To answer a much-asked question, yes, WWRC in Washington DC will still carry progressive talk. At the very least, they’ve currently got plans for it.
According to AllAccess, Red Zebra Broadcasting, which purchased a cluster of local AM stations from Clear Channel in June, has revamped its two politically-oriented talk stations in the market in a rather timely manner by rebranding its conservative talk station "McCain 570 WTNT" and "Obama 1260 WWRC."
"Obama 1260" will still carry Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz, Lionel, Rachel Maddow and Ron Reagan, with news coverage supplied by CNN and CNBC. In contrast, they don’t offer that much change aside from the name.
"McCain 570" features its previous lineup: conservative talkers Bill Bennett, Laura Ingraham, Mike Gallagher, Dennis Miller, and Michael Savage, along with news from the Fox News Radio. They also promise four more years of the same thing. (rimshot!)
The two station’s temporary identities will run through the end of this year’s presidential campaign.
"With the intense interest and the importance of this presidential election Red Zebra felt it was important to give the public the ability to easily find both sides of the candidate’s positions and opinions and give DC area listeners a chance to express their viewpoints and ask the tough questions," said VP of Operations Dennis Glasgow. PD Greg Tantum added, "Personalities from both stations will be out in the community hosting forums on the election, helping listeners become better informed voters."
What was not adressed were the many common complaints directed at the station (which I seem to get the lion's share of), namely the many technical gaffes and abundance of dead air that plague WWRC. Hopefully, as the stations have recently added a new programming chief, perhaps these problems will be corrected.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Obama versus McCain - The radio version
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Eureka, CA 
5 comments:
Sounds like 1260 is going to be a more professional, well-run outfit. If so, good. In terms of administration, I doubt the station could get much worse.
BTW, it would be incorrect to say 1260 will still carry Stephanie Miller. I was pleasantly surprised to hear her again this morning on the station - she had been over on 1500 am for about a year, before the most recent format switch, which I guess took effect today.
I guess Lionel will heard on tape in the evenings or overnight. Some progressive radio fans won't mind that, but I did enjoy being able to switch back and forth between both shows.
Indeed, Steph was previously heard on the trimulcast known as 3WT, which ended officially today. Although today, Steph mentioned they were "back" on WWRC. Maybe the LTR editor is not aware of 3WT, or hasn't updated his affiliate links.
Anothet tidbit, WTNT/WWRC are now bring programed by the same person who programed the now defunct 3WT!
I'm somewhat disappointed AM 1260 didn't pick up Randi Rhodes opting instead to carry a 6 hour old Lionel? I say only somewhat since 1260's signal is about to get even worse (was that possible?) since they applied with the FCC to run on low power (1,250 watts) for up to a year to fix a antenna issue.
What was not adressed were the many common complaints directed at the station (which I seem to get the lion's share of), namely the many technical gaffes and abundance of dead air that plague WWRC. Hopefully, as the stations have recently added a new programming chief, perhaps these problems will be corrected.
And the old programming chief - who did not correct these problems - got hire by (guess who?) Air America Radio? Sounds like he'll fit right in.
Here's what will happen: They will keep two flavors of political talk through the election, say they couldn't sell it and then flip to sports talk but say they really tried.
"... What was not addressed were the many common complaints directed at the station (which I seem to get the lion's share of) ... "
This may be due at least in part to the fact that it's still impossible to contact the station via e-mail or phone (and probably snail mail, too). The website STILL lists the old Clear Channel information, which hasn't worked for months (obviously!) ... hopefully that will change before the end of the calendar year, but I'm not holding my breath.
In any case, thanks for the updates! At least *someone* is giving us info on the status of WWRC. I agree with the prior poster that I wish WWRC had picked up Randi Rhodes since her full show has never aired live in DC AND since she has been out of the DC market for all of 2008. I also was disappointed that they dumped Hartmann's afternoon slot for reshuffle of Lionel.
Still, I'm glad WWRC is still with us and that Stephanie's back!
JP
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