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Salem can't seem to convince John Gambling to do am--drive.
How could Salem prefer Piscopo over Gambling ?
How could Salem prefer Piscopo over Gambling ?
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WMCA Promo-Format Change
- Thread starter xmradiopro
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I don't get the sense that Gambling has any interest in returning to morning hours. Your idea about Morano doing weekends is an interesting one. I just discovered his show by happenstance a couple of months ago and I have to say I'm hooked. I wouldn't mind him replacing Piscopo, who is about as dumb a person as I've ever heard on the radio. Not sure he can bring in the advertising dollars that Joe can though. Joe seems like a nice guy. He's just so unintelligent and shouldn't be talking about news.
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Talk radio is a dying format. And---sports talk generally does better than news--talk.
Hey! Please don't post a link that changes my computer settings. NOT very good and a waste of my time. Thank you.
Which link?
The link from MusicRadioUSA to sendspace.com
It was yucky. Not sure if sharing a station promo is in violation of copyright. Just sayin'.
It was yucky. Not sure if sharing a station promo is in violation of copyright. Just sayin'.
All of the wording I've seen is about a new "mission". They've registered websites with "The Mission" branding for their preaching stations. Just sounds like a different name for the same old same old.
Thanks for the totally new and not worn out commentary, anonymous poster. We haven't been hearing that for 25 years. Nope. That's some unique and special thought right there.
No, 80s music isn't oldies...it's just old. And there's a difference. The genre "oldies" includes doo-wop, early R&B, and the other great music that we had before the British Invasion...although a good many people also include the Beatles, Dave Clark Five, and other such artists. Indeed, it is hard to imagine an oldies station without those artists. A true oldies station was the now-gone WPGR in Philly. That station is now WNWR and airs brokered ethnic programming.
Concerning WMCA, Salem is probably just changing the branding. To my knowledge, Salem does not air music on any of its AM stations. Most of them are either conservative political talk or traditional Christian (evangelical Protestant) teaching and preaching. So don't look for a return of the Good Guys, unless you mean the ones who stand in the pulpit on Sunday morning.
this ios because you opened the wrong link..you needed to select "Click Here to download from sendspace" all other links there are spam.
My thoughts exactly!
The story I've heard is that Frank actually did a couple of morning shows after Curtis left but apparently had the misfortune to book Piscopo as a guest just about that time. GM Jerry Crowley met Piscopo in the hallway and the rest is (unfortunately) history.
Frank is a very bright guy who thinks fast on his feet, has lots of interests and a good sense of humor, is a hard worker and obviously loves radio. I'd listen to WNYM if he did mornings. Piscopo I can't take.
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Salem radio is a joke. John Gambling belongs on WABC in am---drive or late morning.
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Won't be surprised if they go all Spanish
Won't be surprised if they go all Spanish
there's so many Spanish stations already..why would ythey go Spanish...I think Oldies would fit well.
Only because of their history.
If they had been Country or jazz or Chinese Guqin back in the day...well, they were not.
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An Insider's View
First off, let me say that I am what you would call a "legacy" susbscriber to RadioDiscussions, going all the way back to when these boards were run by RadioInfo.com. I just haven't been able to get my account reinstated yet, and because of real-life changes haven't had the time.
Second, I am also an employee of Salem New York. I have inside information so staying anonymous is to my best interest.
Having said all that, I can confirm that YES: WMCA will be downplaying its call sign on-air in favor of the Corporate-created branding "The Mission". It's been an open secret for about a month around the station. I've seen the logo that you will all see come Monday 1-19. "The Mission" logo is big, bold and in a blue box with white lettering. The WMCA call sign is smaller and in red lettering. Still keeps the red-white-blue theme that Salem loves. Just a footnote: these changes will take place a few weeks before WMCA's 90th anniversary on Feb. 6. Sadly, don't expect that significant event to be mentioned on-air.
Secondly, about the 970 scheduling: I agree with those who say Morano should be the morning host over Piscopo. The recollection of one poster about how Joe got the job is also accurate. The GM is big on big names and those who worked for him at WOR, the former occupant of the studio space we now use. But Piscopo, who is a nice guy, engaging, and still funny, should not be doing talk on a politically-driven station. However, that is the consequence of: 1) having Morano, a politics junkie as producer; and 2) having to be a lead-in to the rest of the day's all-conservative drivel, starting with Mike Gallagher.
Forget about John Gambling doing mornings on WNYM. It will never happen and he's too smart of a radio person to do AM drive on a station with: 1) a directional signal that doesn't go full-strength until after sunrise; and 2) doesn't subscribe to Nielsen. He was given a soft landing spot, a cushy midday shift and, most importantly, he bring in the advertisers because he is JOHN R. GAMBLING.
