65 Comments Add your own

• 1. Eddy Andleminn  |  February 8th, 2010 at 8:42 pm

  “And how could I have fah-gotten about about Jay Lenno? My god, did you know they had to widen all the doors at NBC in Burbank, Billy, by about a foot when Lenno took o-vah fah Carson , just so Lenno’s ass could fit through? Now, even though he’s not funny, he IS very successful, so, how great would it be, Billy, to have, ahm, Lenno wearing the Fantom Gore-May Logo Purple Sweatpants onstage during his monologue?”

• 2. ChrisNH  |  February 8th, 2010 at 8:46 pm

  LOL @ the little dig at Julie (’personal’ reasons), knowing full well that she and others come here to see what’s being said about them (like all media hacks do).

• 3. Marco  |  February 8th, 2010 at 10:49 pm

  Great article Brian. Welcome back.

• 4. the real Barbara  |  February 9th, 2010 at 9:19 am

  RKO has dropped Coast to Coast am from 1am to 5am and instead has replaced it with a rerun of Howie Carr,,,,reruns of Howie overnite and on Saturday mornings, hey RKO, why don’t you just run Howie 24/7. Don’t get me wrong I like Howie but enough already with the reruns.

• 5. Bea in Biloxi  |  February 9th, 2010 at 9:47 am

  What a brilliant (not) move that is. Quite a
  sizable loss of listeners on the overnight that
  feeds into their horror show AM line up.
  Life is a series of “move ons”.
  I guess a new antenna is in the very near future
  to pick up NY clearly.

• 6. raccoonradio  |  February 9th, 2010 at 11:46 am

  the real Barbara: Seriously? if so, not surprised, as the new Clear Channel talker is to debut Apr 1 and no doubt it will go there. They did use to re-run Howie and I think Rush too (when allowed) years ago. This could be “Cheapercom” or again Premiere/Clear Channel exercising their rights. (Hint to RKO listeners, perhaps Mr. EIB may be gone fairly soon too. If so who do they run?
  Dennis Miller? They already run best of DM on
  Sundays)

  WABC and KABC are dropping Coast to Coast too in favor of new Doug McIntyre show (someone on Free Republic doesn’t want to lose CTC on WABC in favor of “some RINO”)

  Oh: I checked RKO site, you’re right! Howie 1-5 am

• 7. the real Barbara  |  February 9th, 2010 at 12:09 pm

  raccoon, I don’t post things unless I verify them first!

  Who do they run instead of mr ego? Well, Howie of course, Howie 24/7! Ungh!

• 8. raccoonradio  |  February 9th, 2010 at 12:41 pm

  That’s OK, I like Howie, and some people who work days but can’t have radio (or Net access to webstreams) can hear him now. I also try to verify first and was covering my own butt just in case! Well, if you’re Cheapercom, who else to run but Howie? They just plug it in, no need to hire a host or pick up a syndie, and he gets good ratings (sorry, but he does…) and is on a roll these days with Scott’s election.

  Now RKO has local talk (tape delayed tho) vs WBZ and Leveille. Late shift workers who might sleep during Howie’s reg hours can catch him too.

• 9. Ad Man  |  February 9th, 2010 at 2:07 pm

  Where to start…first, Coast-to-Coast doesn’t cost anything, so “Cheapercom” has nothing to do with it. Agree with Rac that Howie rerun might be better for the listeners.

  Will it be “Exitcom”? I doubt that too. The person that Brian is hinting at is a good guy and would probably be a capable GM in some respects, but not all just yet. If I had a dime for every time Brian predicted The Empress’ demise I could probably buy WRKO, or at least a lot of spots on Howie. On the other hand, one of these times he’s bound to be right, so who knows?

  On the third hand : ), since apparently none of Brian’s sources know anything about revenue, which is the only thing more important than ratings. (The two are related, but not close to proportional, especially locally.) Entercom’s relative performance vs its peers (which has nothing to do with comps) remains pretty good.

  My money is on David Field having an engagement in the area and another non-event at Entercom Boston.

