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.
Save WRKO 
Again, Howie all but admitted today that he is negotiating with WTKK
Although I do not mind Charley Manning, I think you are spot on, Brian. I heard today on WRKO a promotion for Rush Limbaugh just before 3 o’clock. And, I heard a commercial with Rush promoting a product during Charley Manning’s show. The actual show was pretty good though, although I was not a huge fan of the topic of nursing homes the third hour.
WXKS 1200 is even worse though. Brian’s statement that the station was not even ready to go but launched anyway is so true. The station is airing a Rush replay during morning drive. I mean, in a market like Boston, are you kidding me? I think it would have been better to have Rush off the air in Boston for a couple of weeks and allowed people to realize where Rush was going. Now, if you don’t frequent the internet or read the Herald, you have no idea where Rush is on. And who would’ve thought to check am 1200. I bet Rush is going to wish he stayed on WRKO after this mess. It would have been better for him and WRKO.
I wondered on an earlier thread if 1200 was going to boost their signal. Yesterday (Sunday) I had a good signal all the way down to the 123 exit on 95 south, almost the RI border. Granted it was a scratchy AM signal with zero sound quality, but it was good enough to hear the loop of promos for the new station sprinkled with Reagan speeches.
When Bob Grant (who turns 81 on March 14) gets on the air in Boston, if he’s on during Severin’s timeslot, he’ll knock Severin off the air just like he did when he knocked Severin off WOR while Grant was on WABC in the early 90s.
Let’s be heard!
The the the Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Mark Levin Levin Levin Levin Levin Levin Levin Levin Levin Levin Levin Levin Levin Levin Levin Levin Show Show Show Show Show Show Show Show Show Show Show Show Show Show Show Show Show Show Show Show Show Show is going well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far well so far.
That Levin glitch was on every station including the flagship, WABC.
People on acid should not post.
People on acid should not run radio stations.
Promos are running saying “Laura Ingraham at 10, Charley Manning at noon.” 10? RKO site says 9, and she was on before 10. For ads with Rush: they prob have to run those out of contract with advertiser. Before Rush Radio, RKO ran ads with Mark Levin, for gold. Still on. They run them out of an ad contract
Clear Ch has billboards incl. electronic…may show up there. In some ways I wouldn’t expect them to do much advertising, though. Rush fans will find him, thru Net, Herald, or just scanning the dial to find him. btw NECN supposed to do a feature on talk radio and Rush Radio will prob be mentioned
Somehow I would guess that Rush wouldn’t mind seeing WRKO disappear… for some reason we are not privvy to…
Rush only mentions these moves when going from a ‘peanut whistle’ to a ‘blow-torch,’ but in this case he’s going the other way. I wouldn’t have mentioned this move, either, if I were Rush. Simple radio-signal phenomenon dictates that Rush’s Boston market has now shrunk. That’s not worth crowing about.
http://www.necn.com/pages/landing?blockID=193692
Alison King’s NECN piece; short, focuses on Manning, Graham, Braude. No mention of 1200
(so far no local show) though it does say Manning replaced Rush. The focus is on anger on conserv talk radio re: health care
Nathan. I don’t know if Howie said or even implied he was in “negotiation” with ‘TKK, but he is under exclusive contract to WRKO for a least 2-3 years and I’m taking a wild guess that he has a non-compete clause anyway. He even admitted that he will be there for the forseeable future when he opened the show.
he should be there till late 2012 “unless lightning strikes and I get my fondest wish”. If there’s a non-compete maybe he’d have to take a yr off. Don’t know contract but don’t expect him to jump sooner…when he took 3 days off last wk and Rush moved to 1200 some people may have thought “maybe he’ll be gone too”. nope
Rush must be loosing to Air America in Boston, right Chris? I mean it was Air America that got “Republican Scott Brown” elected.
Maybe it’s a trick. Cheney and Rove are working with Haliburton on this, I just know it.
