Quinn and Rose contract dispute?

Scott Fybush NERW on facebook:
>>at Pittsburgh's WPGB 104.7 (and several affiliates around the region), a contract dispute has pulled the long-running Quinn and Rose morning show off the air.

Free Republic http://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3092640/posts?page=1
>>Quinn and Rose, the Morning Show HAVE VANISHED INTO THIN AIR. The show was replaced this morning with sportz talk.
The 104.7 web page has been scrubbed.Reports from a wiki source say the affiliates were notified 10 minutes before air time this morning that the two had been fired.
Another post:
>>Just called the flagship station and the girl said that they apparently were in contract negotiations with THE STATION (not clear channel) and negotiations “fell apart” over the weekend.

http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/tv-r...Rose-Tennent-out-at-WPGB/stories/201311180151

>>In a statement, a Clear Channel spokesperson said "WPGB tried to reach new terms with Jim Quinn and Rose Tennent, but as that was unsuccessful, they will be moving on and we support and thank them for the contributions they have made to Clear Channel Media + Entertainment's WPGB over the years."

The replacement is Bloomdaddy from WWVA.

Could this be the beginning of the long-rumored format flip at 104.7?

Parttimer said:

The replacement is Bloomdaddy from WWVA.

Could this be the beginning of the long-rumored format flip at 104.7?

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Was looking through the freerepublic comments and thought these were the best:

#1 "oh crap, this means three more hours of that chiropractor from Green Tree every day..."

#2 "I’m sure the syndicated audience will love hearing Bloomdaddy talk about Wheeling Central Park football and the big sewer bond issue down in Wetzel County."

listener

Sad to see them go & hope they are able to resurface soon. No-one in talk radio researches the material like Quinn & Rose.
Long time listeners in SW Florida.
Allan & JoAnne

amaki said:

No-one in talk radio researches the material like Quinn & Rose.
Allan & JoAnne

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True. Quinn backs every crackpot rant with a crackpot website. Lunacy loves company.

Even more rich is the Q&R fans blaming "liberal" Clear Channel, despite CC having a huge stake and being a core part of the growth of conservative talk to begin with, including trying it on their FM stations like 104.7. Free market works both ways.

I'd guess “contract dispute” is this case means they want Clear Channel to continue to pay them and Clear Channel don't want to continue paying them. I think their next gig is going to include a street corner, a Mr Microphone and a donation bucket. As for 104.7, they'll be stunting by mid December.

Sorry to hear this. I grew up listening to Quinn on KQV and 13Q, worked across the hall from him at WTAE and WXKX, was on B-94 when he joined Banana Don in mornings, was his Program Director at B-94 during my short stint in that chair, and have enjoyed him over the years. He is a Pittsburgh institution, and one of the smartest people I know. I'm sure there will be another chapter.

C.

cingram said:

I'm sure there will be another chapter.

C.

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Yes, there could very well be another chapter. But it will likely be a much smaller chapter and the question is whether Quinn is humble enough to take a smaller seat.

New 9AM-noon show on 1550 and live via the interwebs......

I'm only half kidding. Unless Steel City decides to blow up Q92.9, I don't see him finding a home on terrestrial radio here unless he buys the time and uses the station as a base for other platforms.... I could also see him winding up on satellite.

Although... would KDKA have the guts/brains to do this? Quinn vs. Marty Griffin... you decide....

Quinn & Rose would have to alter someone's format to return to the market. Unless Clear Channel relents, it likely won't be on any of the major stations. Unless Salem alters its schedule of preachers, it won't be WPIT or WORD. Unless CBS really feels like taking a risk, won't happen there, either. It will be some weird situation ... think, for instance, WEDO-810 from 8 a.m. to noon ... or someone daring to do it, such as a triumphant (???) return to WRRK-96.9.

Parttimer said:

New 9AM-noon show on 1550 and live via the interwebs......

I'm only half kidding. Unless Steel City decides to blow up Q92.9, I don't see him finding a home on terrestrial radio here unless he buys the time and uses the station as a base for other platforms.... I could also see him winding up on satellite.

Although... would KDKA have the guts/brains to do this? Quinn vs. Marty Griffin... you decide....

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Can't see the numbers making sense for KDKA to put him in a midday slot.

