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WSJS transfer is beginning!
- Thread starter XTalker
- Start date
1
1q2w3e
Guest
XTalker said:
The paperwork has been shuffling in Raleigh for a couple of weeks now.
I
IFB64
Guest
Good Point on the airing of announcements....as of this writing the application has not shown up on the FCC website.....that may or may not be surpri-zing, since 1....Its the FCC website (and it is often slow) 2....This sale seems to have been a bit slow in congealing for some reason.
I
IFB64
Guest
Also, in the other thread concerning how Curtis may divvie up the signals (920/600 simul of NT and taking the beach music to 1200/1230)...can we look forward to the "Rockin Max Meeks Wake Up Call"? That would be entertaining.
That question always returns with this cluster...what do you do with 1230...and to a certain extent what do you do with 1200? (OK and to a certain extent again, what do you do with 920?)
That question always returns with this cluster...what do you do with 1230...and to a certain extent what do you do with 1200? (OK and to a certain extent again, what do you do with 920?)
M
MaskMan
Guest
This is a momentous occasion! So good to see locally-owned acquiring these stations. 8)
I have always wondered what the 1200 signal contributed to the 600-1200 simulcast. It is very hard to tell from looking at Arbitron since most listeners would write down WSJS regardless of which frequency they were tuned to. As it sits, the 1200 signal is not strong enough to help in Greensboro where it is needed the most.
The question about 1230 is also very valid. The station can barely pay the light bill on its own and SJS picks up the tab for everything else. 1230 has basically been a flanker to keep programs like Hannity and O'Reilly from others. WMFR does get some mention in Arbitron, mostly because of Hannity.
920 seems to have carved a nitch for itself in Alamance County. They sell some advertising and more than likly pay their way.
Lots of what ifs to think about as this change takes place:
1- Will they move ZTK to Winston-Salem?
2- Who will be the GM - Whitley or Hamilton?
3- Will they combine the news operations?
4- How will the AM signals shake out?
5- What happens with sales managers and sales staffs?
6- What about office staff - particularly in the business office. Lots of weight there because of the CBS corporate structure.
7- What about board ops and more use of automation?
The list could go on ... and on!
The question about 1230 is also very valid. The station can barely pay the light bill on its own and SJS picks up the tab for everything else. 1230 has basically been a flanker to keep programs like Hannity and O'Reilly from others. WMFR does get some mention in Arbitron, mostly because of Hannity.
920 seems to have carved a nitch for itself in Alamance County. They sell some advertising and more than likly pay their way.
Lots of what ifs to think about as this change takes place:
1- Will they move ZTK to Winston-Salem?
2- Who will be the GM - Whitley or Hamilton?
3- Will they combine the news operations?
4- How will the AM signals shake out?
5- What happens with sales managers and sales staffs?
6- What about office staff - particularly in the business office. Lots of weight there because of the CBS corporate structure.
7- What about board ops and more use of automation?
The list could go on ... and on!
If I were in charge, here's how I'd answer those questions.
1) No, ZTK stays where it is. However, I would like to see a small booster in W-S... a translator at the very least, but I'd like to stay on the same frequency, so a booster would be better.
2) I haven't worked with either of them, and I really can't rate one's performance over the other's just from what I've heard, so I'll leave that one up to the powers that be.
3) The news operations would be combined, continuing under the "network" name "SJS News," airing on all four stations. However, as is the case with WMFR, WZTK would similarly retain it's own image.
4) I would pretty much keep things as they are, though if worse comes to worse I'd add WMFR to the WSJS simulcast to make up for the area that neither WSJS nor WSML cover very well in Guilford County. If that were necessary, I'd shake things up in programming so as not to lose too much... add Hannity to the trimulcast live from 3-6P, add an hour of news between 6 and 7, drop SNR and do a live, local sports-talk show in the 7-10 slot. O'Reilly would continue to run 10-Midnight, the first hour would re-run from Midnight to 1, then the trimulcast would retain Coast to Coast from WMFR from 1-5.
Again, that's only if necessary.
5) Seniority and numbers would be the two major factors in who stays on the sales staff (and not necessarily in that order, either). I would hope to get the best combination out of the two different groups.
6) Complete restructuring would be necessary at WSJS. Some several titles may be condensed into one. Others, maybe not so much. I don't know CBS's corporate structure, but if it's like any big business, I'm sure there's a lot of bureaucracy involved. That would have to go... I can't stand office politics, and the whole concept is harmful to radio.
7) There would always be a board-op in the studio. I only trust an automation system as far as I can throw it.
