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Jim Isabella out at WNIR, Kent.

T

Tim

After 10+ years live, local 7-11pm talker at WNIR....Jim Isabella, is out. “We have agreed to part ways”. No idea why this happened. The ever changing face of live and local radio continues to erode away. No word on who replaces Isabella....live or network.
 
Wow, that is a shocker. I don't listen to him on WNIR, but I occasionally watch him on channel 35 on Thursday evening (Izzy on Sports). He seems to be very knowledgeable. Maybe one of the Cleveland stations can pick him up.
 
skiwest said:
I assume he won't be doing Izzy on Sports on channel 35 which I think is done from the basement at WNIR.
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There is no basement in that building. It’s in a 1-story pole building that was finished off over 50 years ago. It houses the offices, studios, and the former 100.1 and AM 1520 transmitters & towers. 2449 State Route 59 between Kent and Ravenna.

AM‘s off the air...license turned in and deleted, and the former 6 AM towers dismantled. WNIR transmitter and antenna on a TV tower in Brimfield.
 
Could Bill Hall end up replacing Jim in the evening slot? I see on the WNIR website that they're still trying to replace Angela after she left.
 
Have been wondering what happened to Jim; at first I assumed it was a health issue, though I knew he already had covid so it probably wasnt that. I really enjoyed his program and I miss hearing him. Wish I could find out why hes no longer with WNIR.
It's been tough first losing Rush and then Triv, and now Jim Isabella. Feel like there arent many of my favorites left! At least we still have Couch...
 
The never-ending 1-sided political moaning & groaning on ALL talk stations is way, way, way beyond old. A friend who works for a big mid-market talk station says his ownership chain is actively working on a project to develop new, more interesting and/or fun topics for their talk stations nationwide. He says research shows the current "bitching and moaning about politics and everything else" is losing audience everywhere and that audiences of "mainly angry old white men" is not attractive to advertisers. Not my words....from others in the industry. While our society and world certainly has it's challenges and issues, perhaps the pandemic has helped people appreciate the good things they do have in their lives, and the endless negativity and screaming on talk radio is turning them off...my guess.
 
I assume Izzy had some kind of non-compete clause in his contract. If so, he may have to wait a while before we hear him elsewhere. That was the case after Brinda left WKNR.
 
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Tim said:
A friend who works for a big mid-market talk station says his ownership chain is actively working on a project to develop new topics for their talk stations nationwide. He says research shows the current "bitching and moaning about politics and everything else" is losing audience everywhere and that audiences of "mainly angry old white men" is not attractive to advertisers. Not my words....from others in the industry.
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But isn't it mainly old white men that listen to radio nowadays? :)
 
skiwest said:
But isn't it mainly old white men that listen to radio nowadays? :)
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Without some fresh, unique content, I have serious doubts about the long term financial health of most radio stations, whether over the air or streamed. It’s about content, not delivery system. A lot of boring programming out there, sadly...with most radio stations sounding like they did 30, 40 years ago, before the internet existed. The sparkle is about gone. While many stations are still profitable, many have much lower margins. And, millions of advertisers have left in droves for on line advertising (search engines, social media, other on line ads). This is true for local businesses and national brands. Radio needs to freshen it’s content soon or owners will end up with stations they can’t sell (K Love only needs so many towers) and ad revenues that are circling the drain. Radio still CAN do it, if they don’t wait too much longer to upgrade.
 
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Tim said:
Without some fresh, unique content, I have serious doubts about the long term financial health of most radio stations, whether over the air or streamed. It’s about content, not delivery system. A lot of boring programming out there, sadly...with most radio stations sounding like they did 30, 40 years ago, before the internet existed. The sparkle is about gone. While many stations are still profitable, many have much lower margins. And, millions of advertisers have left in droves for on line advertising (search engines, social media, other on line ads). This is true for local businesses and national brands. Radio needs to freshen it’s content soon or owners will end up with stations they can’t sell (K Love only needs so many towers) and ad revenues that are circling the drain. Radio still CAN do it, if they don’t wait too much longer to upgrade.
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Much of what is shared here has truth. However, the same thing has been said for, seemingly over 20 years and the radio stations keep chugging along and even make money.
 
skiwest said:
But isn't it mainly old white men that listen to radio nowadays? :)
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If 89% of the adult population of the US is made up of old white men, then your assumption is correct.

(89% of all persons 18+ use radio weekly today).
 
DavidEduardo said:
If 89% of the adult population of the US is made up of old white men, then your assumption is correct.

(89% of all persons 18+ use radio weekly today).
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Talk formats, David..not all formats. What I have been told by people I know personally who now work for talk radio stations around the USA...that their audience is heavily "angry old white men"....usually over age 65. Their words, not mine. This is not my opinion. Oh, and total national audience is not an accurate reflection of an industry's financial health -vs- other advertising medias. Total audience for radio is hyped like newspapers used to hype "total circulation". It's a very different advertising world in 2022.
 
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johnbasalla said:
Much of what is shared here has truth. However, the same thing has been said for, seemingly over 20 years and the radio stations keep chugging along and even make money.
Click to expand...
The people I worked with & still work in the radio industry, several with #1 ranked stations in top demos, say their ad revenues are "half what they were 10 years ago". Hobbyists may not like reading this, but that's the reality today.
 
Tim said:
The never-ending 1-sided political moaning & groaning on ALL talk stations is way, way, way beyond old. A friend who works for a big mid-market talk station says his ownership chain is actively working on a project to develop new, more interesting and/or fun topics for their talk stations nationwide. He says research shows the current "bitching and moaning about politics and everything else" is losing audience everywhere and that audiences of "mainly angry old white men" is not attractive to advertisers. Not my words....from others in the industry. While our society and world certainly has it's challenges and issues, perhaps the pandemic has helped people appreciate the good things they do have in their lives, and the endless negativity and screaming on talk radio is turning them off...my guess.
Click to expand...
However, with the "acceptance" of the current administration well below 40% and huge controversial issue in education, immigration, global warming, race relations, the international change in the leading world power and the like, there are many sociopolitical subjects for discussion.

For the stations like WLW, WSB, KFI and the like there is no reason to rapidly change at this moment. Evolution is a good idea, but a programming "revolution" is not needed.
 
Tim said:
The people I worked with & still work in the radio industry, several with #1 ranked stations in top demos, say their ad revenues are "half what they were 10 years ago". Hobbyists may not like reading this, but that's the reality today.
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That's correct. If you adjust for inflation (up to 2021, not including this year's disruptive inflation) total radio billings are off by about 65% from the year 2000.

But much of the loss is among secondary stations and smaller market one. AMs, daytimers, rimshots and the like have problems. The issue goes back to the early 90's when the effect of Docket 80-90 was to make 50% of all US radio stations unprofitable.
 
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