It'll be interesting to see if they launch a national classic rock morning show. They have one now in most other formats.
As of today, they have openings in Boston, DC, and Seattle.
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Rich Shertenlieb Show on WZLX
- Thread starter Jacko
- Start date
It'll be interesting to see if they launch a national classic rock morning show. They have one now in most other formats.
As of today, they have openings in Boston, DC, and Seattle.
Yes, I did see the publicly available AQH share beauty pageant results. The 3.8 and 3.7 occurred immediately after he first arrived.
The station had been near or a bit above a 5 share prior to his arrival.
The 4.9 was a decent result and occurred prior to Rock 92.9's de facto demise, so it did seem things were getting back on track, depending on in-demo results.
Regarding my "bait and switch" remark, I wasn't referring to his decision to leave the Toucher Show. I was referring to his decision to join iHM. Those are technically two separate events.
You called it a "bait & switch." I'm confused by that. At the time, Rich was unemployed. It's not like they talked him out of a job at Beasley. He had no job, they hired him for a music station. Where's the bait & switch? He explained the offer he got pretty clearly.
I think some people expected him to show up at WEEI. Maybe that'll happen now. He may have a clause in his separation agreement with Beasley that says he can't work at a competing sports station for a certain period. That's not uncommon.
MassMusicMan
Banned
The only valid numbers for your argument are P (or M) 25-54, 6A-10A, Mon-Fri.
Anything else is a waste of our time and yours.
WZLX is #3 25-54. WBZ-FM is #1. Mix is #2. WROR is #4.
I'll attempt to clarify what I meant.
They presumably approached him for the WZLX job, and he expressed interest. The two sides presumably discussed (and agreed upon) the general format of the show, compensation, resources, etc. He was under the impression it would be a talk show or mostly a talk show and that he would have a supporting cast.
Not long into his tenure, management says "you have to play a bunch of music during your show now ". He more or less said on social media that's not the job he signed up for, or at least was inconsistent with his vision for the show.
Ultimately it was Iheart’s show, he just hosted it.
If you listen to other iHeart morning shows, they all have "supporting casts" and they do a lot of talk. I think the disagreement was over how much sports he was talking about. And if you read the first page or so of comments in this thread, you'll see that the audience didn't care for it either. That adding more music helped, but even as late as last month, there were still complaints about the theme of the show. It sounds to me that they had an "out" clause in their contract and they exercised it. If he wants to do a sports show, maybe he should work at a sports station. Now he's free to do what he wants.
Ironically, Toucher & Rich made their name at 99X and WBCN, both alternative rock stations. It's not like he doesn't know how to work around music to entertain.
…and the timing of todays (company wide) events was just a coincidence.
That's probably what iHeart thought too.
Fred Toucher: ‘I’m Not Surprised and I’m Very Happy’ Rich Shertenlieb Was Let Go by iHeartMedia | Barrett Media
Fred Toucher addressed his former partner Rich Shertenlieb getting let go by iHeartMedia on his 98.5 The Sports Hub morning show in Boston.
barrettmedia.com
You can search the multiple threads here on the story. Here's just one:
Boston's highly-rated ‘Toucher & Rich' show on 98.5 The Sports Hub has come to an end
It appears the highly-rated “Toucher & Rich” morning radio show on 98.5 The Sports Hub is no longer. On Thursday, co-host Rich Shertenlieb raised eybrows when he posted on the official Toucher & Rich X social media account that he was no longer maintaining it. He also posted a similar message on...
www.nbcboston.com
MassMusicMan
Banned
People like Fleetwood Mac. They also like Elton John.
They fit sonically next to other classic rock titles if you massage the log correctly. WZLX is not a meathead rock station, and that's why they've won for decades.
It boils down to which songs get played, period. For a classic rock station, it should be "Hypnotized," yes; "Don't Stop," no. "Madman Across the Water," yes; "Crocodile Rock," no. For classic hits, the reverse. The bigger issue is when those '70s titles finally age out of both formats. Fleetwood Mac has '80s material that could still fit a classic rock format for another decade, while Elton John became a pure pop artist in that decade and may not have anything left for classic rock stations to play without sounding too old.
Fred Toucher says he’s “very happy that backstabber Rich Shertenlieb lost his job”.
Here's a more sane, and likely reason... from Boston com
The reasons for Rich Shertenlieb’s show already getting the axe at WZLX are not complicated
Ratings were dismal, and nothing Rich Shertenlieb did with the program suggested it was going to get better, Chad Finn wrote.
www.boston.com
It's by the same writer as the article in the OP. He could have done an "I told you so."
What the article doesn't say is if there were other things, such as the personality issues Fred was talking about.
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