Absolutely, he's been there since the day I first heard him -- when he was fresh out of his YAF college years, doing the Saturday night show before Robin Young's overnight music gig in 1975.
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Morgan White loses an hour.
- Thread starter vmorrison99
- Start date
Oh here we go...Compare WBZ' s programming hour by hour, to KTAR and WSB. If you can't tell the difference, then you aren't worth the time it takes to respond.
As far as " more than just te headlines" WCBS adding talk shows and infomercials to its news programming, Audacy is competing against their very own 1010 WINS, which has the highest CUME of any news station in the world.
I'm surprised WCBS has kept its mostly news format this long, being in the same stable as 1010 WINS.
Look at LA blowing up KFWB's news format.
In the case of WBZ, they stand alone in this market with mostly news, and with their ratings and legacy, they DON'T NEED infomercials. Yet with their a lot of their talent leaving either by firing or attrition, and their stories focusing on pop culture, their content seems to have dropped 50 IQ points , and their ratings .2 points every quarter for the past year.
And what's really maddening is, they will use the excuse of poor ratings at some point, as a false flag of sorts to justify cloning WBZ to WOR, WLW, and WTAM.
This kind of pattern is nothing new for Iheart as they have greedily purchased and ruined many excellent, high rated legacy stations .
As far as your argument goes, it's half baked and biased toward toward endorsing what sucks in the radio business.
Legacy doesn't pay the bills. YOU should know that. How many legacy stations in Boston are long gone because they couldn't make money? You tell me. Go through the honor roll.
The problem with the ratings for WBZ is the audience is all over 50. Not many advertisers want over-50, except for financial gurus and medical quacks. The good ratings keeps the medical shows away. But if the ratings drop, that's when the herbal remedies will start showing up.
How do you know what they need?
Oh, and Iheart just came in and " saved " WBZ. Does their .2 loss every quarter reflect directly correlate the over 50 crowd that listen to ALL NEWS dying, or turning off WBZ? My post was petty involved. You obviously can't read either. Are you an Iheart employee? That could explain it
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I do not claim to be "so informed"........ Hence asking the question since you made such a definitive statement.
I ask: How do you know what they need? And you responded with snark... Leading me to guess you have nothing to back up a definitive statement, while claiming to know.
(Note that I did not call you any names.)
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No, and as I said, this has nothing to do with iHeart. If Audacy or Bonneville owned the station, they'd do the same thing.
It really doesn't matter, since as I said most of the advertisers don't care about over 50. Except for the financial and medical ads.
What does that mean?
Norm,
When Westinghouse (owner of 1010 WINS) bought CBS (owner of WCBS Newsradio 880), a conscious decision was made to keep both news operations pretty much intact. And for the most part, Audacy hasn't tampered with the arrangement, either. There WAS some talk of combining the two newsrooms, but I don't have any inside info as to whether that occurred or not.
In LA, it was CBS who blew up KFWB's all-news format. The ratings were in the tank, primarily because in LA, a 5000-watt signal gets poor reception, due to all the high rises and the increase in electrical noise. KNX's 50,000 watts does nicely, however.
I do agree that WBZ has gotten fluffier with its newscasts' being heavy on pop culture content. I don't like it; I'm well over 50. If they're trying to reach a "younger" demo, they can pretty much forget it. That "younger" audience they crave is not going to sit through a news blocks. And we older folk are becoming disenchanted with the pop culture invading their newscasts. Not to mention the unfamiliar music during much of the morning news. Who picks this chrappe?
pop culture content is free, news content costs money
Take the fluff out of the BZ news wheel and how much news do you really get.
I'd love to see their "clock" with all the commercials and stuff factored in
Take the fluff out of the BZ news wheel and how much news do you really get.
I'd love to see their "clock" with all the commercials and stuff factored in
The issue with pop culture is that it's not interesting to men over a certain age. Which happens to be the median age of people who listen to news radio. They're no longer in that culture. They don't listen to current music or go to current movies. So they're less interested in the presentation, but they still listen, driving up the demo, and hurting the appeal of the station to advertisers. Which then leads the station being forced to run infomercials, which the older audience also dislikes. It's kind of a circular pattern that is being duplicated around the country.
So the station is doing the spoken word equivalent of shifting the music mix from 60s & 70s to 80s & 90s.
you are preaching to the choir Reverend Big A
who the fark are these artists that won the Grammy Awards this year.... Outside of Lady Gaga and Tony Benett, and maybe three others, I know none of them.... so whatever crap they are doing in their pathetic lives that keeps being pushed upon me by those culture, lifestyle and entertainment segments goes in one ear and out the other, assumong I have not hit the button back the the relative safe harbor of SXM channel 73
who the fark are these artists that won the Grammy Awards this year.... Outside of Lady Gaga and Tony Benett, and maybe three others, I know none of them.... so whatever crap they are doing in their pathetic lives that keeps being pushed upon me by those culture, lifestyle and entertainment segments goes in one ear and out the other, assumong I have not hit the button back the the relative safe harbor of SXM channel 73
And get off my lawn you young hooligans.
