Whither AccuWeather's Elliot Abrams on WBZ?

[nowradioguy]

I have not heard AccuWeather meteorologist Elliot Abrams mornings on WBZ in weeks.

The Accuweather site does not give me the impression that he's retired (though he is 71), so does anyone out there know:

- is he out on medical leave?

- did he cut back on the stations to which he delivers his weather forecasts?

- has he just disappeared from WBZ's airwaves?

 

[QED]

He's also on WINS. Give them a try tomorrow to see if he's on?

 

[inorm99]

Yes. Cheap Channel did it again

 

[johnster]

You think they control who AccuWeather uses?

 

[Deleted User]

he is pushing 71 ( born 1947 ), plus he is a V.P. level employee at AccuWeather

Maybe he is cutting back a little?

 

[DavidZ]

I heard him this past Monday morning on KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh. KDKA went to Entercom so IMHO, it's a decision from iHeart.

 

[CTListener]

I heard him this past Monday morning on KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh. KDKA went to Entercom so IMHO, it's a decision from iHeart.

I still can't buy iHeart as any kind of villain here. Does AccuWeather charge more for Abrams? I doubt it, all of the AccuWeather voices are delivering the same forecast. Unless someone at WBZ or iHeart corporate has some sort of heat with Abrams, why would they insist that his voice, out of all the AccuWeather weather yappers, never air on WBZ?

 

[nowradioguy]

he is pushing 71 ( born 1947 ), plus he is a V.P. level employee at AccuWeather

Maybe he is cutting back a little?

Given that he is still on those former CBS stations, and that Cumulus recently l signed on with AccuWeather, Elliot may have more stations than he could handle, so he had to drop WBZ.

But, yes, whenever any noticeable change, however minor, comes to WBZ, many of us look first right at iHeart (who else?).

 

[TheBigA]

Are you sure that WBZ is still using AccuWeather as its weather service? There are other providers.

 

[CTListener]

Given that he is still on those former CBS stations, and that Cumulus recently l signed on with AccuWeather, Elliot may have more stations than he could handle, so he had to drop WBZ.

But, yes, whenever any noticeable change, however minor, comes to WBZ, many of us look first right at iHeart (who else?).

iHeart Derangement Syndrome!

 

[Wimmmex]

You think they control who AccuWeather uses?

Actually, quite possibly! Bigger stations/markets with bigger contracts sometimes have veto power on who they use...and sometimes collaborate on who is chosen for their station, esp AM drive.

 

[nowradioguy]

iHeart Derangement Syndrome!

And let me add that those on-air promos for Traffic On The Threes 'BZ's been running all week - the ones with the screaming Boston-area drivers - are simply god-awful. What should I expect? These aren't the class of product we used to get from Michael Coleman, that's for damned sure.

 

[Cap-n Spackle]

And let me add that those on-air promos ... These aren't the class of product we used to get from Michael Coleman, that's for damned sure.

I hope that wasn't too subtle.

 

[DavidZ]

And let me add that those on-air promos for Traffic On The Threes 'BZ's been running all week - the ones with the screaming Boston-area drivers - are simply god-awful.

I agree and I’m hearing it several times a day now. This promo ranks with the Kars for Kids commercial as the two most annoying ever.

 

[nowradioguy]

I agree and I’m hearing it several times a day now. This promo ranks with the Kars for Kids commercial as the two most annoying ever.

Far, far worse than the "K-a-r-s Kars for Kids" ads are WBZ's "bread and milk" themed promos for their weather forecasts. Some guy who's obviously delirious keeps screaming "I gotta get bread and milk!" because he heard the AccuWeather forecaster predict snow.

Now contrast this god-awful and shameful slop with Michael Coleman's "Snow's On The Way", an excellent parody of Peter Frampton's "Show Me The Way".
Or his "Get out in that driveway and shovel that snow right now!", an excellent take on Bill Haley's "Shake, Rattle, and Roll".

