Posted on 03/08/2010 3:57:37 AM PST by raccoonradio
Q: Why is Howie Carr walking into the WRKO studios very slowly today?
A: Well, there's no Rush...
*That groaner, which neatly sums up the big radio news this week from eastern MASSACHUSETTS, comes to us courtesy of fellow radio observer (and WMWM weekend host) Bob Nelson, who's been as absorbed as anyone in the long saga of Clear Channel's launch of a new talk radio station in Boston.
After spending many years and many hundreds of thousands of dollars moving suburban WKOX (1200 Framingham) into Boston, Clear Channel initially moved fairly slowly on changing the AM station's format, leaving the Spanish tropical "Rumba" programming in place on 1200 for a year or so after WKOX had powered up to 50,000 watts from a new city of license, Newton, and a new transmitter site within sight of the Boston city line.
But for all that deliberation, today's launch of the long-expected talk format on what's now WXKS, "Rush Radio 1200," still ends up having the feel of a - pardon the pun - rush job. The new station was apparently due to launch April 1, but once it became clear that Clear Channel was pulling its Premiere Radio Network programming away from established affiliate WRKO (680 Boston), that date was moved up somewhat abruptly, leaving "Rush Radio" to launch without a morning show or a fully fleshed-out weekend schedule.
"Rush Radio" debuts at noon today with its namesake, Rush Limbaugh - and for the next few weeks at least, Rush will double as the station's morning man, with "best-of" reruns filling the 6-9 AM slot until a promised (and as-yet-unannounced) local morning show makes its debut. The rest of the schedule is right off the bird: Sean Hannity at 3 PM, Jason Lewis (from KTLK-FM Minneapolis) at 6 PM, Mark Levin at 9 PM, Coast-to-Coast AM at midnight and Glenn Beck at 9 AM. Weekend mornings are still "TBA," and weekend afternoons and evenings are all "best-of" shows from Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck.
Faced with the inevitable loss of one of its flagship shows, Entercom's WRKO wasted no time lining up a local host to go up against Limbaugh beginning this afternoon. Charley Manning is a veteran Republican political consultant in Boston, and no stranger to radio talk, having been a co-host of WRKO's "Spin Doctors" show in the nineties as well as a commentator on WBZ (1030), WBZ-TV (Channel 4) and WCVB-TV (Channel 5) in more recent years.
So how does it all stack up? Here's our armchair analysis:
Clear Channel knows how to program a successful talk station. Whether it's KFI in Los Angeles or WLW in Cincinnati or WOAI in San Antonio or WFLA in Tampa or even WHAM here in our hometown of Rochester, there's no shortage of examples of market-dominating Clear Channel talkers, albeit ones with a common thread: all have long histories of local full-service radio that long predate Clear Channel ownership.
When it comes to creating new talk stations, though, Clear Channel's more recent model has been far less local - and far less successful. In Minneapolis and Pittsburgh, Clear Channel found some traction by moving its Premiere talk lineup (Beck/Rush/Hannity/Coast-to-Coast) from established AM affiliates to new FM signals, and more recently it followed that model down south by launching "Rush Radio" in two North Carolina markets.
Along the way, though, the product appears to be getting skimpier and skimpier. While KTLK-FM Minneapolis serves as Jason Lewis' flagship station and WPGB Pittsburgh originates "Quinn and Rose" in the mornings and carries Pirates baseball, the North Carolina signals offer only low-budget local morning shows - which is apparently all the local content WXKS will provide in Boston, too, and that not even for a few weeks to come.
"Rush Radio" in Boston comes to the plate with a few more strikes against it, too: even with 50,000 watts of power, it will have by far the worst signal of Boston's three prominent talk stations, lacking even the limited suburban nighttime coverage of WRKO, much less the full-market FM signal of Greater Media's increasingly dominant WTKK (96.9).
And Boston is one of the most locally-focused talk markets in the country. As Charley Manning's inaugural guest today on WRKO, newly-elected senator Scott Brown, would gladly tell you, his come-from-behind win was powered in large part by support from Boston's local talkers on WRKO and WTKK. Limbaugh's numbers on WRKO lagged substantially behind his ratings at New York's WABC, and Hannity barely registered in the ratings when he was last heard in Boston on the now-defunct Salem talker WTTT (1150).
Will "Rush Radio" on WXKS do better than the old WTTT did? Clear Channel will certainly spend more on promotion, including on-air promos on sister FM station "Kiss 108" (WXKS-FM), whose Ed McMann is loaning his pipes to AM 1200 as the station's promo voice.
But with a middling signal, a lack of local talk content, little to no local news and strong, spirited competition from WRKO and WTKK, it's hard to imagine "Rush Radio" ending up as much more than a second-tier talker in a market where only the strongest talkers thrive.
Entercom's not out of the woods yet, either: it still needs to fix the problematic Tom Finneran morning show, establish Manning as a daily solo talker and pay off the expensive Red Sox contract on sister station WEEI, while at the same time fending off an all-local FM lineup on WTKK. But it's becoming increasingly clear why Entercom didn't waste much energy fighting the removal of Rush to the new WXKS: absent some compelling talk about local issues, "Rush Radio" won't be much more than a niche player when the dust settles.
