The Globies: Minor League Players?

Yesterday’s release of semi-annual newspaper circulation figures is remarkable for what isn’t included: The Globies anywhere in the top 25.

That’s right, the daily edition is no longer as important as publications in Portland, Oregon, Cleveland, St Petersburg or even Newark, New Jersey. How’s that $1.50 cover price working out?

Oh yes, the “Internet” argument – if that’s going to save The Globies, then why are other publications moving behind pay walls?

Meanwhile, the scrappy Herald is still alive and kicking. The establishment is not amused.

As for the latter paper, “less bad”, meaning a smaller percentage loss in print readers, isn’t good enough. Sunday circulation is especially alarming.

It’s time for Herald ownership/management to meet with readers and determine how to proceed from here.

Herald Ambushes The Felon, Other Boston Media Silent

The same Hub media outlets that were positively giddy in covering the fishy suspension of Howie Carr last week are silent as one of their oldest friends, Felon Tom Finneran, is under fire for calling Carr producer Nancy Shack a whale on the air.

But that’s not discouraging the Herald from doggedly pursuing the former Democratic House speaker, right down to a Guest Street car park ambush earlier today. Photographer Mark Garfinkel (who took the above picture) and reporter Jessica Heslam were waiting as the sleazemeister headed to his vehicle.

And what does The Felon have to say for himself? Almost nothing.

Clearly, Entercom’s lawyers are running this show. What’s next for Carr’s camp?

Even For Dysfunctional Entercom, This Is Unbelievable

We already know that Entercom (NYSE:ETM) is notoriously dysfunctional, placing managerial ego ahead of ratings and profit, to the point where looking frankly silly in public is disregarded.

But with Howie Carr mysteriously under suspension (for doing absolutely nothing wrong that we can tell) while Tom “Jumping Whale” Finneran remains on the air, the latest situation clearly tops them all.

True to form, the company is up to its usual tricks: employing PR flakmeister George Regan (doesn’t he host a show on a competing station?) to deflect unpleasant media questions, keeping the Herald at bay while The (senile) Globies ignore the matter altogether.

Yesterday, “former co-host” Wendy Murphy was brought in to defend The Felon for reasons that seem transparently self-serving. Looking to return to WRKO, Wendy?

But today, onetime Green / Rainbow gubernatorial candidate Grace Ross (once the target of a now-former WRKO host’s weight-related dig) is speaking out and isn’t backing the station.

The bottom line:

1) the ball is in Nancy “Sandy” Shack’s (Howie’s producer who was the object of Finneran’s pathetic personal dig) court. She can’t expect the company to help her, only a legal team can get the attention of Entercom, otherwise, they will laugh this off.

2) A decent gentleman wouldn’t wait to be compelled by the company to apologize, he would do so on his own. Only a moron treats women that way. Thanks, Felon, for making your true nature clear for all to see.

WRKO’s Implosion Has Only Just Begun

*** BREAKING ***

Faster than outsiders have been aware, WRKO’s internal situation is rapidly imploding. It’s now so bad that staffers favored by management have taken to taunting others in the building, with this caught-on-tape example as Exhibit A:

Here, The Felon is clearly heard making a reference to Howie Carr producer Nancy “Sandy” Shack’s weight, with a tie-in to “click on the jumping whale”, a slogan used in an ad they’ve recently been reading live on the air.

Amazingly, it was CARR who was suspended later in the day, NOT THE FELON!

Nancy had better be careful, Entercom will load up on lawyers as it always does and turn her into the evil-doer.

Short of a quick change of ownership and management, WRKO is absolutely beyond help at this point.

WRKO Yanks Carr Off The Air

With their station near death, WRKO managers have decided to pin the blame on Howie Carr, absolutely the only thing keeping what’s left of 680 AM afloat (other than perhaps Michael Savage, speaking from a ratings perspective).

They’ve apparently decided to yank him from the airwaves for a week, simply because thin-skinned, bitter, failed executives hope to shift blame away from their collapsing operation. From The Globies late this evening:

Conservative talk radio host Howie Carr of WRKO 680 AM has been suspended for a week, effective Friday, for publicly and repeatedly using his program to bad-mouth the station, a company executive said.

Julie Kahn, vice president and marketing manager for Entercom Boston, which owns the station, said Carr’s behavior toward his employer has become increasingly caustic and intolerable.

‘‘His behavior and his anger at the company is unacceptable because he denigrates the company, the medium, the station, the signal, and he’s a highly, highly, highly paid employee,’’ she said.

She declined to comment publicly on the exact trigger for the suspension, or its terms.

But a source with knowledge of the situation said the contretemps with Carr, which dates back to a bitter contract dispute in 2007, has escalated markedly in recent weeks and included verbal attacks on station managers.

(The Globies later added a second version of the story to their site)

Attacks on station managers? SO WHAT! What about ratings and revenue?

Or the other affiliates that carry Howie’s show throughout New England?

This is beyond pathetic, first, from the standpoint that The Empress, Coffee Boy and other corporate suits could still have their jobs after destroying Entercom’s (NYSE:ETM) Boston cluster, but also to think that the one person they choose to punish is their remaining lifeline to solvency.

Howie needs to find a new home and fast. WRKO is finished.

For their part, WXTK-FM, WGAN and the other Howie affiliates had better start thinking about a Plan B, another show to fill the slot, as I don’t believe Carr’s will be airing there much longer.

