FWIW, job posting for Clr Channel WXKS-AM; "exp. in News-Talk a plus"

[N1WVQ]

I don't know if CC would remove Rush from WRKO

There is precedence for CC doing exactly that with Rush. Just look at Providence, where CC yanked Rush from 630 WPRO to move him over to CC owned 920 WHJJ.

If CC were to start up a mostly or all syndicated AM talker in Boston......wouldn't they want thier very strongest lineup in order to give it the best chance for success? My guess is that CC would consider Rush strong enough that his audience would follow him somewhere else...so long as the signal is reasonably similar. This might take 1430 out of the picture, but still leave 1200 as a highly viable option.

Also...my take is that WRKO needs Rush a whole lot more than CC needs WRKO.

In any event......time will tell.

I don't know if CC yanked Rush from 920 or if 630 let him go for Buddy. My impression is that it was the latter. There was no more room on 630 for Rush.

 

[DanStrassberg]

I don't know if CC yanked Rush from 920 or if 630 let him go for Buddy. My impression is that it was the latter. There was no more room on 630 for Rush.

But according to the FCC database, CCU doesn't own WPRO; Citadel does (or its creditors do). CCU does own WHJJ. That would tell us that CCU most probably moved Rush to WHJJ, and WPRO added Cianci to fill the hole that was created by Limbaugh's departure.

Both WHJJ and WPRO have excellent signals, with a slight edge going to WPRO because of its lower frequency. OTOH, the coverage difference between WPRO and WHJJ is less than the coverage difference between WRKO and WKOX. Yes, both WRKO and WKOX are 50 kW, but WKOX's frequency is almost twice WRKO's and WRKO's transmitter location, antenna efficiency, and directional pattern are much superior to WKOX's. The good news for Clear Channel if they were to pull Limbaugh from WRKO is that, with WGIR to the north and WHJJ to the south, they need to add only one station to overcome WKOX's daytime signal shortcomings--that would be a Worcester station, and I'll bet that, to make room for Limbaugh, WCRN would finally move the Drew Mortgage show out of the noon spot (assuming it's still there).

 

[raccoonradio]

Indeed, CC took over Rush from Citadel after already carrying the Premiere shows done by Beck and Hannity

>>The good news for Clear Channel if they were to pull Limbaugh from WRKO is that, with WGIR to the north and WHJJ to the south, they need to add only one station to overcome WKOX's daytime signal shortcomings--that would be a Worcester station, and I'll bet that, to make room for Limbaugh, WCRN would finally move the Drew Mortgage show out of the noon spot (assuming it's still there).

CC's WTAG 580/94.9 runs Rush in Worcester. Instead of Hannity WTAG runs local Jordan Levy afterwards

http://www.wtag.com/main.html

 

[DanStrassberg]

CC's WTAG 580/94.9 runs Rush in Worcester. Instead of Hannity WTAG runs local Jordan Levy afterwards

Yeah. Sorry. I forgot WTAG! I guess because I can't hear it here. It protects WEZE day and night. WKOX's day signal is probably OK as far west as Framingham. Maybe not Marlborough, though. How does WTAG (or its translator) do in Marlborough?

 

[deadairfan]

Someone referenced the "Boston Prog Talk Yahoo group". Aren't "Prog Talk" and "Yahoo" redundant?

 

[DToTheJ]

CCU still has two Progressive talk AMs that I know of--KTLK in LA and KKGN in SF. And I think they still have an FM in Madison WI that runs Progressive talk. Of these three stations, the only one that I haven't heard, at one time or another, was going to lose the Progressive format is KKGN. Of course, I could have missed the rumors about KKGN.

Actually, the Madison, WI station (WXXM) was literally thisclose to a planned format switch to sports talk, but a local listener campaign encouraged CC to drop their plans and stick with its progressive talk format.

Then again, if you're WXXM, how progressive are you when your morning show is Dave Ramsey?

As far as Rush going to AM 1200 in Boston... How weak is the signal? Consider whoever owns the next strongest signal on the frequency has to power down some... heyyyy, wouldn't that be WOAI in CC's hometown of San Antonio? ;D

 

[raccoonradio]

Don't think that would happen! 1200 isn't bad esp. by day but of course due to its position on the dial it won't be as easy to pick up as WRKO.

 

[ThatGuyOnTheRadio]

1200 is a full 50KW, but you're right it's spot on the dial really hurts.

 

[jlehmann]

Actually, the Madison, WI station (WXXM) was literally thisclose to a planned format switch to sports talk, but a local listener campaign encouraged CC to drop their plans and stick with its progressive talk format.

Then again, if you're WXXM, how progressive are you when your morning show is Dave Ramsey?

It looks like that show didn't last very long on WXXM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WXXM

 

[N1WVQ]

I don't know if CC yanked Rush from 920 or if 630 let him go for Buddy. My impression is that it was the latter. There was no more room on 630 for Rush.

But according to the FCC database, CCU doesn't own WPRO; Citadel does (or its creditors do). CCU does own WHJJ. That would tell us that CCU most probably moved Rush to WHJJ, and WPRO added Cianci to fill the hole that was created by Limbaugh's departure.

From what I had heard, Cianci was courted by both stations with WPRO being the winner. WPRO didn't have any other slot which necessitated Rush moving off of WPRO. What it seems like, unlike other markets, the Rush station didn't want him anymore & thought they could do better by being local in that slot. True, Citadel does have 790 but I think that was still sports & Clear Channel would want that show on one of their properties. So, it seems it was WPRO's decision to jettison Rush from its airwaves, not WHJJ's or Clear Channel's.

