WWPR -TAMPA BAY 1490 LOOKING FOR A MORNING TEAM

[sbe1]

What happened to the show where most of the hosts and guests came from next door in that little office complex the station is in? How about the ambulance chaser that got Joe Smith off on a felony so he could go on and do unspeakable things to a little girl?

 

[newsguy92]

UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE


THIS JUST IN TO THE WWPR/TAMPA BAY 1490 NEWS ROOM ...................................


THE MORNING SHOW THAT WAS FOR SALE FROM 9AM TO 10 AM HAS JUST BEEN SOLD !!! REPEATING THE MORNING SHOW THAT WAS FOR SALE FROM 9AM TO 10 AM HAS JUST BEEN SOLD !!!


THE CONTRACT WILL BE SIGNED AND FINALIZED ON MONDAY MORNING SAID A JOYFUL BIG ED EDWARDS WHILE PLANNING HIS NIGHTLY DINNER TRIP TO A NEARBY BUFFET

What happened to BIG Ed's BIG announcement? Did he not make it out of the BIG buffet? Will any more BIG news be coming soon? Be prepared for a BIG wait!

 

[smedge2006]

"AM stations in Sarasota have a tough time making a buck... because of the adjacent major market, better-monied competition with much bigger signals preventing them from upgrading...it's amazing how long some of those people have been on the air at WWPR considering "no one is listening".

There's a lot of idle money hanging around Sarasota - Bradenton... rich folks with nothing better to do who've sold their businesses... same reason there's so much penny stock/pink sheet activity in that same corner of the world.

"because of the adjacent major market, better-monied competition with much bigger signals preventing them from upgrading."

Class C status prevents 1490 from upgrading. It wouldn't matter if the Tampa signals on 1470 and 1500 (tiny ones) were there or not, 1490 still couldn't upgrade. The Sarasota-Bradenton market is misdefined in my opinion. The sole remaining commercial FM licensed to Manatee County (98.7) is a Tampa station for all practical purposes. Manatee county should be defined as part of the Tampa - St. Pete market. Sarasota County is far enough away from Tampa and Fort Myers to deliver viable numbers on its own without the Tampa stations dominating everything.

There is a need for local, non-brokered talk radio in that gap area where Rush Limbaugh is only heard on fuzzy Tampa signals (970) and even fuzzier Port Charlotte signals (1580). Imagine trying to hear Rush in Venice or Englewood. WENG -1530, with a smaller signal than 1490, prospers by doing local radio for Englewood and surrounding areas. Right now there is nothing focused on Manatee County -- except the newspapers -- and Manatee's oldest radio station is trying to pretend to would be su-- er, brokers -- that 1490 is a "Tampa Bay" station. Put it in the Tampa market, I say, and see how absurd that claim truly is.

"don't you think if the station could sell it, they would?"

There are plenty of small owners who think it's their job to sit and wait for the phone to ring. A big reason KSAC, a class C station in Sacramento CA, failed with Air America. The owner sat back and waited for the phone to ring. But let's flip that -- if professionals can't sell the spots, what makes some brokered host think he or she can, other than total naivete?

"By the way, would the radio people who strive for such diverse programming prefer WWPR hand in the license?"

As you mentioned above, a lot of stations can't expand because of other signals in adjacent markets. What radio is missing now is the middle class. It's like a third world country -- a few corporate behemoths and a lot of skinny kittens. Eliminate a few of the radio runts and give the rest a chance to rise to the middle class. If WWPR's going away would allow another station to improve its chances of survival, I'd be for it. But since it's a Class C, probably nothing would change.

Truth be told, there's not much diversity in brokered radio. Mostly mortgage shows, vitamin peddling, stock hawkers and chiropractors. A few foreign language shows that serve audiences so small the internet would be a better bargain. (I don't include Spanish language in this, the Hispanic audience is large enough for 1490 to go full-time Hispanic, even with 1420 in the market.) A few desperate political shows by people who don't realize that brokered political shows are pointless. The audience "served" (if any) by the formerly liberal morning show on 1490 should have its own full-time liberal talk station in Tampa. This is the market that spawned Lassiter, for crying out loud! One of the Air America hosts is FROM here!

