Should WABC Go to Oldies on the Weekends ?

[davideduardo]

I don’t think many educated, upscale people listen to radio infomercials for cancer doctors or cosmetic surgeons or diet doctors or for stock trading classes or for dehydrated fruit and vegetable pills. So, radio stations running them risk losing listeners to other stations, to other media, to the Internet or to alternate activities.

Those shows are running on days and in dayparts where there is little use of AM talk radio and even less conventional ad revenue available.

As long as the infomercial sponsors make money, they keep buying. And that is revenue that stations that carry them would otherwise not have.

 

[Lee Linwood]

Those shows are running on days and in dayparts where there is little use of AM talk radio and even less conventional ad revenue available.

As long as the infomercial sponsors make money, they keep buying. And that is revenue that stations that carry them would otherwise not have.

Lederman’s “show” appears nightly on WOR. WABC runs a cosmetic surgery “show” early Saturday afternoon. Readily accessible timeslots for decent programs.

 

[davideduardo]

Lederman’s “show” appears nightly on WOR. WABC runs a cosmetic surgery “show” early Saturday afternoon. Readily accessible timeslots for decent programs.

Radio listening to the late night shift where he buys time on WOR is as close to zero as you can come in radio. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that at 11 PM "next to nobody is listening to the radio." And nobody but nobody buys regular spots in late night programming on a talk AM.

On WABC, the weekend times... any time... are low tune in times for talk on an AM stations. There is no weekend revenue from spot sales to be had by WABC.

 

[davideduardo]

It doesn't matter. The shows are paid for. So they run. Tony would say "Take the money."

And "tune 'em up if they don't pay!"

 

[Lee Linwood]

Radio listening to the late night shift where he buys time on WOR is as close to zero as you can come in radio. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that at 11 PM "next to nobody is listening to the radio." And nobody but nobody buys regular spots in late night programming on a talk AM.

On WABC, the weekend times... any time... are low tune in times for talk on an AM stations. There is no weekend revenue from spot sales to be had by WABC.

Next to nobody is listening to Dr. Lederman. I used to listen to the legendary talk radio greats Barry Gray and Long John Nebel whose shows were broadcast late at night into the morning.

 

[davideduardo]

Next to nobody is listening to Dr. Lederman. I used to listen to the legendary talk radio greats Barry Gray and Long John Nebel whose shows were broadcast late at night into the morning.

My point is that next to nobody listens to radio at 11 PM. Particularly AM. Stations could go off the air at 10 PM and the 6 AM to Midnight ratings averages would not change. So it is better to make some money.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Next to nobody is listening to Dr. Lederman. I used to listen to the legendary talk radio greats Barry Gray and Long John Nebel whose shows were broadcast late at night into the morning.

And those days are gone.

 

[CTListener]

And those days are gone.

Those shows may have had more listeners than today's infomercials do, but they were largely the sort of people today's advertisers -- armed with far more sophisticated, granular demographic data than they were in the heydays of Long John and company -- shun as too old, too poor, too hard to sell anything new to. Even the late night trucking shows that used to run on stations like WBAP, WLW and WWL stopped making bottom-line sense once advertisers got a handle on just who was listening to all that graveyard-shift country music and down-home talk.

 

[Lee Linwood]

Those shows may have had more listeners than today's infomercials do, but they were largely the sort of people today's advertisers -- armed with far more sophisticated, granular demographic data than they were in the heydays of Long John and company -- shun as too old, too poor, too hard to sell anything new to. Even the late night trucking shows that used to run on stations like WBAP, WLW and WWL stopped making bottom-line sense once advertisers got a handle on just who was listening to all that graveyard-shift country music and down-home talk.

And, young, educated, upscale people are not listening to Dr. Lederman reciting in his dreary monotone voice case histories of his cancer-stricken patients. I am so turned off by him, I stopped listening to any stations running his cancer show.

 

[TheBigA]

I am so turned off by him, I stopped listening to any stations running his cancer show.

That's your prerogative. If you don't like what they're doing, turn them off. End of story.

 

[CTListener]

And, young, educated, upscale people are not listening to Dr. Lederman reciting in his dreary monotone voice case histories of his cancer-stricken patients. I am so turned off by him, I stopped listening to any stations running his cancer show.

It doesn't matter if ANYONE is listening to him. He is paying WABC as much or (most likely) more than advertisers would pay to support an oldies show in the same time slot -- which also is far more than your typical oldies geek could possibly agree to pay WABC over the course of a multiweek contract. The doctor's self-aggrandizing vanity project might not be scintillating listening, but that's not the point of infomercials.