But these are short-term fixes. Both Gambling and Piscopo are in their mid-60s. They aren't going to be there inside of five years, and I give Piscopo even less time than that. Giving Morano AM drive would be the best choice, but it will come with a consequence. Frank is our ONLY producer -- during the week he works for Piscopo and Gambling and puts together the Sunday John Catsimatidis program and hosts his own program on Sunday mornings. Giving Morano a daily show of his own means Salem will have to find a new jack-of-all-trades producer, and TPTB in California hasn't given us the go-ahead for that. As for PM drive my choice would be Kevin McCullough, who already does an hour-long show on WMCA. But he's too entrenched in "The Mission" at 570 that Boyce and Crowley (Boyce is the one calling the shots at BOTH STATIONS) would ever move him to 970 full-time. McCullough would be a HUGE upgrade from "Screamin'" Joe Walsh, the former Congressman from Illinois who is being piped-in from Chicago in that slot.
First off, let me say that I am what you would call a "legacy" susbscriber to RadioDiscussions, going all the way back to when these boards were run by RadioInfo.com. I just haven't been able to get my account reinstated yet, and because of real-life changes haven't had the time.
Second, I am also an employee of Salem New York. I have inside information so staying anonymous is to my best interest.
Having said all that, I can confirm that YES: WMCA will be downplaying its call sign on-air in favor of the Corporate-created branding "The Mission". It's been an open secret for about a month around the station. I've seen the logo that you will all see come Monday 1-19. "The Mission" logo is big, bold and in a blue box with white lettering. The WMCA call sign is smaller and in red lettering. Still keeps the red-white-blue theme that Salem loves. Just a footnote: these changes will take place a few weeks before WMCA's 90th anniversary on Feb. 6. Sadly, don't expect that significant event to be mentioned on-air.
Secondly, about the 970 scheduling: I agree with those who say Morano should be the morning host over Piscopo. The recollection of one poster about how Joe got the job is also accurate. The GM is big on big names and those who worked for him at WOR, the former occupant of the studio space we now use. But Piscopo, who is a nice guy, engaging, and still funny, should not be doing talk on a politically-driven station. However, that is the consequence of: 1) having Morano, a politics junkie as producer; and 2) having to be a lead-in to the rest of the day's all-conservative drivel, starting with Mike Gallagher.
Forget about John Gambling doing mornings on WNYM. It will never happen and he's too smart of a radio person to do AM drive on a station with: 1) a directional signal that doesn't go full-strength until after sunrise; and 2) doesn't subscribe to Nielsen. He was given a soft landing spot, a cushy midday shift and, most importantly, he bring in the advertisers because he is JOHN R. GAMBLING.
But these are short-term fixes. Both Gambling and Piscopo are in their mid-60s. They aren't going to be there inside of five years, and I give Piscopo even less time than that. Giving Morano AM drive would be the best choice, but it will come with a consequence. Frank is our ONLY producer -- during the week he works for Piscopo and Gambling and puts together the Sunday John Catsimatidis program and hosts his own program on Sunday mornings. Giving Morano a daily show of his own means Salem will have to find a new jack-of-all-trades producer, and TPTB in California hasn't given us the go-ahead for that. As for PM drive my choice would be Kevin McCullough, who already does an hour-long show on WMCA. But he's too entrenched in "The Mission" at 570 that Boyce and Crowley (Boyce is the one calling the shots at BOTH STATIONS) would ever move him to 970 full-time. McCullough would be a HUGE upgrade from "Screamin'" Joe Walsh, the former Congressman from Illinois who is being piped-in from Chicago in that slot.
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No problem!
Swapping the formats would have been a legacy move -- WMCA would be a mainstream talk station again, and 970 would return to religion and perhaps Salem could restore the WWDJ call letters. For whatever the reasons, it won't get done. Not now, and probably not ever.
BTW, it was you who suggested moving The Lutheran Hour off 970 and give Morano back that half-hour...the answer to that is this: The folks behind the Lutheran Hour -- a 30-minute program in spite of the title -- want to be heard on a non-religious station. So a move over to WMCA is out of the question. The way I understand it the move from 8:30 to 7:30 was made at the behest of Catsimatidis, who did not want a religious show leading into his program. I also believe Catsimatidis was going to purchase the half-hour from the Lutherans if they said no to the move. Morano may have played a role in this also, even though he lost a half-hour of time in the process.
Salem makes a ton of money with brokered religious programming. In NYC, 570 is the better signal so that's where religion will stay. And the corporation wants to have a national conservative talk format, attempting to move the nation's politics to the right. So on the #2 station in each city, it airs that network. In Philly, 560 is Religion, 990 is Talk. In Chicago, 1160 (50,000 watts 24/7) is Religion, 560 is Talk. In LA, 99.5 is Religion, 870 is Talk. In DC, 105.1 is Religion, 1260 is Talk.
