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Imus Unloads on the Dickey Brothers

Rusty Bridges

Rusty Bridges

Tom Taylor NOW reports in the Thursday, October 15 news letter:

"They [the Dickey brothers] “went around the country and ruined radio stations” ... WABC New York, is one of them." Imus was coming out of a lengthy spot break in his third hour that was loaded with promos for weekend infomercial shows.

“Now [WABC] is being programmed by the sales department. It’s a disgrace…I know they have to make money, but that’s why they got rid of the Dickeys.” Imus continued, “They went around the country and ruined radio stations. This [WABC] is one of them.”

“When I first came to New York and went to work at WNBC, our big rival was WABC with Cousin Bruce Morrow, the great Dan Ingram, Harry Harrison and all those people ... [now] they sell time to these idiot doctors who have programs on the weekend” – and who’re entitled to promos during the week, sometimes stacked up in morning drive.

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There's probably more of this sentiment in other (smaller) Cumulus markets that won't be aired. More than likely, Cumulus is in a grace period where such comments may be tolerated for a week or two, but only by the company's biggest personalities. After that time passes, employees will be expected to get with the program and get it done. But in a way, it's refreshing that Imus called the situation, at WABC and other markets, for what it is: A bloody train wreck waiting to be cleaned up and put back on the tracks.
 
Weekends on WABC and virtually every talk station in the country is horrendous. There are a few decent shows sprinkled among the infomercials/brokered shows but they are few and far between. Yes, I know those brokered shows make money for the stations, but I would imagine they have very few, if any listeners. I think David Eduardo pointed out that WABC has a .3 on Saturday and Sunday. I'm amazed they are that high. I love talk radio,but I avoid any talk station like the plague on the weekend. I would welcome repeats of the weekday shows on the weekend,but Infomercials make money, "best of's" don't,but from a listener standpoint ANYTHING is better than Real Estate shows, Doctor shows, Financial shows,etc.

Bravo to Imus for saying what everybody knows is true,but what does he have to lose? He's probably in his last contract.
 
Pot, kettle, black. Does Imus have anyone in the advertising demo listening to his show any more? And isn't he literally phoning it in at this point?

I wonder if WABC would do any worse playing '60s and '70s oldies instead. I'm sure the ratings would be no worse than what they are now, and would be cheaper than paying those pricey talk hosts.

AM radio isn't going to attract any new listeners under 50 years old at this point anyway. Might as well go with nostalgia since it's one of the few things left that AM radio can do any more.
 
Theater of My Mind said:
Pot, kettle, black. Does Imus have anyone in the advertising demo listening to his show any more? And isn't he literally phoning it in at this point?

I wonder if WABC would do any worse playing '60s and '70s oldies instead. I'm sure the ratings would be no worse than what they are now, and would be cheaper than paying those pricey talk hosts.

AM radio isn't going to attract any new listeners under 50 years old at this point anyway. Might as well go with nostalgia since it's one of the few things left that AM radio can do any more.
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You're exactly right.
 
Pot, kettle, black. Yupp!

Ix-nay on playing oldies...can't monetize that.

Ancient Modulation is just that. News, Sports & Brokered programming is pretty much all most of them are doing. But Nurse Jeff and I really enjoy KFI out of Boss Angeles...their talkers aren't old geezers doing the Limbaugh, Hannity & Levin routine.
 
It is really sad to see what has happened to WABC on weekends. It is like their strategy is to destroy the station and drive away listeners.

It blows my mind that in the NYC region one cannot find any live talk radio programs to listen to on weekends. Even if stations ran repeats of weekday shows that would be far better than that infomercial garbage.

These stations could also probably find compelling personalities that would work for free or sell their own Ads and pay for the time rather than run a station into the ground with infomercials.
 
mikerock said:
These stations could also probably find compelling personalities that would work for free or sell their own Ads and pay for the time rather than run a station into the ground with infomercials.
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Working for free doesn't make the station money. Paying for time is what the infomercials do, and you hear what they sound like. So neither of your suggestions would solve the problem.

They're not doing this to drive away the audience. Imus himself is doing a great job there. They're doing it because at this point it's about the only source of revenue they have.
 
IMUS = 3 hours a day, 4 days a week. IMUS = 1 crappy segment every day (Blond on Blond, psychos, etc) rather than interviews. IMUS = (to quote him) "getting up 5 minutes before the show and spending 3 hours trying to wake up". IMUS = an old pro who is phoning it in.

Look to your own home Iman...you are part of the problem!
 
TheBigA said:
Working for free doesn't make the station money. Paying for time is what the infomercials do, and you hear what they sound like. So neither of your suggestions would solve the problem.

They're not doing this to drive away the audience. Imus himself is doing a great job there. They're doing it because at this point it's about the only source of revenue they have.
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How is talent working for free or peanuts not going to make the station money? You are going to tell me in a metro like NYC with their signal reach they really cannot sell enough Ads on weekends to make a enough money and must go the infomercial route? I am not buying it.

