Salem has been selling off their stations for awhile now, especially if the price is right. Salem's focus is on television, FAST to be specific. I wouldn't be surprised if they exit radio entirely one of these days Salem has already sold off all of their valuable FM signals, as well as many AM's.
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WHK's "Strictly Speaking" show.
- Thread starter johnbasalla
- Start date
Younger conservatives like anyone else in their generation are moving away from radio altogether and toward internet and smart phone sourced content.
And its most unlikely that a new owner would bring back any kind of broad based entertainment format. Religion or foreign language would be most probable. Sure, I'd like to hear true oldies or classic country, but no stand alone owner would break even with that and no group would consider it with music royalty costs a factor.
BTW, does Salem own the WHK transmitter site? Is WMMS still there? Again, the land is likely worth more than the station.
WMMS and WHK are at the same site in Seven Hills. And a while back, I heard WCCD was going to be moving there, but I don't know if that ever happened.. I'm not sure who owns the property. I don't think WHK would shut down, but some of the smaller 1 kW or less stations in the area like 1000, 1330, 1490, etc. probably could.
From what I was able to ascertain, Salem appears to own the transmitter site. I checked Cuyahoga county's auditor website and it shows they own it. Wonder how many stations own their own tower sites seeing as how it seems a lot of towers are owned by American Tower, which is really a REIT or owned by some other Tower companies that stations lease spots from. Only one that comes to mind right off the bat is the American Tower site right at the Akron/Norton border North of the old Rolling Acres mall [now an Amazon warehouse]. Buttload of stations and a few TV stations have antenna/repeaters there. And basically just across the street and a little bit west of it, the old WDLI site now owned by ION.....not sure if they moved their antenna to that tower.
The WVPX transmitter was moved there during the repack in 2019 when they switched from RF 23 to RF 22. The longtime WVPX transmitter site was on a tower owned by American Tower, which ION had some sort of dispute with, which is why they moved just down the street, seeing by then they owned the WDLI license and facilities.
WHK does have some music shows on the weekend. There's an Irish show that seems to have focus on contemporary Rock/Pop from Ireland and the classical music show which also has advertisers.
god, classical music on an AM that has more people talking about it here than listening to it in the market with a subpar signal.. thats a real winner
And it supposedly has advertisers! Lol
When I tuned in to WHK a little after 6:00 pm this evening, I was hearing the first hour of Larry Elder. Normally, the Seculow infomercial is aired at 6:00 pm and the first hour of Larry Elder is time-shifted to 9:00 pm. I thought maybe WHK had dropped Seculow and was now planning to air all 3 hours of Larry Elder live from 6-9 pm. But at about 6:45, the Seculow infomercial started. So apparently, it was just another goof up.
One of the most often aired advertiser is for "The Lobster Pot" a, seemingly, high end restaurant in Lake County.
Although Sekulow's "Center For Law and Justice" program is a brokered (paid-for) affair, I don't refer to it as an "infomercial". It's a politically Conservative talk show that happens to pay for the airtime. A strict definition of an infomercial is when the focus is on selling a product, such as a special ointment to stop hair loss.
I think we all know what an infomercial is.
That's a reasonable view. However, outside of occasionally bringing up donations, they spend the bulk of their time talking about issues.
"Sekulow Radio" is an infomercial for their organization. I don't know about WHK, but at the Salem station I work for we have to run the sponsorship tag (inside radio: "close SID") at the end of the hour: "The preceding hour of programing sponsored by Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism, Inc." Stop trying to explain it as being something other than what it is.
As per Michael Medved, he's anti-Orange Man and anti-MAGA. That's why Salem cut ties with him, plain and simple. He'll never be welcomed back into the fold unless he kisses the ring.
When listening to the Sekulow show, it doesn't sound like an infomercial to me, although I can see how it is viewed as such by others.
Thanks for sharing.
...because you agree with their views. That doesn't change the fact that it is a brokered infomercial. The program exists for the sole purpose of soliciting donations to the ACLJ.
And if another entity could do it better (whatever that means) than Sekulow, and can pay more for airtime on Salem stations, Salem would drop Sekulow and go with them. It's just business.
Learn to separate your feelings from reality.
Have you looked up "performative outrage" yet, John?
Thanks for sharing, once again. The show doesn't seem like an infomercial to me not because I agree with their views but because, even though they solicit for donations and are a brokered product, they talk about issues, just like most other talk shows and, occasionally, have guests on, just like other talk shows. My view of true "informercials" are, as I've said, for those shows pushing and selling a product. I heard a bit of one, for a hot-minute, that was talking about fish oil in, for, or on something. I didn't stay around long enough to really get into what they were selling.