WEEU trouble

[WiFi92]

They're panhandling to prospective advertisers like they're in deep doo-doo. Info-mmercials, repeat programming, (the WEEU economic enterprise union)(huh?), bartered to the hilt with giveaways, dumping Penn State football for Kutztown football...(what?), etc. They have a small circle of callers to feedback, most holding up the tradition of being a Berks Countian by complaining about everything. One caller, last week, made a comment about being able to get cyanide at the drug store, the way things are going today. It's no wonder. They're alot of seniors, singles and lonely people who attach themselves to the radio. They believe because they heard it 'on the air' it must be true. With the constant drumbeat of depression, negativity and state of affairs from the syndicates like limbaugh, larson, et al and the local shows, not hard to see how they would easily become very depressed. WEEU yackers are often very quick to blame the media, but seldom acknowledge they're part of it. "The Voice" has dug a hole for itself in choosing to program the station with politics as an undertone. It appears to have alienated many potential advertisers, as well as, driving customers away from those advertisers that sign-on for their nonsense. Listen closely, when you hear that dead air or bumper music from a network show instead of a 30 or 60 second spot, that's advertising time lost and money down the drain. If they weren't being propped-up by the Reading Eagle Company, they'd have been automated a long time ago.

 

[ernesttbass]

WEEU is slipping. I'm no radio professional or industry insider. I'm simply someone who listens to the radio. My oberservations on the station:

The good:
1) Phillie's baseball
2) High school sports broadcasts
3) Eagles's football
4) NFL football
5) Broadcast duo of Mitch Gerhart and Paul Roberts
6) Interesting Sunday MORNING programming
7) Interesting Saturday MORNING programming
8) Feedback
9) Charlie and Company
10) The local call-in shows are okay. I like Paul Robert's show, The Money Doctor is good. Feedback and the weekend morning call-in shows are okay in small doses.
11) Space Fantastic and Twilight Zone - Not sure how many people listen but those shows are different at least.

The bad:
1) Weekend afternoon filler. "Legends of Success" is horrid. So are those dumb health-related infomercials.
2) Overload of political right-wing radio. Rush Limbaugh and Lars Larson just love to blame everything bad that happens in this country, regardless of when it happens, on the liberal democrats. Un-biased they are not.
3) Reruns of previously aired programs. Jack's Backyard is fine ONCE a week. Who wants to listen to it again? Ditto for the food call-in show.
4) Dumping Penn State football. Who cares about Kutztown football? Seriously. WRAW's signal is terrible for Penn State games and I only live 11 miles from the station.
5) No longer broadcasting college basketball games on weekend afternoons. I liked those. Sure beats those overly scripted health shows they run now.
6) No music. When WEEU does play music (however rare it is) the blend is actually okay for my tastes. What other radio station could play Neil Diamond and the Red Hot Chili Peppers back to back?
7) 3 hours every Saturday night of that fellow trying to talk to dead people. Give him an hour at most.

Being a locally owned radio station gives WEEU tons of creative flexibility. I think it's being wasted by clogging its airwaves with syndicated nonsense. I wish they played more music and had more home-grown on-air personalities. If you're going to pride yourself on being locally owned, then give us local content.

 

[jackandcoke]

Gotta be able to read your market. Somebody at the top--the GM or the Publisher (whoever's really calling the shots) is either way out of touch with the locals or can't read simple stats.

Berks County voted Democratic in the November elections by nearly 10 percent: 54% for Obama, 44.6% for McCain. Duh. And the crazier WEEU's Conservative Crazies get ("Arm yourselves & get ready to revolt!") the less inclined local advertisers are to align themselves with the Big 830.

Learfield charges stations to carry Penn State. Kutztown probably pays WEEU. Short term gain = long term loss.

Oh, and the older that Radical Right/Lonely Retiree audience gets and the further away from any 25-54 numbers WEEU gets, the fewer agency dollars come through the door--so damn the Lions and damn the fans, KU is tossing money at us whether we sell any spots in it or not!

Too bad. It's very fixable. Still a great stick.

 

[missdemoldies]

WEEU-AM is far beyond "in trouble". The station's audience is clearly 55+. It is a small, dying radio station. The station sounds completely out of touch with the market.

Charlie & Company is about the only solid programming they are holding on to. And, that show has lost touch.

Mike Faust does a good show from 9am-12pm... however, it's the same small circle of Berks complainers. It's the same small list of over done, inside city hall topics.

Rush Limbaugh does a fine show, and love or hate his politics, he is the only show worth really listening to.

