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WGST
- Thread starter WhatDoIKnow
- Start date
Re: GST Blown UP
As opposed to being a joke before?
Who's taking evenings? Mark Levin? When Hendrie retired, he took advantage of that big time and snatched up most of the AM affiliates.
As opposed to being a joke before?
Who's taking evenings? Mark Levin? When Hendrie retired, he took advantage of that big time and snatched up most of the AM affiliates.
Re: WGST - The Changes Are Starting?
It's Toledo, not Dayton.
It's Toledo, not Dayton.
Re: WGST - The Changes Are Starting?
I've listened to and been a fan of WGST since '89. Planet Radio was really stupid, but I think these changes are worse.
Getting rid of local talent for me is always going to be a negative. Especially when there are other stations airing syndicated shows.
Wall Street Journal? No thanks.
I've listened to and been a fan of WGST since '89. Planet Radio was really stupid, but I think these changes are worse.
Getting rid of local talent for me is always going to be a negative. Especially when there are other stations airing syndicated shows.
Wall Street Journal? No thanks.
Re: GST Blown UP
Seeing that there are plenty of stations willing to clear Hannity, I'd say ABCRN has some leverage with the current Hannity affiliates as far as Levin goes. Notice how they're mostly all the same.
Seeing that there are plenty of stations willing to clear Hannity, I'd say ABCRN has some leverage with the current Hannity affiliates as far as Levin goes. Notice how they're mostly all the same.
Re: WGST - The Changes Are Starting?
Looks to me that WGST could now fit in a small garage. A couple of transmitters, A receiver with about 2 Terrabytes of storage and there ya go. A radio Station in a box. All the programming is from somewhere else. THe Wall Street Journal Today repeats every 30 minutes and gets old quick. All this "Shake up" is another reason to listen to XM or Sirius.
Looks to me that WGST could now fit in a small garage. A couple of transmitters, A receiver with about 2 Terrabytes of storage and there ya go. A radio Station in a box. All the programming is from somewhere else. THe Wall Street Journal Today repeats every 30 minutes and gets old quick. All this "Shake up" is another reason to listen to XM or Sirius.
Re: WGST - The Changes Are Starting?
I hate having no local talk... I'm getting XM! ???
I hate having no local talk... I'm getting XM! ???
R
RandomGuy6
Guest
Re: GST Blown UP
Hughes left on his own. Kinner, Denny...not so much.
Hughes left on his own. Kinner, Denny...not so much.
Re: WGST - The Changes Are Starting?
I've always felt that the local talant like Kimmer, Hughes etc was the making for a strong WSB league station but they never had a signal that anyone would want to leave their radio tuned to. That poor signal is worse than thought, even if you can pick up the station 90% of the time, that 10% when it's static will keep you from leaving your radio tuned to it and it never becomes a comfortable habit for a listener no matter how much you like the shows. Even when they similcast on 105.7 it was the exact same problem. I was hoping that GST would have moved the regulars to 105.3, sigh. This stinks, I predict that even less people will be inclined to do situps in their car with the radio tuning in order to hear some the CNN Airport channel type drivel.
I've always felt that the local talant like Kimmer, Hughes etc was the making for a strong WSB league station but they never had a signal that anyone would want to leave their radio tuned to. That poor signal is worse than thought, even if you can pick up the station 90% of the time, that 10% when it's static will keep you from leaving your radio tuned to it and it never becomes a comfortable habit for a listener no matter how much you like the shows. Even when they similcast on 105.7 it was the exact same problem. I was hoping that GST would have moved the regulars to 105.3, sigh. This stinks, I predict that even less people will be inclined to do situps in their car with the radio tuning in order to hear some the CNN Airport channel type drivel.
C
chuckydoll
Guest
Don't expect the Braves on 105.3
Its tower is closer to Alabama than to metro Atlanta. With that location 105.3 has signal problems east and north of I-285.
Expect the Braves to move to 94.9 Lite FM.
Its tower is closer to Alabama than to metro Atlanta. With that location 105.3 has signal problems east and north of I-285.
Expect the Braves to move to 94.9 Lite FM.
Re: WGST - The Changes Are Starting?
Absolutely brilliant moves.
Filling the time with syndicated comments keeps the phones from ringing with complaints about the latest thing some local talk show host said - when they do ring, you just tell the listener, "Sorry, it's syndicated... please contact that show directly, we can't do a thing about it."
