Prov. shuffle: Rush, Buddy, etc

[David Tomm]

September 20th is the first day of the fall book, which is why those 
midweek dates are there.

My question is, did Clear Channel choose not to renew Rush on WPRO or 
was it Citadel?  WHJJ has had it's problems over the last few years, 
and a mostly local lineup of talkers hasn't worked for them.  Then they 
lost Imus.  Outside of Helen Glover, who is a marginal host at best but 
has somewhat of a following in the market, what else did that station 
have?  CC/Providence has been competing against Rush for years, despite 
being distributed by co-owned Premiere.  They may have just decided to 
finally bring Rush in-house to stabilize the station.

Or, it could be possible that WPRO dropped him.   The bulk of his 
audience is rapidly entering 55+ land and Citadel may have decided to 
go with local hosts that appeal to younger demos.  WPRO is also the 
news and information station for the market, and they may have wanted a 
more local lineup to help reinforce that image.   WBAL in Baltimore 
dropped Rush last year for the same reasons.

Looking at the Boston situation, I doubt that CC will move it's 
syndicated talkers to WKOX until the signal upgrade to 50,000 watts is 
complete.  If 1200 doesn't have at least a comparable signal to WRKO 
during Rush's time slot, they won't risk putting him on a weaker stick, 
even if it is a CC property.  If anything, I could see Premiere not 
renewing with WRKO and trying to get the show cleared on WTKK.  Why 
would they want to keep Rush on that sinking ship?  A lineup of Howie, 
Egan & Braude, Rush, Severin, and Graham Crackers at night would put 
WRKO out of it's misery once and for all.  Caliente 680, anyone?

-Dave Tomm
"Mike Thomas"

On Sep 6, 2007, at 11:01 AM, Bob Nelson wrote:

> A talk radio shuffle in Providence on Sept. 20 will have Rush Limbaugh 
> moving from WPRO to WHJJ
> and Buddy Cianci back on the airwaves. Citadel's WPRO will have 
> DePetro moving to 6 to 10
> am, followed by Cianci & Ron St. Pierre middays, then an expanded Dan 
> Yorke. All local--
> as opposed to Clear Channel's WHJJ which will have Pittsburgh's Quinn 
> and Rose in am
> drive followed by Beck, Limbaugh, and I guess Sean Hannity.
>
> (As far as I know, Helen Glover is gone from WHJJ unless they put her 
> in 3-6 pm and
> move Hannity to tape-delayed, or move her to another slot). So WHJJ 
> would have the
> powerful Rush (from Clear Channel's syndication arm, Premiere) added 
> but there
> will apparently be no local hosts anywhere from 6 am to 6 pm, at least.
>
> It had been rumored Clear Channel would set up talk on its WKOX in 
> Framingham and they could have put
> the likes of Beck and Rush there, but it hasn't happened. But Rush has 
> indeed been placed
> on a Clear Channel property in Providence, though.
>
> By the way the change takes place on a Thu (two weeks from today). I'm 
> guessing
> Rush's contract with WPRO expires after Sept. 19 (the same day Howie's
> contract with WRKO is to expire) so he'd be moved to WHJJ the next 
> day. It's
> kind of weird to have a new show/new lineup premiere in the middle of 
> the
> week rather than "starting fresh on a Monday" but I guess if a contract
> expires in the middle of the week, the change will also happen at that 
> time.
> Similarly, Washington Post radio will give way to WWWT in D.C. on 
> Sept. 20,
> a Thursday.
>