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Is Barsky the kiss of death?

X

Xkrusdx

Just seems like everywhere he goes, somehow the station implodes. I wish i had a second chance, errrr, i mean a fifth chance in the same city.

on the other hand, it's tough for CBS radio to run four different stations with talk. Over saturation of the market? KYW-News, WPHT-News/talk, WIP-Sports/talk, WYSP-Hot Talk. Cannibalizing???

Same with Greater Media. . .WMMR-Active-leaning Rock, WMGK-Classic Rock, WBEN-Adult Hits/Jack format.

Seems to like the wrong companies have the wrong formats. . .I'm sure Greater Media or CBS Radio would love to have a slice of the "Urban" audience.

--D.C.--
 
I never liked his shows, but let’s be objective. Barsky wasn’t there when Hot Hits died. He wasn’t there when Y 100 died. MMR hasn’t died. He’s been at three stations that flipped formats—perhaps a bad judge of viable stations, but that’s about it. I still don’t think he’s hit as many stations as Valerie Knight yet, has he?
 
Barsky always said the sations he was fired from crumbled. The stations he left on his own remained intact. WYSP didn't fire him. He still has a job off air. Same thing for 96.5. He was never fired from there as well and it's still alive (unfortunately :-\)

I loved this show. I feel like I lost a lot of friends yesterday. I'm seriously devastated. Now WTF am I going to listen to at work? I refuse to listen to WYSP's new music format.
 
Well, his ego may feel better if he tells himself that his firings led to collapses. 98 seemed to do just fine for several years, and Y100 did as well. MMR....maybe he's heard of Preston and Steve and their mild success.

He was a non-factor, one way or the other.
 
98 seemed to do just fine for several years

Not really.

WCAU-FM lasted only two years after Barsky, though I agree his departure had little to do with it. "Hot Hits" was phased out beginning in 1986 if I recall (a few months after Barsky was let go) as the CRD went with its in-house "Hit Radio" format...

Mike Joseph took "Hot Hits" over to Z-106, and re-named it "Electric 106" (though it never used the "Hot Hits" positioner. By the time Malrite took over in early '87, the newly-named Eagle 106 was clobbering WCAU-FM (which by then had introduced re-currents and was leaning, dare I say it, "dance").

Again, while I agree Barsky wasn't much of a factor in the station's demise, I certainly wouldn't agree WCAU-FM had "several good years" after his departure. Maybe several good months.

As for Barsky and this whole "kiss of death" thing, there is another way to look at it.

Barsky, love him or not, is one of the best-known morning talents in the market. He has been for almost 15 years. (That would go back to his launch at Y-100; his three years at WCAU-FM were really an island as the end of his tenure there was eight years removed from his return to Philadelphia.) No matter the station, hiring Barsky guarantees a built-in audience. Has it ever occurred to some of the Barsky-haters that these "bum" stations nearing their last breaths (Max 95.7, The Point, even WYSP to a degree) bring Barsky in BECAUSE he will make things happen? After all, what's in it for a station that is doing well and needs no help to sign an expensive talent like Barsky to a big contract? Remember, at the time WMMR brought him on (while he was under contract to Greater Media following the few weeks he did at Max) that station was struggling.

To suggest Barsky is the "kiss of death" is ridiculous. He's just a well-known, likable talent stations know will generate ratings and revenue. Unfortunately for some of these stations, they bring him in too late.
 
Ridiculous. . .let's leave 98-WCAU-FM out of the equation. Way in the past without the current crew.

All i'm trying to say is that if Barsky is hired at your station, your station is bound to flip formats in 12-18 months. He and his crew obviously can't "save" a station anymore.

Y-100. . .in fight with WDRE at the time, and we all know what happens there. Y-100 wins out and decides to go with Preston and Steve as they try to make a new identity as the only Modern-Rock station in Philly.

Max 95-7. . .literally a last minute decision to beat out 104-5 in the Jammin' Oldies fad. (format flip)

So now let's move to WMMR. . .Greater Media says, well why are we paying our former morning man to sleep in late? Let's see if he can take on Howard Stern once again on our heritage rock station which can't decide whether it's active/modern/classic. Hmm, what happens there, the same guys who replaced him at Y-100 eventually get the nod over Barsky and his crew at WMMR.

