Herald: ZLX picks up Alice Cooper show

[raccoonradio]

Article in Globe/Clea Simon

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/li...age_from_groucho_and_allen_for_his_talk_show/

 

[TowerBuzz]

Will adding another 'wrinkle' to Saturday nights really help ZLX?

ZLX isn't looking for ratings help from Alice. If he brings in one or two more listeners, great. I think this is about ZLX trying to keep costs down. A syndicated show is usually less expensive than paying local talent.

very good point. alice's presence there is irrelavant. it's a cost factor.
they're putting a lot of money into tv this fall hoping that it pays off in the winter and
spring books. can it? may be fractionally, but in the long run the format has hit the wall
here in a major way. it's a harder sell these days because 25-54 is over-targeted in boston more than any other city. you have mike-fm, wbos, wror, wzlx, wods all playing pretty much the stuff that appeals to the same group.

Nah they're not spending anything for the tv spots. They're usually done on trade with both the Viacom stations (Ch's 4 and 38) and even trade with other accouts like WCVB so theyre not really spending anything there. you can tell that they're not paying for them by when they run, a commercial for a station that targets men 25-54 being seen during the Rachael Ray show or Ellen Degeneres does not do anything for tham, you'll see it a lot during shows like that. Alice is probably a cost cutting move, as stated before syndication usually is, if you can spare the jock rate and replace it with a board op rate, you're in good financial shape.

 

[Lucylu]

Good point, but I don't think WZLX pays their weekend jocks much more than Board Op rates to begin with. It may have been more of a case of getting the show before Buzz Knight put it on ROR.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Good point, but I don't think WZLX pays their weekend jocks much more than Board Op rates to begin with.

They may not even be paying a board-op for Alice. With a good automation system, nowadays a station can run syndicated shows without a board-op at all. Spots, promos, liners, ID's, etc... can all be programmed in. It's not even required to have someone at the station to take transmitter readings any more as long as there's a Chief Engineer in the area with some sort of pager alarm that goes off if the transmitter goes out of parameters.

 

[Varulven]

I just think you've got to have someone manning the fort. As long as it's not the WODS guy who walked out the door leaving the station unattended some years back.

Don't trust the machines. Aren't these corporations making enough money? They are going to take the bread off of the table of minimum wage engineers? What do they have, a remote control at the PD's house if the CD player gets stuck..."1-800-54-Giant" repeating perpetually...eeeeek

 

[Lucylu]

CD players are a thing of the past. The MACHINE does it all for you now. :

 

[Varulven]

Harvey Wharfield & Alice Cooper. On WRKO.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

I just think you've got to have someone manning the fort.

Not anymore, as long as the Chief Engineer is automatically paged if the transmitter goes out of whack. Many stations run automated with no one on the premises at certain times these days. I know that WUMB just locks up and lets the automation system take it from 7 PM - 6 AM weeknights. There's no one at WJIB most of the time. I'd be very surprised if WBOQ 104.9 has anyone there at night. Some of the AM stations here that run network or syndicated programming are probably empty at night. And, it's a lot more common in smaller markets and rural areas.

What do they have, a remote control at the PD's house if the CD player gets stuck..."1-800-54-Giant" repeating perpetually...eeeeek

No CD players in today's automation systems. It's all programmed on computer hard drives.

 

[SonicOverload]

No CD players in today's automation systems. It's all programmed on computer hard drives.

how sad... you know what AB-Free's automation system was? 800 songs on a WinAmp player