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McConnell gets an hour to do a talk show from 8-9am

G

gr8oldies

On WLW, Mike McConnell's morning show reverts to a midday approach in the 8am hour, which started today (Monday). If you've been missing the long-form McConnell, there's the 8am hour (there's still the Patrice Cecora reports from Bloomberg).
 
Long time no post, but had to comment. I’ve enjoyed McConnell in the mornings. Maybe more so than the sometimes syrupy Jim Scott, whom I admire and respect. But McConnell always seems to make me laugh. That said, the morning show is probably not the best use of his talents. Maybe they’re keeping him in a holding spot until Willie decides to hang up his microphone. But WLW’s weakest link is afternoons and has been since Burbank retired.

Eddie and Rocky, and before that, Eddie and Tracy, is just bad radio. Sorry, but Eddie Fingers is one ex-rock jock who has not made the transition to adult talk radio well at all. And Rocky Boyman sounds bush league for afternoon drive. Move McConnell into afternoons and find someone else for mornings. Steve Hawkins would not be my choice. Pleasant voice, nice guy. But in reality all he does is run canned bits and continually promote what’s coming up in the next half hour. Maybe if it were his show permanently he’d have more time to develop it into his own.

I’ve always liked Ken Broo on radio. Great voice, a real pro. It’s been good to hear him on lately. If they could woo him away from his TV gig he’d be great in afternoon drive. Smooth and easy going after a stressful day at work. He could do a mix of current topics, music (which he loves), and sports talk to lead into full time sports talk at 6:00.

But it matters little anyway because the ever increasing spotload and clutter on WLW has made it nearly unlistenable. Is there anything that isn’t sponsored anymore? Is it possible to do a weather forecast without the ear-splitting, bombastic hyped weather intro that runs longer than the actual forecast? And don’t even get me started on the once simple “traffic and weather together” that has morphed into a cluttered block of multiple sponsorships and overhyped promos.

End of rant. But no doubt someone will come on here and lecture about ratings and revenue, perhaps the overleveraged and now bankrupt nature of today’s media conglomerates, and WLW’s ratings success despite our distaste for the way they sound. Oh, and don’t forget to remind old fogeys like me that radio has changed and I’m living in the past. I must lower my expectations to match the lowered bar of professionalism in today’s radio business. Sorry. Been there. Heard that. Done that. OK. Real end of rant.
 
Like your thought on Broo. Here's another thing about the 5-9am: 55KRC has some canned segments like "money monday" & "Sheriff friday" that are pretty stale. I think more listener call format there would help also. (terrible bumper "music")
 
keys2 said:
Long time no post, but had to comment. I’ve enjoyed McConnell in the mornings. Maybe more so than the sometimes syrupy Jim Scott, whom I admire and respect. But McConnell always seems to make me laugh. That said, the morning show is probably not the best use of his talents. Maybe they’re keeping him in a holding spot until Willie decides to hang up his microphone. But WLW’s weakest link is afternoons and has been since Burbank retired.

Eddie and Rocky, and before that, Eddie and Tracy, is just bad radio. Sorry, but Eddie Fingers is one ex-rock jock who has not made the transition to adult talk radio well at all. And Rocky Boyman sounds bush league for afternoon drive. Move McConnell into afternoons and find someone else for mornings. Steve Hawkins would not be my choice. Pleasant voice, nice guy. But in reality all he does is run canned bits and continually promote what’s coming up in the next half hour. Maybe if it were his show permanently he’d have more time to develop it into his own.

I’ve always liked Ken Broo on radio. Great voice, a real pro. It’s been good to hear him on lately. If they could woo him away from his TV gig he’d be great in afternoon drive. Smooth and easy going after a stressful day at work. He could do a mix of current topics, music (which he loves), and sports talk to lead into full time sports talk at 6:00.

But it matters little anyway because the ever increasing spotload and clutter on WLW has made it nearly unlistenable. Is there anything that isn’t sponsored anymore? Is it possible to do a weather forecast without the ear-splitting, bombastic hyped weather intro that runs longer than the actual forecast? And don’t even get me started on the once simple “traffic and weather together” that has morphed into a cluttered block of multiple sponsorships and overhyped promos.

End of rant. But no doubt someone will come on here and lecture about ratings and revenue, perhaps the overleveraged and now bankrupt nature of today’s media conglomerates, and WLW’s ratings success despite our distaste for the way they sound. Oh, and don’t forget to remind old fogeys like me that radio has changed and I’m living in the past. I must lower my expectations to match the lowered bar of professionalism in today’s radio business. Sorry. Been there. Heard that. Done that. OK. Real end of rant.
Click to expand...

I have missed Mike since he went to Chicago.
 
I tolerated the poorly executed newswheel while driving the kids to school because there was no other choice. Now I have plenty of choices for poorly executed talk. Grr.
 
I'll pretty much take long form McConnell when I can get him, the 8am hour is better than nothing. He may or may not move into Willie's slot if Willie ever retires, I can see the advantage of being able to be on the golf course by 10.
 
I gave it an honest try again this morning. Absolutely nothing that was useful for my commute. As much as I'm NOT an NPR guy, it's that or Bloomberg on TuneIn
 
keys2 said:
Long time no post, but had to comment. I’ve enjoyed McConnell in the mornings. Maybe more so than the sometimes syrupy Jim Scott, whom I admire and respect. But McConnell always seems to make me laugh. That said, the morning show is probably not the best use of his talents. Maybe they’re keeping him in a holding spot until Willie decides to hang up his microphone. But WLW’s weakest link is afternoons and has been since Burbank retired.

Eddie and Rocky, and before that, Eddie and Tracy, is just bad radio. Sorry, but Eddie Fingers is one ex-rock jock who has not made the transition to adult talk radio well at all. And Rocky Boyman sounds bush league for afternoon drive.
Click to expand...

Eddie & Rocky have their moments but they are generally subpar. Boiman needs to occasionally come up for air with his mile-a-minute delivery and verbal triphammer of Y'KNOW, often stringing several Y'KNOWs together. That is on-air 101 and frankly it's surprising that nobody has taken him aside for some training, reeducation, conditioning, etc. Cris Collinsworth isn't everyone's cup of tea but studiously changed his on-air accent and delivery after his early days at the station calling it Dubya-ell-dubya. Boiman take note.

One of the show's bright spots is the 'tell us about time you ______.' Which usually, but not always, elicits some interesting stories from callers. Unfortunately, the premise is often a contrived or repetitive one.

One of the show's huge black marks is the cliched 'expert caller' segment. This nonsense is right out of the 1970s and a sign of terminal laziness on the part of producers desperate to fill airtime. It's trite advice from someone claiming to know it all about a complex issue like relationships or dating combined, inevitably, with a eye-rolling plug for a book or a web site. The other problem is that the 'expert' does this sort of thing all day long therefore the answers are canned and the questions probably are as well. Cue the insincere 'that's a great question!' fake enthusiasm.

As you say, the ad load, especially the drop-ins, are the parasite consuming the host. A podcast or edited version of a 3-hr show barely cracks the 1.5 hr mark. Would anyone pay full whack for a half gallon of milk in a gallon jug or half a cookie and why?
 
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