• 10. raccoonradio  |  February 9th, 2010 at 2:24 pm

  Glenn Beck may be gone from WRKO, too; he is still listed on “Weekend Shows” but the lineup for next Sat lists “Rusty Humphries” in the Sat night slot that had been best of Beck

• 11. Brian Maloney  |  February 9th, 2010 at 2:48 pm

  I’m not predicting her demise, just relaying some internal perceptions to the readership.

  She’s only partly responsible for the Boston cluster’s suffering, anyway. Like other radio outfits, Entercom is micromanaged from the top.

  It’s the Fields who didn’t see WBZ-FM coming or the new Clear Channel talker that threatens WRKO.

• 12. the real Barbara  |  February 9th, 2010 at 3:41 pm

  Sandy’s pms’ing today.

• 13. raccoonradio  |  February 9th, 2010 at 4:37 pm

  Sun night show with Bill Cunningham is gone too acc to WRKO sched page. This makes 3 Premiere hosts whom they’ve lost: Noory (and Bell), Beck,
  and Cunningham (who had replaced Drudge).
  Only one is left, Rush, and who knows how long he will last.

  Bob Brinker money talk replaces Cunningham.
  Could 1200 be debuting even earlier than Apr 1?

• 14. Bea in Biloxi  |  February 9th, 2010 at 5:02 pm

  Ad Man, From your lips to God’s ears.

• 15. Laurence Glavin  |  February 9th, 2010 at 5:54 pm

  You must be aware of the line “get me rewrite” that occurred in many of the old black-and-white movies set in newspapers. You should rewrite the sentence that includes the text “…since this person is said to be a pleasure with WHICH to work”. You should have used “whom”, not “which” when the reference is to a PERSON.

• 16. Laurence Glavin  |  February 9th, 2010 at 5:55 pm

  Oh, and another thing: WROW-AM 590 in Albany, NY ditched its all-right-wing-yakker format for mass-marketed-recorded-material of some sort. (None dare call it music.)

• 17. Brian Flaherty  |  February 9th, 2010 at 10:03 pm

  I thought Coast to Coast and Bill Cunningham were a little wacky but I enjoyed their shows. Bad move geting ride of those. Who is going to listen to Bob Brinker??

• 18. Cap'n Spackle  |  February 10th, 2010 at 12:22 am

  I thought “rusty humphries” was what happens when you have too much iron in your diet.

• 19. Joe Perry  |  February 10th, 2010 at 6:28 am

  I was up late and had wrko on. Howie’s re-run came in lound and clear. If only they could achieve that during normal listening hours.

• 20. bjd  |  February 10th, 2010 at 8:42 am

  Taken right from the wrko web page:
  1:00PM 2:00PM Best of Tom & Todd

  So they’ve been doing this for how long, and there’s only 1 hour of a show? It must of been when felon was on vacation.

  What will they air NEXT Saturday?

• 21. raccoonradio  |  February 10th, 2010 at 9:48 am

  Premiere/CC is grabbing everything they’re sending to RKO and that will eventually include Rush (the reg. of the RushRadio domain name makes you think they could even debut with him).
  This also would include Fox News Radio which is dist. by Premiere, you’d think, as bostonradio tweeted to me.

  Would they change over to talk even earlier than Apr 1 over at 1200? The later sunsets will really start to show up starting in early March with start of Daylight Savings

• 22. piratetoby  |  February 10th, 2010 at 1:44 pm

  Eddy A: When your ancestors arrived at Ellis Island and they were registering names based on something particular to the individual, they missed an opportunity……instead of “Anndle” prefacing “man”, they should have assigned you Assman.

  Remember Cosmo Kramer’s license plate, “Ass Man”?

  Methinks you’re more interested in asses than Phantom Gourmet sweatpants. Talking about the promotional sweatpants just creates an opportunity for ass speak…..yes?

• 23. Bea in Biloxi  |  February 10th, 2010 at 1:45 pm

  Did the felon get a new contract? If this is what
  we are saving WRKO for plus every supplement
  known to mankind and how to manage the $$
  we do not have I think it is best to turn to 40’s
  music. Better than supplement pills it will guarantee you a
  peaceful night sleep.
  The people who run this market are just so non
  creative. NOT WORTH SAVING WRKO!

