What's up with WWKB?

[davideduardo]

Didn't CBS Radio have a late-night mystery/suspense drama series at least into the '70s?

"Nobody" cleared it.

As we know, some of the CBS all news stations cleared the show late at night, and a few traditional AMs that were still moving towards what by the 90's we called "News/Talk" had nothing better to run. But the shows had little audience.

 

[davideduardo]

Mutual Radio also had Zero Hour with Rod Serling

And it failed miserably...

"Failing to find a large audience due to the initial weekly serial format and lack of promotion, Mutual canceled the program, and the final episode was broadcast on July 26 1974, though many Mutual affiliates continued broadcasting repeats for several months afterwards. According to director Elliott Lewis, "They wanted as much name value as possible to help with sales. They forgot they had to sell it. Everybody sat in the office and waited for someone to call them up and buy the show."

 

[CTListener]

"Nobody" cleared it.

As we know, some of the CBS all news stations cleared the show late at night, and a few traditional AMs that were still moving towards what by the 90's we called "News/Talk" had nothing better to run. But the shows had little audience.

I heard it on WFBL Syracuse during my mid-'70s college years. I didn't realize that it was so unpopular with the affiliates as a whole.

 

[TheBigA]

But BMI, where the "B" stands for "Broadcast" came out of the high fees and the restrictions that ASCAP was imposing.

Correct, but that had nothing to do with Paul Whiteman's suit against WNEW. Whiteman & RCA were suing on behalf of artists and labels. BMI was started over publishing royalties. Radio has always paid songwriters. No lawsuit there.

All of those 3,400 stations that did not exist in 1940 had to have programming and music formats, a creation of the early 50's, was the answer.

To the generation that grew up on network radio, the local DJ playing recorded music was seen as a low cost replacement for what had been on radio before. It was that generation's version of VT. They remembered how great radio had been before the war, and it took a while for this new use of the medium to have an impact. It was however instantly popular with previously unserved audiences, such as minorities and young people.

 

[davideduardo]

I heard it on WFBL Syracuse during my mid-'70s college years. I didn't realize that it was so unpopular with the affiliates as a whole.

In the 70's, AM stations that had not successfully moved to music formats in the later 50's and 60's were trying to do block programming. They were then hit by listener migration to FM, and were desperate to fill off-hours with something they could, maybe, sell.

Those were the old line MOR stations that could not quite grasp the concept of doing one thing well all day long, so they had block programming. A few evolved into good talk stations... like KABC. Others did "the format of the month" like KFI and WNBC.

And for decades, we still had music stations running Paul Harvey at noon. And that's the rest of the story...

 

[TheBigA]

"Nobody" cleared it.

And it failed miserably...

Because its time had passed. For some reason however the NPR Star Wars series was an amazing success.

My point is it was still being done until the 80s, regardless of how many people listened. This gets back to the situation with WWKB. National radio operates on a different business model from local radio. So a .1 for a sports betting network in Buffalo doesn't matter. The revenue stream isn't based on local station ratings, but on the mass number the service attracts nationally.

 

[davideduardo]

This gets back to the situation with WWKB. National radio operates on a different business model from local radio. So a .1 for a sports betting network in Buffalo doesn't matter. The revenue stream isn't based on local station ratings, but on the mass number the service attracts nationally.

Absolutely. Radio needs either new models or a thinning of the herd, particularly on AM. Sports betting is option one: a new model.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

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