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WDYT drops morning show

C

charlestondxman

Today, WDYT (1220), the talk station out of Kings Mountain, dropped its morning show with Jon Robinson, who was a veteran of WBTV news and WCBD in Charleston, among many others.

Robinson had just recovered from a cancer treatment, as he was diagnosed with carcinoma. Five people on the show will lose their jobs.

Here is the article from Mark Washburn of the Observer:

http://www.charlotte.com/153/story/718797.html
 
Sorry to hear about Jon's problems, we both worked at 102.9 years ago. He'll bounce back, I'm sure.

WDYT's problem is no ratings. To get ad sales you have to show in the book. WDYT is hampered by a signal that's still weak in Charlotte, especially at night. It also receives a generous helping of noise from the WHVN IBOC signal. That really makes a mess of things.

Then there is my theory that if you're not already an established AM station you won't see the ratings needed for success. I can't think of a single start up AM station that has done well. Although WDYT existed for many years as WKMT Kings Mountain it has not existed very long as a "Charlotte" station.

My advice to Danny Fotanna would be either sell and get out while there is still time or see if you can go to the people at BBN to trade 1220 for 930. At least 930 is a Charlotte station. Survival still won't be easy but the chances would be better.
 
Last I heard, Danny's not involved in the day to day operations. According to the last FCC filings, he's not a major stockholder. The station's biggest problem is the average Charlotte market listener doesn't know WDYT even exists. 1220 covers a large part (most) of the total market pretty well. It should at least make a small showing if the public were aware of it.
 
Mike Sheridan said:
Sorry to hear about Jon's problems, we both worked at 102.9 years ago.  He'll bounce back, I'm sure.

WDYT's problem is no ratings.  To get ad sales you have to show in the book.  WDYT is hampered by a signal that's still weak in Charlotte, especially at night.  It also receives a generous helping of noise from the WHVN IBOC signal.  That really makes a mess of things.

Then there is my theory that if you're not already an established AM station you won't see the ratings needed for success.  I can't think of a single start up AM station that has done well.  Although WDYT existed for many years as WKMT Kings Mountain it has not existed very long as a "Charlotte" station.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear the bad news.  I wish Jon Robinson a healthy and speedy recovery as well.

With little tolerance for Al Gardner & Stacy Sims at 'BT, I've been listening to WDYT for 15 or 20 minutes each morning while I go to pick up a cup of coffee.  I found the morning show to be a refreshing change.  The crew there has done an admirable job but, as Mike Sheridan stated, they’ve been hampered by a poor signal and the resulting lack of significant ratings growth. 

I hope Danny Fontana realizes while it’s convenient to blame today’s economy, there’s more to it than that.

If he had done more homework to begin with (Sorry, ghattaway!), he would have found that there are very few markets where there is more than one ratings/revenue successful AM station. In each radio market, you'll find stations that are “stuffed” with syndicated programming like WDYT (O’Reilly, Hannity, Miller, Ingraham, et al) that are having little to no ratings impact. 

I’ve noticed over my months of listening that there has been little to no "local" business on the station other than Danny's Triune Capital since they signed on.

Frankly, I’ve wondered how long Danny could continue to pour money into this project before coming to the realization that “enough is enough”.

As to Mike’s idea to sell – probably a good idea, but a very tough sell now and in the future.
 
I listened to segments of WDYT's "Morning Show" online, and they did sound
good, it's too bad there is not a FM signal available right now in Charlotte for
them to be on, if that was the case, WDYT could muster some ratings and more
local ads, and this market needs another news/talk outlet.
 
Sadly, you have to wonder if this station did better as WKMT and focusing on being Kings Mtn's hometown station. I understand they carried local high school sports and everyone's favorite hometown staple: The Trading Post (or Swap Shop).
 
Here's something to think about regarding Jon Robinson...Charlotte broadcast employment has not been kind to Jon and that's unfortunate. Right this moment, Jon Robinson should be a daily anchor at WBTV but he was kicked to the curb several years back. And IF memory serves me correctly (please correct me if I'm wrong), he was replaced my Michael Scott who didn't last maybe 6 months. And if you Google "anchor Michael Scott" or read some insider sites like NewsBlues, you'll see Scott has a tendency of short tenures most everywhere he lands -- mainly because of questionable dialogue between female anchors or reporters. I remember raising my eyebrows at a few things he said on WBTV. WBTV, what were you thinking? I've never met Jon Robinson, but he always came across as a class act as a WBTV anchor and the few times I saw him anchoring down in Charleston. I wish and pray for him the best as he battles cancer along with unemployment.

Eric
 
The landscape is littered with stations competing with BT (960, various 1270's, 1220, 930 bet. WSOC and BBN, etc). The only chance in N/T in Charlotte is to go LibTalk.

6a-9a Local AM Show
9a-12n Stephanie Miller
12p-3p Ed Schultz
3p-6p Randi Rhodes
6p-etc Sports, Brokered, Maddow, Malloy, etc.
 
herbiedradio said:
The landscape is littered with stations competing with BT (960, various 1270's, 1220, 930 bet. WSOC and BBN, etc). The only chance in N/T in Charlotte is to go LibTalk.

6a-9a Local AM Show
9a-12n Stephanie Miller
12p-3p Ed Schultz
3p-6p Randi Rhodes
6p-etc Sports, Brokered, Maddow, Malloy, etc.
Click to expand...