Seriously, this living in the past, and over romanticism of days gone by is actually, if unintentionally, comical. If someone can’t see how the world and business has changed over many decades, and why that means how businesses operate needs to change, that os just willful ignorance. Much like whining about not knowing who today’s performers are.
Seriously, this living in the past, and over romanticism of days gone by is actually, if unintentionally, comical. If someone can’t see how the world and business has changed over many decades, and why that means how businesses operate needs to change, that os just willful ignorance. Much like whining about not knowing who today’s performers are.
I'm not whining, I realize how out of touch I am with the money demographic.
People romanticize about all sorts of things.
As I have said in the past I am a hardcore gearhead.
Everyone wants to remember how great their 1969 (insert make and model of car here) muscle car was and how come we can't get them back
I work on those cars, or will be when I get back to NH in 2 weeks.
I used to rebuild engines in by driveway with a $50 dollar Craftsman tool set I got in 1970
On the sofa beside me as I type this is a Snap On Solus Legend bi-directional scanner, with the cables to get into the ECM of my motorcycle it set me back almost $4000 dollars.
95% of the time it is the first tool I have to get to work on any car built in the last 30 years.
Long gone are the days of a 9/16 socket and a ratchet being the tool you'd grab first.
Drive any 1969 car for any amount of time, and I get to drive some real nice ones... flawless bodies, restored interiors, and you will soon find out the brakes suck, they wander all over the road like a drunken sailor, they get crap gas mileage, and perform like a Lynn 10 ( better known as a 4 to the rest of us) at the Cabaret at lunch time.
Oh and the radios in new cars kick ass.
Radio.... would you rather work on some ancient tube transmitter or have a nice solid state unit that hums along with nary a problem? I'll take the newer technology TYVM
Same with cars and most motorcycles....
15 years ago I had to know the current artists, some background info, and their hits.... now I don't need to... I have enough trouble remembering all my passwords.
Businesses change, God knows Radio has, and I know what they must do to keep the tower lights on... I may not like it, but such are the economic realities of it.
In the good old days of auto repair, I could listen to a noise and based on experience give you a pretty accurate diagnosis of what was wrong and roughly the cost to repair it.
Same thing with accident damage, I could look at a damaged car and tell you it was going to be a $1500 dollar repair, or a $4000 dollar repair without opening the crash guide.
These days people scream when you tell them there is a minimum 1 hour charge to diagnose a car (which we will apply to the repair if you choose to have us do it).... I need to recover my time, equipment cost and software licensing fees which are not cheap.
"But AutoZone scans it for free! " well that is nice, have them fix the car. What the codes say and what is wrong with the car are two different things most of the time. That is the difference between a parts replacer and a technician. I love getting cars where they have tried to fix it themselves and I have to undo all their mistakes, and then start from scratch to do it right... (gee I put in a new O2 sensor and it didn't fix the problem like AutoZone said it would... no kidding Toyota computers will only work with OEM or Denso sensors, that 50 dollar Bosch one you had to splice in made the problem worse!)
Radio, especially AM radio is fighting for its very existence, just like small independent car repair shops. We are both a dying breed.
People romanticize about all sorts of things.
As I have said in the past I am a hardcore gearhead.
Everyone wants to remember how great their 1969 (insert make and model of car here) muscle car was and how come we can't get them back
I work on those cars, or will be when I get back to NH in 2 weeks.
I used to rebuild engines in by driveway with a $50 dollar Craftsman tool set I got in 1970
On the sofa beside me as I type this is a Snap On Solus Legend bi-directional scanner, with the cables to get into the ECM of my motorcycle it set me back almost $4000 dollars.
95% of the time it is the first tool I have to get to work on any car built in the last 30 years.
Long gone are the days of a 9/16 socket and a ratchet being the tool you'd grab first.
Drive any 1969 car for any amount of time, and I get to drive some real nice ones... flawless bodies, restored interiors, and you will soon find out the brakes suck, they wander all over the road like a drunken sailor, they get crap gas mileage, and perform like a Lynn 10 ( better known as a 4 to the rest of us) at the Cabaret at lunch time.
Oh and the radios in new cars kick ass.
Radio.... would you rather work on some ancient tube transmitter or have a nice solid state unit that hums along with nary a problem? I'll take the newer technology TYVM
Same with cars and most motorcycles....
15 years ago I had to know the current artists, some background info, and their hits.... now I don't need to... I have enough trouble remembering all my passwords.
Businesses change, God knows Radio has, and I know what they must do to keep the tower lights on... I may not like it, but such are the economic realities of it.
In the good old days of auto repair, I could listen to a noise and based on experience give you a pretty accurate diagnosis of what was wrong and roughly the cost to repair it.
Same thing with accident damage, I could look at a damaged car and tell you it was going to be a $1500 dollar repair, or a $4000 dollar repair without opening the crash guide.
