WMMS drops Bob & Tom...

[Rusty Muck]

...so the great "all talk during the day" experiment for the Famed But Faded Station Once Known As The Buzzard lasted exactly one month.

Maria gets back her midday slot, now at 11a-3p.

This as Methany predicted in that Medina Gazette article that by being moved to middays, the Indy-based show would experience "turbo growth" in the ratings with Rover as a lead-in. Now the main question is, was it THAT BAD a response from listeners? Or does Shane claim to have as much clout with management as he says he does?

-Myron aka nate81-

 

[goatboy]

Is this irony?

After Stern leaves CBS, the solution in some markets was Rover. Who crapped out in Chicago, limped back to C-Town, then got himself hired by...Stern's old boss, the artist formerly known as "pig vomit.

Will Shane find out how KM got that nickname?

 

[YEKIMI]

How come the ones that have managed to screw up radio so bad are the ones that ended up in charge?

 

[CLERadioFM]

I think they dropped Bob and Tom because Rover didn't like the competition from him, and because it is a rival radio show being broadcast at his own station. Plus I think Rover has something against Bob and Tom, but that is just my opinion.

 

[AllMightyVoice]

Rover concerned about them providing "competition??" I hardly believe that any fan of Rover is interested in Bob & Tom....so why Shane worry? A few weeks after they are ready to "turbo" their ratings (gag), they are gone. I can't wait to find out why. Either way its clear the people in charge know how to make a plan for success and stick to it! Can't settle on a logo, can't settle on a line-up.

IMO Bob & Tom is a snooze fest.....then again listening to Maria stumble through stopsets while playing the same old rock is not much better. I get the fact that WMMS wants a "sexy sounding chick" as part of their DJ stable.....but I'd love to hear someone more along the lines of Slats or Crankin' Craig holding down that spot. Someone slightly entertaining. I'm sure that would mean $$$ though.

 

[OhioMediaWatch]

My take:

I don't think CC/WMMS ever had a plan or an appetite to become an "FM talk station".

I think they expected that they weren't going to hang onto B&T.

I would even say that they may have hung onto B&T if the "hammock" between Rover and Maxwell did improve the show's ratings, but jettisoning the show after a month would tend to indicate they did not expect that to happen. B&T would skew older than either show around it, anyway.

If they were going to fully give up on daytime rock programming, I don't think they would have snuck the WMMS calls back into the station's on-air name.

All of this is basically speculation on my part, and isn't based on solid info.

-OA/OMW

 

[SportsRadioDoc]

If you're going to re-position your station and go through all the hype that surrounds a flip, you need not change things a month in to it. Make your decision and stick with it, or wait until you know exactly what you are going to do, then do it. This is bad, very bad! Now even they don't know what their identity is. Talk, then music, back to talk/music, back to music. Huh?

 

[Rusty Muck]

If you're going to re-position your station and go through all the hype that surrounds a flip, you need not change things a month in to it. Make your decision and stick with it, or wait until you know exactly what you are going to do, then do it. This is bad, very bad! Now even they don't know what their identity is. Talk, then music, back to talk/music, back to music. Huh?

It's not quite that bad. Don't forget that K-Rock - with "ROCK" in their station name - did the same thing for over two years, too... but I guess no one ever noticed that station existed after 11am.

WMMS actually has the best shots at mornings since 1992, and have a relatively home-grown, established star in afternoon drive. Both are talk shows (Maxwell stopped playing music several months ago, going instead to "best-of" clips) but several rock stations on the East Coast - WYSP comes to mind - aired Stern in mornings and "Don & Mike" in afternoons, with music sandwiched in-between. It may have been what Bo had in mind all along.

It can be argued from here till kingdom come about why WMMS was stuck with Bob and Tom. It certainally doesn't seem like management didn't really want to keep that show at all. Who in the hell would've thought Methany was SERIOUS, anyway? Obviously the programming idea was panned across the board for this cancellation to happen.

(Their removal is the second time that they've left the Cleveland area, BTW. WWWE/1100 carried it from 1995 to 1996, following Triv in tape-delay - and going up against the Indians games on WKNR. No one cared when Laura Schlessinger replaced them several months later.)

Besides, virtually all of their identity was stripped back last September when it simply became "100.7" ... and retired their mascot of 34 years to boot...

- Myron aka nate81 -

 

[VODood]

Here's a Buzzard worth bringing back. I posted this in another thread.

I took a pic of a long-sleeve tee from 2005, drawn by David Helton.


IMO this Buzzard typifies what WMMS is today (funny it was drawn three years ago!).

 

[airwaveobserver]

Does anyone expect Pig Vomit to do anything GOOD, with any station his grimy hands touch?

I mean, come on, the guy failed to recognize the talent that is Howard Stern. What more do you need to know about him?

