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Robert Feder Has Heard Enough Of FM News 101.1

DToTheJ said:
"If this doesn't go down as the worst product launch in the history of Chicago radio, nothing will..."
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Feder must not remember the infamous elevator music format with Larry Lujack on WCFL in 1976. ;D
 
DToTheJ said:
And Feder would kindly suggest that you "go to Hell". :D
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I'd totally forgotten about that one, mostly because I quit listening to 94.7 when WDAI switched to Disco many years before.
 
KeithE4 said:
DToTheJ said:
"If this doesn't go down as the worst product launch in the history of Chicago radio, nothing will..."
Click to expand...

Feder must not remember the infamous elevator music format with Larry Lujack on WCFL in 1976. ;D
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At least 'CFL in its elevator music days was good for something. Even though that "something" happened to be insomnia.
 
radioman148 said:
WCFL in those days I believe was the lowest rated 50KW station in any market.
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I know they were later on, when they tried an adult standards format. But when they finally conceded the Top 40 market to WLS & WDHF in March 1976, they were down but not at the bottom, IIRC.
 
KeithE4 said:
radioman148 said:
WCFL in those days I believe was the lowest rated 50KW station in any market.
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I know they were later on, when they tried an adult standards format. But when they finally conceded the Top 40 market to WLS & WDHF in March 1976, they were down but not at the bottom, IIRC.
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That's what I meant. The ratings disaster was definitely not during WCFL's Rock era.
 
radioman148 said:
But when they finally conceded the Top 40 market to WLS & WDHF in March 1976, they were down but not at the bottom, IIRC.
Click to expand...

That's what I meant. The ratings disaster was definitely not during WCFL's Rock era.
[/quote]

In all seriousness, I'm sure they had to have been thinking that could fill a void in the market....at least on the AM dial. But the fact is when they "conceded to WLS and WDHF" they at least had desirable demos. What they wound up with when they flipped was a double whammy....worse ratings and less desirable demo. Plus they still had to pay Lujack.

I'd certainly have to give this my vote as the all time biggest disaster....although the Merlin disaster with 101.1 is right up there with it. At least the way things have played out so far. I'm not joking when I say that the mess that's been created is downright painful to listen to.
 
cyberdad said:
radioman148 said:
But when they finally conceded the Top 40 market to WLS & WDHF in March 1976, they were down but not at the bottom, IIRC.
Click to expand...

That's what I meant. The ratings disaster was definitely not during WCFL's Rock era.
Click to expand...

In all seriousness, I'm sure they had to have been thinking that could fill a void in the market....at least on the AM dial. But the fact is when they "conceded to WLS and WDHF" they at least had desirable demos. What they wound up with when they flipped was a double whammy....worse ratings and less desirable demo. Plus they still had to pay Lujack.

I'd certainly have to give this my vote as the all time biggest disaster....although the Merlin disaster with 101.1 is right up there with it. At least the way things have played out so far. I'm not joking when I say that the mess that's been created is downright painful to listen to.
[/quote]

And the other part of that disaster was that when Lujack went to WLS six months later in Sept 1976, CFL still picked up most of his salary.
 
Does anyone really listen to Feder anymore? He is an old lonely man who has held grudges through the years against anyone who doesn't kiss his ass.
 
RadioVeep said:
Does anyone really listen to Feder anymore? He is an old lonely man who has held grudges through the years against anyone who doesn't kiss his ass.
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One account to a customer, Randy.
 
RadioVeep said:
Does anyone really listen to Feder anymore? He is an old lonely man who has held grudges through the years against anyone who doesn't kiss his ass.
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Yeah I listen to him and think he's right on especially regarding 101.1.
 
RadioVeep said:
Does anyone really listen to Feder anymore? He is an old lonely man who has held grudges through the years against anyone who doesn't kiss his ass.
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The man (Feder) should be judged by his body of work....which is considerable and very good. Like all of us, he may be subject to his foibles and prejudices, but his views and observations have proven spot-on most of the time.

No, I sometimes don't like or agree with what he has to say, but we're fortunate to have him.
 
OK how about Cumulus take over WIQI-FM, WEMP-FM and Keep the all-news format but make it more like WINS-AM and have more ABC-I content and make WLS run with the ABC-E affiliation.
 
Okay, I'm just one guy. I don't know squat and my opinion is worth even less than squat, but I'm having a hard time understanding why we need more than one news outlet. And I'm an ex-journalist news junkie.

We've already got all news on WBBM-AM and all in-depth news during drive times on WBEZ. Plus we've got round-the-clock analysis of the news on the talk stations. Plus at least five live news channels on satellite radio, along with scads more news stations from all over the world available online.

Is there a clamor for still more all-news product? Did I miss that memo?

Yes, I'm aware that there are two long established all news radio outlets in New York and Los Angeles. (At least until KFWB gets put out its misery in La-La land). But, hey,...this is Chicago. We don't do the wave at Cubs games and we don't put ketchup on our hot dogs! We also tried having two local commercial all news stations here twice before.

Neither experiment lasted very long.
 
cyberdad said:
Yes, I'm aware that there are two long established all news radio outlets in New York and Los Angeles. (At least until KFWB gets put out its misery in La-La land). But, hey,...this is Chicago. We don't do the wave at Cubs games and we don't put ketchup on our hot dogs! We also tried having two local commercial all news stations here twice before.

Neither experiment lasted very long.
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Granted, McLendon circled the wagons and brought in the easy listening format at WNUS (and XETRA) rather than fight CBS' superior firepower in both Chicago and southern California, but WMAQ hung around for over a decade, was very competitive to WBBM during the Gulf War (thanks to the CNN affiliation) and if not for CBS/Infinity wanting to put the Score on a 50kw clear channel, would still be around as all-news today.

I've now given Michaels and Co. a year and am pretty convinced that their concept of all-news is not working, but spoken word radio is migrating to FM and will have to peacefully co-exist with the music stations. It's inevitable.
 
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