Phil Boyce, formerly of WABC-AM and then Talk Radio Network recently landed at Salem Radio, a company in sore need of a makeover and someone who actually knows how to market radio and build talent.
I’ve said out loud that if Cumulus Media decides to dump Rush Limbaugh from its stations (including WABC-AM in New York), the most logical new home would be Salem’s WNYM-AM. Salem paid a lot of money to get a good station in New York, including buying up a station in southern New Jersey and turning its power down so WNYM-AM has a true New York metro area footprint.
So Friday’s news is that Phil has rebranded WNYM-AM as “The Answer” (What is the question, caller? [Larry King, 1981]}
http://www.radio-info.com/news/salems-970-the-apple-new-york-city-gets-a-makeover-as-the-answer
Mike Huckabee starts his syndicated show in 3 weeks, directly competing against Rush on Cumulus Media. Batten down the hatches. Decision time is here and the stakes are big. Clear Channel tells radio stations they can’t run Premiere’s ads on Mark Levin’s show syndicated by Cumulus is pretty much a direct shot across the bow of Cumulus by Clear Channel saying “Bring it On”
In other Boyce moves, only early risers will catch Bill Bennett, who moves to 5-7 am, followed by Curtis Sliwa. Next comes Dennis Miller from 10 to noon (the first two hours instead of the last two as it was previously). Salem’s Dennis Prager then clears three live hours from noon to 3. The rest of the schedule is unchanged, for now at least.
That’s odd, since Bennett’s syndicated show doesn’t start until 6 AM.
The situation at WNYM is problematic. When Bennett visits New York, he can’t use WNYM’s studio (which I’m guessing is little more than a closet over in New Jersey) because Sliwa is using it for his morning show. In the past that meant Salem had to rent facilities from WABC (probably the old Rush Limbaugh studio if I was to guess) in order to to the morning show for Salem. But New York is too big of a market to not have its own morning show if you’re serious. WNYM-AM has a rating equal to that of the Spanish Language Que Bueno station – somewhere between #41 and #52. It’s not currently a viable radio station.
Yes, I thought the 5 am start for Bill Bennett was strange as well. Airing an hour from the previous day seems a little strange, especially because the Bennett show is very news intensive.
It’s been a while but I’ve heard Curtis mention broadcasting from a studio in the Empire State Building. I know he shows up at the Salem offices in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J. from time to time because it is the same building where my insurance broker is located, and where a good friend works.
Isn’t Philadelphia too big of a market for Salem not to have a local morning show as well? (They currently run Bennett on WNTP.)