Bye Bye Boston's Progressive Talk?

[David Tomm]

If it's true, that would be a shame, but I'm not surprised.  I'm a 
regular listener and I haven't heard  a lot of paid spots on the 
station.  Clear Channel did virtually nothing to promote the format, 
and with poor signals that reached small portions of the market and an 
all satellite lineup, no wonder it failed to take off.  Progressive 
talkers with decent signals and local morning shows have done better, 
such as in Portland, OR and Seattle.  I figured that CC would at least 
wait until the WKOX upgrade was complete and give the format a chance 
to work on a more competitive signal.  Maybe Air America's troubles 
along with the lack of revenue is finally what put this experiment to 
an end.

It could also be related to the restructuring of the company.  CC has 
signed off several progressive talkers around the country recently and 
installed formats that can make some easy short term revenue to boost 
value.  Could it be that CC is prepping 1200 and 1430 to be spun off?  
They're getting rid of a lot of smaller market and underperforming 
signals as part of their plans to go private.  The two AM's are not 
"core assets" no matter what format they put on them.

Dave Tomm
"Mike Thomas"



On Nov 28, 2006, at 7:48 PM, Donna Halper wrote:

> Somebody whom I trust says that Clear Channel is pulling the plug on 
> the progressive format in Boston on Friday, no matter what Air America 
> does as far as finding a buyer. (Btw, whether the format had ratings 
> in Boston, it certainly has ratings in Springfield/Northampton since 
> WHMP starting doing it full-time on 2 stations... here in Boston, I 
> couldn't hear WXKS or WKOX well at all on the South Shore, 7 miles 
> from Boston.)  Anybody heard anything about a format change, and if 
> so, would the progressive format end up on some other area station?