Posted on 01/14/2010 12:19:14 AM PST by raccoonradio
Clear Channel plans to debut a new conservative AM talk radio station in April and is trying to steal WRKO lynchpin Rush Limbaugh - who has been on ’RKO’s airwaves for 15 years. Spanish music station WXKS-AM (1200) - which recently upgraded to 50,000 watts and is based in Newton - is flipping to a news talk format.
Clear Channel is currently in talks with its subsidiary, Premiere Radio Networks, which syndicates Limbaugh’s show. Clear Channel also wants to snag Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck, whose show airs on WRKO-AM (680) on Saturday night.
“We haven’t signed anything. We’re trying to be as respectful as possible with some of the current contractual obligations with WRKO,” said Clear Channel Boston President Tom McConnell.
“We would like to secure the biggest conservative talk personalities from Premiere as they become available,” he added.
WXKS will boast local and national hosts as well as live news and a news department. McConnell said nothing has been finalized, but they’re talking to a “lot of people.”
WRKO didn’t respond for comment.
WKOX AM 1200 (it will apparently get the call letters now at WXKS 1430) used to be Air America but when the format flopped they switched to Spanish. Now they have a 50,000 watt signal from a tower in Newton; may not be as strong as WRKO though, which also has 50,000 watts (from Burlington)--but on 680 kHz; stronger because of lower dial position.
Clear Channel is associated with Premiere which syndicates Rush, Beck, Hannity, Coast to Coast, etc. I could see this station doing any of those and maybe also Dennis Miller, Mark Levin, and local hosts. But there are contract issues
Howie Carr list ping; of interest as it involves conservative talk radio. Howie is under contract to WRKO till late 2012 but you wonder if he may jump to this station at that time or earlier if poss...? Though RKO would allegedly want to keep him...
More from http://www.bostonradiowatch.com
Poss of Rush going there in spring (contract exp at RKO then?)
>>Clear Channel is set to launch a news talk AM station
Nine years after acquiring WKOX AM 1200, nation’s largest radio company Clear Channel is about to make it a major player on Boston’s AM dial. As mentioned here, WKOX’s signal was upgraded to 50,000 watts last spring(BRW 4/21/09) and with a new boosted signal Clear Channel will unveil a new talk radio station in Boston on April 1st. In addition to adopting a news/talk format, AM 1200 will have a new set of familiar call letters - WXKS AM - which currently reside on AM 1430.
The new talk format on AM 1200 will feature such nationally syndicated talkers as Glenn Beck(9am-Noon) and Sean Hannity(3pm-6pm) who are distributed by Clear Channel’s syndication arm Premire Radio Network. It’s expected that the station will feature a local talk show(6am-9am) when all details are announced. Although nothing has been officially confirmed, Rush Limbaugh who is also syndicated by Premiere and heard locally on WRKO AM 680 since August 1994 is widely expected to shift to AM 1200 once his contract with WRKO expires in the spring.
Earlier today, Clear Channel announced that it has hired a veteran Boston radio executive to be part of the new management team at News Talk 1200. Alan Chartrand who has over 20 years of local radio sales work at WJMN 94.5FM(Jamn). WTKK 96.9FM and WMKK 93.7FM(MikeFM) will be News Talk 1200’s new general sales manager. Most recently he ran his own company Simply Good Marketing. His new position is effective February 1st.
In a press release, Mary Menna, Director of Sales for Clear Channel Boston and Providence, commented, “Alan brings a great knowledge and passion for talk radio, coupled with his ability to grow revenue, his leadership and his large network of business relationships made him the #1 choice for this newly-created position.”
For the past three years, AM 1200 has featured Latin music format “Rumba 1200” which was launched after Clear Channel pulled the plugged on the progressive talk format in December 2006. Latin music is expected to remain on AM 1430 which is currently known as “Mia 1430”.
BRW Notebook :
Keeping pieces in place : While WRKO AM 680 may lose Rush to a new competitor, it just announced that it’s keeping its night-time line-up intact for 3 more years as the station’s owner Entercom has re-upped Michael Savage(7pm-10pm) and Jerry Doyle(10pm-1am) shows with syndicator Talk Radio Network.
Interesting. This seems to be a growing movement. Starting to wonder what the widespread strategy is behind all the channel changes going on? Rush left two stations here in NC at the end of December where he had been on for 20 years. The move here was to FM 94.5, also a Spanish language station converting to talk.
http://www.rushradio945.com/main.html
Well this should make Ellen Goodman’s head explode.
Need we say more. And this is in Boston.
Competition.
Every broadcast company that deals in talk radio want Rush et al on their property because they generate more revenue.
More listeners translate to higher ad rates which translate to more sales for the products and services, and more EVIL PROFIT FOR THE EVIL CAPITALIST PIGS. {Do I need s/off ?}
Radio consultant Donna Halper, who is on the left, broke the news in Dec of 06 that Clear Channel was going to dump Air America from 1200 and 1430. When I posted this news to an email list her response of course was great, more conservative talk, just what we need! (sarcastically)
I again pointed out that it succeeds more than liberal talk. Besides WGBH is now news talk totally and you can guess their bias...they have 100,000 watts FM...any conservative views there?
Someone has to buy time to put libtalk on here (1510) then hope that they can make money back by selling ads.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.