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How would you save WPTT?

Tell me in your opinion what would happen to the sports contracts.

If I'm the Steelers, Pitt, whoever; call me crazy, but I would like to have the AM simulcast. It may not make or break me as a franchise, but I know that the audience that will listen to my product has a natural tendency to search for my games on the AM band.

I also know if I'm on a sports station they will build up my game. Hence, if I'm somehow simulcast on WTAE, even if I'm losing, I'm still going to be talked about more and sell more tickets (theoretically) that way.

I don't even know if it would be legally possible to have a game on a Clear Channel FM and, say, WEAE if 970 goes to crickets chirping or whatever, but if I could negotiate it I would.
 
Jim Trefney said:
Donate it to "Bobby Mo?" Correct me if I'm wrong but you would not be able to listen to the station on campus after sunset...correct? >:>:

How about a flip to "Punk Country" ;D ;D ;D ;D (you youngins need to listen to TM productions Tomorrow Radio produced in 1977 to see what I'm suggesting) Remember Garner Ted always pays his bills on time!
Click to expand...


Yes, the same as when they were the flagship station for Pittsburgh Riverhounds Soccer and you could not
pick them up inside the stadium.
 
Pratte4Life said:
Tell me in your opinion what would happen to the sports contracts.

If I'm the Steelers, Pitt, whoever; call me crazy, but I would like to have the AM simulcast. It may not make or break me as a franchise, but I know that the audience that will listen to my product has a natural tendency to search for my games on the AM band.

I also know if I'm on a sports station they will build up my game. Hence, if I'm somehow simulcast on WTAE, even if I'm losing, I'm still going to be talked about more and sell more tickets (theoretically) that way.

I don't even know if it would be legally possible to have a game on a Clear Channel FM and, say, WEAE if 970 goes to crickets chirping or whatever, but if I could negotiate it I would.
Click to expand...

Pro teams want to be on FM. They feel it attracts younger demos and the signals are better.

No way on earth that an AM simulcast would be on a competitor EVER. There's no compelling need for an AM simulcast anyway.

CC might find the need to cut a time-buy deal for some of the long-form programming such as coach and player shows and post-game call ins, or bite the bullet and run it on FM (but maybe not on the same station that carried the game). For instance, I could see the Steeler call-in shows going to 104.7. There are really no viable night AM signals in this market other than KD anyway, and even theirs isn't what it used to be for a variety of reasons.
 
Part- I'm part of the younger demographic you speak of.

And I just find it much easier to listen to the game on a sports AM than I do an FM music station.

A good example of this might be the Pens. I rarely listen to them on The X, but when they were talked about a lot on WTAE, and when I listened to "The Burgh" or 970 when Savran was on there, I would never miss a game.
 
How would I try to save 1360? Well, I think someone below had the right start. A syndicated lineup of progressive talk, not all Air America, but the better national progressive talkers:

6-9 Bill Press
9-12 Lionel
12-3 Ed Schultz
3-6 Randi Rhodes
6-8 Thomm Hartmann
8-10 Stephanie Miller
10-1 Alan Colmes
1-3 Rachel Maddow
3-6 The third hour of the Hartmann & Miller shows
 
WPTT already carries two of those shows- including the high quality Alan Colmes Show.

In fact, I wouldn't mind Alan Colmes on 104.7 in the 11-1 slot that is currently re-running Glenn Beck. That way the station could actually say they weren't just right wing, attract a new audience, and open the minds of the populace.

Which is what talk radio is supposed to do.

But folks- AIR AMERICA IS NOT A VIABLE OPTION! How much longer before it joins Mutual and Prime Sports in the radio network graveyard, anyway?

I think with the demise of Boortz on KDKA, WPTT should go to Boortz and literally BEG him to return.

I mentioned this in an earlier thread. When Boortz was on WPTT he bought billboards promoting the station and his show, which had received greater ratings on 104.7 than Rush was getting on KDKA.

If he'd do it again, you have the station's last hope.

Because Air America isn't going to buy promotion. Lynn Cullen isn't buying promotion. Edsel at Large or whatever the weekend shows may be aren't buying promotion. MSA isn't buying promotion.

