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SAD DAY FOR ATLANTA RADIO

D

DiamondDave

Neal Boortz bid farewell to his loyal audience today just before Noon. His final phone
call was from his wife Donna, otherwise known as "The Queen". Not only will guys like me miss hearing him every day, but his sponsors and affiliates will immediately feel the pain starting Monday when Herman Cain takes over the 9am-Noon slot on WSB and the syndicated network. I hope Pete Spriggs who runs WSB reads this post. Pete made a huge mistake putting Herman Cain on the air to "replace" Boortz. He is the wrong person for the job.
I would bet that in about a month, affiliates will drop off the network like dead flies, and
that the ratings will go into the toilet. Then the advertisers will run for the hills, and Pete
Spriggs will know he has made a serious mistake. Best of Luck Neal. You are terriffic but you are leaving your audience with nothing to really fill those three hours everyday. Maybe Cox will retire Pete Spriggs because of his decision to use Herman Cain as the "replacement". Then Pete will know what everyone else knows: YOU MADE THE WRONG MOVE.
 
I, too, thought Monday was the last day for Neal, but I supposed innauguration ceremonial coverage would have pre-empted him anyway.

Wonder if WSB will carry the CBS Radio coverage, or will we be subjected to Herman Pain -- I mean, Cain.
 
Boortz said today that Monday should have been his last day, and that he had intended to broadcast from College Station, Texas, where his first radio job was, but his syndication company screwed up and put the wrong dates on his and Herman's contracts.
 
It was time for him to go! However HC is a terrible replacement and I don't think he will last long or I hope not. WSB has really got some screwed up programing! Why run 2 hours of Hannity then 2 hrs. of Eric and then Hannity his last hour at 7pm. Makes no sense to me. It's stupid! They need Clark 9am to 12 noon, Rush, noon to 3pm and then Hannity 3 to 7pm. Forget HC! Put Savage back on at night then Adam and then Coast to Coast overnights.
 
Brian Donegan said:
I thought his last day was Monday?
Click to expand...

When he made the retirement announcement last year, he said, on the air, he purposely was announcing it before the '12 presidential elections for one reason. He believed then, as was proven correct, that Obama would be re-elected. He did not want his critics to declare victory of running him off the air as a result of obama winning another 4 years. Too, he did not want to be on the air the day after, 'The Regime Leader was re-immaculated', as he always would say


...and totally agree, a B-I-G mistake putting HC to fill the shoes of the 'Talkmaster'...I know I no longer will tune-in
 
Neil Boortz is retiring at the right time, when he's still on top. His style of Talk Radio is ending. I suppose there are enough older radio listeners who want All-Conservative-All-The-Time, but they are dwindling, as are WSB's ratings. When was the last time WSB was only #5. Weren't they always #2 behind WVEE, book after book?

#5 is still good enough for WSB to make lots of money. But can you see the writing on the wall? Let's remember Boortz's episode about car jackers. He said "Yo-yo-yo" in his original comments, turning it racial. Then when he got called by offended listeners on it, he quickly edited out the "Yo-yo-yo" remarks, to save himself. You don't do that in this day and age. He didn't think someone had the original recording? WSB should have suspended him for a week or two. You can be tough on car jackers without making it racial.

As for running more Hannity, his numbers are dropping too. And we'll see about Herman Cain keeping Boortz's audience. I doubt it. The most successful Talk stations these days are very local. Maybe they run Rush. But the rest of the day, it should be local, local, local. And it should be non-predicable hosts. It can't all be Democrats Always Bad/Republicans Always Good. Obama can never do anything right/Conservatives can never do anything wrong.

We've been hearing this for 20 years now. If you don't change this Talk format, the audience is going to age out.
 
I wouldn't go as far as blame Pete Spriggs alone for selecting Herman Cain as Boortz's replacement. If Pete was involved in the decision at all, I'm sure others were as well.
 
Neal was a class act during his years on Atlanta radio. In addition to being well-versed on the issues and a good talker, he understood
the elements of pacing a show and "playing" callers well as a jock plays music. Sadly, I fear that Herman Cain lacks that ability. He's a
very smart man with a solid track record, but that doesn't necessarily translate into good talk radio.
 
EJ204 said:
Neil Boortz is retiring at the right time, when he's still on top. His style of Talk Radio is ending. I suppose there are enough older radio listeners who want All-Conservative-All-The-Time, but they are dwindling, as are WSB's ratings. When was the last time WSB was only #5. Weren't they always #2 behind WVEE, book after book?

#5 is still good enough for WSB to make lots of money. But can you see the writing on the wall? Let's remember Boortz's episode about car jackers. He said "Yo-yo-yo" in his original comments, turning it racial. Then when he got called by offended listeners on it, he quickly edited out the "Yo-yo-yo" remarks, to save himself. You don't do that in this day and age. He didn't think someone had the original recording? WSB should have suspended him for a week or two. You can be tough on car jackers without making it racial.

