This is close to unthinkable – a big market AM radio station has told Premiere that they’re through with Rush Limbaugh. In the past, radio stations would push their grandmother off a cliff in her wheelchair for a chance to carry Rush. Usually when Rush moved between stations, it had been because Premiere / Clear Channel wanted to take Rush away from his long term affiliates like WSJS in Winston Salem, WRKO in Boston, KDKA-AM in Pittsburgh.
Today’s news is Entercom’s WRKO which took back Rush after Clear Channrl (iHeart) surrendered its Mexican Accordion Music station to take Rush away from WRKO – and changed their mind – WRKO won’t agree to whatever Rush’s demands are. Rush went to the brink with Cumulus a year ago – which now owns the core ABC radio stations that made up the original EIB network. Rush moved in New York to WOR-AM but his audience didn’t. They’re now apparently listening to Public Radio instead.
The choices for Rush in Boston are slim. WBZ-AM is the best fit, but it is owned by CBS, which is probably not interested. Greater Media’s WTKK-FM gave up talk when they couldn’t get Howie Carr. WMEX-AM would probably be interested – that was the station Howie went to for a month or two. WXKS (the station where Rush went briefly) is now carrying Bloomberg Radio, still owned by iHeart
Are there other Rush stations that put a listenable daytime signal into Boston? Where I live, I can hear Rush on 3 or 4 different stations. Hartford/Springfield, Providence, Manchester and/or Portland may provide coverage to Boston depending on what his current affiliates are.
Well listenable and solid are different things. Rush built his empire to no small degree based on exclusivity, pitting stations against each other. Of course, an FM station is also an option.
In theory in Pittsburgh, dumping WPGB-FM for the anemic WJAS-AM should have opened up room for some new class C or D affiliates. WesternMa would know more about the specifics in Boston. Rush is not an island – having only 3 hours of Rush won’t build ratings if sandwiched in between different content, as in what WLS is doing in Chicago
The Wooster station WTAG is owned by iHeart only reaches Boston as a distant station
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WTAG&service=AM&status=L&hours=D
Even if other stations bleed into Boston, for the silly way advertisers think, you need a station that Nielsen sees as local (Boston is #11)
WHJJ is the only RI affiliate. Its signal is great out on Long Island Sound, not in Boston
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WHJJ&service=AM&status=L&hours=D
WGIR in Manchester NH doesn’t cut it. New England has bedrock right to the surface. ground wave propagation is best in swamps with wet loose soils
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WGIR&service=AM&status=L&hours=D
Ya gotta get up early to hear da Woostah. 😉
Try their steak sauce, though, it’s pretty good. 😉
Rush is being replaced by….. Pregnant pause….. Can I get a drum roll please?
[drum roll]
And the new Jerry Lewis Telethon total is…..
Oops, wrong audio
[more drum roll]
The last honest man in Washington DC – the man not in the hip pocket of the RNC who lists being a paid consultant to the RNC on his own web site…
Yes, the one and only Jeffrey Kuhner.
[wah-wahw sound effect]
Just posted by the Examiner:
“WRKO and Rush Limbaugh have parted ways after syndicator Premiere Radio Networks and Entercom Communications, the parent company of WRKO, were unable to reach a contract agreement. The date for Rush Limbaugh’s last WRKO broadcast has yet to be announced, according to a May 20, 2015 report from the Boston Globe. The reason for the parties’ failure to reach an agreement remains unclear.
Rush Limbaugh’s “Genuine Twitter feed of Rush Limbaugh” profile describes The Rush Limbaugh Show as “America’s most listened to radio talk show, broadcast on over 600 radio stations.” Now, that number has been reduced by one. However, the conservative radio talk show host’s Twitter feed has not addressed being dropped from WRKO. Rush Limbaugh can still be heard on 600 or more stations. With that many markets, only a small percentage of Limbaugh’s overall listeners tuned in to his show on WRKO.
Rush Limbaugh’s syndicator, Premiere Radio Networks, has confirmed the news via a statement hinting that the show could find a new home in the Boston market. RadioINSIGHT quoted that statement, which read, “We were unable to reach agreeable terms for The Rush Limbaugh Show to continue on WRKO. A final broadcast date will be announced in the near future. Rush Limbaugh airs daily in every measured media market in America, and we look forward to announcing exciting news for our Boston listeners soon.”
Not a big loss because few people listen to RKO. Most people in this area listen to WHYN in Springfield for both Rush and Howie.
Thanks, WesternMA- I thought there would be a Rush affiliate in the Hartford/Springfield area… and that its signal would reach Boston in daytime. It does with a “distant” signal, since it travels over rocky land rather than salt water.
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WHYN&service=AM&status=L&hours=D
Rush can be heard on 1080AM WTIC in Hartford. I doubt it would reach Boston though.
WTIC is a Class A 50 kW day/night AM station, but the ground in New England is not conducive to ground wave propagation. Here is the map
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WTIC&service=AM&status=L&hours=D
Also, WTIC is on 1080 kHz, and WILD-AM in Boston is on 1090…
Here is the official FCC Ground conductivity map used by radio engineers
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_conductivity#/media/File:United_States_Effective_Ground_Conductivity_Map.png
1=bad, 30=great
AM likes loose wet soil near the surface – New England is bedrock right to the surface
Outstanding map. I knew New England was about as bad as it gets for ground connectivity, but I didn’t realize how bad the northern NY/VT/NH suburbs of Montreal were! Wow! Mount Washington in or near that 0.5 circle and it is known for a whole host of extremes. Here is one from earlier this year:
http://www.wcsh6.com/story/news/local/2015/02/16/mt-washington-record-temps-and-wind-feb-16/23514327/
In my youth, I rode the cog railway to the top. It’s an interesting place
Michelle McPhee is headed to WMEX-AM – she is a Boston talk show host who has bounced from station to station – I take this as a sign that Rush is likely moving to WMEX-AM
Tom Taylor quotes the people running WMEX as saying Premiere has offered Rush to them 4 times, and they have said No, and will continue to say no.
Michelle just got herself arrested for DUI and assaulting a police officer
http://www.radioink.com/Article.asp?id=2938300&spid=24698
And the winner is… WKOX-AM 1430. No official announcement yet, but the technical wheels are in motion. WKOX is an iHeart station in Everett MA, a northern suburb of Boston. It’s currently a Spanish variety music station catering to Mexicans angry that the Pilgrims stole Massachusetts from the Aztecs in 1620. The station covers Boston fairly well, although the signal is weak in Wooster and Dooster.
It’s official. Converting WKOX from Spanish music to Rush will do very little. It probably is familiar that Spanish language stations are clustered around 1400+ and people who listen to Rush are very unlikely to have WKOX on a car preset or likely to go looking for him. Boston is not exactly a hub of Dittohead activity.
Double checking my perception