Could it be, just possibly, that it has something to do with Entercom? Seems they are paying a lot for “talent” (lets not split hairs on the definition of talent) in AM drive and now other than Cap’n Graff’, where is the revenue to keep the lights on at RKO, never mind paying the staff and keeping the equipment working? What does RKO pay for the Red Sox and how much do they get back on their investment? For how long is that revenue stream active if the Sox don’t make the playoffs?
Could it be there’s a slight chance EIB sees financial issues at RKO that could all but shut it down in the near future? Maybe investment in even a weaker signal, for now, means a better future? If EIB owns 1200, do they have to worry about the day that’s coming when RKO can’t meet expenses and is hoping for a “media bailout”?
If you’re in the business of “moving” product, and there’s a problem or potential problem with the delivery mechanism, don’t you find new delivery mechanism even if the replacement is smaller than the original? The advantage is, if EIB owns or controls XKS , they don’t have to deal with the “programming experts” that led RKO from where it once was to where it is today.
Show me your friends and I will know exactly who you are. Seems EIB is doing some much needed house cleaning in Boston.
Had to listen to Rush on-line at WABC. WKXS has no server? By the way, Jury selection for Reese Hopkins started at 10:00 this morning.
Massgopguy:
It’s working for me.
Some comments from the RKO facebook group
” I was stunned to tune in yesterday at noon and discover you are no longer carrying Rush Limbaugh! I have switched my pre-sets on my radio to 1200 AM – I can now get Rush at noon, with the added benefit of Glenn Beck in the morning.”
” COMPLAINT: BIG mistake WRKO! Take Manning OFF the air: Bring back Rush Limbaugh 12- 3 pm immediately!” (I told her it was doubtful given the CC situation…)
” I clicked on “Become a Fan” for one reason & one reason only, to post my comment.
WRKO had done a great disservice to loyal listeners.. First they dropped “Coast to Coast” with George Noory; a spacey but very entertaining 4 hrs, now Rush Limbaugh is gone.. I, for one, am tuning ‘RKO out. As soon as I’m finished typing…, I’m off to locate which local station carries Limbaugh & I’m switching the dial.. What are you guys smoking over there???”
howie’s contract is up in a year and a half and he is obsessed with doing morning drive at either tkk or kxs. i dont think there is a non-compete. howie would have never signed it.
also, entercom literally makes money on WRKO by the skin of its teeth. I was told this by upper management at the start of 2009. i dont think they’ve made big strides since then.
once howie goes, and he will as soon as he can…its pretty much done over there.
I listened to Charley Manning for 5 minutes on Monday and for 3 minutes today. Only one word comes to mind – BRUTAL.
The Empress and Coffee Boy should have done some research and picked a real midday host. They should pick up Neal Boortz out of Atlanta – he is on from 10am until 1pm. They could tape delay him and play him in the noon to 3 slot. He beats Limbaugh routinely in head-to-head matchups and would be a great lead-in to Howie.
Any bets on how long it will be before Howie begins commenting on the lack of a lead-in? It is tough to have to build your audience numbers completely from scratch every single day – and that is EXACTLY what he will be doing. The Manning show is going down like the Titanic. Maybe the Empress and Coffee Boy can stand on the bow and pretend they are flying, just like in the movie.
NH Radio Fan. I listened a little bit too until I was able to get the webcast going. NO Fan, it was not brutal, it HURT!!!!!!!!!! My eyes started to tear it hurt so much and I noticed that my ears started to bleed! I couldn’t get to the Rush webcast fast enough! What a bunch of Maroon’s they are at WRKO!