• 24. the real Barbara  |  February 10th, 2010 at 2:44 pm

  I agree Bea, RKO is no longer worth saving, the programming has gone from horrible to absolutely horrible.

  I’m guessing the felon’s contract was renewed. Based on the programming decisions made recently one can be sure the felon will be around for a couple more years.

  So very very sad to see this once good station go down the tubes. Obviously J&J don’t listen to the programs the have instituted for their listeners. I wonder what station they listen to these days?

• 25. raccoonradio  |  February 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm

  Posted on wrko’s site under “Want More Howie? You Got It!”

  >

  “Howie Carr is our #1 asset and his show provides un-matched much value to WRKO. With the interest in the recent special senate election in Massachusetts and an incredible intensity building in the local political scene with the Governor’s race and key congressional races set for this fall, we’ve decided to give our listeners more Howie by re-playing his show overnight. No host has the credibility to discuss these issues better than Howie, and we’re excited about making this move in our lineup, at a time when people care deeply about these upcoming elections.”

  -Jason Wolfe, VP Programming

• 26. Cap'n Spackle  |  February 10th, 2010 at 2:58 pm

  Speaking of False Alarms…

  Where’s the blizzard?

• 27. raccoonradio  |  February 10th, 2010 at 3:19 pm

  No snow at all here in Beverly. Weather.com now says: “Snowfall of 1 to 2 inches through 8pm.” What a blizzard.

• 28. Unenrolled  |  February 10th, 2010 at 4:19 pm

  so, what happened at this meeting this morning?

• 29. Larry  |  February 10th, 2010 at 4:39 pm

  There may be no snowstorm this afternoon, but Howie is able to coast without the snow. He has been talking about the overhyped weather reports. The hype deserves a mention, not 4 hours of talk. Someone tell me about the 1200AM lineup.

• 30. Brian Maloney  |  February 10th, 2010 at 8:37 pm

  It’s my understanding the meeting will now be held NEXT Wednesday. Whether that was always the plan or if weather kept Field’s jet parked in Philly isn’t clear.

• 31. raccoonradio  |  February 11th, 2010 at 3:05 am

  1200 would prob be: Local show (?), Glenn Beck,
  Rush (! or a placeholder), Hannity, then maybe the likes of Mark Levin, John Gibson, etc; Coast to Coast overnight
  Howie didn’t do 4 hrs of just that subject. he had Patches’ opponent on & talked local politics

• 32. Jim from Boston  |  February 11th, 2010 at 7:50 am

  On February 9th, 2010 at 4:37 pm, racoonradio wrote:

  “Sun night show with Bill Cunningham is gone too acc to WRKO sched page. This makes 3 Premiere hosts whom they’ve lost: Noory (and Bell), Beck, and Cunningham (who had replaced Drudge).

  Only one is left, Rush, and who knows how long he will last.”

  To add to this list of departures, from the netherworld of Talk Radio, “Talking Religion” suddenly disappeared from its Sunday 5:00 AM time slot about four weeks ago. It had been on the air for about thirty years, and I had heard it broadcast from at least the 1980’s

  Actually it had been announced to go off-air last year due to lack of studio space, but got a reprieve by recording at Brandeis, where the panelist Fr. Cunin is a chaplain. So it stayed on for a few more weeks. On the last show, the host made a thinly veiled reference to a disgruntled tussle with Jason Wolfe. Hmmm…

  The show was replaced by Doug Stephan’s “Talk Radio Countdown.” I have a mutual acquaintance with Fr. Cunin, so I’m trying to get the rest of the story.

• 33. bostonlistener  |  February 11th, 2010 at 8:28 am

  I like Michael Medved. Also John Batchelor. It was nice to have radio shows in Boston where the hosts can talk in complete sentences and paragraphs.

