the owners went into bankruptcy, they dropped his show to save money. I'm surprised that he hasn't been picked up by KNEW (Clear Channel).

And I'm not expressing my personal preferences here - I can't stand the guy. I'm just making the point that right-wing hosts can be popular in big cities, even a place as liberal as San Francisco.

If I'm not mistaken, Savage was on KNEW for quite a while - then he ended up on KTRB. Then they went into receivership and dropped his show (and all staff, save the chief engineer). Now, to hear Savage in the Bay Area, you need to tune to KSTE 650 from the Sacramento market which, from my experience, comes in reasonably well in most of the market.

 

[LKellerIII]

That's not due to lack of popularity. Savage left KSFO (Disney when he started, then Citadel) for a better syndication deal - and from what I understand, he burned his bridges there. Pathetic KTRB-AM picked up his show when they made a pitiful attempt at a talk format, but when the owners went into bankruptcy, they dropped his show to save money. I'm surprised that he hasn't been picked up by KNEW (Clear Channel).

And I'm not expressing my personal preferences here - I can't stand the guy. I'm just making the point that right-wing hosts can be popular in big cities, even a place as liberal as San Francisco.

If I'm not mistaken, Savage was on KNEW for quite a while - then he ended up on KTRB. Then they went into receivership and dropped his show (and all staff, save the chief engineer). Now, to hear Savage in the Bay Area, you need to tune to KSTE 650 from the Sacramento market which, from my experience, comes in reasonably well in most of the market.

You're right - I had forgotten he was previously on KNEW.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

And I'm not expressing my personal preferences here - I can't stand the guy. I'm just making the point that right-wing hosts can be popular in big cities, even a place as liberal as San Francisco.

No conservative radio other than KSFO has done well in SF. KNEW is barely a blip on the ratings map, KTRB was even less when it was in the format, and nothing else has come close.

KSFO did it right...and everyone else was trying to nip at their heels.

KNEW thought they were gonna strike gold with Savage, but it ended up being Fool's Gold.

The biggest problem for KNEW was a Clear Channel/Premiere corporate decision to keep selling Rush to KSFO, instead of moving him to their own KNEW. Probably the best decision on the corporate level, but bad for the anemic local affiliate.

I think Rush's ratings are taking a hit in Boston, where he's the only thing drawing more than flies on "Rush Radio 1200".

 

[BRNout]

I think Rush's ratings are taking a hit in Boston, where he's the only thing drawing more than flies on "Rush Radio 1200".

Boston is a difficult situation for conservative talk radio and the reason for that isn't politics....

For a long time, WRKO was very successful with the format. However, some truly boneheaded programming moves about 5 years ago resulted in the gradual decay of their ratings, some of which went to FM competitor WTKK (96.9). However, WTKK never picked up the most "popular" syndicated shows, instead programming the likes of Imus, Bill O'Reilly, and a number of local (and politically mixed) hosts. This is now changing, but historically that is what they did.

Then Clear Channel saw an opportunity to upgrade one of it's Boston AM properties (WKOX 1200 kHz) and removed Rush from WRKO (which had already seen ratings erosion). That was just about the final straw for 'RKO, leaving Howie Carr's show as the only one with ANY popularity. And Howie is unhappy there and makes no bones about that on-air.

The trouble with this story is that WKOX has a lousy signal over much of the Boston metro area. Yes, it shoots directly into downtown - but it bypasses many of the suburbs, particularly north and northwest of Boston. Areas where a lot of it's audience resides. WRKO has a similar issue, but a better dial position and a better tx site; thus a better signal overall. Not to mention that old habits die hard in New England, so not so many people have embraced the 'new' "Rush Radio 1200". Especially since many have to make an effort to find it.

So, in the end, we have an unsuccessful WKOX, a formerly successful but now failing WRKO and a modestly successful WTKK.

That's the Reader's Digest version at least.......

 

[scott5]

>>That was just about the final straw for 'RKO, leaving Howie Carr's show as the only one with ANY popularity. <<

I thought Savage is very much popular in Boston, am i wrong ?