WWPR is the kind of "fake" diversity that corporate radio likes to point to -- splitting already tight music formats into even tighter sub-formats. There has to be a consistent sound to get people to tune in, and they never know what they'll find on 1490 -- and that's not a good thing.

What it really comes down to is how people who've been making low radio wages their entire life are now mad that any loser with an MBA can make ten times what they do, and then come in and get to play radio, too. The reason so many people got into radio, for the exclusivity that filled the void in their insecure beings, is now an non-factor."

Radio used to be professional, and the de-professionalization of this medium is mortally wounding it. That loser with the MBA wanted to do a radio show because 30 years ago when he was a kid, he heard professionals doing radio and thought it was cool. His kid won't think that, especially if all his old man had to do was plunk down 50 bucks and be a 'star'. I guess you think doctors set standards for their profession out of jealousy, and lawyers, and journalists, and engineers, and plumbers... etc etc. What if we could plunk down 50 dollars and be our own doctors? Oh wait, that's what the nutrition shows are about...

Brokered radio is a deception all around. The owners deceive the brokers into thinking someone is listening: "Reach three million people" based on how far away they can be received with a 1000-foot Beverage antenna instead of citing actual cume or AQH. The brokers deceive their listeners by selling questionable financial schemes or pills that cure everything. It is an even greater shame that so much Florida AM radio is brokered -- because this is where some of radio's best hosts made a name for themselves. Neil Rogers, Bob Lassiter, Lionel, Randi Rhodes, Gene Burns... to have the signals that spawned such talents turned into brothels is worse than a shame. It's a crime.

Wrapping up with a few names from the Brokered Radio Hall of Shame:

Jan Weeks-Katona Early 1990's -- Used a show aimed at senior citizens to sell them sham investments in credit card processing machines. Prosecuted. Threatened a federal judge and got sent away. A fellow who worked at a station that carried her shows once said to me, "You know we're going to jail for this." If only the people who sold her the time slots had gone to jail...

Kevin Trudeau The scams that got him in trouble with the Feds centered around Mega Memory, and in the late 90's he was a regular visitor to brokered radio time slots.

Wade Cook A regular visitor to brokered radio. Cook used paid radio programs to market investment seminars. He claimed to be able to teach people to double their money every 2.5 to 4 months-- until the government made him stop.

Bogdana Nailed by the FTC for deceptive claims and infomercials that were themselves deceptive -- by pretending to be "real" radio shows. Just think if the Feds used this consistently... every one of these vitamin shows would be off the air!

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1998/05/bogdana.shtm


Sea Silver Colloidal silver cures all.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/06/seasilver.shtm

Bijan "B.J." Razdar Another scammer taking money away from seniors.

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/annuity-horror-story-again-14707.html

 

[sbe1]

Clear Channel seems to be doing OK with music on a Class C signal in Sarasota.. I also realize they take the 1320 signal in Venice to make one station out of 2. I realize it is not in the normal demo, but there are a lot of old farts listening to it. There are also a lot of businesses that will advertise to reach this older demo. It's hard to place format wise, it's standards and oldies together.

 

[sbe1]

I've always wondered how the FCC allowed Clear Channel to own so many stations in the Sarasota Market. Not counting CC stations, there appears to be only 3 FM's in the commercial part of the band licensed to the Sarasota-Bradenton market. 98.7, agreed is a Tampa Rimshot. 105.9 is about the only one because it's boxed in and cannot be upgraded due to the monster class C signal on 105.9 in Deland (Orlando), and 104.7 which is a religious noncom in the commercial band. It used to be on 105.5, but was bought out and moved to allow the upgrade of 105.5 in Pasco County.

 

[smedge2006]

For additional Hall of Shamers go here:

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/moneymag_archive/1991/06/01/86609/index.htm

 

[ajhenderson]

Smedge:

You mention the OTC stock activity in the Saraota area, which indicates it is brokered radio that makes people scam other people. They'd be doing it with or without brokered radio. You seem to indicate that these people, with money to burn, do radio shows to get themselves off, despite having no listeners. If that's the case, then great. 40+ million people flock to Vegas every year to dump money into craps pits and blackjack tables; if that form of flushing away money for nothing substantive (other than entertainment) in return excites people, then what's the problem?

