OhioMediaWatch said:
livingfruitvirus said:
While it's not technically Fox Sports Radio, Jim Rome's program begins at :00. I think it's nice that programs actually start early. If a station absolutely needs to throw local news, national news, traffic, and minutes worth of stuff at the top of the hour, then just DRR the show.
That is a messy solution.
The problem here is that there are a lot of news/talk stations which run FSR after 7 PM on weekdays and all weekend, and many of them wish to run news at TOH. The aforementioned WEOL/930 Elyria and WHBC/1480 Canton are just two examples in our local area.
It just doesn't make a lot of sense to make the clock allowances only on FSR's PM drive Pacific show, that's all.
Plus those aforementioned small-town news/talkers don't carry Rome and have no interest in doing so.
If all of FSR's affiliates strictly operated as all-sports stations, then a :01-start clock is a great idea. I can't think of many ESPN Radio affiliates that are news/talkers, carrying the network on a part-time basis... so the network hasn't had to operate with clocks favorable to talk stations (allowing a TOH news update) for many, many years.
Face it, most of those small-town news/talkers in the Midwest pretty much are padding FSR's affiliate count as it is. Switching the clock to that :01-start time basically screwed all of those affiliates over. DVR'ing the first segment may sound like a good idea at first blush, but Lord knows how practical it is, and even with regard to automation equipment. (By sharp contrast, Talk Radio Network's new satellite receiver can allow for automatic DVRing, which cuts down on the need for re-feeding programs - perhaps Premiere should send receivers like
those IMO.)
As it is, WHBC is forced to carry the one-minute TOH Fox News Radio cast at the TOH. Okay, I guess, but pretty stupid if you have a reputation for NEWS coverage and not blabber at the top of the hour. WEOL is forced to carry a one-minute ABC News cast during the first commercial spotload, varying between :15 and :18 past. Again, a pretty asinine arrangement if you ask me, and damaging to the station's credibility as a
NEWS/TALKER with local and national news at the
TOH.
Don Martin and Premiere brass clearly hasn't, nor will ever give, a flying paddoodle to FSR's non-sports radio affiliates, in a pointless quest to run a "SuperStation KLAC" instead. Simply changing the clock
ONLY for the insufferable PMS won't solve a damn thing, and you and I know that.
If I were at WEOL or WHBC, I would just tear up their FSR contract in total disgust, and switch to running Talk Radio Network programming off the bird for evenings and weekends. Or even Sporting News Radio as a direct slap at the Premiere brass. It's obvious that FSR is clearly not wanting to work with those affiliates, so why bother?