Bloomquist is a genius, bringing national programming to a local market this way. This will kick XM and Sirius in the butt, and probably bring WSB to its knees.
Oh, geez, I forgot the sarcasm tags... to be clear... I absolutely hate most syndicated programming, preferring that stations stay live and local. Sure, it costs money, but y'know what they say... you tend to get what you pay for.
Absolutely brilliant moves.
Filling the time with syndicated comments keeps the phones from ringing with complaints about the latest thing some local talk show host said - when they do ring, you just tell the listener, "Sorry, it's syndicated... please contact that show directly, we can't do a thing about it."
Bloomquist is a genius, bringing national programming to a local market this way. This will kick XM and Sirius in the butt, and probably bring WSB to its knees.
Oh, geez, I forgot the sarcasm tags... to be clear... I absolutely hate most syndicated programming, preferring that stations stay live and local. Sure, it costs money, but y'know what they say... you tend to get what you pay for.
Farewell WGST
This is my first posting on this board. I just couldn't resist any more after the happenings of the day. I worked with Tom Hughes and Kimmer for many years. Both of them are class acts and very talented people. My thoughts and prayers are with both of them. I'm sure they will love life outside of Clear Channel much better as we all have. We knew how to do radio and we were a big part of our listener's lives. We did cutting edge promotions, guerilla marketing and we covered local topics and issues that our P1's related to and cared about. We made our listeners laugh and we made our listeners cry. We brought 50,000 + people together for a Rally for America and we collected more than 2 tons of supplies for the troops and raised the $16,000 to send it all to Iraq and Afghanistan. We raised millions of dollars over the years for Toys for Tots and many other charities. We did the Snowball Open Golf Tournaments and Kimmer Irish Open Golf Tournaments that raised a ton of money for an orphanage and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Lots of people do golf tournaments that raise money, but we did the golf tournaments that listeners (our core audience) remembered and looked forward to. We were the NewsMonster...it was edgy and stood for something. It's very sad to know that you will not be able to find any of that on WGST any more. It was bad enough when we had to work with no budget because 96 Rock got all the love (billboards, t.v. spots, promotional items) from Jethro (Chase) and his puppets. We always thought that if Jethro was out of the picture that things would get better. Well he is and it didn't. Del Core, Wheeler and Bloomquist were all brought to Atlanta because they are cold blooded heartless assasins that were on a mission to kill Clear Channel Atlanta. I guess we should have known that they were in self destuct mode when they hired a Marketing Director for the Atlanta market that owned a company that served 3 or 4 competing radio stations in town and his wife was the director of sales for the main competitor for one of the stations. How smart is that? Their mission is almost complete now and I can personally gain some closure now. I have no need to listen to WGST or any of the Clear Channel stations. Fortunately, I had the foresight to buy XM 2 years ago. There are a handful of folks left at Clear Channel Atlanta that I will continue to think about often and wish the best for. Fortunately, they are all behind the scenes people and won't require me to touch my radio dial (with the exception of Steve Goss and Randy and Spiff) I wish the best for Mike Lawing, Charlie Harrell, Jim Gantner, Chris Ganter, Kinky Kutie Kaye, Ethel Darlington, Cheryl Ervin and some of the remaining account executives and others that I know and love. The list is getting shorter. I'm just glad I've still got my collection of Kimmer CD's and Kimmer Roast DVD.
