• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Has Walter Sabo Left Merlin Media?

More than likely he was shown the door....and then kicked down the stairs by most of the people working at the station. This might be a new personal best for Walter....it generally takes just a few weeks for him to piss off and alienate most everyone in the building!!
 
Bugsy said:
More than likely he was shown the door....and then kicked down the stairs by most of the people working at the station. This might be a new personal best for Walter....it generally takes just a few weeks for him to piss off and alienate most everyone in the building!!
Click to expand...
My kinda guy.

If everyone agrees with you, watch your back!
If everyone disagrees, you might be on to something.
The trick is to do both at the same time.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
I always thought this guy was a sham.

His one arguable success in New Jersey wasn't even his own brainchild. And this event is proof positive that just because you may have some ability to run a talk station, you don't necessarily understand how radio news works.

With all the buzz around the second-coming of all-news radio, this guy and this company have been horribly executing what should be a winning idea.
 
NewsStud said:
I always thought this guy was a sham.

His one arguable success in New Jersey wasn't even his own brainchild. And this event is proof positive that just because you may have some ability to run a talk station, you don't necessarily understand how radio news works.

With all the buzz around the second-coming of all-news radio, this guy and this company have been horribly executing what should be a winning idea.
Click to expand...
Wondering whether or not 101.9 continues as a news station is akin to wondering if someone walking down the street is going to enter the next house or keep walking.
New York is different. You run out of FM signals before you run out of commuting distance. Another market, you commute inside the stronger FM signals.
And, there are enough information choices on AM, FM is not considered "informational". AM for traffic, weather, and news.

As localized interference continues to ingress and override even the strongest AM signal, that will change.
I have noticed that even on FM with a GPS.

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
badjef said:
New York is different. You run out of FM signals before you run out of commuting distance. Another market, you commute inside the stronger FM signals.
Click to expand...

You have to remember that in-car listening is considerably less than in other markets. In the diary, which split out at-work and in-car, we saw nationally about 30% to 31% of listening was in the car, while NYC was around 25%. While the PPM may throw off different numbers (we have no way of knowing) the fact is that in-car is about 25% than in Philadelphia or Cleveland or Kansas City.

So, while commute times may be long, listening during commutes is nowhere as significant as any other US market... due to heavy use of public transit.
 
DavidEduardo said:
badjef said:
New York is different. You run out of FM signals before you run out of commuting distance. Another market, you commute inside the stronger FM signals.
Click to expand...

You have to remember that in-car listening is considerably less than in other markets. In the diary, which split out at-work and in-car, we saw nationally about 30% to 31% of listening was in the car, while NYC was around 25%. While the PPM may throw off different numbers (we have no way of knowing) the fact is that in-car is about 25% than in Philadelphia or Cleveland or Kansas City.

So, while commute times may be long, listening during commutes is nowhere as significant as any other US market... due to heavy use of public transit.
Click to expand...

Good point. A long time ago, I found an article on the demise of RXP (don't know where it is anymore) that said the availability of formats in markets like New York don't accurately reflect the musical tastes of its population as well as car centered cities like LA. When I went to college, I didn't have a car on campus and my clock alarm had bad reception so I never listened to OTA radio. It's only when I came back home and started driving to work that I started to depend on OTA radio. My dad drives 5 minutes from my house to the train station so his listening is probably less than a drop in the bucket in terms of ratings.

Back on topic, I wonder if there were any personal issues between Walter Sabo and Randy Michaels. I'm sure some dirt will be aired out in the coming days.
 
DavidEduardo said:
badjef said:
New York is different. You run out of FM signals before you run out of commuting distance. Another market, you commute inside the stronger FM signals.
Click to expand...

You have to remember that in-car listening is considerably less than in other markets. In the diary, which split out at-work and in-car, we saw nationally about 30% to 31% of listening was in the car, while NYC was around 25%. While the PPM may throw off different numbers (we have no way of knowing) the fact is that in-car is about 25% than in Philadelphia or Cleveland or Kansas City.

So, while commute times may be long, listening during commutes is nowhere as significant as any other US market... due to heavy use of public transit.
Click to expand...
I would rather have 25% in New York than 31% anywhere else. The shear numbers themselves are good enough.
David, you sound as though you are trying to quote the great Yogi Berra, "Nobody goes to the games anymore because it's too crowded." if that 25% was worthless, WINS and WCBS would have abandoned NY commuters years ago.
In cars, the AMs will do better until they get to the City. Then the FMs will. If you are riding in a bus or train, the AMs will not fare because of the interference. The nature of FM vs. AM come into play.
I know, I did it for many years.
Get on the train in Bay Head, Empire will not be there until Spring Lake. The interference inside tries to override the AM signals but they are there. Go under the bridges, lose AMs.
Don't get me started on the uselessness of hd-x for commuters.

Drive into the tunnels, AM is there via trickery (it was about time)

Jeff in Sa-ra-so-ta!
 
The article in Radio Ink, linked below, quotes "A connected executive" as saying, of the original version of the similar Merlin station in Chicago, "Walter Sabo thought what women would want to hear was way off the mark. The station was so dumbed-down that it insulted women."


Radio Ink Article on Sabo's Departure From Merlin Media: http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2364196&spid=24698
 
Perhaps plenty of focus groups with real live women would have helped. I can't imagine launching a station in NYC on a hunch without market research, demographic research and qualitative data... But did they?

Sometimes radio is dumb, and shoots itself in the face. Trusting a 50 something man to figure out what a 35 year old woman wants to hear is plain silly. It would be like asking me what the cool thing is now in the 7th grade.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom