Limbaugh to Leave AM Station in Philadelphia

NY Times ^ | 4/9/12 | Brian Stelter

[raccoonradio]

“The Rush Limbaugh Show” is leaving the dominant conservative talk radio station in Philadelphia, one of the biggest radio markets in the country.

In its place on the station, WPHT, will go “The Michael Smerconish Show,” hosted by Mr. Smerconish, a native of the city.

snip

It is unclear when the change will take place in Philadelphia. The company that syndicates Mr. Limbaugh’s show, Premiere Radio Networks, declined to comment.

But Premiere has indicated that it will be moving Mr. Limbaugh to a new station in Philadelphia. Radio-Info.com reported on Monday that it might be WKDN, a Christian programming station that is expected to be turned into a news-talk station soon.

To the untrained eye, it would appear to be a step down for “The Rush Limbaugh Show.” WKDN, with a 38,000-watt signal, is a smaller station than WPHT, which has a 50,000-watt signal. But WKDN is an FM station, while WPHT is an AM station, and Premiere has shown interest in moving its talk radio shows over to FM stations lately.

The owner of WPHT, CBS Radio, said in a statement on Monday afternoon, “Premiere recently notified WPHT they will be syndicating Rush Limbaugh on a new station in Philadelphia. As a result, we are pleased to be able to now showcase Michael, who is a well-known and acclaimed broadcaster in the market, in this new time period.”

Mr. Smerconish is a relative rarity on radio: a moderate.

[raccoonradio]

As it says, unclear when this will happen. IF he goes to WKDN 106.9 here is their signal range:

The station is technically licensed to Camden NJ and was previously owned by Family Radio (how's that rapture workin' out for ya Harold)

[raccoonradio]

The NY Crimes seems to indicate it’s a step down but WKDN could be a very good signal, maybe even better than WPHT for some...no static no static no static at all, FM (no static at all...)

Again we don’t know the date and we’re not certain if WKDN
is the station but it could well be.

Some people point out “oh, Rush has a contract with such-and-such for the next year”. Those things can be
broken. In Boston in 2010, the word came out that Clear
Channel/Premiere was starting a cons. talk station that
would be called Rush Radio (now Talk 1200). And people
said, “Wait, WRKO (Entercom) has a contract for Rush
for one more year.” Guess what: the contract got broken
(CC/Premiere owns 1200) and Rush was soon off WRKO
and onto the “new” (at the time) 1200.

Stay tuned.

[denydenydeny]

I’ll actually be relieved not to have Rush constantly preempted by Phillies games.

[RightOnline]

Limbaugh’s show was pulled from the local talk radio outlet here in Raleigh some time ago (AM680). The folks who own Limbaugh’s show moved it to one of their own stations, an FM station that had always been classic rock format.

Two things happened.

First, being now on FM, Rush never sounded so good (there wre other, better rock stations to fill the music void). Second....that AM station just flat DIED.

How do you replace Rush Limbaugh? You don’t.

[raccoonradio]

Further conf. from Phil. Inquirer:

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Is-Limbaugh-getting-the-boot-from-Philly-radio.html?cmpid=124488459

>>Updated: Rush Limbaugh is leaving WPHT
>>Rush Limbaugh — the dominant force in conservative talk radio in America for more than two decades — is leaving his long-time Philadelphia perch on 50,000-watt AM station WPHT, apparently for an unknown rival.
The dramatic move shakes up the Philly radio market — and arguably the local political scene as well,. It’s not clear how much the move was influenced by the national uproar over Limbaugh calling a Georgetown law student “a slut,” which caused a number of major advertisers to jump ship.

>>WPHT confirmed the move just hours after a leading radio industry trade publication, Talkers magazine, reported that “the very hot rumor” out of Philly is that Limbaugh wa about to be yanked from his slot at 1210 on the AM dial — to be replaced by Michael Smerconish, who now airs in the afternoon drive slot.

>>”Premiere recently notified WPHT they will be syndicating Rush Limbaugh on a new station in Philadelphia,” CBS Radio said in a statement emailed to the Daily News. “As a result, we are pleased to be able to now showcase Michael, who is a well-known and acclaimed broadcaster in Philadelphia, in this new time period.

>>Smerconish said in the statement: “I have missed not having the chance to take WPHT callers in every hour of my program and am ecstatic that this will soon change. WPHT seeks to be live and local - no one is more local than me!”

>>Industry insiders were speculating that Limbaugh might not leave the Philadelphia airwaves for long, if at all. There are rumors, reported on Talkers and by Radio-Info, is that the new owner of WKDN-FM, 106.9 — a Camden-based station that has carried Christian broadcasting — may look to add Limbaugh as well as popular right-wing yakkers Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, who’ve been off the air in Philadelphia since they were dropped by WPHT over a year ago.

But if Limbaugh did move to the lesser-known FM station, it would probably be a struggle to rebuild his Philadelphia audience — especially in in a competition with the popular and locally based Smerconish.

And that could have a big political ramifications in Pennsylvania, considered a key battleground state in the 2012 presidential race.

[Yosemitest]

"How do you replace Rush Limbaugh?"

Wrong question.
How do you receive Rush Limbaugh, when AM radio doesn't carry him in your area?
Through the Internet and a computer link.

[prisoner6]

Same thing in Pittsburgh years ago and it couldn't have been better! Went from KDKA-AM which is a shadow of it's former self to WPGB-FM. WPGB consistently beats KD in the ratings, and as someone else said the sound is so much better.

The move in Philly is NOT a step down!

[conservativebuckeye]

Isn’t WPGB Quinn and Rose’s flagship?

