WXKS 1200 to Bloomberg

[Dan.Strassberg]

Seems likely that with a minimal amount of Boston content--probably produced
in New York, where Bloomberg has studios, 1200 will mostly just carry the
Bloomberg network feed, which was exactly what Armstrong's group of
stations: 970 in Southbridge, 1120 in Concord, 1390 in Plymouth (two owned,
one LMAed) has done at several points. If I'm not mistaken, it was also done
for a while on 1460 in Brockton. Armstrong produces his own show on 970,
1120, and 1390 plus WRKO and WCRN--where he leases the air-time. There have
been unconfirmed rumors that his show will also air on 1460 in Brockton when
that station returns to the air.

How much, if any, Bloomberg content will appear on 1200 would seem to be the
big question. The mother ship (New York's WBBR 1130) is reportedly
profitable even though its ratings are and have always been minuscule. It
does not follow that, just because he was able to turn a profit in New York,
Bloomberg will be able to turn a profit in Boston. The big plus for Boston
is that Bloomberg can bootstrap on the content developed in New York.
Listening to the first couple of years of WBBR was positively painful. It
took forever to work the kinks out of the automation. The on-air sound
screamed "what the hell are we doing???" And thanks to downlink problems
with the satellite feed, the first few months of Bloomberg on the Armstrong
stations were at least as bad. Presumably, that will not be the case on AM
1200.

Aside from his own show, will Armstrong run Bloomberg on his stations? If
not, he has shown the ability to produce additional content here in Boston.
However, he has not shown that he can make the locally produced
content--aside from his own show--pay consistenly. That would explain why,
except for Armstrong's own program, locally produced stuff has come and gone
on Armstong's stations. If Armstrong can continue to mix locally produced
programs with Bloomberg programming, he may have a workable formula. If
Bloomberg refuses to grant Armstrong access to the Bloomberg programs that
appear on AM 1200, I think Armstrong will have a problem.

-----
Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
eFax 1-707-215-6367

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Nelson" <raccoonradio@gmail.com>
To: "Kevin Vahey" <kvahey@gmail.com>
Cc: <boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2013 11:33 AM
Subject: Re: WXKS 1200 to Bloomberg


> The transition tonight from comedy to financial on 1200 ought to be
> done with Monty Python's "Money Song": "But I love money. All money.
> (sings) I've got...90 thousand pounds in my pajamas, I've got 40
> thousand French francs in my fridge."
>
> Barry Armstrong (WRKO etc.) welcomes the competition
>
> http://bostonherald.com/business/media_marketing/2013/02/wrko_s_armstrong_welcomes_competition_from_bloomberg_radio
>
> For all the talk about 55+ being an undesirable demo, Armstrong says,
> "“A lot of people say, ‘Who wants to be highly ranked among
> 55-year-old men?’ You know what, 55-year-old men and women have all
> the wealth in this country and we do really well there."
>
> Clark Smidt also had high hopes for the new format on a post via his
> facebook.
>
> As for the Boston Progressive Talk airing on both 1200 and 1430, it
> started around Oct 4, 2004 or so (Fybush's NERW issue for that date
> mentions it and the name of the popular standards DJ was Bill
> Wightman, as mentioned there). I think the weekend before they ran
> a stunt loop (clips from an Al Franken audiobook, Neil Young's
> "Rockin' in a Free World", etc.) with the format probably starting on
> Mon. Oct 4, 2004.
>
>>>The new format replaces standards on WXKS (where we hear some tears were
>>>shed as morning man Bill Wightman said farewell to his audience last
>>>week) and Spanish religion on WKOX.
>
> http://www.fybush.com/NERW/2004/041004/nerw.html
>
> Donna heard about the end of the format in early Dec. of 2006; it
> ceased a few days before Christmas. (Thu Dec 21 of '06 according to
> the Christmas Day '06 edition of NERW)
>