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Is it time for a change? WRKO

D

dhoule

Perhaps it's time for a change for WRKO. With business talk leaving WBIX, competition from WTKK, the loss of Rush, and probably the loss of Howie in 2012, perhaps WRKO should begin to shift to business programming outside of drive times.
 
I highly doubt tht WRKO will change formats any time soon. While WRKO has suffered from the loss of Rush, the station still does well with Laura Ingraham, Howie Carr, and Michael Savage. This new Lunch Money show is actually very well put together and will probably get better ratings than Charley Manning did in that hour. WRKO is here to stay.
 
Maybe by 2012 if Howie leaves and if Finneran is gone by then they might consider a change, but probably not. Not if ratings and billings are at least half decent.
 
That Finneran/Fineberg show in the morning is brutally awful radio. Have only listened to Manning once, maybe twice, but wasn't impressed at all. Laura's show is fine, as is Savage, who entertains the heck out of me (I realize & accept he's not for everybody.) Jerry Doyle does a pretty good job with his show, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it 'must-listen' like I would with Dr. Savage. No change needed in the afternoon, Howie is as good as he's ever been (time will only tell what will happen in 2012; the station would be in serious trouble if he left.) One thing they could do, which really wouldn't improve the bottom line very much but would make a huge difference quality-wise, is to air Doug McIntyre's Red Eye Radio every night in the overnights. As much as I like Howie, I don't like replays. It's a cheap and lazy way of programming. I'm not sure how many people here are awake to listen, but McIntyre does an excellent, excellent job. He's available via WABC, and most nights my Wi-Fi radio (or regular radio if reception is good enough, which is often the case) is tuned in to his show. Red Eye is such a refreshing alternative to all the UFO, conspiracy stuff on Coast to Coast. Open lines all the time with a host who's laid back, polite, knowledgeable, and fun. Talk radio needs more like him. But I digress. WRKO just needs to ax the horrible morning show, find something viable in the 12-3 slot (haven't checked out Money Matters yet, so I can't comment), and they'll be fine. Of course, I'm not certain off-hand what they would replace Finneran and Manning with, but there's some great talent out there just waiting to be tapped, for sure. Rush Radio 1200 probably has the superior overall lineup (overnights aside), but WRKO is still a very good station overall.
 
I think talk-radio needs to take a close look at where the golden goose has led them. The needle is now stuck in the groove.

Limbaugh is no longer remotely entertaining. Hannity and Ingraham are so dogmatic and doctrinaire that they insult one's intelligence, while Beck and Savage are just crazies--bordering on lunacy. That is just the top tier of talkers.

Unless you are hard to the right from the jump or constantly feel the need to defend yourself to others, why listen? Conservative talk is pretty much the same sh*#, different day. The drumbeat is not unlike the "four on the floor" of disco in the 1970s that killed that genre of music. They are slowly but surely driving off anyone but the hardcore wingnuts. Their grip is weakening yet I see no indication that they will soften the rhetoric.

Conservative talk flourishes (ed) for one simple reason: Money. Advertisers love it. Many business owners run with a conservative crowd and in that circle it is prestigious to advertise on the right wing talk station. Sales managers love it. Red state or blue state, there are always enough conservative advertisers to insure the format drives revenues...especially direct business. Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck and the rest were given a bully pulpit and it has made several of them fabulous wealthy. They have become drunk with their power and influence. Many of the stations that gave them that bully pulpit however are still living month-to-month and in markets like Boston, Seattle, Portland, DC, San Francisco, and Minneapolis (to name a few) heritage stations broke free of the diatribe and are still prospering.

I suggest that any broadcaster airing conservative talk keep an ear on the content and don't hesitate to call your syndicator if you think something they say or do is offensive.

Ultimately it is your station, your image, and your bottom line. Think long term.
 
It can still be entertaining and hopefully draw listeners from across the political spectrum, if done
well. Still enjoy Howie Carr. Rush, Hannity, Beck doing very well money-wise. Could the same be said about libtalk--same drumbeat every day, can border on lunacy, not entertaining? Some ratings may be lower but it's a desirable demo, still.

I don't feel my intelligence is being insulted. Yes they're leading crusades of a sort but I don't agree with them on every single issue. I enjoy how they treat the news and current trends.
 
