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Mark Simone out at WABC

B

benale

Just read on Sniffen's board that Mark Simone just resigned from WABC. Prediction: More infomercials/brokered shows from 7 to 9 AM and PM to replace Mark's two local Saturday shows. WABC sliced the 9AM hour last month for another financial program. I remember when Mark's Saturday shows ran from 6AM to 10AM and 6PM to 10PM.

Can WABC go any further downhill?

Probably. If they signed off on the weekend, nobody would notice.
 
Think maybe CC/WOR made him an offer? Mark's Saturday morning show was one of the few worthwhile programs left at WABC. WOR would do well to put him opposite almost anything on WABC's current schedule.
 
I'm very much a traditionalist. Up until last Saturday the best show on WABC was (Saturday Night Oldies) with Mark Simone. As much as I like talk radio, I want to remember WABC as MusicRadio 77.

I go back listening to Mark when he was doing weekends on WNEW-AM back in 1982.

My feeling is (and this is only my opinion) that Mark is probably burned out at WABC, especially doing the fill-ins and two shifts on Saturdays.




Thanks,
Kevin L. Sealy
 
As a fan of Musicradio WABC as a child, I have enjoyed the years of WABC Rewound and the Saturday night show. Once Cumulus took control I knew it was only a matter of time. It had also become apparent less and less effort was going into the show in 2012.
 
wadio said:
Think maybe CC/WOR made him an offer? Mark's Saturday morning show was one of the few worthwhile programs left at WABC. WOR would do well to put him opposite almost anything on WABC's current schedule.
Click to expand...

The other board says he's gonna do 10am-Noon weekdays on WOR.

This is kinda surprising. We all assumed Beck was coming back with the new ownership.
 
liradioisbad said:
The other board says he's gonna do 10am-Noon weekdays on WOR.
Click to expand...

That means starting next week WOR will be live and local from 5 am to 2 pm. Not a bad start!

Although Joan Hamburg is not my cup of tea, she is a professional, experienced broadcaster who's really very good reporting and discussing current events. If her show becomes surrounded by news/talk shows and she's encouraged by management to skew the content more in that direction (as I believe Rick Buckley did) I think she'd be a fine ... as well as profitable ... fit.

Kudos to CC so far ...

... now if they'd just get rid of Dave Ramsey and Andy Dean ................................
 
I like the mark simone who spins records. the talkie mark simone, not so much. Mark is a fine announcer but as a talk show host he does nothing for me. Not a knock. Just a preference in taste.
 
My question is who will be Hannity's No. 1 vacation relief for this year (assuming he'll be moving to WOR next year)?
 
I remember listening to Mark Simone back in the late 70's on WPIX-FM and enjoyed him when I catch him. It looks like I'll have one less reason to bother listening to 770 anymore.

It would be great if he does show up elsewhere on the dial.
 
Any idea who'll take over what's left of the Saturday morning show at WABC? Noem Laden? Or just more snake oil. ???
 
WABC had been adding more infomercials and brokered programming on the weekends. Bob Grant's Sunday show was cut to an hour for another medical show. Simone's Saturday morning show lost an hour last month to another financial show, and his Saturday night show was cut to two hours two years ago.

I can't imagine any one actually listening to those shows. I would imagine starting tomorrow morning and tomorrow evening WABC will sink even further into oblivion.
 
Mark's Facebook page sounds like CC made him an offer he couldn't refuse. He says nothing bad about WABC, but states he expects other WABC hosts to join him since CC produces both Rush and Hannity. Expect many to leave that sinking ship.
 
jhguthlac said:
Mark's Facebook page sounds like CC made him an offer he couldn't refuse. He says nothing bad about WABC, but states he expects other WABC hosts to join him since CC produces both Rush and Hannity. Expect many to leave that sinking ship.
Click to expand...
Another nugget from Mark's Facebook page -- he talks about GM Steve Borneman moving from WABC to WOR and says, "He’s also hiring the best and smartest programming mastermind around." Who might that be?

Also Mark says he going to try to do Saturday mornings as soon as they can figure out the hours.
 
wadio said:
liradioisbad said:
The other board says he's gonna do 10am-Noon weekdays on WOR.
Click to expand...

That means starting next week WOR will be live and local from 5 am to 2 pm. Not a bad start!

Although Joan Hamburg is not my cup of tea, she is a professional, experienced broadcaster who's really very good reporting and discussing current events. If her show becomes surrounded by news/talk shows and she's encouraged by management to skew the content more in that direction (as I believe Rick Buckley did) I think she'd be a fine ... as well as profitable ... fit.

Kudos to CC so far ...

... now if they'd just get rid of Dave Ramsey and Andy Dean ................................
Click to expand...

Ramsey was just re-upped/extended for the 2-4 slot. Pay for play or revenue sharing?
 
According to the Dentist Board that Mark Simone will be taking over the midday shift on WOR starting at 10 AM this Monday. That is an interesting move. I used to listened to Mark Simone and his "Saturday Night Oldies" show on WABC back in 2006 until I stopped listening until 2007 or 2008. I missed that show a lot. Now he is taking over his duty at WOR. Good luck to him.
 
Simone is doing tomorrow morning (Saturday) from 6 to 8 on WOR. Says Joe Bartlett is off for a few weeks. I wonder if he'll be stuck having to do the same paid "interviews" as Bartlett.
 
Re: Mark Simone out at WABC/who will come in?

When Mark moved across town, it was the beginning of a parade...CC will move Rush over to WOR, and Hannity will do likewise.

What will Cumulus do? You can probably expect Mike Huckabee to take Limbaugh's slot by the end of next year, and some other Cumulus syndicated content. It'll probably be wall to wall syndication. It's interesting that Clear Channel apparently will NOT be totally canned product, and that's a good competitive choice. Don't expect it ever to be as local as KFI (although that would work well). New York would embrace a truly wall to wall local station if it ever got one...but we won't see that at least until the big national names fade out for good as they retire. It surprises me to some degree that Clear Channel is moving at least for now in a more local direction while Cumulus goes more and more to syndication. I'd have expected the opposite after the likely move of Limbaugh down the dial next year.
 
If Limbaugh does move down the dial next year won't that more likely be initiated by Cumulus?

Seems to me the status quo gives Clear Channel the best of both worlds -- they clear Limbaugh in the #1 market while at the same time they develop newer, more contemporary programming (maybe syndication material) on their own station. There are CC stations in other markets that "compete" with Rush across town.
 
Limbaugh's contract with WABC expires in a matter of less than a year. Will Cumulus want to pony up for more years at a premium? Doubt it...especially when they now have an in-house alternative they can get for free.
WOR can then pick Rush up through an in-house transaction. The changes are certain.

Assuming that the programming streaming on WABC's website is identical with what's going over the air, the Mark Simone music show has given way to a couple hours of "rewound," airchecks of WABC's 1960-82 music programs and personalities a lot like their annual Rewound Memorial Day weekend programming. Tonight this hour (7-8 PM) consists of some highlights of the late Chuck Leonard including music, period commercials and even contests. Johnny Donovan provides some introductory and interstitial voice tracks introducing each segment.

If this is what WABC will do each Saturday night, it's a good idea. Even if it's just a temporary alternative, it's at least a nice way for the WABC MusicRadio heritage to live on just a little bit longer before it fades away.
 
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