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Who's Going FM Talk?

L

lance

Guest
The tremors are starting.

Last week following the departure of Tim Sabean, Infinity registered the domain 941freefm.com. So what, you say? Well, back in July, Infinity registered ___freefm.com domains for all of its FM Talkers and a couple other current Stern affiliates.

You can learn more about the potential FreeFM brand at InsideRadio reported that Clear Channel is planning a few more FM Talkers of their own, including a Top 10 market. That's not much to go on, but out of all the Top 10 markets no market is as under-talked as Philadelphia. There would be heavy competition for the Talk audience in any other Top 10 market, with the possible exception of Washington, D.C.<P ID="signature">______________
</P>
 
This would be awesome. I've thought for years that Philly needs one. Here's hoping it's a real hip, youth-skewing format and not yet another stodgy, old stiff.

> The tremors are starting.
>
> Last week following the departure of Tim Sabean, Infinity
> registered the domain 941freefm.com. So what, you say? Well,
> back in July, Infinity registered ___freefm.com domains for
> all of its FM Talkers and a couple other current Stern
> affiliates.
>
> You can learn more about the potential FreeFM brand at
> http://radiobb.com. There's a lot going on at Infinity
> that's just starting to come out.
>
> Then today, InsideRadio reported that Clear Channel is
> planning a few more FM Talkers of their own, including a Top
> 10 market. That's not much to go on, but out of all the Top
> 10 markets no market is as under-talked as Philadelphia.
> There would be heavy competition for the Talk audience in
> any other Top 10 market, with the possible exception of
> Washington, D.C.
>
 
> Then today, InsideRadio reported that Clear Channel is
> planning a few more FM Talkers of their own, including a Top
> 10 market. That's not much to go on, but out of all the Top
> 10 markets no market is as under-talked as Philadelphia.
> There would be heavy competition for the Talk audience in
> any other Top 10 market, with the possible exception of
> Washington, D.C.

Clear Channel's idea of "FM Talk" is a lot different from Infinity's though.

In Pittsburgh, they simply grabbed Rush Limbaugh from the dominant AM talker and built a station of mostly syndicated talk around him. That's the plan for when the Clear Channel Minneapolis station debuts as well. The only difference between a Clear Channel FM Talker and WPHT would be the sound quality.

It would probably be somewhat successful, just as WWDB was when they had Limbaugh, but it's not exactly groundbreaking. Clear Channel's Pittsburgh station also has the advantage of a big name market veteran in the morning. I can't think of anyone like that they could get for Philly.
 
Jay Severin, that's who!

And last month Infinity announced it was signing Boston FM talk show host Jay Severin. Infinity said they would put him on "select" Infinity stations in major markets but would not name the stations.

Infinity has two candidates for flipping: WYSP and WOGL. WYSP is losing Howard. WOGL remains an Oldies station after Infinity has flipped their Oldies stations to "Jack" in other markets (because Ben flipped first).

> The tremors are starting.
>
> Last week following the departure of Tim Sabean, Infinity
> registered the domain 941freefm.com. So what, you say? Well,
> back in July, Infinity registered ___freefm.com domains for
> all of its FM Talkers and a couple other current Stern
> affiliates.
>
> You can learn more about the potential FreeFM brand at
> http://radiobb.com. There's a lot going on at Infinity
> that's just starting to come out.
>
> Then today, InsideRadio reported that Clear Channel is
> planning a few more FM Talkers of their own, including a Top
> 10 market. That's not much to go on, but out of all the Top
> 10 markets no market is as under-talked as Philadelphia.
> There would be heavy competition for the Talk audience in
> any other Top 10 market, with the possible exception of
> Washington, D.C.
>
 
Re: Jay Severin, that's who!

The question then becomes: Which is performing better with it's target audience? (And of course, which demo is more desirable, revenue-wise?)

I think it'd make more sense to take WYSP in a Hot Talk direction since it has a better chance of retaining listeners on the other side of the flip. And I still suspect that Infinity left 98.1 alone because they're happy with its performance as an Oldies station.

> Infinity has two candidates for flipping: WYSP and WOGL.
> WYSP is losing Howard. WOGL remains an Oldies station after
> Infinity has flipped their Oldies stations to "Jack" in
> other markets (because Ben flipped first).
 
