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It’s no secret that Howie Carr’s career now depends on how fast he can successfully bolt WRKO’s sinking ship. With Rush Limbaugh now gone, Howie hosts the only remaining program of significance on the station, especially from a sales standpoint. When he departs, it’s officially over.
There are at least two scenarios (potentially more) that could have Carr out of WRKO sooner than anyone would expect:
— Contractual language that now allows him to leave: is Howie guaranteed a timeslot “adjacent to Rush Limbaugh”? That or any similar wording used as a safety measure to keep Entercom from banishing him to midnight could be key to a case for departure. This would be a good time to take a second look at the agreement (which I suspect he’s doing now).
— Entercom simply allows Howie to walk and folds up WRKO’s tent: it’s not as far-fetched as you might think. Without Rush, revenue opportunities are limited and the station may now be operating at a loss. We already know the far-left Field family dislikes talk radio very much (they’ve already run almost all of their talk stations into the ground). So there’s certainly no passion for the format that would overcome the bottom line.
For the sake of his future, I don’t think Howie can afford to wait for WRKO and Entercom to sink. He’s got to find a way out now and it may be easier to escape than is commonly believed.
Carr image: Boston Herald
Tags: Entercom, Howie Carr, rushradio1200, WRKO
March 9th, 2010
Thoughts on Day One of the big Boston talk radio switcheroo:
— WRKO/Entercom blew it on a number of fronts, but these three stand out the most:
1) Rather than point the finger at Clear Channel/Premiere for yanking away WRKO’s marquee talent, Entercom used local media to make it appear it was their own idea, all in the name of going “local”. But that’s clearly backfired as longtime WRKO fans vent their anger at station management.
2) Of course, because it was “their idea”, they had to have a new local host in place in time for Rush’s removal from WRKO, so they rushed into hiring a rank amateur who will quickly be in way over his head with 15 hours of programming to fill every week. A clear tip-off: loading today’s show with big guests (as a crutch) instead of allowing the new guy to show his stuff.
A better plan: try out a number of people in the slot to see how they’d fare against the Talk Titan.
3) If it had any class, Entercom would have acknowledged Limbaugh’s role in BUILDING WRKO over the years and thanked him for his enormous contribution. But this is Entercom, a bottom-feeding outfit.
— The new station is baffling for several reasons as well:
1) There’s almost no outside promotion. How are listeners supposed to find where Rush has gone?
2) “Rush Radio” clearly wasn’t ready to go, even to the point where the schedule isn’t settled.
3) The new station’s weak signal locks out a lot of Rush’s former WRKO coverage area. Forget the South Shore, it’s now up to outlying stations such as WXTK 95 FM on the Cape to fill the gaps.
4) Rush himself has said little (nothing?) about the move and it was only mentioned at his site late today.
It’s one bizarre situation all around, with talk fans left scratching their heads. It can’t be fun for Howie Carr.
Tags: Entercom, Howie Carr, rushradio1200, WRKO
March 8th, 2010
WTKK’s Don Imus and the Stoughton murder suspect - you be the judge:
Bonus points if you can tell Imus from the perp.
Suspect image: Boston Herald
March 1st, 2010
Took a look at Obama’s ridiculous seminar calling site and it immediately instructed me to phone Vay Cay Jay’s program. But Vay Cay isn’t actually there, of course, as WTKK’s Lite Talk FM is in drivetime advice mode.
Refreshing the page produced this result:
Here’s my “advice” to Obama: drop this foolish idea before your supporters embarrass themselves.
February 26th, 2010
Based on what we know so far about the new Boston talk station run by Clear Channel, I’m convinced Rush Limbaugh is better off sticking with WRKO. The new outlet, WXKS 1200 AM, doesn’t look terribly promising. That would leave El Rushbo to prop up a weak lineup.
Key concerns:
— In a region known for hostility toward syndicated talk, WXKS will feature almost no local content. This alone makes it not much of a threat to established competition.
— Rather than build a line-up based on market demand, Clear Channel is using WXKS to dump Premiere Radio’s national shows, some of which have already failed here or have little chance of success in our area. If there is no budget for local talk, why run Jason Lewis (a Premiere host) at 6pm when Mark Levin (Citadel - ABC) is up for grabs?
— Instead of bringing major-market programming talent to the new outlet, Clear Channel appears to be recycling Providence management to save money. Yes, the Boston mafia was once run from the Ocean State, but the very folks who have done little with WHJJ-AM aren’t likely to succeed here. Boston is a top ten market, so the stakes are much higher.
If I were advising Limbaugh, I’d recommend he steer clear of 1200 until there’s a credible plan for success.
