• 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

iHeart Radio announces major restructuring

And it looks like the iHeart station that took the biggest hit in New England was 1030. This is what many of us feared when iHeart took ownership for WBZ.

Granted I would rather have pre-recorded news overnight than a syndicated show that you can get elsewhere on the dial, but local talk has been a staple at WBZ. On many occasions on my drive to work, the morning news team would even have sound bites from callers on Bradley’s show about current news events.

As for commercials, I heard plenty. They even had a sponsor for the crossover between Bradley & Jeff Brown.
 
given the state of online streaming these days, and the availability of cell phones, blue tooth, etc., isn't terrestrial radio (even FM), for the most part, gone the way of the buggy whip?

Even when I'm listening these days, I'm listening via an app or on one of my alexa devices.
 
DavidZ said:
And it looks like the iHeart station that took the biggest hit in New England was 1030.
Click to expand...

BTST they also began with a large staff, compared to the music stations. Entercom has also been cutting, so the cuts were likely to come regardless of owner.

Methuselah said:
isn't terrestrial radio (even FM), for the most part, gone the way of the buggy whip?
Click to expand...

If so, why so many people complaining about this? Must be a lot of horses in Boston.
 
Methuselah said:
given the state of online streaming these days, and the availability of cell phones, blue tooth, etc., isn't terrestrial radio (even FM), for the most part, gone the way of the buggy whip?

Even when I'm listening these days, I'm listening via an app or on one of my alexa devices.
Click to expand...

This is why a station like WBZ has an advantage. Music I can get anywhere - national talk shows as well for that matter. Local news, Jay Talking, Dan Rea - only one place for that.
 
spt87 said:
This is why a station like WBZ has an advantage. Music I can get anywhere - national talk shows as well for that matter. Local news, Jay Talking, Dan Rea - only one place for that.
Click to expand...

But...no more Jay.
 
F&M 98.5 just announced a title sponsor yesterday so the billings are going to be gambling oriented --among others-- for drive time sports stations. That's the future. Live gaming.

WGN 720 still has an AM talk show (non sports). Not sure about NYC. Not sure if phily or DC do either? But it's probably all RW garbage that only old people are listening to during the day. Bradley Jay did a good job:
Joe Mathieu
@GBHJoe
I was proud to spend time on the air with the people who were cut today by WBZ/iHeart. I learned from each of them. And I can't wait to hear what they do next
Click to expand...
He got out just in time.
 
QED said:
F&M:

(Joe Matthieu) got out just in time.
Click to expand...

Joe left in early 2017 before CBS had a buyer for its Radio division. I like to think that Joe was smart enough to realize that it was well within the realm of possibility that WBZ could end up in iHeart's stable, and he knew their precarious situation well enough not to wait for the axe to fall on him.

I've also noticed this week that several of the ads formerly done by Michael Coleman THAT 'BZ HAS BEEN USING FOR OVER A DECADE - Post Road Carpet, Mackinnon's Market - are slowly being phased out and replaced by some unknown voice.

I had backed off criticizing iHeart through most of 2019, even after their booting of Josh Binswanger, but last week they've regained my distrust. If any corporation needs to be broken up, it's iHeart since, no matter how you spin it, they have the potential to ruin many heritage stations.

When they were still under CBS ownership, despite what Entercom's David Field said, WBZ Newsradio 1030 at least had the deep pockets of CBS and the worldwide resources of CBS News behind their news/talk operation. iHeart cannot make any such claim. iHeart is all about its concerts and podcasts and "artificial intelligence", "artificial" being the operative word here.
 
Streaming has a long, long way to go before it displaces FM. I try to listen to Mike McConnell on WLW via the iHeart app, and it's been an exercise in frustration lately. Seems whenever my phone goes to screen saver the audio stops. You can't easily switch station to station while driving, and there is still a lot of the country not covered by adequate signal for streaming. Not to mention there is no such thing as true unlimited data....you eventually get throttled. I'm also not sure of the idea that AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile should control all audio content



Methuselah said:
given the state of online streaming these days, and the availability of cell phones, blue tooth, etc., isn't terrestrial radio (even FM), for the most part, gone the way of the buggy whip?

Even when I'm listening these days, I'm listening via an app or on one of my alexa devices.
Click to expand...
 
gr8oldies said:
Streaming has a long, long way to go before it displaces FM. I try to listen to Mike McConnell on WLW via the iHeart app, and it's been an exercise in frustration lately. Seems whenever my phone goes to screen saver the audio stops. You can't easily switch station to station while driving, and there is still a lot of the country not covered by adequate signal for streaming. Not to mention there is no such thing as true unlimited data....you eventually get throttled. I'm also not sure of the idea that AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile should control all audio content



Click to expand...