Boortz is rude and I can't stand him. But he does have an audience and the ratings of WPTT were higher with him than without.

And while he may be rude, Boortz is not irresponsible.
 
Just for the record, Pratte, of the shows I listed, only Rhodes, Lionel, Hartmann & Maddow are AAR. Press, Miller and Schultz are Jones Radio, and of course Colmes is Fox.

As for Bortz, three strikes and your out! He's been on 104.7, 1360 and 1020 and never lasted more than 14 months. Good riddance!

1360 states that it is talk radio from a progressive perspective. They should put their money where their mouth is and actually run a progressive lineup full time. Laura Ingraham twice a day, and Clark Howard, as well as Monica Crowley and Mike Gallagher do not constitute giving the progressive format a chance.

As for Colmes going to 104.7, - not going to happen. They are as right wing as you can get and are not going to change for "balance" or to open minds. They just want to make money. Maybe they'll take Bortz back 11-1 now that 1020 has shown him the door.
 
But Air America is not working. WPTT is not working- and it's not because Monica Crowley is carried a day late on Sunday afternoons.

It is because they carry Ingram a day late in the morning (when is her show regularly scheduled, anyway?). It is because Clark Howard is neither left or right- he's just plain boring. It is because Lynn Cullen is past her prime.

For the record, Neil Boortz is not my cup of tea. But- in his defense-

He wasn't taken off 104.7 because of low numbers- it was because 104.7 got Rush.

Boortz got WPTT better ratings than anyone else did and promoted the station. He was dismissed in a rather short-sighted move I have mentioned above that severely crippled the station, and the program director of WPTT has moved on to television since then.

Boortz alone has more listeners than all of the shows you have listed COMBINED.

Here's what I'd do-

Cullen comes in from 7 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. I actually think this would benefit her- she could get local newsmaking guests for a morning show.

Boortz comes on from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. I give him this, with no tape delay, because, in theory, he will promote my station for me. If Joe Pittsburgh wants to call his show- he'll be able to.

DURING THE DAY- I have Cullen record various 30 second commentaries that are sponsored by whoever. These commentaries not only promote her own show- but they give her a chance to be direct, fresh, and witty again. 104.7 does it with Ellis Cannon- I give Lynn the same chance and she can pick apart Boortz or whatever.

After 1 p.m.- I really don't care. Clark Howard comes on in real time from 1-4- so maybe I just rebroadcast WSB programming from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Maybe I go with Hartman.

I'm not that enthused with Laura Ingram on tape delay for the same reason I'm not enthused about ANY syndicated show on tape delay.

I pick up Mark Levin- another rude righty talker I hate- but he is an up-and-comer and mixes well with Boortz. He goes 6-8.

(For the record- I do not think Levin and Boortz are rude because they are right-wing. I find Hannity and Limbaugh to be engaging personalities and that's why they are the top two hosts in the country. I find Levin and Boortz to be rude because they are)

Then, until the Colmes show comes on at 10, I'm going to realize what my signal is at night and hire Jason Toyger to do a "McKeesport Today" show.

I don't know if you know who Toyger is. He's a guy who does a website called the "Tube City Gazette" which is as witty, informative, and engaging as anything out there. He makes McKeesport come alive- and that's not easy!

I don't live in McKeesport and I read the thing because it is just that good.

Toyger dabbles in radio with some local stations doing something or other, so I'm guessing he has some sponsors already. I bring that revenue in and have a real community based show that people would listen to in an otherwise impossible time slot.
 
Pratte4Life said:
DURING THE DAY- I have Cullen record various 30 second commentaries that are sponsored by whoever. These commentaries not only promote her own show- but they give her a chance to be direct, fresh, and witty again. 104.7 does it with Ellis Cannon- I give Lynn the same chance and she can pick apart Boortz or whatever.
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Somehow I don't think a national syndicated host (especially one who is paying his own promotion costs) would sit by and allow a local host to
intercut his show with commentaries taking pot-shots at him. Haven't seen Boortz' contract, but I assume that is a non-starter.
 
They aren't going to spend that kind of money for syndicated programming when nobody can hear the signal. They are in budget slashing mode and will cut Cullen loose before the third quarter. I see time buys in the future for 1360.
 
