WPRO is hurting , WHJJ is gaining

[Holland Cooke]

THANK YOU for clarifying.

As you re-read that question, I think you can see how I could have misunderstood. Now that you've clarified that MATT is "still in the boat" -- and because DAVE was "shoved-off-the-plank" -- I missed the point.

And I think we've cracked the code!
WHY this post has-gone-on-as-long-as-it-as?
In TV parlance, "re-runs!"

Heck, content HERE is turning over even FASTER than TV shows. There are 3 CSI Miami episodes left. But that post asks me to re-run the following, posted around-the-time CSI Miami debuted at the beginning of the TV season about-to-end...

Matt sure has some fans here, MYSELF INCLUDED, as you'll read about-a-page-back.

Not-to-talk-about-Matt-like-he's-not-in-the-room...but since you were nice enough to ask...here's the dish, a MUCH-misunderstood turn-of-events.

Matt's previous PD, David Bernstein, is a longtime pal of mine.
Several years ago, I congratulated David on FINDING young talent.
Face it, radio's farm team has gone-to-hell since the 1996 Telecom Act.
Consolidation, automation, and syndication have scared-away lots of folks Matt's age.
There are just fewer entry level jobs now.

Fast-forward to about-two-years-ago..

There I was, at the Minneapolis airport, connecting to-or-from I-forget-where, yet-another radio consulting road trip. When my phone rang. MY phone rang. I didn't dial-out.*

David told me "Steve Kass is leaving. Any suggestions?"

The rest, as The Providence Journal reported, is history.

In addition to David-and-I going-back, I knew station manager Barbara Haynes.
She and I worked together at WSNE 82-84.

I recommended Dave Barber to WPRO...TWICE.
By the time WPRO hired him, they'd changed PDs.
And all-the-while, Matt kept-on-keeping-on.

Having been on-air as long as I was, I know how being an interim host as long as Matt was can be unsettling. But, to his credit, Matt (as consultants say) "made the show his very own."

Clearly, the-passion-of his-fans-who-post-here speaks volumes.
In some cases, "passion" is the polite word.

But, MY phone rang, that morning in The Twin Cities.
I didn't dial-out.
Honest.

Dave Barber and I had worked together at a station in Michigan which I consulted.
NOBODY I've ever coached runs my playbook better.

I have used the aircheck you will hear at http://members.aol.com/cookeh/news.html as a coaching tool at lots of client stations (including one in NYNY week-before-last). And they always howl.

And they always note the caller who says "Hello Dave. It's Dave, right?"

And they always say "Hmmm!" when I point out WHY the caller asked, which you'll read at http://members.aol.com/cookeh/news.html

WPRO was my third on-air job.
I moved 5 times for radio.
It's an occupational hazard.
A couple of those moves were because I didn't get the job I wanted at-the-station-I-was-at.
Including when I left WPRO, in 1980, after they passed me over for PD...twice.
"We need someone with more experience," they told me.

So I went somewhere else and got the experience.
Nobody could make that decision for me.

Supportive posts here suggest Matt could go to WHJJ.
I'll go ya one better...

I always wince when I hear the term, but it's handy, so I'll use it here:
I could hear Matt do what's been called "FM Talk."
A station that talks to people-younger-than-the-people-local-AMs-talk-to, y'know?
I don't know that there are any of those stations here.
But I know of stations elsewhere that would KILL to find The Next New Voice.

And -- having had to confront the decision to leave a station as special as WPRO will always be, to ANY of us who've worked there -- I wouldn't presume to recommend what Matt should do.

But I do concur with David Bernstein's ear, his vision.
And with what Dave Barber said on his first show, acknowledging Matt's extended interim stint:
"His future in this business is bright."

HC

* If this were a legal proceeding, we could subpoena my Verizon Wireless call log, to prove that those were INCOMING calls.

To those who've read (or not) all-of-this several times, thank you, on behalf of those who haven't, for your patience.
'Sure seems like "a re-run" to me.

As I've also offered here several times: At some point, this "poor Matt" stuff embarasses Matt.
He seems to be a smart guy.
He'll do what's right for him.
To my ear, he sure has options.

'Seems unseemly for us to use what-the-timeline-above demonstrates-to-be nearly-two-year-old-events to keep casting Matt as a victim. Life is full of choices, and Matt is making his. His fans would be fairer to him by letting him do so without yet-more prodding here, however well-intended.

People-who-hire-people-who-do-what-Matt-does do two things:
1. listen-in to markets like Providence, looking for talent; and
2. read other markets' radio-info boards, to learn more about voices-they've-heard.

