Feeder reports that a deal has been struck to sell WLS AM /FM
http://feder.blogs.chicago.timeout....itadel-agrees-to-2-5-billion-sale-to-cumulus/
http://feder.blogs.chicago.timeout....itadel-agrees-to-2-5-billion-sale-to-cumulus/
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WLS AM/FM SOLD
- Thread starter Dr Wayne
- Start date
scanman1 said:Hope this doesn't spell doom for WLS-FM. If Cumulus is as cheap as I hear they are, we could lose all the local personalities on the station to Scott Shannon 24/7! If that happens, they could go to the new K-HITS (where a majority of my listening would then take place)!
It could also be the best thing to happen to WGN since they got the Cubs back from WIND in the '50s. This ownership change could also mean the end of local talk on The Big 89.
Cumulus is a notorious penny-pinching organization. It's likely that a year or two for now, we may look at Farid and think, "God, he really wasn't that bad after all!"
This is an awful merger between two bankrupt companies with no realistic futures between them. What could go wrong?
This is an awful merger between two bankrupt companies with no realistic futures between them. What could go wrong?
KeithE4 said:scanman1 said:Hope this doesn't spell doom for WLS-FM. If Cumulus is as cheap as I hear they are, we could lose all the local personalities on the station to Scott Shannon 24/7! If that happens, they could go to the new K-HITS (where a majority of my listening would then take place)!
It could also be the best thing to happen to WGN since they got the Cubs back from WIND in the '50s. This ownership change could also mean the end of local talk on The Big 89.
If they take local talk off of WLS-AM then they're really stupid.
Just what we need more satellite fed programming with colon blow commercials.
Personally, I prefer those hour-long Vitamin C commercials from Purity Products. They are able to cure cancer and just about everything just with vitamin C! That's why radio is awesome today! I mean, how else would we ever find out about these miraculous products? =)
Anyway doesn't WLS AM already have the colon blow ads? I thought I heard them once or twice.
Anyway doesn't WLS AM already have the colon blow ads? I thought I heard them once or twice.
KeithE4 said:scanman1 said:Hope this doesn't spell doom for WLS-FM. If Cumulus is as cheap as I hear they are, we could lose all the local personalities on the station to Scott Shannon 24/7! If that happens, they could go to the new K-HITS (where a majority of my listening would then take place)!
It could also be the best thing to happen to WGN since they got the Cubs back from WIND in the '50s. This ownership change could also mean the end of local talk on The Big 89.
That would make WLS a clone of WABC. If I'm correct, Imus was never on in Chicago. Perhaps if Cumulus gets its way, he might be forced on Chicago whether or not the audience there responds to him.
audioguy said:
Yeah but do you want more? Think of it--24 hour colon blow!
Hey maybe that's the format they're shooting for.
radioguy39nj said:KeithE4 said:scanman1 said:Hope this doesn't spell doom for WLS-FM. If Cumulus is as cheap as I hear they are, we could lose all the local personalities on the station to Scott Shannon 24/7! If that happens, they could go to the new K-HITS (where a majority of my listening would then take place)!
It could also be the best thing to happen to WGN since they got the Cubs back from WIND in the '50s. This ownership change could also mean the end of local talk on The Big 89.
That would make WLS a clone of WABC. If I'm correct, Imus was never on in Chicago. Perhaps if Cumulus gets its way, he might be forced on Chicago whether or not the audience there responds to him.
Look at WMAL in Washington, DC. From noon to 1AM, it's a virtual clone of WABC - the Rush/Sean/Levin/Batchelor quartet (Doug McIntrye's show is carried on nearby WBAL in Baltimore).
It's no wonder why it usually gets beaten handily by Bonneville-soon-to-be-Hubbard all-newser WTOP-FM. They ignore local coverage in afternoon drive. Totally ignore it. And that's been the case largely for the past seven or eight years, when Hannity was cleared live.
I don't know if CFZM 740 is making any money with their music format directed toward baby boomers, but
if WLS were to shoot for something similar, I'd have a reason to set a pushbutton for WLS in the car.
Talk is somewhat useful, if the show is local.
The national talk shows are so predictable that I waste no time on them.
Rush/Sean/Levin have spent long enough on the air that everyone already knows what they would have to say about
almost any topic.
They have so accurately defined their positions, that it's really no longer necessary to hear particulars.
They are also so inflexible that we can be sure they haven't suddenly learned something that would
change their tune.
Whether one agrees or not with their views, it's still so predictable that to me, it is not good radio.
If Cumulus puts Imus on in Chicago, it will be biggest mistake ever.
Imus may be many things, but he is NOT Chicago by ANY stretch.
Chicagoans will not find his east-coast centric show appealing for many reasons.
No. 1 is that this is Chicago, not New York. We care somewhat about what happens there, but
we are in our own great big city, and really don't care to "pay homage" to a viewpoint from some other big city, or have the mental image of some far away city take precedence in our radio diet.
A few days of hearing about New York as if it is the end-all, be-all, and ratings will be so far down the toilet that Roto-Rooter
won't even be able to help. You'll have to get a backhoe and dig up the sewer lines to measure the ratings.
if WLS were to shoot for something similar, I'd have a reason to set a pushbutton for WLS in the car.
Talk is somewhat useful, if the show is local.
The national talk shows are so predictable that I waste no time on them.
Rush/Sean/Levin have spent long enough on the air that everyone already knows what they would have to say about
almost any topic.
They have so accurately defined their positions, that it's really no longer necessary to hear particulars.
They are also so inflexible that we can be sure they haven't suddenly learned something that would
change their tune.
