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WABC dropping "Coast to Coast AM" for infomercials

C

chuckydoll

Guest
According to an item on the website of programmer/consultant John Rook (scroll down).

No doubt this is being done by Citadel to bring in revenue. WABC already runs infomercials in overnight Saturday/early Sunday.
 
I'm sure Curtis is ecstatic at the prospect of his lead-in now being infomercials.

Wonder if this practice will follow suit in Chicago et al.
 
First they have to pay for the ABC-owned stations.
Then they have to pay for Imus.

Phil Boyce denies they will replace any more local morning shows with Imus. Of course, he has to say that. If he is not going to dump any local morning shows he'll say he isn't going to dump any morning shows. If he is going to dump any local morning shows, he can't say so until he actually fires people.

Probably, they will deny plans to for infomercial blocks on any of the other stations, too.

If I were in adjoing time period, I'd be updating the package. Add an hour and save Curtis Sliwa's salary. Add a couple more and who needs Laura Ingraham. Then there's the remaining non-brokered time on the weekends. Good-bye "Saturday Night Oldies?"
 
Julius Leonard Marx said:
If I were in adjoing time period, I'd be updating the package. Add an hour and save Curtis Sliwa's salary. Add a couple more and who needs Laura Ingraham. Then there's the remaining non-brokered time on the weekends. Good-bye "Saturday Night Oldies?"
Click to expand...

WABC is turning into what now passes for the formerly great Super 16 WWRL. How the mighty have fallen. :-[
 
chuckydoll said:
According to an item on the website of programmer/consultant John Rook (scroll down).

No doubt this is being done by Citadel to bring in revenue. WABC already runs infomercials in overnight Saturday/early Sunday.
Click to expand...

I love this-- as if the concept of bringing in revenue is like committing genocide. I don't know if they're doing it or not, but if they are, and they're doing it without eliminating any personnel, what's the big deal? Especially when they're already doing it in other dayparts. I mean, you can critique the strategy all you want...but for heaven's sake, suggesting that it's wrong for a "for profit" company to make money is just naive. Perhaps this is the revenue that's being used to pay for the new News Director they're advertising for...does that still make it a sin?
 
Shoot From Hip said:
I love this-- as if the concept of bringing in revenue is like committing genocide. I don't know if they're doing it or not, but if they are, and they're doing it without eliminating any personnel, what's the big deal? Especially when they're already doing it in other dayparts. I mean, you can critique the strategy all you want...but for heaven's sake, suggesting that it's wrong for a "for profit" company to make money is just naive. Perhaps this is the revenue that's being used to pay for the new News Director they're advertising for...does that still make it a sin?
Click to expand...

Chucky expressed no judgement about brining in revenue.

But eliminating programming for infomercials is like committing suicide. Short-term revenue at the expense of the long-term health of a business is never a smart move.
 
Julius Leonard Marx said:
Shoot From Hip said:
I love this-- as if the concept of bringing in revenue is like committing genocide. I don't know if they're doing it or not, but if they are, and they're doing it without eliminating any personnel, what's the big deal? Especially when they're already doing it in other dayparts. I mean, you can critique the strategy all you want...but for heaven's sake, suggesting that it's wrong for a "for profit" company to make money is just naive. Perhaps this is the revenue that's being used to pay for the new News Director they're advertising for...does that still make it a sin?
Click to expand...

Chucky expressed no judgement about brining in revenue.

But eliminating programming for infomercials is like committing suicide. Short-term revenue at the expense of the long-term health of a business is never a smart move.
Click to expand...

I'm sure Chucky can speak for himself. If he wasn't making a judgment about revenue, why was that the only thing he mentioned? He didn't say "Citadel must be doing it for the ratings."
 
Shoot From Hip said:
I'm sure Chucky can speak for himself. If he wasn't making a judgment about revenue, why was that the only thing he mentioned? He didn't say "Citadel must be doing it for the ratings."
Click to expand...

Maybe because clearly they are not doing it for the ratings. Not that overnight ratings matter in the great scheme of things. Maybe revenue is the only reason he could think of. It's the only one I can think of.

If he said they did it for the ratings would you think there was an implied judgment?

