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Smerconish To Unseat Limbaugh On WPHT?

DToTheJ

DToTheJ

http://www.talkers.com

"A very hot rumor out of Philadelphia has WYD Media-produced Michael Smerconish’s nationally syndicated program airing live 12:00 noon to 3:00 pm on CBS Radio’s news/talk WPHT– where Premiere Networks’ Rush Limbaugh does right now. Smerconish is currently delayed to PM drive on WPHT..."
 
So you replace the number one talk show with Smerconish. Where do people come up with these wild rumors?
 
This was brought up before in a thread that mysteriously disappeared shortly after it was posted.

I'd like to see it tick the ratings upward but don't imagine it making any big dent. Their entire daytime lineup is cookie-cutter AM political talk (read: snoozefest). Their rotating evening hosts do break up the monotony and broaden the topics, and I'd like to see that expand into the rest of the day. That, or an embrace of Boston's WBZ-AM nighttime talk format (broader topics, less hardline politics). I'm excited to see what Merlin brings to the table on 106.9. With the performance of "FM News" in NY and CHI, I'd be very surprised if they were to launch a carbon copy here. With rumblings of Larry Mendte having some kind of role in the new station, hopefully we'll see the launch of a talker that embraces hosts with varying viewpoints out of the right-wing realm that will give WPHT (and not so much KYW) a run for it's money.
 
So if 106.9 does local in the morning and clears all the Premiere peograms, Beck, Rush, and Sean and also adds Mark Levin 6-9pm, they'd have a good lineup. CBS could just take the Phillies 24/7 off the WOGL subchannel and just put it on 1210. 1210 would go the way of WWDB-FM after they lost Rush to 1210.
 
I suppose they could wrest Levin away from tape-delay on WNTP without much problem. ;)

What's not so clear is that varying from the "right wing cookie cutter" approach would be the least bit beneficial. The list of exceptions to conservative talk that are currently doing well is pretty small (and "well" in this case is a relative term, to be sure). At the very least, 1210 is able to put a local spin on it with Giordano in lieu of Beck.

Many a time we hear that someone should be doing "New Jersey 101.5" locally...but is there any substantial evidence that it's an exportable format? Or does it succeed precisely by playing off the "Not New York...Not Philadelphia" thing? (And even then, is the erosion it's been seeing a reflection on the format...or the fossilized hosts in some slots?)
 
confirmed, WPHT will be dropping the Rush Limbaugh Show to replace by the michael smerconish show more rumors that rush is moving to WKDN
 
Wow, so Merlin and its investors spent all that money on a Philadelphia radio station just to put the same old conservative talk shows on it? So much for bringing new ideas to the market or the industry.

Guess it just goes to show that just because you have money doesn't mean you have vision.
 
And if Rush moves to 106.9, they'll have more listeners on day one than Merlin has on either of their news stations in NYC and Chicago.
 
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.c...-in-philadelphia/?smid=tw-nytimestv&seid=auto

>>>It is unclear when the change will take place in Philadelphia. The company that syndicates Mr. Limbaugh’s show, Premiere Radio Networks, declined to comment.
But Premiere has indicated that it will be moving Mr. Limbaugh to a new station in Philadelphia. Radio-Info.com reported on Monday that it might be WKDN..The owner of WPHT, CBS Radio, said in a statement on Monday afternoon, “Premiere recently notified WPHT they will be syndicating Rush Limbaugh on a new station in Philadelphia. As a result, we are pleased to be able to now showcase Michael, who is a well-known and acclaimed broadcaster in the market, in this new time period.”
 
Joeyjboy said:
confirmed, WPHT will be dropping the Rush Limbaugh Show to replace by the michael smerconish show more rumors that rush is moving to WKDN
Click to expand...

Close, but not quite accurate. According this NYT blog posting, it looks like Merlin may be ready to play ball with Premiere after PHT dropped Beck and Hannity, both Premiere distributed.

The owner of WPHT, CBS Radio, said in a statement on Monday afternoon, “Premiere recently notified WPHT they will be syndicating Rush Limbaugh on a new station in Philadelphia.

So the decision wasn't really CBS's unless they knew dropping the 2 Premiere shows put their contract renewal of Limbaugh at risk. Clear Channel decided not to clear its syndicator's shows in Market 8, so until Family Radio's financial problems put WKDN in play, those shows weren't going anywhere near a major signal in the Philly market. But after expensive failures in New York and Chicago, maybe Merlin decided to make some money back in Philly. It's a unique opportunity, to be sure. Is there any other major market where all of the Top 5 syndicated talkers (except Limbaugh) are absent from a market-wide signal during prime (6a to 12M) listening hours? PHT handed Merlin a gift. Merlin has the pick of the top national talkers in Market No 8 on FM.

I love the blogger's characterization of Smerconish:

Mr. Smerconish is a relative rarity on radio: a moderate.

Yeah, a manufactured moderate for political talk syndication where moderates don't do so well. And locally, how many old fans are still listening to him after he abruptly reinvented himself in midstream after years as a conservative talker? Noon used to be a relatively dead zone in talk radio. Limbaugh's often talked about how his show ended up at noon: it was the only satellite slot available. Smerconish probably ended up with the slot for similar reasons. But he's no Rush Limbaugh.

