WGSO 990

[nedryerson]

Well guys what do you think now in the third or fourth week? All I can think of is “where is Mike Longman”? ??? Can’t they recycle him, too? Oh, and I hear that Eric Tracy is available, and Maury McGill.

 

[emeritus]

Having listened on and off for the last few weeks, some thoughts....Jeff Croure's show is better than average. He does have many resources for guests but I have find his opinions lame at best. Ed Clancy is awful. Bring back Ron Hunter, Ed Buutler, and Robert Namer if you are going to dust this guy off. Captain Humble has the worst show I have heard on talk radio. What exactly is this show? Is it supposed to be comedy, is it geared to Northshore audiences, or is it a laugh at each other 2 hour waste of time. Bernie Cryrus is a never was been who brings nothing to the table. The sports programming at night is much better than any other local sports talk in this market with the exception of Les Easts show. I feel asleep at the wheel driving home trying to take this show in. I never thought I would say this but I turned on Bob Mitchell instead. Memo to WGSO, please have your people complete a GED before you put them on the air to read news. I have yet to hear a news person at that station that can read without making a mistake. The traffic reports are often inaccurate. All in all, there is much work to do and other than the sports programming at night I see no need to ever turn this station on.

 

[menotti1]

Ron Hunter, have not heard that name in awhile.Where is he now?back in the day he was at the top of the game and talk about adlib.He was the best.did not get to work in all the TV markets he did without being very good.a real perfectionist, maybe too real....IMHO

 

[ksw2844]

It's sad. In the winter, the only even listenable programing (nighttime) will not be able to be heard on the Northshore because they have to power down at night.
The whole thing is weird.

 

[Bible Answer Man]

Holy Toledo, this station stinks!!!

I give up on this TERRIBLE new station. Other than newscasters who can’t read, agonizingly repetitive traffic reports (who needs a traffic report in the middle of the night anyway?), the same news reports over and over and over and over and over again, mispronounced names of local dignataries, a staticy signal, Captain Humble (what century are we in - can he REALLY still be around?) - He is truly worse than Mitchell (never thought that could happen), Ed Clancy (a close second to Cap for worst of the worst), and some of the sports guys, the station is really not that bad. (Sarcasm intended.)

Tonight, however, was the icing on the cake. They had some absolutely terrible show about religion with some guy who holds his church at a La Quinta and a shopping mall (didn’t Jesus start His church at the Mall of Calvary? Or was it the Nazareth Red Roof Inn?) and was spouting all this lame evangelical stuff. Some other guy in the studio was just as bad. Don’t these guys realize that there are Catholics out there? Are the Catholics a group they intentionally want to turn off? If not, they are sure doing a good job. They should at least give the Catholics equal time - maybe a good debate would be in order? Any takers?

BTW, yes, it would be great to get Ron Hunter, Namer, J.R. Gash, Longman (where is Bob Dabney?), Maury McGill (haven’t heard that name in about a century), and some other dinosaurs back (is Keith Rush still available, or maybe Vince Aletto?) - WGSO would certainly be better with them than the current line-up. Good grief.

Lord, help us....

 

[emeritus]

What I find funny is all the people on here that go eat at Captain Humble's have yet to give an opinion on his radio show. Tell the truth radio guys!

 

[fatman]

Why would you find that funny?

Our (my) friendship with Cap and our (my) enjoyment of his establishment are totally separate from our (my) feelings for the radio station.

You rarely see me post anything passing judgement on any radio station because I basically don't care about those things. Yes, I've listened and I've enjoyed what I've heard for the most part. Cap makes me laugh and I enjoy Bernie because Bernie and I discussed some pretty presonal subjects a decade or so ago. Yes, the station needs tweaking. I think they are in the process of that.

Do you think you could do a better job? Then go talk to the Powers That Be there and apply for the job.

 

[nedryerson]

I will give you my opinion on Cap’s show - it is laughably bad.

 

[Garibaldi]

If I was a friend of Cap, I would never post anything about his show. I would want to keep and cherish the friendship. Honestly, I've attempted to listen to Cap several times during my lunch hour and still do not know what the show is about. It seems that Cap comes up with some off the wall stale joke or comment and people in the station laugh like he's Larry the Cable Guy. I even thought that Clancy could make it, but his stuff is outdated and not entertaining. Bernie Cyrus' show revolves around the Louisiana music industry and should be on a station like WWOZ. I must say that I have liked what I hear on Courere's show, but I switch back often to Jim Brown for good political bashing. As someone mentioned, they need a lot of tweaking and the station's management needs to push current topics of interest, not what happened 20 years ago. I remember very well when Nut and Jeff lost their audience as time passed them by, and Keith Rush, who was once nationally recognized, was left reading journals for 2 hours. The talk radio listener wants controversy. They want hosts with passion, knowledge and the ability to slam people when they screw up. That's why I like the Sports Court show on that station. The kid is better than Jim Rome at what he does. I guess that he's catching the biggest chunk of the payroll and all the others are at minimum wage. If not, he should be. Just my thoughts.