These days people scream when you tell them there is a minimum 1 hour charge to diagnose a car (which we will apply to the repair if you choose to have us do it).... I need to recover my time, equipment cost and software licensing fees which are not cheap.
"But AutoZone scans it for free! " well that is nice, have them fix the car. What the codes say and what is wrong with the car are two different things most of the time. That is the difference between a parts replacer and a technician. I love getting cars where they have tried to fix it themselves and I have to undo all their mistakes, and then start from scratch to do it right... (gee I put in a new O2 sensor and it didn't fix the problem like AutoZone said it would... no kidding Toyota computers will only work with OEM or Denso sensors, that 50 dollar Bosch one you had to splice in made the problem worse!)
Radio, especially AM radio is fighting for its very existence, just like small independent car repair shops. We are both a dying breed.
Re Dan Rea:
>>Yes, he belongs on WRKO along with most of the other LOCAL bloviators
WRKO goes syndie after 7 pm. Technically Howie is syndie too tho RKO is considered the flagship
(syndicated by HC Radio Network). In the past
RKO had local talk shows after 7 pm, like Two Chicks Dishing, VB (before he went to 25) etc but now they figure not enough are listening. Rea does air on WBZ and they used to have overnight talk with Bradley Jay; now it's rehashed news.
So in terms of weekdays, Rea is the only talker they have. If they moved him to RKO what takes his place...more rehashed news? (They figure the news audience is home after 7 or 8 pm and there's local TV).
Syndie shows? iHeart already has 1200 for that.
They have no sports play by play...
Rea must have some listeners and advertiser appeal.
Btw I saw a repro of a 1978 RadioWaves (local radio listings magazine) for 1510 WITS and it said Jerry Williams would air at nights "if no Red Sox or Bruins". He must have gotten a lot of pre- emptions. I recall Brudnoy saying "tomorrow night we have an Exciting Hockey Game", so he got his share of pre emptions. Same thing when Bruds was at WRKO, yielding to the Celtics.
Some years ago I saw an old T bus at Seashore Trolley Museum in ME. There were ads for RKO and their Brudnoy and Williams shows and the slogan "Talks a Great Game"--meaning Celts or Red Sox play by play..and more talk show pre-emptions.
RKO was Sox flagship for awhile and Howie's last hour was often pre empted by Sox pregame. He told listeners to go to WCRN 830 for rest of his show.
Aug 2009: Entercom had most Sox games on WRKO and a select few on WEEI 850. Along came the Sports Hub. Suddenly all Sox games went to 850...[and 93.7 in '11)
>>Yes, he belongs on WRKO along with most of the other LOCAL bloviators
WRKO goes syndie after 7 pm. Technically Howie is syndie too tho RKO is considered the flagship
(syndicated by HC Radio Network). In the past
RKO had local talk shows after 7 pm, like Two Chicks Dishing, VB (before he went to 25) etc but now they figure not enough are listening. Rea does air on WBZ and they used to have overnight talk with Bradley Jay; now it's rehashed news.
So in terms of weekdays, Rea is the only talker they have. If they moved him to RKO what takes his place...more rehashed news? (They figure the news audience is home after 7 or 8 pm and there's local TV).
Syndie shows? iHeart already has 1200 for that.
They have no sports play by play...
Rea must have some listeners and advertiser appeal.
Btw I saw a repro of a 1978 RadioWaves (local radio listings magazine) for 1510 WITS and it said Jerry Williams would air at nights "if no Red Sox or Bruins". He must have gotten a lot of pre- emptions. I recall Brudnoy saying "tomorrow night we have an Exciting Hockey Game", so he got his share of pre emptions. Same thing when Bruds was at WRKO, yielding to the Celtics.
Some years ago I saw an old T bus at Seashore Trolley Museum in ME. There were ads for RKO and their Brudnoy and Williams shows and the slogan "Talks a Great Game"--meaning Celts or Red Sox play by play..and more talk show pre-emptions.
RKO was Sox flagship for awhile and Howie's last hour was often pre empted by Sox pregame. He told listeners to go to WCRN 830 for rest of his show.
Aug 2009: Entercom had most Sox games on WRKO and a select few on WEEI 850. Along came the Sports Hub. Suddenly all Sox games went to 850...[and 93.7 in '11)
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I wouldn't be surprised if WBZ eventually replaces the rest of the Morgan White, Jr. Show with infomercials, or even replaces news between 10 A.M. and 6 P.M. on Saturdays and between 12 Noon and 6 P.M. on Sundays (except for five minutes on the hour and headlines on the half hour) with infomercials.
I wouldn't be surprised either. It's unfortunate, and the sad state of today's radio, but as a station, you have to keep the lights on somehow.
Prior to mid-1999, 'BZ ran live sports talk during those hours on weekends. Then JFK Jr's plane went down, and away went the sports programming shortly thereafter. CBS figured putting news on during the day, at least, on weekends might be the thing to do.
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