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Howie syndication cutting back

raccoonradio

raccoonradio

Have been hearing that Howie Carr's syndication is shrinking even more...maybe he'll just be on in Mass.
only. He may have been dropped in Concord NH (WTPL-FM) and I know he's losing Keene next week
(WKNE). Now I hear that Jerry Doyle will be replacing him in Burlington VT (WVMT--bad news for me,
as I like vacationing up there and want to hear Howie).

So maybe it'll eventually be WRKO, WCRN, WXTK, WEIM, and WHYN...or just 'RKO.

So much for two of Howies semi-regular callers from Montreal, liberal Steve and conservative Wally.

And now Howie is talking about it: "It has nothing to do with WVMT, or the owner of the station,
or with me...most of the stations we will still be on. It's a complicated situation and I'm sorry to be losing you listeners in Montreal..."

"Why would you leave us Howie?"

"Can I explain it to the listeners of WVMT? Look, I don't want to lose you...If we can get the thing straightened out in a couple months..." (maybe WXZO/WEAV?)

"Last time you tortured us with the Irish propagandist (Hannity)"

Someone on Free Republic said they announced the change on WVMT's Charlie and Ernie morning show,
and so did one of Howie's callers.

At one point Howie said, "Want to know how much money I make from being syndicated?" Sound
effect: crickets (i.e., he doesn't make all that much) But he added he didn't want to lose those
listeners in the Champlain Valley. (Maybe WVMT is finding Doyle is even cheaper to run? Barter--
run the ads and you get to run the show, and Doyle is a NATIONAL show that's up and coming...)
 
Has a show/host out of Boston ever really caught on nationally? I remember Matty failing at this several years ago too; and of course, there is Jay getting slapped around before he stumbled back to Boston.
 
Well, does Opie and Anthony count...

btw I notice that the Air America station in Brattleboro VT, WKVT, which used to carry Howie years
ago, now has a block of local talk 9-noon and it's doing well. AAR's stations in Western Mass. do
the same thing. You can't have all national all the time...which is why I'm surprised CC never tried
to get a local show going on WKOX/WXKS; who knows how much it would cost to pay that ONE
local talker and a producer, etc., but it would have lifted the profile of the station and maybe
got listeners who wanted to talk the LOCAL issues.

Now they have local talkers on there...but they happen to be DJs, talking in Spanish...
 
raccoonradio said:
Now they have local talkers on there...but they happen to be DJs, talking in Spanish...
Click to expand...

Or at least people claiming to be local... most of the "locutores" outside of morning drive (Raffy Contigo) and afternoon drive ("Miguel Miguel") appear to be voicetracked out of Clear Channel's successful WRUM "Rumba 100.3" in Orlando.
 
Christopher Lydon counts. So does Tom Ashbrook. Both have successful talk shows (Radio Open Source and On Point, respectively) on the national circuit.

You could kinda argue that Dick Gordon counts, too. He was Lydon's successor on The Connection which was nationally aired, too...and it wasn't ended due to any reason of Dick's. He's also got a new slated-to-be-national show out of WUNC (Raleigh-Durham, NC) called The Story. You could consider Tom & Ray Magliozzi in this category as well since Car Talk is practically a general talk show that happens to have some car-related questions tossed in there.
 
raccoonradio said:
Have been hearing that Howie Carr's syndication is shrinking even more...

So maybe it'll eventually be WRKO, WCRN, WXTK, WEIM, and WHYN...or just 'RKO.

And now Howie is talking about it: "It has nothing to do with WVMT, or the owner of the station,
or with me...most of the stations we will still be on. It's a complicated situation and I'm sorry to be losing you listeners in Montreal..."

"Can I explain it to the listeners of WVMT? Look, I don't want to lose you...If we can get the thing straightened out in a couple months..."
Click to expand...

We know that orogramming decisions for syndication are not always based on ratings....but sometimes the decision is made based on what the syndicator demands from the local affilliate.

Look at this situation in Delaware for the very popular Hannity show:

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061215/NEWS/61215012/1006/RSS

I wonder if Howies syndication effort is asking for cash from their affilliates. (And they are refusing, and therefore concelling the show.)
 
Christopher Lydon has the topics and the experience.

Howie Carr is so entrenched in his own shtick that it would take a huge makeover to get him on a track
to have any kind of appeal nationally. Not enough Irish mob stories for him to jump on, and Don Imus doesn't
want to have someone willing to stick the hatchet in his back to climb up the rung, so H.C. won't find a national version of Jerry Williams to be able to latch onto.

Plus, Carr's voice just doesn't have the "timelessness" needed to announce the passing of a Fidel Castro...

"Fidel won't be down for breakfast...anyone have Fidel in the Death Pool?" - it just won't fly nationally.

Plus the Republican slant that helped bring Hannity, Rush and Ingraham to power has worn so thin.
No weapons of Mass Destruction, no threat from Saddam Hussein now that he won't be down for breakfast - in fact, the audience knows there never was one. Their credibility as well as their on-air personas are not in demand, so Howie can patiently wait...and know...that when the phone don't ring it's his national syndication...

Howie would be better off thawing frozen embryos and hoping they'll grow up to be a story. He just has no nose for news anymore. Maybe he can team up with the ex-program director in Dover and they can have
Wellesley/Dover Free Radio!

Who would you rather listen to? Howie Carr or The Big Mattress if you had the opportunity to choose from internet broadcasts?

www.bigmattress.com/
 
he probably doesn't have much time left on WRKO. Maybe Howie can bring back WBIX if Brad Bleidt will hire him, that is
 
Stations aren't dropping Howie voluntarily. Entercom more than tripled the fee to carry the show and most stations couldn't or wouldn't pay. I've heard but don't know for sure they want more for him than the Red Sox. Rumor has it Entercom wanted to kill the network entirely by charging fees they thought no one would pay and were pleasanly surprised to find a few that forked over.
Stations in smaller markets (with smaller spot rates) can't bring in enough $$$ to make a profit.
Anyone know what affected stations replaced him with?
I know WKBK Keene went to a local host but not sure what WTPL, WEIM, WVMT et al did.
 
Tripled the rate eh? Wow...

WEIM: Adult contemporary music with a news block at 5

WVMT: Jerry Doyle

WTPL: Dan Patrick till 4, a NH-based show 4-5, and then WMUR simulcast at 5.
 
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