Matt's friends wouldn't want THOSE PEOPLE, potential Matt mentors, to infer that he has settled for role of understudy.

As related, for the umpteenth time, above, one of the things I do for stations is recommend talent.
Networking.
Those on-the-network have an expresssion: "probably no longer portable."
Meaning, he/she-has-been-somewhere-long-enough-that-he/she-probably-isn't-worth-inviting-to-move.
Friends wouldn't want to cast Matt that way.

I didn't find myself in Rhode Island by the happy accident of birth.
I CHOSE to live in The Ocean State...three times.
Nobody has to tell ME why-someone-would-want-to-stay-here.
I only left (twice) for a better work opportunity, when limited local opportunities were a cul-de-sac.
And I chose not-to-leave lots-of-times.

Arguably, Matt will have more choices without the spotlight here.

 

[awardmrnobody]

Holland Cooke,
To me and probably most posters, WE are the ones 'whinning' not for 'Matt Allen' but for ourseleves.
MR Cooke, YOU have said MORE local talk. Matt 'for we the people' WAS local talk. When 'the powers' put Barber, the out of Towner in, we LOST local.
It's about 'US' not really Matt. Most of us liked the FACT that he fullfilled our talk radio 'needs'. Thats whats going on here. If you're going to put him on FM, or AM or SATELLITE, please, JUST DO IT.

 

[JointChinese]

Oh I get it now. . .in order to do local talk radio, you must have grown up (born/raised) in that city. Are all of the reporters from The Providence Journal from Rhode Island? If not Award, you should notify them, they can't cover local stories. What about NBC10? Are ALL the anchors and reporters from The Ocean State? If not, shame on them. Here's a shocker; there once was this dude named Salty Brine. I hear he had a pretty good run in RI radio. Damn. . .and he wasn't even born here. How could that be?

 

[awardmrnobody]

Why is everybody SOOO edgy lately?
Your name (Joint Chinese) is a hoot!

When Dave Barber was here he didn't even know the names of the towns!
I could give you a list of all the other lack of knowledge things, why bother?
It took Dan Yorke 6 years to get local. Before Dan was Local, Arlene was far
ahead of him. Now, Dan is Local and it Made him!
6 years ago there would have been NO Mollis - Sisto. No David Cicilline and the
Night Club scandals, No Chief Shinny Badge. People want good local around here.
Make fun of me all you want, but I think what I say is valid.

 

[Holland Cooke]

What would you say to Joint Chinese?

To me and probably most posters, WE are the ones 'whinning' not for 'Matt Allen' but for ourseleves.

No argument about the whining, but how do you calculate "most?"
It'd be pretty tough to do a credible nose count here-among-the-anonymous.

When 'the powers' put Barber, the out of Towner in, we LOST local.

Damn those Powers!
The same suits who foisted New Jersey's Dan Yorke on ya, right?

Joint Chinese suggests a nose count you CAN do: Pick a market, ANY market...above, say #75.
(Providence is radio market #38.)
More on-air radio and TV people are NOT from there than are.

To J.C.'s point: NBC10's juggernaut seems not to have suffered by 25+ distinguished years from Ohio's Patrice Wood; and with New York's Gene Valicente and others.

Unlike school teachers -- who, on an average live-their-entire-lives within a 25 mile radius of their birthplace -- on-air talent is nomadic, because there are only so many jobs anywhere. It's not like hanging drywall. And, at entry level, it PAYS LESS than hanging drywall. Next time you see a set of New Hampshire plates, and read "Live Free or Die," KNOW THIS: That slogan refers to local radio salaries there. We move. Or not.

How small you make Rhode Island sound, despite the proud statement Roger Williams made in that tall church at the foot of Waterman Street. Historically, ALL Rhode Islanders are from-somewhere-else...except the Native Americans who were here before the rest of us "discovered America." Like Salty Brine and me, Roger's gang came from Massachusetts. If you regard Michigan as another planet, what of Italy, and Ireland, and everywhere else folks came here from?

But that's inside-the-box.
More pertinent than who's-DOING on-air work is who's LISTENING-TO/VIEWING it.

Not-working-in-Providence these days, I haven't seen Arbitron in-tab diary count by Zip Code since the 90s, when I did some work for then-Tele-Media-owned WPRO. But last time I did, "PROVIDENCE-WARWICK" MARKET survey area diary distribution in Massachusetts + Connecticut was greater than number-of-diaries in Rhode Island.

Bristol County, Massachusetts may be the most important county in the Metro. Not the TSA, the MSA. Remember that next time you hear some local talker yakking-about-something-that-only-applies-to-RI.

