It's way to early to tell. Of course, now we also have two music stations (WZAK and K-Rock) that air talk in AMD and PMD. But out of the four shows there, only Rover is of local origin.
Radio One seems to making an investment into WERE for the first time in a LONG while (ever since CC emasculated the station in the mid-90's, they have nowhere to go but up...) That being said, I don't listen to Ronnie's show, so others may have to fill in. Hopefully, the station will try to add more local shows and whatnot in the coming years.
Frantz is an obvious upgrade to Springer's now-defunct show. Conservative-leaning... yes. But not surprising, It's pretty much what one would expect for the station and it's time slot (I doubt that WTAM would have even sniffed a moderate-liberal leaning host, given the debacle that was Jerry). At least he isn't Rich Michaels, who had generally been critized for his similarity (both content-wise and vocal tenor) to Rush. That being said, Frantz generally does a good job on his show. It's a positive addition.
Now, with WWGK... if the tea leaves are read right, WWGK will eventually a some local shows to the daytime-only ESPN Radio lineup. The real story, however, is that now-sister WKNR will eventually add more local shows to their lineup - possibly in the morning.
The bottom line: is the local talk scene still underserved? Hell yes. But this may not be the best time to ask the question...
- Nathan Obral
