WHAS drops program to protect its listeners!

[KyDXIn]

And its not Michael Savage or Rush Limbaugh! Its 90 something year old PAUL HARVEY! Excuse me?? But I think I could take Paul Sr. or Paul Jr. in any bar fight! This is completely laughable. You just don't want to be associated with anyone in this age group.

http://thevillevoice.com/2008/10/06/whas-radio-will-drop-paul-harvey/#comment-28685

“In the last year, he’s been gone more than he’s been present,” said Carls, who says he regrets making the move because he’s been a Harvey fan since he was 10 years old. “His fill-ins are not great. Paul Harvey Jr. is awful, and we won’t subject our listeners to it.”

Odd thing... I'm listening to him right now on WAKY 103.5. Good content-- actual news! Thanks WAKY! Just another reason to listen to a locally owned radio station who care about their listeners

 

[radiorob2.0]

I have tremendous respect for Paul Harvey. That being said, I understand the decision. Harvey should have retired ten years ago while still on top. Now he's losing affiliates for the very reason Kelly Carls mentions.

 

[KyDXIn]

I have tremendous respect for Paul Harvey. That being said, I understand the decision. Harvey should have retired ten years ago while still on top. Now he's losing affiliates for the very reason Kelly Carls mentions.

Buit we still want to listen to him, and I guess I'll just have to move to a different station.

 

[greg.hahn]

I have tremendous respect for Paul Harvey. That being said, I understand the decision. Harvey should have retired ten years ago while still on top. Now he's losing affiliates for the very reason Kelly Carls mentions.

Buit we still want to listen to him, and I guess I'll just have to move to a different station.

I'm guessing you had already moved to a different station. Very few solid WHAS listeners are going to "switch stations" because Paul Harvey is now gone. If they do, they'll switch to listen to Paul Harvey, then switch back to WHAS.

If Harvey had died do you think WHAS would have lost a bunch of listeners? :

 

[KyDXIn]

I'm guessing you had already moved to a different station. Very few solid WHAS listeners are going to "switch stations" because Paul Harvey is now gone. If they do, they'll switch to listen to Paul Harvey, then switch back to WHAS.
If Harvey had died do you think WHAS would have lost a bunch of listeners? :

,.
I listen to Harvey just like I watched Cronkite. I don't make a special effort to listen to Limbaugh, Hannity, Savage, or O'Reilly. I liked the fact that at 11:45 each day, anywhere I'd be I could tune to WHAS and listen to Paul Harvey. Just one of the benefits of a clear channel station, but you are correct, at 11:45 I will be listening elsewhere. I wonder how many other listeners will do the same?

 

[radiorob2.0]

Paul Harvey, or as I used to call him on the air Harv-Masterflash, was on several stations in Louisville. He was on WAKY (790) prior to WHAS. Who had Harvey before WAKY?

 

[Craven707]

I wasn't usually around a radio to listen to his 11:45 show. Sometimes I would go to his website and listen to what I had missed. I don't remember who carried his show before WAKY. Was is WINN perhaps?

 

[KyDXIn]

I wasn't usually around a radio to listen to his 11:45 show. Sometimes I would go to his website and listen to what I had missed. I don't remember who carried his show before WAKY. Was is WINN perhaps?

I first remember hearing PH in 1979 on WAKY, so I'm not sure who had him before that. I've read where he's been doing his "News and Comment" since 1951 on ABC, so I guess it would have been whatever local stations had ABC at the time. If I find out more, I'll post.

Some time ago I found on the net a recording of PH the day before Kennedy's assassination. Very interesting to hear what was important the day before the world changed. I just wonder what future generations will think when they look back on these days and listen to recordings of Rush, or Coast-to-Coast, et al. I think they will marvel at how much opinated nonsense passed as factual programming. Does anyone go into the media these days with the intent of being a journalist?

 

[greg.hahn]

Some time ago I found on the net a recording of PH the day before Kennedy's assassination. Very interesting to hear what was important the day before the world changed. I just wonder what future generations will think when they look back on these days and listen to recordings of Rush, or Coast-to-Coast, et al. I think they will marvel at how much opinated nonsense passed as factual programming. Does anyone go into the media these days with the intent of being a journalist?