96-5 "The Point". . .bad move to begin to dump news/talk but that's a different story. Brought in to save the station including P.D. stripes. Didn't happen. (format flip) and lawsuit to go along with it "breach of contract" with an out of court settlement

94-1 Free-FM. . .re-hashed and now a format flip. How many more radio companies are left in this area for Barsky to work for?

Just because you have a "heritage morning show" doesn't mean you'll have the ratings.

maybe i have a vendetta against the guy because the two times i met him in person he was a complete jerk and made some very harsh comments about people i was wish, but seriously have many times can you "recycle" a show or "Shtick" back to my original point, eventually the audience gets tired of the same ol' stuff and it shows, that's why stations flip, including ones that he work for.
coincidence?

--D.C.--
 
I've been a Barsky fan for a loong time. I'm not ready to say that HE's the kiss of death for the stations he's been at, but the poor guy has been around the dial! Anyway, not that it matters anymore, but out of all his shows, I found the one he did on WYSP to be the worst. Perhaps he is getting too old for his "schtick" but I don't feel as bad about losing him this time as I did in the past.
 
So, Barsky is still "under contract" to CBS in Philly.

Once before, he was "under contract" to a Philly radio company - Greater Media when 95.7 was Max and he was brought in during the last quarter of its existence.

Greater Media put him on WMMR rather than let him sit out his contract.

Could Barsky go to another Philly CBS station? There is a talk opening (Suzanne LaFrankie's former early evening slot) on 1210 WPHT. Would they try that?

Anyone know how long Barsky's YSP contract was?

On another note: I never listened to the YSP show. I don't leave Sirius much these days except for KYW. My favorite iterations of Barsky's show: Y-100 and Max, followed by WMMR. Least favorite: The Point. Something about that combination of sidekicks just didn't click for me.
On Y, Max and MMR, they sounded like they were having fun. On The Point they sounded like a dysfunctional family - and maybe it's just me, but that wasn't fun.
 
I wish CBS could buy 106.9 WKDN from family radio and do talk @ 106.9 but we know family radio is never selling so its a pipe dream
 
When CBS realized the format was going to fail why not just put WIP on FM and sell the AM off, or swap 610 AM plus cash to Family Radio for WKDN? WIP would have probably done better as an FM sports talk station with a better signal, without the hash you get from IBOC and its dial position, if they were on FM.
 
I don't believe Barsky has yet to work for a Clear Channel-owned station in Philadelphia...

Stay tuned for "The New US 106.1 - Today's Country with Cowboy Barsky Mornings!"
 
if he would get hired by cc i could see them putting him @ radio 104.5 with his whole crew talkshow in the morning and music the rest of the day
 
Re: Is Barsky the kiss of death? Replacing Bob Charger?

It used to be said that Bob Charger was the kiss of death in Philadelphia radio - he was on at the end of the longtime music formats of WIBG, WFIL, WIP, WAMS, WPGR...he has survived with WOGL for a long time, though. Maybe somewhere there's a home for Barsky. Whoever thought 106 FM's 1980's morning host Ross Brittain would make a comeback here!
 
Mike said:
if he would get hired by cc i could see them putting him @ radio 104.5 with his whole crew talkshow in the morning and music the rest of the day
Click to expand...

Because of his past with Y-100, I instantly thought of him going to 104.5 also. I don't think he'd be able to hold up against Preston & Steve and O&A, though.
 
Mike said:
if he would get hired by cc i could see them putting him @ radio 104.5 with his whole crew talkshow in the morning and music the rest of the day
Click to expand...
Seems like a bad fit for Radio 1045. Barsky's tenure at Y-100 was more during their post-Kiss-CHR-Top 40 phase, as opposed to their alternative-replacement-for-DRE-when-Radio-One-killed-DRE phase.

1045 without a morning show may not have as high ratings as it would with a long-TSL attraction in AM drive, but at least the overhead is reduced by not having to shell out all the salaries associated with a talk-intensive morning crew.
 
Hey Paul.. Excuse me "Barsky fans.."

WHY THE HELL WOULD WRFF PUT A FAILED SHOW ON???

It's a "music intense" station that's already beating MMR..

You are sad Paul!
 
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