WCRN Thoughts

[DavidZ]

Earlier this year, WCRN had already dumped their local news staff in favor of reports being supplied by Metro Networks. And for the past 2 mornings, WCRN has been running infomercials from 5 to 6 a.m. Add this to the daily Drew Mortgage Infomercial at Noon and could this be a sign that the financial position of WCRN is tenuous at best? Or is this just a reflection on their grandiose plans being “hit” by the soft economy along with the state of AM radio in general.

In fairness, they have added some local content on Saturday afternoons (unless preempted by the Red Sox) but wouldn’t it make more sense to add the local content on the weekdays instead. Place the infomercials on Saturday and Sunday while you try to grow the station with a strong local weekday lineup. IMHO, this would be a win-win for the station because infomercials may pay the bills but most listeners tune them out immediately.

Lastly, I wonder how long their new website will be under construction.

 

[raccoonradio]

It sounded like WCRN was running an informercial on Monday from 5-6 pm! Admittedly it was a holiday
and maybe they opted to put that on rather than Howie's fill-in, Col. Hunt...I was up in VT and
WVMT (Howie's Burl affiliate) had the afternoon Yankees game running late, so I was trying WCRN.
No luck: an informercial. But maybe they picked up his last hour. WVMT did eventually go to Howie
after all the Yanks post game stuff was over

 

[DavidZ]

Re: Howie Carr show back to the full 4 hours?

It sounded like WCRN was running an informercial on Monday from 5-6 pm! Admittedly it was a holiday
and maybe they opted to put that on rather than Howie's fill-in, Col. Hunt...I was up in VT and
WVMT (Howie's Burl affiliate) had the afternoon Yankees game running late, so I was trying WCRN.
No luck: an informercial. But maybe they picked up his last hour. WVMT did eventually go to Howie
after all the Yanks post game stuff was over

I noticed Hank Stolz was on with Peter Blute yesterday morning and again today beginning at 6. Infomercials still from 5 to 6 a.m. I tuned in yesterday afternoon around 4:30 and they were already airing the Howie Carr show which they had been airing only the last 2 hours. Has WCRN returned to carrying the full 4 hours of his show replacing the Hank Stolz show?

 

[raccoonradio]

will have to tune in to find out; their site is still under (re-)construction and while they do have listen live
links, no posted sched.

 

[WCRiNsider]

Here's the word from the WCRiNsider:

1. Hank Stolz Show wasn't the ratings draw they expected... show was cancelled - Replaced with Full Howie Carr 3-7.

2. Matt O'Donnell shown the door - replaced by Hank in the morning with Peter Blute

3. Diane Williamson Show Extended 1-3 (Hank running this show too)

Hank becomes most worked board op in Worcester.... nice step up from #1 morning show on WTAG for past 10 years....

 

[magpie]

...and the local stuff on Saturday was replaced last week by football

 

[airlistener]

Wow...Hank at the Bank will be no more....I caught a new show on Saturday a couple of weeks ago and thought it was very interesting...The next Saturday I tuned in and it was sports.what is going on there?...it is a sad radio soap ???

 

[wavelength9]

What you have to remember about CRN is that the owners also own a company called North Star Media which buys infomercial time on stations all over the country for companies like Purity Products. They buy the time on Sundays on BZ for example, so when ever it makes sense you are going to hear infomercials on CRN

Also as of the 15th Metro Networks is not going to be providing smaller stations like CRN with news and traffic reports.

 

[DavidZ]

Here's the word from the WCRiNsider:

1. Hank Stolz Show wasn't the ratings draw they expected... show was cancelled - Replaced with Full Howie Carr 3-7.

2. Matt O'Donnell shown the door - replaced by Hank in the morning with Peter Blute

3. Diane Williamson Show Extended 1-3 (Hank running this show too)

Hank becomes most worked board op in Worcester.... nice step up from #1 morning show on WTAG for past 10 years....

I listened yesterday afternoon to WCRN and Dianne Williamson was on from 1 to 2 p.m. and Hank Stolz was solo from 2 to 3 p.m. ID’ing as the Hank Stolz Experience before Howie's show at 3. Perhaps this is just temporary because it does make more sense to just extend Dianne's show to 3.

On another note, I really believe WCRN needs to get rid of the infomercials from 5 to 6 a.m. If I was running the station, I would start Peter Blute at 5. Let's face it their main competition is WTAG and they start their local programming at 5. Listeners who are early risers, and there are many more these days going off to work much earlier than before, start the day with WTAG. The likelihood of switching over to Peter at 6 diminishes greatly when you have given the first hour to your main competitor by running infomercials.

So my weekday lineup would be:

Peter Blute 5 to 9 a.m.
Hank Stolz 9 a.m. to Noon (Counter programming to syndicated Glen Beck on WTAG)
Dianne Williamson Noon to 3 p.m. (replacing the god-awful Drew Mortgage infomercial at Noon)
Howie 3 to 7 p.m. leading into Red Sox baseball

IMHO, this is a line-up that would finally get them some traction in the Central New England area.

 

[WCRiNsider]

BUT the God Awful Drew Mortgage show is the only thing keeping WCRN afloat. If they pull out you can say goodbye to Peter, Hank & Diane! Entercom should just buy 830 and make it a WRKO simulcast

 

[DavidZ]

BUT the God Awful Drew Mortgage show is the only thing keeping WCRN afloat. If they pull out you can say goodbye to Peter, Hank & Diane! Entercom should just buy 830 and make it a WRKO simulcast

Then WCRN is in much worse shape than I thought.