This is my first posting on this board. I just couldn't resist any more after the happenings of the day. I worked with Tom Hughes and Kimmer for many years. Both of them are class acts and very talented people. My thoughts and prayers are with both of them. I'm sure they will love life outside of Clear Channel much better as we all have. We knew how to do radio and we were a big part of our listener's lives. We did cutting edge promotions, guerilla marketing and we covered local topics and issues that our P1's related to and cared about. We made our listeners laugh and we made our listeners cry. We brought 50,000 + people together for a Rally for America and we collected more than 2 tons of supplies for the troops and raised the $16,000 to send it all to Iraq and Afghanistan. We raised millions of dollars over the years for Toys for Tots and many other charities. We did the Snowball Open Golf Tournaments and Kimmer Irish Open Golf Tournaments that raised a ton of money for an orphanage and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Lots of people do golf tournaments that raise money, but we did the golf tournaments that listeners (our core audience) remembered and looked forward to. We were the NewsMonster...it was edgy and stood for something. It's very sad to know that you will not be able to find any of that on WGST any more. It was bad enough when we had to work with no budget because 96 Rock got all the love (billboards, t.v. spots, promotional items) from Jethro (Chase) and his puppets. We always thought that if Jethro was out of the picture that things would get better. Well he is and it didn't. Del Core, Wheeler and Bloomquist were all brought to Atlanta because they are cold blooded heartless assasins that were on a mission to kill Clear Channel Atlanta. I guess we should have known that they were in self destuct mode when they hired a Marketing Director for the Atlanta market that owned a company that served 3 or 4 competing radio stations in town and his wife was the director of sales for the main competitor for one of the stations. How smart is that? Their mission is almost complete now and I can personally gain some closure now. I have no need to listen to WGST or any of the Clear Channel stations. Fortunately, I had the foresight to buy XM 2 years ago. There are a handful of folks left at Clear Channel Atlanta that I will continue to think about often and wish the best for. Fortunately, they are all behind the scenes people and won't require me to touch my radio dial (with the exception of Steve Goss and Randy and Spiff) I wish the best for Mike Lawing, Charlie Harrell, Jim Gantner, Chris Ganter, Kinky Kutie Kaye, Ethel Darlington, Cheryl Ervin and some of the remaining account executives and others that I know and love. The list is getting shorter. I'm just glad I've still got my collection of Kimmer CD's and Kimmer Roast DVD.
Re: WGST - The Changes Are Starting?
It's a horrible line-up in my opinion. GKA now had a more attrative line-up. Since it is syndicated vs. synndicated. WSJ is from what iread either a half hour or one hour show repeated over 4 hours with some updates among the other hours.
How horrible is that. This is not NYC. The vast majority don't to listen to this once let alone in some continuous loop. Mike McConnell, I have heard him before not that impressed.
Dave Ramsey -The problem with financial advice is it is tpough to listen to all the time. They hjave their principals they apply to every situation and you can guess half their responses. To me it is not like the sports and talk station shows. Those shows rely off of currennt events and every day if not every sehour revolves around some kind of current topic. I just don't view Ramsey's show as must listen radio.
It's a horrible line-up in my opinion. GKA now had a more attrative line-up. Since it is syndicated vs. synndicated. WSJ is from what iread either a half hour or one hour show repeated over 4 hours with some updates among the other hours.
How horrible is that. This is not NYC. The vast majority don't to listen to this once let alone in some continuous loop. Mike McConnell, I have heard him before not that impressed.
Dave Ramsey -The problem with financial advice is it is tpough to listen to all the time. They hjave their principals they apply to every situation and you can guess half their responses. To me it is not like the sports and talk station shows. Those shows rely off of currennt events and every day if not every sehour revolves around some kind of current topic. I just don't view Ramsey's show as must listen radio.
Re: WGST - The Changes Are Starting?
I live way north of I-285 and I have no issues with BZY's signal. ALR is on the same tower and is licensed to La Grange, and it's one of the top 5 stations in the city.
People seem to be forgetting that in daytime hours, WSB is all syndicated programming as well.
chuckydoll said:Its tower is closer to Alabama than to metro Atlanta. With that location 105.3 has signal problems east and north of I-285.
Expect the Braves to move to 94.9 Lite FM.
I live way north of I-285 and I have no issues with BZY's signal. ALR is on the same tower and is licensed to La Grange, and it's one of the top 5 stations in the city.
RTibbs said:It's a horrible line-up in my opinion. GKA now had a more attrative line-up. Since it is syndicated vs. synndicated. WSJ is from what iread either a half hour or one hour show repeated over 4 hours with some updates among the other hours.
How horrible is that. This is not NYC. The vast majority don't to listen to this once let alone in some continuous loop. Mike McConnell, I have heard him before not that impressed.
Dave Ramsey -The problem with financial advice is it is tpough to listen to all the time. They hjave their principals they apply to every situation and you can guess half their responses. To me it is not like the sports and talk station shows. Those shows rely off of currennt events and every day if not every sehour revolves around some kind of current topic. I just don't view Ramsey's show as must listen radio.
People seem to be forgetting that in daytime hours, WSB is all syndicated programming as well.
Re: Farewell WGST
Well said.
After Tom Hughes dimissal, I have officially given up on the station. He was the only talent they had left. I was willing to listen to their crappy signal every morning just to hear his professional and humorous delivery of the news.
