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WROR Wally Brine retiring

gaveitup said:
. The simple truth is a pair of late 60-something morning guys is actually holding back WROR from staying below the "54" threshhold...
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Normally I would agree with that, but based on WROR's 6+ numbers (I know they mean nothing) I don't think they are holding the station back.

That being said, I have never understood why or how Loren and Wally have lasted as long as they have .....

The PM drive guy Jaybeau Jones puts out a great product... even though I normally catch him on XM7 at the same time.. he is doing 2 separate shows at once thanks to the wonders of modern technology...

Julie Devereaux does a good job, but mid days are not very important to the business anymore.... She did yeoman's work for Greater Media, moving from station to station slot to slot as needed ..... not that is going to count for anything with the new ownership.

Greater Media was making a real effort to skew younger in the 2 years leading up to the announcement that Beasley was buying them.
They got their billing up, and the value of the stations.

The exception to that was WROR. They didn't tweak the play list, they shuffled the air staff a little, they sent Tom Doyle to the beach, but the basic product was untouched. Maybe someone put into practice what many radio people have been saying for a while.... 55+ matters, and outside of rim shotters like 104.9 there is no full coverage music station in the market that is making the slightest effort to capture that demographic. Are they lucky or sly like a fox?
 
gaveitup said:
The simple truth is a pair of late 60-something morning guys is actually holding back WROR from staying below the "54" threshhold,
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Just like Matty is "holding back" Kiss 108?

I think L&W ratings have been at their highest in recent years. And they apparently just gave Loren another contract.

Are you even in the market?
 
Wimmmex said:
And they apparently just gave Loren another contract.
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I'd love to hear more on that subject.... the last contract I know of was 2013 and they made sure news of it made it to the trades.... for all to see.


What are you hearing that the rest of us are not?
 
Quote Originally Posted by gaveitup
. The simple truth is a pair of late 60-something morning guys is actually holding back WROR from staying below the "54" threshhold...
Quote Originally Posted by MRBIboredop
Normally I would agree with that, but based on WROR's 6+ numbers (I know they mean nothing) I don't think they are holding the station back.

WROR was at #5 age 25-54 in the December 2016 ratings survey. They did not appear in the Top 5 in the other sales demos of 18-34 and 18-49. (from AllAccess PPM Ratings Analysis Dec. 2016)

WROR also has the distinctive anomaly of being #1 overall age 6+ but not #1 in any particular daypart. (from Tom Taylor Now newsletter)
 
pjc1961 said:


WROR was at #5 age 25-54 in the December 2016 ratings survey. They did not appear in the Top 5 in the other sales demos of 18-34 and 18-49. (from AllAccess PPM Ratings Analysis Dec. 2016)
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#5 in 25 to 54 huh?

I would not expect them to show well in the under 34 group, and that goes double for under 25.

Can we assume that WEEI FM and WBZ FM, the sports stations are in the top 4, along with WZLX .

The third station in the 25 - 54 might be WMJX or WKLB ... which is just a wild guess on my part.

I would also venture a guess that the males are going for the sports stations and WZLX while females are going for MJX, KLB and WROR.

I know we are not allowed to post numbers, but does anyone know where WROR places in rank with females 34+ in AM drive?

But rankings aside, I bet WROR is bringing in big bucks, and it is all about the dollars
 
Wimmmex said:
Just like Matty is "holding back" Kiss 108?

I think L&W ratings have been at their highest in recent years. And they apparently just gave Loren another contract.

Are you even in the market?
Click to expand...
or
I swear Wimmex we are twin sons of different mothers! Exactly the opposite with Matty. His tenure helps lift the demos of KISS 108 so it is more relevant with older adults outside its core audience. That show is the primary reason KISS is always in the top 4 or 5 with adults 25-54. Plus Matty "plays" younger. Loren and Wally are every bit their age on and off the air thus holding WROR back from getting any younger.

