Somebody's Out in Akron: Is it Steph or Al?

[mwebster]

Following is from All Access:
<blockquote>Joe Finan's Back And Radio Free Ohio's Got Him
Longtime former Talk WNIR/KENT-AKRON, OH host JOE FINAN will join crosstown CLEAR CHANNEL Talk WARF-A (RADIO FREE OHIO) for a weekday midday show. FINAN retired from WNIR at the end of 2004.</blockquote>
Similar info is posted on the Cleveland Board. Both All Access and the release quoted on the Cleveland Board say "midday" show. WARF runs Stephanie Miller 9 am to 12 pm and Al Franken 12 pm to 3 pm. So, whom has been bumped? (The term "midday" more often refers to Franken's slot but word usage varies.) If the "Two Million Dollar Man" gets dropped in Akron/Cleveland, that would be news.
OA, what do you say?

 

[ajhenderson]

It should be Franken, seeing that competing with Rush on both WHLO and The Big One is a tougher task than competing with the last hour (a repeat) of piped in Quinn and Rose, the boring Springer, and Beck. Local wins against Rush, not some second-string syndicated show. Franken may be the best option for libtalkers, but if you could be local in any daypart on any libtalker across the country, I'd do it against Rush, preferably with as good a name as Finan.

Although bottom line: Finan should stay retired. Whatever he accomplished on 100FM will be replaced with the fractional shares he'll get on 1350.

 

[JohnnyMorganWXJX]

> Following is from All Access:
> Joe Finan's Back And Radio Free Ohio's Got Him
> Longtime former Talk WNIR/KENT-AKRON, OH host JOE FINAN will
> join crosstown CLEAR CHANNEL Talk WARF-A (RADIO FREE OHIO)
> for a weekday midday show. FINAN retired from WNIR at the
> end of 2004.
> Similar info is posted on the Cleveland Board. Both All
> Access and the release quoted on the Cleveland Board say
> "midday" show. WARF runs Stephanie Miller 9 am to 12 pm and
> Al Franken 12 pm to 3 pm. So, whom has been bumped? (The
> term "midday" more often refers to Franken's slot but word
> usage varies.) If the "Two Million Dollar Man" gets dropped
> in Akron/Cleveland, that would be news.
> OA, what do you say?
>

Both are bumped--Steph loses an hour; Al loses an hour. Finan: 11am to 1pm.

And that's how Solomon cut the WARF baby...

No one gets cut totally. Sorry to let you down. Put away those razor blades.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by Johnny Morgan on 01/28/06 05:05 AM.</FONT></P>

 

[JohnnyMorganWXJX]

> It should be Franken, seeing that competing with Rush on
> both WHLO and The Big One is a tougher task than competing
> with the last hour (a repeat) of piped in Quinn and Rose,
> the boring Springer, and Beck. Local wins against Rush, not
> some second-string syndicated show. Franken may be the best
> option for libtalkers, but if you could be local in any
> daypart on any libtalker across the country, I'd do it
> against Rush, preferably with as good a name as Finan.
>
> Although bottom line: Finan should stay retired. Whatever he
> accomplished on 100FM will be replaced with the fractional
> shares he'll get on 1350.
>

I agree that Joe probably should stay retired.

But remember: Finan's not up against Rush, Springer, and Beck. He's competing in Akron against Beck and the reigning king of Akron talk--Howie Chizek. And Howie was doing local talk in Akron when Joe was finishing his GM slot and self-hired Broncos' color man job at Denver's KTLK.

Joe's got a job on his hands. He'll get the Boosh Man to listen, and that's about it. Finan's gonna rot next to Howie.

 

[ajhenderson]

> I agree that Joe probably should stay retired.
>
> But remember: Finan's not up against Rush, Springer, and
> Beck. He's competing in Akron against Beck and the reigning
> king of Akron talk--Howie Chizek. And Howie was doing local
> talk in Akron when Joe was finishing his GM slot and
> self-hired Broncos' color man job at Denver's KTLK.

Well, he is going against Rush considering that WTAM is a huge player in Akron, which, no offense, is basically just the southern part of the Cleveland market. And Rush is also on WHLO. And although I think Stephanie is a great talent, the 11am start could make some sense if it convinces more moderate listeners to tune to their old favorite Joe Finan and stay through the first hour of Rush. Although both go into Mr. Kennedy's ratings files, so I guess beating Rush, like you say, isn't really that important. I think it's common knowledge that's whatever on WNIR will ALWAYS beat every other Akron talker combined just because it's WNIR.

 

[Keith_Kennedy]

>>>I think it's common knowledge that's whatever on WNIR will ALWAYS beat
every other Akron talker combined just because it's WNIR.

That's not true, WNIR does not win every daypart.