Tags: Boston Herald, Rush Limbaugh, WRKO
February 19th, 2010
Here’s the clearest indication yet that WRKO is about to lose Rush Limbaugh to Clear Channel’s new Boston talk outlet: signs of life at newly-registered “RushRadio1200.com“. I’ve been checking this address for weeks, today was the first indication of any activity.
The question: what does this mean for WRKO’s future?
February 16th, 2010
As Patches Kennedy unexpectedly bows out of what would have been a fairly tough re-election bid, one thing is certain: the gods are once again smiling on talk radio. Howie Carr can relax knowing Friday’s show has written itself.
From here, what Democrat in Congress is safe?
February 11th, 2010
From a Greater Media press release sent this morning:
*** MEDIA ALERT ***
Mr. Brown Goes to Washington and Michele McPhee Goes Too
McPhee to Attend Senator Scott Brown’s Swearing-In
Live Broadcast from D.C. TONIGHT
WHAT: Following the swearing-in of newly elected Massachusetts GOP Senator Scott Brown, 96.9 FM-WTKK’s Michele McPhee will broadcast live from our Nation’s Capitol TONIGHT. McPhee’s program will be heard loud and clear in Boston and New England from the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C. from 6 to 10 p.m. She will be talking with special guests and listeners throughout the evening.
96.9 FM-WTKK is Boston and New England’s “Campaign Connection” and has provided the Commonwealth with thorough political insight and perspective for over a decade.
WHO: 96.9 FM-WTKK’s Michele McPhee
WHEN: Thursday February 4, 2010 6:00pm – 10:00pm
WHERE:
The Heritage Foundation
214 Massachusetts Ave NE
Washington DC 20002-4999
ph 202.546.4400
February 4th, 2010
If you think Democrats are going overboard spinning Scott Brown’s victory, you ain’t seen nothin’: radio programmers are masters at making excuses for bad ratings. And the fresh monthly release of Boston audience figures will most certainly test their skills.
That’s because for most local news-talkers, the final 2009 ratings period was generally a stinker. Yes, here come the excuses: our hosts were away for their extended vay-cays, etc. How’d that work out for Martha Coakley?
Another classic: we’ve recently changed our line-up and station logo and need at least a year to see how well it works!
Here are news-talk highlights for Arbitron’s Holiday 2009 ratings period (December 10 2009 to January 06 2010):
— WBZ-AM produced flat ratings, good for fourth place with 5.7 share of the overall (6 and older) audience. But it certainly no longer dominates the region. In terms of actual listeners (cume), WBZ takes seventh with 822,400.
Dan Rea, Martha Coakley and Curt Schilling have probably done more for WBZ in recent weeks than any marketing campaign could, so we’ll see if any election benefit shows up in the next trend.
— Sports WEEI continues to suffer after new competitor WBZ-FM carved away a chunk of its audience. But it did tick up a bit this month, to 3.8 from 3.6 share and ninth place overall (its remaining listeners are hard core and stick around longer).
Body count: 444,000, down from 462,000 last month and 642,600 in September, thirteenth place in cume.
— WRKO continues its long slide, falling to 3.6 from 4.0 last month and 5.5 in August. That means tenth place overall. Audience count: 347,800, down from 378,400 previously and 639,000 in August.
Next month, the white-hot Senate race should show up as a boost for January’s numbers. But the upcoming launch of a new Clear Channel talker will hit WRKO hard in the long run.
— It was another up month for upstart sports talker WBZ-FM, rising to 3.5 from 3.1. Tied for twelfth, cume audience: 687,500, more than 200,000 greater than WEEI! CBS is now busy looking to copy its success in other cities.
— WTKK-FM: the struggling FM talker didn’t get any good news this month, either, but with much of its lineup away, how hard did it really try? Falling to 2.6 share from 3.1 (tied for fifteenth place), there was also a cume loss of 50,000 from last month (to 371,900).
‘TKK did push the election hard and hosted a key debate, we’ll see if it enjoys a boost in the next ratings release.
January 29th, 2010
Catching up:
— The Air America Radio network shutdown actually isn’t the big story it would have been a few years ago: the biggest libtalkers work for other networks.
— Entercom happens, that’s not news either, is it?
— I was wondering how Margery was going to handle this
— The left’s most pressing task: turn Scott Brown into Sarah Palin. Wouldn’t that have been more effective BEFORE election day?
— David Rodham Gergen is a WINNER in the Senate election battle? His boneheaded “Kennedy seat” loaded question gave birth to Scott’s brilliant reply: “it’s the people’s seat.” Only a Globie could come up with crap like this.
— HuffPo morons think they have a scoop in “digging up” Gail Huff’s 1984 music video. That one’s old news in the Bay State, the Herald wrote about it in October.
Tags: martha coakley, republicans, scott brown, scott brown martha coakley senate race
January 21st, 2010
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