Thursday, April 9, 2015

Media Notes

Q102
Rebel Radio
Kiss102
Buzz 102
The Mountain
Sports Hub 102
Next?

After about a year and a half, management pulled the plug on Sports Hub 102.3.  With the exception of three local hours per day, the rest of the schedule was NBC Sports Radio.

The mid day local talk show never really caught on.  I'd listen on occasion.  No phone calls.  Not much interest.  The NBC programming was decent, but if you're a CBS Sports Radio, FOX Sports Radio, or ESPN Radio listener, there was no reason to  twist the dial.  It was nothing special.

Yes, there were Yankees games and some other national play-by-play packages.  Yankees on the radio are unlistenable.

This station switches formats every few years.  The sports thing was never really given an opportunity to catch on.  I didn't sense a big promotion budget after the initial splash in 2013.

I don't have access to the books, but there were already two all sports station in town before The Sports Hub joined the fray.  A fourth was added last year.  The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area is now down to three.  All sports radio rarely attracts a huge audience, but it does get a young male demographic that advertisers like-- if the format is done right.

Fun fact:  I was at WARM during a massive studio and control room remodeling project, in the mid 80's.  Our old furniture went to the new Q102 at its first home, the Insalaco Building along North Main Street in Pittston,

RadioInsight.com predicts a variety hits or rock format.  Someone anonymously registered the domain Max102 and Max102FM.  I have a gut feeling it will be rap and hip hop.  I'm probably wrong.  We'll see tomorrow morning at 7.

Moving on...

One of the industry trade publications says cable operators no longer see The Weather Channel as a "must have" network.  No kidding.  When smart phones ate The Weather Channel's lunch, the response should have been to do the weather better.  Instead, The Weather Channel added a bunch of forgettable and tiresome reality shows.  DirectTV dropped the channel for a while.  Fios booted it a few weeks ago, in favor of channels that actually give you useful information.

It's a moot point, because he's leaving next month, but David Letterman really takes off a lot of time.

Bob Schieffer of CBS announced yesterday that he will retire this summer.  He's always been a class act.  Schieffer is 78.  I wonder who takes over Face the Nation.

Stan Freberg died this week at the age of 88.  He made funny radio commercials, among other things, and used the medium to its fullest.  Ads don't have to be boring.  Freberg proved that.

And, Milton DeLugg died Monday.  He was the Tonight Show band leader before Doc Severinsen.  He wrote the Munsters theme, and he led the band on the Gong Show.  96 years old.  We should all be so lucky.