Weekday Infomercial Expands on RKO

[raccoonradio]

ha... well I guess Boston has to put up with classical music supported by Listeners Like You (meaning those who
contribute to 99.5...)
--
Electric Light Orchestra drops some names:
"She's sweet on Wagner/ I think she'd die for Beethoven/ She likes the way Puccini lays down a tune/
And Verdi's always creepin' from her room..."--Rockaria!
WCRB doesn't play this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tJNABQnqBo

 

[RedWingCJS278]

While I certainly don't share Lawrence Galvin's apparent left-wing worldview, I do have to agree with him that WCRB is sounding a thousand times better now than they did as a commercial station. I leave it on, pretty much, 24-7. As for WRKO, I shudder to think what is going to become of that station if and when Howie Carr goes. Obviously, they are having a harder & harder time making a buck, a blind man can see that. Entercom may end up concluding that going with some sort of Spanish language format would make the most sense, or perhaps placing ESPN Radio there (assuming they don't do that with 850 first.) Perhaps this Armstrong fellow is plotting to put himself in position to eventually acquire the station should Entercom ever sell?

 

[raccoonradio]

Biz Radio 680, who knows! Agreed about WRKO--or are informercials next? ESPN 680? (I think that's what Ent. runs in
Memphis...same freq., plus on 92.9 there). RKO may be a "loss leader"--financed, in what small budget they have,
by the success of sister stations WAAF and WEEI, just as WXKS 1200 is still around, maybe turning a small profit at
best, living off the $$ made by 94.5 and 107.9)

 

[DanStrassberg]

While I certainly don't share Lawrence Galvin's apparent left-wing worldview, I do have to agree with him that WCRB is sounding a thousand times better now than they did as a commercial station. I leave it on, pretty much, 24-7. As for WRKO, I shudder to think what is going to become of that station if and when Howie Carr goes. Obviously, they are having a harder & harder time making a buck, a blind man can see that. Entercom may end up concluding that going with some sort of Spanish language format would make the most sense, or perhaps placing ESPN Radio there (assuming they don't do that with 850 first.) Perhaps this Armstrong fellow is plotting to put himself in position to eventually acquire the station should Entercom ever sell?

My guess is that Armstrong is not looking to buy WRKO. His 9:00AM-to-11:00AM show had been on WBIX for several years when Alex Langer sold the station (now WQOM) to non-profit Roman Catholic broadcaster Holy Family Communications. I would be amazed if Langer hadn't approached Armstrong about buying WBIX before he sold/donated the station to Holy Family.

Of course, there was no way that Armstrong could have given Langer a deal like the one he got from Holy Family (a tax writeoff of, IIRC, $500,000 for a gift to a non-profit organization). At that time, the sale valued WBIX at $1.5 million and I believe Langer got $1 million. WBIX had two transmitter sites and, AFAIK, Langer did not own either one and neither one was included in the deal with Holy Family.

I don't know how much Entercom would want for WRKO but I suspect that it is many times $1 million. I'm pretty sure that Entercom owns the WRKO site, which is in Burlington, right near Lahey Clinic. It must be worth a fortune--maybe more than the station itself. Then again, the site may not really be worth all that much; it is located atop the wells that supply drinking water for the Town of Burlington. The deed allegedly precludes ANY new construction at the site.

The site would, of course, not have to be sold with the station. However, if some problems with Canada could be resolved (interference to now-dark CFDR, which still requires protection), WRKO could diplex with WEEI. (A possibility for resolving the CFDR problem would be for WRKO to significantly reduce its signal in downtown Boston.) The 680/850 diplex might result in Entercom getting a big payday by selling the Burlington property and then collecting rent in perpetuity from the new owners of WRKO for use by WRKO of the WEEI site!

 

[vmorrison]

A little bit or trivia, unless things have changed I don't think Armstrong could buy a majority share of RKO if he wanted to because he is a citizen of Canada. I believe 1120 is in his wife's name. That is not to say he hasn't become a US Citizen but last I head he was still a Canadian citizen

 

[GenXRadio]

I think RKO should flip to progressive talk.
I know they have progressive talk programming on 1510 but putting it on RKO would give it more credibility on a established station/signal.
You could even keep Howie on there if you wanted to as the one show giving an opposite opinion.
I know guys like Raccoon will say that it wouldn't succeed but with a great sales staff I believe it would do just fine and earn great revenues!
Have at least 1 local show - Santos, bring in some of the great political figures like Marjorie Clapprood or one of the many astute political reporters who call Boston home.
There are tons of right wing talk stations across the country why not do something a bit different and with the large liberal base in Massachusetts I think the station would do very well.
1090 in Seattle is just one example of how successful a progressive talk station can be, follow that model in Boston and it would prove to be a sleeping giant.

