New York's Danny Stiles on WRCA

[DanStrassberg]

I was spinning the dial on my analog-tuned AM receiver last night (Friday 8/17) at 9:50PM, when I came across some interesting sounding music--probably from the '40s. When the selection ended, there was the voice of Metro New York old-music legend and radio huckster extraordinaire on brokered-time WRCA 1330. "What the...?," I said to myself, "Would Stiles actually buy time on a Boston brokered-time station? Or is this a program Stiles maybe recorded years ago that WRCA is airing one time only to fill some unsold time?"

The answer appears to be that Stiles is trying to spread his wings outside of the New York market. Based on the announcements I heard at the end of the show, he is looking for "underwriters" for the Boston broadcast and his deal with Beasley may well include brokered-time stations in other markets. Both the appeal for underwriters and the mentions of WRCA and Beasley Broadcast Group were obviously custom jobs that Stiles voiced personally for Beasley.

My question now is, is this a half-hour once-a-week broadcast, an hour once a week, an hour each night M-F, more? If I remember, I will call WRCA on Monday and try to find out. WRCA is sure not going to spend money to promote the show, so if it is to succeed, Stiles will have to spend more than just the cost of the air time or he is going to need some incredible word-of-mouth (or word of mouse) from a demographic that isn't much into such things.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

The answer appears to be that Stiles is trying to spread his wings outside of the New York market. Based on the announcements I heard at the end of the show, he is looking for "underwriters" for the Boston broadcast and his deal with Beasley may well include brokered-time stations in other markets. Both the appeal for underwriters and the mentions of WRCA and Beasley Broadcast Group were obviously custom jobs that Stiles voiced personally for Beasley.

I used to LOVE listening to the sorts of music that Danny Stiles played back when I was able to hear his broadcast on NYC's 820 WNYC. It's the sort of music that just can't get played anymore except in a non-comm setting, or, in this case, a brokered-time situation.

Unfortunately, WRCA is not an option for me, since, I live too close to the transmitting facilities of another of New England's brokered-time horror shows......1320 WARL, desperately trying to serve greater Providence from North Attleboro MA.

Back to Stiles briefly, I wonder if it wouldn't have made more sense for him to try to hammer out a deal with one of the many program syndicators or satellite radio networks out there. One could easily imagine a network like USA, or Accent, or the like putting on a specialty show like that on the weekend somewhere.

 

[DanStrassberg]

My question now is, is this a half-hour once-a-week broadcast, an hour once a week, an hour each night M-F, more? If I remember, I will call WRCA on Monday and try to find out. WRCA is sure not going to spend money to promote the show, so if it is to succeed, Stiles will have to spend more than just the cost of the air time or he is going to need some incredible word-of-mouth (or word of mouse) from a demographic that isn't much into such things.

I called WRCA yesterday and spoke with GM Stu Fink. WRCA is carrying Stiles to fill unsold time. It's pretty clear that Fink likes Stiles' kind of music and is glad to squeeze it in when he has the opportunity, but the schedule is erratic and will continue to be unless Fink can sell the show. This week, Stiles was on last night at 2:00AM and will be on tomorrow (Friday 8/24) at 9:00PM and Saturday (8/25) at 11:00PM. All three programs are one hour long and all three are different. Stiles also streams 24/7 via his New York area station, WNSW. The stream must be voicetracked. You can pick it up at www.dannystiles.com. Fink says that Stiles loves to talk with listeners and you can reach him by phone at 212-625-2902. According to Fink, he's there a lot of the time.