Smerconish To Unseat Limbaugh On WPHT?

[Mike]

i wonder if it will also have coast 2 coast am ?

[raccoonradio]

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/limbaugh-to-leave-am-station-in-philadelphia/?smid=tw-nytimestv&seid=auto

>>>It is unclear when the change will take place in Philadelphia. The company that syndicates Mr. Limbaugh’s show, Premiere Radio Networks, declined to comment.
But Premiere has indicated that it will be moving Mr. Limbaugh to a new station in Philadelphia. Radio-Info.com reported on Monday that it might be WKDN..The owner of WPHT, CBS Radio, said in a statement on Monday afternoon, “Premiere recently notified WPHT they will be syndicating Rush Limbaugh on a new station in Philadelphia. As a result, we are pleased to be able to now showcase Michael, who is a well-known and acclaimed broadcaster in the market, in this new time period.”

[raccoonradio]

Phil. Inquirer: Rush to leave WPHT for unknown station

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/attytood/Is-Limbaugh-getting-the-boot-from-Philly-radio.html?cmpid=124488459

[musichead1029]

confirmed, WPHT will be dropping the Rush Limbaugh Show to replace by the michael smerconish show more rumors that rush is moving to WKDN

Close, but not quite accurate. According this NYT blog posting, it looks like Merlin may be ready to play ball with Premiere after PHT dropped Beck and Hannity, both Premiere distributed.

The owner of WPHT, CBS Radio, said in a statement on Monday afternoon, “Premiere recently notified WPHT they will be syndicating Rush Limbaugh on a new station in Philadelphia.

So the decision wasn't really CBS's unless they knew dropping the 2 Premiere shows put their contract renewal of Limbaugh at risk. Clear Channel decided not to clear its syndicator's shows in Market 8, so until Family Radio's financial problems put WKDN in play, those shows weren't going anywhere near a major signal in the Philly market. But after expensive failures in New York and Chicago, maybe Merlin decided to make some money back in Philly. It's a unique opportunity, to be sure. Is there any other major market where all of the Top 5 syndicated talkers (except Limbaugh) are absent from a market-wide signal during prime (6a to 12M) listening hours? PHT handed Merlin a gift. Merlin has the pick of the top national talkers in Market No 8 on FM.

I love the blogger's characterization of Smerconish:

Mr. Smerconish is a relative rarity on radio: a moderate.

Yeah, a manufactured moderate for political talk syndication where moderates don't do so well. And locally, how many old fans are still listening to him after he abruptly reinvented himself in midstream after years as a conservative talker? Noon used to be a relatively dead zone in talk radio. Limbaugh's often talked about how his show ended up at noon: it was the only satellite slot available. Smerconish probably ended up with the slot for similar reasons. But he's no Rush Limbaugh.

So now the rest of the industry can watch WPHT's bottom line over the next year or two to see whether saving some syndication fees up front is worth anything to the bottom line when you have nothing nearly as compelling to replace them with. Cumulus should be paying close attention too. Mike Huckabee's no Limbaugh either.

And we may finally get to find out if Philly really is a talk radio backwater, or if it was just that the local programmers of the format were cheap and tone-deaf.

[Seltzer]

confirmed, WPHT will be dropping the Rush Limbaugh Show to replace by the michael smerconish show more rumors that rush is moving to WKDN

Close, but not quite accurate. According this NYT blog posting, it looks like Merlin may be ready to play ball with Premiere after PHT dropped Beck and Hannity, both Premiere distributed.

The owner of WPHT, CBS Radio, said in a statement on Monday afternoon, “Premiere recently notified WPHT they will be syndicating Rush Limbaugh on a new station in Philadelphia.

