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WRKO: Back to the 80s Big 3 Concept

D

dhoule

Hi All,
It seems to me that WRKO was most successful back in the late 80s when essentially they had 3 big 4 hour talk shows that got them ratings: Ted/Janet, Gene, and Jerry. Back then the shifts were from 6-10, 10-2, and 2-6. I wonder if RKO plans to go back to that concept. I noticed that Tom Finneran's new shift beginning in February will be going from 6-10, not 5:30-9. Also, it seems to make sense to move Howie to a 2-6 time slot since his 6-7 hour will frequently be cancelled by a Red Sox pregame show. Also, the syndicated part of his show has always run from 3-6. The local hour could run 2-3, instead of 6-7. If WRKO does this, that would leave a 10-2 slot to fill in the middle of the day. Perhaps, this would be the opportunity to finally dump Rush and go live all day with 3 strong 4 hour hosts. What do people think? Who would be a strong midday personality? There have been rumors that RKO might try to steal Braude from FM talk. There have also been rumors the Fineberg or Scott Allen Miller might take over that shift. I'll look forward to other comments on this thread.
 
Excuse me? Finneran for *FOUR* hours? You sure about that?
 
With a 10am-2pm slot, I think it's better broken up into two shows rather than one.

Why not re-broadcast the nuts from coast to coast AM? ;D
 
Finneran for four. It's true. I read that on Boston Radio Watch and thought, huh? Thought it was 6-9 or
something. But it linked to the WRKO press release: 6-10 am

The Howie 2-6 pm move would make sense. He could talk local in first hour and then do regional (New
England)/national stuff the rest of the time. At this point he has just under a dozen affiliates and rumor
has it the syndie deal (which is actually run by Entercom) may be done soon. You could have:

if they keep Rush:
Finneran 6-10
another host 10-noon
Rush 12-2 pm only
Howie 2-6
Red Sox

if not:
Finneran 6-10
another host 10-2 (OR one host 10-noon, one 12-2 pm)
Howie 2-6 etc

Note: link on BRW apparently changed. From WRKO's site:
The four hour show, which will be on from 6 a.m. – 10 a.m., will focus on a variety of topics including politics, sports, lifestyle issues,etc
 
I thought stations that carried Rush had to carry the full THREE hours.

I assume Rush does as well locally as on a national scale so if he were to leave RKO he would have to pop up on some Boston station. TTK perhaps?
 
Please do not compare that FELON Tom Finneran to Gene Burns of Jerry Williams. Finneran is a cheap bigotted pol.

Nothing could ever be as great as the days of Gene and Jerry and to some degree Ted & Janet.

Howie is past his 'sell by' date and need Felon Finneran as much as the Felon needs him.
 
dhoule said:
Hi All,
It seems to me that WRKO was most successful back in the late 80s when essentially they had 3 big 4 hour talk shows that got them ratings: Ted/Janet, Gene, and Jerry. Back then the shifts were from 6-10, 10-2, and 2-6.
Click to expand...

More like the Big 4. 1985-86 was a great year for them - Ted&Janet, Gene, Jerry and Brudnoy. Brudnoy left WRKO for WBZ right before the Sox season started in '86. He didn't want to be faced with frequent Celtics and Sox pre-emptions.
 
dhoule said:
Hi All,
It seems to me that WRKO was most successful back in the late 80s when essentially they had 3 big 4 hour talk shows that got them ratings: Ted/Janet, Gene, and Jerry. Back then the shifts were from 6-10, 10-2, and 2-6. I wonder if RKO plans to go back to that concept. I noticed that Tom Finneran's new shift beginning in February will be going from 6-10, not 5:30-9. Also, it seems to make sense to move Howie to a 2-6 time slot since his 6-7 hour will frequently be cancelled by a Red Sox pregame show. Also, the syndicated part of his show has always run from 3-6. The local hour could run 2-3, instead of 6-7. If WRKO does this, that would leave a 10-2 slot to fill in the middle of the day. Perhaps, this would be the opportunity to finally dump Rush and go live all day with 3 strong 4 hour hosts. What do people think? Who would be a strong midday personality? There have been rumors that RKO might try to steal Braude from FM talk. There have also been rumors the Fineberg or Scott Allen Miller might take over that shift. I'll look forward to other comments on this thread.
Click to expand...

You have to have "The Big 3" first, before you can do that. Right now, the Big 3 are "Rush, Beck and Hannity" (or insert your favorte after Rush). Notice all 3 are syndicated. What you are referring to was in a period before syndicated conservative talk became a big deal. So for WRKO to have the "Big 3," they would need to line up 2 or 3 big synidcated talkers, and/or one local host with a big name.

Judging from comments on this board, Boston talk radio has failed to cultivate a strong local talker, unless you consider Automobile or Severus.

Here is what WRKO's dream team (in my opinion) would be:
Mornings: Imus
10-noon: G. Beck
Noon-3: Rush
3-6: Hannity
6-9: (insert host here: Severus/Cart etc...)
Overnight: Coast to coast.
 
Garrett said:
dhoule said:
Hi All,
It seems to me that WRKO was most successful back in the late 80s when essentially they had 3 big 4 hour talk shows that got them ratings: Ted/Janet, Gene, and Jerry. Back then the shifts were from 6-10, 10-2, and 2-6. I wonder if RKO plans to go back to that concept. I noticed that Tom Finneran's new shift beginning in February will be going from 6-10, not 5:30-9. Also, it seems to make sense to move Howie to a 2-6 time slot since his 6-7 hour will frequently be cancelled by a Red Sox pregame show. Also, the syndicated part of his show has always run from 3-6. The local hour could run 2-3, instead of 6-7. If WRKO does this, that would leave a 10-2 slot to fill in the middle of the day. Perhaps, this would be the opportunity to finally dump Rush and go live all day with 3 strong 4 hour hosts. What do people think? Who would be a strong midday personality? There have been rumors that RKO might try to steal Braude from FM talk. There have also been rumors the Fineberg or Scott Allen Miller might take over that shift. I'll look forward to other comments on this thread.
Click to expand...

You have to have "The Big 3" first, before you can do that. Right now, the Big 3 are "Rush, Beck and Hannity" (or insert your favorte after Rush). Notice all 3 are syndicated. What you are referring to was in a period before syndicated conservative talk became a big deal. So for WRKO to have the "Big 3," they would need to line up 2 or 3 big synidcated talkers, and/or one local host with a big name.

Judging from comments on this board, Boston talk radio has failed to cultivate a strong local talker, unless you consider Automobile or Severus.

Here is what WRKO's dream team (in my opinion) would be:
Mornings: Imus
10-noon: G. Beck
Noon-3: Rush
3-6: Hannity
6-9: (insert host here: Severus/Cart etc...)
Overnight: Coast to coast.


That sound like the perfect cure for insomia...
Click to expand...
 
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