Dude. Rush is no journalist, but you would seriously equate him with Coast to Coast?

 

[radiorob2.0]

Some time ago I found on the net a recording of PH the day before Kennedy's assassination. Very interesting to hear what was important the day before the world changed. I just wonder what future generations will think when they look back on these days and listen to recordings of Rush, or Coast-to-Coast, et al. I think they will marvel at how much opinated nonsense passed as factual programming. Does anyone go into the media these days with the intent of being a journalist?

Dude. Rush is no journalist, but you would seriously equate him with Coast to Coast?

Rush dubs himself America's Anchorman so some might believe he is some kind of journalist.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

... .. ... I just wonder what future generations will think when they look back on these days and listen to recordings of Rush, or Coast-to-Coast, et al. I think they will marvel at how much opinated nonsense passed as factual programming. Does anyone go into the media these days with the intent of being a journalist?

Dude. Rush is no journalist, but you would seriously equate him with Coast to Coast?

yeah! Why would you insult Coast to Coast that way????

 

[KyDXIn]

Some time ago I found on the net a recording of PH the day before Kennedy's assassination. Very interesting to hear what was important the day before the world changed. I just wonder what future generations will think when they look back on these days and listen to recordings of Rush, or Coast-to-Coast, et al. I think they will marvel at how much opinated nonsense passed as factual programming. Does anyone go into the media these days with the intent of being a journalist?

Dude. Rush is no journalist, but you would seriously equate him with Coast to Coast?

Please tell me just what Rush is--I was trying to be kind and give him the benefit of the doubt. He calls himself "America's anchorman", or at least that is what the commericals say. Are we using the new monikers where a garbage man is a sanitation engineer?? But really, I didn't mean to put Rush in the category of journalist, though using that advertising line gives him an air of newsiness. I just mentioned Rush as inclusive of what is on the radio today, and whether you like him or not-- he's a big part of radio entertainment. Do most people go into the business to be an "entertainer" as opposed to a "journalist"?

It is really interesting what is on the airwaves. I just listened to the last few minutes of "Costas on the Radio". It's great entertainment and a very informative show. Costas interviewed Larry David of "Seinfeld" fame. Then it was followed by a rerun of Art Bell's Coast-to-Coast program from Jan. 5, 2000! For the first 20 minutes he spoke about a book he was selling, and that was followed by a story about headless humans in Baja California! Of what use is a broadcast of a program that's 9 years old! I can't believe WHAS will cancel Paul Harvey, yet continues to air this crap. Why did I listen? I was painting on a stepladder and out of reach of my radio. When I had the opportunity, I changed the channel.

 

[radiorob2.0]

Rush is an entertainer and just like Dr. John Brinkley he takes advantage of the medium. The other factor is radio's lack of programming creativity. Just like stations ripped off Drake radio or Buzz Bennett's Q fromat with poor copies; talk radio did the same:

You know that Rush Limbo has lots of listeners. We need someone to go on the air screaming and yelling about how liberals are the problem because they hate America and being a conservative is the way to heaven. Oh yeah, be sure to use really hip bumper music.

And that's how it happened.

You mentioned Bob Costas. I used to run his show twenty years ago and it was interesting talk radio. The same could be said about Joe Elliot and Milton Metz. The host would play devil's advocate but it was an exchange of ideas. But unfortunately, that kind of talk radio isn't in vogue except on International media (BBC) or NPR. What gets listeners on AM radio and advertisers are the blow hards that rant and rave:

"YOU HATE AMERICA AND YOU WANT OUR SOLDIERS TO CUT AND RUN AND YOU CODDLE TERRORIST BECAUSE YOU DISAGREE WITH WHAT I PREACH AND I LOVE AMERICA MORE THAN YOU!"

Oh yeah, don't forget the really hip bumper music.

