While the idea making any kind of change like this to KYW is downright laughable, there has been some speculation here and elsewhere about 1210's morphing into something like that.
So I'll continue to say, any attempt to do this on AM would be foolish. And about 20 years too late. (In Philly, which was an early FM market, maybe 30.)
Plus, for CBS to run WOGL-type music at any time on another of its stations would be insane. (Though to be fair the old CBS did it in 1990.)
Fred and I have already said it in other threads. The only thing CBS can really do at this point that would make any sense would be to run 1210 on the cheap with neo-con/Tea Party satellite Talk until the current crop of shows withers away. Possibly keep mornings local. Stigall is very good, and is a great bridge between the older listeners the station gets-- and any younger ones who might accidentally bump into the "band" button while listening to FM radio. Maybe move Dom to PM drive. He's now the dean of Philadelphia talk radio, and probably generates a lot of revenue with all those reads and remotes. (He also might be too expensive.) But that's it. I'd "dish" the rest of the day. Beck, who also skews younger, I'd carry live. Hannity I'd delay only to evenings.
1210 flipped from talk to oldies once before and it was a disaster.
An ARB disaster, sure, but as you no doubt know CBS accomplished its short-term mission of stopping the bleeding. The station had been losing a million dollars a year. By essentially waving the white flag, and finally admitting it had no clue what to do with the station, CBS was able to eliminate the majority of the annual loss. It's my understanding in its final year of Oldies, it actually generated a small profit. (The Phillies went to the World Series that year, and the games were pretty much the only thing on the station pulling a number.) I also remember hearing at the time there was some concern in New York that Pyramid here was considering going head-to-head with WOGL by going Oldies on 104.5, which was struggling at the time as one of four AC stations. Pyramid also owned Oldies daytimer WPGR, and had just lost Don Cannon and Hyski to WOGL. By going Vintage with 1210, and by falsely claiming to be serious about wanting to be an actual contender, even the remotest consideration of going Oldies with WSNI disappeared. Weeks later that station became Hot AC as "Star." (Its early era remains, in my personal opinion, one of the best-sounding stations this market has had in the past 30 years.)
But Fred's point relative to this discussion is well-taken-- nobody listened to music on 1210 a quarter-century ago (when there were still millions alive who would have been open to the idea). To think anyone would listen now, an entire generation later, is just ridiculous. Especially if it's the type of music heard these days on 101.5-- which is readily available on WOGL and WMGK. And a few thousand Internet channels.
(And for the record, no, "we" don't "need" to save radio. Many of us tried that a long time ago, and have since moved on with our lives. If nobody listened to Paul Revere warning of the British, he'd have eventually stopped riding that horse and said, "Screw 'em." If radio suddenly decides to save itself, I wish it the best.)
