IQ 106.9 calls WPHT "Liberal BS"

[PhillyWatch]

slightly younger 

blue collar  

and attract the ears.

This is not a Limbaugh town. This is a Kidd Chris town. There are still Y100 stickers up in front of their studios at Penn Treaty Park Place Philadelphia's Fortress of Free Speech (in Fishtown)

[stationless listener]

So when will Rush be moving to IQ 106.9?  I assume that's when the "official" roll out of the new format will occur.

FWIW, on their official site, they have a new headline saying "Rushing To Announce," promising an announcement on the new 12pm-3pm host later today.

http://www.iq1069.com/

I think that says it all.

[Robbien]

Just checked, they have Rush on the site now, so the announcement is official at least as far as the website goes. Says he's starting June 25th. Any word on what PHT is doing? Nothing in the trades today.

[Krazyjoe]

Just checked, they have Rush on the site now, so the announcement is official at least as far as the website goes. Says he's starting June 25th. Any word on what PHT is doing? Nothing in the trades today.

If WPHT was smart, they'd be selling their equipment on craigslist

But as we all know, CBS stands for 'Can'T Be Smart'. They are airing Smercy in Rush's old slot.

Rush or Smercy? hmm. Tough choice. WPHT deserves to fail.

[Pab Sungenis]

Smerconish is the smart move.  He's more moderate, which has more appeal with Philly listeners, and costs much, much less than Rush.  Even if they sell fewer local avails on Smerconish (and that's unlikely considering how hard it is to sell Rush nowadays) they'll still come out in the black on the deal because they won't have to pay Rush's ridiculous clearance fees.

This is a dumb move both for Merlin and for Premiere.

[musichead1029]

Smerconish is the smart move.  He's more moderate, which has more appeal with Philly listeners, and costs much, much less than Rush.  Even if they sell fewer local avails on Smerconish (and that's unlikely considering how hard it is to sell Rush nowadays) they'll still come out in the black on the deal because they won't have to pay Rush's ridiculous clearance fees.

This is a dumb move both for Merlin and for Premiere.

How much does Rush's clearance cost in Philly? PHT didn't drop Rush, though they may have been courting Premiere to take it or leave it after dropping Beck and Hannity.

What are Smerconish's ratings? All the word-on-the-street says they're abysmal. Did he acquire enough new listeners to replace the ones who abandoned him when he changed his act to "moderate" in order to get syndicated? Does he really have more appeal to political talk listeners?

Are Rush's fees really 'ridiculous' when nearly all of his affiliates re-up at the end of each contract? Or did cheap CBS lose a bet that no one else would pick up Limbaugh? Remember what signaled the end of WWDB (handing Rush to CBS)?

Ever listen to the shows that fill the PHT schedule after Beckand Hannity were pulled? Not veteran Dom Giordano, or non-local Smerconish Act II, but the nighttime crew that shares time with baseball most of the year? Do you really think people are going to keep listening to this snoozefest given a choice of professional entertainment on FM? (This assuming that Merlin picks up some more choice syndicated fare or hires someone local based on competence over being a friend-of-Randy like the soap-opera remainders from NJ-101.5 and the dysfunctional morning situation)?

How would this possibly be a bad move for Premiere? They get clearances for two top shows in Philadelphia they didn't have and several weekend programs as well as Rush on FM. And Merlin gets to ease into the market and try to figure out a format that they can make work after expensive miscalculations in New York and Chicago.

Can you cite some sources to support your allegations or are you just making this comfy stuff up as you go along?

[MikefromDelaware]

Smerconish will provide talk listeners, another option that isn't right wing GOP talking points during the 12n-3pm time slot other than NPR programming on WHYY-FM.  As mentioned by someone else, Smerconish's show has a moderate slant to it, and as Philly is a blue town politically, WPHT should do just fine in the city of Brotherly Love.  Rush isn't changing his show, so there is nothing new there, so will his move to FM really attract that many new listeners?  Maybe some who can't get Philly's WPHT so they've been trying to get NYC's WABC,  Wilmington's WILM, or even Harrisburg's WHP would probably go to 106.9.  So yes 106.9 could take some listeners from the rim shot stations that surround Philly.  The rest of Philly's ditto heads will simply switch from 1210 to 106.9.  So with a city/metro area full of moderate to left leaning folks who aren't interested in a thing elRushbo has to say could help WPHT to come out the winner in that 12n-3pm time slot in Philly with Smerconish.  Also as Smerconish has a moderate show, it might be an easier for WPHT to sell the local avails than with Limbaugh. 

WPHT could also take a goodly part of the Wilmington talker audience away from its two news talkers (WDEL and WILM) as the major population block of the Wilmington market is primarily blue also.  1210 throws a solid signal into the Wilmington metro area.  Both news talkers air conservative talk from noon-3pm.  So a moderate leaning talk show like Smerconish could go well against Limbaugh on WILM and Jensen - live and local conservative on WDEL. 

I guess time will tell.