So now the rest of the industry can watch WPHT's bottom line over the next year or two to see whether saving some syndication fees up front is worth anything to the bottom line when you have nothing nearly as compelling to replace them with. Cumulus should be paying close attention too. Mike Huckabee's no Limbaugh either.

And we may finally get to find out if Philly really is a talk radio backwater, or if it was just that the local programmers of the format were cheap and tone-deaf.
 
musichead1029 said:
Joeyjboy said:
confirmed, WPHT will be dropping the Rush Limbaugh Show to replace by the michael smerconish show more rumors that rush is moving to WKDN
Click to expand...

Close, but not quite accurate. According this NYT blog posting, it looks like Merlin may be ready to play ball with Premiere after PHT dropped Beck and Hannity, both Premiere distributed.

The owner of WPHT, CBS Radio, said in a statement on Monday afternoon, “Premiere recently notified WPHT they will be syndicating Rush Limbaugh on a new station in Philadelphia.

Here are the facts: Like it or not:



So the decision wasn't really CBS's unless they knew dropping the 2 Premiere shows put their contract renewal of Limbaugh at risk. Clear Channel decided not to clear its syndicator's shows in Market 8, so until Family Radio's financial problems put WKDN in play, those shows weren't going anywhere near a major signal in the Philly market. But after expensive failures in New York and Chicago, maybe Merlin decided to make some money back in Philly. It's a unique opportunity, to be sure. Is there any other major market where all of the Top 5 syndicated talkers (except Limbaugh) are absent from a market-wide signal during prime (6a to 12M) listening hours? PHT handed Merlin a gift. Merlin has the pick of the top national talkers in Market No 8 on FM.

I love the blogger's characterization of Smerconish:

Mr. Smerconish is a relative rarity on radio: a moderate.

Yeah, a manufactured moderate for political talk syndication where moderates don't do so well. And locally, how many old fans are still listening to him after he abruptly reinvented himself in midstream after years as a conservative talker? Noon used to be a relatively dead zone in talk radio. Limbaugh's often talked about how his show ended up at noon: it was the only satellite slot available. Smerconish probably ended up with the slot for similar reasons. But he's no Rush Limbaugh.

So now the rest of the industry can watch WPHT's bottom line over the next year or two to see whether saving some syndication fees up front is worth anything to the bottom line when you have nothing nearly as compelling to replace them with. Cumulus should be paying close attention too. Mike Huckabee's no Limbaugh either.

And we may finally get to find out if Philly really is a talk radio backwater, or if it was just that the local programmers of the format were cheap and tone-deaf.
Click to expand...


Here are the facts: Like it or not:

1. Conservative talk is the only form of talk that's successful. Air America and the likes of Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes, and the like have been utter failures wherever they've been. Best example: Liberal blue collar Buffalo. On the 50K blowtorch 1520...failed miserably.

2. Being a moderate is even worse.

3. Rush, Hannity, Savage, and Beck are the top 4 shows based on listenership nationally. All should be on in Philadelphia. Levin should also be cleared on a better station.

4. The future of 1210? Good question. Maybe move WIP AM up there and sell 610.

5. Or could Clear Channel have something up their sleeve for 106.1? Stay tuned.
 
>>Conservative talk is the only form of talk that's successful.

For the most part yes; in liberal Boston most successful hosts are conservative (though a couple
are slightly moderate) and someone has to PAY to put libtalk on a station (though some on
the left probably prefer the NPR stations

>>Being a moderate is even worse.

There are some hosts who say they appeal to the middle, like Alan Nathan ("we want the
Republicans out of our bedrooms, the Democrats out of our wallets, and both away from
our First and Second Amend. rights"). You'll notice he's not too well known... (I will say
Dennis Miller might be considered moderate in that way and he does pretty well, though he's
a well known name, and prob. is MOSTLY conservative)

>>All should be on in Philadelphia

That's what Premiere wants. In Boston CC changed an AM station to cons. talk with those
hosts plus local hosts incl. Philly native Jeff Katz. Hannity, Rush, Beck, all cleared in Boston
due to that
 
1210 could be headed for the trash healp, where they were in the 90's when they tried sports and then the weakest ever talk line-up during the Tom Bigby days.
 
And BTW, the title of this thread is so wrong! The syndicaator is starting to plug the plug on aging AMs and is moving Rush to FM where ever possible. Philly today, NYC tomorrow.
 
In Boston CC has FMs at 94.5 (Jam'n) and 107.9 (Kiss). Their conservative talker with Rush,
etc. is at 1200. They don't want to displace the music formats on FM; otherwise there could have
been a similar move. (The next best thing they could do, and did, was put 1200 on the
HD-2 of 107.9)
If Greater were selling 96.9 (a talker in Boston) I could see CC getting it and putting conserv.
talk there. Right now I don't think it would happen but if CC had a third FM property in
Boston that could have been a new home for Rush, etc. Ratings seem low but overall
the show makes money. They can afford to pay Rush $50 M+ per year. Some money is
coming in from Premiere's talk shows and CC stations.
 
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