WNTM-AM Changes

[Mario500]

As of this past Saturday, programming from FOX Sports Radio is no longer available on WNTM-AM. After yesterday's "Rush's Week in Review", WNTM-AM aired "The Glenn Beck Weekend", which previously aired from 5:00 AM to 7:00 AM on Saturdays. This morning the station aired "Handel on the Law", which I never heard on any station before.

I was looking forward to this Sunday afternoon's programming with hopes of the station airing "Leo Laporte the Tech Guy" after I suggested it to the program director, but unfortunately the station is airing "Rush's Week in Review" again as of this writing.

I will have to listen to the station at various points of the day for any more changes. Sometimes I wish Mobile had a third station dedicated to news and discussions on a local level and national level (syndicated programming).

 

[tomservo]

Handel on the Law is a syndicated show out of… LA? Somewhere in California I think. I've heard it on a lot of stations in the past, but not lately.

There's actually quite a bit of talk radio along the coast, not even including the far-fringe signals of WWL and some of the AMs from Tampa that are listenable along the shore. I'm wondering if there's some sort of 'first come, first serve' rule that keeps a bigger signal from taking some of the talent that's on the more local stations in Pensacola (1330, 1620) and Biloxi (1640).

 

[Poledo]

I'm not a listener of general sports talk radio, I'm only interested on when the Coach Saban show comes on. Anyway, I thought Fox Sports radio had some type of tie in with Clear Channel. If WNTM has stopped airing a limited Fox Sports schedule, leaving Mobile without a Fox Sports Radio affiliate, perhaps they're looking at a full time lineup. Is Clear Channel Mobile maxed out on stations? They only have one AM signal, aren't they allowed to own two? Even if they are maxed out, could they be on the verge of LMAing one of the Mobile AMs for Fox Sports? Or the sports fan's wet dream, could they flip 107.3 to Fox Sports?

I'm glad you brought up Leo Laporte. I've been a big fan since the first week ZDTV went live on DirecTV. They really did him wrong by not paying him enough to stay around after the Comcast buyout. I can't believe that CNBC didn't bring him back after he became a free agent again.
I dual subscribed to Mediacom cable and Directv for months until ZDTV was added to Mediacom's digital lineup at which time I dropped DirecTV. I later canceled my Mediacom digital cable subscription and lowered my monthly cable bill almost 100$ after Laporte left TechTV. It's insane how much money I wound up paying to watch Leo on TV back then. I'm not hip enough to podcast his radio show, I've tried, I know how, I just can't get used to it. I'd sign on as a local sponsor for the Laporte radio show if it came to an AM signal covering Pensacola... maybe I need to tell that to WNRP, WPNN, WEBY, WCOA, WBSR.....

Also, Zach, I'm having trouble interpreting the "first come, first serve" comment you made. Are you suggesting that Mobile is lacking talent on the AM band because the shows are already on the larger Pensacola and Biloxi stations. Stations that don't cover the city of Mobile. That's how I'm reading your comment but I don't believe that's what you meant to suggest.

 

[tomservo]

Also, Zach, I'm having trouble interpreting the "first come, first serve" comment you made. Are you suggesting that Mobile is lacking talent on the AM band because the shows are already on the larger Pensacola and Biloxi stations. Stations that don't cover the city of Mobile. That's how I'm reading your comment but I don't believe that's what you meant to suggest.

I'm not really sure what I meant... I don't know how the rules work for syndication rights (and I was referring to syndicated shows, not local shows) and I don't know exactly how big the Mobile-Pensacola market is. I don't think it includes Biloxi, for example, so talk shows in Biloxi that are syndicated could also be carried in Mobile. But if Mobile and Pensacola are considered the same radio market, then a show on a small Pensacola station couldn't be carried in Mobile if syndication rules prohibit it.

But like I said, I don't know if that's actually the case or not with synidcated programming. I don't know. But if it IS the case, it would partially explain the lack of variety in the market.

 

[Mario500]

Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola are all separate radio markets.

 

[tomservo]

Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola are all separate radio markets.

Okay, that strikes that theory off the list, then.

Next is size - is Mobile big enough to support three talk stations?

(Edit to add, since I forgot about it while waiting on this slow website to load during my last reply) Leo Laporte is a great host and after he left ZDTV/TechTV I quit watching.

It took a while to get used to downloading podcasts, but now I get his every week. It's very entertaining, especially when John C Dvorak is on. I just use the RSS thingy in the browser to keep tabs on all my favorite radio shows.

 

[Mario500]

Don't forget WNSP-FM, all though it's a sports station, it broadcasts news from CNN Radio and still has local sports talk shows. Mobile briefly had three news and talk stations on the AM band after WDLT-AM (now WXQW) changed its format to all-syndicated talk shows from Greenstone Media, which later shut down network operations.

Even though Mobile is currently ranked 96 by Arbitron and has a population of 489,300 over the age of 12, it should be possible for another AM station to broadcast news and talk unlike WABB-AM (no local talk shows) and WNTM-AM (no radio reporters, only news provided by WKRG-TV). Listeners of the spoken word format deserve something different from what WABB-AM, WNTM-AM, and WNSP-FM offer nowadays.

 

[Nate Wesley]

Biloxi, Mobile, and Pensacola are all separate radio markets.

I may have asked this before, but I wonder how it will work out if someone tries news/talk on FM. Will one of the big companies be able to do it on a bigger class C station that blankets the latter two metros?

 

[Poledo]

I think the Class C FM News/Talk idea is impossible for Mobile/Pensacola. Cumulus owns the top news/talk stations in Pensacola and Fort Walton while Clear Channel owns them in Mobile and Biloxi. All 4 of these markets would be covered by any one of the Baldwin County class C FMs if broadcasting in Mono. Most shows that would be desired to launch a big new news/talker on one of the class C stations would have to be poached from multiple stations around the coverage area, a big job that would probably require a new station to pay kickbacks to get the AMs to give up shows. It seems like a good idea since it's all one TV market, but with the radio markets cut up so much I just can't see it happening. With radio revenue in a free fall right now, no one's going to allow another company to create a new top 3 radio station without an expensive fight.

Also, if you're looking at the total number of news/talk stations in Mobile, the market includes Mobile and Baldwin counties. That includes a 4th news talk station, WNSI 1000/105.9. Also Mobile county (south and west of the city and on car radios in town) still gets a good signal from WBUV and until recently WWL showed in most every ratings book. The thing Mobile lacks is a significant number of local news/talk shows on the radio.

Sports is another story though, I think that's possible. If the WTKE 98.1/Cumulus/Qantum deal ever goes through, Pensacola will be left without any sports station and Mobile could probably support two.

Thanks for reminding me about John C Dvorak. What's he up to now-a-days? He had that round table talk show on ZDTV and a magazine column in that big computer magazine, back in the day, I've since lost track of him, but next to Laporte, Davorak was very good at his job.

 

[tomservo]

Thanks for reminding me about John C Dvorak. What's he up to now-a-days? He had that round table talk show on ZDTV and a magazine column in that big computer magazine, back in the day, I've since lost track of him, but next to Laporte, Davorak was very good at his job.

http://channeldvorak.com/ is his website; he stays pretty busy with podcasts and writing.

 

[Mario500]

As of this week, WNTM-AM will air "The Glenn Beck Program" from 2:05 PM to 5:00 PM, "The Jason Lewis Show" from 5:05 PM to 8:00 PM, and "The (Todd) Schnitt Show" from 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM. "The Savage Nation" with Michael (Savage) Wiener is no longer on the station's schedule.