Talk of Connecticut alters line-up again

[MarcB]

The Talk of Connecticut (1360 AM, 610 AM, 1240 AM, 1470 AM, and 102.9 HD 3) has altered their program-line up again. Changes are in Bold.

5AM-6AM Wall Street Journal This Morning
6AM-9AM Brad Davis
9AM-10AM Leatherneck & Lace with Brad Davis & Mary Jones
10AM-12PM Laura Ingraham
12PM-2PM Mary Jones
2PM-5PM Dave Ramsey
5PM-6PM America's Radio News
6PM-8PM Michael Savage
8PM-11PM Wall Street Journal Wrap Up
11PM-1AM Dr. Joy
1AM-4AM Phil Hendire
4AM-5AM Dr. Ronald Hoffman

 

[progressivetalk]

And I get roasted on this site every time I criticize Grahaeme Winters!!! Proof positive that WDRC AM will continue to flounder as long as it is trying to be WTIC AM lite. Cosby was on how long after they dumped Lovallo?? Three weeks. Get a clue, lady.

 

[GlennO]

And I get roasted on this site every time I criticize Grahaeme Winters!!! Proof positive that WDRC AM will continue to flounder as long as it is trying to be WTIC AM lite. Cosby was on how long after they dumped Lovallo?? Three weeks. Get a clue, lady.

You deserve the roasting this time, not because you disagree with the lineup but because you assume Grahame is the sole driving force behind this. A PD or OM seldom makes the final determination on changing a format. A GM and owner are involved. It's a major business decision, and it's been that way for a long time.

 

[reelyreal]

And I get roasted on this site every time I criticize Grahaeme Winters!!! Proof positive that WDRC AM will continue to flounder as long as it is trying to be WTIC AM lite. Cosby was on how long after they dumped Lovallo?? Three weeks. Get a clue, lady.

You continue, over and over, to just not get Grahame's role. You never will, it's not worth trying to explain it to you anymore.

I don't like right wing talk, I think it's angry and unpleasant. I also don't like left wing talk, I think it's angry and unpleasant. When it comes to talk, I like somebody who's either middle of the road, or someone who's focused on local issues, or somebody that I feel isn't showboating. There's just as much wrong with liberal talk as there is with conservative talk.

That said, I don't really think there's anything you could do with WDRC-AM to pull a 7 share. It's the nature of the market.

 

[MarcB]

My guess is that they just put Rita Cosby show on as a temporary placeholder because they needed something to plug-in after they got rid of Dan L. The Rita Cosby show is from The WOR Radio Network, so there probably wasn't much involved to get the show on the air. It probably took time to get the contact signed to carry Ramsey since the show was airing on WTIC. (Albeit only 3 hours a week on Sundays in the 1PM-4PM timeslot where it was subject to frequent pre-emptions due to The Redsox, UCONN Basketball, and NY Giants Football. Meanwhile WTIC plugged in The Michael Smerconish Show in that time slot).

 

[fmradio1]

Because of the nature of the Buckley AM's (5K's and graveyarders) it will always be a struggle to get ratings. There will always be gaps in the market that can't pull in any of the stations well (particularly east of town) and nights are essentially non-existant. That said, it does about as well as can be expected considering the disadvantages.

I don't care for conservative talk at all, but I can understand being the second talker in town. It's got 6 hours of local talk on weekdays along with national talent, including some well known names like Michael Savage, Laura Ingraham, and Dave Ramsey. Even if Beck and Hannity were added to the schedule, I doubt it would make much difference. Neither would more local talk. What would do better? Please come up with some ideas! Standards? Progressive talk? Do tell...

 

[progressivetalk]

A 2 or 3 share might suffice, but below 1 just doesn't cut it. As for not "getting Grahame" that may be, but to seriously change the stations programming just three weeks after a major reshuffling smacks of amateur hour. Whether or not Grahame is totally responsible or not is one thing, but if not, perhaps the entire WDRC management needs to go. Here in Windsor Locks, WDRC's signal comes in loud and clear, which for a station that has that strong a signal, to air such crap is sad. I can't speak for the other Buckley stations, but only for WDRC AM in that regard. Isn't a 5000 watt station a bit above average, signal wise??

As for Beck and Hannity, both have aired on WDRC and both sucked so badly in the ratings, DRC dumped Beck and let WTIC have Hannity to air after Sox and UCONN games.

