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Pergament says WBEN can't sell airtime during Rush Limbaugh's show

Consider what iHeart has done with Rush's show in LA. They "gave him his own station," which got him off their highly rated KFI. Probably because his show was hurting revenues. And iHeart owns the company that syndicates Rush.
 
The newscasts at 12:30, 1:30, and 2:30 are shorter than at any other part of the day. So I'd wonder why they would only read headlines at the bottom of the hour unless there are commercials waiting to be aired? The same show is heard on another station in Western New York, WHAM. And when you listen on WHAM, you hear Rush's music from the Pretender's for a longer amount of time than you do on WBEN. WBEN doesn't generally start the show until Rush starts talking.

According to talk show host with a brother in the sales department, if you want airtime in the future you should be buying it now because it will be gone when you want it.

In any case, there are local hosts waiting to fill that slot I'm sure...unless they are waiting for Sandy to leave.
 
Pergy should do a story on advertiser difficulty for the rag. It's got to be on the decline. But they do send out a free mailing to us with ads that I guess they can't sell for their Sunday paper. I guess that's one way to do it...if you can't sell it, give it away. Because very few will call to cancel something they get for free. They are officially in the junk mail business now as their current operation is not viable.
 
Here's something to consider:

The NAB urges the FCC to eliminate the newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership rule and the last remnant of the radio/television cross-ownership rule.

Imagine if the Buffalo News and WBEN were owned by the same company again. Which medium would be hurt the most? Which would benefit the most?

Truthfully, did democracy suffer the first time these two were co-owned?
 
It's not just Limbaugh and not just right-wing talk and not just political talk that has people squeamish. A service we barter one minute of advertising daily with has this verboten list:

DO NOT TO AIR within 30 minutes of open or close of these programs

SHOW PERSONALITY CONTENT/THEMES

Rush Limbaugh Controversial, Hot Topics, Strong Extreme POV
Adam Carrolla Humorous, Hot Topics, Controversy
Brian Sussman Controversial, Hot Topics, Extreme POV
Dr. Laura Schlessinger Controversial, Hot Topics, Strong POV
Glenn Beck Hot Topics, Current Events, POV Talk
IMUS Hot Topics, Current Events, POV Talk
Michael Savage Controversial, Hot Topics, Extreme POV
Mike Malloy Current Events, Politics, POV
Opie and Anthony Humor, Gags, Hot Talk, Controversy
Howard Stern Humor, Gags, Hot Talk, Controversy
Laura Ingraham Controversial, Hot Topics, Strong POV
Tom Leykis Controversial, Hot Topics, POV, Strong Sexual Content
Stephanie Miller Current Events, Pop Culture, Comedy, POV
Todd \"MJ\" Schnitt Show Hot Topics, Pop Culture, Humor, Gags,
Sexual Content but no Controversy
MANCOW Humorous, Hot Topics, Controversy
The War Room with Quinn & Rose Conservative political talk show,
POV
Jay Severin Controversial, Hot Topics, Extreme POV
Sean Hannity Hot Topics, Current Events, POV Talk
Mark Levin Hot Topics, Current Events, POV Talk
Lou Dobbs Talk Show Hot Topics, Current Events, POV Talk
Thom Hartman Current Events, Issues of the Day, POV
Ed Schultz Current Events, Politics, POV
Mark Davis Current Events, Politics, POV
Gene Burns Current Events, Local Issues
Lee Rogers and Melanie Morgan Current Events, Hot Topics, POV
Jerry Doyle Current Events, Hot Topics, POV
Howie Carr Current Events, Hot Topics, POV
Michael Graham Current Events, Political, POV
Neal Boortz Current Event, Local Issues, Hot Talk, POV #1 AM Drive
Drew and Mike Show Hot Topics, Pop Culture, Humor, Light Sexual
Content but no Controversy
Susanne Lafrankie Current Events, Local Issues, POV
Joe Pags Current Events, Hot Topics, POV
Sports Junkies Sports, Hot Talk, Edgy but not controversial, Light
Sexual Content
 
A lot of those shows aren't current to broadcast radio...however they may do podcasts or are on Sirius, both of which have spots.

BTW I've seen similar lists that include WBEN's Bauerle and WHAM's Lonsberry citing similar concerns.
 
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Maybe they will get more business advertising within 30 minutes of Purity Products on Sunday morning at 5am.
 
Any product with a list of objections that long probably isn't going to advertise on a news/talk station. Well, maybe between church broadcasts on Sunday.
 
I can say with all certainly that WBEN has no problem selling airtime during Rush. As usual, Alan is wrong again.
 
Very very few people under 55 are listening to Limbaugh.
He is a pariah nationally.

Since ad agencies want younger demos, they're obviously not going to
buy time there.
If WBEN can sell nothing but older demos, then they have solved all
their issues. Since they had to abandon the FM simulcast, that
seems unlikely...
 
Have you seen the disposable income for 55+ these days? It's higher than 25-34. There are plenty of products and services targeted to include 55+. WBEN - and Entercom in general - seem to be doing just fine.
 
I am not sure why people keep thinking that ad agencies like the 25 to 54 demo. Ad agencies are a small part of radio revenue. The older demo 35 plus is the demo that the big money comes from. This is WBEN's demo. Yes, that is a broad age group, and many of the people in that demo will be 45-70. But I will sell to that demo than 18-45 demo any day of the week. That age group has grown up with radio. They are going to stay with radio, and understand it a lot better than millennials. Just my thought
 
You guys live in Buffalo. Just listen to the station for an hour during Rush's show, track the local advertisers, and hear who buys time. It's pretty easy.
 
TheBigA said:
You guys live in Buffalo. Just listen to the station for an hour during Rush's show, track the local advertisers, and hear who buys time. It's pretty easy.
Click to expand...

I listened to all three hours of Rush today. And what is it that I'm listening for exactly, and why do I care who buys it?
 
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