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Free Fall FM

N

nwebster

Guest
Free FM is in free fall. Numbers down over a point in New York - almost two points in Philly since Howard left and David Lee Roth took over first of the year. Now David Lee Roth is MIA - after predicting his own firing.
A bad day for CBS Radio, which appears to have adopted the tactic of hiring people with slight name recognition and zero radio experience which has worked so well for Air America Radio.
A bad day for Van Halen, too. First Valerie Bertinelli is divorcing Edward. Now DLR strikes out in radio.
And not a promising start for the first major attempt to program talk radio - the next generation - on FM. FM talk can work. Just ask NJ 101.5. Can CBS Radio make it work? That is another question.
Is Free FM in trouble? If so, can it be saved?
 
> Free FM is in free fall. Numbers down over a point in New
> York - almost two points in Philly since Howard left and
> David Lee Roth took over first of the year. Now David Lee
> Roth is MIA - after predicting his own firing.
> A bad day for CBS Radio, which appears to have adopted the
> tactic of hiring people with slight name recognition and
> zero radio experience which has worked so well for Air
> America Radio.
> A bad day for Van Halen, too. First Valerie Bertinelli is
> divorcing Edward. Now DLR strikes out in radio.
> And not a promising start for the first major attempt to
> program talk radio - the next generation - on FM. FM talk
> can work. Just ask NJ 101.5. Can CBS Radio make it work?
> That is another question.
> Is Free FM in trouble? If so, can it be saved?
>
Does anyone give a format time to grow anymore? If the numbers suck after the first three months, do you throw in the towel and spin the format wheel again? I think any format takes time to grow, especially a talk format. Yeah Jack in many markets was a winner right of the box but in many of the same markets, it has tappered off do to the "New" factor wearing out. I think you need to give Free FM time to grow. It is greatly unfair to take Stern numbers and compare them to DLR, Rover, or Carolla. They need time to grow their audience. Someone who listened to Stern isn't automatically going to stay with CBS radio. They are sampling the other products available in their market. Some will come back to CBS radio, some may not but I think all these shows need time to grow.
 
> Free FM is in free fall. Numbers down over a point in New York - almost two
> points in Philly since Howard left and David Lee Roth took over first of the
> year. Now David Lee Roth is MIA - after predicting his own firing. A bad day
> for CBS Radio, which appears to have adopted the tactic of hiring people with
> slight name recognition and zero radio experience which has worked so well for
> Air America Radio.

Okay, you lost me. David Lee Roth had slight name recognition and zero radio experience? Zero radio experience, maybe, but slight name recognition?

I'd be more inclined to say that in the case of CBS and Air America, they sometimes go for BIG name recognition but no outstanding radio talent. Al Franken was a very talented SNL comedy writer but I just don't think he's great on radio.

David Lee Roth? Famous yes, but why did they ever put him on?

And who ever heard of Rush Limbaugh when he was first syndicated. No name recognition there.

I don't think A Big Name OR tons of radio experience is all that important. What matters is TALENT for radio.

I know guys with loads of radio experience and its made no difference. They've just been sucking at it for a lot longer than some of the newer air personalities.<P ID="signature">______________
SD</P>
 
Slight overall. Probably better know to fans of Van Halen - but it still wasn't his name on the band he fronted. Neither was Franken one of the marquee names on any version of SNL (like Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy). Phil Donahue wrote years ago that celebrity is on a continuim from the weekend weatherman to Frank Sinatra. DLR and Franken were much closer to the weekend weatherman.

It's been said before: Franken needs a live audience.

Rush had the advantage of starting small and not getting the same kind of attention talk radio gets now. He was on some 20 stations at first - delayed to evenings or run on the weekends on some of them. As part of the original deal, he did a local show for New York; WABC was not willing to run a syndicated show at first. Rush had both a good deal of radio experience - and "talent on loan from God."

Yes, many are called but few are chosen for the big time in radio. People bemoan how small and medium market radio has become mostly syndicated, voice-tracked and automated. Those people never heard how bad it sounded. Radio talent, however, does need experience to be identified and developed. Talent without experience is hypothetical at best. And talent for comedy writing or rock music is not the same as talent for radio.

PS: Apparently, David Lee Roth will be back Friday. As usual, nobody is saying what's really going on.
 
Franken and Live Audiences

> It's been said before: Franken needs a live audience.

He's got live audiences this week, and the show is much improved over his standard.<P ID="signature">______________
also known as tombetz.</P>
 
> Rush had the advantage of starting small and not getting the same kind of
> attention talk radio gets now. He was on some 20 stations at first - delayed > to evenings or run on the weekends on some of them.

Rush was very successful in Sacramento when Ed McLaughlin was looking for someone to syndicate. People forget that he McLaughlin also was pushing Dr. Dean Edell. I think people assume Rush was part of a political movement in radio. Rush began syndication in 1988 and he had a couple of hundred stations a year later. Of course he wasn't cleared in major markets 12noon - 2pm (only 2 hour show back then) People said it was loonacy to think ANY major market station would put him on in middays. It wasn't like it is today where you have all these big market talk stations seriously considering syndicated shows.<P ID="signature">______________
SD

"There is nothing more fatal to a man whose business is to think than to have learned the art of regaling his mind with airy gratifications".

- Samuel Johnson</P>
 
> Does anyone give a format time to grow anymore? If the
> numbers suck after the first three months, do you throw in
> the towel and spin the format wheel again? I think any
> format takes time to grow, especially a talk format. Yeah
> Jack in many markets was a winner right of the box but in
> many of the same markets, it has tappered off do to the
> "New" factor wearing out. I think you need to give Free FM
> time to grow. It is greatly unfair to take Stern numbers and
> compare them to DLR, Rover, or Carolla. They need time to
> grow their audience. Someone who listened to Stern isn't
> automatically going to stay with CBS radio. They are
> sampling the other products available in their market. Some
> will come back to CBS radio, some may not but I think all
> these shows need time to grow.
>


Alas, with the hype many of these new formats have done for themselves, they're almost intentionally not giving themselves time to develop. AAR, Free FM, were both hyped as some brave new format that millions were hungry for...can you blame anyone for being disappointed when they get off to a slow start?

Keep in mind that Stern took many years to develop his act too...he wasn't exactly a star at the beginning either. I don't know what CBS was thinking when they tapped DLR to be Stern's successor. Yeah, a few former musicians had some success on-air, but you need more than name recognition, and a rock star who hadn't had a hit song in 20 years is not a very good choice. Like him or not, Stern left pretty big shoes to fill.
 
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