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

So, in the end, we have an unsuccessful WKOX, a formerly successful but now failing WRKO and a modestly successful WTKK.

There are some parallels in SF (also a "liberal area"), but there is no third major player in conservative talk radio on either FM or AM.

The long-dominant KGO/810 has a mix of ideologies in its host lineup, but no real "diehard conservatives". The closest you come are libertarian Gene Burns (a former Boston host) at night and weekender Dr. Bill Wattenburg, but neither are right-wing firebrands at all - certainly nowhere near what you find on most conservative talk outlets.

KNEW/910's signal problems are very similar in the SF market to WKOX in Boston. It really doesn't have much chance against KSFO. The KNEW signal is actually 20 kW vs. 5 kW for KSFO, but KSFO is at low-band 560, and is much better in San Jose (large population, embedded part of the SF market) than KNEW is due to its directional pattern.

It's not quite as bad as WKOX, directional-signal wise, but bad enough to make it weaker in some areas vs. KSFO.

 

[Bill_W]

With the exception of Hannity, the TV talk show hosts haven't been translating to radio very well.

Hannity started on radio and then went to TV.

 

[BRNout]

>>That was just about the final straw for 'RKO, leaving Howie Carr's show as the only one with ANY popularity. <<

I thought Savage is very much popular in Boston, am i wrong ?

In my discussion, I neglected to consider his show, which is carried during the evening. Last I checked, he did okay in the ratings, but that's relative as overall radio listenership is relatively low by the time Savage Nation is carried on WRKO (7P - 10P). His show is sometimes displaced for sporting events (WRKO ends up with WEEI's leftovers).

WRKO even lost Coast to Coast AM to WKOX, which stinks for fans of that show who live in places like Lowell, Haverhill or Nashua, NH because WKOX's nighttime signal is so directional that they can barely hear it at night.

There are some parallels in SF (also a "liberal area"), but there is no third major player in conservative talk radio on either FM or AM.

I'd agree, though I think that KSFO still does better in the ratings right now than WRKO and WKOX combined. In other words, the upheaval in the market seems to have had the unintended result of driving some listeners from the format entirely. Or (conversely) toward similarly formatted stations in Worcester, Providence and Manchester.

 

[TheBigA]

With the exception of Hannity, the TV talk show hosts haven't been translating to radio very well.

Hannity started on radio and then went to TV.

I think my point was that hosts who currently combine radio & TV aren't translating to radio well. Beck started out in radio too.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

WRKO even lost Coast to Coast AM to WKOX, which stinks for fans of that show who live in places like Lowell, Haverhill or Nashua, NH because WKOX's nighttime signal is so directional that they can barely hear it at night.

Of course, since "Coast to Coast AM" is so ubitquous on the nighttime AM dial, those listenersare probably bouncing around between the best distant signals that show up in the region.

I'm not familiar enough with the region to know what options they have, but I am sure C2C probably shows up via skywave on a half-dozen signals at night in the area.

I'd agree, though I think that KSFO still does better in the ratings right now than WRKO and WKOX combined. In other words, the upheaval in the market seems to have had the unintended result of driving some listeners from the format entirely. Or (conversely) toward similarly formatted stations in Worcester, Providence and Manchester.

Very much so. I do think Rush fans are going to seek out alternatives on the edge of the market. Most other hosts? Maybe not so much.

KSFO has indeed been a strong, stable, good signaled conservative talker for years, and WRKO has put its lineup outside Howie in a blender.

 

[DToTheJ]

FWIW: "Rush Radio 1200" now bears call letters of WXKS-AM, and not WKOX. That is all...

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

FWIW: "Rush Radio 1200" now bears call letters of WXKS-AM, and not WKOX. That is all...

Ah, yes, well, it sat there without an upgrade as WKOX, for years while everyone was expecting it to become CC's talk station, so...

 

[BRNout]

Yep, I totally forgot about that change and stand corrected. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Ultimajock]

O'reilly says radio is hard work, well its hard when you try to do it fair and balanced

...BillO and the rest of the Faux Noise Channel crowd wouldn't recognise actual fairness and balance if it suddenly flooded out 1211 Avenue of the Americas...