So that's how I would answer those questions. Now as to how Curtis will handle them... only those in the know... well, know
1) No, ZTK stays where it is. However, I would like to see a small booster in W-S... a translator at the very least, but I'd like to stay on the same frequency, so a booster would be better.
2) I haven't worked with either of them, and I really can't rate one's performance over the other's just from what I've heard, so I'll leave that one up to the powers that be.
3) The news operations would be combined, continuing under the "network" name "SJS News," airing on all four stations. However, as is the case with WMFR, WZTK would similarly retain it's own image.
4) I would pretty much keep things as they are, though if worse comes to worse I'd add WMFR to the WSJS simulcast to make up for the area that neither WSJS nor WSML cover very well in Guilford County. If that were necessary, I'd shake things up in programming so as not to lose too much... add Hannity to the trimulcast live from 3-6P, add an hour of news between 6 and 7, drop SNR and do a live, local sports-talk show in the 7-10 slot. O'Reilly would continue to run 10-Midnight, the first hour would re-run from Midnight to 1, then the trimulcast would retain Coast to Coast from WMFR from 1-5.
Again, that's only if necessary.
5) Seniority and numbers would be the two major factors in who stays on the sales staff (and not necessarily in that order, either). I would hope to get the best combination out of the two different groups.
6) Complete restructuring would be necessary at WSJS. Some several titles may be condensed into one. Others, maybe not so much. I don't know CBS's corporate structure, but if it's like any big business, I'm sure there's a lot of bureaucracy involved. That would have to go... I can't stand office politics, and the whole concept is harmful to radio.
7) There would always be a board-op in the studio. I only trust an automation system as far as I can throw it.
So that's how I would answer those questions. Now as to how Curtis will handle them... only those in the know... well, know
Good thoughts, Josh. Don't agree with everything, but you have obviously give it some thought. The booster is a must! I believe with a more solid signal in Forsyth and Yadkin, ZTK could be more competitive from a ratings stand point in the Triad - without much detriment to WSJS. Threre is room for two good talkers in this market.
I agree about SNR, but would hate to see SJS give up a live afternoon show (although the current one is not the one I would choose).
I agree about SNR, but would hate to see SJS give up a live afternoon show (although the current one is not the one I would choose).
mi amigos...look for ZTK to change formats 3 to 6 months after Curtis takes over WSJS/WFMR. Once Curtis owns all the outlets for news there is no reason to keep news on ZTK. Why compete for the same ad dollars. He paid 8+ million for SJS/MFR and needs to make that money back. Look for ZTK to change to a music format ... like say...regional mexican...
M
MaskMan
Guest
Here we go again! ;D
A
audiodaze
Guest
XTalker said:
That's a live show? BA yukking it up with her board op? Almost no callers to speak of. Painful to listen to, awful radio.
WSJS "management" over the last decade has destroyed this radio station. Would love to see the new owners revamp it totally and breathe some life into this corpse.
E
EddieVedder
Guest
audiodaze said:
LOL, I've never really listened to the show before. Is it really that bad? I'm always a fan of on-air trainwrecks. Maybe I'll have to tune in tomorrow.
XTalker said:
I definitely took the negativity of losing a local drive-time show into consideration. I wouldn't want to do it either, but I also wouldn't want to lose Hannity. I guess if worse came to worse, Hannity could be moved to ZTK live, but I'd hate to do that to Handelman. Of course, you could put Handelman on SJS from 3-6 in place of Hannity and move Hannity to ZTK outright (and it's not like many people would miss hearing the last hour of Clark Howard... he has his base, but it's not that large). That's, of course, going with my "only if absolutely necessary" programming change idea.
Eh... it could be done, but I'm not a huge fan of running shows tape-delayed. Granted, Hannity doesn't take as many calls as he used to, but doing the show live at least allows the opportunity for local listeners to call in (and I've heard quite a few callers from High Point and Greensboro over the last five years). On top of that, I've found that tape-delayed shows just do not draw numbers, even with Hannity. Even as recently as last year, WJR in Detroit was delaying Hannity until the 7-10 block, and the numbers just weren't there. They had enough people still interested in the show, though, so they moved him to his live daypart (albeit with an omitted third hour, something that's caused quite a bit of scrutiny, especially since the person they're cutting him off for is none other than local sports-story-fabricator extraordinaire Mitch Albom). Unfortunately I haven't been blessed as to seeing the numbers since that move was made, but I have no doubt it's made an improvement. While it's a possibility, I would only do so as a last resort to save the contract.
One might also point out that 'JR dropped their 6 PM hour-long newscast due to low ratings, and that the idea wouldn't work on SJS, either. But I'll preemptively state that WJR's newscast wasn't so much a newscast as it was an extra-long commercial break with headlines thrown in for good measure. If they'd tried an actual long-form radio news block, it probably would have worked. I believe it would also work on SJS. Again, not that anyone had mentioned it before, just throwing it out there.
