I think Julie Kahn & Jason Wolfe are planning on killing off both stations. Loss of the Red Sox and no major sporting events on EEI are hurting ratings. How long can open mikes, guffaws and chump lines keep EEI going?

The RKO situation is a crime. This can't just be about the advent of the Red Sox.

Finnerian is scum. He won't last any longer than Blute. At least Blute was interesting. I predict they'll keep him with Scotto. Problem is, Finnerian will just suck.

Hey fellas, I hate to ruin your speculation with facts, but the fact is that WRKO's ratings and revenue have been on the downslide for some time, necessitating some changes to the schedule. Here's another fact: last time I checked, Todd Feinburg, Rush and Howie are still espousing some pretty conservative views on WRKO. And another: Julie Kahn actually has a picture of herself and the pill-addled hypocrite Rush Limbaugh on the wall in her office, so she might not be the liberal you think she is.
I could go on, but in a nutshell, radio is a business and Entercom's decisions are designed to increase ratings and profitability, I wouldn't read any more into it than that.

Best of luck to you guys.

Something's gotta give- RKO isn't worth picking up anymore on HF/MF/shortwave for those of us at sea who miss debate from home. Catching Howie with the time zone differences is a crap shoot, and there isn't much else worth catching just lately. Could the rumors of Finneran coming onboard be a publicity stunt? If so, it's working, sort of...
Still, if Finneran can be installed, the curiosity factor isn't going to be enough to save RKO. I find the guy abhorrent. I'd rather have seen him installed at MCI Cedar Junction!

I heard Fibberan filling in for Brudnoy a few times and he managed to make Jordan Rich and Morgan White Jr. seem edgy and exciting in comparison.

Enjoyed the station when it was Blute & Scott, Depetro, Rush, Carr, Savage, Batchelor and political shows on the weekends. It's hard to argue that the infusion of these crappy sports broadcast, stupid changes to the line up haven't ruined an otherwise listenable radio station.

Just watch Julie Kahn get promoted up the Entercom coprorate chain after she completes her WRKO demolition. She seems to get rewarded for every stupid move she has made so far. Finneran is the last stick of dynamite that will bring down WRKO.

What does all the sports play-by-play programming bs have to do with a talk format anyway?

Interestingly, a Shakespeare quote referring to a "lean and hungry look" by Finneran has been removed from the Scotto Bloggo. Sounds like SAM is doing what he can to avoid being sucked out by the sudden "progressive" undertow and wants to partner with Mistah Speakah. Also, for a guy that thinks you guys are morons, Dan Kennedy sure seems to be afraid of your blog, dissing it by name with regularity. So much for liberals decrying the loss of civility in politics.

Does anyone have an email address for Jason Wolfe at RKO? I think what's happening with Finneran is truly an all time low.

Dis, it's jwolfe@weei.com .

Entercom's CEO David Field's is dfield@entercom.com .

Fienberg is only half conservative at best, and his future is uncertain as well. Too bad because he's a good host. Remember when radio was full of broadcasters, and not political hacks?
Also: Gov Patrick is supposed to be taking a live spot on WTTK now, as well? That's what is reported on www.bostonradiowatch.com

I took part in a focus group with Jason wolf last year that was aimed at how to get more women to listen to talk radio. Obviously with the insertion of all this sports programming they didn't listen to any of us! If I wanna hear sports I will listen to the sports station..talk stations are for TALK!I told him that I have a Sirius radio and I listen almost exclusively to that other than for Howie Carr and Dennis Prager on another station. When I mentioned Sirius Jason almost had a stroke!

Thank to you guys... I'm glad I found your website. I am a 55 yr old lifelong talk show listener in the greatest talk show market in the history of radio. I am just floored by
RKO's decision to put Finneran on the air, the guy has just had total disrespect and disregard for the regular guy, translated as the working class and taxpayers of The Commonwealth, and he's a total BORE and hard to listen to...goodby RKO from 6am to 9am

Just so I have this straight. David Field is on a crusade to destroy conservative talk radio. To accomplish this, he has an unbreakable company-wide contract with Rush Limbaugh and jetisons Air America from any Entercom station when it doesn't generate sufficient, or any, ratings or ad revenue. Okay, if you say so. Sounds to me that he's running radio as what it is, a business.

As for Feinberg throwing Miller under the bus by saying he didn't deliver a decent lead in, there are two ways to handle that criticism. The best is just to post Miller's final hour 24-54s and let the facts speak for themselves. Surely, someone here has an recent Arbitron and a computer rating program. The worst is to just attack Feinberg. So far, all I see is attacks on Feinberg. I guess that tells us what we need to know.

The truth is that a major market 50K powerhouse trying to be The Talk Station cannot have featherweights like Miller and Feinberg taking up air time. Finneran, convicted felon or not, is no raving moonbat and is a major player in this town, something that Miller wasn't, and was never going to be. For a thinking political junkie, Finneran's show is already more interesting than Miller's ever was.

Now, that said, let's get back to the real important issues like screwed up press releases, flipped skyline images, and how having Red Sox baseball as a carrier for your promotional spots and as a lead in for your nightime programming is a real bad idea.

