Is it time for some News Talk competion?
Erie-Meadville: Only a few years ago, Erie had two News Talk stations with a lot of local programming. Today, Erie has only one News Talk station with mostly syndicated fare. That station is WJET 1400 which does have a local morning show with syndication the rest of the day without #1 ranked talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Connoisseur Media who owns the station stated that it was too expensive to keep Rush on its schedule. Rush was replaced by fellow Conservative Dennis (That's the News and I am outta here!) Miller. Of course this led many to tune into other stations over the air or online for the former Jeff Cristie. Jet Radio also cut the services of former News Director Matthew Locke a few years back. He was replaced by newscasts from Jet TV. With two of most formats in the Erie market, is it time for some News Talk competition to Jet 1400? A station with Rush in its lineup. Crosstown rival Citadel could have a great FM News Talk format on either "Z-102.3" or "Country 98", both stations lagging in the latest numbers to "Rocket 101" & "93.9 The Wolf" respectively. Don't laugh, this could really happen if the proposed music tax on radio stations is approved. You could see a lot of FM stations across the country drop music formats for Talk or Sports in order to avoid paying the royalty tax. Is Erie ready for such a move? In addition Jet does not stream any of its audio which could be a plus if a competitor decides to stream its audio. Not to mention having an FM signal that would carry much further 24 hours a day than Jet's limited 1,000 watts which is non existant to most listeners outside city limits at night. Of course you would need a mix of local & syndicated fare on such a station.Readers’ Forum
You must be thinking of Rush Radio 1200 in Boston, which signed on last week. Rush Radio 1200 is right-wing talk with Limbaugh obviously as the centerpiece.
Stations that carry Limbaugh do have to pay cash as PBRTV hinted. Citadel is currently in Chapter 11, so if it wants to put Limbaugh on in Erie they would need approval from the bankruptcy court.
Chucky - March 17, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Not necessarily a Rush formatted station but one that has him in the lineup. I can say that most listeners in Erie are tuning into out of town stations or online stations to hear Rush over Dennis. It just seems like Jet Radio is very lackluster because they are the only game in town.
Tom Lavery (URL) - March 17, 2010 at 8:23 pm
Jet 1400 has become nothing but a joke. Ever tune in to hear some breaking news or just the weather? All you hear is 2nd tier syndication.
Someone needs to shake up Erie radio. The last time anything big happened was when Rambaldo took over WHYP and launched Rocket. Anyone remember the all Beatles stunting for months prior to the official launch?
I guess our pirate friends tried to do something about the sad state of Erie radio (Erie media in general) and I give them credit for trying.
I wonder how a FM News/Talk would fare in Erie. It would need a decent local morning and afternoon drive shows plus a strong news presence. Couple that with some decent syndication and you just may have something.
I would listen if the product was good. Right now, there is nothing on the Erie dial worth tuning in, IMO.
James Brownyard - March 19, 2010 at 09:43 am
There is no reason why the news talk format should be so lackluster. WKBN 570 in Youngstown is in a similar sized market & has both local morning and afternoon drive shows. Love your pen name btw.
Tom Lavery (URL) - March 19, 2010 at 10:16 am