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Rush On WOR: What Are The Odds?

DToTheJ

DToTheJ

Now that WOR is airing Glenn Beck and, soon, Coast To Coast, the next Premiere Radio-syndicated show whose future in New York City is up in the air is Rush Limbaugh.

(No, not physically - he sold his NYC apartment recently. ;D )

From what I understand, Rush's contract is up with WABC this year, if not next year. Clear Channel could choose not to let another station carry the show, let alone allow WABC to re-up with Rush, and start their own news/talk station on FM, as they have done in other markets. Yet, their current FM cluster in NYC is performing well across the board. With CC's good relationship with Buckley/WOR, what are the odds that Rush could end up on WOR, right after Beck?
 
As long as Clear Channel keeps the talk on AM I don't think anyone involved want to try to fix what isn't broken. WABC is Limbaugh's flagship station, he is crucial as a lead-in for Sean Hannity and Limbaugh is associated with WABC in N.Y.
 
Indeed, WABC is the main affiliate for Rush's show - yet, that didn't stop CC from severing ties with longtime affiliates in Boston and Raleigh, among some markets, in taking back Rush and using it for their own new station. Of course, as mentioned above, CC is in good shape on the FM side... but anything is possible at this point...

And it helps that current WABC employee - longtime WABC employee, I might add - Johnny Donovan assists with the show, with his imaging and production. Hmmm... can you imagine him doing imaging for "the new WOR"?
 
Couple things...

First, it's hard to imagine Clear Channel blowing up any of their FMs to start a new Rush-centric talk station, simply because all their current stations do very well in their target demos and killing any of them creates far more risk than reward. Rush's talk skews older than anything they have on the FM dial now and wouldn't sell as well.

WOR, on the other hand, does make sense--IF the Buckley Broadcasting organization, which has already been downsizing lately, opts to cash out completely and sell WOR to Clear Channel. Then, CC could use WOR to carry out the same game plan for NYC that they have for other blowtorch AM signals they control in markets like Cleveland, San Antonio and Rochester. The formula involves a strong local morning show without a lot of hard-sell partisan content (in New York's case Gambling), combined with a lot of Premiere Networks right-wing talk product to fill out the rest of the day. Rush could be the centerpiece of it like he is in a lot of Clear Channel's other markets. The resulting package would still skew a lot older than the FMs in the cluster but might get enough overall 12+ circulation to bring in some extra $$$ over and above what WOR gets now for the Buckleys. It'd get CC, and WOR under their control, the carriage they want in Market # 1.

I don't know that this will happen, but the Buckleys' disinvestment in local and WOR Network program production we're seeing, and their total bail-out of secondary markets like Syracuse, indicates the whole operation may well be up on the block...and CC looks like the logical buyer for WOR.

What does that mean for WABC? Possibly the loss of both their 12-3 and 3-6 programs, since both Rush and Hannity are Premiere offerings and would probably be moved over to a Clear Channel property at the earliest opportunity. Bad news in the short run for WABC. In the long run? Either serious trouble from noon on, or an opportunity to retool and shoot for a younger demo closer to advertisers' 35-54 demographic sweet spot, which these guys by and large no longer hit like they once did.
 
Bob1370 said:
What does that mean for WABC?
Click to expand...

The new ESPN New York affiliate? ;)

I know. I know. Why wasn't that done when Disney still owned 770? I don't think they were that perceptive or thought that a clear-channel AM station would be useful to start a legitimate challenge to WFAN. And 770 was already going strong with news/talk but Disney still sold it. Now if your scenario becomes true and we do see the big migration of Rush/Sean to 710 then I think 770 may start begging for the ESPN affiliation (with that the rights to broadcast the Rangers, Knicks and Jets). I don't know if contract language between Citahell and Disney allows that to happen, though.

As for WOR, I think it would be ironic if Rush goes to the station that used to have Joy Behar and Larry King on the air.
 
When was the last time CC spent money to buy a radio station? It's been a few years. Sure they've made a few trades, but I don't know that Buckley wants to trade for any markets. Interesting that they don't own an AM in NYC, and it would be a good signal to own. Seven years ago...maybe. But I don't see the investors who now own CC spending any money for new properties when they've got a couple hundred still on the block. That time has passed. But it's fun to speculate.
 
Let's see if I can cover all of the bases here...

Bob: It will be interesting to see how WRKO performs with their new local offering to replace Rush...

Harry: Someone commented on another radio board (the NYRMB, if I'm not mistaken) and commented - if not speculated - that WABC's contract was up with Rush soon; it came up in discussion when WABC dropped "Coast to Coast," IIRC...

Stationless Listener: I believe it was Rush's current station (WABC) that gave Behar a radio show...

Big A: While CC has been selling more often than buying in recent years, how could you not seize the opportunity to purchase a blowtorch like WOR in the No. 1 market? Of course, going back to Bob's point, that is if Buckley is inclined to sell...

INSIDE-THE-PARK GRAND SLAM! ;D
 
ShadowFan said:
...nothing would change without Rush's OK.
Click to expand...

Well, I'm hoping that if CC had any intention of moving Rush's show to WOR from WABC, they might want to let him know on this front, since WABC is technically his "flagship" station (in quotes now, but served its purpose for many years across the EIB network).
 
stationless listener said:
Bob1370 said:
What does that mean for WABC?
Click to expand...

The new ESPN New York affiliate? ;)

I know. I know. Why wasn't that done when Disney still owned 770? I don't think they were that perceptive or thought that a clear-channel AM station would be useful to start a legitimate challenge to WFAN. And 770 was already going strong with news/talk but Disney still sold it. Now if your scenario becomes true and we do see the big migration of Rush/Sean to 710 then I think 770 may start begging for the ESPN affiliation (with that the rights to broadcast the Rangers, Knicks and Jets). I don't know if contract language between Citahell and Disney allows that to happen, though.

As for WOR, I think it would be ironic if Rush goes to the station that used to have Joy Behar and Larry King on the air.
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm thinking crazy thoughts, but why would WQEW and WEPN not swap formats? At least place ESPN Radio on a frequency that's not hampered by too many first and second-adjacent signals (not to mention fellow directional 50kWer CHUM/Toronto). Plus there is a precedent, as Disney already did such a thing years ago in Los Angeles.

I would presume it wasn't an option as long as NYT was still the licensee of WQEW, but that hasn't been the case for several years. Disney owns both stations outright, and could do such a move.

Sorry for the divergence over the actual thread... :-[
 
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