This could be why Pete Sheppard was let go by RKO’s sister station WEEI…maybe they needed to free up salary so they could hire Manning. The idea is that “we’ll go local what with this being an election year”. They figured this would give them a chance in the ratings vs. Rush (WTKK is local
w/ Graham, then Severin, during those hours)
They could have gone to syndie with Boortz as you say, or Dennis Miller (they already do a best of
DM on Sundays) 10-1
I see their point about local…whether Manning is the answer, we’ll see
It is well known that I am no fan of the Empress and the Coffee Boy, going all the way back to the sacking of the entire WRKO news department. I realize that the loss of Rush Limbaugh is solely based on Clear Channel’s decision to strengthen their local AM talk station with their top talent, but I have never felt as badly about WRKO as I do now. They are truly adrift and I don’t think it can be turned around with the “management” that they currently have in place. Even with the region’s 2 biggest radio draws, Rush and Howie, anchoring the schedule, WRKO struggled to be a mediocre station due to the mismanagement of every other facet of the operation. Now with Rush gone from the lineup, the poor management style of the Coffee Boy will be fully revealed. He has no one to hide behind anymore. His only remaining bell cow, The Howie Carr Show, will be gone as soon as Howie is able to break away. The well is dry after Howie leaves. The best that Coffee Boy can hope for is for Howie to become even more belligerent and caustic in his comments about WRKO. They have become one of the more enjoyable aspects of the show. “Someday, I will work for a real radio station again”, “Entercom Happens!” and “Maybe lightning will strike the station and I will get my wish” are becoming phrases that I look forward to every day. Not exactly a ringing endorsement of a once great radio station. Very sad.
I’d rather listen to the almost 81 year old Bob Grant yell “get off of my phone, you creep!” to bad callers and hear his colorful use of Neapolitan dialect slang terms such as “sfacim” to describe the likes of Mario Cuomo than listen to Severin incessantly say “if anyone did something to my child, I wouldn’t be on the air right now beacause I’d be in JAIL!” Oo, so edgy!
Along with the senior and junior Andelmans’ shows, TKK’s most entertaining show now might be Phil Hendrie’s. This morning he was voicing a fictitious guest “journalist” with just the right amount of blackness in his voice who claimed that Congressman Massa’s last name is racist.
NYP: When did the best and brightest revert back to kindergarten? Jay and all his talk about “mommies” and “daddies”. It’s enough to make you want to jump thru the radio and strangle him. Really nauseating.
Go to Rush’s website and click on STATIONS in his header and click on MA for this state and you’ll find other radio stations that carry Rush including 94.9 FM on the Cape which can be heard at least all the way to Worcester out here, because I get it. It comes in clearer than our own Worcester station that carries Rush.
I had to go buy a headset to pick up 1200am –and that’s just in different parts of my house!!!!!
One of my radios picks up an all Spanish station and a left wing station around where 1200 should be!
What up?
Rush Radio, please get on the stick!
Howie mentioned in his column that the new station carrying Rush had a newscaster who used “her” in reference to Christy Mihos. Maybe an out of town guy doing the news via phone line/comp.?
Christy usually is a female nickname (Christy Lane, “One Day At A Time”…)
It allowed Howie to jab WRKO by pointing out Rush was gone.
CrisD: Are you on the North Shore? The Spanish station may be WESX (1230 Nahant; stick in Lynn).
Or maybe you’re picking up WWDJ 1150 (stick in
Lexington I think). 1150 was briefly “Boston’s
Conservative Talk” w/ Salem Communications hosts + Hannity.
I have a mini boombox and can find WXKS easily here in Beverly–I find the Spanish stuff at WESX
then tune slightly to the left. It comes in fairly well by day here.
Radio Locator displays a daytime signal coverage map for WXKS 1200 extending midway between Worcester and Springfield. If this is so, why is it barely audible just a few miles west of Route 495, in places such as Littleton, Leominster, and Franklin? Are they using their nighttime signal pattern in the daytime as well? Has the exclusion of the western suburbs, central Massachusetts, Cape Cod, and southern New Hampshire, sealed their fate already?