The reason that left wing talk is "angry and unpleasant" to you reely, is that there are so few liberal talkers on the air, that they have to "scream" to get their points across, trying to cut through the right's incessant lying, frauds, half-truths, misogyny, bigotry and racism. Reelyreel, you might find left-wing talk as "angry and unpleasant" but with liberal talk virtually blacklisted, it takes a lot to cut through the right-wing noise machine and its radio allies,thus the alleged "unpleasantness"

As for suggestions, here is my new WDRC AM lineup: 5 AM: news hour with Jim Bohannon or Dirk Van, 6-9, Brad Davis and Mary Jones, (until Brad retires), 9-12, Stephanie Miller, 12-3, Ed Schultz, 3-5 Randi Rhodes or Thom Hartmann, 5-6:30, Ch. 30 simulcast for the commuters home, 6:30-9, I'd keep the Wall Street Report, 9-10, "When Radio Was",(company located in CT), 10-1, Jim Bohannon and 1-4, Hendrie. Also I would have WDRC air Ch. 30 news on the half-hour with the Ch. 30 weather forecasts and cancellations. Counter programming works in a lot of places, and given the nature of CT "Blue state" status, one would think that some left of center programming would be viable.

 

[CTListener]

Liberal talk's audience always has a commercial-free alternative to turn to -- NPR affiliates and other public/college stations. Who needs to put liberal talk on a commercial station with a half-dozen long ad breaks an hour? Maybe that's why prog talk has never gained a foothold on for-profit radio. If 88.1-91.9 were full of conservative talk with no ads, I don't think conservative talk would be the ratings winner it now is.

 

[GlennO]

Ideology aside, there's a difference between finding a market niche and counter programming. To quote one consultant, "You can counter program yourself right into the ground." Business owners generally love learning from successful models and are reluctant to tamper with established revenue sources while trying the unknown.

As for liberal talk, it is not a proven home run. Many radio people say it's because liberal talkers aren't as entertaining or good at firing up their base. They have less of that "take no prisoners" attitude than right wing talkers. I don't agree when I hear Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz or Randi Rhoades. They are focused, full of fight and often entertaining. A big part of the disadvantage is finding these hosts on decent signals outside of Sirius XM subscription or AM DXing. WWRL 1600 New York can't hold a candle to WABC or WOR in coverage, and it's like that almost everywhere. Liberal talk listenership is also more fragmented thanks to NPR. Say what you want about its backers and operators, but NPR's air product is far from an across the board liberal counterpoint to commercial conservative talk. Even so, many liberal listeners go there. Liberals are also perceived as more of a fragmented demographic, from urban centers to college towns to suburban baby boomer onetime hippies.

Keep in mind that even in conservative talk, just grabbing a syndicated talk lineup off the satellite is no guarantee of decent ratings. Many New England talkers discovered that and added local components: news, morning talk, etc. If someone can come in with a business plan that would address these reservations, then go for it. Otherwise we're just opinionated non-players with a computer.

 

[progressivetalk]

Liberal talk's audience always has a commercial-free alternative to turn to -- NPR affiliates and other public/college stations. Who needs to put liberal talk on a commercial station with a half-dozen long ad breaks an hour? Maybe that's why prog talk has never gained a foothold on for-profit radio. If 88.1-91.9 were full of conservative talk with no ads, I don't think conservative talk would be the ratings winner it now is.

I just went to the website for my local NPR stations, WNPR and WNNZ and WNPR offers Colin McEnroe at 1 and WNNZ offers "Talk of the Nation" at 2. I've never found McEnroe all that entertaining. Liberal yes, but not my cup of tea. I've also heard TOFN and like McEnroe, not my cup of tea. I used to listen to Diane Rehm when she was on, but I don't think she's on anymore. NPR's talk pales in comparison to Rhodes, Schultz, Miller or even Thom Hartmann. As for the "long ad breaks", there are no more ad breaks on a liberal talk show than a conservative one. Randi Rhodes for instance has breaks at 20 past, 30 past and 50 past the hour, just like any other radio talk show!!! The biggest problem with finding stations to air liberal/progressive talk is that the majority of radio station owners/conglomerates have management that is far-right, stuck-in-the mud types,who have the same type of programming tunnel vision which limits certain classic rock stations to playing the same 267 tunes over and over again. (And I love classic rock). And the only long-form talk show I've ever heard on a college station is Thom Hartmann on Wednesdays and Sundays on WACC in Enfield. As for the "ratings winner", you proclaim right wing talk to be, Limbaugh's ratings, pre-Fluke were down 33% and Hannity's 35%.

 

[CTListener]

Liberal talk's audience always has a commercial-free alternative to turn to -- NPR affiliates and other public/college stations. Who needs to put liberal talk on a commercial station with a half-dozen long ad breaks an hour? Maybe that's why prog talk has never gained a foothold on for-profit radio. If 88.1-91.9 were full of conservative talk with no ads, I don't think conservative talk would be the ratings winner it now is.