As a former journalist at the old WEEI and a former host at WRKO, I was wondering if anyone else sees an ethical problem with the following set of facts:
1. Regan Communications is the PR firm representing Entercom which includes WEEI and WRKO.
2. Mariellen Burns works at Regan Communications.
3. Mariellen Burns has a weekend gig on WRKO.

Basically, this means that a PR firm, and by all acounts a pretty seedy one at that, controls at least to some degree, air time commonly known as the PUBLIC ether at WRKO.

You need more talk competition in Boston.I remember in the '80's when 850 AM & 1030 AM were serious talk show stations.Now they're not.Only 96.9 FM provides some competition.But clearly WRKO has a monopoly in this area.That is why the Jason Wolfes and Julie Kahns and David Fields of the world(all from County Cork,I might add!)wield way too much power and influence over what can and can't be said over the airwaves.And we're not talking about Howard Sternish smut here.They seek to limit our free speech in regards to our political debates.Why does Entrecom put 3 liberal lefties in charge of monitoring a independant/moderately republican talk radio station ? And why the hell aren't the Red Sox heard on the Sports station ? (PS,now that you mention it, I concur that lately Howie Carr has definitely watered down his political talk in favor of Death Pools and other dumbing-down topics.)I also wish Avi Nelson was on more often.Those 2 annoying chicks on Saturday on WRKO(O'Brien &Burns)are probably there due to the Empress Kahn. And Wasn't Burns one of those people exploiting the sick day policy with Fat Matt Amorello and his Turnpike Authority? Screw up in office and you land a job at the new 'RKO like Burns & Tommy 'Redistricting'Fibberan.

Ah,im not the only one who noticed the slow deliberite shutdown of MY voice.Ive listened and grown with this station from the fluff of dick syatt to Gene Burns's sometimes flawed methodical patience and the awareness of Jerry Williams to the brutal truth of Howie Carr.I was young and learned to read between the lines well from Jerry,and Howie carries the torch well by showing me the lines.Now whats left Red Sox,Soccer soon,maybe the honorable game of Jai-alai to replace rush Limbaugh and Micheal Savage next.Well,theres so many interuptions of programming i want to hear,that the next thing for me after 30 years is to tune out.Less and less time is spent on keeping my interest soon they'll have to replace me.

personally, I would love to see WRKO and its talk format go away. As far as i'm concerned, WRKO was killed back in the early 80's when they got rid of the dance/pop format, and Dale Dorman went to KiSS-108. I will never forget that, and as far as I am concerned, commercial talk radio can go the way of the Dodo bird and they can start playing latin Salsa music, I think it would be better than what it is now.

-- Stefan who fondly misses the 70's days when he was 'raised on AM POP music radio'

I don't want wrko to be saved, they suicided themselves when they dumped Depetro. Not because he was the greatest show, but because they fired him for telling the truth. I emailed to all wrko hosts when Depetro got fired that all of them should have walked out until wrko reconsidered to make that point and save their own jobs. I said to Scotto at the time that his job was next and Howie would be gone within 2 years. I'm not really all that smart but I did see wrko take a big turn in my mind when they fire someone for being honest on the air. Scotto chastised me and told me how immature John was and bad for sponosors. How's your sponsors now Scotto? And there goes the rest of the best when Howie is done. good riddance wrko. The 60,000 watt blowtorch couldn't melt my grilled chesse. And finneran...I mean really, if he was on at 10PM it'd be like a awesome sleeping pill.

Hey WRKO fans. I worked as an account executive for RKO from 04-06. Although most of the management team are well intentioned, I found them to be primarily "sports talk" fans who demonstrated relatively little expertese or passion when it came to operating a "News-Talk" format. (note to management: this is meant to be constructive and not insulting.)Whom ever the present General Manager of WRKO is, he/she would serve well to operate with a genuine understanding of the "right-wing" voice of Bostonians. They/You are a highly intellegent and passionate minority and are tons of fun to involve with talk-radio topics. They/you also would seem to have alot of money based on the Ebay sale for $2.1million dollars for a "Harry Reid smear letter" targeting "Rush Limbaugh". Being a "News-Talk" fan as well as a marketing and advertising professional, I now work for a "News-Talk" station in Albany NY and I feel very fortunate to be working with others who truly understand how to make a "Talk" format work well. When WRKO comes back around to successful "Talk" programming be sure to show your appreciation by supporting the advertisers.

I used to listen to wrko from morning till night, then it was just howie and Mo. no its just Howie period. I miss the old wrko, when even if I disagreed I could listen

96.9 RULES Boston now, RKO is moooot no matter what they do, RKO is clueless and their Sunday ifo-mercials counteract even the best cup of coffee

You can't even hear WRKO in Natick.
then they want ya to sign ya life away for their net stream ... Screw That. wtkk is propaganda.
Progressive Talk Radio is where it's all at !

If you don't post my last comment it will be a cold day in hell that I return to any of your blogs.

This website is baffling. Is this truly trying to save a radio station that no one likes anymore? Why should we care. Maybe if you go, then someone will step in who is valuable. RKO is a joke. The shows are weird and boring and don't approximate intelligent talk. Howie Carr is maybe the only thing keeping that place alive. And is that Reese show even real? The guy is a moron. Who would listen to that and respect themselves?