Not to hijack this thread, but you can improve your car streaming experience with a few tweaks. First, you need to enable background app refresh for your streaming app. This will allow the music to play when the screen shuts off.

Also, for operating streaming radio in the car (if you don’t have CarPlay) , you may want to check-out the Roav Viva. It enables Alexa voice control so you don’t need to press any buttons or fiddle with a touchscreen while driving. You can simply say, “Alexa, play WLW” and enjoy the steam.
 
nowradioguy said:
WBZ Newsradio 1030 at least had the deep pockets of CBS and the worldwide resources of CBS News behind their news/talk operation. iHeart cannot make any such claim. iHeart is all about its concerts and podcasts and "artificial intelligence", "artificial" being the operative word here.
Click to expand...

Reminder that these cuts are being made as a prelude to them being bought by Liberty Media, owner of Sirius XM and Pandora. They will have very deep pockets. But having deep pockets doesn't mean they will spend money on things that lose money. As I've said, iHeart currently has access to the worldwide resources of Fox News and NBC News.
 
TheBigA said:
Reminder that these cuts are being made as a prelude to them being bought by Liberty Media, owner of Sirius XM and Pandora. They will have very deep pockets. But having deep pockets doesn't mean they will spend money on things that lose money. As I've said, iHeart currently has access to the worldwide resources of Fox News and NBC News.
Click to expand...

I hear ya, but neither Fox nor NBC owns any radio stations. CBS was the last of "the (once) big three" to own/operate radio stations, but they, too, bailed eventually.

iHeart tends to use Fox for news on its stations that carry its Premier lineup of Beck-Limbaugh-Hannity. As for "NBC News Radio", uh, well, who the heck are they really? Aren't they just a bunch of "news readers"? ABC News Radio and CBS News Radio have recognizable voices, and really are part of the ABC News and the CBS News organizations, respectively.
 
nowradioguy said:
ABC News Radio and CBS News Radio have recognizable voices, and really are part of the ABC News and the CBS News organizations, respectively.
Click to expand...

My understanding is that WBZ is still an affiliate of ABC Radio News and CBS Radio News. Is that not correct?

My point about mentioning NBC Radio News is their relationship with iHeart. Here's a press release about that relationship:

http://www.insideradio.com/free/nbc...cle_71c37dd2-4809-11e6-85f7-2f767970a622.html
 
TheBigA said:
My understanding is that WBZ is still an affiliate of ABC Radio News and CBS Radio News. Is that not correct?

My point about mentioning NBC Radio News is their relationship with iHeart. Here's a press release about that relationship:

http://www.insideradio.com/free/nbc...cle_71c37dd2-4809-11e6-85f7-2f767970a622.html
Click to expand...

Per that article, it would appear that NBC News Radio is indeed part of NBC News, and not merely a news reader operation.

One good thing that came about when iHeart bought WBZ was that the latter's affiliation with ABC News Radio was resumed.
 
gr8oldies said:
Streaming has a long, long way to go before it displaces FM. I try to listen to Mike McConnell on WLW via the iHeart app, and it's been an exercise in frustration lately. Seems whenever my phone goes to screen saver the audio stops. You can't easily switch station to station while driving, and there is still a lot of the country not covered by adequate signal for streaming. Not to mention there is no such thing as true unlimited data....you eventually get throttled. I'm also not sure of the idea that AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile should control all audio content



Click to expand...



I had the problem a while ago - rebooting the phone fixed it. I had the background app refresh on and the streaming still stopped when screen saver kicked in until I rebooted.
 
spt87 said:
I had the problem a while ago - rebooting the phone fixed it. I had the background app refresh on and the streaming still stopped when screen saver kicked in until I rebooted.
Click to expand...

Android or iOS? With my iPhone 6S Plus, I've streamed Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel for hours throughout several long drives here in New England. My carrier is Verizon Wireless. No problems over the past two years I've been doing this.
 
Rod Fritz
@RodF_Radio
Tune into @wbznewsradio
tonight at Midnight for news you’ve heard all day long. It’s all recorded! #embarrassing no longer Live and Local. #iHeartRadio squashed WBZ
 
QED said:
tonight at Midnight for news you’ve heard all day long.
Click to expand...

Do you really think people listen to BZ "all day long?" Maybe you don't know the old Group W clock, but they repeated the same stories every 20 minutes during the day. Yes, it was read live, but they were the same stories. They did that back when they had full staff. "You give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world." And then we'll start it all over again. That's how news radio works. Over at WBUR, they repeat Morning Edition and All Things Considered during the day. And they repeat the other news shows overnight. This is all standard stuff.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom