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WABC - What happened to Lionel, 2-5 am weekends
- Thread starter wadio
- Start date
I'm wondering how long a station like WCCO will keep running the show. WCCO has long had a pretty laid-back, friendly, Minnesota-nice presentation. The Good Neighbor. Warm, friendly, reassuring and sometimes witty personalities (though the wit more or less left with Steve Cannon). News and current events were always at the forefront. No opinionated political shouters (though they tried it and ended it quickly after listener backlash). And very little syndicatiom, even in overnights and during the quarter century of CBS ownership, along with WCCO-TV 4.
I get WCCO looking to move out of live overnight programming, even on a signal that blankets the entire state and upper Midwest. The economics and state of modern radio probably dictate it. Unfortunately, they don't have many choices as far as syndicated programming is concerned. C2C is already on the IHeart talk station (1130). And right-wing talk just doesn't work on WCCO. Lionel's caffeinated shouting of empty conspiracy theories definitely does not work.
So, outside of hiring a live overnight host, there's not many options. They could replay daytime shows, but the news would be a bit stale by then. Perhaps run syndicated sports talk, but KFXN dominates that area, with KSTP eating the crumbs. Maybe pick up a daytime syndicated show and air it on delay?
Audacy needs to figure this out, because Lionel and CCO mix like oil and water.
I get WCCO looking to move out of live overnight programming, even on a signal that blankets the entire state and upper Midwest. The economics and state of modern radio probably dictate it. Unfortunately, they don't have many choices as far as syndicated programming is concerned. C2C is already on the IHeart talk station (1130). And right-wing talk just doesn't work on WCCO. Lionel's caffeinated shouting of empty conspiracy theories definitely does not work.
So, outside of hiring a live overnight host, there's not many options. They could replay daytime shows, but the news would be a bit stale by then. Perhaps run syndicated sports talk, but KFXN dominates that area, with KSTP eating the crumbs. Maybe pick up a daytime syndicated show and air it on delay?
Audacy needs to figure this out, because Lionel and CCO mix like oil and water.
The Andy Bloom era WCCO was a disaster.
Audacy has some solid talkers. WCCO, WWL, KMBZ. It wouldn't be the worst idea to create one and syndicate it between them. KMBZ used to have Jon Grayson on their staff who formerly did Overnight America. He's retired from radio, but here's the description of his show, which aired in its time on KDKA, KMOX and WCCO.
Overnight America: 1am – 6am
Overnight America is the fresh, upbeat, talk-driven program that electrifies the pre-dawn airwaves with smart conversation.
No little green men and no truck-talk, just everything your listeners
care about from pop culture to politics.
Host Jon Grayson is a young gun with major-league radio chops.
Every weeknight, Jon adeptly covers all the issues of the day,
connects one-on-one with callers, and engages effortlessly with
celebrities and guests alike.
Topical, Approachable and Informative… it’s a great alternative to everything alternative.
Begin the day with what’s next. Not what’s yesterday.
Get Overnight America! The perfect lead-in to morning drive.
Audacy has some solid talkers. WCCO, WWL, KMBZ. It wouldn't be the worst idea to create one and syndicate it between them. KMBZ used to have Jon Grayson on their staff who formerly did Overnight America. He's retired from radio, but here's the description of his show, which aired in its time on KDKA, KMOX and WCCO.
Overnight America: 1am – 6am
Overnight America is the fresh, upbeat, talk-driven program that electrifies the pre-dawn airwaves with smart conversation.
No little green men and no truck-talk, just everything your listeners
care about from pop culture to politics.
Host Jon Grayson is a young gun with major-league radio chops.
Every weeknight, Jon adeptly covers all the issues of the day,
connects one-on-one with callers, and engages effortlessly with
celebrities and guests alike.
Topical, Approachable and Informative… it’s a great alternative to everything alternative.
Begin the day with what’s next. Not what’s yesterday.
Get Overnight America! The perfect lead-in to morning drive.
