1 of 1- RadioActive
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Is This The First Sign Of Mike Bendixen's Handiwork At 640?
I have to admit, while I like Greg Brady on 640, I usually wind up with 1010's John Moore when I tune in during the morning drive shows.
On Monday, I was out walking the dog and tuned into 640 when 'RB went into one of its endless commercial breaks. It was about 7:40 AM, and I noticed that Brady had two fairly well-known names on, throwing around the issues of the day. It was a segment called "Think Tank."
What struck me is that it was almost the same as 1010's first "Roundtable" segment, which begins at approx. 7:46 AM. So 640's not only started about five minutes sooner, it went on right through the start of 'RB's long running feature. I'm guessing the idea was to grab the ears of whoever is attracted to the debate format and prevent them from tuning the dial when the competition starts theirs.
I can't say for sure, but if anyone knows what to expect from 1010, it would be their former Brand Director, Mike Bendixen, now in charge of programming down the dial. I've never heard this segment on 640 before, although I can't swear it hasn't been there before.
So I can't help but wonder if the newcomer is looking for ways to blunt the very kind of programming he helped initiate at his old stomping ground. Is the first shot across the bow or has this particular segment been run before? Either way, even with their lower ratings, the war between the talkers is clearly on.
- Radiowiz
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Re: Is This The First Sign Of Mike Bendixen's Handiwork At 640?
RadioActive wrote:
Either way, even with their lower ratings, the war between the talkers is clearly on.
The only way to win is to go centre left with the talk programming. (I'd say left, but I am not a socialist)
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- Rune
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Re: Is This The First Sign Of Mike Bendixen's Handiwork At 640?
@Radiowiz I disagree. The only way to win is to go FM
- RadioAaron
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Re: Is This The First Sign Of Mike Bendixen's Handiwork At 640?
There's really no way to go.
Creating new features is re-arranging the deck-chairs on the Titanic
Centre-left programming may make sense in theory, but the audience will never find it.
They will move to FM, but that doesn't work if there's no market for the product.
Doubling-down on right-wing faux-populist nonsense is probably the best option to get the few people who actually CUME the station to spend a little more time with it.
It's done within a few years, so milk it for whatever's left.
- RadioActive
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Re: Is This The First Sign Of Mike Bendixen's Handiwork At 640?
And yet, there are exceptions to the rule.
One AM talk station in L.A. has just gone up in the ratings, not down, bucking a trend that's plaguing many on that band. According to this story by writer Richard Wagoner in an L.A. newspaper, the reason isn't political - it's entertainment. People are finding KFI-AM again, after all these years. (And yes, that is the place where Bill Carroll went after leaving Canadian radio.)
It may be an anomaly, but could their formula be other all-talkers' salvation if the talent mix is right and is there a lesson in its sudden surge for stations north of the border?
Wait, wasn’t KFI-AM supposed to be doomed? How the radio station is thriving
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Thread Starter- RadioAaron
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Re: Is This The First Sign Of Mike Bendixen's Handiwork At 640?
And yet, there are exceptions to the rule.
One AM talk station in L.A. has just gone up in the ratings, not down, bucking a trend that's plaguing many on that band. According to this story by writer Richard Wagoner in an L.A. newspaper, the reason isn't political - it's entertainment. People are finding KFI-AM again, after all these years. (And yes, that is the place where Bill Carroll went after leaving Canadian radio.)
It may be an anomaly, but could their formula be other all-talkers' salvation if the talent mix is right and is there a lesson in its sudden surge for stations north of the border?
Wait, wasn’t KFI-AM supposed to be doomed? How the radio station is thriving
No.
KFI going up in 6+ ratings is a sign of the LA radio audience getting older faster than other markets. The audience hasn't increased, its share just looks better as younger stations' listeners abandon radio.
- Radiowiz
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Re: Is This The First Sign Of Mike Bendixen's Handiwork At 640?
Doubling-down on right-wing faux-populist nonsense is probably the best option to get the few people who actually CUME the station to spend a little more time with it.
It's done within a few years, so milk it for whatever's left.
Those right wingers do not buy the products advertised.
Go Centre Left and there will be a stronger response to the ads.
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- Tomas Barlow
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Re: Is This The First Sign Of Mike Bendixen's Handiwork At 640?
Doubling-down on right-wing faux-populist nonsense is probably the best option to get the few people who actually CUME the station to spend a little more time with it.
It's done within a few years, so milk it for whatever's left.Those right wingers do not buy the products advertised.
Go Centre Left and there will be a stronger response to the ads.
Is there a dominant centre left talk station anywhere in North America other than CBC Radio One? I don't know of one.
- peter
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Re: Is This The First Sign Of Mike Bendixen's Handiwork At 640?
Why would 640am target Moore's under 1% market share?
- RadioActive
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Re: Is This The First Sign Of Mike Bendixen's Handiwork At 640?
They're clearly in competition with each other, regardless of the small audience share. So the idea of keeping those ears in that quarter hour tuned to 640 instead of going over to 1010 is all they have for now. I'll be curious to see what other changes Bendixen might make.
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Thread Starter- Bristol
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Re: Is This The First Sign Of Mike Bendixen's Handiwork At 640?
It can be done. #1 station in Montreal for at least the last 10 years - Cogeco's center leaning talk CHMP 98.5 FM.
- paterson1
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Re: Is This The First Sign Of Mike Bendixen's Handiwork At 640?
Doubling-down on right-wing faux-populist nonsense is probably the best option to get the few people who actually CUME the station to spend a little more time with it.
It's done within a few years, so milk it for whatever's left.Those right wingers do not buy the products advertised.
Go Centre Left and there will be a stronger response to the ads.
Is there a dominant centre left talk station anywhere in North America other than CBC Radio One? I don't know of one.
Washington DC in the August ratings, the NPR station WAMU was number one by a good margin with a 11.6 share. Not really surprising in a government town.
The US has a lot of university and college radio stations that show up in the top ten, even top five and some of these could be NPR affiliates.
NPR weekly listenership is about 24 million.
- RadioAaron
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Re: Is This The First Sign Of Mike Bendixen's Handiwork At 640?
It can be done. #1 station in Montreal for at least the last 10 years - Cogeco's center leaning talk CHMP 98.5 FM.
That launched 20 years ago and is on FM.
- RadioAaron
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Re: Is This The First Sign Of Mike Bendixen's Handiwork At 640?
Those right wingers do not buy the products advertised.
Go Centre Left and there will be a stronger response to the ads.
Is there a dominant centre left talk station anywhere in North America other than CBC Radio One? I don't know of one.
Washington DC in the August ratings, the NPR station WAMU was number one by a good margin with a 11.6 share. Not really surprising in a government town.
The US has a lot of university and college radio stations that show up in the top ten, even top five and some of these could be NPR affiliates.
NPR weekly listenership is about 24 million.
They're not college stations as we understand that here. The talk ones are all NPR stations. Not really any different than CBC being top in some cities.
- RadioAaron
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Re: Is This The First Sign Of Mike Bendixen's Handiwork At 640?
They're clearly in competition with each other, regardless of the small audience share. So the idea of keeping those ears in that quarter hour tuned to 640 instead of going over to 1010 is all they have for now.
The old "quarter hour" trick doesn't work with PPM. Every minute counts.