Beginning of the end of WSB?

[taylorengineer]

Seems like WSBee is at the proverbial crossroads. Boortz will soon be gone and Clark can't be too far behind. These two guys, along with Scott Slade, ARE WSB.
Will Cox management be able to rise to the occasion and find new, compelling talkers to take their place? So far, I'm not impressed with the future WSB "stars."
I think Herman Cain is a brilliant man and I admire him but he is a one dimensional talker and wears heavily after a while. One of the things that make Boortz so popular is that he is a conversationalist. He has a wickedly intelligent, dry sense of humor which you rarely hear on the radio today. Even if you abhor his political rants or his constant self admiration he is someone you would like to sit next to at a dinner if only because he is interesting to talk to.
While Herman is a very smart guy, he has failed, to this point, at being a conversationalist. If he is to take over and succeed he will need to loosen up.
I don't understand the Erick Erickson/Andy Dean hire. Erickson is a Republican shill - Sean Hannitty without the "pretty.' You'll have to explain Andy Dean to me......I guess I'm not intelligent enough to understand his schtick.
I actually heard Adam Goldfine do a good show a couple of Sundays ago on personal responsibility. He has some potential in this area. But anyone who takes car purchase advice from him is insane. The man shills for car dealers and will "advise" you into losing lots of money. His consumer advice is about as moronic as Elise Glink. Neither are on the same level as Clark Howard and could not replace Clark's numbers.
It's a tough spot to be in. I don't envy to people who will have to make the calls at Cox.

[nightmanager]

Pretty much nailed it.    WSB is facing challenges on nearly all fronts -and that's just to maintain the status quo.   Forget innovating or changing.   Being king of the hill seems like a good idea until you realize every where you look, it's down hill. 

They might be able to hold onto the news side.  It seems stable.  Heck it seems unchanged since forever.   

But Cain is no Boortz.    Nobody else is, either.  In my opinion, the greatest disservice Boortz has ever done to radio was to pretty much limit himself to political talk.  He used to be more interesting when he had more to say about a wider array of things.  That was where he showed the talents that not every talker has.   

So the clock starts now: WSB has six-ish months to find a way to their future.  And WGST, WYAY and the others also have six-ish months to figure out how they'll respond.   Interesting times for Atlanta radio!

[beachguy3b]

This is a huge hit to WSB. Slade is an excellent host in the morning, but he does not drive the show by personality as much as provide a quality transition and a likable light personality. Big fan of Slade- another talent that will be impossible to replace.

I love WSB. A great operation in a great city, but they have to be sweating buckshots now.

Hopefully Cain will be Cain, and not try to be Boortz. Cain can be compelling, but his instincts don't seem honed as Boortz's are. Cain IS a much bigger name than he was when he left WSB. And one thing I DO place value in is that, I have no doubt, he was Boortz's chosen replacement.

I'm unique here in that I don't see WYAY as a real competitor to WSB because news endlessly isn't entertaining, and WSB, with talk, is entertaining. WGST has a great opportunity. They'll bungle it (disclaimer: I worked for Clear Channel for 4 years, was not fired when I left, and was in a large market other than Atlanta.)

I suspect the sun is a little lower in the sky for WSB, and on the west side of the horizon. It will be interesting, and I hope they handle the coming months/years well. I'd like them to still be viable when I am finally able to find another job in ATL. It's a great place to live...

[DToTheJ]

Not to compare Boortz to Howard Stern, but look at what happened to many of the stations that carried Howard Stern when he left for satellite. Many notable rock stations - WYSP, WBCN, KUFO, just to name a few - plus WJFK in Washington, and more.

Face it - Stern was to these stations what Boortz is to WSB. I have no idea what their future is beyond 2013... all-news, maybe? 

[hail2theorange]

I doubt that I'll be listening to WSB much going forward... I've already switched my drivetime station to All News 106.7. I agree with Herman's politics for the most part, but find him to not be entertaining and generally unlistenable. I can only imagine how those that disagree with him feel. His only schtick is to be disagreeable with the Dems -- if Romney wins in November, what is he going to talk about? I've already heard everything Clark Howard has to say two or three times -- hearing it a fourth probably won't affect any of my decisions. If All News gets their weather handling together, I don't see much reason to listen to WSB except on Saturday mornings for Walter Reeves.

[RoddyFreeman]

Cain certainly became a much bigger name this year.  But as far as a radio talk host, he doesn't come close to Boortz in my opinion.

[EJM]

For me, the bigger question is how hard will Cox push to keep the new Herman Cain program on its non-WSB News/Talk stations (WOKV, WDBO, KRMG, WHIO, and even WGAU)--especially if Mr. Cain's show isn't successful.  All of those stations currently carry Mr. Boortz in late mornings (probably live)--while a lot of the other affiliates delay the show.  Because of that, Premiere, TRN, Salem, et al., are probably salivating right now at the chance to get some big new or upgraded clearances for their late-morning shows.

[jabba17]

When Boortz and if Clark leaves, and if CC smells blood in the water, puts WGST on an FM and yanks Hannity, this will put WSB almost back to where they were in 1991 when they were trying progtalk around Malloy.

It's becoming apparent that WSB/Cox doesn't really have a bench (Martha Zoller would have been an option but she's running for Congress and will probably win) and would have to rely on whatever syndicated talk they can put together, or try to develop some local talent really quick.  Ignoring signal and market reputation, they would be on a par with WCFO, talent-wise.

Local talent that is (good enough to be) syndicated nationally > out-of-market syndicated talent, but would out-of-market syndicated talent > local unsyndicated talent?  That seems like an advantage for WGST and maybe even WGKA, both of which have deep syndicated talent benches in-house via Premiere and Salem, respectively.  I like Herman Cain, but can he really hold his own?  Or is Herman Cain the placeholder to succeed Boortz and take the slings and arrows for "not being as good as Boortz" while they find another replacement for the long haul?

Would Cumulus be willing to syndicate Huckabee to WSB?  If anything, it might help prevent WSB from going all-news.  Or would a strengthening WGST (maybe WGKA) be enough of a distraction for Wisbee, that is, would weakening WSB altogether be in Cumulus's best interest?

[fortt3]

The last month has been rough on WSB, almost like they got a paper cut in shark-infested waters ... the sharks got a whiff of blood ... started circling ... Shark named AN106.7 took a nip ... drew more blood  ... more sharks ... then they got another paper cut (Boortz retiring) ... but that meant more blood  ... more sharks ...

[ArtyBoy]

My gripe with Herman Cain is that when the big tornado hit downtown Atlanta, he wouldn't stop telling me that I didn't know where to look on my paycheck to see what I was really being taxed. I wasn't concerned about that at that moment. The fact WSB failed to sound the alarms isn't really Cain's fault, but I'm blaming him, anyhow.

When Herman Cain's show was on, I was surprised to see my friends joining his "Intelligent Thinkers" club on Facebook, so he must be impressing somebody.

We can say various people aren't as good as Neal Boortz, but are we talking about Neal Boortz today, or the Boortz who joined Ring Radio in the `70's? Anyone is going to take some time to warm up. When Boortz applied at WRNG, according to Wikipedia, they told him they were searching for a "qualified host." I guess that's what WSB will be looking for, and then they'll actually hire somebody.