Jo Painter... painful. Just painful.

A previous poster mentions the sports that they do have. That's a great identity to have. Eagles, Phillies and local sports. It was a mistake to get rid of Penn State football. Please.. please.. please NOT ANOTHER YEAR OF THE PAINFUL AND OVER DONE "Can you Beat Zeek?" promotion. Self involved radio at it's worst.

The station is clearly DESPERATE for money. Some of the sponsorships / promotions / ads on the station are clearly created to get on the buy, versus being something that the listen needs or can actually listen to.

The informercials, and micro-informercial burried in the live talk, are useless.

Whether it is the GM or PD, the station is living in it's own world. And, has completely lost touch with the fact the NOBODY under the age of 55 is actively listening to or using the radio station.

The best thing that ever happened to WEEU-AM is the demise of FRANK-FM. Now, the WEEU-AM sales staff will only have to compete with Y-102 and I-105 for ad dollars. Both stations clearly crush WEEU in the demos... but, the FRANK flank is gone.

WEEU's attempt to do news is also a weak link. Thank goodness they have the Reading Eagle to prop them up.

It is time for the staff at WEEU-AM to wake up. Certainly, life will be better in the sales office with FRANK gone... but, reality check... your radio station in dying... if not half way to death! I really wonder if they are making any money. Listening to the on the weekends and evenings, it's ad after ad for The Reading Eagle and The Reading Eagle.com. Endless promos for weak syndicated show and network ads.

Granted, they do some creative and out of the box things. Being locally owned allows them to do that. But, it's not 1979.

Thank goodness the Reading Eagle keeps propping the station up. Sell the building... move in with the Eagle... the glory days are over.

 

[malawichild]

Gotta be able to read your market. Somebody at the top--the GM or the Publisher (whoever's really calling the shots) is either way out of touch with the locals or can't read simple stats.

Berks County voted Democratic in the November elections by nearly 10 percent: 54% for Obama, 44.6% for McCain. Duh. And the crazier WEEU's Conservative Crazies get ("Arm yourselves & get ready to revolt!") the less inclined local advertisers are to align themselves with the Big 830.

Learfield charges stations to carry Penn State. Kutztown probably pays WEEU. Short term gain = long term loss.

Oh, and the older that Radical Right/Lonely Retiree audience gets and the further away from any 25-54 numbers WEEU gets, the fewer agency dollars come through the door--so damn the Lions and damn the fans, KU is tossing money at us whether we sell any spots in it or not!

Too bad. It's very fixable. Still a great stick.

You're reading far too much into the results of the '08 election, Artie Jr. This is a pretty conservative area. EEU's listenership is stagnant. The same people listening today (minus the old codgers that have died) were listening 20 years ago. They have an average listener age of "been dead 3 days". The station is dead, (thanks in no small measure to the myopic approach of Dave Klein) their local hosts sound tired, They've changed NOTHING in 20 plus years,and it's time to revamp that station. Who cares what their listeners want? They're outside of target demos.
They're basically on the right track, just need to change a couple of things. First order of business is to get rid of Jo Painter as PD.

 

[malawichild]

And aren't PSU games only broadcast by Clear Channel stations? Isn't that why their contract with EEU was allowed to expire?

 

[jackandcoke]

You're reading far too much into the results of the '08 election, Artie Jr. This is a pretty conservative area. EEU's listenership is stagnant. The same people listening today (minus the old codgers that have died) were listening 20 years ago. They have an average listener age of "been dead 3 days". The station is dead, (thanks in no small measure to the myopic approach of Dave Klein) their local hosts sound tired, They've changed NOTHING in 20 plus years,and it's time to revamp that station. Who cares what their listeners want? They're outside of target demos.
They're basically on the right track, just need to change a couple of things. First order of business is to get rid of Jo Painter as PD.

Yeah, those 91,803 Berks Countians who voted for Obama are really conservatives who just didn't like McCain's tie. Gimme a f***ing break. LOL!!!!

"Been dead three days" is a great line, though. I'll use it on a sales call this afternoon! Thanks!

 

[radiorenegade]

They need someone with fire to come in there and shake things up. If they let me do a talk show the ratings would soar. I would need bodyguards because I would hold nothing back! That cranky caller who called and complained about the Sovereign Ctr would be totally ripped into by me. I'd make the old ladies cry. Their children and grandchildern would be outside the studio waiting for me and my bodyguards would have to escort me to safety.