This "genocide" thing is all in your own listening.
 
My point is, of course they're doing it for the revenue. It's the only reason I can think of TO do it. But pointing it out the way he did in his post makes it seem, to me, that somehow he finds that to be a negative. It came off that way to me; if you saw it otherwise, good for you.
 
Everything any business does is directly or indirectly about revenue.

The problem here is the more people listen to another station, the more they will listen to another station. And in the long-run, that means less revenue.

Even worse, the less there is anybody wants to listen to on the radio, the more they will listen to something else. Turning off even part of an audience is crippling, ultimately killing, the golden goose.

Aside from revenue, there is something to be said for any business showing some class. This move really fails on that score.

Revenue in and of itself is neither good nor bad, but there has to be limit to what anybody will do for revenue.
 
In the words of Homer Simpson ... "Let's not all jump to conclusions, now ..."

It's one night a week, (overnights Friday into Saturday) and the colon cleaners take to the air then. Another hour of paid programming 5-6 a.m. Sunday.

That's it. Let's not let the facts stand in the way of ... speculation and rumor ...

WABC has been running infomercials for sometime, now ... and some semi-kinda "brokered" shows on the weekends as well. Old news. Of course it's for revenue. Boyce was quoted months ago saying that "...we make more money in that one night than we do with a whole week of Coast-to-Coast." (Feb. 2007)

Nobody, including Phil Boyce, has said anything about dumping Coast to Coast. Used to be a thread on a Hannity board on the 'ABC site about it, in fact.

Just a friendly public service before jumping off the bridge of your choice.

WABC Paid Programming
Saturday: 12:00 AM - 5:00 AM
Saturday: 5:00 AM - 6:00 AM
Saturday: 10:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Sunday: 5:00 AM - 7:30 AM

Infomercials
 
Julius Leonard Marx said:
Maybe because clearly they are not doing it for the ratings. Not that overnight ratings matter in the great scheme of things. Maybe revenue is the only reason he could think of. It's the only one I can think of.
Click to expand...

I would have thought that if you are programming or managing a news/talk station, overnight ratings would be fairly important, as they a lead in to your prime shift. Where I work, in Melbourne, Australia (3.5mill pop), our overnight program is surveyed once a year, and in our last survey overnights scored 25% of the available audience. Sure it is a smaller base, but it is still a sizeable cume when you break the figures down. In a market like New York, why would they throw away a an audience instead of trying to build it?
 
Overnights have long gone unrated by Arbitron.

Where's my tin-foil hat...?
 
oaktree said:
In the words of Homer Simpson ... "Let's not all jump to conclusions, now ..."

It's one night a week, (overnights Friday into Saturday) and the colon cleaners take to the air then. Another hour of paid programming 5-6 a.m. Sunday.

That's it. Let's not let the facts stand in the way of ... speculation and rumor ...

WABC has been running infomercials for sometime, now ... and some semi-kinda "brokered" shows on the weekends as well. Old news. Of course it's for revenue. Boyce was quoted months ago saying that "...we make more money in that one night than we do with a whole week of Coast-to-Coast." (Feb. 2007)

Nobody, including Phil Boyce, has said anything about dumping Coast to Coast. Used to be a thread on a Hannity board on the 'ABC site about it, in fact.

Just a friendly public service before jumping off the bridge of your choice.

WABC Paid Programming
Saturday: 12:00 AM - 5:00 AM
Saturday: 5:00 AM - 6:00 AM
Saturday: 10:00 PM - 12:00 AM
Sunday: 5:00 AM - 7:30 AM

Infomercials
Click to expand...

I was initially kind of shocked to read all of this, but if its only Friday night, that really isn't so bad. Friday and Saturday nights seem to be the weakest nights for Coast to Coast in terms of programming. In fact, Friday night features no guests...only listeners calling in which can get kind of weak after a point...
 
As bad as it is to see another station throw on hours' worth of infomercials for the quick buck instead of airing programming - any programming - even if it wasn't local, I don't see how anyone gets off thinking that there's hope that oldies will come back on WABC. Infomercials make quick money, oldies (and any other music they'd air) would not. It's that simple.
 
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