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One Less Local Progressive Talk Host

F

fred flintstone

Guest
All Access said:
Joe Finan Exits Radio Free Ohio/Akron
CLEAR CHANNEL Talk WARF-A (RADIO FREE OHIO)/AKRON drops longtime local talker JOE FINAN's show and expands JONES' STEPHANIE MILLER and AIR AMERICA RADIO's AL FRANKEN an hour each. The move means that WARF has no local weekday programming.
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Long-time Cleveland-Akron area broadcaster Finian came out of retirement several months ago to do this show. No explanation from Finian or Clear Channel. However, the Akron Summer Arbitron book came out last week. Likely, 2nd quarter sales figures were in hand, as well. WARF just made it into whole numbers for its 12+ AQH share (the best in the past year). But maybe, as in San Francisco, Steph was stronger - and cheaper. WARF's share is more than double Salem's in the Akron market, although it still is the number four talker in a five talker market (local talk on FM dominates the talk arena in the Rubber City).
 
fred flintstone said:
Long-time Cleveland-Akron area broadcaster Finian came out of retirement several months ago to do this show. No explanation from Finian or Clear Channel. However, the Akron Summer Arbitron book came out last week. Likely, 2nd quarter sales figures were in hand, as well. WARF just made it into whole numbers for its 12+ AQH share (the best in the past year). But maybe, as in San Francisco, Steph was stronger - and cheaper. WARF's share is more than double Salem's in the Akron market, although it still is the number four talker in a five talker market (local talk on FM dominates the talk arena in the Rubber City).
Click to expand...

You probably got this item from allaccess.com. Did you notice that four other talk radio personalities got the axe according to todays issue of allaccess.com

News reporters BETHANN SHAFFER and REAGAN SMITH and host MARC DANIELS have exited CLEAR CHANNEL Talk WFLF-A
STEVE EGAN was canned at Sports WQTM-A (740 THE TEAM).
ABC Talk WBAP-A/DALLAS evening host DAVID GOLD was shown to door.

It's not a good time to be a local talk show host.
 
I wonder if CC is trying to slim down. Rumor has it the Mays family is shopping the company. As a result, the stock has been shooting up in a rather dismal radio market.
 
Even Cheaper Channel

They've been slimming down their station portfolio.
Not surprising for them to cut personnel, also.
The Mays need cash to buy back the stock (even at current lower share prices - sell high; buy back low).
The stock market is a huge con game.
The Mays gave themselves a special class of stock so they always retained most of the voting rights.
When they sold the public stock, people paid a good deal more than the Mays are paying now to buy it back. (Could this have been the plan all along. Oh, no!)
There are two ways the Mays can get cash.
They can sell properties (which they are already doing and will probably continue to do).
They can borrow money (which they will probably do, too).
Borrowing money means they probably will look for all sorts of ways to cut operating expenses so they have money to pay off the loans.
Programming is a cost center; sales is a profit center.
So fewer people, more automation, more voice-tracking.
CC is in a contraction mode, not an expansion mode.
This would explain why they do not appear to making moves to get into progressive talk syndication (either launching new shows or acquiring AAR).
CC has been able to get into operating progressive talk stations because they have a surplus of stations; they can afford to try out progressive talk (or any untried format) with 25 out of more than 1200 stations.
It remains to be see whether a leaner, meaner, cheaper, greedier for profit "family-owned" Clear Channel will be willing or able to do that.
 
And since we were invoked :)

A thought here: It was an interesting experiment, coaxing Joe out of retirement and taking advantage of his name amongst liberal radio listeners.

Finan's 20-plus year run on FM talker WNIR/100.1 was as a firmly-established liberal host. He was a unapologetic liberal host unafraid to say the word, long before the concept was brought forth as a full-fledged national format with syndicated hosts.

A bit of the backstory here, that those outside the area may not know...in that 3-7 PM slot on WNIR, Finan followed long-time established mainly-conservative host Howie Chizek. Even the most casual listener would realize that Howie and Joe didn't get along, both on and off the air.

When Clear Channel approached him after his retirement from WNIR, he was likely itching to get back on the air and throw it at Howie.

The reality is that the two-hour midday "wedge" slot (between Steph and Al) and the economics of doing a talk radio format that still is trying to prove itself in the market, in a market the size of Akron... meant...the Joe Finan Show is no longer on "Radio Free Ohio".

Joe is also no spring chicken, as he'd admit himself (he's well into his 70's, if not over 80). I get the feeling there was a generational disconnect between Steph's and Al's listeners and Joe. Especially Steph, who probably skews younger than either of the other hosts.
 
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