I just went to the website for my local NPR stations, WNPR and WNNZ and WNPR offers Colin McEnroe at 1 and WNNZ offers "Talk of the Nation" at 2. I've never found McEnroe all that entertaining. Liberal yes, but not my cup of tea. I've also heard TOFN and like McEnroe, not my cup of tea. I used to listen to Diane Rehm when she was on, but I don't think she's on anymore. NPR's talk pales in comparison to Rhodes, Schultz, Miller or even Thom Hartmann. As for the "long ad breaks", there are no more ad breaks on a liberal talk show than a conservative one. Randi Rhodes for instance has breaks at 20 past, 30 past and 50 past the hour, just like any other radio talk show!!! The biggest problem with finding stations to air liberal/progressive talk is that the majority of radio station owners/conglomerates have management that is far-right, stuck-in-the mud types,who have the same type of programming tunnel vision which limits certain classic rock stations to playing the same 267 tunes over and over again. (And I love classic rock). And the only long-form talk show I've ever heard on a college station is Thom Hartmann on Wednesdays and Sundays on WACC in Enfield. As for the "ratings winner", you proclaim right wing talk to be, Limbaugh's ratings, pre-Fluke were down 33% and Hannity's 35%.

My point wasn't that liberal talk shows have more ad breaks than conservative ones -- I was just estimating the number of breaks in an hour -- it was that liberal talk has competition for the ears of its listener base that conservative talk doesn't, and that competition is commercial-free. Long-form, shmong-form -- that's just your preference. Listen to NPR or WESU (Middletown) or WPKN (Bridgeport) and you'll hear tons of talk, in 30- and 60-minute shows, espousing liberal causes, from conditions in prison to oppression in Tibet to animal rights to corporate greed. And yes, plenty of talk about what's going on in Washington, too.

 

[progressivetalk]

Would love to but can't get either of them.

 

[DRCFM_Rules]

Commercial radio is a business, and it's about stations getting results for their advertisers so they can remain in business.

We're not trying to be WTIC lite. Anyone who believes that's my mission or in my job description here at Buckley Radio doesn't know me...at all. Like you, Progressive.

Progressive, I appreciate your views and opinions, but I just don't get why you keep bashing me. Glenn and Reely are absolutely correct in their assessment of how format decisions are made. It's not my call. How ironic that you tell me to get a clue when you have none yourself.

Life is too short for so much hatred and negativity. Let it go - you need a hug.

Grahame Winters

 

[progressivetalk]

Hi Grahame. Maybe you are right and I do need a hug. If you take my posts as "bashing you", I am sorry for that, they are not meant that way.

My posts are more a reflection of the Hartford market. It mystifies me that in this "blue" state, talk radio consists of three religious stations, one owned by a huckster who proclaimed, not once, but twice last year that the world was coming to an end. Two sports talk stations, one which Clear Channel literally moved from Springfield to Hartford so it could put ESPN on FM and align WPOP, which it owns, to do Fox Sports. Add two conservative talkers who feature a misogynist who sponsors have dumped him in droves, a guy who "pals around" with white supremacists (Hannity), a woman who professes to be a Christian (even wearing Christian bling), Ingraham, but is just as crude and vile as her male counterparts, a racist and a fake Doctor (Savage) who has been banned from England for his vileness. Let's top it off with our felon ex-governor who for some reason seems to find work in radio in Hartford.

Also, why does the Hartford market need FOUR Spanish language stations, two owned by the same company?

Maybe it is me, but one would think that someone in this state who runs a radio station would air programming that isn't politically to the right of the Taliban??? Or trying to fleece its listeners out of money?

As for advertisers, I know that working in radio, you've seen the reports that ALL of Rushie's advertisers have dropped him. It's gotten so bad that Premiere, the company that syndicates his show has placed a moratorium on airing anything but PSA's on Limbaugh for the next two weeks.

Maybe it will blow over, but hopefully this is the beginning of the end of "hate radio" in this country and that the advertisers don't want "results" delivered by crude,vile, bigoted, racist misogynists and his friends. ???

 

[CTListener]

Also, why does the Hartford market need FOUR Spanish language stations, two owned by the same company?

Maybe it is me, but one would think that someone in this state who runs a radio station would air programming that isn't politically to the right of the Taliban???

Spanish-language stations can be run very cheap and have a built-in reservoir of revenue waiting for them, from businesses catering to Spanish-speaking customers and quasi-religious miracle peddlers preying on the gullible. As for programming left-wing talk programming ... why? Radio chains have much more to gain with conservative, business-friendly Republicans in power than with Democrats, so they air the views that go over best in the boardroom.