> Clear Channel's idea of "FM Talk" is a lot different from
> Infinity's though.
>
> In Pittsburgh, they simply grabbed Rush Limbaugh from the
> dominant AM talker and built a station of mostly syndicated
> talk around him. That's the plan for when the Clear Channel
> Minneapolis station debuts as well. The only difference
> between a Clear Channel FM Talker and WPHT would be the
> sound quality.
>
> It would probably be somewhat successful, just as WWDB was
> when they had Limbaugh, but it's not exactly groundbreaking.
> Clear Channel's Pittsburgh station also has the advantage
> of a big name market veteran in the morning. I can't think
> of anyone like that they could get for Philly.
>
1. Wally Kennedy.
2. Steve Highsmith, possibly out of work come December when WB17 news folds and NBC10 produces the newscast on 17 at 10 PM.
 
I'm trying to remember the last time Clear Channel attempted anything for the sake of being groundbreaking. ;) Seems to be purely about the Benjamins wherever CC is concerned. Of course, that's just my opinion, right? LOL.

I'm trying to decide whether I think an FM clone of WPHT would work in Philly based solely on the fact that it's on the better-sounding band. I imagine the WPHT audience is a set-in-their-ways bunch so it's a crapshoot.

Seems like a lighter, young-skewing approach would serve the market better. But again, that's just my opinion.

> ...but it's not exactly groundbreaking.
 
. I can't think
> > of anyone like that they could get for Philly.
> >
> 1. Wally Kennedy.
> 2. Steve Highsmith, possibly out of work come December when
> WB17 news folds and NBC10 produces the newscast on 17 at 10
> PM.
>
3. Paul Barsky? He filled in on an LA talk station. He's a good talker and good at taking phone calls all the way back to his open phonadelphia back on Y100.
 
BARSKY? Seriously?

> 3. Paul Barsky? He filled in on an LA talk station. He's a
> good talker and good at taking phone calls all the way back
> to his open phonadelphia back on Y100.
>
 
> BARSKY? Seriously?
>
> > 3. Paul Barsky? He filled in on an LA talk station. He's
> a
> > good talker and good at taking phone calls all the way
> back
> > to his open phonadelphia back on Y100.
> >
>
Yeh, seriously.

But, actually, I've been listening to Preston and Steve for a long while now, ever since the Point went off the air.

Preston & Steve are my morning show of choice.
 
> > BARSKY? Seriously?
> >
> > > 3. Paul Barsky? He filled in on an LA talk station.
> He's
> > a
> > > good talker and good at taking phone calls all the way
> > back
> > > to his open phonadelphia back on Y100.
> > >
> >
> Yeh, seriously.
>
> But, actually, I've been listening to Preston and Steve for
> a long while now, ever since the Point went off the air.
>
> Preston & Steve are my morning show of choice.
>

Paul Barsky....two words: DAMAGED GOODS<P ID="signature">______________
I've done it all...HOO HOO...tell 'em, Fred!
FOX News Alert: YOU SUCK!!! Ya like apples?</P>
 
Get Ready.....we have a major staion going FM talk in the Bay Area by next month. FM talk will become a reality.



> The tremors are starting.
>
> Last week following the departure of Tim Sabean, Infinity
> registered the domain 941freefm.com. So what, you say? Well,
> back in July, Infinity registered ___freefm.com domains for
> all of its FM Talkers and a couple other current Stern
> affiliates.
>
> You can learn more about the potential FreeFM brand at
> http://radiobb.com. There's a lot going on at Infinity
> that's just starting to come out.
>
> Then today, InsideRadio reported that Clear Channel is
> planning a few more FM Talkers of their own, including a Top
> 10 market. That's not much to go on, but out of all the Top
> 10 markets no market is as under-talked as Philadelphia.
> There would be heavy competition for the Talk audience in
> any other Top 10 market, with the possible exception of
> Washington, D.C.
>
 
> . I can't think
> > > of anyone like that they could get for Philly.
> > >
> > 1. Wally Kennedy.
> > 2. Steve Highsmith, possibly out of work come December
> when
> > WB17 news folds and NBC10 produces the newscast on 17 at
> 10
> > PM.
> >
> 3. Paul Barsky? He filled in on an LA talk station. He's a
> good talker and good at taking phone calls all the way back
> to his open phonadelphia back on Y100.
>

ok ok , I can see Paul Barsky translating well to a Hottalk format or whatever you need to label it. but Wally Kennedy???? Ni**a please? I bet you pulled his name out of your hat because he was on channel 6's AM Philadelphia. He would be a snorefest on radio. and Steve Highsmith??? He's a newsman....sort-of, if you want to call what WB17 does news? Hell why not just pull any old news guy out of thin air while we're at it. Actually, maybe some will try Savage's show on FM. However for what it's worth, If I can wax nostalgia, I would like to see someone entice Paul Barsky back to Philly for the notion of hot talk with a live host as opposed to a totally syndicated station.
 