 

[malawichild]

I listened to Charlie Adams for about 10 minutes yesterday, and it was fu**ing torture!! Horrible banter with Mitch Gerhart, nothing compelling, just dumbed down oatmeal for the Depends crowd.
Their local content is horrible for the most part. Faust does a decent job on occasion, but he falls into the Casper Milquetoast category most times, too.

 

[malawichild]

You're reading far too much into the results of the '08 election, Artie Jr. This is a pretty conservative area. EEU's listenership is stagnant. The same people listening today (minus the old codgers that have died) were listening 20 years ago. They have an average listener age of "been dead 3 days". The station is dead, (thanks in no small measure to the myopic approach of Dave Klein) their local hosts sound tired, They've changed NOTHING in 20 plus years,and it's time to revamp that station. Who cares what their listeners want? They're outside of target demos.
They're basically on the right track, just need to change a couple of things. First order of business is to get rid of Jo Painter as PD.

Yeah, those 91,803 Berks Countians who voted for Obama are really conservatives who just didn't like McCain's tie. Gimme a f***ing break. LOL!!!!

"Been dead three days" is a great line, though. I'll use it on a sales call this afternoon! Thanks!

McCain was a horrible candidate. The vote for Obama was because (get ready for this one) the American electorate in general is STUPID. Just butt ugly, diseased brain stupid. They vote for slogans, not policies. They have nearly ZERO understanding of economics or what the founders of this country intended because they've been dumbed down by the American indoctrination, eerrrrrrrr, education system. The one that taught us all that corporations are evil, banks are raping your grandma and taking advantage of every single person in the world. The electorate prefers to feel, not think. For what other reason was Ron Paul unable to gain traction last year?
I'll expect a cut of your sale for the use of my line. What do you sell?

 

[Interstate 78]

i'm going to put a slightly different spin on WEEU's problems just from my casual listening to WEEU over the years. what WEEU needs to go back to is the highly successful New Jersey 101.5 format. local talk during the week. music and fun on the weekends. WEEU kinda had this formula back about 5 or 10 years ago. two personalities come to mind. john stolnis and jerry paul.

john stolnis used to be on WWDB in philly and was on WEEU after WWDB went off the air. he was the most pro-sounding, professional, in-your-face talk host WEEU ever had or will perhaps ever see. but i'm sure he upset the little old ladies used to talking about apple pie recipes and birds. i ran into more than one person who said "holy crap. WEEU has the guy from WWDB."

then there was jerry paul on the weekends. the guy was a clown and sometimes did get a big annoying, but man did he make radio fun. he played all sorts of goofy b-side tunes and intermingled it with off-the-wall, totally shot in the dark humor. again, i ran into more than one person who said jerry paul was one of the reasons they listened to WEEU on the weekend, since nothing else was of interest and he reminded them of the way radio used to sound and still should sound.

but alas, john and jerry are long gone. not sure what happened to them but i hope they wound up with other great radio jobs because they made the station really good. there were other talent over the years, but these two guys really gave the station a NJ 101.5 sound, desperately what the station needs. not to say the other talent isn't good. charlie is dry but fun. mike faust does what he can do deal with all the off-the-wall old lady callers, but former commenters are correct. it's the same 50 people week after week after week. it's only gotta be a matter of time before advertisers stop buying into that.

then those god-awful syndicated shows on the weekend. i get the feeling they are adding talk shows just for the sake of making the station all talk without thinking of quality. a gardening hotline? an antique show? a guy who talks to dead people? a repeat of the bird show? good heavens.

 

[jackandcoke]

"Been dead three days" is a great line, though. I'll use it on a sales call this afternoon! Thanks!

McCain was a horrible candidate. The vote for Obama was because (get ready for this one) the American electorate in general is STUPID. Just butt ugly, diseased brain stupid. They vote for slogans, not policies. They have nearly ZERO understanding of economics or what the founders of this country intended because they've been dumbed down by the American indoctrination, eerrrrrrrr, education system. The one that taught us all that corporations are evil, banks are raping your grandma and taking advantage of every single person in the world. The electorate prefers to feel, not think. For what other reason was Ron Paul unable to gain traction last year?
I'll expect a cut of your sale for the use of my line. What do you sell?
[/quote]

I know this will come as a shock, considering the board we're on, but I sell radio advertising. You know--spots!

And, yeah, we've got a competitor whose audience has "been dead three days" in this market, too. Them zingers like that are great sales weapons. It's like selling against a rocker: "Hey, the only ads are for beers, bars and strip clubs." Like they say, it's Theatre Of The Mind! In marketing they call it "positioning."