One might also point out that 'JR dropped their 6 PM hour-long newscast due to low ratings, and that the idea wouldn't work on SJS, either. But I'll preemptively state that WJR's newscast wasn't so much a newscast as it was an extra-long commercial break with headlines thrown in for good measure. If they'd tried an actual long-form radio news block, it probably would have worked. I believe it would also work on SJS. Again, not that anyone had mentioned it before, just throwing it out there.
All of the experts say news hours do not work on talk stations! The current SJS 6PM hour sound somewhat like a news hour, but is basically a place to dump all of the network programming required by CBS and others that they don't want to run the rest of the day! If it were more formatted like a magazine hour, it might work, but I have my doubts!
One thing to remember about talk radio that many people forget (Handleman is a good example) - it is not about the callers, it is about the listeners. For every GOOD caller on the air, there are thousands of listeners who want to ask the same question or make the same comment, but don't pick up the phone. But is not about the caller being live, or local. It is about the content. Let's take psyhics, for example. A psyhic will blow out a phone system, but the only person who gets any benefit is the caller. The good call does contribute to listenership - TSL - but the subject of the call that is so very important.
Now, for delayed shows - there are times when it doesn't work, but there are also many examples of when it does. Take Dr. Laura, for example, or Clark Howard. You never know when they live or recorded. Their subject matter makes it easy to run them a day late. Ever wonder why you don't hear a substitute host for either of them?
Obviously, shows that deal with current events, like Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly, etc. are better when run live, but I do believe that Hannity can work being delayed by three hours. The biggest problem SJS would face with Hannity in that time slot is all of the live, play-by-play sports and the coaches' shows. SJS would have to back off on the sports and devote the slot to the show.
One thing to remember about talk radio that many people forget (Handleman is a good example) - it is not about the callers, it is about the listeners. For every GOOD caller on the air, there are thousands of listeners who want to ask the same question or make the same comment, but don't pick up the phone. But is not about the caller being live, or local. It is about the content. Let's take psyhics, for example. A psyhic will blow out a phone system, but the only person who gets any benefit is the caller. The good call does contribute to listenership - TSL - but the subject of the call that is so very important.
Now, for delayed shows - there are times when it doesn't work, but there are also many examples of when it does. Take Dr. Laura, for example, or Clark Howard. You never know when they live or recorded. Their subject matter makes it easy to run them a day late. Ever wonder why you don't hear a substitute host for either of them?
Obviously, shows that deal with current events, like Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly, etc. are better when run live, but I do believe that Hannity can work being delayed by three hours. The biggest problem SJS would face with Hannity in that time slot is all of the live, play-by-play sports and the coaches' shows. SJS would have to back off on the sports and devote the slot to the show.
That was one of the ideas I had with putting the sports show in that block (similar to the way WTAM in Cleveland does it): even if there's a sporting event, no one is going to miss out. Sports fans would normally be tuning in at that time anyway, so they wouldn't be turned off (at least not as much) by a sports event happening in that slot. As for the station, the added plus is that they wouldn't have to back off on any existing programming.
I understand that the experts say newshours don't work. But from what I've heard, those newshours are either just like the ones you and I described or are some combination of the two. The news magazine approach is something that I might consider for segments, but not for the whole program. What I have in mind is a full hour of local news in as much detail as possible. One of my local stations here in Michigan, WCSR, is great at this. They have local news coverage second to none, and their primary newscasts (at 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM) are in the middle of music blocks. According to surveys done by local publications, they are the number one source for local news in the area, with the 5:00 "Early Evening News Report" being the most listened-to hour of continuous programming. If it can work on an adult contemporary station, it can work on a news/talker.
I understand that the experts say newshours don't work. But from what I've heard, those newshours are either just like the ones you and I described or are some combination of the two. The news magazine approach is something that I might consider for segments, but not for the whole program. What I have in mind is a full hour of local news in as much detail as possible. One of my local stations here in Michigan, WCSR, is great at this. They have local news coverage second to none, and their primary newscasts (at 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM) are in the middle of music blocks. According to surveys done by local publications, they are the number one source for local news in the area, with the 5:00 "Early Evening News Report" being the most listened-to hour of continuous programming. If it can work on an adult contemporary station, it can work on a news/talker.
B
boboradio
Guest
Josh C. said:
A primary newscast is aired at 10 in the morning? Is that a typo?
Nope. News & Views of Hillsdale airs at 10 in the morning, and it's the second most listened-to newscast on the station.
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