Weekend Newstalk station alternative programming

[MikefromDelaware]

This appeared on the Philly site: [For folks in upper Montco and upper Bucks, WAEB AM 790 in Allentown has given up it's news/talk for the day and is playing '50s thru 70s Top 40.]

My question is would a weekend format like this be a workable format for either WDEL or WILM. My guess is most news/talk listeners are not listening on the weekends, other than to the Saturday morning local talk shows about gardening, the swap shop type shows, and home repair, etc. After those morning local shows most of the weekend talk programming is from the bird so why not go to the bird for weekend Oldies as the Allentown station did, except not just for Labor Day, but each weekend? Which would pull in more listeners and spots? Any thoughts?

 

[PTBoardOp94]

Well...not really applicable to Delaware (I've never been there), but since the site staff decided to highlight this topic...

WIBC in Indianapolis runs that kind of gardening/home improvement/auto repair talk from 9a to about 2p, then they normally have IU sports in the afternoon on Sat. and Colts football on Sun. It is the only stimulating local programming they have all week. I'd say no to returning to music on the weekends there.

OTOH, WWFT in Indy goes from conservative talk from 6a-8p weekdays to Sporting News Radio on the weekends. There is already an ESPN and Fox Sports affiliate in Indy (plus WIBC, which has all of the lucrative contracts). I'm guessing they could do better with some kind of music format rather than SNR.

 

[Inventor989]

As a fan of news/talk radio, I think it stinks that most N/T stations go to sports or handyman/swap shop/cooking shows or (arrgh) infomercials for every moron with a few bucks to spend on the weekend. I'd like to hear the next generation of talk hosts get their chance to mix it up. How else will new talent get a chance to be heard? Seems to me that you run off the audience built through the week when you change format on the weekend...at least on AM.

WTKS-FM in Orlando has run alt rock on the weekend since their inception. Used to sound good in the mid 90s, haven't heard them recently. On FM this makes sense, especially if you're filling a natural format hole in the market that plays well with the demos you have Mon-Fri. Works better than using something as mundane as Sporting News Radio, which barely even appeals to most men and has no chance of keeping any women.

 

[WTUX]

There are so few callers for talk shows on weekends, you have to run something different. Airing some newbee, who has not gotten his/her patter down yet, is asking for disaster with no callers available. I have read posts on the Philly board from former WWDB talk show hosts. Even on that powerhouse station, weekends were basically hosts talking to themselves because the callers basically weren't there. So you air what you can, garden shows, handyman shows, sports, etc. Those are the only shows that will attrract listeners, callers, and ad $$.

Even WABC, the number one talk station in the USA, has gone to an oldies show on Saturday night. Granted, it often is cut short by a sports event, but 6-10pm is Mark Simone on "Music Radio 77". It works well, has sponsors, and thousands of dedicated listeners who have their own message board to communicate with each other during the show. WPHT runs Sinatra. WJFK for a long time ran jazz on the weekends.

There is no listener support for weekend local talk. The syndicated shows are poor. Music on the weekends is a great choice.