What Would You Do With WRKO?

[HHH]

Stay talk, but ALL LOCAL, 24/7. After all, Massachusetts politics is never dull.

Howie is a good anchor for this.

It would be somewhat pricey, but this would be a big counter against 1200, which will be almost all network.

Lighten up on the weekend with auto repair, gardeneing, computer geek, other niche shows, but--again--keep it all LOCAL.

 

[raccoonradio]

Entercom's tight fisted ways, combined with the economy, make that unlikely. Wonder if Sheppard got the boot to free up salary for Charley?

 

[Rusty Muck]

Entercom's simulcast of WWL on FM came in part due to the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. But they've survived and done quite well, even after having losing Rush to WRNO-FM.

 

[cheapman]

Local talk with PERSONALITY. Rush is never going to talk about Boston so give local listeners an alternative during his time slot.

 

[raccoonradio]

RKO is helping WEEI by carrying some games that EEI is too busy to carry; the RKO sched lists NCAA
basketball at 7 pm on Fri night because EEI has the Celts. 850 does jump in around 11 pm with some
late action. There may be some Celts/Sox conflicts, "check your schedule" on the respective websites

Noticed 96.3 from the Cape was coming in on my FM/HD portable and I think they were carrying JT/Fox
rather than ESPN

 

[thirdendorsed]

The problem with WRKO's local political talk is that it is now top heavy with uber-insiders. Finneran and Manning have been involved with the people they talk about and clearly have a down deep feeling that they could need some of them in the future. Too many punches are pulled and too much deference is given. For example, the on-air promos for Manning just feature a montage of famous people who have come on his show. Sure, he'll bash Patrick, but in doing it he'll peddle the line the Republicans paid him to peddle. Why not a promo of him making strong and independent statements about politics and politicians? WRKO will allow his program to become a three hour Republican politican advertisement at its peril, since that approach will become boring in short order. Nobody in his position is likely to burn bridges. You need a degree of unpredictibility and ;you can't be hopping in the sack with anyone to do talk successfully in Boston.

Howie may slobber over people who share his point of view, but you get the impression he'd turn his caustic commentary on any one of them in a heartbeat if the circumstances were right.

Unpredictibility keeps people listening. Kissing the fannies of people in public office (even while bashing the opposition) doesn't work; it didn't work with Finneran, it won't work with Manning. Rather than looking to star appeal, WRKO needs to bring in a broadcaster who understands how to make talk work.

 

[newsbot]

Howie may slobber over people who share his point of view, but you get the impression he'd turn his caustic commentary on any one of them in a heartbeat if the circumstances were right.

Kerry "Muffy" Healey would concur with your assessment.

 

[InSearchOfGear]

All News.

 

[MarcB]

All News.

Not a chance against BZ.

 

[CTListener]

All News.

Not a chance against BZ.

Also a very expensive format to run if you want to staff a local news operation 24/7, which is the only way RKO could offer anything perceptibly superior to BZ. And with all "old media" cutting down on reporters and editors in the wake of the advertising collapse, what are the chances that Entercom would be willing to go that route? Unless by "all news" you mean a broom-closet operation relaying CNN or Fox News television audio 24/7, as satellite radio does.

 

[DanStrassberg]

All News.

Not a chance against BZ.

Also a very expensive format to run if you want to staff a local news operation 24/7, which is the only way RKO could offer anything perceptibly superior to BZ.

I doubt whether perceptibly superior figures at all in WRKO's plans. Perceptibly cheaper, yeah. Does anyone offer a 24/7 satellite-delivered national/world news feed? If so, combining it with what Metro or one of its competitors could offer in local news might provide a way to stave off dead air or taking the station dark. I bet such a format, if it's available, could actually generate positive cash flow.

John Garabedian tried something like this on WGTR 1060 right after the station went full time. He ultimately tried several LMAs and eventially lost interest in owning an AM. But at the time, WGTR was having big-time signal problems, especially at night. Except for MetroWest at night, WRKO does not have signal problems.

 

[CTListener]

All News.

Not a chance against BZ.

Also a very expensive format to run if you want to staff a local news operation 24/7, which is the only way RKO could offer anything perceptibly superior to BZ.

I doubt whether perceptibly superior figures at all in WRKO's plans. Perceptibly cheaper, yeah. Does anyone offer a 24/7 satellite-delivered national/world news feed? If so, combining it with what Metro or one of its competitors could offer in local news might provide a way to stave off dead air or taking the station dark. I bet such a format, if it's available, could actually generate positive cash flow.

910 AM in Hartford, in its incarnation as WNEZ, carried TV audio from CNN Headline News. Sirius XM carries TV audio from CNN, Fox News and CNBC. As far as I know, there's no national 24/7 news feed out there anymore. AP reduced its radio service from 24/7 news to periodic updates (to be used at tops and bottoms of hours) several years ago in a (what else?) cost-cutting measure.