Personal politics aside, WEEU has to be objective about the market that it's in. Our company has Rush on stations in very conservative markets and liberal talk on in heavily Democratic markets. We don't care whether we agree with these people or not. It's all about what the audience/market/people want.

We have #1 Urban stations in markets Down South that we would never put on the air in our Up North markets that are 99 percent Caucasian. We have #1 Country stations in some of our rural markets that would be tail-enders in the cities.

It ain't about what we like. As I said, whoever is calling the shots for 830 ain't reading the market right. And, again, it's too bad 'cause it's still a hell of a stick.

 

[radiorenegade]

As Savage said McCain was the manchurian candidate.

 

[Interstate 78]

It ain't about what we like. As I said, whoever is calling the shots for 830 ain't reading the market right. And, again, it's too bad 'cause it's still a hell of a stick.

well i kinda agree but not quite. that's part of WEEU's problem but not all of it. yes, berks county voted very heavily democratic, but those numbers are distorted by the city of Reading. all the surrounding townships around Reading and up into the rural areas like Hamburg, Topton, Fleetwood, Bechtelsville, Morgantown, Wernersville, Shartlesville, etc. voted republican. If WEEU were still on 850 AM with 1,000 watts and serving basically just the city, i'd say you were right. But their very good stick, as you admit, covers the entire county clear as a bell and i think 830 has more listeners in those Reading "suburbs" than the city itself. so i don't see the fact that it's a lot of right-wing talk as the problem. remember they do have coast to coast AM during the overnight and that's got to be the most left wing wacky show around. they also have that guy who talks to dead people on Saturday night. i'd consider him kind of wacky too. so they have some left-wing stuff but it leans right and that's ok because they're targeting those suburbs. the problem is not Rush or Lars Larson. they have good shows. the problem is some of the stale stuff in between that pollutes the whole product. sleepy charley and company. the jo painter show. all those boring generic weekend talk shows. the reruns. etc. that's the stuff that's polluting the whole product. "feedback" with mike faust is what it is. it's both good and bad. i think mike faust has to turn it up a notch (or maybe he's not allowed to by management) and get more controversial and appeal to a younger crowd. in no other market would an old lady calling in with an apple pie recipe be allowed past the producer. LOL

 

[radiorenegade]

Coast To Coast is not a Left Wing show. It is a variety show that discusses numerous subjects not covered in the mainstream. From the paranormal to alternative political viewpoints. Ron Paul has been on the show numerous times. As well as the voice in the wilderness, Alex Jones. People laugh at AJ now but when the NWO takes hold and people are being taken to FEMA camps they will say, "We should have listened to Alex Jones and David Icke.

 

[malawichild]

I know this will come as a shock, considering the board we're on, but I sell radio advertising. You know--spots!

DUH!! I'm a dumbass. Wasn't thinking there.
How did my line go over?

 

[WiFi92]

Today I happened to hear that rambling lunatic Cicelia call the Feedback show. You had to hear it to believe it. She wants to be on the Reading School Board, but her tirade makes her a dangerous choice for even dog catcher. And Feedback host Mike Faust shriveled up into the air-chair and failed to call her out on any of her hate-filled monologue. This has to be one of the most 'limp-wristed' programs in any local radio history. The host can't intelligently discuss issues in depth and resorts to the 'tell me about it' or 'what do you think' tactic to protect or disguise himself from obvious self-inflicted inadequacies. I like the other posters idea about getting a shift of his own where the little ol' ladies are up in arms over his comments and he would need bodyguards entering and leaving the station. Just the kind of kick in the pants WEEU desperately needs. What a watered-down bowl of pablum they currently serve up as talk radio Monday thru Friday. Geez.

 

[malawichild]

I tried listening to them again today (since Howard is on vacation and I don't need to hear 6 hours of "best of" retreads) and WOW. How lame.

Charlie Adams at 6:45: Sports break with Mitch, song, a commercial, a song, weather and time check, commercial, song, news. GRONDBREAKING STUFF THERE!!!!!!!!!
Feedback topics; your memorable trip to the dentist and the pirate deal.

Horrible, just freakin' horrible. I hope I'm not so watered down when I'm old that I'd find this entertaining. The station needs an enema, and it needs it NOW.

 

[philadelphiawx]

And aren't PSU games only broadcast by Clear Channel stations? Isn't that why their contract with EEU was allowed to expire?

Not in Philly or in Lansdale -- they're on Salem down in Philly (560) on 1440 in Lansdale which isn't a CC outlet.