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Imus on WJR, trouble for Paul W Smith?

N

naughtytalker

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If you read between the lines, "Imus in the Morning" is going to replace Paul W. Smith on WJR, and 21 other Citadel/ABC owned radio stations nationwide.

Peter Lauria writes for the New York Post:

"While Imus will begin his return on 77 WABC alone-just six short months after being universally ostracized for calling the Rutgers University women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos"--the source said it is "more likely than not" that the radio raconteur will eventually be syndicated across ABC Radio's 22 stations."

Unless I miss my guess, that puts local morning shows from Detroit to Dallas to San Francisco and 19 major markets in jeopardy. The handwriting is on the wall, folks. Get those resume' tapes ready.
 
Well, he wont be on WJR..that we can debunk now.
he might be on one of the other ABC/Citadel Detroit properties one popular rumor is that Imus could be the morning voice of 93.1 Doug FM
 
Farid likes to make money. Imus will not replace anyone at the level of a Paul W. Smith or even a Tom Barnard in MSP. He isn't replacing a monster heritage morning show on WABC, either.

If you are a Citadel morning host that is performing below the station's average, though, you might be a candidate for replacement by the I-Man.
 
Trouble brewing...

Radio-Info.com Top Story 11/09/07;

Citadel reports its first quarter with the ABC stations - which dropped 7%. Farid Suleman uses the word "disappointing" several times on this morning's call, and most of that came from the "underperforming markets that have to be fixed", like the former ABC clusters in markets such as New York, L.A., Chicago, Dallas and Detroit. Suleman's optimistic about what Don Imus can do for WABC, New York, and for what baseball (the returning Dodgers) can do for KABC in Los Angeles.

Kidding yourselves won't "fix" WJR.

Regards,

Naughty W. Talker
 
Cary Pall said:
Farid likes to make money. Imus will not replace anyone at the level of a Paul W. Smith or even a Tom Barnard in MSP. He isn't replacing a monster heritage morning show on WABC, either.

If you are a Citadel morning host that is performing below the station's average, though, you might be a candidate for replacement by the I-Man.
Click to expand...

Imus is replacing a morning show on WABC that out-performed his show on WFAN.

Smith does not pull in advertisers (or listeners) like JP did. A syndicated show could be more profitable than a more expensive local show with a local "name" personality, even if the local show does not perform as well. Citadel is run by Wall Street take-over types and all they know is the bottom line.
 
From the day that I heard about the Citadel/ABC merger, I just cringed at the thought of the barbarians at
Citadel getting their hands on great radio stations like WABC, WLS, WJR, WBAP and others. While Paul W. Smith may not be as popular as J.P. Mc Carthy, those were huge shoes to fill. It's like comparing Carson to Leno. They are both good, but different. I can see Citahell wanting to make WJR "The Great Voice Of The Great Syndicators" hoping to roll out the bucks and pay very little to get it. It would be very sad to see WJR running nothing but satellite syndication. It's interesting that companies like Citadel rail against satellite radio, only to install their own version of it.
 
Does that mean if that's the case Imus will start filling in for Rush & Paul Harvey when they're off like Paul W. does sometimes? "I'm Don Imus.......Goood Daayy! You knappy headed hos!!!" ;D
 
What seems to be lost on so many, is that IMUS was a NYC institution.

That's New York City, not Dallas, not Detroit, not Chicago, etc.

And he wasn't even that big in NY anymore. I cannot imagine why these execs think he is suddenly going to explode in popularity at the age of 67.

I know, they think the whole "nappy headed ho" thing will get Imus all this attention. Well guess what: first, he's not going to be as edgy(?) as he was before, AND after the newness or novelty wears off, people will realize that he's kinda boring.

Meanwhile, all those major outlets have put all their eggs in the Imus in the morning basket, which will further their decline locally.

Dumb and short-sighted. It must be radio.
 
Advertisers like Imus. That's what counts.

Unlike Howard Stern, Imus was not in top stations in syndication outside New York. He mostly ended up on also-ran talkers up against strong local morning shows they couldn't compete with and therefore had nothing to lose.

Who in Detroit fits that description?
 
Is WJR operating on lower power or their standby antenna?

I live about 60 miles south of the Ohio/Michigan line, and WJR is usually a pretty good signal here. This morning I punched it up, (1st time in over 2 years), and it sounds weak and undermodulated. As compared to CKLW, WOWO, and even WBBM, WJR sounds about 3 dB lower on the car radio. (Pioneer 2900MP)
 
Well, keep in mind that Phil Boyce is a former WJR PD.
If he was the "source" this may get interesting.
PWS is ok. I hate the way he signs off......"regards"....
Yikes. Not your typical Detroit style sign off.
 
The state of WJR really tees me off. The model that WJR should follow is stations like KGO San Francisco (a sister station to WJR) and WBZ Boston. These stations have a lot of locally produced content (including great overnite shows). They are true heritage stations in their communities (like what WJR used to be in Detroit). WJR is essentially a repeater station for all the syndicated programs that could really care less about Detroit (I have heard some of these shows insult the Detroit area!!). Why can't the Detroit market get the quality of what KGO or WBZ offer to thier markets? I feel like our market is really short changed.
i

The only positive show on WJR is the Frank Beckmann show - at least they talk about local issues and take calls from listeners. WJR needs more shows like the old David Newman show and the overnite show they used to do (Bob Hynes?).

The P. W. Smith morning show I think is really plodding with too many commericals - very slow moving. P. W. Smith should let his guests talk more - he talks to much and he never seems to ask the tough questions (lots of soft-ball stuff from PWS). Seems like his show is geared for the 65 and over crowd.
 
Imus isn't going to replace Smith. Smith is the moneymaker and is closets to the regions shakers. Imus on a FM that isn't creating # or $'s would be a place for him. Remember, when Imus was on WXYT he couldn't develop anything. And who says WJR needs fixing? Revenue wise it hurts that 85% of programming is syndicated sales avail's are in inventory v. WWJ that can run as many spots as they want.
 
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