Welcome to Radio Hot Talk
This page is dedicated to the world of Hot Talk radio. Here you'll find information, listings, links, commentary and much more about the most popular nationally distributed programs in the Hot Talk genre.
LATEST NEWS:
November 24, 2008
Congrats to my former boss Bubba the Love Sponge ®, who announced today that he will be syndicating his morning show into four additional markets effective January 5, 2009. They are:
Miami, FL - "93 Rock" (93.1 WHDR)
Orlando, FL - "96.5 WHTQ" (96.5 WHTQ)
Ft. Myers, FL - "96.1 K-Rock" (96.1 WRXK)
Richmond, VA - "Y-101" (101.1 WYDL)
Currently WFYV-FM in Jacksonville and WHPT in Tampa/Sarasota carry Bubba's show. WRXK in Ft. Myers is owned by Beasley Broadcasting, the first non-Cox Radio station to carry Bubba's show since his return to terrestrial radio in January 2008.
It should be noted that Y-101 in Richmond is a Class A station licensed to Chester, VA, but a construction permit is in place that will move the station from 101.1 to 100.9 with a new city of license of Lakeside, VA and an upgrade to a Class B1 license. The other three new stations (along with the two currently carrying Bubba) are all Class C stations broadcasting with 100,000 watts of strength, save for 90,000 watts on WHTQ.
October 28, 2008
The concept of "Hot Talk" as it was known earlier this decade has been all but dormant since the infamous Super Bowl breast flash in January 2004 and the subsequent firings of both Bubba the Love Sponge ® and Howard Stern in February 2004 by Clear Channel. Look at what has happened since then:
-Mancow completed his transition from Hot Talk to political talk.
-Howard Stern launched two channels on Sirius, bringing Bubba the Love Sponge and later Scott Ferrall on board as afternoon and evening talent for Howard 101.
-Phil Hendrie left radio for a brief run in television. He returned to radio last year, albeit with a much less edgy show (though he is still brilliant) but also stuck in a late-night time slot.
-Don & Mike are no more, with the show ending earlier this year after a 23 year run.
-CBS Radio attempted to launch a major market brand with the name "Free FM", presumably as a shot at former morning talent Howard Stern, who left for Sirius Satellite Radio at the end of 2005 (debuting on Sirius on 1/9/2006). The format largely failed for CBS, most embarrassingly in the case of David Lee Roth, who replaced Howard Stern on his former flagship station WXRK (which became WFNY in 2006).
-CBS Radio ended up re-hiring Opie & Anthony, who the company had fired in 2002 due to fallout from the now-infamous "Sex for Sam 3" contest.
-Kidd Chris, one of the up-and-coming stars in the business, lost his Philadelphia radio gig (with CBS Radio) due to content concerns.
The survivors of the syndicated radio purging (Bob & Tom, Lex & Terry, etc.) have had to curtail their act even more than they did pre-2004. There are still local shows that air edgy material, and Loveline is still syndicated nationally for airing during safe harbor (the fact that it still airs on 98 Rock in Tampa shows just how dishonest John Hogan was when he testified in front of Congress in February 2004 that Clear Channel was "getting out of the indecency business"). But, overall, the format that was beginning to thrive pre-2004 has not been able to recover, and it might not if the FCC wins the challenge by FOX Television that is slated to go before the Supreme Court next month.
Moreover, the main purpose of this site was to list the affiliates for the shows in this genre (even the ones I didn't like), which in 2002 was something that was a strong need in some cases but now seems unnecessary given the presence of radio show websites listing it themselves or people listing the affiliates on Wikipedia or similar sites.
What's next? I'll likely remove the listings for shows that disinterest me and/or which no longer exist (this site has been in need of a purging for some time now) and focus it on the shows that I feel are worth listing. We'll see how that goes.
June 2, 2007
Phil Hendrie is coming back to terrestrial radio... in safe harbor time. He debuts on June 19, 2007 on a yet-to-be-announced station, distributed via TRN (Talk Radio Network, the same company that distributes Mancow and Michael Savage, among others), airing live from 10 PM-1 AM Pacific Time (2-5 AM Eastern.) According to a good source, Hendrie's new offering will be "much more geared to FM mainstream talk."