A lot of folks on this board have been very critical of him recently saying that he was grouchy, bitchy, etc., but who could blame him? He worked for a sorry a*s management team and his only hour with decent reception (8:00 AM) was taken away.
Toward the end, his conservative bias was really getting on my nerves, but his great sense of humor made me quickly forget about our political differences. I don't think he'll be missed for long though. Don't be suprised if he's hosting WGKA's morning show or WSB's evening news sooner than later.
Well said.
After Tom Hughes dimissal, I have officially given up on the station. He was the only talent they had left. I was willing to listen to their crappy signal every morning just to hear his professional and humorous delivery of the news.
A lot of folks on this board have been very critical of him recently saying that he was grouchy, bitchy, etc., but who could blame him? He worked for a sorry a*s management team and his only hour with decent reception (8:00 AM) was taken away.
Toward the end, his conservative bias was really getting on my nerves, but his great sense of humor made me quickly forget about our political differences. I don't think he'll be missed for long though. Don't be suprised if he's hosting WGKA's morning show or WSB's evening news sooner than later.
Re: WGST - The Changes Are Starting?
Actually, ALR is not on the same tower as WBZY, it's virtually on the same piece of real estate, though.
For whatever reason, signals to the south of Atlanta fare better than signals from the north.
BZY has building penetration issues bigtime in downtown and midtown, and points east. North of town the elevation increases, so it's a little easier to pick up 105.3, but not by much. In Gwinnett, 105.3 gets creamed in areas by 105.1.
Such is life as a rimshot.
Actually, ALR is not on the same tower as WBZY, it's virtually on the same piece of real estate, though.
For whatever reason, signals to the south of Atlanta fare better than signals from the north.
BZY has building penetration issues bigtime in downtown and midtown, and points east. North of town the elevation increases, so it's a little easier to pick up 105.3, but not by much. In Gwinnett, 105.3 gets creamed in areas by 105.1.
Such is life as a rimshot.
I
itburnswhenipee
Guest
Paradigm Shift at WGST
The wholesale changes at WGST represent a paradigm shift in programming and management philosophy.
In the past few years, Clear Channel management has tweaked the format, replaced support personnel, made changes in service elements, and experimented with various talk shows (ie., Denny Radio, The Regular Guys, etc...). All of those changes were purportedly designed to stem the steady erosion of AQH and TSL in key demographics. The goal was to make WGST competitive once again.
However, this week's changes represent surrender, an acknowledgement that WGST would never be competitive. Since WGST would never be a venue for ratings or revenue, the best management could do was eliminate expenditures (local salaries) so the station would no longer hemorrhage Clear Channel's bank account.
In the end, it was a paradigm shift in programming philosophy.
And, a prudent business decision.
The wholesale changes at WGST represent a paradigm shift in programming and management philosophy.
In the past few years, Clear Channel management has tweaked the format, replaced support personnel, made changes in service elements, and experimented with various talk shows (ie., Denny Radio, The Regular Guys, etc...). All of those changes were purportedly designed to stem the steady erosion of AQH and TSL in key demographics. The goal was to make WGST competitive once again.
However, this week's changes represent surrender, an acknowledgement that WGST would never be competitive. Since WGST would never be a venue for ratings or revenue, the best management could do was eliminate expenditures (local salaries) so the station would no longer hemorrhage Clear Channel's bank account.
In the end, it was a paradigm shift in programming philosophy.
And, a prudent business decision.
A
atlradiofan3
Guest
Re: Farewell WGST
WGST lost many years ago when they lost 2/3 of their talent to WSB. Boortz and Clark Howard now represent all of the talent at WSB and WGST had them both.
WGST had Rush, Boortz and Clark. All three are now nationally syndicated. What a colossal error.
I'm sure Kimmer is a nice man, I've never heard a bad word about him personally but that incessant laugh was almost as bad as Moby's yeah baby and peaches every third word.
Couple the 5 min of irritating laugh with at least 35 minutes of commercials per hour and it was hard to listen.
WGST lost many years ago when they lost 2/3 of their talent to WSB. Boortz and Clark Howard now represent all of the talent at WSB and WGST had them both.
WGST had Rush, Boortz and Clark. All three are now nationally syndicated. What a colossal error.
I'm sure Kimmer is a nice man, I've never heard a bad word about him personally but that incessant laugh was almost as bad as Moby's yeah baby and peaches every third word.
Couple the 5 min of irritating laugh with at least 35 minutes of commercials per hour and it was hard to listen.
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