This is repeated through most of the Top 100 markets. There are a few exceptions, such as Greenville/Spartanburg, where Salem acquired a full-power FM and put that on the Talk network. But that's rare. Religion makes more money than Conservative Talk, so where Salem owns two stations in a market, the better signal is the Religion station.
As mentioned above, Salem doesn't even subscribe to Nielson (formerly Arbitron) unless it also owns an Christian AC FM station in that market which needs the ratings to sell ad time. So we do see the ratings for Salem's Conservative Talk network in places like LA and Atlanta, because those markets also have a Salem Christian AC FM station. And needless to say, the ratings are terrible for the Talk station. While we still could see the ratings for 970 WNYM, it was usually around a .3. I'm sure the line up of Talk hosts is not cheap:
6-9am...Bill Bennett
9-Noon...Mike Gallagher
Noon-3pm...Dennis Praeger
3-6pm...Michael Medved
6-9pm...Hugh Hewitt
I'm actually surprised that with Salem's investment in these five hosts, they allow their local stations in large markets to air local programming that preempts some of this line up. In NYC, all these hosts only have two hours of their shows heard, and Bennett is also delayed to 4am to accommodate Piscopo. But I guess the corporation hopes the local hosts will draw listeners and advertisers in.
iHeart and Cumulus are having a terrible time watching the ratings on many of their Talk stations fall, as that audience gets older. So what hope is there for the third tier Conservative Talk station? If you are driving home between 3-6pm and you don't want Hannity and you don't want Savage, do you really want Michael Medved? Yet the ultra religious corporate leaders at Salem probably believe the world, and America, are going to hell in a handbasket. They want that Conservative Talk network on the air, even if it only breaks even. They're already making enough money from their brokered Religion stations that no shareholders will question the Talk network's viability.
This is repeated through most of the Top 100 markets. There are a few exceptions, such as Greenville/Spartanburg, where Salem acquired a full-power FM and put that on the Talk network. But that's rare. Religion makes more money than Conservative Talk, so where Salem owns two stations in a market, the better signal is the Religion station.
As mentioned above, Salem doesn't even subscribe to Nielson (formerly Arbitron) unless it also owns an Christian AC FM station in that market which needs the ratings to sell ad time. So we do see the ratings for Salem's Conservative Talk network in places like LA and Atlanta, because those markets also have a Salem Christian AC FM station. And needless to say, the ratings are terrible for the Talk station. While we still could see the ratings for 970 WNYM, it was usually around a .3. I'm sure the line up of Talk hosts is not cheap:
6-9am...Bill Bennett
9-Noon...Mike Gallagher
Noon-3pm...Dennis Praeger
3-6pm...Michael Medved
6-9pm...Hugh Hewitt
I'm actually surprised that with Salem's investment in these five hosts, they allow their local stations in large markets to air local programming that preempts some of this line up. In NYC, all these hosts only have two hours of their shows heard, and Bennett is also delayed to 4am to accommodate Piscopo. But I guess the corporation hopes the local hosts will draw listeners and advertisers in.
iHeart and Cumulus are having a terrible time watching the ratings on many of their Talk stations fall, as that audience gets older. So what hope is there for the third tier Conservative Talk station? If you are driving home between 3-6pm and you don't want Hannity and you don't want Savage, do you really want Michael Medved? Yet the ultra religious corporate leaders at Salem probably believe the world, and America, are going to hell in a handbasket. They want that Conservative Talk network on the air, even if it only breaks even. They're already making enough money from their brokered Religion stations that no shareholders will question the Talk network's viability.
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If Pacifica ever decides to or is forced to sell WBAI, just watch. Salem will sweep in and before you know it, it will be "99.5 The Fish." In reality it is the only company currently on the air in NYC with room to grow. CBS and iHeart are maxed out; Cumulus and Emmis may not have the $$$$$$$$$ to buy another FM and we really already have three Spanish music FMs. Some form of Contemporary Christian music is already heard on WAWZ (99.1) but their signal doesn't cover all of the Metro. Salem wants The Fish in NYC, and I'm certain they will outbid EMF to get 99.5 if it ever became available. If that happens, they will have to subscribe to Nielsen again and then we'll see just how well Conservative Talk does in this very Blue part of the world.
You forgot one: Janet Mefferd, who is on the network weeknights from 9 PM to Midnight (Eastern). She is not heard here, though she might get a NYC clearance soon...WNYM may be saying adios to Steve Deace ln the coming weeks.
The clock is ticking...the overall format has only a handful of viable years remaining. A decade from now, it won't exist.
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