 

[KyDXIn]

You mentioned Bob Costas. I used to run his show twenty years ago and it was interesting talk radio. The same could be said about Joe Elliot and Milton Metz. The host would play devil's advocate but it was an exchange of ideas. But unfortunately, that kind of talk radio isn't in vogue except on International media (BBC) or NPR. What gets listeners on AM radio and advertisers are the blow hards that rant and rave:

I am as offended by bad programming (read "Coast-to-coast" reruns) as I would be by bad language. I guess the only way to fight bad programming is to turn your dial away from it. The only problem is there's so much BAD programming. Calls to radio stations seem to fall on deaf ears. Post on blogs have limited reactions. I've turned to listening to old radio shows on the internet. I highly recommend www.yesterdayusa.com. I listen to classic radio shows like Jack Benny, Fibber McGee and Molly, and Phil Harris. Instead of infomercials the commericals were woven into the show. Check out any Fibber McGee show for a perfect example of this. Next time you can't find anything on the dial, try this site. Its free and just good clean fun.

 

[Cincinnati Kid]

WLW Radio in Cincinnati dropped Paul Harvey in 2008. The station had been carrying the show at 12:10 P.M. There was an indication at the time of the termination that it was due to Harvey's absence from the program.

 

[know-it-all]

KyDXin - are you kidding, FIBBER MCGEE, dude how old are you? The more I visit this board the more convinced i am that it's 40-50 (in number and in age) dudes who can't get an on-air gig and just want to gripe and complain. You were talking about the RUSH formula, well it seems this board has a formula. 1) Nothing is as good as it used to be when you were a kid 2) All radio companies (and reseach) are evil 3) the people who do have jobs are slacker, corp. suck-ups who are not nearly as talented as you out of work geezers! There is compelling radio being done, I think DAVE RAMSEY is a good show, I still like Terry Mieners and Ben & Kelly K (hip, funny) My girlfirend digs Lambert & Lindsey(dumb, funny). It's not the golden ages - when you had 20 people doing a radio show, but Wow! I am a board op, never had my own show, but dude seriously if you can't find something worth listening too other than streaming FIBBER MCGEE shows, maybe you should just stay home with your TIME-LIFE series recordings.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

KyDXin - are you kidding, FIBBER MCGEE, dude how old are you? The more I visit this board the more convinced i am that it's 40-50 (in number and in age) dudes who can't get an on-air gig and just want to gripe and complain.

Very perceptive on your part KyDXin. You didn't address that missle to me, but in some ways I have to raise my hand and ask- - - "Ya Talkin to ME?" However, as you age YOU ALSO will gain some new ways of looking at things.

I was 33 when I walked away from the business. It wasn't that I couldn't get a gig.... I did have trouble finding gigs I thought were worthy of my participation.... but more than that I just couldn't ask a wife and three children to continue a life where out in the garage there were always boxes that said Mayflower or Allied or U-Haul which had not been unpacked yet since the last move.

If you will go to my profile and read my "recent messages posted" you will find (I hope you see what you find will match this description) that I am not pushing for a return to the Golden Good Ole Days so much as I am pushing the idea that radio today can be as innovative and refreshing and challenging as it ever was. And "this ole geezer" gets a bit disgusted that today's in-their-prime folks seem to want to sit around and sip Mint Juleps (yup... my journeys took me through LOUISVILLE!) and marvel at "All Powerful Diety" of wall to wall carpet called music recordings.

There is a lot of lip service in these discussion groups to "live and local" as though that was the answer, as though that would be innovative, refreshing and challenging. When the storm comes, when the flood comes, when the gas main breaks, what good would it do to have a live human being sitting at the radio station if they had forgotten how to talk, forgotten where the switch is that turns on the mic, and long since lost their Rolo-dex or Blackberry that had the phone number for the Police Chief and other locals who might have some message worth delivering.

And the listeners. What good would it do to broadcast emergency information in the listeners have ears long since filled with silk worm droppings that only allow music to pass to the inner ear?