Nielsen calls the TV market "PROVIDENCE/NEW BEDFORD."

he fullfilled our talk radio 'needs'. Thats whats going on here. If you're going to put him on FM, or AM or SATELLITE, please, JUST DO IT.

It's hard to imagine a better-articulated marketplace demand for a podcast. This EXPLODING new media platform is being driven by narrow-appeal topics. There are thousands and thousands of podcasts, by people as-passionate-as-you-seem-to-be...about EVERYTHING. Cigars, bonzai trees, gastrointerology, sex. Someone could do a podcast about local issues that are smaller-footprint than local stations' signal patterns.

But to stay in business, local stations need to do programming that talks to their entire footprint; and can't staff by only hiring people qualified by a birth certificate issued in one state.

 

[Holland Cooke]

And suppose CALIFORNIANS acted this way!

Not only would they have a less-entertaining governor...there never would've been any Terminator movies.
"Hasta la vista, baaaaaaaaaaybeeeeeeeeeee..."

Or, as Neil Diamond sang, "They're coming to America."
Or, as Sir Paul sang, "Let 'em in."
Or, as Rod Stewart sang, "I could steal my daddy's cue, and make a livin' out of playing pool."

I know I keep you amused.
But I feel I'm being used.

 

[JointChinese]

I have heard that Matt Allen is a decent person. Maybe the guy has some talk radio potential. But doing one show a week hardly makes you a talk radio phenom! The guy should go to some small market and earn his way up. Do the work day in and day out for a couple years. Plus, the one thing he has working against him is the fact he drank Dan York’s cool-aid. Having to sit four hours a day with that malcontent has to take its toll. Being associated with such a mean spirited guy can’t help your career. Unlike Matt, I have never heard a good thing about Mr. York. You can discuss his talk radio skills all day, that's a subjective thing, but I am told he is NOT even a good human being. He even sounds like a miserable person on the air.

I tuned in one recent holiday (Easter I think) and Dan was doing this whole religious bit. You have to be kidding me?? He had all these catholic priests on. Like he was some sort of sacred talk host. It was nauseating! The guy sounded like a complete phony. Matt cut bait with this guy.

 

[Holland Cooke]

Hey dawg...dude...check it out...keepin' it real...

Is there some reason Ryan Seacrest CAN'T shave before the show???

But seriously: This is a LOCAL board.
Why should anyone Chinese be posting here?
Only people from Rhode Island should be allowed in this Joint.

 

[alfieradioguy]

The latest 'insider' rumor is Buddy maybe going to HJJ. They're actively involved in this?
And Ronzo maybe going with him. Thats from Clear channel source.

 

[radiowavesri]

first of all jim corwin is not calling the shots............. that call is coming from the gm in the boston market and if they move in a direction with ron st. pierre they should drive to the newport bridge there is no way that a five rating will hold out year after year when ron is talking politics at six o clock in the morning even imus has to create and bounce back and fourth from issues to comedy ron is like watching paint dry if i were clear channel i would focus on amorning show like salty or big ange or larry kruger along with stong support even on a serious talk station morning drive should be funny bright and light with callers winning prizes chit chat not ron..... buddy is move that could bring whjj right back and i would give tony farr a couple hours a day with helen .buddy.tony farr.they could win.if wpro had a clue they would hire salty jr. at wpro am in morning at any cost../...........

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

i can see the buddy show on whjj because wpro is paying ron.... 75000-85000 a year they are paying for rush that is not a barter they are paYING ABOUT 140000 A YEAR FOR JOHNNY D THEY WILL BE PAYING DAN YORK AROUND THE SAME PLUS THE REST OF THE OVERHEAD IF I WERE CITADEL I WOULD FIRE THE PEOPLE WHO HIRED ALL THESE OVERPAYED AND TALENTLESS STAFF BUT LIKE I SAID BEFORE WHEN THE MERGER TAKES PLACE IT WILL TAKE ABOUT EIGHT TO TEN MONTHS BEFORE UPPER MANGERMENT STARTS TO DOWNSIZE EVERY WHERE FROM PAPER CLIPS TO .MANAGEMENT .............................................THESE STATIONS CANT SERVICE THE OVERHEAD ASK HOLLAND..............................

Overhead, huh? At least WPRO and WHJJ are making some sort of attempt to serve the community. Maybe not perfectly, but they seem to be trying.

As opposed to the low overhead 1320 WARL method. A crazy quilt schedule of even crazier brokered "New Age" programming that comes in over bad phone lines from places like Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Pre-recorded blocks of music in the middle of the day peppered with pleas to "call the station at a certain extension" if you want to sponsor said music. I assume these are the "unsold hours".

A cranky old man who gets on the air at 3 in the afternoon and pretends to be a sports talk host.

