NorthEast Radio Watch 11/19/18: WRKO Shuffles Hosts (Kuhner to mornings)

North East Radio Watch ^ | 11/19/18 | Scott Fybush

[raccoonradio]

Almost a year after taking possession of Boston talk station WRKO (680) from Entercom, iHeart is beginning to put its own stamp on the schedule. Later today, NERW has learned, WRKO will announce a post-Thanksgiving schedule change that will move midday host Jeff Kuhner back to mornings, putting morning co-host Doug “VB” Goudey in middays and ending Kim Carrigan’s tenure with the station after three years.

[raccoonradio]

Rest of article behind paywall

[raccoonradio]

Rest of the article is behind a paywall but here is the public part. Attention Jeff Kuhner fans (have pinged Biggirl). Apparently Jeff is to announce the move today.

Highly doubtful Kuhner will go national as other talk stations tend to stick with their own hosts in AM drive. In the 3 years since Kuhner moved to noon, no other interested stations have taken him on.
Doug Goudie (nicknamed Virgin Boy or VB by Howie Carr when he was Howie’s sidekick) and Kim Carrigan had been at Fox 25 (now “Boston 25”) in Boston and were reunited for the morning show.

[raccoonradio]

So it will be Kuhner 6-10 am, Financial Exchange at 10, VB at noon, Howie Carr at 3, then syndicated shows with Joe Pags, Mike Siegel etc

[PrairieLady2]

When I was a teeny-bopper, WRKO and WROR were the two best radio stations for top 40. I can still hear it now...Come back when you grow up girl, you're still living in a paper doll world...my sisters and I used to go to sleep with our tiny transistor radios on just in case that song came on through the night. 🤣. I guess things have changed.

[Vermont Lt]

A paywall for radio news? There is someone with delusions of grandeur. The Boston radio scene stopped being interesting when Jerry Williams died.

Certainly not worth paying for.

[raccoonradio]

Well Fybush does a good job and I don’t mind spending $15/yr; one board, RadioInsight, has a premium version that teases early access to breaking news and I don’t pay to that one.

The rest of the bit summarized past history and said it was doubtful Kuhner would be syndicated, and also VB would have a tough time going to other stations as iHeart outlets, etc, stick with Rush.
Anyway it looks like iHeart is committed to:Kuhner, VB, and Howie on RKO....Rea and Bradley Jay on WBZ...and Rush, Glenn and Sean on Talk 1200.It’s not like they’d shut down 1200 and move Rush to RKO.

Right now VB is on with the Herald’s ed. page editor Tom Shattuck who was The Great and Powerful Tom on the Michael Graham show.Met Tom at a radio conference a yr ago, nice guy.

[raccoonradio]

Yes WRKO was the Great 68 for years.They went talk in early 80s.For awhile they were running oldies on Sat nights but it stopped. (The old WROR 98.5 is now all sports but there’s a “classic hits” station at 105.7 called WROR).

[Will88]

Laura Ingraham’s ending her morning show will leave a hole to be filled. Kuhner will probably pick up some of her online listeners

[Jmouse007]

Foolish move on WRKO's part. Douglas Guide (VB) became liberal after leaving Howie Carr and coupled with Kim Carriage, who is also a rabid GOPE Anti Trumper, like VB made their talk show totally unlistenable.

VB doesn't have the conservative creds, the charisma or the conservative political chops to host the 12-3:00PM timeslot before Howe Carr comes on.

Jeff Kuhner has been a staunch conservative, pro America, pro-Trump powerhouse on WRKO and the liberals in Boston and at WRKO hate him for it and have been trying to get him fired for quite some time but he hasn't given them any grounds.

Putting Jeff back into a lousy time slot, when much fewer people will be listening looks like a blatant attempt to get him to quit.

This move really stinks, Jeff Kuhner was the only reason why we began to listen to WRKO again before Howie Carr comes on at 3PM.

As for VB, he's gutless; strictly GOPE PC lite, talk show fluff cotton candybwith no substance. He talks a lot but has very little of worth to say and falls to the political left on the overwhelming majority of issues.

[raccoonradio]

Yeah VB admitted to voting for Obama in 08.
AM Drive in radio is profitable with many “stuck in traffic”.But there are probably more ads as they try to maximize profit, and people may listen for shorter periods of time.

iHeart figures Kuhner is mornings would be more politically focused.They seem committed to keeping him on the station. Maybe if VB flops at noon they’d put Rush back on. iHeart figures they have
WRKO—local and syndicated talk

WBZ—news, local talk at night

Talk 1200—Syndicated talk which doesn’t do well in ratings but they can say to advertisers that they’re running their ads in Boston on Rush and Hannity shows.