• 34. the real Barbara  |  February 11th, 2010 at 8:30 am

  Howie did speak about the over hype of the storm yesterday, but did not, did not, spend 4 hours on it. He had John Loughlin, repub candidate running against patches in RI.

  http://www.johnloughlin.com

• 35. Bill from NH  |  February 11th, 2010 at 9:22 am

  RKO is really going down fast.. getting rid of Coast to Coast (which I am sure costs something to run) just shows how bad off the station is financially.. EEI is number 1 and they still cut back.. is the station run that poorly, or is the industry just on the down & outs?

• 36. raccoonradio  |  February 11th, 2010 at 10:22 am

  I don’t know how much it cost to produce Talking Religion but maybe they figured they could get by on their public service/public affairs requirement by running PSAs, etc., and no need to run the
  Sunday morning program.

  Fox News, synd by Premiere, could also be a casualty of CC/Premiere moving stuff to 1200.

  Someone on radioinsight.com mentioned maybe 1200 could pick up Imus and TKK could just expand Eagan and Braude, etc. There was a mention in the orig CC press release that there would be “local talk and news”. Would CC hire someone? Perhaps they could pick up Helen Glover from their WHJJ as a simulcast…or maybe simulcast Fox 25 morning news or
  something

  >>due to lack of studio space

  they needed to expand stuff for WEEI maybe?

• 37. raccoonradio  |  February 11th, 2010 at 10:50 am

  It’s in the Herald, the rumors of cuts at Entercom Boston.

  Excerpt: ““There’s no way (Field) could be content with the way things are now,” said Brian Maloney, who also reported on the meeting on his blog, savewrko.com.

• 38. Jim  |  February 11th, 2010 at 11:32 am

  haven’t posted in many a moon, but how and why exactly would RKO renew a program like Fineran’s Forum if it doesn’t get any solid ratings? It can’t be for any kind of ‘cred’ or anything, so is it a matter of pride at this point that says ‘we’re not giving up on this guy no matter how low the ratings”? Like him or not, one can see why Howie is always in exit mode when he’s continually faced with no-ratings shows being renewed, as they take things away from his own show, and he DOES have the ratings!! This is precisely why I’ve listed to satellite radio since 2006……

• 39. Delilah  |  February 11th, 2010 at 12:21 pm

  I recently worked in sales at entercom and all david field would ever say at any of these meetings was that everything was fine. he would put up a slide showing that radio listenership nationwide grew by 2 million people and talk about the growth of weei.com. the point? exactly.

• 40. bostonlistener  |  February 11th, 2010 at 1:01 pm

  Anyone know the ratings for Savage/Doyle/Coast-to-Coast?

• 41. Joseph  |  February 11th, 2010 at 1:04 pm

  I actually think that WRKO won’t be affected by next week’s visit of Entercom CEO David Field, nor will Julie Kahn get canned.

  My guess as for why he’s coming: He’ll be announcing that WEEI will be moved to FM at 107.3/93.7 just before the start of the baseball season (maybe sooner), WMKK (”Mike FM”) will move from 93.7 to 97.7, WAAF will get “blown-up”, and 850 Boston and 1440 Worcester will become 24/7 ESPN radio outlets.

  This would allow WEEI to go on FM head-to-head against “98.5 The Sports Hub”.

  Moving to FM may be the best way for WEEI to remain popular.

• 42. Hoss  |  February 11th, 2010 at 2:49 pm

  What’s the signal strength at 1200?

• 43. Dr. Quincy, M.E.  |  February 11th, 2010 at 8:32 pm

  Dan Rea’s showing the symptoms again of having been very recently slapped around by management in a closed door WBZ-AM conference room. Last night, Dan embarrassingly overreacted like a drama queen by scolding a “Bonnie from Quincy” (no relation) for not being efficient enough with her inquiry to, and not acting grateful enough to Rea’s guest, the Postmaster for the Boston Region. On a positive note, I don’t recall Dan, during that call, reminding us that he’s an attorney.

• 44. John  |  February 11th, 2010 at 9:55 pm

  It cost nothing to run Talking Religion, the hosts were not paid and they taped during Rush, which had a producer there anyway.