Old tapes of pre-recorded Catholic-oriented programming in afternoon drive (probably hand-me-downs from the defunct WRIB).

Endless repeats of SINGLE episodes of various mediocre syndicated programs.

Oh yeah...now THERE'S a low overhead success formula...LOL...LOL...LOL

If Steve White were still alive, he would probably give you the following advice:

Go up to the PCB dump in Burrillville...Dig a large hole in the ground...Jump in the hole...Fill up the hole over you...And keep listening to WPRO and WHJJ.

DR

 

[Holland Cooke]

Moi?

ASK HOLLAND..............................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXWKvf9mU8

 

[ionthecomic]

I thought I was the funny man here! lol.
That was great Holland. You tell a story well.
So you're on BLOCK ISLAND enjoying life.
WANT TO ADOPT ME??

Ion the COMIC. ;D

 

[ben123]

first of all jim corwin is not calling the shots............. that call is coming from the gm in the boston market and if they move in a direction with ron st. pierre they should drive to the newport bridge there is no way that a five rating will hold out year after year when ron is talking politics at six o clock in the morning even imus has to create and bounce back and fourth from issues to comedy ron is like watching paint dry if i were clear channel i would focus on amorning show like salty or big ange or larry kruger along with stong support even on a serious talk station morning drive should be funny bright and light with callers winning prizes chit chat not ron..... buddy is move that could bring whjj right back and i would give tony farr a couple hours a day with helen .buddy.tony farr.they could win.if wpro had a clue they would hire salty jr. at wpro am in morning at any cost../...........

the gm in boston who just got moved half way across the country, or the gm in boston who hasn't even got his desk setup yet?

 

[Holland Cooke]

RE "So you're on BLOCK ISLAND enjoying life."

Not NEARLY enough!

I've been keeping track, year-to-date.
So far, I've slept in hotels 49% of 2007.
I've actually STOPPED stealing the little soaps and shampoos!

(Good afternoon from WSJS/Winston-Salem NC.)
(Later this week, WPTF/Raleigh-Durham.)

So you're probably thinking, "HC...THAT much travel? What are you...A MASOCHIST???"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUzRDwErYWM

No...I'm...A CONSULTANT!
(In other words, YES.)

 

[DG02816]

Seems as though radiowavesri has been [EDIT] too much again. I agree with both Holland and whatdidusay on this one. I have to shake my head when this wannabe shows up from time to time.
All we're trying to do is comment on what we see as the pitfalls and highlights in Providence radio,
while he obsesses over 990. True, a jazz format may be a niche thing these days, but if executed properly, as Holland will tell you, any decent format will draw listeners. I'd honestly rather something like that to hear some of the in-your-face bellowing I hear a times from syndicated talk shows.Here at home in the Philly suburbs, I have KYW 1060 on the car radio most of the time. I'll switch to 990 down here to check out Dennis Praeger's Happiness Hour on Fridays at 1 pm. Praeger deviates from conservative political talk to get into some good discussion on the things that make and keep people happy, as well as regaining happiness when you've lost it.Weekday nights before the Phillies, I'll have WPEN 950 on for Jody MacDonald.

Dave Gardiner

WVCH 740/WNWR 1540

Philadelphia


[EDIT-offensive content]

 

[Holland Cooke]

As Rod Stewart sang: "I know I keep you amused. But I feel I'm being used."

Hey, don't be so tough on bust-outs.
Without them, C students like me would REALLY look like flunkies!


With this thread on-the-way to 15000 posts, and your consultant on-the-road, eastbound to Raleigh, I bid you good morning from Starbucks in Burlington NC, where the Paul McCartney Starbucks cards are LONG gone...

 

[awardmrnobody]

HJJ will be gaining if the latest rumor is true.

Buddy and Ronald St. P. on WHJJ. Jim Corwin says, Make it so.

 

[TopOfThePops]

I am curious as to what Cianci would say about the current Mayor Of Providence. And his plans (not official yet)
on running for governor of RI. Cianci tried running for governor in 1980 & lost. Just because your Mayor & popular in your city or town. Does not usually hold true. If you run for statewide office.

 

[wknd92]

I am curious as to what Cianci would say about the current Mayor Of Providence. And his plans (not official yet)
on running for governor of RI. Cianci tried running for governor in 1980 & lost. Just because your Mayor & popular in your city or town. Does not usually hold true. If you run for statewide office.

Top...go to Projo.com and read the whole article from Sunday's paper as it mentions a couple of pieces he got asked about Cicilline and also possible political aspirations (I don't have the paper in front of me; but I don't think he's eligible until 2013 or something like that)