Boss, Boss, Boss, Boss, Boss . . . .
Name recognition is overrated and here, it was a proven flop.
Again, I like Steigy- but even when he went away from sports as a topic- what was he going to say on 93.7 that he hadn't said a thousand times before on the Nightly Sports Call?
Besides, 93.7 had name recognition already with its syndicated package.
The "name" recognition of Paulsen, Steigerwald, and McIntire was "they never made it as talk show hosts." And that was before The Zone even started!
It would have been more cost effective, and more cutting edge, if CBS went to Point Park, Duquesne, Pitt, and wherever else they have a college radio station and said- as Reggie Dunlop said to the Hansen Brothers- "Show us what ya got!"
Could that have failed any worse than 93.7 did? No. The Man Station will go down as perhaps the worst flop in the history of Pittsburgh radio.
And you probably would have found some diamonds in the rough!
I know, I know. "How would a 22-year-old relate to a 35-54 male audience and blah, blah, blah."
But if you wanted to relate to the 35-54 male audience, then why did you have on Loveline and O & A?
Couple of other notes-
The same "go see what the crazy kids at the colleges are doing and see if any of them want jobs" strategy would be cost effective and work at WPTT as well.
WPTT is bad and everybody knows it. Hoerth is out of ideas and needs to make the shift to oldies DJ if he can't afford an outright retirement.
Cullen needs to become a political activist or something. Even her fans are saying she's lost it.
Their ratings are always somewhere around a 1.0. Am I really a cockeyed optimist to say that I think the best and brightest of the WPPJ staff (Point Park radio station) could do a better job for less money?
Finally- you missed my final point entirely.
It was that in all too many industries in Pittsburgh, be they broadcasting or otherwise, a young graduate cannot find a quality job, as you alluded to.
I do not believe it is because of the weather.
I believe it is because of an old union mindset that tends to either keep on or fail to motivate deadwood employees, and at higher costs, thus eliminating opportunity.
You proved it in your above post. "Steigerwald, Paulsen, and McIntire were hired because of NAME RECOGNITION!"
The Man Station didn't need name recognition. They needed good talk show hosts, and there was significant evidence these three weren't even before the station went on the air.