  Coast To Coast cost nothing either, because RKO gave them the airtime

  Rush will be gone in April when the new station opens…

• 45. raccoonradio  |  February 12th, 2010 at 2:37 am

  Coast to Coast actually debuted at AM 1200 tonight. “WKOX Newton, Boston’s new home for Coast to Coast” (the calls will change to WXKS later). The signal was maybe an 8 out of 10 (sometimes 7 of 10) on Rt 62 in Danvers and
  Middleton. At top of hour no newscast, just PSAs

  Are they jumping the gun a bit? Will they also add Beck, Hannity, etc., and get them rolling well before the scheduled debut?

• 46. bostonlistener  |  February 12th, 2010 at 7:46 am

  Yes, Boston now has Coast to Coast AM on 1200 WKOX! The signal was fantastic coming into the Fenway area. Sounded like they were in my living room, not behind a pile of books like on that other station.

• 47. medic  |  February 12th, 2010 at 7:53 am

  Joseph. Let’s not forget that there already is a WEEI-FM in Providence. They carry the Sox game in my area when ‘RKO fades out. I’m wondering if ‘RKO goes to FM at one of the frequencies you mentioned? They might also possibly put the Sox games on a Boston area FM signal which the Sox have wanted for some time.

• 48. medic  |  February 12th, 2010 at 8:24 am

  I should have added that they can change the call letters to the Providence station, but it does have it’s niche now in southern New England.

• 49. Ad Man  |  February 12th, 2010 at 9:06 am

  Rac - How do you think the article ended up in the Herald quoting Brian? It was yet another of those Jessica/Brian/Howie circle-you-know-whats that always adds up to nothing.

  Joseph - WAAF is Entercom Boston’s second highest billing station after WEEI. It’s not going anywhere, it’s already popular and the Sports Hub has not been nearly the disruption to WEEI that it has been portrayed as here. CBS Boston was practically forced to make the switch; it was not a stroke of genius on anyone’s part.

  Traditional media spending is on the decline. The decline has slowed a bit, but it is still heading in the wrong direction. None of this is news. Entercom’s performance is no worse and often better than its competitors.

• 50. piratetoby  |  February 13th, 2010 at 6:54 pm

  I’m a creep, “Emporer”? I’ll tell you what’s creepy: the fact that you “Emporer”, some cyber name I’ve never noticed here before, notices my lack of posting.

  That’s creepy. Emporer’s Return?

  Methinks the emporer has no clothes.

• 51. piratetoby  |  February 13th, 2010 at 7:40 pm

  Yeah, Emp. my spelling is a result of dyslexia. Maybe you can explain your grammatical deficiencies?

  Get dressed, fruitcake……you’ve got a silent case of the Emperor’s new clothes.

• 52. raccoonradio  |  February 14th, 2010 at 10:28 pm

  File under that didn’t last long: WRKO’s site now says Red Eye Radio 1-5 am, mere days after they changed to re-running Howie during those hours. I think this is the new Doug McIntyre show (actually he had done a show w/ that title on KABC before?) that’s on WABC (replacing Coast to Coast) and KABC and now is spreading nationwide.

  Didn’t Wolfe just strut out some praise for Howie in a decision to expand his show by re-running it overnight–mere days later they change their minds?

• 53. Emperor's Return  |  February 14th, 2010 at 10:36 pm

  That RINO McIntyre Sucks. He’s just like that bald troll in Philly, Smerconish. Obama suckups. “Centrists” without guts or true convictions.

• 54. Jim  |  February 15th, 2010 at 12:18 pm

  Some one said that Dan Rea got hit pretty hard by management in a closed doors Soldiers Field Road meeting recently…any one know what came out of that/reason for it?

• 55. swami  |  February 15th, 2010 at 5:41 pm

  What a mess Boston radio has become.

• 56. Little Ed  |  February 15th, 2010 at 10:47 pm

  Who cares what they plug into overnights at WRKO. Longterm, Entercom has no plans for the station. Look for a sale or possible LMA-out.

• 57. Jim  |  February 16th, 2010 at 8:12 am

  Gotta tell ya…WBZ-FM is ALREADY superior to WEEI much faster than I ever suspected. I turned on both stations randomly the past few days and EACH time I heard LOCAL talk on WBZ-FM on a crystal clear FM signal AND EACH time I turned on WEEI I heard SYNDI programming on an inferior signal.