Yes, 1490 is Class C, but in theory, it could move to another frequency and upgrade from there. Manatee County may in fact be misdefined, but considering none of the AMs reach into even Pinellas county, I doubt you'd be doing them much of a favor by making them part of a market they couldn't cover 20% of, making any hope of ever getting a 0.4 impossible.

You say there is a need for local, non-brokered talk radio in the Sarasota market... only apparently, the people in Sarasota didn't think so. WSRQ couldn't support a local morning show and cut, cut, cut staff. No one wanted to hear Rush or Hannity, either (even when Hannity was on 'BA). 1450's stick is right off Longboat Key, directly across from Sarasota, and while the signal does not city-grade all of Bradenton and vicinity, it does put a full signal over the city of Sarasota and points south. WENG may make money, and God bless them, but they have prime-time brokered spots and used to have financial guys buying time during the week, as well. Despite early and midmorning local shows, the bulk of their schedule is syndicated. WFLN in Arcadia makes money, too, although you're not going to be a millionaire running the thing, or even if/when you sell it. I mention 'FLN because they, too, run Rush. But while Premiere is content to take $400 or 500 a month from a station that doesn't cover any significant part of a rated market, I doubt they'd be too happy to take that for a station in a top-75 market... the same with ABC.

WWPR may have Tampa Bay as part of its imaging (after Bradenton and Sarasota), but it's a lot less than many stations do. I saw a Long Island, NY station the other day sending out a coverage map using its 0.15mV/m pattern to convince would-be clients that it covered most of NYC and Northern NJ. In a market with a noise floor of 5mV/m or above, the reality is it realistically doesn't even get into the far east reaches of Queens.

You are right that many small owners are 1) lazy and 2) don't know how to sell. As someone who buys a lot of brokered radio, I know many of these people also think their 1kW teakettles in Nowheresville should also command $300 an hour. (I guess making a lot more money than they do with none of the risk of debt and employees really is the best revenge.) KSAC is an example of that, and look what happened. The one thing I will say in their defense is that it's tough for rated FM stations in these types of markets to keep sales staff with draws and the lure of an exciting, sexy station to work at. How is a tiny AM station no one's heard of supposed to afford, and then retain, competent sales staff? The owners in many cases ARE selling... once they've done payroll, fixed the console, paid the bills, and answered a lot of calls about nonsense. No, brokered hosts can't generally sell airtime, although I've seen people with shows about something sell time and make a living... even a year or more later. The real problem here isn't that the hosts CAN'T sell the time, it's that they 1) couldn't sell ice water in the desert and 2) are too arrogant after their first three shows that they want to hire some other sucker because they're the "talent" and heaven forbid they should sell - they're too busy developing their show into the next Sean Hannity.

I am in favor of a decent amount of regulation in businesses like radio. Unfortunately, the cat is out of the bag and we have the environment we have, where a lot of people can't make any money off their stations. Of course, it was always this way on AM (at least since the boom of FM) in smaller markets, it's just worse now with corporate radio.

You claim there's not much diversity in brokered radio and cite vitamin peddlers and the like, only WWPR, for example, has no vitamin infomercials. None of what I call the "usual suspects". The mortgage shows are dead. In reality, there are certain types of businesses that can benefit from a long-form show. Should Pepsi take out 25 minutes to talk about how crisp and refreshing it is? Foreign languages shows may superserve some audiences... are you opposed to them in general? LA has stations in Mandarian, Cantonese, Farsi, Korean, Tagalog, etc... is that a problem? I suppose you're generally opposed to all religious stations which don't get ratings, which is most of them, and they are mostly time-brokered. The political shows pay because they are hosted by people to lazy to move to the BFE to develop careers from the ground up like most local hosts who have been successful over the years. You don't get to start in Tampa. Yes, Lionel did, by a fluke, and look at him now - a big paycut to move to Air America and no one's listening - not even in NYC, where listeners are now treated to "Yutzes Talk Medicine". I don't know why corporate radio would point to WWPR, an independently owned station, as an example of diversity, or anything else.