 

[Don Juan]

WRKO does not have signal problems.

Tell that to Howie. ;-)

 

[MarcB]

910 AM in Hartford, in its incarnation as WNEZ, carried TV audio from CNN Headline News.

They were called "News-Sports 910 CNN". They ran The Fabulous Sports Babe from ESPN Radio, Channel 8 Action News at 6PM, New England Patriots Football (simulcast on 93.7 The 70s Station), and after 1993 The New Britain Redsox. They were sold and went Spanish in December 96.

WNTY 990 in Southington Ran the audio of the FOX News Channel 9PM-6AM Monday-Friday and after Sports Play-by-Play on Saturdays and Sundays from October-December 2001 and then they ran it 24/7 from December 2001-February 2002.

 

[DToTheJ]

Yay. Yet another attempt by MarcB to work a reference to WNTY/WXCT into a post...

 

[MR. JAROME_CALVIN]

I was going to chime in earlier, but everyone always get mad at me here and say bad things about me here


Anyways, here are my thoughts


On weekdays, They should have Fox News Radio 9am-Noon ("Brian and The Judge" is on at that time), keep their new host Charlie Manning Noon-3pm, then 3pm-7pm Howie Carr, Keep Michael Savage, 10pm-1am Put on Alan Colmes Fox News Radio, then 1am-6am put on John and Jeff (they are no longer on 96.9=although John and Jeff website states it's still on 96.9, regardless, put that on.


And since WRKO airs some games, on the weekend, put "Sporting News Radio" put that on (almost 24 Hours) example Saturday 1am-6am, then Saturday Noon-4pm, then Saturday 7pm-Sunday Morning 6am, then Sunday Noon-4pm.


that's my thoughts

 

[DanStrassberg]

WRKO does not have signal problems.

Tell that to Howie. ;-)

As I said in my post from which you extracted only the part that served your purpose, WRKO does not have signal problems EXCEPT in METROWEST AT NIGHT. If Carr doesn't like the signal and Entercom doesn't mind his shooting off his mouth about it, that's a matter between Entercom and Carr, or maybe between Entercom, Carr, and the Courts.

Anyhow, WRKO has the second-best AM signal in this market. And NO AM--not even WBZ--has a perfect signal throughout the market at all times of day and night. WRKO's problems are restricted to MetroWest at night. WBZ has some problems on Cape Cod day and night. And I've heard phasing (interference between skywave and groundwave) on WBZ at night in places as close to Boston as Sudbury and Wayland.

 

[raccoonradio]

RKO sched: they seem to be satisfied with Ingraham (can run as long as they run the ads). Agreed on Manning (hey he's local), Carr. Brian and the Judge could run somewhere, indeed. They also seem
satisfied with Savage (gets OK ratings?) and may have to run Jerry Doyle as part of agreement (or
maybe it's just another cheap-to-run show) but Colmes from Fox News Radio is indeed a possibility as is Westwood One's Dennis Miller--they already run a best of DM on Sundays

John and Jeff may be on weekends on WTKK..someone mentioned hearing them

Not sure if WWZN is still running Sporting News...btw 1510 carrying NCAA hoops yesterday resulted in Schulz and Hartmann airing considerably later. bostonradio tweeted that WEEI may have "placed" those games on 1510 as part of an agreement with whatever network was doing them (Westwood One?) just as some major league baseball playoffs ran on 1510 last yr. Tonight due to Celts, NCAA will air on WRKO, aka EEI-2.

 

[Don Juan]

WRKO does not have signal problems.

Tell that to Howie. ;-)

As I said in my post from which you extracted only the part that served your purpose...

There was an emoticon....you weren't supposed to take it all that seriously. ;-)

 

[MR. JAROME_CALVIN]

RKO sched: they seem to be satisfied with Ingraham (can run as long as they run the ads). Agreed on Manning (hey he's local), Carr. Brian and the Judge could run somewhere, indeed. They also seem
satisfied with Savage (gets OK ratings?) and may have to run Jerry Doyle as part of agreement (or
maybe it's just another cheap-to-run show) but Colmes from Fox News Radio is indeed a possibility as is Westwood One's Dennis Miller--they already run a best of DM on Sundays

John and Jeff may be on weekends on WTKK..someone mentioned hearing them

Not sure if WWZN is still running Sporting News...btw 1510 carrying NCAA hoops yesterday resulted in Schulz and Hartmann airing considerably later. bostonradio tweeted that WEEI may have "placed" those games on 1510 as part of an agreement with whatever network was doing them (Westwood One?) just as some major league baseball playoffs ran on 1510 last yr. Tonight due to Celts, NCAA will air on WRKO, aka EEI-2.

thank you for your input and great help