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Randall Bloomquist

C

CaptnKarl

Guest
Looking for opinions hereRandall Bloomquist is:A) A true visionary who is just making tough decisions.B) A total idiot who thinks he is a true visionary.
 
That's pretty funny! He's a writer (former N/T editor for R&R) who has had no measurable success anywhere in his storied career. WBT Charlotte, only N/T in town, never cracked the Top 10 24-54, no competition in Richmond, same result, followed by a "real" success story at WMAL Washington where the station ranked 15 and below. Now for the first time with competition, the mighty GST ranks 22nd in the money demo. With no ratings and well below market revenue share, his only job is slice and dice to cut expenses. "Visionary?" that would require coming up with a strategy to win, I wouldn't hold your breath.
 
I vote for (a) True Visionary. Look at all the women he's elevated.
 
Interesting to note that Bloomquist's PD experience has all been in markets with large African-American populations. Those are the kinds of markets where conservative talk has historically underperformed.
 
You're right, 98% of the 45% of adults ages 25-54 who no longer listen to WGST thanks to Bloomquist are white.Interesting to note how Boortz and Hannity "underperform" in a market with a "large African American population".
 
A post on another thread indicates that Bloomquist is following orders from Mark Chase. If this is the case, they are both idiots.The fact is that GST cannot deliver enough audience to support the Braves contract. 96Rock is (or was) a decent classic rock station and not a good fit for MLB and sports/talk. What are they thinking?My opinion is that Clear Channel management is the problem, not on-air talent. They don’t have a clue. I think it’s time for some changes there.
 
Another way of looking at this whole thing is that, at the very least, Bloomquist is doing what clearly has needed to be done for a while...he's blowing up an unlistenable station. Now, is he going about it the right way? Eh, probably not. But clearly he's doing away with the Kimmer (good move) and it's only a matter of time for Denny Schaefer too. Everyone talks about what a bad station that is and it does appear something's being done about it...just not very quickly. What needs to happen is they have to dump the call letters, imaging, everything, and re-build it as something different (depending on what their Braves contract allows them do). And if they can't do it quickly they should sell it to Cumulus. Cumulus will tear it down in a heartbeat.
 
So many complain about the Kimmer, but let me ask this. Who do you think would succeed in that slot against Hannity? If you were PD, who would you plug in there? I say WGST is in a no win situation. While the Kimmer's numbers are lacking, he is well know in this market. Let him go and bring in someone totally new and iit has yet another failure written all over it. Same with Shaffer. Bottom line is that since Hannity, WGST has never had anyone to really compete against WSB. I personally would like to see some competition in this market, instead of just saying the old tired line of "blowing the place up".
 
There’s always the problem of weak signal as well. Most of Atlanta will never wake up to GST on their clock radios because they can’t powerup ‘till dawn. I was a regular listener in the mid 90’s when they were on 105.7, but they lost me when I had to switch to AM.WSB will always rule Atlanta’s AM band with or without the Braves because they are the only “clear channel” in town.
 
Re: Kimmer solution

I agree Kimmer still has some name value in this town but the rest of his pieces have eroded away. I say retire the King and make Kimmer the morning drive guy. Sign Jimmy Baron as your afternoon guy. when the Morning X was at it's best Jimmy played the role of the irritant. Jimmy is no conservative(save me the comments about his wife and Ralph Reed) and would offer an alternate voice from Hannioty in drive time instead of Kimmer's rah rah type of conservatism that comes with very little substance. It seems weak compared to Hannity. Baron also has more name recognition than Kimmer does in this market.
 
Here's also why that's not a half bad idea: GST is never going to compete against SB by being another conservative talk station. Neal, Sean, Savage, and Krok are a great line-up. GST needs to do something completely different. Make it more of a pop culture/lifestyle driven station for men (kind of like what Free Fm is). Jimmy would be perfect for that kind of format, which is probably why CBS has been auditioning him in the first place.
 
What I don't understand is GST has the (supposedly) the most valuable asset in talk radio (Rush) and they still tank! The reason I say supposedly is he was all the hype in the 90s .... but not now.
 