 

[progressivetalk]

A) Who said that Republicans are business-friendly? and B) It is also been proven that Wall Street does better under Democrats than the GOP!!

 

[CTListener]

A) Who said that Republicans are business-friendly? and B) It is also been proven that Wall Street does better under Democrats than the GOP!!

Friendlier in that they resist raising the minimum wage and are generally anti-union, would rather see less environmental regulation, and are less likely to further tax the pay of top executives. Sounds pretty pro-business to me. Neither party has been a shining light in stemming the flow of American manufacturing to other countries, but that has less to do, IMO, with any collusion with major corporations than it does with fear of offending China, which owns so much of America right now that a pullout of Chinese investment would be devastating.

 

[reelyreal]

Hi Grahame. Maybe you are right and I do need a hug. If you take my posts as "bashing you", I am sorry for that, they are not meant that way.

My posts are more a reflection of the Hartford market. It mystifies me that in this "blue" state, talk radio consists of three religious stations, one owned by a huckster who proclaimed, not once, but twice last year that the world was coming to an end. Two sports talk stations, one which Clear Channel literally moved from Springfield to Hartford so it could put ESPN on FM and align WPOP, which it owns, to do Fox Sports. Add two conservative talkers who feature a misogynist who sponsors have dumped him in droves, a guy who "pals around" with white supremacists (Hannity), a woman who professes to be a Christian (even wearing Christian bling), Ingraham, but is just as crude and vile as her male counterparts, a racist and a fake Doctor (Savage) who has been banned from England for his vileness. Let's top it off with our felon ex-governor who for some reason seems to find work in radio in Hartford.

Also, why does the Hartford market need FOUR Spanish language stations, two owned by the same company?

Maybe it is me, but one would think that someone in this state who runs a radio station would air programming that isn't politically to the right of the Taliban??? Or trying to fleece its listeners out of money?

As for advertisers, I know that working in radio, you've seen the reports that ALL of Rushie's advertisers have dropped him. It's gotten so bad that Premiere, the company that syndicates his show has placed a moratorium on airing anything but PSA's on Limbaugh for the next two weeks.

Maybe it will blow over, but hopefully this is the beginning of the end of "hate radio" in this country and that the advertisers don't want "results" delivered by crude,vile, bigoted, racist misogynists and his friends. ???

Just out of curiosity... If The Talk of Connecticut were all progressive talk and were pulling a 0.7, what would you say? What would be your solution?

 

[DToTheJ]

@Progressive: If a person is talking to a program director and likens the programming that runs on his/her station to "the Taliban"... well, I can't speak for Grahame, but that person would certainly lose all credibility with me at that point.

 

[progressivetalk]

Hi Grahame. Maybe you are right and I do need a hug. If you take my posts as "bashing you", I am sorry for that, they are not meant that way.

My posts are more a reflection of the Hartford market. It mystifies me that in this "blue" state, talk radio consists of three religious stations, one owned by a huckster who proclaimed, not once, but twice last year that the world was coming to an end. Two sports talk stations, one which Clear Channel literally moved from Springfield to Hartford so it could put ESPN on FM and align WPOP, which it owns, to do Fox Sports. Add two conservative talkers who feature a misogynist who sponsors have dumped him in droves, a guy who "pals around" with white supremacists (Hannity), a woman who professes to be a Christian (even wearing Christian bling), Ingraham, but is just as crude and vile as her male counterparts, a racist and a fake Doctor (Savage) who has been banned from England for his vileness. Let's top it off with our felon ex-governor who for some reason seems to find work in radio in Hartford.

Also, why does the Hartford market need FOUR Spanish language stations, two owned by the same company?

Maybe it is me, but one would think that someone in this state who runs a radio station would air programming that isn't politically to the right of the Taliban??? Or trying to fleece its listeners out of money?

As for advertisers, I know that working in radio, you've seen the reports that ALL of Rushie's advertisers have dropped him. It's gotten so bad that Premiere, the company that syndicates his show has placed a moratorium on airing anything but PSA's on Limbaugh for the next two weeks.

Maybe it will blow over, but hopefully this is the beginning of the end of "hate radio" in this country and that the advertisers don't want "results" delivered by crude,vile, bigoted, racist misogynists and his friends. ???

Just out of curiosity... If The Talk of Connecticut were all progressive talk and were pulling a 0.7, what would you say? What would be your solution?

I would say keep airing it,as WDRC AM keeps airing the conservatives with the same poor ratings!!!