WGKA - you are all that is wrong with corporate radio

[onetake]

According to the article linked below, Salem was formed by a couple of graduates of Bob Jones University who are active in ultra-right wing politics. It says that, the company was one of the first to use radio to promote a partisan political agenda. The network even has its own PAC which funnels money to Republican candidates.



Wait a second. For real? They have a PAC funneling money to Republican candidates? So much for a fair news perspective. It sounds more like a political organization not a radio station. But still with all the republicans in Atlanta you'd think they could get a following. FCC records show they paid over $16 million for the station and they upgraded the signal. But with nothing local, just their own "company agenda" shows, it's got to be low overhead. They're probably the first to throw out the term "liberal media" all day long but might miss a lot of opportunity by not giving a full and fair picture to anything. Well at least they only run infomercials on the weekends.

 

[jabba17]

According to the article linked below, Salem was formed by a couple of graduates of Bob Jones University who are active in ultra-right wing politics. It says that, the company was one of the first to use radio to promote a partisan political agenda. The network even has its own PAC which funnels money to Republican candidates.

Wait a second. For real? They have a PAC funneling money to Republican candidates? So much for a fair news perspective. It sounds more like a political organization not a radio station. But still with all the republicans in Atlanta you'd think they could get a following. FCC records show they paid over $16 million for the station and they upgraded the signal. But with nothing local, just their own "company agenda" shows, it's got to be low overhead. They're probably the first to throw out the term "liberal media" all day long but might miss a lot of opportunity by not giving a full and fair picture to anything. Well at least they only run infomercials on the weekends.

And Anne Cox Chambers has funded the Democrats, big-time, for years (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Cox_Chambers). Let's go ahead and call WSB tainted as well.

This might come as a shocker to some of you, but talk format stations air talk shows. Talk shows espouse and discuss OPINIONS.

o-pin-ion [uh-pin-yuhn] noun 2. a personal view, attitude, or appraisal.

Even Air America does that.

Let's be fair. I've heard nothing resembling a proper newscast on WGKA. Maybe time/traffic/weather and a short snippet from their in-house news organization, but that's it. If you're depending on them for news (versus opinion)--well, let's just say: you miss a day, you don't miss much.

Now, if you're saying that WGKA is missing an opportunity by forgoing a more centrist or liberal POV, remember how well Air America did on 1690 a few years back. Better still, Cox tried to make WSB into a progtalk alternative to Rush and WGST in the very early 1990s (Mike Malloy, et al.), and failed spectacularly.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Doesn't WGKA use Metro Networks for their news?

 

[jabba17]

Doesn't WGKA use Metro Networks for their news?

I know they ID their news feeds as the "Salem News Network" or something like that (SRN?), although that may just be a slapped-on brand. Doesn't CC own Metro?

 

[monkeymanmoi]

Wait a second. For real? They have a PAC funneling money to Republican candidates? So much for a fair news perspective.

It doesn't take long listening to not be surprised by this. Their news is often peppered with a Christian slant. Doesn't bother me even though I don't hold the same beliefs.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Doesn't WGKA use Metro Networks for their news?

I know they ID their news feeds as the "Salem News Network" or something like that (SRN?), although that may just be a slapped-on brand. Doesn't CC own Metro?

I meant their local newscasts. Metro Networks is owned by Westwood One (CBS).

 

[onetake]

The difference is Mrs Chambers has never been known to tell GMs to instruct the PDs and NDs on content. Nor the TV side. And while the Constitution leans Democratic she also owned the Journal which leaned Republican. She's never been known to be involved with the product but benefits from their success.
WGKA has, like Fox New Channel, active leadership in an agenda. While the tea party was a huge hit WGKA had a small attended but heavily promoted event recently where some hosts came and stirred the crowd up with their version of Obama's job.
But when a station implies they are a full service news station and it just runs gabby political operatives with an agenda people figure it out pretty quickly. The ratings prove that.
While talk shows all week still whined about problems in Washington listeners couldn't get enough Michael Jackson coverage. In other words you can't argue forever and be entertaining.

 

[jabba17]

The difference is Mrs Chambers has never been known to tell GMs to instruct the PDs and NDs on content. Nor the TV side. And while the Constitution leans Democratic she also owned the Journal which leaned Republican. She's never been known to be involved with the product but benefits from their success.
WGKA has, like Fox New Channel, active leadership in an agenda. While the tea party was a huge hit WGKA had a small attended but heavily promoted event recently where some hosts came and stirred the crowd up with their version of Obama's job.
But when a station implies they are a full service news station and it just runs gabby political operatives with an agenda people figure it out pretty quickly. The ratings prove that.
While talk shows all week still whined about problems in Washington listeners couldn't get enough Michael Jackson coverage. In other words you can't argue forever and be entertaining.

920 has had the best ratings it has had in a long while, probably the best since the WGST days, recently. Something must be working--or at least working better than what was there before. And if it's partisan, so what? They're not fooling anybody, especially when you put up billboards that say in large letters "WGKA--Liberals Hate It!" You go to their website (http://920wgka.townhall.com/), and it's hosted by Townhall.com (another Salem property), a well-known conservative site. The first words at the top of the window? "Conservative Talk Radio". I don't think that anyone is going to tune in 920 and look for Randi Rhodes or Ron Jr.

