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iHeart Radio announces major restructuring

As I said, WBZ has been making cuts and changes at WBZ for 2 years and it hasn't hurt ratings. Same with WRKO. Selling stations diminishes the size of the ad platform and hurts revenue. So that's a bad idea. They have the resources to operate radio stations, just not maintaining the status quo. This is a $5 billion company. But they are way over-staffed given the nature of the business. They don't need a live person in Boston telling you what song you just heard at 2 in the morning. There are other ways to do the exact same thing. It's not the 1960s any more. They understand that, and in fact iHeart is able to handle this transition better than any other radio company.

Sounds like you work in Sr. Management ;)

Again, I wish them luck but it looks like they are following the newspaper industry. More syndication, less local coverage, people don’t need it cause all the syndicated stuff is on the internet for free so people stop buying, rinse and repeat. For myself though I know what I have to do. I’m going to stop being a P1 listener to BZ and avoid iheart stations at all costs. I’ve already changed my internet radio alarm to wake me up with WATD - a big change for me since I’ve been waking up to BZ for over a decade - and next I’m canceling my iheart radio plus subscription. BZ has made me too much of a news junky anyway - it will be a healthy change. I listened to them out of loyalty and to support their “always live, always local” approach as much as for news anyway. I did like the WCOD morning show so I’ll miss that but there are enough stations on the cape that there is a good chance someone else will grab them since they were always near the top ratings wise.
 
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Sounds like you work in Sr. Management

Not at all. I've never worked for them, but I know a lot of people who do.

As you say there is a lot of technology available, but most of it either has a subscription fee, or requires you to give up personal information. Some have both. Radio has neither. That lack of additional revenue stream is a problem for radio. Because ad budgets aren't growing.
 
Listening to WBZ-AM at 3 AM - It's sad but it is the reality of the business

30 years ago Neil Rogers on WIOD Miami lamented owners only cared about billable hours.

What we apparently have now lost forever is the late night - early morning community who participated in call in shows.
 
Seems so but I’d say it is all voice tracked.

It does seem that way except for the traffic reports. Although I’d rather have the news format overnight than some syndicated show that you can get everywhere else on the AM dial.
 
What we apparently have now lost forever is the late night - early morning community who participated in call in shows.

That mostly disappeared 25 years ago. One of the few remaining live overnight talk shows is Jim Bohannon, who took the slot once made famous by Larry King.

The concept of re-running news in overnights has been done for years at KYW in Philadelphia.
 
That mostly disappeared 25 years ago. One of the few remaining live overnight talk shows is Jim Bohannon, who took the slot once made famous by Larry King.

WOW, like that show is still around? I personally hung up my overnight listening when Steve Leveille retired.
 
Listening to WBZ-AM at 3 AM - It's sad but it is the reality of the business

30 years ago Neil Rogers on WIOD Miami lamented owners only cared about billable hours.

What we apparently have now lost forever is the late night - early morning community who participated in call in shows.


As BZ's overnight king, Larry Glick, for over 20 years ... "hello once, hello twice, areverderchi .........."
 
He back? Tweet 2 h ago

Bradley Jay @jaytalkingwbz
America's First Public #School: #EnglishHigh is alive and well right here in Boston. Alumni Prez is in. Live at midnight or grab the #jaytalking podcast here https://iheart.com/podcast/1002-jay-talking-28654274/ WBZ NewsRadio
 
He back? Tweet 2 h ago

Bradley Jay @jaytalkingwbz
America's First Public #School: #EnglishHigh is alive and well right here in Boston. Alumni Prez is in. Live at midnight or grab the #jaytalking podcast here https://iheart.com/podcast/1002-jay-talking-28654274/ WBZ NewsRadio

These appear to be auto-retweets on his Twitter feed originally posted for shows at least a couple of days ago, before the axe fell. The retweets have today's date, but if you scroll down his Twitter feed, you'll see the same tweets originally dated earlier this week.

I guess the purpose of auto-retweets was to direct people to the option of hearing podcasts of segments of his recent shows on his podcast page after they had aired.
 
Yes figured as much--the date on it was misleading.Auto scheduling of tweets.

iHeart did give a reprieve to some Des Moines sports talkers but...
 
So this last bastion of local overnight talk will be turned over to syndication now?

Fybush.com said that, at least last night, Bradley Jay's shift was a loop of repeating recorded newscasts over and over again, some traffic reports, and a few network features. The phones were lit up all day, not to mention the BZ social media. Hmmmm ... the National Anthem and signing off would have been more fun!
 
Scanning the dial while driving home earlier tonight (9pmish I think it was), I came upon WSRS/Worcester where Delilah was doing a promo urging us to listen to Suzanne and Greg In The Morning. That would be the same Greg Bedard who lost his job a day earlier.

And, driving this morning, I listened from roughly 9amish to 930ish (or thereabouts) and heard no one speak. Didn't hear Suzanne at all. Suzanne was apparently out sick earlier in the week before Greg lost his job. Maybe she still is. And, the Suzanne and Greg In The Morning page on Facebook has been updated to just Suzanne and Greg. Maybe the two of them are planning something.
 
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Fybush.com said that, at least last night, Bradley Jay's shift was a loop of repeating recorded newscasts over and over again, some traffic reports, and a few network features. The phones were lit up all day, not to mention the BZ social media. Hmmmm ... the National Anthem and signing off would have been more fun!

Or maybe dredge up some Robin Young weekend overnight shows from the mid-'70s -- strange little slice-of-life stories, contributions from listeners (read from letters or recounted from phone calls taken in studio during record; no live calls on air, though), and music from Cat Stevens to Nilsson to Nina Simone to the Paul Winter Consort. Who would have thought she'd still be on the radio 45 years later?
 
Radio is its own worst enemy. The more programming is cut the less people listen. Most AM stations died as much due to the radio industry abandoning it and making a junkyard of garbage programs as anything else.

In the past I would have been looking to email someone or make some noise as when Steve Leveille was let go. At this point I’ve kinda given up and just accept that radio will continue a slow spiral down the drain.

National feeds and info that duplicate what I can get from multiple other places. Good luck.

I'm not in love with the idea of losing local talent. However the technology the company is using allows these out of market jocks to not only do custom local breaks in real time. They can even answer the local phones of the station they are on. It's called Zetta. From RCS. look it up. It's technology that's "killing" local radio. The company is just evolving with it, as any other company would. You can now do a live radio show to anywhere in the world from the comfort of your own laptop.
 
The SaveWBZ1030 site launching petition drive to contact iHeart and WBZ advertisers.Effort was actually launched in Nov 2017 w iHeart takeover/union contracts
 
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