flybynight said "NW", Portland Oregon.WIGY 105.9 was "NE", Portland Maine.
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WABC's Return to Ratings Top Ten
- Thread starter Barry
- Start date
About 30-32 yrs ago there was a KXYQ-FM, Q-105. PD/Morning man/part owner was Jim Ryan who went on to have success at CBS-FM in NYC. At the time, Q competed with both Magic-107 and Z-100.
lol
Interestingly, several Oregon cities were named after eastern cities. From what I understand, Portland was almost named Boston.
Maybe it's a reflection of classic rockers seeing less value in radio than they used to.
Glad to see that WABC is doing something ratings wise. If they can monetize what they've got, maybe they'll be around for a while longer. Famous station, it would be a shame for it to go dark.
Don't forget Roth Broadcasting was owned by David Lee Roth's uncle.
But they were in the 'Fool's Seller' market, kept it for a while then sold all of them.
But they were in the 'Fool's Seller' market, kept it for a while then sold all of them.
WABC is celebrating its 100th year this year.....Oct 01, 1921 it went on air
Growing up in NYC in the 50's and 60's, I remember it as an early Rock Roll station
wabcradio.com
Growing up in NYC in the 50's and 60's, I remember it as an early Rock Roll station
77 WABC Celebrates 100 Years | 77 WABC
https://youtu.be/w-xu6KdAsrcVideography & Photos:Gabriella Lopez, Michael Garcia, Ricky Fernandez, Maggie Alleva, Kathy Wu, Eric Salas, Kevin Landry – 77 WABC 77 WABC Celebrating 100 Years - Docum
wabcradio.com
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**FULL DISCLOSURE**: I work for Salem Media in NYC, whose WNYM (AM 970 the Answer) competes against WABC. I'm writing this to not be a hit piece, but to make some first-hand clarifications. Chad Lopez can say whatever he wants, but there are those of us in the know who know otherwise. WABC is, for lack of a better term, a sh*t show internally. With apologies to Tony Orlando and Cousin Brucie, the station has zero originality in its program lineup and is really no different than it was under Cumulus ownership. The one big difference is John Catsimatidis's on-air presence and open wallet.
Bernard McGuirk and Sid Rosenberg are hosts of what has to be the worst morning show presently on the air in this market, for a variety of reasons. They have tarnished whatever was left of Don Imus's legacy when the I-Man passed the mic to them. (Honestly if not for Bernie and Sid, Joe Piscopo would be the worst AM drive talk host here.) And any station that continues to employ Curtis Sliwa and Rudy Giuliani needs to have their license challenged. The most talented personality there is Frank Morano, and that's not saying much either given his past as a Sliwa lackey.
As for Catsimatidis...we at Salem dealt with him directly for five years before he suddenly decided to be the savior of WABC. He is now our competitor, let he still wants both of his programs to be simulcast on 970. And in this arrangement, WNYM is responsible for producing the segments for "Cats Roundtable" on Sundays and then sending those segments to the show's affiliates. The weeknight "Cats at Night" show is also problematic as they are simply freewheeling their way through the hour with no firm formatting. We have asked WABC to stay on a clock, and to produce generic imaging so that their call letters don't get heard over our airwaves, but those reasonable pleas have been either ignored or discouraged by **our** local management. I guess they don't want to ruffle the rich man's feathers and risk losing that money.
Catsimatidis himself is a terrible host and interviewer, but he is allowed to go on because his co-host isn't brave enough to take the wheel and steer the show in the right direction. He's just another wealthy man playing with his latest toy of choice and surrounded by yes-people.
So they can brag about being in the top-20, but given the overall state of radio (not just AM) it's really nothing to write home about. WABC hasn't really been relevant since the Citadel days.
If you say that, then you know very little about the business of radio.
You may not care for EMF and K-Love (and I don't either), but they are smart broadcasters. Not to mention that they pay for their stations in cash and operate with no debt whatsoever.
I would have rather had a radio company take over WPLJ than Catsimatidis or any other wealthy person to turn into a vanity project. And if Catsimatidis wanted 'PLJ, he would have bought it with WABC. Stop crying over spilled milk.
I don't disagree with that. I have friends who work at EMF. My friends left high paying jobs to work for EMF. They made the best offer for WPLJ. The other companies in NY were either maxed out, didn't want to own in NYC, or didn't have the money. That leaves wealthy individuals.
And they filled a format hole in the market.
MacjT
Banned
I actually enjoy the Bernie and Sid show immensely, of course I am of that side of the persuasion so they do speak my language. Hence I have to disagree with your summation that it is the worst show. Well it's subjective anyways . Sometimes they can get repetitive though. But show me another show that doesnt, I tried listening to Berman and Riedel for a few days and they were terrible.
The rest of what you said I agree with, i used to listen to Cats' show and you are right he does initially say hes tri-cast on 970 but then during the show mentions only only 77 WABC, thats not cool. His show is awful, surrounded by a bunch of sycophants and he speaks over them, has a dreadful NYC accent(sorry I find it very hard to understand sometimes)
Frank Morano's Early Morning show with Juliet Huddy was appointment radio, until they canned her for obvious reasons.
AM radio is dying , the cost of running this station is just a drop in the bucket for Cats and his hobby.
I feel like Rudy Giuliani’s show has been heavily listened to this week
Yet Mr Cats has nearly quadrupled the AQH audience for WABC since he bought it. If an AM station that was virtually dead can be resurrected, he has set a formula for doing it.
I agree with BigA: a few more people driven by objectives broader than just quarterly P&L statements could bring a new variety of useful formats to radio.
Curtis Sliwa has recently started playing music under his talk which is the worst thing you can do to a listener. It's bizarre and you can't focus on what he's saying. He also is going off topic so much lately that everything taken together, he is impossible to listen to.
It's truly awful. I like Bernie & Sid, Larry Kudlow, Greg Kelly, Dick Morris, and Cats At Night is fine. I don't always agree but they are all intelligent.
It's truly awful. I like Bernie & Sid, Larry Kudlow, Greg Kelly, Dick Morris, and Cats At Night is fine. I don't always agree but they are all intelligent.
Under Cumulus, the station was airing syndicated programming 19 or 20 hours a day and a bunch of infomercials on weekends.
Sure, Cats didn't change the format, but he did change the programming pretty significantly.
MacjT
Banned
Just wanted to add one unique aspect to Cats show, no one , i mean no one can get the sort of guests he gets. It's really uncanny, Democrats, Republicans,Governors, Generals, Finance guys. So his show execution is a train wreck but content and quality of guests is superb (i still claim his co hosts are sycophants, with whom he has breakfast every Saturdays).
I'll give you an example , during the early days of the Russian invasion he had generals who knew the exact type of weapons delivered to Ukraine by the US(they had worked on the prototypes), and why they're so superior. They spoke about the exact technology that was better including the physics and mathematics behind the technology and what made them hard to detect or prevent. It was engrossing stuff.
I'll give you an example , during the early days of the Russian invasion he had generals who knew the exact type of weapons delivered to Ukraine by the US(they had worked on the prototypes), and why they're so superior. They spoke about the exact technology that was better including the physics and mathematics behind the technology and what made them hard to detect or prevent. It was engrossing stuff.
Can he please buy KABC too?
Nobody will buy KABC for a general market format. I has terrible coverage of the market.
Cumulus is probably more financially successful clearing their programming on KABC than what they would get from selling it.
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