If anyone in charge at "WBZ, an iHeartRadio station" is reading this, get that dang promo off the airwaves and restore the class now missing from WBZ!

 

[CTListener]

Now contrast this god-awful and shameful slop with Michael Coleman's "Snow's On The Way", an excellent parody of Peter Frampton's "Show Me The Way".
Or his "Get out in that driveway and shovel that snow right now!", an excellent take on Bill Haley's "Shake, Rattle, and Roll".

One song is nearly 45 years old, the other is nearly 65. The bread and milk thing would be what the 20- and 30-somethings I work with would think is hilarious. A poor man's Weird Al parodying their dad's or granddad's music. Shrug, eye roll, "whatever." Believe me, I get those reactions all the time when I try to play on lyrics of songs they don't know in a style they don't like.

We boomers (and older) may not like the in-your-face, lowbrow imaging, but WBZ can't keep catering to 55+ forever. We're starting to leave the ranks of the living far too rapidly for that to be a winning strategy. Better they should try to sound as youthful as they can, maybe do less local politics and more celebrity news -- what we in the get-off-my-lawn generation call dumbing down, but what actually is a reflection of modern-day norms in journalism, humor, popular culture and mass American taste. The alternative? The ratings plunge accelerating, more advertisers bailing, and eventually the station goes dark or become a 50,000-watt leased-time/ethnic/organized-superstition blowtorch.

 

[fybush]

Here's what I reported in NorthEast Radio Watch back on Sept. 10 (https://www.fybush.com/nerw-20180910/)

*Even the longest-running relationships between outsourced traffic/weather providers and big station groups weren’t secure last week. Just ask Elliot Abrams, one of the signature voices of AccuWeather and a longtime morning fixture on WBZ (1030) in eastern MASSACHUSETTS. (How long? Way, way back in 1992, one of your editor’s first tasks there was to answer the phone when Elliot called and to record his forecasts on carts – carts! – to be loaded into the primitive automation system.)

After all those years, we’re hearing Abrams’ tenure at WBZ was unceremoniously ended last week, and while AccuWeather will continue to provide forecasts to WBZ, it will be with voices other than the pun-happy Abrams.

 

[nowradioguy]

One song is nearly 45 years old, the other is nearly 65. The bread and milk thing would be what the 20- and 30-somethings I work with would think is hilarious. A poor man's Weird Al parodying their dad's or granddad's music. Shrug, eye roll, "whatever." Believe me, I get those reactions all the time when I try to play on lyrics of songs they don't know in a style they don't like.

We boomers (and older) may not like the in-your-face, lowbrow imaging, but WBZ can't keep catering to 55+ forever. We're starting to leave the ranks of the living far too rapidly for that to be a winning strategy. Better they should try to sound as youthful as they can, maybe do less local politics and more celebrity news -- what we in the get-off-my-lawn generation call dumbing down, but what actually is a reflection of modern-day norms in journalism, humor, popular culture and mass American taste. The alternative? The ratings plunge accelerating, more advertisers bailing, and eventually the station goes dark or become a 50,000-watt leased-time/ethnic/organized-superstition blowtorch.

Just what a lot of us boomers feared most: now in progress, the dumbing down of WBZ to the level of *ISS 108 or JMN 94.5 listeners.

 

[nowradioguy]

Here's what I reported in NorthEast Radio Watch back on Sept. 10 (https://www.fybush.com/nerw-2018091...with voices other than the pun-happy Abrams./)

Gee, I wonder just which of the two parties (AccuWeather and iHeartRadio) decided to pull Elliot Abrams "unceremoniously" from WBZ?

 

[nowradioguy]

I don't like having to bring these things up, but, dammit, I haven't heard Kim Tunnicliffe (sp?) over the past few weeks on WBZ, either.

I am one of those who developed an uneasy feeling about WBZ beginning 18 November 2017. Let's see: Peter Casey, Mina Green, Mary Blake, Rod Fritz, Jim Ryan, Michael Coleman, Elliott Abrams, ....