RKO ratings actually not bad.Losing Carrigan frees up salary money.
Noon slot btw is also important to listeners but to radio companies the big money is morning and evening drive.

That’s why former owner Entercom brought Howie back (his syndicated show) when his replacement, Mike Siegel, tanked in ratings.RKO now has Siegel’s syndicated show at night.

[Jmouse007]

VB STINKS! How is Carr mentored him, put him on the map and the guy learned absolutely nothing under Howie's tutelage. He's as liberal, as liberal can be and totally "wishey washey" as can be.

VB has all of the political backbone of a slug.

[AU72]

The morning show sucked with VB and Kim.

This morning they spent a whole hour talking about Trumps scatological tweet.

[raccoonradio]

Haven’t really heard the morning show tho I heard VB years ago as Howie’s sidekick (did tune in this morning to check out and heard Shattuck on). So Kim gone and VB gets noon.Sister station 1200 has Rush.

[Jmouse007]

Ever since Trump became President, VB and Kim have taken every available opportunity to denigrate, cut and undermine his Presidency. Simply put, VB is a snake and a wolf in sheep's clothing.

He comes across as light hearted and easy going, but in reality he's VICIOUS!

[SamAdams76]

We must have grown up during the same era. For me, WRKO was the soundtrack of my childhood back when they played Top 40. Dale Dorman, JJ Wright, were some of the names I remember. As well as Kasey Casem's weekly show on the Top 40 countdown.

About the time when they switched to talk, I was already switching to WBCN and WCOZ. But WRKO was to win me back in the late 1980s when they had Jerry Williams, Gene Burns and others in their lineup. Those guys got me into talk radio before I even knew who Rush Limbaugh was.

I haven't listed to terrestial radio in about 10 years. I don't think I'll ever go back to it as I'm very happy with Sirius/XM, podcasts and other streaming options.

[onona]

Totally agree.

Crap move.

VB sux

[raccoonradio]

VB on with Jeff now.Show will be VB in the Middle.Starts
next Mon

[raccoonradio]

Jeff now warning VB he’ll have to put up with pro Trump listeners.

[raccoonradio]

Re ping in case you’re doing a Kuhner thread, Jeff to 6-10 am starting next Mon. Replaced by Doug VB Goudie.
VB=Virgin Boy, or Voted Barack (in 08)

[raccoonradio]

iHeart press release

iHeartMedia Boston announced today that Jeff Kuhner’s The Kuhner Report is returning to morning drive on WRKO-AM 680, The Voice of Boston, effective November 26. The Kuhner Report will broadcast weekday mornings from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. In addition, the debut of the new V.B. in the Middle with host Doug “V.B.” Goudie will air weekday afternoons from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. also effective November 26.

Kuhner and V.B. will redefine the WRKO-AM 680 program lineup. The Kuhner Report will continue to cover today’s latest headlines and breaking political news. Conservative Jeff Kuhner will continue to tackle cutting-edge, hot-button, political, social and foreign policy issues. V.B. in the Middle will also discuss today’s biggest political headlines, showcasing V.B.’s humorous, creative opinions as well as his connection with the Boston listeners.

“Jeff Kuhner believes what he says and says what he believes,” said Robert Sanchez, WRKO-AM 680 Program Director and Vice President of News/Talk for iHeartMedia Boston. “Bostonians need an energy burst in the morning and with Jeff, their commute just erupted.”

“It will be great to get back in the mornings,” said Kuhner. “It is such a privilege to work with all the professionals at WRKO-AM 680, especially Howie and V.B. I feel a true connection to our listeners and can’t wait to begin my day with them again.”

“I love Boston and I love to talk,” said V.B. “I’m in the middle politically and also in the middle of the day between two powerhouse personalities, Jeff Kuhner in the morning and Howie Carr in the afternoon. We’ll have intense conversations, of course, but I’ll keep it from getting too serious. It will be lunch time after all.”
Jeff Kuhner began his career as a columnist for The Washington Times and brought his fiery brand of political talk to Boston in 2012. Doug “V.B.” Goudie started his media career as a cast member of The Howie Carr Show and then transitioned to television as commentator for Boston 25 News.

Full Programming Lineup:
6am-10am: The Kuhner Report
10am-12pm: The Financial Exchange with Barry Armstrong
12pm-3pm: V.B. in the Middle
3pm-7pm: The Howie Carr Show
7pm-10pm: Joe Pags
10pm-1am: Mike Siegel
1am-5am: Coast to Coast with George Noory
5am-6am: This Morning with Gordon Deal