Here are the facts: Like it or not:



So the decision wasn't really CBS's unless they knew dropping the 2 Premiere shows put their contract renewal of Limbaugh at risk. Clear Channel decided not to clear its syndicator's shows in Market 8, so until Family Radio's financial problems put WKDN in play, those shows weren't going anywhere near a major signal in the Philly market. But after expensive failures in New York and Chicago, maybe Merlin decided to make some money back in Philly. It's a unique opportunity, to be sure. Is there any other major market where all of the Top 5 syndicated talkers (except Limbaugh) are absent from a market-wide signal during prime (6a to 12M) listening hours? PHT handed Merlin a gift. Merlin has the pick of the top national talkers in Market No 8 on FM.

I love the blogger's characterization of Smerconish:

Mr. Smerconish is a relative rarity on radio: a moderate.

Yeah, a manufactured moderate for political talk syndication where moderates don't do so well. And locally, how many old fans are still listening to him after he abruptly reinvented himself in midstream after years as a conservative talker? Noon used to be a relatively dead zone in talk radio. Limbaugh's often talked about how his show ended up at noon: it was the only satellite slot available. Smerconish probably ended up with the slot for similar reasons. But he's no Rush Limbaugh.

So now the rest of the industry can watch WPHT's bottom line over the next year or two to see whether saving some syndication fees up front is worth anything to the bottom line when you have nothing nearly as compelling to replace them with. Cumulus should be paying close attention too. Mike Huckabee's no Limbaugh either.

And we may finally get to find out if Philly really is a talk radio backwater, or if it was just that the local programmers of the format were cheap and tone-deaf.

Here are the facts: Like it or not:

1. Conservative talk is the only form of talk that's successful. Air America and the likes of Ed Schultz, Randi Rhodes, and the like have been utter failures wherever they've been. Best example: Liberal blue collar Buffalo. On the 50K blowtorch 1520...failed miserably.

2. Being a moderate is even worse.

3. Rush, Hannity, Savage, and Beck are the top 4 shows based on listenership nationally. All should be on in Philadelphia.  Levin should also be cleared on a better station.

4. The future of 1210?  Good question. Maybe move WIP AM up there and sell 610.

5. Or could Clear Channel have something up their sleeve for 106.1?  Stay tuned.

[raccoonradio]

>>Conservative talk is the only form of talk that's successful.

For the most part yes; in liberal Boston most successful hosts are conservative (though a couple
are slightly moderate) and someone has to PAY to put libtalk on a station (though some on
the left probably prefer the NPR stations

>>Being a moderate is even worse.

There are some hosts who say they appeal to  the middle, like Alan Nathan ("we want the
Republicans out of our bedrooms, the Democrats out of our wallets, and both away from
our First and Second Amend. rights"). You'll notice he's not too well known... (I will say
Dennis Miller might be considered moderate in that way and he does pretty well, though he's
a well known name, and prob. is MOSTLY conservative)

>>All should be on in Philadelphia

That's what Premiere wants. In Boston CC changed an AM station to cons. talk with those
hosts plus local hosts incl. Philly native Jeff Katz. Hannity, Rush, Beck, all cleared in Boston
due to that

[jhguthlac]

1210 could be headed for the trash healp, where they were in the 90's when they tried sports and then the weakest ever talk line-up during the Tom Bigby days.

[CorporateSuit]

Al Gardner....what a loser.

[jhguthlac]

And BTW, the title of this thread is so wrong!  The syndicaator is starting to plug the plug on aging AMs and is moving Rush to FM where ever possible.  Philly today, NYC tomorrow.

[raccoonradio]

In Boston CC has FMs at 94.5 (Jam'n) and 107.9 (Kiss). Their conservative talker with Rush,
etc. is at 1200. They don't want to displace the music formats on FM; otherwise there could have
been a similar move. (The next best thing they could do, and did, was put 1200 on the
HD-2 of 107.9)
If Greater were selling 96.9 (a talker in Boston) I could see CC getting it and putting conserv.
talk there. Right now I don't think it would happen but if CC had a third FM property in
Boston that could have been a new home for Rush, etc. Ratings seem low but overall
the show makes money. They can afford to pay Rush $50 M+ per year. Some money is
coming in from Premiere's talk shows and CC stations.