I don't see the issue here. They do what they say they do.

WSB--and WGST before CC cleaned out their news department--always had much bigger fish to fry than Tea Party remotes. Now WGST has no news department and no budget for remotes.

And a lot of people had their fill of MiJac coverage. I would also say that your average political talk radio fan probably had little interest in MiJac, and vice-versa.

FWIW, the AJC (or maybe it was just carried by the Constitution back then) ran a big, somewhat controversial article in the early 1990s bashing Boortz and Rush and WGST for "uncivil hate radio". This was when Boortz was on "the ex-wife", as he calls WGST. The article spoke favorably of WSB's libtalk lineup (Malloy, et al.), while bashing WGST. Boortz had lots of fun with that, trotting out the usual "liberal agenda media" line, and also pointing out the shared ownership of the AJC and WSB, which struck more of a nerve because that was more provable and plausible as "advertorial" content.

 

[turnitupnow]

If Mrs Cox-Chambers is a big democratic supporter in her private life I admire her more for letting a guy like Hannity on her station.
We all seem to know WGKA is a politican-issues station but they do pepper the marketing with promos that on first listen make one think they have the resources dedicated to news traffic and weather that a WSB does. It seems like a deliberate effort to confuse the audience.
Being a bit surprised that a low rated and little thought about station got so many postings and so many views I did some checking with a local agency. I don't know who's posting all the comments of wgka doing "better than ever" but the monthlies are showing a decline and with a weekly cume around 100,000 I think the best post came AtlBanker who only said the station was a waste or resources.
But when a cume like that can't get enough listeners to get a 1 share, ever, his original point is well taken. Listeners just don't stay around. Local rating specifics weren't given to back up the talk.
My bottom line take is Banker and some others would like WKGA and WGST to shape up. We're market #7 with lots of talk stations going nowhere. I want WSB to keep having competition but also feel they earn their success. It's more than just the signal.

Here's the real question: what will be different in six months or a year from now.
Despite jabbas claim WGKA isn't growing. WGST isn't growing. And I don't think either or WCFO will be any further along a year from now. Apparently their owners are content with these results and AtlBanker said it well that the standards are so low now we have people thinking this ain't so bad. No this sucks. Chicago has valid choices and they show success.
If Am radio dies it's because current owners and programmers killed it.

 

[jabba17]

If Mrs Cox-Chambers is a big democratic supporter in her private life I admire her more for letting a guy like Hannity on her station.
We all seem to know WGKA is a politican-issues station but they do pepper the marketing with promos that on first listen make one think they have the resources dedicated to news traffic and weather that a WSB does. It seems like a deliberate effort to confuse the audience.
Being a bit surprised that a low rated and little thought about station got so many postings and so many views I did some checking with a local agency. I don't know who's posting all the comments of wgka doing "better than ever" but the monthlies are showing a decline and with a weekly cume around 100,000 I think the best post came AtlBanker who only said the station was a waste or resources.
But when a cume like that can't get enough listeners to get a 1 share, ever, his original point is well taken. Listeners just don't stay around. Local rating specifics weren't given to back up the talk.
My bottom line take is Banker and some others would like WKGA and WGST to shape up. We're market #7 with lots of talk stations going nowhere. I want WSB to keep having competition but also feel they earn their success. It's more than just the signal.

Here's the real question: what will be different in six months or a year from now.
Despite jabbas claim WGKA isn't growing. WGST isn't growing. And I don't think either or WCFO will be any further along a year from now. Apparently their owners are content with these results and AtlBanker said it well that the standards are so low now we have people thinking this ain't so bad. No this sucks. Chicago has valid choices and they show success.
If Am radio dies it's because current owners and programmers killed it.

About AC-C letting Hannity on, it's all about the Benjamins and always will be.

WGST could do better--heck, they DID do better back in the early to mid 90s before WSB got their game and WGST took their eyes off of it (some would say it was Planet Radio, but that was just a symptom of a larger issue). It was a combination of on-air talent, an FM side, and the willingness to spend money on a news operation (indeed, all of the above), and all those other things that we have talked about on this board at length. Of course, WSB can "see and raise" anything that WGST can do. Still, I would like to see a strong #2 to WSB. CC isn't interested (or is broke), Weber probably doesn't have the bankroll for WCFO, and Salem is probably content with broadcasting their national slate of talent and letting it be at that. Salem isn't exactly rolling in the dough, either.

I never said that WGKA is growing. I said that what Salem is doing with them is better and has more audience than what was on 920 before Salem bought them, and I stand by that. I would agree that the potential for upside is limited (doubly so for WCFO, which probably has the worst signal of any 10k+ AM in ATL), although WGST/CC isn't exactly jealously guarding their share (which is indeed shrinking as of late). I wonder what WGST's share is outside of Rush, and outside of Rush, Beck, and the Braves. Particularly during AM and PM drive.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

WGST should move El Patron to 105.7, put Viva on the shelf, and give WGST an FM simulcast at 105.3. Why have a station (WGST) that's doing nothing for you? WGST would need to do something about PM drive, but if they did, the FM would bring ratings and revenue up.