No word yet on affiliates, but I would anticipate that Hendrie's show will eminate from Los Angeles.
May 10, 2007
I am all too aware that I have not updated this page since the end of 2006. Really, I'm still not sure what I want to do with it. The idea of updating show affiliates for programs like Lex & Terry or Opie & Anthony really doesn't excite me much. I began this as a list of affiliates for all shows on the Hot Talk genre in the summer of 2002; by chance, Bubba the Love Sponge found my page (then hosted on LouPickney.com.) We began exchanging e-mails, and I ultimately went to work for him when I exited the TV news biz in February 2003. I served for a year as his affiliate relations director, enjoying every moment... before things went to hell in early 2004.
I'll spare you a rehashing of the painful events of January and February 2004, but the FCC's NAL against stations that Bubba's show aired on receiving fines for content from 2001 (more than two full years before the NAL was released) hit going into the weekend of the Janet Jackson nipple incident at the Super Bowl. Bang bang.
Ask anyone who works in terrestrial talk radio, and they'll likely bemoan the frustrations that go with not knowing what is allowed or not allowed to be said. The best are gone: Howard Stern and Bubba are on at Sirius, and Phil Hendrie out of the radio business altogether. Good shows that remain on terrestrial radio, like Don & Mike, have had their hands tied and increasingly stiff rules on content placed on it.
There's not particularly a utilitarian purpose for this site anymore; most syndicated radio show pages on Wikipedia with affiliate information are updated quicker that I could react, and while there might be use to keeping track of market moves for various shows as an all-in-one clearing house of information, there is a growing "what's the point?" thought in my mind that has lead me to essentially abandon this webpage.
There are good up-and-coming shows out there; Free Beer & Hot Wings are a growing syndicated program that I've enjoyed in limited listenings on 102.9 The Buzz (WBUZ) here in Nashville, where I now live. Kidd Chris in Philly has a good afternoon show; Adam Carolla gives it his best shot on the west coast, though his sharp sense of humor is dulled by the content restrictions under which he must work.
The war is over: edgy talk radio has been killed on terrestrial radio. The large radio companies brought this on themselves, refusing time and again to fight in court the overall concept that the FCC has the authority to regulate content. The TV networks finally felt the pinch in 2004, post Janet Jackson (when the neo-Puritans struck with force), and they were wise enough to take the battle to court themselves, where it is playing out now.
One thing worth noting: I never listed Don Imus on here, as I never considered him to be a "shock jock" -- he struck me as being incredible boring and unworthy of having a listing on here.
December 11, 2006
Things are beginning to heat up again in the world of syndicated Hot Talk radio. Mancow's turn toward politics has actually helped open some doors for him at Cumulus News/Talk outfits, while Bob & Tom have found a new home in Nashville. Look for a full update on here soon.
October 31, 2006
The past two months have been rather slow in the Hot Talk industry. Mancow lost Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, but he gained West Palm Beach. CBS Radio continues to ignore/waste Don & Mike on a national scale. Phil Hendrie's replays ended, and there's no appearance (at least initially) about Entercom making any changes at 93X in Memphis with Rover in the morning.
August 23, 2006
Kidd Chris is receiving a long-overdue shot at syndication, as his afternoon program on WYSP/Philadelphia is now going to air on WRXK in Pittsburgh. Those two stations also air Opie & Anthony in morning drive; O&A and Kidd Chris are both represented by agent Robert Eatman. Eatman has been successful in spreading O&A's show to large markets in the past few months; might he do the same for Kidd Chris?
Speaking of O&A, since the last update here they have debuted in Tucson (tape-delayed in morning drive on KHYT) and in Las Vegas (tape-delayed middays on KXTE.)
Rover/O&A affiliate WZNE in Rochester, NY and Rover affiliate WMFS in Memphis are both in the process of being sold by CBS Radio to Entercom. It's unclear how the sale will affect their respective positions on those stations, if at all.
August 2, 2006
Bob & Tom have a new home in Rockford, IL -- it's WRXR, 104.7 the X. Their former station there, Y95 (WYHY), flipped to Variety Hits as 95.3 Bob FM yesterday.