OK. My theory. CC Pittsburgh got hit pretty hard in the ratings especially with the strong showing of KKDA-FM. That raises the urgency of CC putting sports on FM,, swapping 104.7 with 970. 970 becomes an even lower budget operation,, CC eliminates the Q & R salaries. Now, with talk gone on FM, Salem might seriously consider talk for 101.5 with local hosts in the morning. They did that in Dallas on KSKY. Otherwise, Q & R will be sleeping in for now. Their affiliates really got shafted with this.

And it would not be unprecedented for CC to do this with the conservative shows. In Orlando Beck, Rush and others run on 540/WFLF while they have an "FM-talker" on 104.1 (a holdover from when the station had Howard Stern). The one difference is that 540 is a flamethrower of a signal and 970 is unlistenable in Cranberry.

And don't rule out the involvement of 540 in Canonsburg, where CC is currently parking Fox Sports, or the Keymarket stations. I would not be stunned if the conservative shows went to 104.3 and CC put on a country station.

Talking about this with a friend of mine, he told me this had happened before, and Quinn and Rose were back within a few weeks.

I keep hearing about the demise of 104.7 and conservative talk radio and soon 104.7, "the redheaded ugly step child of Pittsburgh radio" one poster wrote in another forum, will be going to it's umpteenth format.

Only this "redheaded ugly step child" has been on the air for a decade, basically proved to this market and perhaps some others that talk could work on FM, was No. 1 during the presidential elections and set records for introductory ratings when it premiered.

Suddenly that redheaded ugly stepchild is looking a lot like Tina Louise in her prime.

Whether Quinn and Rose are gone for good, I don't know. But I simply can't believe that Clear Channel is going to just divest itself of a lineup that features the most popular radio talk show hosts in the nation and is still getting better ratings than multiple other properties.

Furthermore, the format caters to wealth. To suggest that 104.7 would be changing format because of older demographics leads one to wonder why 104.7 and not WDVE or 3WS.

With any objectivity whatsoever, the suggestion 104.7 is changing format sounds like the wishful ramblings of left wingers.

Programmers have to look at the long term future of the format. The demographics aren't as wonderful as you think.

I never said the demos were "wonderful," but I did say they were "wealthy," and frankly 104.7 isn't the only station CC has with older demos.

So let me put it to you this way-

Half of the people are going to always be political conservatives and half will be liberals. So as far as the long range demos, conservatives aren't going anywhere.

Throughout history older people have had more conservative views while younger people have had more liberal ones. Radio programmers are just now realizing this? How did the conservative talk format boom even begin circa 1990 if this was the case?

As far as flipping to 970, I really think that if CC tried to do that to Rush and the gang, as well as to ESPN, they'd be getting some calls from attorneys.

I will only say this. If CC does can 104.7, it will be a disaster for them.

It was a disaster for KDKA when they lost Rush. That was the day they stopped being No. 1.

You know what they say about radio stations that don't learn from history, don't you?

Was it a "disaster" in Philadelphia? They put Rush, Beck and Hannity on FM and still couldn't get the ratings to justify it.

My point isn't that conservative talk is right now a complete failure. My point is that demographically, I'm not convinced the format can always exist in its present form.

You claim it will always be half and half - I'm not sure that even if it were true politically, it would remain true in terms of how people use radio. There's lots of conservative content on air and online competing for ears. If you look at the complaints about Q&R - you'll see a lot of those people saying "I'll go to The Blaze (online platform.)

In ten years what's "conservative" and what's "liberal" will be completely different issues. Studies have shown that today's young people are not becoming more conservative, especially in terms of social issues. You can't make the presumption that those people - especially an increasingly ethnically diverse group - will suddenly "age into" the Q&R style of talk radio.

People aren't listening to swing and big band music on a cyclical basis. My contention is the boom in the 90s was the high point - and talk radio, in its present form, will become less and less popular. The demographics, social and political trends don't support that boom ever happening again. We see attempts to bring talk to FM without a strong local news brand being marginally to non-successful.

This has nothing to do with my politics, and everything to do with numbers. There simply aren't going to be large influxes of upper middle class to wealthy caucasian males to bail out traditional talk stations. The ship has sailed.