[raccoonradio]

Yes the big move in talk, sports, and news is to powerful FM
stations.

In Boston though Rush moved to another AM station at 1200
on the dial; Clear Channel, owner of 1200, has FM stations
doing R&B/hits on 94.5 and 107.9 but they didn’t want to change the format, but they offer the talk 1200 station
on the HD-2 signal of 107.9.
But yes, in many places he’s moving to FM...or stations
are simulcasting. For example in Worcester MA Rush is on
AM 580 but now that station simulcasts on 94.9 FM...

And in Fargo ND Rush is on a very powerful FM station
now (a “Stop Rush” site is calling them “Hate Radio 102.9”(

[RightOnline]

Yes, but you approach my statement from the listener’s perspective. I was referring to the (losing) AM station’s perspective.

[raccoonradio]

from bucksright.com: >>No one has announced when Limbaugh’s show will stop airing on WPHT or when 106.9 will flip formats. It is believed that 106.9, which was purchased by Merlin Media in February, will stop airing Christian programming on April 15, but it is unclear whether there will be an interim “stunt” format before the talk station launches or not.

Merlin registered several web sites for the station, including FMNewsPhiladelphia.com, FMNewsPhilly.com, and FMNews1069.com. They’ve also registered Fox1069.com.

If the new 106.9 decided to pick up Beck, Limbaugh, Hannity and Mark Levin (who currently airs on tape delay on WNTP), they could kill off what’s left WPHT in three ratings books.

[raccoonradio]

It is and the ping list here uses Pittsburgh-ese (dahntahn, yinz etc.)
Wikipedia entry for them:
>>Quinn and Rose is a conservative political talk show. It is syndicated, by Clear Channel Radio from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The show is done by Jim Quinn with “color commentary” from a woman known as Radio Rose (Rose Somma Tennent). It is broadcast from 6 A.M. to 9 A.M., while some affiliates replay the first hour from 9 to 10. Also on XM Radio channel 158.

[freekitty]

That’s right. You don’t replace Rush; but we can replace that thug in the WH.

[Yosemitest]

Here's a link to Listen WKDN - Family Radio Network 106.9 FM Camden, NJ Live Radio Broadcast Channel Online.

The losing AM station is stupid.
I spent some time in PNE and actually learned to like FRANK SINATRA - THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD from that losing station.
But if they're stupid enough to drop Rush, then they deserve to fall into the waste pile of history.
More power to WKDN - Family Radio Network 106.9 FM Camden, NJ.

[RightOnline]

I have to say, in AM680’s defense, here again....it wasn’t their choice. “Ownership” of Limbaugh’s programming, not the station itself, decided to pull it and put it on another local (FM) station that they owned. IOW, stick it on one of their own properties vs. AM680. I imagine the station management got very, very drunk the day they learned of this.

[raccoonradio]

WKDN is technically owned or WILL BE owned by Merlin Media but operates them under a Limited Marketing Agreement from Family Radio.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKDN

>>WKDN (106.9 FM) is a radio station licensed to Camden, New Jersey and the Philadelphia market. The station is owned by Merlin Media, and is currently operated under a local marketing agreement by WKDN's former longtime owner, Family Stations, Inc..On December 6, 2011, Merlin Media, LLC announced it would acquire WKDN from Family Radio. Since the sale was completed on March 6, 2012, Family Radio has continued to operate WKDN under a local marketing agreement while Merlin constructs new facilities for the station. Based on web domain reservations and programming changes at other Philadelphia stations, Merlin is expected to convert WKDN to a format of news, talk, or news/talk combination. (The former format would mirror that of Merlin stations in New York City and Chicago.)

[raccoonradio]

CBS owns WPHT.
As it says in article:
>>Premiere recently notified WPHT they will be syndicating Rush Limbaugh on a new station in Philadelphia,” CBS Radio said in a statement emailed to the Daily News. “As a result, we are pleased to be able to now showcase Michael, who is a well-known and acclaimed broadcaster in Philadelphia, in this new time period.

So maybe Premiere pulled to have WKDN run him (Merlin) and/or
CBS wants to have Smerconish in that slot. Right now
he’s 3-7 pm, though he does a national edition at noon
I think (WTKK in Boston runs him)

Also from the philly.com article:
>>Smerconish will be a major change in tone from the bombastic and unfailingly conservative Limbaugh. Although he was once a local GOP official and has conservative views on some issues like racial profiling, Smerconish backed Obama in 2008 and has become a registered independent.

[prisoner6]

YUP! Listen EVERY day! And there's the Q&R FR thread daily as well.

WPGB opens with Q&R, then Beck, Rush, and Hannity. Evenings change a bit, sometimes Savage, sometimes Jerry Doyle. Since I work overnight at Renda Broadcasting HQ (WSHH, WJAS and WMNY in Pgh, around 30 other stations mostly on the east coast) I don't get to listen to the evenings much.

[AlexW]

It is a great step up when any talker can move to FM, as daytime AM is the pits.
When I was in TN, 50 miles outside of Memphis, there were days when I could not get Rush due to noise.
I once tuned him in on AFRS (shortwave)

I now get Rush via DAR.fm which records his program for me to play back when I wake up in the morning.
This is a great free service that will prerecord any program you want.
For real time radio, I use www.tunein.com, another great internet service for listening to most any station in the world, as long as it streams online.

[Yosemitest]

Well, Rush has a right to control his own destiny and the losing station had better sell out, while their advertising rates are still marketable.
So have a Philly Cheese-steak and welcome to Obama's unemployment line.