I am in the market but no longer in radio...Gave it Up. But I will check with some friends next week and find out where WROR bills compared to its ratings. I'll bet it is underperforming on the revenue side. Miller-Kaplan will reveal the truth. Have a great weekend.
 
gaveitup said:
I am in the market but no longer in radio...Gave it Up. But I will check with some friends next week and find out where WROR bills compared to its ratings. I'll bet it is underperforming on the revenue side. Miller-Kaplan will reveal the truth. Have a great weekend.
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Didn't somebody use to publish on a blog radio stations' ratio of ad billing to market share? Is that still out there?
 
raccoonradio said:
With Beasley's takeover someone, I think @bostonradio on Twitter or maybe it was you, predicted both would be gone in 6 or 9 months. 35 years for L&R...
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And with that, Beasley has posted to the trades a job opening for someone to join Loren. Seems they want to keep it a 2 person show, and they are not just cutting things willy-nilly....
 
More amazing than the fact that Wally has been on the air at one station for almost 35 years is the fact that he survived multiple format changes. Obviously other personalities who have been on the air at one station for years, but I wonder how many other personalities across the country have survived multiple format changes.

In Hartford Nancy Barrow has been the co-host of the morning show on WZMX 93.7 for around 20 years. When she first came to WZMX she was Sebastian's sidekick and he was a shock-jock. WZMX at that time was Classic Hits or Classic Rock. Then in 98 they flipped to a format called "The Point" where the played Rock & Roll Music from the 50s through the 90s. In 99 they went to Jammin Oldies (Dancin' Oldies Z-93.7). They let Sebastian go, but they kept Nancy. In '01 they flipped to their current format which is Hip-Hop.

Also in Hartford Brad Davis has been with WDRC AM 1360 since around 78. They have been Oldies, Adult Standards, a Variety format called "The Best of Everything", and since 2002 they've been a talk station.
 
MarcB said:
Also in Hartford Brad Davis has been with WDRC AM 1360 since around 78. They have been Oldies, Adult Standards, a Variety format called "The Best of Everything", and since 2002 they've been a talk station.
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Was DRC(AM) ever an oldies station? When I moved to the state in 1981 they were a one-time Top 40 transitioning to adult contemporary. Brad did mornings, followed by Sebastian and Bob Marx (or was it the other way around for those last two?). I thought the AM continued with AC and the formats you mentioned after the FM went full-time oldies.
 
Caught Wally's last show this morning but only from roughly 8:40am to 9:15 or so. Didn't hear Wally after 9 at all (the show goes to 10) which isn't unusual. The major part of the show is over at 9 anyway. About the only time you would have heard Wally after 9 would be for a live commercial.

But from 840 to 9, it was all Wally. Wally's wife, Jodi Winchester Brine, was in studio. Jodi was the producer of the morning show for 8 years about 20 years ago. Haven't heard her voice in forever. Former news guy Nick Mills (I'm Nick Mills!) was also in studio with a poem for Wally. And given that marijuana is now legal in the state of Massachusetts, they had Tommy Chong live on the phone. Wally said thank you and goodbye to everyone. I thought that it would sound more emotional especially for Loren and Wally but I didn't get that vibe at all.

Loren is now probably on vacation the rest of the year. Not sure if we'll hear Hank and/or LBF and/or Lungboy hosting at any point during the next two weeks or not. Should be interesting to hear what the new Wally-less show will be like after the new year. Wally's Records From Home will be gone although they are actually doing a whole Wally's Records From Home this weekend. The Wally-Ology reports will be gone. But what about Men From Maine? My guess: Gone!
 
WMC2006 said:
Caught Wally's last show this morning but only from roughly 8:40am to 9:15 or so. Didn't hear Wally after 9 at all (the show goes to 10) which isn't unusual. The major part of the show is over at 9 anyway. About the only time you would have heard Wally after 9 would be for a live commercial.

But from 840 to 9, it was all Wally. Wally's wife, Jodi Winchester Brine, was in studio. Jodi was the producer of the morning show for 8 years about 20 years ago. Haven't heard her voice in forever. Former news guy Nick Mills (I'm Nick Mills!) was also in studio with a poem for Wally. And given that marijuana is now legal in the state of Massachusetts, they had Tommy Chong live on the phone. Wally said thank you and goodbye to everyone. I thought that it would sound more emotional especially for Loren and Wally but I didn't get that vibe at all.

Loren is now probably on vacation the rest of the year. Not sure if we'll hear Hank and/or LBF and/or Lungboy hosting at any point during the next two weeks or not. Should be interesting to hear what the new Wally-less show will be like after the new year. Wally's Records From Home will be gone although they are actually doing a whole Wally's Records From Home this weekend. The Wally-Ology reports will be gone. But what about Men From Maine? My guess: Gone!
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I caught a bit more of the show, between 7:00 and 9:20. There is a podcast on the wror.com website containing the non-music portions of the rest of the show, if anyone is interested.