It is funny how Clearchannel promotes people that fail. No wonder the company is in such bad shape.

 

[Rusty Muck]

If one thinks it's bad here, just take a look at both CC's Atlanta and Washington, DC clusters. Both are the epitome of pathetic... I'm talking the level of WMVX.

-Myron aka nate81-

 

[jessejames44]

Does anyone expect Pig Vomit to do anything GOOD, with any station his grimy hands touch?

I mean, come on, the guy failed to recognize the talent that is Howard Stern. What more do you need to know about him?

It is funny how Clearchannel promotes people that fail. No wonder the company is in such bad shape.

As I know it, KEVIN recognized the value of Howard...he was simply the "messenger" for people above him.

 

[CLERadioFM]

I heard on the radio this morning that WMMS is still paying contract on Bob and Tom, from what they said, there are three years left on it (give or take a month). The Bob and Tom Show wanted them to pay the contract in one lump sum, but WMMS was able to work it out so they pay it month by month. Also sounds like Rover was the one who wanted to Bob and Tom to go. Shane "Rover" French was talking about it around 8:15 this morning on WMMS.

 

[74WIXYGrad]

As I know it, KEVIN recognized the value of Howard...he was simply the "messenger" for people above him.

Could that be why Pig Virus has 2 Stern wannabes-Rover and Triv- at Oak Tree?

 

[unpwn]

I heard on the radio this morning .... Also sounds like Rover was the one who wanted to Bob and Tom to go. Shane "Rover" French was talking about it around 8:15 this morning on WMMS.

It's sad if you believe that. Just sad... :'(

 

[CLERadioFM]

Why is it sad to think Rover wanted Bob and Tom out? They are giants in the industry and are a rival morning show.

 

[jessejames44]

As I know it, KEVIN recognized the value of Howard...he was simply the "messenger" for people above him.

Could that be why Pig Virus has 2 Stern wannabes-Rover and Triv- at Oak Tree?

Triv was there long before Kevin...and I don't know if I'd consider him a "Stern wannabe" (other than wanting to have the same ratings, money, impact on the world, looks...LOL). Rover just makes sense...a demo-appropriate, well rated, local morning show? If you CAN get it to replace your old, syndicated, chuckle-head, "morning zoo" that makes Henny Youngman look fresh, why would you pass it up, Stern-esque or not?


None of these guys that people consider "Howard Wannabes" really are. Stern is the ringmaster. He's the (relatively) normal "leader" of a band of miscreants. Yes, he does a lot of odd things, says a lot of "outlandish" things...but the true oddity and "human spectacle" of the show is the bizarre lives of the people he's surrounded himself with. Even when they aren't "bizarre," he's always had the uncanny knack of drawing out the bizarre in people (i.e. getting celebs to admit things and answer questions that nobody before had the gall to ask them). Another plus for Stern was that he was in NYC, where he could get celebrity FANS. They liked him...and sometimes, no matter what celebrity "status" they had, they ENJOYED being on the show that they liked and that they were a fan of. It gave him more license to be more forthcoming with the stars. You can't do that if you're an unknown from Boise.

Howard's not "shock." He let the weird and wild come out of everybody naturally. Other "wannabes" ARE "shock"...doing and saying things simply TO shock and seem outlandish. It's not natural...it's forced...and that's why none of them have ever worked out. Just because you have a guy that's willing to staple kraft singles to his stomach, doesn't mean you have a "freak." You don't have the next "Beetlejuice," "Elephant Boy," "Daniel Carver," etc. You have an idiot that's forcing himself into the role of the "crazy guy." Stern is the classic circus sideshow...everyone else is like the family station wagon with the class clown in tow.

It's the original reality show...like a running documentary. The rest are just a poorly written script with even worse actors.

Whew...enough rambling, back to work.

 

[unpwn]

Why is it sad to think Rover wanted Bob and Tom out? They are giants in the industry and are a rival morning show.

They're not rivals and B+T were never competition. Rover's just taking the credit for MMS bringing back their VT'd music shift.
The sad part is that you listen to, and believe, what Rover says.

 

[unpwn]

The rest are just a poorly written script with even worse actors.

Best explanation EVER!!! And boy is it the truth...

 

[Rusty Muck]

As I know it, KEVIN recognized the value of Howard...he was simply the "messenger" for people above him.

Could that be why Pig Virus has 2 Stern wannabes-Rover and Triv- at Oak Tree?

Triv was there long before Kevin ...

Four years beforehand at WTAM-WWWE, and ten in total (the 1988-1992 years were spent as the sportscaster on forgettable WNCX morning shows before being fired for - you guessed it - Stern...)

... and I don't know if I'd consider him a "Stern wannabe" (other than wanting to have the same ratings, money, impact on the world, looks...LOL).

He looks more like he swallowed Stern whole, though. (not an original joke, BTW)

-Myron aka nate81-