Lib talk? Are you serious? In this conservative market? It would be good for maybe a .001 in the ratings. Are there any cities were lib talk does well?

How about neutral hosts who explore both sides of the issues. That used to work and it would be refreashing to hear something like that again.
 
herbiedradio said:
The landscape is littered with stations competing with BT (960, various 1270's, 1220, 930 bet. WSOC and BBN, etc). The only chance in N/T in Charlotte is to go LibTalk.

6a-9a Local AM Show
9a-12n Stephanie Miller
12p-3p Ed Schultz
3p-6p Randi Rhodes
6p-etc Sports, Brokered, Maddow, Malloy, etc.
Click to expand...

As a poster pointed out on the Buffalo/Rochester board, there's a 50,000 watt AM station there that runs progressive or "lib/talk" programming with many, if not all, of the above mentioned lib/talk names. Ratings? Lucky to show up! They have yet to crack a 1 share.

The fact is that most (political) talk stations appeal to an older audience. And most older people, at least among the many I know, are conservative in nature.
 
I'm not sure one can label Charlotte Mecklenburg a conservative market. Both Houses of local government are solidly Liberal (have been for eons), and they've redrawn the voting district lines so it's now impossible for Republicans to gain a majority. I've long wondered how a Liberal talker would fare here.
 
Is this or is this not the worst advertising sales climate since the early 90's? I know that I've heard Keffer Volkswagen on there in the afternoons, and Pfeiffer University advertising in the morning. Surely there will be some kind of local presence there instead of something syndicated. They've been running the Best of Fontana all this week - my 401K swells with delight whenever he brings up "dollar cost averaging." ;D
 
With the consolidation of most of the major stations I don't think the owners are hurting too much if they didn't overpay for the stations they are running. That's the problem, most payed an inflated price. Stations are getting extra revenue from selling ads on their websites. I have no idea how much they get for that but they push it pretty hard.

I've seen a lot of radio station websites and I can't see why anyone would want to visit them.
 
LaidBackJack said:
I'm not sure one can label Charlotte Mecklenburg a conservative market. Both Houses of local government are solidly Liberal (have been for eons), and they've redrawn the voting district lines so it's now impossible for Republicans to gain a majority. I've long wondered how a Liberal talker would fare here.
Click to expand...

But the mayor of Charlotte is a REPUBLICAN who will likely be North Carolina's next governor! Polls show it a dead heat. If a Democrat isn't up by 10 points at this stage of the game they have no chance! Go Pat McCrory!
 
Concerning WDYT's lack of sales, here's a quote from another board by a poster known as JPB. He makes a relevant point. Maybe the powers that be at WDYT can find some comfort here:

"Selling radio these days is no day at the beach. Selling News-Talk is even tougher: A combination of chutzpah and statistics. It's not like securing a buy on a CHR based solely on Women 18-49, where a buy may be made three-deep.

There have been many accomplished sales men and women who've successfully sold CHR, Rock, AC, Country and Urban only to wilt when it came to them selling News-Talk. A number of GMs who've run successful FM clusters dedicated to music formats falter when it comes to strategizing, directing and motivating their sales forces to sell News-Talk.

It takes an educated, wide-eyed zealot to sell News-Talk, especially live and local News-Talk, where local talk show hosts can be heard taking shots at the mayor, the school board, cops, lawyers, teachers, doctors, priests and the sacred cows of the community".
 
yugoidar said:
.....It takes an educated, wide-eyed zealot to sell News-Talk, especially live and local News-Talk, where local talk show hosts can be heard taking shots at the mayor, the school board, cops, lawyers, teachers, doctors, priests and the sacred cows of the community".
Click to expand...

Ha! You said sacred cows. That's got to be the funniest thing I've ever heard....

And one more thing......

Mmmmmmooooooooooooooooo
 
Oh yeah, and by the way...

how did Susan Burgess and Velma Leake get into the conversation.....

Sacred cows...how funny.

I can't stop laughing!!!!!

I even amused myself with the "mmmmmmoooooooo" at the end of my last post....

Seriously, I'm sad for Jon and the crew at DYT. Chris Stowe is a good friend of mine who I just reconnected with. We used to work together for WHOS/GNC/LON/CSL radio many years ago. Getting and keeping a radio job is tough in today's economy. I wish everyone involved the best.

Keep looking up. You'll land on your feet.....

Mayhew
 
Yeah, pretty funny, huh?  Funny thing is you missed something, I didn't "say" anything.  It was a quote from a poster on another board.   MMoooooooo!  Apparently, you're one of those people who are easily amused. Glad to help!

With that taken care of, Jon - I share you're sadness for the WDYT's staff dismissal.  Talented group of folks who were doing a pretty good job in my opinion.  Beginning Wednesday, we get Bill Bennett's "Morning in America" from 6-7 AM followed by 2 hours of Danny Fontana, the Big Top Banana from 7-9 (returning to morning radio after 6 years!).

Now, that's some line-up...
 
I got wind of my quote being used here and had to drop by and say "thanks" to yugoidar. I guess the definition of serendipity is not knowing anything about an event or situation and using a metaphor ("sacred cows" in a post on the Buffalo-Niagara Falls-Rochester board) that some folks find particularly amusing as it relates to somthing being discussed on this board. And here I thought folks might be confused because I used the word chutzpah.

Best to all from Buffalo, where the last of our June snow storm melted just yesterday.
 
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