AM is doomed. At some point the band will be abandoned. Right now we are seeing broadcasting companies, aided by the FCC,-- whose motivation is truly cynical; it needs those license fees to meet its revenue targets -- trying to milk the last few dollars out of 540-1600 before all the listeners are dead and automakers have stopped including the band on their radios. Eventually, the stations will go dark and the broadcasters will just have to, as the right-wingers like to say, "suck it up, buttercup" and either go under or make a go of it on FM and internet streaming.

 

[TheBigA]

AM is doomed. At some point the band will be abandoned. Right now we are seeing broadcasting companies, aided by the FCC,

In terms of WABC, it is living on borrowed time. The station is for sale right now, and the minute a qualified buyer walks in, it will be sold, and changes will be made, just like they were made at WPLJ. Until then, the creditors own the company, and all they care about is the money. No emotional attachment.

 

[Lee Linwood]

The doctor's self-aggrandizing vanity project might not be scintillating listening, but that's not the point of infomercials.

Far worse, the doc was reportedly involved in a Medicare fraud scheme as well as a medical malpractice incident. When brought to the attention of one executive at a particular station running the doc’s show, his response was that since the malpractice matter didn’t involve death, they will continue to run his show.

 

[Yabadabado1]

It doesn't matter if ANYONE is listening to him. He is paying WABC as much or (most likely) more than advertisers would pay to support an oldies show in the same time slot -- which also is far more than your typical oldies geek could possibly agree to pay WABC over the course of a multiweek contract. The doctor's self-aggrandizing vanity project might not be scintillating listening, but that's not the point of infomercials.

AM is doomed. At some point the band will be abandoned. Right now we are seeing broadcasting companies, aided by the FCC,-- whose motivation is truly cynical; it needs those license fees to meet its revenue targets -- trying to milk the last few dollars out of 540-1600 before all the listeners are dead and automakers have stopped including the band on their radios. Eventually, the stations will go dark and the broadcasters will just have to, as the right-wingers like to say, "suck it up, buttercup" and either go under or make a go of it on FM and internet streaming.

I was DXing around the AM dial one weekend at night and stumbled across Dr. Lederman's "infomercial" on WBBM out of Chicago. I thought it was bad enough that his ads were infesting the NYC airwaves but didn't realize he was polluting other stations airwaves around the country.....and about barfed when I found out it was an HOUR LONG commercial. Didn't stick around long enough to see if the had actual commercials interrupting his commercial.......

 

[Lee Linwood]

I was DXing around the AM dial one weekend at night and stumbled across Dr. Lederman's "infomercial" on WBBM out of Chicago. I thought it was bad enough that his ads were infesting the NYC airwaves but didn't realize he was polluting other stations airwaves around the country.....and about barfed when I found out it was an HOUR LONG commercial. Didn't stick around long enough to see if the had actual commercials interrupting his commercial.......

am970 in NYC runs a 2-hour-long Lederman cancer show: “Very” uplifting!

 

[hotpatrick2004]

Just like kabc 790 in la is doomed but at least 770 wabc
gets a 1 share. Kabc hasnt done that in quite some time. Makes you wonder how onve hreat stations 770 wabc and 790 kabc got to be former shells of what they once were? Talk bout a fall from grace.

 

[TheBigA]

Talk bout a fall from grace.

The answer is simple: People stopped listening. Lots of AM stations in the exact same place.

People used to shop at local department stores. People used to do lots of things that they don't do anymore.

Lots of towns that are shells of what they once were. Lots of empty factories. Look around.

 

[JBraddock]

Lots of towns that are shells of what they once were. Lots of empty factories. Look around.

Fortunately, efforts are under way to turn that situation around. But nothing's going to save AM in its current state. All-digital might play in cars, but in most markets, analog AM's done. It's just a matter of time.

 

[Lee Linwood]

Dude, the demos just are NOT there - David E knows it, I know it....sad to admit, but 'ABC is making more money with their "infomercials" than they would on a small group of 50-plus fans (of which I am one of them)...

#TheGolden101 (1984-2014)

What kind of revenue can these lowrent infomercials actually be bringing in that makes them so compelling? Dr. Lederman isn’t a Fortune 500 corporation, he’s just an MD. Is Balance Of Nature raking in so much money with their cure-all pills, whose only customers appear to be in their “testimonials,” that they can afford to pay huge fees for their infomercials? Maybe if ad salespeople for these stations can’t sell ads to decent companies the stations need better salespeople.

 

[luperm]

Maybe if ad salespeople for these stations can’t sell ads to decent companies the stations need better salespeople.

It's hard to sell something that has no buyers. Paid programming keeps the lights on.