V.H. format in Pittsburgh

[fromtheinsideout]

I would argue that the purpose of WPTT is to make money, or maybe more accurately, not lose money. On a strict numbers basis, WPTT, whether at 1360 or 910, will never come close to the numbers of either KDKA or 104.7. That being said, I would agree that certain changes could be made to the station to make it more consistent, starting with removing Laura Ingraham. Carrying a conservative show that is a day old before a liberal show makes very little sense to me. If you are going to run something in tape delay, I would delay Alan Colmes and put him in that spot, which while still taped would be at least be 18 hrs or so more current and a better lead in to your live programming.Haven't listened to enough of Monica Crowley to get a feel for her one way or the other. I just know that when Ron Insana left CNBC, Crowley was the person they tapped to take his place. I don't know if WPTT is necesasrily going to build their weekends around her all that much, because come fall, she will get bumped on a pretty regular basis for NFL Football, especially with the number of national games the Steelers will get this year on Sunday and Monday nights, that will give WPTT the option of carrying a doubleheader those Sundays, which will probably occur, plus any time the Steelers have a 4pm kickoff, WPTT will end up carrying a 1 o'clock game, again bumping Crowley. Her show is live on Saturdays and I doubt you will see any of the niche programming (Ron Morris, Jane Nugent, Jack Etzel, Scott Shalloway) removed to put Crowley on in it's place, because those shows make money.

 

[Radio_Realist]

All I know is that an unlistenable station is now listenable for three hours a week.

It's a good thing that I don't mind sounding like a broken record. Or that I only have a few well-tested posts on my playlist that I repeat over and over. If I didn't hang out here, I wouldn't know that Monica Crowley even existed. She sounds like someone I might tune in to hear, if I knew she was on the air. It doesn't matter how WPTT changes what they put on the air, i doesn't matter who or what they program. As long as no one knows about any changes they make except for those who already listen to them anyway, they aren't going to get any new listeners. What's worse for them, is any change they make runs the risk of chasing away the handful of people who like what they currently program, yet with no advertising or promotion, it has little chance of replacing those loses with new listeners.

 

[Pratte4Life]

Well you have to realize that while billboards are good, there are other ways to promote a show. How did I hear about Crowley on the radio? I was a fan of hers when I first saw her on MSNBC. She came across very well- happy- intelligent- professional- and incredibly beautiful.Her show has been talked about a lot on cable and so I looked up her site to see if she had an affiliate locally. Voila! There was!As far as the NFL- will they carry that this year? Or will they make another great business decision and do away with those broadcasts like they did with NASCAR? I don't believe you can go head to head with another NFL game against the Steelers- so that rules out doubleheaders. But even if they can- that's hardly a criticism of Crowley's show.

 

[fromtheinsideout]

Currently, with the bye week and alrready scheduled Sunday, Monday and Thursday night games, WPTT would be in line to air 5 doubleheaders, since none of those times would interfere with a Steeler broadcast. Also, as part of the deal to get Sunday games on NBC, the secoond half of the season will allow NBC to pick which game it wants from the schedule for Sunday night telecasts, so that number of doubleheaders could increase, as a Steelers game would seem to be a good grab for at least one more Sunday night game.I am not commenting on the quality of her show, like I said, I have only caught bits and pieces, I am just saying that with the chance of being preempted as much as 10-12 times out of 52 shows in a year, it would be a hard show to build around (she would ge preempted when the Steelers kickoff at 4pm also).

 

[OldiesCat1]

V.H. format

holy cow, guys & gals- give 'em credit. You can poo-poo the competition and all that other crap, but what they did is a TERIFFIC debut.

 

[Radio_Realist]

Re: V.H. format

holy cow, guys & gals- give 'em credit. You can poo-poo the competition and all that other crap, but what they did is a TERIFFIC debut.

You have a point. It's like when the Harlem Globetrotters beat that team that they bring with them to every game. You can poo-poo the level of the competition, but ya gotta give the Globetrotters credit. They do win all of their games. WRRK did a great job of taking advantage of weak competition and managed to score an impressive victory over an opponent who didn't even show up for the match. Winning by default is indeed a TERRIFIC accomplishment.