 

[DanStrassberg]

A little bit or trivia, unless things have changed I don't think Armstrong could buy a majority share of RKO if he wanted to because he is a citizen of Canada. I believe 1120 is in his wife's name. That is not to say he hasn't become a US Citizen but last I head he was still a Canadian citizen

I believe he has become a US Citizen. A few years back, I believe.

 

[raccoonradio]

Well, anything can happen re: RKO but so far Entercom, either locally or via corporate HQ in Phil.
area, hasn't tried it yet. RKO did run Steph Miller a little over 10 yrs ago. They had Jay Diamond on
Sat. nights and yes, tried the polar-opposites show with Pat & Marjorie before that. (Pat sticks
to his profitable restaurant show these days--he doesn't want to go into politics for fear of
offending advertisers and listeners!)

As I said, some on the left or middle might like Jim and Margery (Eagan can be conservative on some
views and liberal on others). The rumor had it RKO wanted to sign them.

Would it (RKO progtalk) succeed? It could, given the better freq 680 is on and with a good
sales staff, etc. As I said before Ent. plays both sides of the political question in Buffalo and the conserv.
at 930 gets good ratings while the prog. at 1520 doesn't do as well (though their night signal
reaches quite a distance). Given RKO's tumble in the ratings recently, it may at least match what they
get now. (Am guessing Santos does not subscribe to ratings, a la Bob B.? Or if he does, WWZN
doesn't show up too often if at all.)

Local talk is indeed important. You can't just have an all syndie lineup. Of course one thing about RKO
is it attracts older listeners, who may move to the right as they age, but there are still quite a few
people getting into middle age who stay to the left. Kudos to Santos for trying and keeping it local
(i.e., having some local focus not just syndie) but whether Ent. would take the plunge, who knows.
(For awhile their 680 in Memphis was prog talk. At least it was when I visited in '05)

Interesting thoughts, Dan, on Entercom's Burlington site and the possibilities.

Speaking of the OTHER Burlington, as in Vermont, I was just up there for a couple days...there had been a prog talk station there at 1070, later at 1390, etc. but these days they are business news and oldies (// of WIFY 93.7) respectively. One would think prog talk could do well in Burl...if anything they do
have NPR, college radio (such as WRUV, UVM) and also an LFPM, The Radiator, which could do some
forays into prog. talk.

--
The Radiator, Burlington VT's community station
http://www.theradiator.org/drupal/

 

[DToTheJ]

I think RKO should flip to progressive talk... putting it on RKO would give it more credibility on a established station/signal...

Actually, it might be a good idea for most progressive talk programming to get credibility on their own first.

 

[raccoonradio]

Prog talk does have a presence in some cities--supp. it was said it does very well in Seattle--but it does stll lag behind conservative talk, at least on commercial radio. There are some shows syndicated by the likes of Dial Global and Premiere; DG does carry the "fiscal conservative, social moderate" Dennis Miller*, as well as right-leaning Neil Boortz and M. Smerconish, but also they have Ed Schultz and Bill Press...Premiere has mostly conservative talkers (Beck, Hannity, Rush) but also Randi Rhodes, Jesse Jackson. (There is also a left-leaning talk channel on XM/Sirius.) Conservative shows tend to get higher ratings. (If Entercom wants to make WRKO into prog talk and thinks it can succeed, they can
certainly try...Anything can happen. But...)

When Air America was launched one of the founders was quoted as saying in five years (i.e., by '09) they would have 500 affiliates, just like Rush. Instead, by then they were bankrupt and on less than 100; maybe more like 60. Rush's
current contract pays him about $400 million over 8 years. He brings in the advertising, etc. Prog. radio
is much more modest than that in income. (The man brought in to be the left's answer to Limbaugh
later became a U.S. Senator in Minnesota...Al Franken, who broadcast from Boston on election
day in 2004 hoping to whoop it up in a victory party for "President Kerry" that was not to be.)