As for a WRKO simulcast, that would be very bad for the residents of Central New England. With the continuing decline of news content in the Worcester T&G and no major television outlet in the city, having the talk outlets of WTAG & WCRN staying local is all the more necessary to stay informed.

 

[LouBertoni]

Entercom should just buy 830 and make it a WRKO simulcast

I'm surprised they haven't yet!

With a lot of the programming on WCRN being similar to WRKO, and with Howie Carr telling people to "tune to WCRN when the pre-game show comes on"...I think a lot of people think of WCRN as WRKO-West! ;-)

At night, the WCRN signal seems to fill in all the gaps of the WRKO signal.

Entercom seems to have no problem picking up signals to expand their programming on WEEI....again, I'm surprised they haven't picked up WCRN yet!

 

[DanStrassberg]

Entercom seems to have no problem picking up signals to expand their programming on WEEI....again, I'm surprised they haven't picked up WCRN yet!

The Carberrys have a lot--besides money--invested in WCRN. It took a lof of capital, of course, to build the station and increase it first to 50 kW days and then eventually to 50 kW-U. The money that was sunk can be gotten back if the sale price is right, but the time and energy most likely can never be repaid. I suspect that Mr Caberry Sr, who, I've heard, is still the legal owner, will never allow the station to be sold as long as he's alive. However, one would think he'd be amenable to an LMA if the price were right. I have to believe that the price has never been right--at least so far.

Here's an interesting idea: What if Entercom, in effect, donated WVEI's 1440 frequency to WRYM, the 840 daytimer in New Britain that WCRN has to protect by day. (There used to be a 1440 daytimer in Bristol CT. It moved to 1120, allowing what is now WVEI to become nondirectional by day.) With WRYM gone from 840, WCRN could be moved further west (say, to Springfield). Would that make it any more valuable? Doesn't seem so, but such a move would allow both WCRN and WEEI to run IBOC--whatever that might be worth.

 

[radioman1818]

From what I understand Chris Thompson (sales manager) is the next to be shown the door. This info comes from Boston... They are also not very happy with Hank.... they feel he is all about him and wanting to be a part of every show! Word is he is pissed that Howie is back in his slot and Hank has been fitting to replace peter.

Hank has pissed a lot of people off.... He was responsible for firing Kerry, Alex, Mike, and Matt... It is also well known in the WCRN family that he was responsible for losing several major advertisers ( their Expert network has fallen apart due to hank.... )

 

[magpie]

IMHO, Hank is the only one there who can carry a show, if they let him talk about something besides the flute recital at the library Tuesday at 2:30. Hank is the best part of Blute's show. (Blute is a dope and his regular caller Gordon must think he's Blute's Upton Bell.) I never saw it as Hank being all about Hank; it's more like Hank helps out everyone who needs it. Is Hank still the PD?

I wish they'd fire the god-awful Upton Bell. They seem to always be firing someone (remember Alec Callender, who they stole from WTAG?) They let at least one of their weekend shows go, too. Too bad, that's where future weekday shows come from. Instead of developing something new, like say WTKK does, they get rid of the new for more of the same sports junk (college football!)

The station has 50,000 watts of crap. Why don't they just make it all sports and infomercials and be done with it. BTW, the "Expert Network" is just a cousin of the infomercial....Joe Nealon the lawyer can at least talk about various issues--but the reverse mortgage guy? That's a waste of morning drive time.

I was interested in watching WCRN because I assumed that after investing in a new studio and a bigger signal, they might also invest in some great programming to match. Instead they are tanking.

The best show on WCRN is "Science Fantastic with Professor Michio Kaku."

 

[WCRiNsider]

FYI: 99 percent of the local weekend shows are Paid Programs (2 saturday morning Financial Shows, Car Show, Restaurant Show (cancelled), Atty Nat Pitnoff ( cancelled) - were all paid for by the clients. Also UMASS sports (football and basketball) pays for the airtime. $$$$

 

[WCRiNsider]

Hank Stolz paying for airtime now... went to listen to Howie at 3 and Hank is on with an extra hour of his snooze-fest... He sponsored the hour so he could stay on til 4 today. Wonder if it was a payroll deduction? Hankie can't get enough airtime? He's on the station from 6am-10 and again from 1-3... why doesn't he just sleep on the sidewalk like the rest of the bums in the city.

 

[exxear]

They'd get more listeners if they went back to Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel format!!!

 

[JIBGUY]

They'd get more listeners if they went back to Scott Shannon's True Oldies Channel format!!!

Very likely, yes. But the audience is too OLD. And also, its harder to mix paid talk shows in with oldies music.

 

[MarcB]

Here's an interesting idea: What if Entercom, in effect, donated WVEI's 1440 frequency to WRYM, the 840 daytimer in New Britain that WCRN has to protect by day. (There used to be a 1440 daytimer in Bristol CT. It moved to 1120, allowing what is now WVEI to become nondirectional by day.) With WRYM gone from 840, WCRN could be moved further west (say, to Springfield). Would that make it any more valuable? Doesn't seem so, but such a move would allow both WCRN and WEEI to run IBOC--whatever that might be worth.

Interesting idea in theory. However it can not happen due to WPNI 1430 in Amherst, Mass, unless their owner takes it dark, which might not be bad since the station has been for sale for well over a year and is doing nothing but simulcasting WUMB ever since WFCR moved its secondary service to WNNZ 640. Then again not sure who'd want a signal thats 5000 watts day and only 9 watts at night with a signal that doesn't cover a large portion of the Springfield Market.