Maybe some of crap we used to proudly put on the radio was just for practice.... both for the broadcaster and for the listener. It was like having a fire drill at school. We all knew what to do when the real important panic times of life came along.

If a really bad event happened in your town today, and as they fear may happen during the upcoming inauguration, the cell phones locked up because too many people were trying to use them at the same time, would the Chief of Police in your town even know where to find your studio if he needed to reach the public by radio? Has he/she ever been there?

I simply came to a time in life when there were other things more compelling, more important, more fulfilling than sitting around a radio station.

 

[Ronn]

"Who carried PH before WAKY & WHAS?"
When Paul Harvey began broadcasting his noon program on ABC in 1951, there were only four radio networks. NBC, CBS, ABC and The Mutual Broadcasting System. I believe WAVE was NBC and WHAS the CBS affiliate. No doubt there were stations affiliated with both ABC and MBS, because network affiliation was imperative then. It might be interesting to check to see which station carried ABC. Seems like WINN and WKLO were around then. Not sure when what became WAKY went on the air. I could be very mistaken, but it seems that in the 60's, Mr. Harvey was on WINN. And, then it might have been that daytime country station...WTNT or WTMT. ?? One of you dedicated Louisville radio historians should check it out. Meantime, what would you expect from Clear Channel? They have no allegiance or loyalty to anything or anybody. I take that back. They are quite fond of the Almighty........Dollar.

 

[radiorob2.0]

WHAS was ABC for many years and WINN was CBS for Louisville. I'll have to dig up the info but I believe WHAS was an independent for much of the sixties. They were CBS for the seventies and early eighties when they became an ABC Information affiliate and added Harvey. WAKY was an ABC-Contemporary affiliate until the late seventies when they became ABC-I and added Harvey. After WHAS took ABC-I, WAKY became Mutual. CBS went to WCII (Double-you, See, Double-Eye). WINN was an ABC Entertainment affiliate for much of the seventies and may have been home to Paul Harvey. NBC was on WAVE-WAVG until they blew it up in the late eighties.

Feel free to correct.

 

[JohnQuincy]

Here's part of an e-mail I received a while back from former 790 WAKY GM George Francis. The period he's talking about is the late '70s when, like many AM Top 40 stations, WAKY segued from contemporary to an adult contemporary/full service approach.

"We did a bunch of things overtly and otherwise to reposition WAKY from being a Teeny-Bopper station (which it hadn't been in years!) to a serious, but fun, full-service radio station. We had hired WHAS' News Director Glen Bastin. I had also replaced Gary Guthrie with Mike McVay, who came from 10Q in LA. Bob Moody was there and of course your Duke of Louisville. What a team!

"How many times has the 5kw/1kw WAKY beaten the 50kwClear WHAS in adults (and other demos) in the last 25-30 years? WAKY had about a 5 share when I got there and WHAS was fat and happy in double digits. We not only beat 'em and beat 'em bad. . . we did it more than once with very near 10 shares. Somewhere I have some great one-sheeters showing WAKY either #1 or #2 and our newly acquired FM, WVEZ #1 or #2 in every demo against cloud formations that looked like Moses had just gotten tablets. We absolutely killed 'em! Our two stations owned every demo from 12+ up to and including 50+!

"When I first went to WAKY, I was eventually able to get a hand-shake with Ed McLaughlin at ABC (later helped launch Rush L.) in NY that if WAKY beat WHAS in certain demos, he'd cancel Paul Harvey on WHAS and put him on WAKY. We did and to Ed's credit, he did. Ed had refused to even meet with me until I started shipping him weekly letters attached to boxes of grits and other items.

"Obviously this was a big coup for us. . . adding prestige and credibility to the WAKY News dept. . . it also was great PR locally and nationally to be able to tell potential advertisers that ABC had pulled Paul Harvey from WHAS and given him to us because WAKY reached more adults!"

Of course, as RadioRob said, WAKY eventually lost ABC and Paul Harvey. I'm guessing this would be about the time WAKY went oldies (1981).

For more about WAKY's history, check out www.79WAKY.com. (Shameless plug!)