Pinging Holland Cooke

[MisterBilge]

Just wondering if you'd care to share your thoughts on the state of Boston news/talk radio, specifically WBZ? Isn't Boston a market of thinkers? It seems BZ's seemingly endless string of # 1 or # 2 ratings slots indicates they were doing something right. Does breaking news stop when it gets dark? Will listeners in Boston be interested more in topics that generically impact markets across the nation or would they be more inclined to jump into a give-and-take discusson of issues that impact them locally? If we'd rather not be Boston specific, generalizations are fine. Just curious.

 

[Holland Cooke]

Moi?

WBZ sure is one of those enduring radio brands.
And, yes, Boston does have a long News/Talk tradition.

Even waaay-back-when 'BZ still played-the-hits, their wee-hours Talk blocks were already a fixture.
In my travels, I still meet Baby Boomer-age DX-ers who tell Larry Glick stories.
He had lots of fans in the Midwest.

RE "Does breaking news stop when it gets dark:"
As WBZ sister station WINS/NY has said for 40+ years, "the news watch never stops."
And 'BZ has set-the-expectation that, if-the-fit-hits-the-shan, they'll swing-into-action.

But lots of stations daypart day-in-day-out PROGRAMMING the way WBZ does.
Their daytime news format plays to the big available weekday in-car cume.
Evening talk shows can be AQH engines.

When I programmed WTOP/Washington in the 80s, the station was 1500AM, so we played the signal's strengths-and-weaknesses:
By day, we were All-News during the day.
Evenings: play-by-play (Orioles, before baseball came back to DC; and the NHL Capitals; and NBA then-Bullets/now-Wizards);
Overnights: Larry King, who was a Washington local then.

Now, WTOP is a multi-FM simulcast, and somewhat-the-other-way-around: They're all-news-all-the-time, for an increasingly-mobile around-the-clock community there, and their coverage geography accommodates the bigger signal footprint. And they ALMOST go-Talk middays, with interview segments that don't interrupt traffic and service elements.

And stations elsewhere also daypart in-the-fashion WBZ does.
Which opens-the-door for WRKO-type talkers, who -- while WBZ-type stations spin the news wheel -- offer daytime Talk.

HC
www.HollandCooke.com
http://getonthenet.com/radio-info.pdf