July 31, 2006
CBS Radio continues its all-in move with Opie & Anthony, as the show will debut tomorrow on WCKG/Chicago (from 6-9 AM Central, on a one hour time delay?) and KIFR/San Francisco (outside of morning drive; the daypart has not been specified.) The move bumps Rover from Chicago; he will return to Cleveland and WXRK, which begins its second stint as his flagship station. As quoted in FMQB, Rover said, "[T]hey’re skewed to a much older audience than what we target. We were also concerned that they wanted to focus exclusively on Chicago, which was detrimental to our affiliates."
All Access reports that Don & Mike debut today on KNUI in Maui, Hawaii. The timeslot for the show is unclear; if it airs live there, it would be on from 9 AM-1 PM (though since Maui isn't on daylight savings time, the program would potentially air from 8 AM-noon unless it is put on a tape delay once standard time for the mainland arrives.) All Access also noted that an on-air hint on D&M on Friday indicated that the station would be flipping to News/Talk today; as of this writing there's no official word on what is happening.
July 20, 2006
It appears that, contrary to what FMQB reported about Opie & Anthony having debuted on WILZ/Saginaw, the show is not on there yet. All Access said that the show "may be launching" there (and KBZD/Spokane), though that hasn't happened yet according to the station's website or according to Bob & Tom's official big list (which is usually kept very up-to-date.) It would be logical to reason that simulcast partner WYLZ would be coming along with WINZ on any format show change, though that station hasn't been mentioned in any of the coverage of the possible switch.
Robert Feder of the Chicago Sun-Times reports that, for the time being, Mancow is broadcasting his show from a studio at ABC's WLS in Chicago. At the present time, Mancow is without a local flagship station in Chicago.
July 17, 2006
It's taken them much longer than they expected, but Opie & Anthony are finally getting the mega-push from Citadel. They debuted today on seven stations (or technically eight if you want to count Portland, ME simulcast WCYI/WCYY.) The new markets are: Buffalo, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Albuquerque (via tape delay in afternoons), Portland (ME), Long Island, Grand Rapids and Baton Rouge. Two of the new affiliates are Classic Hits stations: WMOS (The Wolf) in Montauk, NY (covering the Long Island market) and KRDJ (Red 93.7) in Baton Rouge. Red 93.7 was a Lex & Terry affiliate in its past incarnation as Rock 93.7 (KOOJ) from October 2004-April 2005.
July 13, 2006
The long-rumored clearance in Providence, RI has happened for Opie & Anthony, who debuted today on Citadel Sports-Talk simulcast 790 WSKO and 99.7 WSKO-FM.
July 12, 2006
Mancow is on "Best of" for the rest of the week, so his final live show on Q101 (WKQX) aired yesterday. Radio Ink has a great interview with Q101 VP Marv Nyren available to read here. It's interesting that Nyren cites what Mancow "was famous for" has in many ways changed from the product he has on the air today (i.e. being more politically-oriented), and how Nyren has less than glowing things to say about Mancow's syndication efforts. To be fair, Emmis didn't put Mancow on in any other cities during the past few years (I don't know about pre-2003), and in situations like on KPNT in St. Louis when Howard Stern left for Sirius Satellite Radio, he was replaced with Rover instead of Mancow on the Emmis-owned outlet.
TRN-FM (Mancow's syndicator) says that it will be delivering the show to its affiliates without problem or interruption, though it's not known to the public where Mancow will be broadcasting from as of Monday 7/17.
July 11, 2006
In a major move, Mancow has announced that he will not be renewing with Emmis' WKQX (Q101) in Chicago when his contract expires there on August 25, 2006. Mancow says that he is now looking for a new flagship station; he claims that Emmis frowns on his appearances on the Fox News Channel's Fox & Friends show and on his syndication deal with TRN-FM. Before going to Q101, Mancow's flagship station was the now-defunct Rock 103.5 (WRCX) in Chicago. The Chicago Sun-Times reported in 2004 that Mancow is making more than $2 million a year on his current contract. Mancow's show has eminated from Chicago since 1994, though there's no word if he will keep his program there for his next move.
Mancow's final day at Q101 will be this Friday, 7/14. It's not clear how Mancow will broadcast his show to his affiliates during the interim time between flagship stations. I can tell you first-hand that switching or losing your flagship is a collosal pain, though with TRN-FM distributing the show I imagine that they have plans in place to make the transition work.
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