 

[DanStrassberg]

From what I had heard, Cianci was courted by both stations with WPRO being the winner. WPRO didn't have any other slot which necessitated Rush moving off of WPRO. What it seems like, unlike other markets, the Rush station didn't want him anymore & thought they could do better by being local in that slot. True, Citadel does have 790 but I think that was still sports & Clear Channel would want that show on one of their properties. So, it seems it was WPRO's decision to jettison Rush from its airwaves, not WHJJ's or Clear Channel's.

I suppose that you could be right, but I still don't think so. WPRO would never admit that CCU had yanked Limbaugh to put him on their own station (WHJJ). CCU would have made the switch because having Limbaugh on the CCU-owned station enables CCU to make more $$$ than if Limbaugh continued to be heard on the station owned by a competitor. What would tip the decision the other way is if the competing signal were much better than that of the CCU-owned station. Not true in this case. Although WPRO does have a slightly better signal than WHJJ, the difference is not huge.

How do Limbaugh's Providence ratings compare with Cianci's? If Limbaugh has higher ratings in Providence, then CCU won all the way around.

 

[N1WVQ]

From what I had heard, Cianci was courted by both stations with WPRO being the winner. WPRO didn't have any other slot which necessitated Rush moving off of WPRO. What it seems like, unlike other markets, the Rush station didn't want him anymore & thought they could do better by being local in that slot. True, Citadel does have 790 but I think that was still sports & Clear Channel would want that show on one of their properties. So, it seems it was WPRO's decision to jettison Rush from its airwaves, not WHJJ's or Clear Channel's.

I suppose that you could be right, but I still don't think so. WPRO would never admit that CCU had yanked Limbaugh to put him on their own station (WHJJ). CCU would have made the switch because having Limbaugh on the CCU-owned station enables CCU to make more $$$ than if Limbaugh continued to be heard on the station owned by a competitor. What would tip the decision the other way is if the competing signal were much better than that of the CCU-owned station. Not true in this case. Although WPRO does have a slightly better signal than WHJJ, the difference is not huge.

How do Limbaugh's Providence ratings compare with Cianci's? If Limbaugh has higher ratings in Providence, then CCU won all the way around.

I don't know when WPRO's contract with Limbaugh was up but certainly Clear Channel could've pulled him onto 'HJJ sooner than they did. I remember WDBO in Orlando being the first or one of the first places where C.C. pulled Rush onto one of their own stations: whatever the calls are on 540 there, ex-WGTO. I think it's now WFLF. Anyway, that was around 2000. From what I've heard, Rush is behind WDBO's show in the same time slot. I think WDBO has Clark Howard or Neil Boortz on then. From what I've heard, Cianci is doing better than Limbaugh in Providence but that's anecdotal. I don't have the ratings so I don't know for sure. The only thing about C.C. pulling Rush onto their own stations is that the rights fees they charge stations are now going from one arm of the company to another. I don't know how much WHJJ pays but a small Florida station I used to work for was charged $10k/year. That was an unrated market so I can't imagine what the rights fees for WHJJ are. WHJJ isn't really a threat to WPRO any more. They used to be until WHJJ jettisoned their local talk for Air America circa 2005. So, what will all-talk 1200 or 1430 look like? Probably a lot like WHJJ. I agree that Rush will probably NOT be on anything less than a 50kW station so I think that discounts a move to 1430. I think having 2 major competitors would hurt WRKO more than 1 can do alone. Even with all of the other talkers around, they're still small time. Question is: would 1200 be small time too?

 

[raccoonradio]

If CCU made 1200 (most likely) talk, the webpage would look a lot like the sites for similar stations they run
and the lineup would most likely be:

7-9 am: Local or syndie; one idea would be to take Helen Glover from WHJJ and have her on 1200 too
and cover more than just RI

Or even work out a deal to simulcast Fox 25 Morning News.

9-noon: Beck
12-3 pm: Rush or perhaps W1's Dennis Miller if they let RKO keep Rush
3-6 pm: Hannity
6-9 pm: Maybe Mark Levin (Citadel?), or some other syndie--Dr Laura? Dennis Miller? Perhaps even Randi Rhodes; though not conservative, she's syndicated by Premiere

Overnights could feature Jim Bohannon (W1) or even Coast to Coast, taken from RKO (Premiere)

Example of a CCU conservatalk webpage, WHJJ http://whjjam.com/main.html

Slogan could be something like Freedom1200, Talk1200, etc. Heck, if it weren't already used by someone else a few years ago they could say The Boston Talk Party

 

[raccoonradio]

Not sure if CC has filled that job yet (posted last month) but here's the want ad again...right on the CC site...`
and again the "1200" mentioned (and the fact that 1200's signal is much better than 1430) makes me believe
they target 1200 for the format despite the "WXKS" mention.

http://clearcareers.clearchannel.com/Jobs/JobDetail.aspx?JobPostingId=15063

 

[raccoonradio]

There are some other shows which are produced by Fox News Radio and dist by Premiere would could land on their talker IF they go ahead with it:
Brian and the Judge Weekdays 9A-12P
The John Gibson Show Weekdays 12P-3P
The Tom Sullivan Show Weekdays 3P-6P
The Alan Colmes Show Weeknights 10P-1A