  Forget the Programming philosophies for just a moment. Its not even that complicated. WBZ-FM is already superior both in terms of its COMMITMENT to LOCAL and its SIGNAL.

  This is nothing short of the most shocking Radio Development in New England in many years. WEEI is/was a poster child for how successful Sports Talk. Its going down in flames. I, for one, am shocked.

  I mean, WBZ-FM ALREADY beats the legendary sports powerhouse WEEI in CUME. Stunning

• 58. Emperor's Return  |  February 16th, 2010 at 10:40 am

  WEEI has coasted for a decade, never took any of the competition seriously. 1510 and 890 didn’t have strong enough signals/managerial commitment. 1510 choosing Andleman and Adams as their foundation was a fatal flaw.

  Any station that gives “Dale Denver”(Adams) a full time shift deserves to sink into an abyss.

• 59. tired of right wing talk  |  February 16th, 2010 at 5:10 pm

  I don’t know what’s going on at WRKO as I stopped listening years ago. I heard about the big guy’s visit so I was curious about Brian’s take. Frankly, what turned me off RKO was just consistent right wing Republican talk, all day, every day, with no other points of view represented, ever. It’s not talk anymore, it’s propaganda. All the hosts recite the same talking points over and over, each in their own fashion, but it’s all the same thing. I’d like to see more points of view expressed (and don’t tell me they don’t exist, as they do - I listen to Internet talk shows all the time). Everyone from liberal Thom Hartman to patriot Alex Jones. I’d also like to hear some local programming - I don’t see why not, you could surely get some locala people for a few bucks.

  WRKO became a synonym for boring. Any station where the morning show is Feinman and Felon is screwed.

• 60. raccoonradio  |  February 17th, 2010 at 11:27 am

  Try libtalk on 1510; I found it boring and they have no ratings but if you hate what you call right wing propaganda you should like them. A station where someone had to buy time to put it on; well at least it’s not full time colon cleanser informercials. Who needs Howie or Jay when you have the dynamic Thom Hartmzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

• 61. EnterCommunicator  |  February 17th, 2010 at 12:23 pm

  So, what happened with the meeting today?

• 62. Waitingfordeath  |  February 17th, 2010 at 8:16 pm

  Did “tired of right wing talk” just refer to Alex Jones as a patriot?? The guy is a fraud and a tinfoil wearing loon. Birds of a feather here.

  Hate to tell you but “right wing talk” is a huge ratings generator in radio. Nobody but moonbats want to hear crap like Air America. How’s the left wing talk stuff going these days?

• 63. raccoonradio  |  February 18th, 2010 at 3:09 am

  Here’s what happened: acc to Jessica’s Media Blitz in the Herald today, the all-staff meeting was cancelled and Field met with a few sales people.

  Of more interest to me is the tidbit of info K. Vahey said on boston-radio-interest about how the Red Sox are demanding ‘10 radio rights pd in full by 3/1, no extensions; if Entercom can’t afford it, would CBS swoop in and put Sox on 98.5? So much for Entercom’s long term deal…

  What the hell would happen to WEEI if they lose the Sox?

• 64. Jim  |  February 18th, 2010 at 8:55 am

  The Red Sox SMELL a BIG opportunity. They can play hard ball here as they have finally have a legitimate competitor to Entercom for radio rights.
  Look at how much cash the Sox squeezed with NO options!

  The Sox hold all the aces in this case. If CBS managed to get the Red Sox it would destroy WEEI and WRKO would probably wind up all syndi.

• 65. Richard Clifford  |  February 19th, 2010 at 10:34 am

  We’ve forgotten the Spanish language format, Rumba 1200, Orgullo Latino. That’s being pushed down to AM 1430, which comes in like crap in Milton at night. I’d like to see the format live on as an HD2 format on Kiss 108 or Jamn94.5.
  As far as the new talk format, I’m surprised it’ll be all syndi with only the morning drive done locally. (And what if they bring in a syndicated morning drive show? Then what?)

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