*--Miller does do some non-political talk too; yesterday he was heard interviewing Max von Sydow

--
July 2008 "Clear Channel, Limbaugh Ink $400 million contract"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121504302144124805.html
This was also mentioned in Zev Chafets' book "Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One"

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

I think RKO should flip to progressive talk.
I know they have progressive talk programming on 1510 but putting it on RKO would give it more credibility on a established station/signal.

Preachy, whiny, political-agenda-driven programming has no more credibility on a 50kW signal than it does on a 250W signal. Further, placing progressive politics on a signal in a liberal-leaning market is no guarantee of success. Preaching to the choir doesn't bring in the listeners. The programs hosted by conservatives have gotten the numbers they have by, first, last and everything in-between, being entertaining. That, and not their political messages, have gotten them where they are.

 

[Laurence Glavin]

I think RKO should flip to progressive talk.
I know they have progressive talk programming on 1510 but putting it on RKO would give it more credibility on a established station/signal.

Preachy, whiny, political-agenda-driven programming has no more credibility on a 50kW signal than it does on a 250W signal. Further, placing progressive politics on a signal in a liberal-leaning market is no guarantee of success. Preaching to the choir doesn't bring in the listeners. The programs hosted by conservatives have gotten the numbers they have by, first, last and everything in-between, being entertaining. That, and not their political messages, have gotten them where they are.

If ANY radio talk show is entertaining, it would be the Stephanie Miller show. A year ago, WOR-AM in New York was getting less than stellar results from carrying the Glenn Beck show from 9:00 am till noon. Although WWRL-AM 1600 was carrying Stephanie Miller from 11:00 am till noon, I'm sure their syndicator would have jumped at the opportunity to be on a heritage 50K station in the sweet spot of the dial. Instead, WOR decided to air the decidedly UNENTERTAINING Mike Gallagher show. Gallagher is so UNENTERTAING that Media Matters only highlight excerpts from his show when he and Chris Wallace get into a tussle over something. Other stations that presumably could consider Stephanie's show instead opt for Brian Kilmeade and a few even carry G. Gordon Liddy's snoozefest (although very few carry it live). Mark Levin's show is only strident, not entertaining. For the short time he was heard in Boston, I checked out his show while driving (it was summer with late sunsets) and all he did was PROCLAIM himself as entertaining. Not so much.

 

[raccoonradio]

>>political-agenda-driven programming has no more credibility on a 50kW signal

Some might think thanks to WBUR and/or WGBH (100 kW), left-leaning talk already is (G. Keillor
is about to do a fundraiser--care to guess which candidate? )

I liked Steph Miller's Stand Up News in the old days--at least the stuff about entertainment.

>>The programs hosted by conservatives have gotten the numbers they have by, first, last and everything in-between, being entertaining.

DJ "Jeff Christie" (fake name) honed his skills in Pittsburgh and Kansas City and eventually wound up doing a talk show in Sacramento. He caught the interest of some who thought he could do a national show
based in New York. You know who I mean: by being entertaining, he soon wound up on about
500-600 radio stations, and he now earns an average of $50 million a year. El Rushbo's entertainment
value may have "saved AM radio"...ironically enough, when Air America started, the idea was
to hire _entertainers_ like Al Franken, Janeane Garofolo, etc. Didn't quite catch fire.

Needless to say, there can be "preachy, whiny, agenda driven" programming on both sides of
the political aisle. But some has proven successful, usually on the right. But I am all for the free
market and capitalism, and if you can get a lib talk show to be that successful, more power to ya.

Rush got a bit of a head start.
---
That 70s DJ: "Jeff Christie" at WIXZ http://user.pa.net/~ejjeff/rushwixz.jpg

 

[Exit32]

I find Laura Ingraham to be very entertaining. It took me about 30 seconds to realize that WRKO had substituted an infomercial in their 9:00-11:00 a.m. slot. What did I do? I powered-up my Logitech Squeezebox Internet Radio and now listen to Laura live every weekday morning via WTNT in Alexandria, Virginia. Problem solved.

 

[HHH]

I think RKO should flip to progressive talk.
I know they have progressive talk programming on 1510 but putting it on RKO would give it more credibility on a established station/signal.

Preachy, whiny, political-agenda-driven programming has no more credibility on a 50kW signal than it does on a 250W signal.

Just about ALL talk radio is preachy, whiny, and political-agenda-driven!