 

[Back Home in NOLA]

I just returned to the N.O. area, haven't been here in about four years. I'm a big New Orleans Radio Fan (grew up here), did some radio out west and decided to check out the dial. Radio in New Orleans is very bad, great stations are bad now, formats basically suck --- sorta like the rest of the markets. What a delight it was to hear a familiar voice, Captain Humble on 'GSO. I've read all of the posts --- and you have been mentioning loosers. Cap is the only entertaining thing on the dial. Today's show was outstanding. Great entertainment. Topical and hilarious. Four of us were listening and had to almost pull off the road because we were laughing so hard.
He's very current (Rosie's Riveters) --- talking about the Crab Fest Maybe you all are from Entercom & Clear Channel. I grew up here, and Cap just keeps getting better and 'mo betta. He talks our language --- a couple of numb **** try, but can't pull it off. Or, do you people have jobs in radio or are you wanna-bees.
Sit back and listen, if you can get thru his board ops. Tell me one person on the radio in this market who's better than Cap. I can't find anybody as genuinely funny. In spite of the pretty horrible radio line-up, it's still good to be home!

 

[wxvanessamd]

Some "bugs" may still have to be worked out at WGSO, but I give the whole station credit for one thing....they are more lively for a talk oriented station than the others in the area. Jeff Crouere has a good morning show when it comes to keeping me awake....at times WWL would frankly irritate me the way Bob Del Giorno would get mad at a caller & hardly give them anytime to talk....even worse, the way he called out WGSO the other day (though didn't say their name on the air) for something Bob took out of context.....with all due respect to Bob Sr. I wish he would have retired last year.
As for Ed Clancy, I've always seem him as a decent mix of today's & yesterday's topics combined with clean "wit". When he picks on himself, it's rather refreshing, best of all...he's very friendly with guests, not pushy in trying to get answers out. Captain Humble's show may have some rather "out there jokes" but what I thought was pretty clever (and should advertised more often) is the rotation of station employees that sit in with him to try and add chemistry to the show. Jayson Lee, Catherine Sumner, and Dainya Jay are up and coming in radio and with a little luck will have their own show(s) one day.
Bernie Cyrus I feel is simply getting the local music scene on more of a bigger audience, because of my work schedule I don't listen to his show, so how the flow of the show goes I really can't comment on.
The night time sports shows are very good, Ken Trahan, Les East, and John Marie are solid at what they do. As for the Sports Ministry show on Thursdays, I believe that is supported by Faith Church and it is simply an attempt to give listeners an honest-good news type sports show which is greatly missing right now....mind you, in today's sports talk world "controvery sells ads", but at least WGSO is trying to present an alternative sports show that doesn't involve overly bad repetitive impressions of Buddy D and a host who constantly says, "As the good book says 'do not judge lest thee be judged'"...yet that host judges everyone in sports like Judge Judy after taking spiked Pepto-Bismol....that's assuming said host can actually fit through the doors of the studio to get in there.
However, some better reading of the news by certain people needs to be addressed, but I'm glad after their first week and a half on the air they shortened the :15 and :45 updates and modified the :30 update to keep the flow of the shows some better momentum.
But one thing I really appreciate is their breaking weather updates from their staff meteorologist, I think his name is Bill and he's been on different shows and outlets over the years, he's got a good way to describe rough weather for a radio audience in terms of where squall lines are located, rough potential, etc.
So we'll see what happens, but I'll take Clancy and Captain any day over Rush Limbaugh.

 

[emeritus]

Clancy and Captain over Rush, are you kidding me? Bring back Ron Hunter and let me do shows each week on that memorable phone call he received at WSMB that effectively ended his radio career. Now that would be entertaining. If Captain and Clancy last longer than 12 months than management doesn't care. If you want something funny, turn on the station right now and listen to the guy reading the news......

 

[john026]

I tuned into the station out of curiousity and what most people are saying on this board is accurate. The daytime shows during the week are a definite mixed bag with Jeff C doing the best job. Sports at night might be great, but who can pick up the signal when it's powered down at night??? Go figure. And the "news" readers are a collective joke and embarrassment.

That said...

There is one really good show on the station. It's the Movie show right after Tailgaters which is also a good show too. Movie Talk IMO is one of the best shows on radio in this market that has a loyal following; the host is knowledgeable about movies, is funny and entertaining and usually has great guests. Of course, the programming morons over at that station can always be relied upon to screw up a good thing and this past Saturday, they decided to run some boring press conference at the beginning of Movie Talk. OK, let me get this straight. You guys have countless hours of reruns available on Saturday but you decide to run some unlistenable press conference on FEMA right after Tailgaters interrupting one of your few decent shows you have for half an hour. What is up with those people?

