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Syndicated Morning Shows?

B

bmfan101

I was wondering why there aren't more syndicated morning drive time talk programs for news talk stations? Is it primarily because stations prefer local talent?.... But what about those stations in small markets who cant afford the talent...What do they usually do?
There does seem to be a few...like Imus, Mancow, Doug Stephan, and Bill Bennett...but that's about it. Do you radio professionals out there know anymore programs that specifically cater to talk outlets? and are they any good? Just curious...Thanks.
 
Local talent is one part of it, and the second part is morning drive is an important time slot to sell advertising, so stations aren't willing to give up advertising minutes to a syndicated show unless they're a weak signal station that can't really afford local talent to begin with. Bill Bennett is doing okay for himself since Salem owns a lot of radio stations, select hours of The Wall Street Journal This Morning get decent clearance, and I think even America's Morning News has a decent affiliate count, but I've never picked up a station that airs them. Mancow is still on but he has a small affiliate base in tiny markets. Does anyone know how Imus is doing? Even Cumulus isn't willing to cram him down their network.
 
I know Imus just picked up a small oldies station in Cincinnati. Syndicated choices are limited; you might be able to get away with Bob and Tom, or other syndicated general market morning shows that don't regularly have music.
 
That's what I didn't mention. For News/Talk stations, the last place they syndicate is mornings, but for some reason when it comes to music heavy stations, mornings is one of the first places they go to syndicate.
 
Seriously?

Mornings on a Newstalk station rely pretty heavily on local content. Why would you put a syndicated show on there and kill the most important connection you have with your market?

As far as music morning shows...who cares where the show originates. They mostly play music anyway.
 
I'm in the South. Wonder if Lex and Terry could work on a talk station for morning drive ? Well it would be different !
 
radiobum said:
I'm in the South. Wonder if Lex and Terry could work on a talk station for morning drive ? Well it would be different !
Click to expand...

You need to think about WHY it is that listeners go to a newstalk station, particularly in mornings.

Here's a hint: NEWS
 
The prior posts (by people probably in the radio business) have it right. Particularly on AM radio, Morning Drive after the sun comes up is the entire day for making money, with the exception perhaps of stations that carry sports in the evening. The 6-10 AM time period is the last one that a program director will make syndicated.

That being said, people on the West Coast have the time difference, which means programs targeted at morning drive on the East Coast (like Imus) are on in the middle of the night if carried live. Most of the clearances for Imus are on sports or oldies stations or west coast before morning drive.

TRN's all news is picking up a substantial number of morning drive affiliates where the station doesn't have the market size to justify paying a local host any more. The rest of the day, the ARN syndication is spotty.

While streaming is not directly comparable to over the air (America in the Morning, WSJ this morning, and Dirk Van have a negligible streaming audience despite their wide clearances), here is the list of the syndicated shows that people stream from 6-9 AM ET

6 AM:
Quinn and Rose
Bill Bennett
Bob & Tom
Coast to Coast AM (replay on West Coast)
Don Imus
Mancow
Michael Savage (west coast)
America's Morning News
Bill Press (Progressive Talk)

7 AM... Quinn & Rose lose a bit, and Imus picks up a little... Savage and Coast to Coast trail off and local really kicks in
8 AM... Quinn & Rose fade, Bob & Tom pick up a lot, Glenn Beck reruns show up, Mike & Mike start getting a bigger audience (probably as people arrive at work), Neal Bootz's first hour starts in Atlanta
 
Another thing I wanted to add. Here in LA, KFI's local morning host Bill Handel gets offered a syndication deal every time his contract with Clear Channel LA is up for renewal, and he has explained why he never wants to take it. The reason being he's aware of the minimal success morning talk shows have with syndication, and feels that to change his show's focus from Los Angeles to national to accompany what may only be a handful of stations isn't worth the potential harm it could do to his KFI audience, which is his bread and butter. He also mentioned that for his syndicated weekend show Handel on the Law, it costs less to buy an ad on the show's Premiere Networks syndication, which includes a clear on KFI, than it is to buy a local ad ONLY on KFI.

jas2525 said:
As far as music morning shows...who cares where the show originates. They mostly play music anyway.
Click to expand...

Not the likes of Bob & Tom or Lex & Terry, who are carried by a lot of music stations, mostly rock. They don't play music AND they're not local, and they cost money to run, which surprises me the most that any station would want to carry shows like that anymore.

radiobum said:
I'm in the South. Wonder if Lex and Terry could work on a talk station for morning drive ? Well it would be different !
Click to expand...

Lex & Terry have some AM talk station affiliates.

I just took this moment to look up their affiliate list. When I was living in Savannah, where Rock 106.1 plays them, they had something around 50 affiliates. They're now down to 18.

SRGuide said:
While streaming is not directly comparable to over the air (America in the Morning, WSJ this morning, and Dirk Van have a negligible streaming audience despite their wide clearances), here is the list of the syndicated shows that people stream from 6-9 AM ET

6 AM:
Quinn and Rose
Bill Bennett
Bob & Tom
Coast to Coast AM (replay on West Coast)
Don Imus
Mancow
Michael Savage (west coast)
America's Morning News
Bill Press (Progressive Talk)

7 AM... Quinn & Rose lose a bit, and Imus picks up a little... Savage and Coast to Coast trail off and local really kicks in
8 AM... Quinn & Rose fade, Bob & Tom pick up a lot, Glenn Beck reruns show up, Mike & Mike start getting a bigger audience (probably as people arrive at work), Neal Bootz's first hour starts in Atlanta
Click to expand...

I'm a bit surprised at Mancow. Over the air, he's not doing so hot, despite TRN's easy barter agreement. Then again, I could say the same for Bill Press and Don Imus. I guess I'm just shocked anyone listens to Mancow. Yeah, put another "What?!" down for me on Savage. Where are they streaming him from? Does TRN provide a non-stop Savage stream? Quinn & Rose are barely syndicated (WPGB Pittsburgh/Clear Channel syndicates them), and they won't get any footing as long as the only way to carry them is by paying a large fee. Stations aren't going to do that for another predictable conservative talk show that they could have a better shot at developing locally.
 
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