Carl Stevens (WBZ), Matt Siegal (KISS 108), Mike Adams (late of Magic 106.7), one of the 98.5 Sports Hub morning duo: all called in or showed up in person. I never realized Jody Winchester had been their producer; that explains how she and Wally met, I guess. Nick Mills wrote a very nice poem, almost eulogy-like.

I'll miss Wally; I'm not sure how the show can ever be the same with only half of this legendary duo. Wally was the guy who always seemed to be unwittingly "stepping into it", and it never came off as feigned.

Men From Maine I'll miss the most. Corny, perhaps, but the ones with the double entendre were priceless.

BTW, did anyone else besides me wonder why Tom Doyle or Sue Cope didn't call in or drop by?

'ROR's music playlist totally $uck$, IMHO, worse now that more 80s and some 90s "tunes" are in the mix, but L&W's antics at least made the morning drive shift fun.

Someone else (here, I believe) speculated that Loren was probably asked to hang on a few months more to ease the transition to a new morning show, after which he, too, will retire. Both of these classy gentlemen are, like me and a good part of their loyal listeners, aging boomers, and they can't be expected to hang around 'ROR doing their shtick for another 5 or 10 years.

I just wish more station sales reps knew how to make this demographic more appealing to advertisers.

Thanks for all the fun mornings, Wally. You are one of a kind.
 
You raise a good point about Tom Doyle and Sue Cope. Sue was their newsreader for something like 12 years, maybe more? Sue lives in some other part of the country so that'd explain why she wasn't physically there but, who knows, they may have talked to her on the phone at some point. After 35 years, they've had a lot of coworkers and I bet a lot of them were there in the building on Friday but we didn't hear them on the air.

That was Rich of Toucher and Rich on the Sports Hub who congratulated Wally (on tape I'm assuming). And there have been many taped congrats from Charles Laquidara over the last couple of weeks.

And I enjoy WROR's music playlist, that's why I listen, when I'm in my truck anyway. At home, around the Worcester area, I listen to 100FM The Pike.
 
WMC2006 said:
You raise a good point about Tom Doyle and Sue Cope. Sue was their newsreader for something like 12 years, maybe more? Sue lives in some other part of the country so that'd explain why she wasn't physically there but, who knows, they may have talked to her on the phone at some point.
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Sue has moved back to the area and is living on the south shore.

As for Doyle... who knows, but there was a rumor there was friction between Doyle and one of the Show crew.... plus where he was let go maybe letting him live in studio was ruled out .....
 
I decided to set my clock radio to 105.7 to see what would transpire at 'ROR sans Wally.

From all indications the program was live, with everyone from the Morning crew there, except Wally, of course. In fact, the show is still billed as "The Loren and Wally Morning Show"! There was the usual Men from Maine episode circa 7:20, Dirty Laundry from LBF at 7:45, Hank did both traffic and the 7:55 sports reports, Lung Boy was a bit more vocal. And Loren nicely orchestrated the whole thing, as usual.

I'm more than ever convinced now that Loren will in the near future hand over the reins to a new Morning host (or hosts), at which point the L&W Morning show will indeed be no more.
 
Someone did say earlier here or in another thread that Wally's contract (and Loren's too for that matter) ended at the end of the year. Well, it's not the end of the year yet. So, I suppose, even though Wally retired, he's sort of on vacation and still being paid until the end of the year so it's still The Loren and Wally Morning Show. I'm surprised Loren was there. Usually, the two would be off the last two weeks of the year.
 
And they are still running the Loren and Wally ad for Century Bank.
 
January 3rd and WROR is still running Wally stuff and they are still calling it The Loren and Wally Morning Show. Last week, I believe the entire morning show was on vacation. Old Wally stuff (much from the last month or so before retirement) was played in between songs. As far as I know, there was nobody live in the studio.

On Tuesday morning, only Hank and Lungboy were in while Loren and LBF were on vacation. Hank did traffic (of course) as well as the former Wally sports reports (which he's been doing since Wally left) and this week he is doing the newsbreaks with LBF out. Lungboy is acting as host. And, yes, they are playing Wally stuff from the month or so before retirement.
 
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