If they are making money now selling time to those running infomercials it is not any different selling to someone that puts an actual show on and sells their own Ads.
 
mikerock said:
How is talent working for free or peanuts not going to make the station money? You are going to tell me in a metro like NYC with their signal reach they really cannot sell enough Ads on weekends to make a enough money and must go the infomercial route? I am not buying it.

If they are making money now selling time to those running infomercials it is not any different selling to someone that puts an actual show on and sells their own Ads.
Click to expand...

Round and round we go ...

The demos ad agencies and their clients want to reach aren't listening to talk radio, period, as has been stated several times in this thread and others. Conservative talk, liberal talk, business talk, home improvement talk -- they're all reaching the ears of too many 55-plus folks. With infomercials, it doesn't matter if hardly anyone listens because the producers of the paid programming are paying to reach whatever audience does tune in, even if many of them are "too old." Why bang your head against the wall trying to create and sell a local talk show in that sort of environment?
 
Did AM radio ever have active lineups on weekends? I remember a few shows like Arthur Schwartz, but not back to back shows. I know Mario Cuomo had a weekend show that failed.
 
dumber than a box of hair said:
If you were described by people in the radio business as a "compelling personality," would YOU work for free?
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It is not rocket science. Anything is better than those damn infomercials. I would say there a tens of thousands of New Yorkers that could sit behind a mic and be far more entertaining. Sell the air time to a group that will do that and let them sell their own Ads so they are not working for free if WABC does not want to get their hands dirty.

I suspect there are already businesses and individuals that want to buy that air time already. It is just they are not being picky about what they allow and it is going to infomercials.

If shortwave broadcasters can still do it then no doubt in a city like NY with 50kw flame thrower it should not be a problem.
 
Look, it's not just WABC that runs those infomercials. They're on all the AM talk stations. Obviously it's not as easy as it seems.
 
mikerock said:
It is not rocket science. Anything is better than those damn infomercials. I would say there a tens of thousands of New Yorkers that could sit behind a mic and be far more entertaining. Sell the air time to a group that will do that and let them sell their own Ads so they are not working for free if WABC does not want to get their hands dirty.

I suspect there are already businesses and individuals that want to buy that air time already. It is just they are not being picky about what they allow and it is going to infomercials.

If shortwave broadcasters can still do it then no doubt in a city like NY with 50kw flame thrower it should not be a problem.
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How about answering the question?

And since you have apparently never worked a single day in this business, I'll give you a hint: NO one works for free.
 
mikerock said:
It is not rocket science. Anything is better than those damn infomercials.
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No one forces you to listen. Don't like 'em? Turn it off. Change the station.

In a city the size of NY, there must be lots of other things to do besides listen to an AM station.
 
dumber than a box of hair said:
How about answering the question?

And since you have apparently never worked a single day in this business, I'll give you a hint: NO one works for free.
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That is because you cannot think outside the box like most of this industry right now which why it is dying. You do not need big names to fill airtime that is now going to infomercials. You see people buying airtime on other stations and even shortwave to push their political or religious beliefs.

So some are already working for free and paying for airtime. I see like the management shill you are you chose to ignore the other options I provided and focused solely on the free part. Like I said multiple times already you can still sell the airtime to folks and get paid up front. The buyer can put on a regular talk show rather than an infomercial and the buyer can sell their own Ads.

No wonder why these forums are dead. We have the same few posters that shill for management regardless of their decisions and now look at the post above me. Now the solution being contributed here is to stop listening to radio. Talk about radio management shills.

If you are paid consultants do not out yourselves, post under another handle and contribute to the conversation. Otherwise you bring nothing interesting to the table.

mikerock said:
... Even if stations ran repeats of weekday shows that would be far better than that infomercial garbage.

These stations could also probably find compelling personalities that would work for free, sell their own Ads and pay for the time rather than run a station into the ground with infomercials.
Click to expand...

mikerock said:
How is talent working for free or peanuts not going to make the station money? You are going to tell me in a metro like NYC with their signal reach they really cannot sell enough Ads on weekends to make a enough money and must go the infomercial route? I am not buying it.

If they are making money now selling time to those running infomercials it is not any different selling to someone that puts an actual show on and sells their own Ads.
Click to expand...

mikerock said:
It is not rocket science. Anything is better than those damn infomercials. I would say there a tens of thousands of New Yorkers that could sit behind a mic and be far more entertaining. Sell the air time to a group that will do that and let them sell their own Ads so they are not working for free if WABC does not want to get their hands dirty.

I suspect there are already businesses and individuals that want to buy that air time already. It is just they are not being picky about what they allow and it is going to infomercials.

If shortwave broadcasters can still do it then no doubt in a city like NY with 50kw flame thrower it should not be a problem.
Click to expand...
 
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There are already several shows of the type you mention on WABC..Touch of Grey, Frankie Russo, etc and they're ain't much better!
 
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