As long as there are conservatives in this country (and there are millions of us), there will be talk radio. That is, if Obama and the Dems don't get their way by re-enacting the 'Fairness Doctrine.' Numbers, revenue, etc. will ebb and flow, but the format will remain because it's an outlet for Americans to have their voices heard. Abraham Lincoln once said something to effect of that public opinion is everything in America. Liberals will always hate talk radio and most have no regard for public opinion (just the way I see it), but they are outnumbered. On the left, there's only a scant few hosts who seem to have any clue at all on how to be entertaining and engaging. Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz, Mike Malloy, Randi Rhodes, and Thom Hartman. Not that I agree with or even like any of these people, but they do know what they are professional and competent hosts. Likewise, there are some conservatives who are complete bores (a couple hosts on 96.9 come to mind.) Overall, though, the right has a better handle on how to do the format (not to mention a much higher regard for the First Amendment, but - again - that's just my opinion) than the left does, and that's a big reason why conservatives thrive in the format while Air America died an unceremonious death.
 
RedWingCJS278 said:
On the left, there's only a scant few hosts who seem to have any clue at all on how to be entertaining and engaging. Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz, Mike Malloy, Randi Rhodes, and Thom Hartman.
Click to expand...

From what I've heard of these folks -- admittedly not a lot -- they come across as mainstream liberals. As such, their perspectives really aren't much different from those of their conservative rivals, except superficially (e.g. Clinton invading Kosovo = good; Bush invading Iraq = bad). True leftists would look beyond the superficial and examine issues such as the growing concentration of wealth in the hands of the super-rich, the skyrocketing costs of necessities like education and health care, and the growing dysfunction of our political institutions in the face of pressing economic, social, and environmental problems. Are we experiencing an existential crisis of capitalism like that predicted by Marx? Does "the proletariat" or "the working class" exist, and if so, who exactly are they? Am I one of them? Why do some of us seem to be so easily persuaded to vote against our own best interests? What is socialism, and why would anyone take President Obama for a socialist? Etc., etc.

I daresay it's been a long time since I've heard any such discussions on the radio.
 
I don't think WRKO is going anywhere anytime soon...the station was ahead of WTKK in the latest PPMs. I think Rush will be off of Rush Radio and back on WRKO eventually.
 
Would think CC would stay with Rush Radio for awhile, give it a chance. Suppose Rush does go back to RKO, who gets the other shows? They want them cleared. Yeah maybe RKO could go back
to doing best of Beck on Saturdays and Coast to Coast but...

If they give it the same chance they gave prog. talk--two years and two months--you can
expect Rush Radio to be with us till about May of 2012.
 
For Rush, S.S.D.D. When you listen to him, just fill in the blank. If Hillary were President it would be non-stop Clinton bashing. Oh wait, he did that for 8 years.

Some still think he has huge numbers. Take a look back where he stood in the ratings before leaving RKO. No doubt he is strong with old angry white men.
 
12 In a Row said:
For Rush, S.S.D.D. When you listen to him, just fill in the blank. If Hillary were President it would be non-stop Clinton bashing. Oh wait, he did that for 8 years.

Some still think he has huge numbers. Take a look back where he stood in the ratings before leaving RKO. No doubt he is strong with old angry white men.
Click to expand...
 
But he has the most successful show at all, tens of millions of listeners, over 600 affiliates,
makes a ton of money etc. I don't know if it's all old angry white men; listeners of both
genders, various ages including desirable demos. It's not like he's on a few dozen stations,
crappy ratings, low earnings.
 
I don't think that CC would actually abandon the News/Talk format on AM 1200. I simply think that Rush would end up back on WRKO. Maybe Dave Ramsey or Dennis Miller or someone else would just replace Rush on AM 1200 and then all of the other Premiere shows would still be cleared in Boston.
 
And if that happened they'd pick a slogan like News Talk 1200, The Patriot, etc.
(Any thing "tea party" related? It's been done: 890 was "The Boston Talk Party" IIRC)
 
newhampshiredude said:
I don't think that CC would actually abandon the News/Talk format on AM 1200. I simply think that Rush would end up back on WRKO. Maybe Dave Ramsey or Dennis Miller or someone else would just replace Rush on AM 1200 and then all of the other Premiere shows would still be cleared in Boston.
Click to expand...

They're on a 3-year plan. 2012 will be their big year. Anyting they can do to help in getting all the Deomcrats out of the office is a success as far they're concenred, regardless what the ratings are. After 2012 election that they'll go back to playing fiesta music.
 
I realized I made a boo-boo earlier in this thread. What I meant to say is that Rush is indeed strong with angry white men, and his phones show it.
 
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