I think people will continue to do brokered radio shows for the same reason they will continue to buy radio spots. Despite the media blitz that radio is dying, cume listenership hasn't eroded by more than a point or two in any rated market. There are plenty of young people using radio as an advertising vehicle because it is underpriced and it reaches a lot of people. I also think that while people may spend less time with radio (as they will with every other medium), I see 20-somethings like myself using radio just as much, and that those enamored with iPods and such eventually get into the real world and have less time to perfectly program their MP3 player. They realize that eventually the 95% of the rest of us that are listening to radio aren't the stupid ones. As to being my own doctor, I don't see the appeal of that, because I go to the doctor to be cured of whatever ailment I have. I don't care if the guy on the radio can diagnose my rare disease as long as he entertains me. Big difference.

All in all, brokered radio is not a deception as you claim... plenty of stations advertise their coverage, and even the best of them use 0.5 and lower mV/m patterns on their maps, when 0.5 is good mostly only outside of top-100 markets. In reality, people who use brokered radio are largely experienced media buyers who never ask for ratings... I've repped some FMs that I had to shout repeatedly as said buyers about the ratings we had, because they presume if you're hawking time, you don't have any. Again, a scammer is a scammer, whether or not he has a brokered radio show. When I hear top stations in LA and Phoenix airing spots for a pill/cream guaranteeing to "add 2 cup sizes or more", I know that it's not the medium, it's the client. These people's predecessor's in the vanity nutraceutical business took out ads in top magazines in the past... does that mean magazines are based on deception, too? Are brokered shows like the one in the afternoon on WWPR that encourages people to be more active in their communities and take control of their lives, without peddling anything, deceiving listeners? Are Bill O'Reilly and Dennis Miller, whose network have paid for some of their clearances, duping listeners?

Tampa perhaps should have an Air America station, but it doesn't. There's a reason for that. Maybe CBS should blow up their failing sports station for Air America... heck, maybe WWBA should throw in the towel and let GUL have Savage and Paul Harvey. He who owns the station makes the programming decisions, and AAR's track record for advertising dollars, not ratings, is what is preventing anyone anywhere from jumping on that bandwagon.

As to the Hall of Shame, you forgot the stock guy (forget his name) that was just indicted in the last few months... he did an afternoon show down the dial and had been on other stations. Kevin Trudeau has made most of his money off TV, so I guess you think TV stations are built on deception, too. The FCC and FTC DO have rules for infomercials on the radio, namely saying that anything over 15 minutes has to identify itself as a "paid program", which obviously has to be done audibly, so there's no tiny print as on TV. The FDA also requires that supplements must disclaim their ability to treat, prevent, or cure any disease, and each respective industry has it's own govenment agencies (such as the SEC) and voluntary enforcement agencies (such as the NASD and FINRA) that set rules for advertising to comply with.

 

[MisterNews]

Brokered radio is a deception all around. The owners deceive the brokers into thinking someone is listening: "Reach three million people" based on how far away they can be received with a 1000-foot Beverage antenna instead of citing actual cume or AQH. The brokers deceive their listeners by selling questionable financial schemes or pills that cure everything.

I assume the "reach 3 million people" remark is our friend WagonHoe at the Class 4-F station, Tan-Talk ("Welcome back Don Imus". oh, and Doctor Dum-Dum too.) I've always wondered why Wagi doesn't claim that he can reach "six billion people on this planet and many others around the galaxy", since he is screaming on the Innernet, or whatever that newfangled gadget is ('scuse me while I pour out another couple shots o' this here fine whiskey- hic!). Then tuned in to the WTAN website audio stream only to find myself instantly transported to Juarez. And I really wanted to hear the circumcision show, you know- that Moyl guy. They should run him opposite Dr Laura....

