T
Tilden
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Of late 69 year old Dan Rea on WBZ Radio sounds like he is struggling to sound relevant by morphing into his radical Trump apologist and Hibernian counterpart Sean Hannity. Time to pack it in ?
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Stuck on WBZ, high powered and highly rated.Will be interesting to see what becomes of them when CBS is absorbed by Entercom.(And Howie, 65 years old and only on 25 times as many stations as Jerry Williams was.)
Oh, I see. If Dan Rea were not a "radical Trump apologist" but more of say, a liberal Democrat apologist, then he would not be "struggling to sound relevant".
RaccoonerMan, you should know better; Dan Rea doesn't need to be on "25 times as many stations as Jerry Williams was" since WBZ can reach 38 states just via the airwaves, let alone the interweb.
If Dan Rea's program brings in $$$, then Entercom SHOULD leave it alone, since they are spending a pretty penny to get some really classy stations.
I'm no accountant, but if CBS had any who truly cared about radio as a medium, instead of just a "business", they should have simply spun off CBS Radio as a standalone entity, and NOT have made the questionable decision to sell out to Entercom.
The coverage outside of the immediate Boston / Worcester market is of absolutely no sales value to the show or the station.
In today's noisy, congested AM band, WBZ is lucky to cover all of new England, some of New York and bits of New Jersey, PA, DE and MD at night. The former 1-A clear channels are not protected beyond 600 miles any more, so that means that even western PA is out of the usable coverage area. And with lots of adjacent channel stations and foreign interference, there are many nights that even 600 miles does not "work".
That "38 state" assertion has been BS for at least 40 years. WBZ has measurable over the air listening in places like Manchester, Cape Cod, Portland, New Bedford, Concord and Portsmouth. Of course, local accounts in those markets can't afford Boston rates, so there is no revenue to be had from the fringe markets. It has no measurable stream listening outside that area, either.
But the reality is that having loads of affiliates allows local sales, local ratings and more syndication revenue. Being on one station in one market allows none of that.
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The reasoning has everything to do with taxes. The merger with Entercom produces no or limited tax consequences as it is a Reverse Morris Trust, and the parent CBS corporation retains a majority of shares in the new entity but gets a no-growth division off the operating entity's books.
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They are spending relatively little, aside from legal and regulatory fees. It's a merger under the conditions of a Reverse Morris Trust.
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/reverse-morris-trust.asp
"A reverse Morris trust is a tax-optimization strategy in which a company wishing to spin off and subsequently sell assets to an interested party can do so while avoiding taxes on any gains from such asset disposal. A reverse Morris trust is a form of organization that allows an entity to combine a subsidiary that was spun off with a strategic merger or combination with another company free of taxes, provided that all legal requirements for spin-off are met. To form a reverse Morris trust, a parent company must first spin off a subsidiary or other unwanted asset into a separate company, which is then merged or combined with a firm that is interested in acquiring the asset. "
David,
I'm going to defer to your deeper knowledge of these matters, but, what, pray tell, is this "new entity" of which you write? Is it a subsidiary of Entercom consisting of the formerly CBS-owned stations?
In your other post, you appear to paint a somewhat dismal picture of the larger "clear-channel" AM stations, which, while they still have some reach outside their primary service area, don't stand to gain much by so doing. In fact, my takeaway was it is better to have a network of lower power AMs who can each sell time to their respective service areas.
I suppose this is the reality of today (dammit!), but here we're talking of a real legacy station, WBZ. As I've said before, I'm an "industry outsider", but have known of, and listened to, WBZ for the better part of 50+ years.
The "new entity" is the transformed Entercom... same company, but now with a majority of shares owned by CBS.
Aside for a few trucker shows, big night coverage AM signals lost their relevance when TV took over from radio in nighttime entertainment. That was 60 years ago!
As more and more local AMs came on in the 50's and 60's, any need for far-off AM was further reduced. With the possible exception of farm stations in the Midwest, advertisers stopped buying coverage nearly as long ago.
Then FM came and capped that well.
I remember in the late 70's and early 80's, when syndicated nightitme fare was less of a given, there were a few local shows that people starined to get via skywave, because they were unique and they could get them elsewhere.
Larry Glick comes to mind. He had listeners all over the Northeast. There were those of us in the 70's who were struggling to pick up WKBW skywave to listen to Jackson Armstrong. George Michael on WABC or Johnny Williams on CKLW.
WBZ let David Brudnoy go some years ago to run the Tom Snyder syndie show.People complained and the decision was reversed.Then a few years ago they let Steve Leveille and Lovell Dyett go to run Overnight America. A protest led by a young man led to both being restored though Dyett who has since passed on was given a shorter slot.
But both decisions to return the local hosts were probably made for the most part to please New England listeners rather than distant ones, and advertisers. Yes some listen in far off places including online but the main focus was more regional.
But both decisions to return the local hosts were probably made for the most part to please New England listeners rather than distant ones, and advertisers. Yes some listen in far off places including online but the main focus was more regional.
David,
So does the above statement indicate that CBS is the majority stockholder of Entercom? Does this imply that CBS now really owns the greater part of not only its former stable of stations, but also those of Entercom?
After the merger, CBS will own a majority of shares, but not the super voting shares. So they will have a minority on the board and David Field and family control the company.
Maybe he should become a Hillary hysteric and get lower ratings?
Wow, is that ever confusing!
"Majority" of shares, but not
"super voting" shares, giving them (CBS) a
"minority" on the board, while someone else (Field & family)
"controls" the company ("new" Entercom).
I don't listen to DR and don't care what his age is. But as a 'BZ listener during the mor-aft. I hear Dan's promo a lot: it's played about twice an hour 12 hours a day. What he says on his talk show is irrelevant. But to constantly put a recorded tirade on a "News Station," which calls the former Pres. of the United States a virulent anti-Israel disgrace to this country, made me lose much respect for the management of 'BZ.
The US government is not a tool of Israel. We don't have to do exactly as AIPAC demands.
The US government is not a tool of Israel. We don't have to do exactly as AIPAC demands.
It's called a "promo". Telling people what is on the station times other than when you are listening.
You said 2x's an hour for 12 hours....that is incorrect. I doubt they are running tons of promos during their most lucrative time of day for selling spots (AM-Drive).
Once again, it's not subliminal...it's a talk host/commentator expressing his own opinion on a promo for his show.
Maybe the promo serves to alert people like yourself not to listen to his opinion show. (Or for others to call in with differing opinions.)
But, if you are looking for a safe space, you will find plenty. ;-)
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