As for running more Hannity, his numbers are dropping too. And we'll see about Herman Cain keeping Boortz's audience. I doubt it. The most successful Talk stations these days are very local. Maybe they run Rush. But the rest of the day, it should be local, local, local. And it should be non-predicable hosts. It can't all be Democrats Always Bad/Republicans Always Good. Obama can never do anything right/Conservatives can never do anything wrong.

We've been hearing this for 20 years now. If you don't change this Talk format, the audience is going to age out.
Click to expand...

Wow...so negative.

How were 'Talk America's' ratings in their short life span?
 
EJ204 said:
Neil Boortz is retiring at the right time, when he's still on top. His style of Talk Radio is ending. I suppose there are enough older radio listeners who want All-Conservative-All-The-Time, but they are dwindling, as are WSB's ratings. When was the last time WSB was only #5. Weren't they always #2 behind WVEE, book after book?

#5 is still good enough for WSB to make lots of money. But can you see the writing on the wall? Let's remember Boortz's episode about car jackers. He said "Yo-yo-yo" in his original comments, turning it racial. Then when he got called by offended listeners on it, he quickly edited out the "Yo-yo-yo" remarks, to save himself. You don't do that in this day and age. He didn't think someone had the original recording? WSB should have suspended him for a week or two. You can be tough on car jackers without making it racial.

As for running more Hannity, his numbers are dropping too. And we'll see about Herman Cain keeping Boortz's audience. I doubt it. The most successful Talk stations these days are very local. Maybe they run Rush. But the rest of the day, it should be local, local, local. And it should be non-predicable hosts. It can't all be Democrats Always Bad/Republicans Always Good. Obama can never do anything right/Conservatives can never do anything wrong.

We've been hearing this for 20 years now. If you don't change this Talk format, the audience is going to age out.
Click to expand...
You are correct. We have been hearing "If you don't change this Talk format, the audience is going to age out" for 20 years now.

I'm not saying it will last forever, but nothing ever does. And not to wax too political on a non-political blog, this progressive young "Millennial" generation may well change its mind the older it gets, which often happens as well. Look at the boomers.
 
What I want to know is, if you've got a winner like Clark, why not use him? Why put on such a boring replacement? To give Boortz credit, he did go out on top and he was smart enough not to fade out.
 
Boortz will still do morning and evening commentaries and fill in for Herman Cain. But he will indeed be missed. I didn't always agree with him, but definitely enjoyed listening to him. He was well versed on the issues and knew very well how to incite a response from his audience and keep you engaged and tuned in. A big void now on WSB, but will tune in to Cain for now.
 
If politics is the only topic, talk will be down until the next election cycle (or the next elementary school shooting)....isnt that the way it always is? The industry was predicting doom after inauguration 2008, Rush was being ridiculed for "hoping Obama fails" and then what happened? Two years later, talk radio is credited for the 2010 GOP congressional gains. All the syndication spot sets were full, no PI spots...it was big business.

Nationally, it will creep along until late 2013 and locally it will be the same steady business in the red counties.
 
EJ204 said:
The most successful Talk stations these days are very local. Maybe they run Rush. But the rest of the day, it should be local, local, local. And it should be non-predicable hosts. It can't all be Democrats Always Bad/Republicans Always Good. Obama can never do anything right/Conservatives can never do anything wrong.

We've been hearing this for 20 years now. If you don't change this Talk format, the audience is going to age out.
Click to expand...

I disagree with everything said here. First, show me numbers that show local most of the time is winning vs. syndication. Believe me, I too would love more local talk, but it simply isn't out there. As for the audience aging out, you may be surprised how many 30-40 something (predominantly) white males are tuning in, since radio won't cater to them in many other ways anymore (see the ongoing demise of rock radio as proof). I think talk will be with us for some time.

And lest you forget, "progressive talk" has an above 90% failure rate.

G
 
I'm not saying Progressive Talk is the way to go. That's predictable too.

There are currently only THREE Talk stations scoring in the Top 10 in ratings among the Top 10 Markets: WSB is one. There's also KFI LA and WGN Chicago. That's it. Honorable mention for WLS Chicago which is #11.

KFI is all local all day except for Rush and Coast to Coast. WGN is all local, even overnight. In some other big markets, KOA, #1 in Denver, is all local all day and night except for Rush. WLW, #1 in Cincinnati, is all local except for an overnight truckers' show. WKAQ, #2 in Puerto Rico, is all local around the clock. KMOX, #7 in St. Louis, is all local except for Rush and overnights. KDKA, #4 in Pittsburgh, is all local except overnights.

For the most part, these stations are not 100% Conservative. They have varied hosts with varied opinions. They're as likely to talk about local issues as they are about national events. They might even talk about how to get your kid into a good college or how to avoid getting the flu, practical topics that Rush and his imitators avoid like the flu.

Meanwhile those stations that depend on a line up of always-conservative, mostly-syndicated shows like Hannity, Levin, Savage, Beck, etc. are sinking. Not everywhere but in many places.
 
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