One more note about Clear Channel's AM lineup in Boston: while there was early word that "Rumba" would move up the dial to smaller sister WXKS (1430 Everett), it now appears that "Rumba" is gone (and its local staff with it), leaving the Spanish AC "Mia" format from Clear Channel's Premium Choice internal syndication in place on 1430, which now bears the WKOX calls.
*Still looking for examples of the loyalty Boston audiences show to stations and personalities who provide them with local content? Look no further than the mourning last week for Don Kent, who pioneered TV weather in Boston when he came to WBZ-TV (Channel 4) and WBZ (1030) in 1951. Kent was already a broadcasting veteran, having begun his career on WMEX in 1935 and then on Quincy's WJDA after his service in World War II
And yes the joke at the start was...mine...
Rush at noon to start it off (Beck fans must wait till tomorrow), Sean at 3, Jason Lewis at 6, Mark Levin at 9 (Lewis gets priority because he's a Clear Channel/ Premiere product, while Levin, from Citadel, will be on a 3 hour delay, "thank me very much". Then Coast to Coast which has already run for a few weeks.
Schadenfreude moment: AM 1200 in Boston was the home to Air America Boston, which limped along for two years of bad ratings and nonexistent billing before the plug was pulled. Libtalk fans were told that someday the transmitter would be moved from Framingham to Newton and the signal would be boosted to 50,000 watts. That has happened..but the lineup now on AM 1200 isn't exactly Stephanie Miller, Ed Schulz, or Thom Hartmann...ha
...and for those wondering why 50,000 watts on AM 1200 can still not be the best: the lower you are on the AM dial,
the better as far as signal propagation goes. WRKO, with towers next to the Burlington mall, is at AM 680, by comparison. And while WBZ is at 1030, its signal is protected (a “clear channel” station, not to be confused with the
Clear Channel company) and not directional as WXKS’ is. Among other AM 1200s WXKS has to avoid at night is WOAI in San Antonio, the first station of what is now Clear Channel...
Be glad what you got. We get Hannity & Beck on 1660 AM with just 1,000W. Luckily Rush is still on WBT with 50,000W at noon. To catch Beck at 9-noon and Hannity at 3-6 clearly we have to listen online in Charlotte, NC.
bump
Yeah ironically enough the call letters for that station are WBCN which for years were on the progressive/alternative rock legend in Boston (Charles Laquidara would run an ad for Honeywell then blast them for making war materials).
-—The following Boston Herald article is about Rush’s
replacement on WRKO. Comments to it were not kind (...Gov. Patrick? And thousands of dials spin to 1200...) As for getting “both sides of the aisle” in as guests, rest assure, he will have plenty of Democrats to choose from here...—
by Jessica Heslam:
Longtime Republican consultant Charley Manning kicks off his new radio show today with U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) as his first scheduled guest, followed by Gov. Deval Patrick.
Manning is vowing to feature pols from both sides of the aisle while staying true to his conservative roots. The show airs from noon to 3 p.m. on WRKO-AM 680.
“I’m a conservative for sure, but I think it’s great to be able to have experienced political hands and office-holders come on to answer questions of the voters,” said Manning, 57. “This is a chance to really speak to the people, and that’s why I’m throwing out the welcome mat to everybody.”
Manning replaces Rush Limbaugh, who can now be heard on WXKS-AM 1200.
“Charley has shown he can communicate with people on both sides of the aisle,” said communications consultant Marjorie Arons-Barron. “His success says a lot for the potential for healing in Massachusetts.”
Oh, good...here in Boston Beck’s debut has to wait until tomorrow as the big switch happens today at noon for Rush.
WXKS has been running a loop featuring clips from the various hosts
Announcer: “Rush...he’s kinda like Dad”
(Song: “Have I told you lately”, Van Morrison)
RUSH: I told you, I told you this would happen...
(Clips of Reagan...”In this crisis, government isn’t the solution to the problem, government IS the problem”)
(Clip of Scott Brown: “Well with all due respect it isn’t the Kennedys’ seat or the Democrats’ seat, it’s the
people’s seat...”)
Fife and drum rendition of Star Spangled Banner. etc
I’ve found 1660 AM is so high on the dial that it can’t even be accessed on many AM/FM radios I have around the house. Many just go up to 1600 AM.
WBZ has a great signal, I'm always amazed when I can hear it clear during the day driving west of Albany, NY. I miss the days of 'local talk' when WBZ reined. Heck, I was a Glick-Nick kid....
I’ve got Rush Radio app (iheartradio) on my iphone so I have been listening for quite sometime.
WTIC - 10:80AM out of Hartford has a reaching signal in MA according to radiolocator. I find it can be spotty in certain areas, but would be a station to check out to get Rush in Southern NE.
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WTIC&service=AM&status=L&hours=D
yup though a bit limited at night. Still, sunsets will be at least an hour later starting next Sunday...and get later and later still
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