104.3 The Shark - Staff Changes....

[MarkW]

RE:

I disagree; you are cherry picking facts (not necessarily intentionally). Many sports radio stations have returned to pre-COVID or have almost returned to their pre-COVID ratings, if we're speaking AQH share.

790's listenership is so small that it is now almost negligible. Yes, the ratings both before and after the simulcast - pre-COVID - are lower. That was one of the points I was making earlier. I think it was a mistake to discontinue the simulcast.

Compared to its peers elsewhere, 790 is underachieving big time. I place the blame squarely on Entercom management.

 

[DavidEduardo]

I disagree; you are cherry picking facts (not necessarily intentionally). Many sports radio stations have returned to pre-COVID or have almost returned to their pre-COVID ratings.

The shares look OK, but the ratings are off... as are all stations still. The 25-54 total market rating 6 AM to Midnight, M-S, was an average of 8.0 in Jan-Feb. In August, it was 5.6. That is still nearly 20% below the "normal" level for the market; that is far from "almost returned". So comparing recent months that have a much lower PUR with normal ones is not statistically sound.

790's listenership is so small that it is now almost negligible. Yes, the ratings both before and after the simulcast - pre-COVID - are lower. That was one of the points I was making earlier. I think it was a mistake to discontinue the simulcast.

Compared to its peers elsewhere, 790 is underachieving big time.

Miami is over 50% Hispanic, and the interests in sports and the way sports are followed in the community does not strictly parallel non-Hispanic whites.

The problem is that, except for iHeart which hired two of the best Hispanic programmers in the country to work out of Miami, no other general market group wants to focus on Hispanics, either in English or Spanish. They don't understand the cultures of the different nationalities, and don't get the way to attract Hispanics to English language stations. The last station to do that well was Power, and that ended long ago when Bill Tanner left them.

 

[Mikey Radio]

Miami can be a somewhat fickle market when it comes to sports. Crowds can be dismal and lethargic unless their teams are in the playoffs and winning. That's especially true for baseball. That in mind, I never quite understood why there were so many sports radio options here.

When AM 940 WINZ was part of the Air America Radio Network and then converted to a sports station way back in 2009, I searched around the AM and FM dials at that time and I think I counted 7 sports stations. I was surprised that 940 would convert to sports talk and wondered how this market would support that many stations using that format.

As an aside (I don't intend this to be political, I'm just recalling facts from back then), WINZ stated on their website and on-air that Obama had won the Presidency, and thus that progressive network's work was done here and they were switching formats - But from what I remember, their rating were dismal and the Air America Network itself seemed to be floundering and ended up shutting down completely in early 2010.

 

[strangelove]

Miami can be a somewhat fickle market when it comes to sports. Crowds can be dismal and lethargic unless their teams are in the playoffs and winning. That's especially true for baseball. That in mind, I never quite understood why there were so many sports radio options here.

When AM 940 WINZ was part of the Air America Radio Network and then converted to a sports station way back in 2009, I searched around the AM and FM dials at that time and I think I counted 7 sports stations. I was surprised that 940 would convert to sports talk and wondered how this market would support that many stations using that format.

As an aside (I don't intend this to be political, I'm just recalling facts from back then), WINZ stated on their website and on-air that Obama had won the Presidency, and thus that progressive network's work was done here and they were switching formats - But from what I remember, their rating were dismal and the Air America Network itself seemed to be floundering and ended up shutting down completely in early 2010.

I think when 940 flipped to sports it was mostly the Fox Sports lineup and then later on Jeff DeForrest and Andy Slater came aboard but I believe they brokered time on the station. With the station having the broadcast rights to the Heat, UF and later on the Dolphins Clear Channel/iHeart was probably in a better position to make money than with Air America which, as you may recall, wasn't very good.

 

[Mikey Radio]

Clear Channel/iHeart was probably in a better position to make money than with Air America which, as you may recall, wasn't very good.

Not to hijack this thread which is supposed to be about The Shark, but I didn't mind listening to WINZ when it was Air America and it was solid for a few years, but then they put local Nicole Sandler on mornings and she was pretty terrible as I recall. She'd stumble over her words and didn't sound polished. When conducting interviews, she at times seemed star struck by her guests, belting out things like "Oh wow, I can't believe it! I'm actually talking to (insert name of guest here)!!!" and giggle, sounding more like a fan girl than a serious radio host conducting a professional interview. Hosts for other day parts also changed somewhat often toward the end as I recall, making it difficult for listeners to form a "connection" with any given host for long.

 

[strangelove]

Not to hijack this thread which is supposed to be about The Shark, but I didn't mind listening to WINZ when it was Air America and it was solid for a few years, but then they put local Nicole Sandler on mornings and she was pretty terrible as I recall. She'd stumble over her words and didn't sound polished. When conducting interviews, she at times seemed star struck by her guests, belting out things like "Oh wow, I can't believe it! I'm actually talking to (insert name of guest here)!!!" and giggle, sounding more like a fan girl than a serious radio host conducting a professional interview. Hosts for other day parts also changed somewhat often toward the end as I recall, making it difficult for listeners to form a "connection" with any given host for long.

Randi Rhodes is the only host from that network that I can remember. I think Al Franken had a show too.