Dave Saucier, I was getting a 1200 signal in Hudson/Marlborough, although there was some static and interference from wires (I went for a walk to listen to it on a walkman-style radio/) It was slightly stronger than the 580 signal from WTAG Worcester (Rush is on there too.)
1200 admittedly is stymied by their position on the dial. Dan S. has explained on radio-info.com, etc about how 680 has a more effective signal due to being lower on the dial, and the various tech. aspects of its towers…and here in New England ground conductivity is poor which handicaps AM radio in general.
The 1200 signal is better than before in some areas (50kW from Newton) but for many it may also be weaker than expected. But AM radio really has problems what with high tension wires, etc. It has hampered my recep in some places for me for both WRKO and WXKS
And the radio-locator maps are not to be taken as totally accurate. It’s predicted coverage but many factors need to be weighed
I have to disagree with many of the comments here.
1. WXKS comes in much better than WRKO for me in the Metro Boston area.
2. I LOVE the lineup. I never thought I’d see Rush, Hannity, Beck, and Levin together on one station in Boston.
3. I LOVE the morning replay of Rush. I can’t listen during the day so the replay during my commute is great.
4. WXKS needs all the support we can give them. It won’t be easy for a conservative station to survive here.
5. Give WXKS a chance to iron out the kinks. It’s only been 3 days.
Just a note: I am in Waltham and my house is in a wooded area (that is where I am having problems w/ 1200.) Driving around in this town and others, I am fine.
Love the whole line up but, being new to area, I would be in culture shock w/out the master–Rush!
Herald says Deval wants to do conservative talk radio–even Howie–to help boost his flagging bid for re-election…
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view/20100311deval_patrick_to_right-wing_radio_ill_talk/srvc=home&position=0
And: no Kiss Me I’m Imus from Boston on WTKK
http://bostonherald.com/business/media/view/20100311don_imus_wont_be_in_boston_for_st_paddys_ch_7s_victoria_block_set_for_hip_surgery/srvc=home&position=also
Desiree-I checked Rush’s site and, indeed, the Cape station is listed as “WXTK 94.9 FM.”
Just one problem: the station moved its frequency from 94.9 to 95.1 about 15 years ago.
Rush should pay a little attention to his website and less to his jet-setting lifestyle. Maybe he’d even work 5 days a week then.
I was wondering when Hannity’s site would update the station list and then it dawned on me: they already did but I was looking for “Boston” under Massachusetts. Instead, a few lines down:
Newton WXKS 1200
Yes it’s the city of license but they could have put it as Boston (Newton) or something or even
cheat a bit and say Boston 1200
Jan:
>>It won’t be easy for a conservative station to survive here.
Yes I’m supporting them too but what’s interesting is that, even if some hosts are
lukewarm, conservative talk has done OK in
Boston despite the moonbat reputation. It’s
libtalk that has struggled (though I guess if
you count NPR, maybe that’s not accurate).
Howie, Severin, Rea, etc. don’t do too bad.
They certainly get some ratings; WWZN does not. Imagine if the radio dial here reflected the
idealogy of most voters. Could you imagine all liberals (just about) on WBZ, WRKO, WTKK, WXKS? We
should count our blessings…
…and support Howie, WXKS, et al
To repeat: according to radio insiders, WWZN-AM does not encode for PPMs. If anyone has a PPM decoder ring and can demonstrate otherwise, I’d like to know about it. To repeat something else: WXKS-AM1430/WKOX-AM 1200 during the lib talk days was barely promoted by CCU (a few taxicab signs; some favorable mentions in the paper of record for Boston viz: the Globe), and in the diary days of Arbitron garnered just about all that one could expect from such facilities, maybe a 2.0 or so,
12-plus Sunday-thru-Saturday. Since hardly anyone listened on weekends (which I’m sure will be true of the new WXKS-AM 1200), lib talk probably did better M-F 9:00 am till 6:00 pm with the “stars” of the format, Stephanie Miller, Al Franken and Ed Schultz.