Another False Alarm Or Head-Chopping Time?

Entercommies are buzzing about a previously-unexpected visit to Boston by the WRKO-WEEI owner’s CEO scheduled for Wednesday morning. Though David Field does occasionally stop by for rah-rah sessions to put a happy face on his debt-laden operation (repeat after me: “easy comps, easy comps, easy comps”), this one seems rushed and may have a more significant purpose.

Some staffers apparently believe Empress Julie Kahn may finally find her days numbered for a myriad of reasons, both personal and professional. Her replacement may already be in the building, but names will be omitted here as I don’t want to jinx anyone’s chances of being promoted, particularly since this person is said to be a pleasure with which to work.

After the overnight success of rival CBS’s WBZ-FM sports talker, Entercom is now so far behind the curve that the Boston operation may be beyond saving. And with Clear Channel’s new political talker set to arrive on scene shortly, WRKO could become as endangered as WEEI.

Good luck, guys, you’ll need it.

New WTKK Bragging Rights: We’re Number 15!

Monthly Boston ratings were released tonight, here are the news-talk-sports highlights:

— WBZ took a big hit, falling to third place overall from second (listeners 6 and older). Audience share dropped to 5.8 from 6.5 in September. About 45,000 listeners shifted listening elsewhere, leaving it with 791,300.

— WEEI was essentially flat, taking fifth place with a 5.3 audience share. Listeners: 696,700, an increase of over 50,000.

— WRKO fell to eighth, 4.8 to 4.5 share, 60,000 listeners lost, leaving it with 385,000.

— Sports WBZ-FM continued its dramatic surge, moving into fourteenth place, a stunning 0.6 to 3.6 share advance in just two months and an amazing gain of nearly 300,000 new listeners to 780,100. Its head count is now just below WBZ AM’s. The new kid on the block is a smash success, there’s no other way to argue this.

— Sad-sack FM talker WTKK continued its long and painful decline into total oblivion, sinking to fifteenth and a share drop to 3.2 from 3.5. Interestingly, it actually gained listeners, about 4500 (to 386,900), but they aren’t sticking around for long, quick to hit the scan button for better choices.

The key difference between WRKO and WTKK is that the former’s listeners leave the radio on for long periods of time (Rush, Howie, Savage), while the latter’s jumbled programming mess causes tune-out.

UPDATE: The Herald has more detailed data here

Absurdity Over WEEI Joke

I’m amazed at the amount of negative publicity generated over a single stale joke told on WEEI’s morning show. Why is this even news?

Talk about sore winners: the mainstream news media won this election and yet they are still looking for petty reasons to gripe, all because somebody told a joke they didn’t like. Are these basketcases ever happy?

ALSO: Media Matters can’t seem to find one reason to be happy this morning. Is it because they realize that conservative talk radio has just become 100 times more important in our society?

WEEI’s Ordway Takes Leave

From WEEI’s Glenn Ordway:

As you know, I was absent from the show on Thursday and Friday and I know that not being there today will raise some suspicions as to my whereabouts.

Well, I am going to take a little time off from the show due to a family health crisis. I feel that I owe it to you the listener…the people I talk to everyday….to be frank and honest as to what I am dealing with right now in my life. Hopefully by telling you the truth first hand, it will prevent any speculation or inaccurate accounts of our story.

This past Thursday night, my wife Sarah gave birth to a baby girl that we named Mia Grace Ordway. Unfortunately there were complications in the final stages of the delivery. As a result of those complications our baby suffered a significant trauma injury. She is presently being treated at the intensive care unit at Children’s Hospital.

In the process, my wife Sarah also suffered an internal injury as a result of the childbirth.

So therefore, it is important at this time for me to devote all my time and energy to helping my wife and to helping my baby get healthy. By nurturing Sarah back to health quickly, I believe that we can allow the mother and baby bonding process to happen and subsequently increase baby Mia’s chances for a recovery.

To our friends and colleagues who have been aware of our situation and have reached out to send along their kind words and blessings…. you don’t know how much that has added to our support system. I am only sorry that I have not had the time to respond to every single one of you. But your love is clearly felt.

As a result of this health crisis in my family, we have decided on postponing the Whiney Awards that were scheduled for next Tuesday over at the Wang Theater. But I promise you that in due time we will re-schedule the event and with God’s will and good fortune have a great evening where we can all once again have a lot of genuine laughter.

There is no question that your prayers and thoughts are welcome but I do ask that you please respect my family’s privacy in these most difficult times. Should there be any dramatic changes in our situation, I will once again give you that update, as I have done here, first hand.

In the meantime, you are in good hands with Pete and the boys and I will back as soon as possible.

Tom’s Ankle Is Okay

…and the Pats are all set to win the Super Bowl.

Now how will the sports yakkers fill up almost two weeks of airtime?