WABC 100% syndicated

[ka2xuk]

If people in New York are so much smarter, why did the previous NY based company that owned WABC go bankrupt?

1. Citadel was based in Las Vegas, not New York. They had some corporate offices in NYC, but the HQ was in Las Vegas.

2. Citadel went 2.4 billion into debt to buy ABC and its O&O stations, then did a "pre-packaged" bankruptcy and came out smelling like a rose. Some of the key shareholders forced the sale to Cumulus.

 

[TheBigA]

1. Citadel was based in Las Vegas, not New York. They had some corporate offices in NYC, but the HQ was in Las Vegas.

Really? What headquarters? They had a mail address in Las Vegas for tax reasons. Like companies that use Delaware as an address but all the real people work in NYC. Farid was in NYC. Maybe Larry Wilson ran the company differently, but the people who bought and ran ABC Radio were in NY.

 

[secondchoice]

Does it matter where the headquarters were. IMHO They trashed ABC Radio.

 

[TheBigA]

Does it matter where the headquarters were. IMHO They trashed ABC Radio.

ABC Radio was trashed before them. Paul Harvey died, and they never recovered.

 

[meathead123]

I like the newshour - kinda loose, fun and local. Too bad its not on later in the AM

 

[OC3]

The guy that does that Mome Laben is very good. I'd like to see them use him elsewhere!

 

[wadio]

Noem Layden does a great job with a show that's very crowded with features. He manages to make it sound more relaxed than his predecessor, Doug McIntyre, who seemed much better suited to the old Red Eye Radio format.

But I have to say, Crash makes me nervous! His contributions to the show are good but he needs to relax ... take a deep breath ... and SLOW DOWN. That's the kind of detail that gets overlooked when a station has no direction ... as in Program director.

 

[DToTheJ]

Matt Dahl was actually pretty good when he filled in on the 5 AM hour when Noam was on vacation a couple of weeks ago.

 

[wadio]

Matt Dahl was actually pretty good when he filled in on the 5 AM hour when Noam was on vacation a couple of weeks ago.

I agree!

 

[OC3]

Like them both! Who's Crash?

 

[wadio]

Like them both! Who's Crash?

I don't know exactly -- the producer/board-op/call screener? I've heard him referred to around WABC for years but lately Noem has been putting him on the air. Seems like a nice, even a funny guy, but his mouth tends to get ahead of his brain. I'm sure he could be coached to slow down, but with nobody really at the helm at WABC I doubt that's likely to happen.

 

[OC3]

I wonder what will happen to the news hour as Noam (thank you for the correction on his name) spends more and more time carrying the Geraldo Show? I'm sure he must have to do some early prep for the 5AM hour making for a long day for Mr. Lodden.

 

[jhguthlac]

Crash is the engineer. Board Op type.

 

[OC3]

Interesting. Does that happen elsewhere?

 

[secondchoice]

Interesting. Does that happen elsewhere?

Yes. The late Royal Marshal of WSB's Neil Boortz was technically a board operator, who on many occasion put a black man's and or a working man's view on some of Neil's conservative rants. Unfortunately he died in 2011 and Neil's show has gone down hill ever since. "Just Damn".

http://blogs.ajc.com/radio-tv-talk/...hline-features-a-raft-of-atlanta-radio-jocks/

 

[OC3]

So it sounds like there are a number of people working on this News Hour besides Naom and Matt. What with all the cutbacks I'm kind of surprised about that. Perhaps many are doing double duty (like Noam and Geraldo)?

 

[NEPA_radiobored]

WABC is one of the stations that drove Citadel to bankruptcy. It was a drain on Disney, and that's why they sold it. [/quote]

Citadel was headed for bankruptcy well before they bought the Disney properties. Citadel Broadcasting leadership was Cumulus 1.0

 

[TheBigA]

Citadel was headed for bankruptcy well before they bought the Disney properties.

Absolutely not true. I have the earnings reports that show you're wrong.

Buying ABC radio, coupled with the advertising crash of 2008, caused the bankruptcy of Citadel. Facts don't lie.

 

[secondchoice]

I believe Big A is correct. Besides who would lend a floundering operation (if Citadel was headed for bankruptcy) Billions? Unlike mortgage bonds, most second year accounting students can read a balance sheet.

 

[recto101]

New York may be behind the curve somewhat...but in other major markets where once nearly all live and local heritage talkers gradually handed themselves over to syndication, their place as format-dominant spoken word station has been taken over by a local NPR affiliate. Happened in Boston, happened in San Francisco (where KQED is #1 6+) and happened in DC, where WAMU is top talker and fighting with (and sometimes beating) WTOP for overall 6+ lead.

Watch how other big markets shake down. WNYC won't be tops in 6+ because there are other strong alternatives for spoken-word listeners like WINS, WCBS and WFAN....but it will gradually gain strength and you shouldn't be shocked if it passes WABC in the rankings before too long.

I know KQED had been in the top 5 in recent years most often going head to head with KCBS-AM/FM(106.9 is officially KFRC-FM). When ABC owned KGO-AM, 810AM tended to be head to head with KCBS for decades with the news/talk format . I know the NPR stations tend to focus on Global news/talk compared to commercial formats. Well I do know since the uneasy handling of KGO-AM from ABC/Citadel/Cumulus I see that KQED's ratings stayed in the top 5 since then and KCBS-FM 106.9 all-news simulcast of 740 put them in the top 5 too.