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Is WABC’s new ownership squandering an opportunity?

bamagator62 said:
Lee very well put I completely agree with your post that was a big mistake in selling WABC to Castimatides I see nothing but a failure for this station
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It seems more and more like Catsimatides is treating it like a toy. He even gave himself his own little show from 5- 6 pm. The old music show acts on weekends are apparently because he personally enjoys that type of music. My mother likes it too but she's in her 80s so I don't see advertisers being too excited about that demo.

WABC still has Levin from 6-9 pm but Shapiro is gone for good in the afternoons, replaced by a patchwork hodgpodge of one hour shows. I do think Sid and Bernie are good in the morning, they need a team like that for 3 - 6 drive time, but anyone good might cost more than Cats wants to spend.
 
bamagator62 said:
Lee very well put I completely agree with your post that was a big mistake in selling WABC to Castimatides I see nothing but a failure for this station
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The seller, in dire financial conditions, was losing money on WABC and many of their other talk AMs like KABC. This was a good move for them. They still can't find a buyer for KABC and several others, though.
 
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Lee LinwoodNYC said:
WOR‘s surpassing WABC in recent ratings books, by sizeable margins, causes me to wonder if the new owner of WABC John Catsimatides is squandering an opportunity to remake the station into the powerhouse it once was. With unlimited resources as a billionaire, he seems to be cheaping out on programming, the foundation of any radio station, with quite uncompelling hosts, in my opinion, who will not attract a young audience, also my opinion: Such as Rudy Giuliani, “Judge” Jeanine Pirro, and former NYC police commissioner Bernie Kerick. All are well-known Trump supporters with much visibility on TV, making their radio shows less compelling, in addition to perhaps becoming increasingly irrelevant as the Trump presidency is coming to a close. Ratings for several Fox News programs have been plummeting, the well-known politically Conservative network, and so I don’t see big ratings from the afore-mentioned hosts. Cousin Brucie and Tony Orlando with Saturday night music shows, while nice guys, are quite “long in the tooth” and doubtlessly will not attract a young audience. No doubt, they are not expensive hosts. Same with Joe Piscopo, hosting a Sunday Frank Sinatra show. His daily radio show, oddly on rival radio station am970, is not a ratings success, so another seemingly squandered opportunity for WABC. Overnight, WABC has a new show hosted by Frank Morano, who sounds like he is better suited hosting a high school radio station program—He previously was Piscopo’s producer in addition to producing Mr. Catsimatides’ weekly show on am970, with no previous experience hosting a daily radio program, and it shows. Another squandered opportunity. Presumably, he, too, comes cheaply. If this is the “best” WABC can do, I see it continuing its downfall.
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What makes you think they are trying to attract younger people anyways?
 
Lee LinwoodNYC said:
WOR‘s surpassing WABC in recent ratings books, by sizeable margins, causes me to wonder if the new owner of WABC John Catsimatides is squandering an opportunity to remake the station into the powerhouse it once was. With unlimited resources as a billionaire, he seems to be cheaping out on programming, the foundation of any radio station, with quite uncompelling hosts, in my opinion, who will not attract a young audience, also my opinion: Such as Rudy Giuliani, “Judge” Jeanine Pirro, and former NYC police commissioner Bernie Kerick. All are well-known Trump supporters with much visibility on TV, making their radio shows less compelling, in addition to perhaps becoming increasingly irrelevant as the Trump presidency is coming to a close. Ratings for several Fox News programs have been plummeting, the well-known politically Conservative network, and so I don’t see big ratings from the afore-mentioned hosts. Cousin Brucie and Tony Orlando with Saturday night music shows, while nice guys, are quite “long in the tooth” and doubtlessly will not attract a young audience. No doubt, they are not expensive hosts. Same with Joe Piscopo, hosting a Sunday Frank Sinatra show. His daily radio show, oddly on rival radio station am970, is not a ratings success, so another seemingly squandered opportunity for WABC. Overnight, WABC has a new show hosted by Frank Morano, who sounds like he is better suited hosting a high school radio station program—He previously was Piscopo’s producer in addition to producing Mr. Catsimatides’ weekly show on am970, with no previous experience hosting a daily radio program, and it shows. Another squandered opportunity. Presumably, he, too, comes cheaply. If this is the “best” WABC can do, I see it continuing its downfall.
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What was wabc running before Frank Morano at night?
 
wadio said:
The NY Post is reporting that Greg Kelly begins a new show on WABC tomorrow from 1-3 pm.

pagesix.com

Greg Kelly joining 77 WABC radio as a daytime host

Kelly’s show will debut March 9 at 1 p.m.
pagesix.com pagesix.com

A Google search reveals that the story has been picked up by numerous sites ... with the notable exception of WABC's own website!
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Curtis is gone now, due to his run for mayor his radio show legally is apparently an "in kind" contribution from WABC and illegal as such under campaign finance laws.

Greg Kelly should be good, if he is they should give him 3-6 and see how he does vs Hannity. I predict he would do very well, as Hannity is stale, repetitive, and never has anything original or unique to say. If I was Catsmitidas I'd do this:

Keep Sid and Bernie for the morning drive 6-10.

Keep Kilmeade from 10-12.

Poach Simone from WOR for 12-3

3-6 Greg Kelly

Dump Levin since the "show" is 99% commercials anyway and replace with O'Reilly from 6-9.
 
semoochie said:
You aren't really listening to WABC from Detroit, are you? Doesn't that pesky WJR get in the way?
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With a decent radio, not a problem. They are not on the same frequency.
 
Cosby: horrible choice! She is the most self-absorbed talk show host I've ever heard. I like what WABC is doing on the weekends but I give this one 6 months.
 
WABC is gone from the latest public Nielsen ratings published today. Mr. Catsimatidis must have finally decided he's had enough embarrassment and unsubscribed.

Edit: Maybe not. Other stations are missing too. Specifically WAXQ & WBLS as flagged by a user over on the NYRMB forum.
 
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With a decent radio, not a problem. They are not on the same frequency.
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Correct - especially in Detroit's northern suburbs, where WJR's TX site is a good 30+ miles away and whose signal can be nulled with some careful aiming.

WJR ceased usage of I-BLOC technology many years ago.
 
Theater of My Mind said:
WABC is gone from the latest public Nielsen ratings published today. Mr. Catsimatidis must have finally decided he's had enough embarrassment and unsubscribed.

Edit: Maybe not. Other stations are missing too. Specifically WAXQ & WBLS as flagged by a user over on the NYRMB forum.
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Frank Morano who does the overnight show on WABC is beating competitor Coast To Coast on WOR with recent Nielsen ratings, according to Morano.
 
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