Whether one agrees or not with their views, it's still so predictable that to me, it is not good radio.
If Cumulus puts Imus on in Chicago, it will be biggest mistake ever.
Imus may be many things, but he is NOT Chicago by ANY stretch.
Chicagoans will not find his east-coast centric show appealing for many reasons.
No. 1 is that this is Chicago, not New York. We care somewhat about what happens there, but
we are in our own great big city, and really don't care to "pay homage" to a viewpoint from some other big city, or have the mental image of some far away city take precedence in our radio diet.
A few days of hearing about New York as if it is the end-all, be-all, and ratings will be so far down the toilet that Roto-Rooter
won't even be able to help. You'll have to get a backhoe and dig up the sewer lines to measure the ratings.
F
flashback
Guest
i enjoy listening to WLS-FM online.i hope they don`t change it .either musically or personality wise.
Sorry to derail this thread, but all of the "colon blow" talk on the previous page made me remember a commercial that I saw on TV the other day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvUA90OLgaE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvUA90OLgaE
Nathan Obral said:
I know it'll never happen, but now you know why I wish Bonneville or Hubbard had a news/talk station in New York similar to KIRO-FM. Until Joe Crummey arrived at WABC, they had no local programming at all. AM and PM drive has no local coverage other than traffic and weather. WABC is the flagship for Imus and Hannity.
WABC does as well as it does because it has no strong competition. WOR, though it has more local programming, still relies too much on syndie programming to be a viable alternative.
Tom Wells said:
I don't know if CFZM is doing as well as expected, but I think they're doing better than breaking even. Inserting a lame talk show into the middle of the day probably doesn't things one iota. And they're also not above putting on the "colon-blow" stuff, either. And don't forget that they had to beat out a slew of other applicants for the former CBC blowtorch facility by promising the CRTC programming aimed at the 50+ demo. The guys on the Canadian boards can address this stuff better than me, but my guess is CFZM honchos don't have a lot of wiggle room in terms of what they can do with their killer signal.
Still, I'd personally enjoy hearing the CFZM format here (minus the talk show and the other junk). I also think 560 would be a better place for that, but with Salem it'll never happen (never mind that it might just do better than what they've got there now). As for WLS-am., although I seldom listen, my feeling is if Cloud Company blows it up....intentionally or otherwise....they'd be even bigger cheapskate idiots than I thought they were.
Too bad Entercom came up short.
CFZM is a Chicago signal most nights of the week, ever since WGN shut down its IBOC hash. So you can listen to talk on 'GN or flip over to 740 and enjoy "the best of the best".
BTW I was in Columbia, MD the past few days and CFZM has a killer signal there once the sunset signals get out of the way (during that time, the channel is a mess).
BTW I was in Columbia, MD the past few days and CFZM has a killer signal there once the sunset signals get out of the way (during that time, the channel is a mess).
Correction to my earlier post....meant to say re: CFZM ".....talk show doesn't help things....."
Honestly, gang, I wouldn't look for any version of the CFZM format on WLS or any other major Chicago signal. CFZM effectively owes its existence to the CRTC or it probably wouldn't be there either. That said, it would be cool to hear it on 890 with the old Anita Kerr or PAMS jingles. Or on WIND with their classic jingles.
Maybe they could dig up some old Howard Miller airchecks and voice track with them. LOL ;D
Honestly, gang, I wouldn't look for any version of the CFZM format on WLS or any other major Chicago signal. CFZM effectively owes its existence to the CRTC or it probably wouldn't be there either. That said, it would be cool to hear it on 890 with the old Anita Kerr or PAMS jingles. Or on WIND with their classic jingles.
Maybe they could dig up some old Howard Miller airchecks and voice track with them. LOL ;D
Sometimes CFZM will come in OK. At others you get co-channel interference from probably WRNR-AM Martinsburg WV and perhaps a few others. For one, I wouldn't mind seeing a nostalgic or oldies or even a country format on 890, but will the Chicago market go for it and can it bring in the necessary revenue? I don't think so.audioguy said:
...during the NBC years, Imus was heard a couple of times hosting Monitor over WMAQ. Nobody noticed. He was also audible in most of Chicago when WISN Milwaukee carried his CBS show; again, nobody gave a damn. Larry Lujack was doing the same schtick on WLS and WCFL before Imus ever cracked open a commercial radio microphone...radioguy39nj said:If I'm correct, Imus was never on in Chicago. Perhaps if Cumulus gets its way, he might be forced on Chicago whether or not the audience there responds to him.
Ultimajock said:...during the NBC years, Imus was heard a couple of times hosting Monitor over WMAQ. Nobody noticed. He was also audible in most of Chicago when WISN Milwaukee carried his CBS show; again, nobody gave a damn. Larry Lujack was doing the same schtick on WLS and WCFL before Imus ever cracked open a commercial radio microphone...radioguy39nj said:If I'm correct, Imus was never on in Chicago. Perhaps if Cumulus gets its way, he might be forced on Chicago whether or not the audience there responds to him.
A co-worker confirmed last night he thought he'd been listening to Imus on some Chicago station years ago.
And Uncle Lar' was not just crusty, but lovable at the same time. A very important difference.
Lar was the loveable witty curmudgeon you could identify with....I could never "get" Don Imus.
This is not "me", but a regional attitude perspective. Don Imus really IS totally New York, and I respect his success there.
Yes I know Larry is from Idaho. Doesn't matter. He BECAME Chicago, because he already fit in with the mindset here.
Having met Larry once in 1976, I don't believe there was any "shtick". He was being open and honest.
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