Look, Rush does well in every market exept this one.As for the King Tom Hughes, I have read this board for months without saying anything.Tom has been in this market since GST went all news in 78. Do any of you idiots on this board remember 1978, or were born in 1978. Radio was radio in 1978. OK. Lets get that straight right now before any of you a holes respond to this.The best numbers GST had were in the mid 80's and early 90's. High 4's and 5's in am drive. It was the same weak signal in the am and pm. Maybe the Braves in the early 90's helped, but Hughes was the same guy he is now. The real Mike Wheeler was in charge. Ok. they kicked SB's ass in morning drive. OK. Hughes was joined by Bob Coxe and Harry Beadle in newsroom. Steve Holeman was sports and a big part of the show. They were the regular guys before the regular guys. Ok. Boortz was still on the station. Clark Howard was on the station. They still cared about the product. Eric Seidel was there. It was a real radio station. They let all those good people go and brought in somebody like the Kimmer. (let go at sb for sexual harsment) ok get it? A loser in the first degree. Boortz left, Clark left, Ok. Today in 2006 if you put Tom Hughes in place on Ted Baxter (sorry i mean Scott Slade) WSB would have the same # 1 ranking. If you put Baxter (I mean Slade) at GST with that weak line-up you would be calling for his scalp. Do you all understand this? It is basic radio. Figure it out. Good Night and Good Luck. End of discussion.
 
Yes, I remember ’78. I started listening to Boortz on Ring. I listened to GST on 920.70sdj raises some good points. Despite the weak signal, GST did put up some good numbers in the late 80’s and 90’s. I have to point the finger at poor management decisions for GST’s slide in ratings. I believe that Clear Channel is the worst thing to happen to Atlanta since Sherman. Well, at least radio in Atlanta.
 
Re: Randall Bloomquist . . . Kimmer Gone?

Boortz is speculating on air that The Kimmer is gone. Anyone else think that Bloomie is sharpening his axe?
 
We have broadcasr de-wreck-ulation to thank!!

The slide really started when Jacor went into acquisition mode in 1996.It was the beginning of a new era in radio.....one management group trying to manage hundres of radio stations. There was much speculation that it was too much for one group to handle.....and I think experience has taught us exactly that!Randy Micheals, for all his brilliance, was unable to sail these uncharted waters. And so it has been a learning process ever since.....some companies have done better than others. Those who have implemented the "franchise formula" have created some profitability.(ClearChannel does cookie cutter radio)But it has been a STEEP learning curve and the path is littered with dead bodys.Broadcast deregulation is the worst single event in the last 50 years. Broadcast service to the public is a joke.....broadcast has a singular purpose....to create profitability for shareholders. Public interest and service is only a "profitability" consideration.....that is, serve the public if there is money to be made.And for those of us in the industry.....well, it has been interesting. There have been changes(i.e. voice tracking, station consolidation) which have eliminated jobs. It is almost impossible to find a small station to practice your chops on....most have been swallowed by large media groups or are voicetracked. No need for beginners anymore!It is time to break up the big companies and limit ownership. This is not because of profits....this is because it is in the public interest. COMPETITION is good....we need more than 5-6 companies for EFFECTIVE competition.
 
Excellent points. The REAL SLIDE started when Clear Channel replaced Randy Michaels with John Hogan, one of the more baffling moves in radio history.
 
Kimmer's gone. Who will Mr. Randy fire or run off next?Will GST sink to a .000002 share?Will 96Rock change to 96Talk?
 
I can tell you there is no great love for this man in Charlotte, way too much crash and burn. He ran off some great talents at WBT. Two that I can think of are John Hancock who returned and Mike Collins who went to the local public radio station.
 
All I can say here is:Back in 2002, I took a week of vacation and drove to Virginia Beach to visit our stepson who was in the Navy at the time. Driving through Richmond at 12 noon on Saturday (the daypart that has the highest cume of the week in many markets), I listened to 50kw flamethrower WRVA, which was under Bloomquist's watch at the time. Over the course of two hours, I heard nothing even approximating a local newscast, current temperature or even a time check. I heard sloppy handoffs from element to element due to poorly executed computer commands. I heard dead air, and lots of it. I have heard better formatic execution in the hills of Arkansas than I heard on Richmond's "big one" that day. Not long after that, he gets the WMAL gig. And now, WGST.My question is, who's suit is emptier? His, or the guy that hired him?
 
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