Obliterating Entercom’s Rush Excuses

So much for Entercom’s claim that it doesn’t need Rush Limbaugh- just look at what El Rushbo just did for a composer who’s been dead since 1977!

An album by Waldo de los Rios, a long-forgotten Argentine composer, has rocketed up the charts today thanks to the airing of a brief selection during Rush’s show yesterday and subsequent mention today. It’s now in first place at Amazon, ahead of new releases by Jimi Hendrix and Sade.

This underscores the power of effective talk radio (not the garbage WRKO airs based on who has curried favor with local management). Besides Oprah, who else could pull this off?

If Entercom (NYSE:ETM) couldn’t sell Limbaugh’s program, that’s a reflection of weak sales management, not a problem with Rush himself. The pathetic excuses simply don’t hold water.

Could Howie Leave WRKO Sooner Than Expected?

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

Day One: What A Mess

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.

Boston Media Does WRKO’s Bidding On Rush Move

In a breathtaking display of corporate PR infused into local news coverage, Entercom has successfully been able to portray Rush Limbaugh’s move to a new Clear Channel-owned station as its own decision to cancel him.

But that’s a flat-out lie and everyone should know better. Clearly, local media outlets have allowed their dislike of Limbaugh to cloud good news judgment.

Lies! ALL LIES! Where is Frau when we need her?

Think about it this way: without the new station in town, which is owned by the parent company of Rush’s syndicator, Premiere Radio Networks, would WRKO willingly give up his show at any point during the next century? Of course not. This is a joke.

The Globies stand out with the worst coverage, claiming Limbaugh’s ratings are weak here. Did Entercom provide the paper with bona fide ratings data from the most recent reporting period (January 2010) to back up the assertion? Did the Globies independently confirm it?

Note the corporate spin here:

With Limbaugh leaving WRKO, the station will replace him with well-known Republican operative Charley Manning beginning Monday. “The Charley Manning Show’’ will air from noon to 3 weekdays on WRKO. Manning has served as an adviser to former Massachusetts governors William F. Weld and Mitt Romney.

“We think this is the best move for us,’’ said Jason Wolfe, New England vice president of AM programming at Entercom Communications Corp., which owns WRKO and WEEI. “Charley Manning brings top-notch insight and great credibility to us at a time when Boston politics are so intense and top of mind.’’

Obviously, we never expect honesty from The Globies on any subject, but using a well-known local advocate of liberal talk radio as some kind of an independent analyst on the subject of Rush Limbaugh is laughable:

“Charley Manning is very well connected locally,’’ said Donna Halper, a radio consultant and media professor at Lesley University. “He has a passion for politics. He has a tremendous amount of credibility. . . . There’s just so many stations that can air Rush Limbaugh.’’

Ask yourself why “conservative” Manning is praised by the left- what does that say about where his new show is headed?

Even funnier is the notion that a guy who briefly co-hosted a show 15 years ago is a threat to Limbaugh’s dominance.

And from the Patriot-Ledger, here’s another ominous sign on the Manning front:

Manning said he had heard “some complaints” that talk radio had focused too much on Scott Brown during his campaign for the U.S. Senate. He urged all campaigns to make their candidates available for talk shows.

“I’m just going to throw out the welcome mat to everyone,” he said.

Manning must know little about talk radio (and clearly doesn’t listen to Howie’s show) or he’d understand that stations are REQUIRED to invite all candidates. Coakley turned down repeated interview requests from Carr and many other area hosts.

Beyond that, talk radio’s demographic and Brown’s support base fit like a glove and the huge January ratings boost confirms that fact. Coakley appealed to the NPR / Globie crowd. Does he really not know the difference? Next time, Charley, think before you speak, if that is possible.

Ultimately, however, none of this changes the fact that WRKO is doomed without Rush. He’s been WRKO’s premium product for decades and provided Carr with a sizable lead-in audience. Manning will not.

Unfortunately, however, the new station appears slapped together and certainly won’t win these public PR battles until Clear Channel decides to get serious about creating a major market talk powerhouse. What we’ve seen so far is less than encouraging.

But Rush’s listeners will follow him anywhere and that won’t change no matter how inept the new operation might prove to be.

Rush Radio 1200: Winners And Losers

Here’s how I expect the Boston talk radio landscape to look from here forward:

— WRKO: watch as it limps along without Rush Limbaugh and is put to sleep when Howie somehow manages to exit the building for good. Until then, expect a slow and painful demise. Given the troubles at both WEEI and WRKO, I’d hate to be a Entercom salesperson right now.

Hope Rush’s “replacement” enjoys the futility of competing against him for the next six months or so, until the show is inevitably cancelled and replaced with fee-free syndicated programming.

— Rush Radio 1200: Limbaugh himself can prop up this otherwise-weak station to a point, but ultimately it will require major-market management and a real commitment to programming.

So far, it appears to be run from Providence (by the same people who have failed to make an impact with WHJJ and resent any intrusion from Boston radio types into their market) and will be burdened with some of Premiere Radio’s unsuccessful syndicated shows. That’s not a recipe for ratings or revenue.

Beyond Rush, syndication has never fared well in New England and I doubt that will change now.

— WTKK: with WRKO and the new station struggling in the ratings, WTKK might appear to “win” on occasion (by ranking higher than either one), but I’m still not sure how it can afford a live-and-local lineup without a viable programming focus or successful air talent.

The bottom line: we’re entering a new era where no one station really dominates the market (even WBZ ain’t what it used to be) and the audience is carved four ways or more.