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Why WTKK dropped talk (BBJ)

raccoonradio

raccoonradio

http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/b...eater-media-ceo-talks-about-wtkk.html?ana=twt

>>It was getting tougher to sell ads for WTKK, a problem that Smyth says reflected a broader industry trend: Middle-of-the-road talk stations were losing listeners, and advertisers were increasingly shying away from controversial left-leaning or right-leaning stations.The station became unprofitable, Smyth says, but he didn’t want to cut his way to profitability. Smyth knew it would be too expensive to launch an FM news station and compete with WBZ, and it didn’t make sense to hop into the sports talk war being waged between Entercom’s WEEI and 98.5. So Smyth sought a music format, one that wouldn’t compete with his company’s existing lineup of Boston-area stations

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Graham is on for Howie today and when he appeared yesterday to plug it, Howie said the station died because of "mismanagement". Er, like having hosts like Graham on? A touchy subject,
as he's talking with former talent of a station who could have been one reason for the lower
ratings--or is it all based on advertising woes, or people turning away from controversial talk...?
Maybe Graham did OK, maybe E&B did OK, and maybe the rest of the station couldn't cut it?
Who knows. Had Howie gotten to 96.9 in 07 or last yr would things have been different?
What if they had been offered Rush (or if they had, what if they took him)? Anyway
declining ad sales and listeners fleeing, etc.
 
raccoonradio said:
Graham is on for Howie today and when he appeared yesterday to plug it, Howie said the station died because of "mismanagement". Er, like having hosts like Graham on?
Click to expand...
It was TKK management that made them lose me (and a lot of others, I suspect) as a listener during the morning commute almost 2 years ago. I wonder what the ratings of Graham in the morning drive were, compared to E+B.
 
I think Peter Smyth hit the nail on the head. Agenda driven talk radio is divisive. And anyone who wants straightforward information is listening to NPR anyway, not infotainment talk.
 
WTKK-96.9 (I suspect the call letters are about to be changed) would still be a talk station today (and likely a very successful one) if they had been able to get Howie Carr.

Carr is the most prominent talk radio host in New England.

Had Carr gone to 'TKK, I suspect WRKO-680 might still be talk, but perhaps all-syndicated talk (Imus, Beck, Rush, Hannity, etc.) with little if any local content.
 
When they foolishly forced Jay Severn out, the writing was on the wall. You can't replace a badass with a goodie-two-shoes type like Graham. Nor can you get someone to do Carr's show better than Carr can.
 
Smoke said:
When they foolishly forced Jay Severn out, the writing was on the wall. You can't replace a badass with a goodie-two-shoes type like Graham. Nor can you get someone to do Carr's show better than Carr can.
Click to expand...

I suspect that Severino's departure was due more to sponsor pressure and getting out from under a unprofitable contract than anything internal or infernal. His comments about banging interns were merely the lighting of the wick, not a response to anything "badass" ::) about Jimmy.

As for Howie, TKK would probably still be talk if he went there, but "very successful" is a stretch. If GM thought there was still money on the table, they wouldn't have dropped big bucks on a big-name PD and a format switch. They didn't move the needle in October and November. That was the death knell. If you can't get your ratings up in the middle of the most newsworthy Senate race in recent memory and having the GOP nominee (at least nominally) from your own state, plus fascinating downticket races like Tierney/Tisei, you're in trouble.
 
Graham seems to think if the station had a hard right identity things would have worked well. I wish they had tried it.
I still think you just can't get around the listener-age factor and it's a problem that is only going to get worse. Whether J&M ruined the station's mojo...let's say I find that hard to believe.
 
Guys, why do you keep talking about programming, when the reason, clearly stated by the CEO, was the lack of advertising?

He's not lying. It didn't matter who was on the air. They couldn't afford Jay or Howie because the ad dollars were dropping. So having them wasn't going to change things. It didn't matter how many people listened. The advertisers were boycotting controversial talk regardless of host or ratings. This isn't a Boston problem, or a Greater Media problem, or a management problem. It's a national advertising problem, hurting stations all over the country.
 
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