There are a few semi-legitimate brokered shows, where the hosts have a useful, legitimate and legal product. It's a form of advertising which combines old-tyme talk radio with carnival barking ("See the one-eyed snake oggle the bearded lady- only $39.95") I had a lovely wedding ring made out of Sea Silver and it's kept my bowels regular through 11 years of marriage. BOW-ELS!! (Thank you Roger Shulman.) This area of the country is ripe for radio shysters, what with all the elderly and the proximity of the P-T Barnum Museum. (darn it- I'm getting poisoned by the chlorine I'm absorbing in the shower- have to buy that $85 shower head filter from Roex.)

Now that I think about it, brokered shows are actually the future of radio. Most of the paid shows are so bad they're funny, and it's the only thing differentiating terrestial radio from satellite and the eye-pod. In the words of George Forman, "It knocked out da fat!"

 

[jefflaurence]

C'mon leave George Foreman out of this he's a nice man, and the George Foreman..Lean, Mean Fat Reducing Grilling Machine was a 40 million dollar bone pile for him..Radio stations seem to be grabbing at anything to keep the lights on. I see no problem with allowing "regular people" the chance to try their hand at making a "splash" in the media..as it has been mentioned..it's not really hurting anyone. And hey, BIG Ed will I'm sure tell you how expensive it can be to run even a Class C AM. The shady hucksters have been using radio for decades. Look at the old border blasters from Mexico..for years they made good money by allowing anyone with the hourly price a shot at telling, selling and shilling on thier airwaves. The radio professional is about the only one who takes offense at this, and as it has been mentioned..most of these small stations would be off the air all together if it wasn't for at least SOME brokered programming.

I LOVE the idea of running a broadcasting school and using the station as a "testing ground" a free staff that pays you as well as a HUGE tax deduction by running it as an educational station. Dave Wagonvoord shoud do that too. Sleazy? sure, but I'm the guy that sells the make-at-home sausage machine, and the two-way talking doorbell, and the Blue Hippo computers..not to mention the nicer dicer, and the peel-off the poison foot pads that turn black while you sleep and wick the toxins from your feet...so don't pay any attention to the man behind the curtin. It's not really me

 

[smedge2006]

I LOVE the idea of running a broadcasting school and using the station as a "testing ground" a free staff that pays you as well as a HUGE tax deduction by running it as an educational station.

Except that all but the mouthbreathers in the up-and-coming generation have figured out that the money to be made in broadcasting doesn't justify the expense of a "broadcasting school" that doesn't give them a skill to fall back on. Not to mention that the current generation has no love or passion for what in their lifetimes has become a mostly passionless medium, operated with reptilian efficiency. This might have worked 20 years ago -- in fact, it's how WLPJ-FM in New Port Richey operated before it became a networked Christian station -- but not now.

 

[sbe1]

So, Jeff, are you telling me that the powdered goat gonads my grandpa purchased from Dr. Brinkley were a scam? Seems he always claimed great prostate health using Dr. Brinkley's formula. The Mexican government would never allow a scam on the radio. The stuff must work....

 

[sbe1]

I saw a bumpersticker this morning that was advertising WWPR 1490 and said "Give me the finger" Shades of "grab our balls" from the same station many years ago

 

[oldies5161]

Mr Ed needs spelling lessons. LOL

 

[quadraphonic]

Quick, call Radio Free Rocky Dee, or Glenn kline online, or Dr. Robyn, or the blond Sicentologist real estate lady. They too can have a morning show on a station that no one can hear.

Until they run out of money.... Oh, they alread have...

VERY INTERESTING ... LETS SEE I WAS AT TAMPA AIRPORT LISTENING LAST SUNDAY AND IN OSPREY LISTENING ON TUESDAY AND IN CLEARWATER AND BRANDON THE WEEK BEFORE ....AND THEN I DRIVE HOME TO SARASOTA LISTENING ALL THE WAY.......AND YOU SAY ITS A " a station that no one can hear" ......YOU MUST BE THE HEARING IMPARED HAS-BEEN RADIO ANNOUNCER" that you left of the list above , please call me at the station ,you can be on Mondays at 1pm,It will be a great show...but uh,you wont hear it ...just everyone else

There is a tin foil hat joke in here, but I'm not going to dig it out for all of yall. ;D