Re: Who's Going FM Talk?...rundown

I think ol' Barsky would work because....
1. He would be good competition for P&S, they have a strong show.
2. alot of Philly listeners know, love and would listen to a resurgence of the Barsky show of some degree, so it would build a sizeable audience.
3. I don't think Power 99's morning show matters either
4. It's not as if WRNB's TOM Joyner matters.
5. Big Mamma and whoever-else, doesn't matter on 96.5
6. Buritto In the morning on Q102 is just as tired and played out as his stupid war of the roses gag ever was. they need a new fresh morning show too.
7. as much as I hate to say it Debella is getting old too
8. Ben-FM has no morning show since they Jukebox 24/7
9. and even though they are in New Jersey, but are broadcasting into the philly market, "The Free Beer and Hot-wings show" is a weak show on "The Hawk"
10. I really don't know anything about what WJJZ does in morning drive.
11. I can't see that gosphal station that Radio One moved in after Y-100 left making a difference either.

anyhow, that's why I think Barsky would do well in theory on a new FM talk station if WYSP were to flip, of course that would mean that Greater media would own the Philly rock market. WMGK would remain as old-head rock, and WMMR would stay put as a heritage rock station sneaking in a current every now and again as they do.


> > > BARSKY? Seriously?
> > >
> > > > 3. Paul Barsky? He filled in on an LA talk station.
> > He's
> > > a
> > > > good talker and good at taking phone calls all the way
>
> > > back
> > > > to his open phonadelphia back on Y100.
> > > >
> > >
> > Yeh, seriously.
> >
> > But, actually, I've been listening to Preston and Steve
> for
> > a long while now, ever since the Point went off the air.
> >
> > Preston & Steve are my morning show of choice.
> >
>
> Paul Barsky....two words: DAMAGED GOODS


>
 
> > 10 markets no market is as under-talked as Philadelphia.
> > There would be heavy competition for the Talk audience in
> > any other Top 10 market, with the possible exception of
> > Washington, D.C.

DC just has crappy talk stations. You guys have only 1 which has gone downhill. No, WNTP doesn't count - I don't care if they run Savage... Salem stations don't count. And if an FM newstalker starts up, they could easily steal Savage; TRN pulled him from CC's top-5 KNRS/Salt Lake City and put him on a new FM newstalker with no numbers (yet) as long as the new station runs a few hours of other TRN crap. So 990's top show isn't safe there.

> It would probably be somewhat successful, just as WWDB was
> when they had Limbaugh, but it's not exactly groundbreaking.
> Clear Channel's Pittsburgh station also has the advantage
> of a big name market veteran in the morning. I can't think
> of anyone like that they could get for Philly.

I'd vote for Jeff Katz, although I'm unsure of his deal with CC in San Fran. He'd probably want to come back home, especially to go up against Smerconish or Hannity and his old bosses. Don't know if he's a big enough name there.

I don't think Jay Severin is the answer... any station Infinity would flip has a built-in hot talk demo which doesn't care about his political musings. Besides, Infinity/WW1 also distributes east coast favorites Don and Mike, and format leader Tom Leykis. I don't see any fantastic syndicated talk shows not in the market to put on a new FM newstalker, save the Severin obsession, and there's no coverage issues with 1210 to warrant using that format. Unless you went all-local, which is possible.
 
Do you think we could see a Philly version of NJ101.5 without the slam-it-to-the-wall audio processing? I'd give it a go...


Dave Gardiner

WVCH 740/WNWR 1540
 
Lance, do we know for a fact that Infinity's FreeForm FM format will be hot talk or may it be another type of talk format?
 
> Paul Barsky....two words: DAMAGED GOODS

Can I get an amen up in dis piece? (Finally, something we agree on!)
 
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