That's actually a really good idea. Because not all AM talk stations do sports or right-wing agitprop. There are plenty of stations that would probably prefer to be less confrontational. WGN and WTMJ are other good examples, to go along with many of the Audacy stations. Too bad there aren't any more late night hosts like Larry King.
Not to mention, WCCO could never be a full-blown conservotalk outlet. First, they'd lose whatever audience they have left (and they still get decent, but not phenomenal ratings). Second, it's already being done by IHeart's KTLK and Salem's WWTC (and spillover KDIZ). None of them get anything close to great ratings, though KTLK occasionally cracks a 3 share.
There's also plenty of other talk stations in town, including one that does NO political talk. KTMY-FM has a rather unique format, breezy chit-chat geared toward women. They apparently do quite well in their niche.
There's also KTNF, which has been going with their progressive talk format for over two decades now (a record for a station that's gone through at least a few dozen formats in their history). They apparently found a dedicated niche audience, and advertisers to keep it going. Otherwise, the owner would have gone broke years ago. They apparently still own the studio, tower and land in Eden Prairie, which probably helps.
The big news/talk station in town is KNOW, the flagship of the powerhouse Minnesota Public Radio. I'm sure they've absorbed a lot of the audience that otherwise would be listening to CCO.
So, with all that, and a century of being "The Good Neighbor", CCO is pretty much bound to their niche. And they do as well as can be expected with it.
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Could WCCO simulcast CBS News Roundup overnight?
That's basically what Overnight America was. An all-night show for CBS Radio O&Os, hosted from KMOX.
I think it got dropped even before CBS Radio and Audacy merged.
CBS does that, but only on TV and the CBS News 24/7 OTA streaming channel. But it's an hour long, and loops all night, allegedly. I don't think it's geared toward radio, though the Audacy app does carry CBS News 24/7 in audio form. And CCO is still a CBS radio affiliate, as they've been from the beginning, so they do carry their news updates and programming.
Probably not as robust on radio as the excellent BBC World Service, which airs overnight on KNOW and MPR.
Yeah I know, that’s why I was wondering if they could just take the audio. The BBC World Service’s Newsday is good, but I liked their overnight show better when it was The World Today.
I like Red Eye... but I can't figure out why they give out a phone number. I do not think in the months I've listened that I've ever heard them take a call
I think you're right. And when they do take calls they let the caller talk for about 10 seconds, then interrupt and start talking for several minutes, at some point inserting, "Thanks for the call."
It's a 5-hour show! What's the hurry to get rid of the caller?
Either they don't get much of any phone calls or Gary McNamara thinks he's another Rush, who didn't need to take phone calls and could talk forever if he wanted.
Problem is, Gary is... not Rush.
What about wcco running the John Batchelor show?
I think they run his show, it’s called “Eye on the World” now.
Unless something changed, WGL in Fort Wayne runs audio from the CBS News streaming service in off hours.
what if they America tonight with Kate dilaney. I think that show is not aired in that market. She is not that political, she mostly talks news and sports.
KTMY My Talk 107.1 is a pretty good talk station. They talk entertainment news such as movies and tv shows and non political news. I stream the station sometimes. Last time saw the 6+ ratings it was in the mid twos.
I’ve tried listening to that, but couldn’t get into it.
Red Eye is something I would think even RWers would have a tough time listening to. It's terrible. This has to be Noory's last year. His network has some talented -young- hosts on the weekend. If they do make the change I would have they allow someone to have have something other than a far right opinion once a month or so.
Listen to Lionel for the first time in a generation. He's talking about the Guthrie investigation. He isn't bad.
Listen to Lionel for the first time in a generation. He's talking about the Guthrie investigation. He isn't bad.
By the way, elsewhere in this thread (Post #18) we speculated about WCCO dropping Lionel. They did so. I believe the change was effective Monday 2/2.
“America Tonight” Adds Affiliates
“America Tonight with Kate Delaney” adds new affiliate stations as Audacy’s news/talk WCCO-AM, Minneapolis is now airing the program from 12:00 midnight to 2:00 am as is Genesis Communications’ WHB…
talkers.com