 

[Thunder7Y]

Were are you F. Michael Franklin. Ed Till give them some help. Scoot do you have any dust on you yet. John Marie. This character Joey claims to be an ex host on WSB in Atlanta. Any truth.

 

[ksw2844]

Back home in NOLA HAS to be Capt. Humble!!! Only he can find himself so "entertaining."

And wxvanessamd, you have to work at WGSO too... who else could ever rattle off the names Jayson Lee, Catherine Sumner, and Dainya Jay and refer to them as "up and coming in radio."

And "As for the Sports Ministry show on Thursdays, I believe that is supported by Faith Church."

So then they're just "selling programming." Got it.

Over-under on WGSO... 12 months. He has "Mike Starr" money, but not "Ringo Starr" money.

 

[fatman]

Back home in NOLA HAS to be Capt. Humble!!! Only he can find himself so "entertaining."

Actually, Captain Humble posts under the screen name of "captainhum", not some obscure mix of letters and numbers.

 

[ksw2844]

Don,
you're right, sorry.
That said, I know the "Cap" is a probably a great guy, but he should stick to making $13 po-boys, not $13 dollar a spot radio. 990am is, and will increasingly be, a money sucking vortex for all financially involved.
I know Trahan is a pretty good sports guy... but a "Program and Op's director?" So am I correct that this station is so bad because of him?
John Marie is the only thing listenable, and I can't because I can't pick up the station.

 

[mightynine]

WGSO's biggest problem is they are not sticking to the script. If you're going to call yourselves "The Voice of the Northshore", well, talk about the northshore! At first I thought I was just hitting it at off times, but this is what I hear:

- Ed Clancy talking about Rivertown in Kenner, and having some piano player on doing "Rudolph The immigrant Roofer" while waxing poetic about the good ol' days in New Orleans.

- Captain Humble letting me know he wasn't invited to cocaine parties as a kid because his nose was too big.

- "Reporters Roundtable" featuring the host AND guest over a phone line.

- News updates that have the only northshore-related story basically buried as the second to last story, behind a day-old LRA story, Voodoo Fest lineups and the LSU Track and Field media guide up for a national award. And yes, the news readers are horrible. Why even bother doing local news? You've got the SRN News feed now, take all 5 minutes of that and go right to traffic and weather. Local news is a waste of time for these guys.

The hosts do a horrible job of engaging the listener or giving them any reason to actually call in, or for that matter listen at all - it's basically wall-to-wall interviews or stories about how things used to be, which I don't consider "lively" at all. I'm only listening because you rarely get to hear a radio trainwreck like this, and it always amazes me to see what I'll hear next.

Truth, I think the SRN News feed is a sign of things to come - eventually the investors in this will be tired of throwing money into a pit, and Salem might come along and offer some cash to pick up some of their programs, or they'll find some other shows to plug in and do something local in mornings or afternoons. I don't expect this to last a year.

 

[wxvanessamd]

ksw2844:
Thanks for your reply, If I feel someone is up and coming in radio then I'll state it. I actually don't work for WGSO, I'm my own person who states their own opinion. So if you choose to make false assumptions about me because I like some people there then so be it.
At least WGSO is a nice break from the doldrums that at times WWL and WRNO are trying to provide. One reason I like Clancy and Captain is because frankly Rush Limbaugh really doesn't do his homework on the issues of the day. Limbaugh has been a rather big bag of wind for years now, at least Clancy and Captain are trying to be funny and admit it, whether or not others feels they are funny.
Mind you, WWL has good people on and off the air and will for some time to come. Whatever the future either financially or otherwise of WGSO will be only time will tell.
But at least WGSO is not boring.
To further expand on your criticism on my commentary of Jayson, Catherine, and Dainya....I contacted them by e-mail to state questions about the inconsistencies with the station, etc. and they were all kind enough to reply. Their openness with me is something that I haven't usually gotten from other outlets when I would write them.
While I've only been in this area for a handful of years, simply I know what I like. As I hope you know what you like in radio, assuming you don't work for a radio outlet in the New Orleans market and are posting your criticism because you have implied bias as you did to me.

 

[ksw2844]

wxvanessamd:
I have to say, nicely done!
Well argued, well stated, and well positioned, and I could not agree with your position on Limbaugh more. He’s an idiot.
That said, 990am is the single most amazing "audio carnage" I have ever heard.
Not boring? I’m glad you think that to be the case. Keep listening, but count yourself amoung the very, very few, IMHO.
I never thought anything could make 99.5 sound almost like a good station… and then 990am happens.
The one thing I will say is at least there is another (of the few) “local” operator giving it a try… but when the effort is this poor it inadvertently makes an argument FOR the big conglomerates.
And that stinks.
I think mightynine hit right, square down the middle.