Cullen is past her time in TV AND Radio. Air America / Cullen is NOT the answer here. Look at AA in other cities and see what happened there. Some markets it barely works but more often then not it is being pulled due to not being able to sell that type of programming to advertisers. There may be people willing to listen to it, but they will never be out front demanding it nor will they sponsor it with ad dollars. A similar type of scenario applies to urban formats traditionally.

There are too many talk stations in this area, if the big KD cannot make it they surely will not. Time to go a totally different route with it. All polkas all the time. I'll being the bubble machine!
 
With Mike McGann dumped from WJAS, looks like there's some cost-cutting at the Renda ranch. Next step for 1360 might be to open up those hours for all the cures for clean colons and other clients who want to buy chunks of time.
 
The fact that they are running Ingraham twice a day on delay leads me to believe that Snafu may be right. I believe Lynn's contract expires 3/31/08. Wouldn't be surprised if they went all quackery all the time in the 620 mode. What a waste.

As for Pratte's idea, no disrespect meant, but - please tell me you are kidding. Do you seriously think you can build a talk station in Pittsburgh on Boortz and Clark Howard, and some kid from McKeesport who writes a blog??

Someone said there are too many talk stations in this market. I do not agree. There are, however, too many talk stations running the same one-sided crap off the dish in this market. KDKA giving Paulsen and Steigerwald a shot in the evenings should be an interesting experiment.

As far as not being able to sell progressive talk, that's a lot of bunk. You can sell anything that gets a number. Progressive talk is growing, albeit slowly, nationally. Yes, it has been dumped in some areas, but is being resurrected in others, such as Columbus, Ohio. It was actually AAR that is part of the problem. Conservative stations are successful because they run the best right wing talkers, Rush, Hannity, Beck - not just flipping a switch and taking a network. That's what a progressive stations should do: Run the best of the progressive shows, not just take AAR network: Press, Lionel, Schultz, Rhodes, Marshall, Colmes. It CAN be sold, and it will work, but it has to actually be tried and advertised; It is a missed opportunity in this market. 1360 running Lynn and Hartmann, and surrounding them with double pumped Laura Ingraham reruns does not constitute a progressive format.
 
God bless you, argentarius, for thinking of me as a kid. I thought only my mom and grandma still did that.

Wait a minute, is that you, mom?
 
6-9 AM Best of Chuck Harder
9-11AM Goat Gland Surgery infomercial
11AM – Noon Simulcast of WWV
Noon – 1PM Classic CONELRAD Alert Replay
1 – 3 PM Simulcast of CSPAN 2 Live US Senate Debate
3PM – Power Down Mon Valley Thunder Hockey Fan Call-in Show
Hosted by Tom Barrasso
Power Down – 8PM Guy from Verizon saying “Can you hear me now? Good!”
8-11 PM Party Line with Lynn Cullen and Dmitri Vassilaros
11PM – 2AM What’s My Diagnosis? Seniors are invited to call in to give
detailed and graphic descriptions of their medical problems.
(don’t waste time with the quackery, at that hour all they
really want to hear are the symptoms) Hosted by Mayor Tom Murphy
2-3AM Best of Father Coughlin
3-6AM Man reading numbers in Spanish, over top of the Muzak
version of “Muskrat Love”
 
They could simulcast the NOAA weather station every 20 minutes. Don't worry if it's a time for local weather they are doing, just cut in and out, maybe the listeners wanted to hear random weather anyway.

That would soooo rock!
 
1) Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel

2) Revive WMCK calls and do 50's oldies . Jocks would be good, but not necessary.Terry Lee could do a speciality show-----or even AM drive daily. Why not?
 
Thats odd-----bring up converting a limited 5,000/1,000 watt AM station to an oldies format in the city that begat Porky Chadwick and all conversation ends. Pittsburgh has a long history in Top 40 radio. ABC tested that format on KQV before risking it in NYC and Chicago. AT one point the Burg had KQV, KDKA, WEEP, WMCK and WAMO to some extend chasing the teen market. Why is bringing back WMCK any less practical than trying to compete with KDKA and 104.7 ?
 
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