Sunday, June 25, 2006

Bob and Tom's Arrival

Monday is the opening salvo for Premiere syndicated morning duo Bob and Tom in Cleveland, as they premiere on Clear Channel rocker WMMS/100.7 starting at 6 AM. (The graphic to the left is currently being featured on WMMS' website.)

As we note that event, we're reminded that it's the very first time in WMMS' long, historic run as a rock station that the morning show will not be produced locally.

We do seem to recall a brief run where the station's "Wolf and Mulrooney" show was syndicated back to the duo's former home market of Albany NY (we think that's what it was, any corrections appreciated). But it's the first time in WMMS' rock history that the morning show won't originate at the station...

UPDATE: 6/25/06 7:05 PM - We've stumbled onto this article by former 'MMS PD and Cleveland Free Times contributor John Gorman (pictured) - on what appears to be a new website called "Cleveland Current".

Gorman says that - as per massive speculation - WTAM afternoon driver Mike Trivisonno "was considered" for the WMMS morning drive slot, but that he supposedly asked for "major bucks and no-cut guarantees" that Clear Channel wasn't willing to give him. The programmer-turned-radio columnist also says that "in-house research showed (Triv) had a fighting chance" to up WMMS' morning drive ratings.

Though Gorman notes that two of WMMS' string of 12 morning shows actually were initially piped in from out of the market - Jacksonville FL's Dick Dale and Albany NY's "Wolf and Mulrooney" - both were physically moved to WMMS, and then sent back down the line to their former home stations.

The Bob and Tom premiere will mark the first time that WMMS has ever used a show that was either not based here, or was not hired with the intention to eventually be based here. And it is certainly the first nationally syndicated WMMS morning entrant, ever...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

....And, of course, Slobisonno will decry these facts Monday afternoon, because he rarely has anything else prepared to blather about for 4 hours...er, 20-minutes, after all the traffic, sports etc. interruptions, and the endless stream of program breaks--during which the listeners simply push "click" on their car radios.

Anonymous said...

Monday he will be interminable, since he somehow made a few lucky shots to top LBJ in a game of pool. Take fair warning, folks, and avoid this self-glorification show at all costs.

Anonymous said...

Tomorrow marks a sad day in Cleveland radio history.

WMMS stood for being proud to be a Clevelander. To be live and local. That is no more.

There are many that will argue that WMMS died years ago, or that they haven't been a "Cleveland" station for some time now -- all of which may be true. But tomorrow it officially marks the death of WMMS and what it stood for.

Anyone of you who were lucky to see and be a part of those historic days from the 70's and well into the 90's know what I'm talking about. WMMS is now just a shell of what it once was.

This is more than evident now that Bo Mathews is also programming KISS too -- something that will devote 80-90% of his time going forward. WMMS is now just a Selector-run station with a nationally syndicated morning show, that makes zero sense of it even being on there in the first place.

Now that O&A are on -- and will be eating Maxwell alive in PM Drive.... CCU should have just blown up the call letters and started new. There is no historic value left in that station any more.

...and no, I never worked there; but like many others, I grew up listening to it -- and am embarrassed by what its become.

Anonymous said...

so true...
i feel like wncx will have a strong morning show by digging up old 'mms hosts and playing against b&t.

it's funny to imagine that 98.5 will likely play a local show against the prototype morning show "off the bird." If lannigan retires soon, we may see a 100.7 vs. 98.5 radio war rematch from 20 years ago with simialr players at a different frequency. ??? & Flash vs. formula two decases later.

Hey Bo-does Pig Vomit like to cuddle after you are done?

Anonymous said...

"during which the listeners simply push "click" on their car radios."

Really? The ratings don't indicate they push "click" very much, do they?

Anonymous said...

Dude, if you think for a minute that listeners are sitting thru WTAM's 10-minute commercial breaks, you're not even qualified to post a comment here. It's gotten to be riduculous...and yes, there's channel-surfing galore. You can crow all you want about ratings, but the simple fact is: people are tuning out the extended nonsense, and perhaps coming back later...and maybe not. That's just common sense.

Anonymous said...

the simple fact is: people are tuning out the extended nonsense, and perhaps coming back later...and maybe not. That's just common sense.

Dude, perhaps it's you who is not qualified to post here.

Little lesson for you: Ratings depend on 2 primary factors: Listeners (cume) and how long they listen (TSL, or Time Spent Listening).

If a show is #1, like Triv's, it needs to have lots of both. He can have a huge cume, but if they're not listening very long (ie. channel surfing during breaks like you claim with such authority), he won't be #1.

Likewise, if he's getting people to listen for a long time, but there are only a few of them, he won't be #1.

But being #1 for the last 5 straight years means one thing: he's got LOTS of listeners, and they they listen for a LONG time.

And yes, that means through the breaks.

You're dismissed.

Anonymous said...

DDDD-UUU-DDD-EEEE...
DOOOOOOOOD...
YOU A DUD.

Anonymous said...

>>But being #1 for the last 5 straight years means one thing: he's got LOTS of listeners, and they they listen for a LONG time.<<

But that is belied by not only the mechanics of drive time radio, but also Trivisonno's own words: high turnover in PM drive.

He may have a huge cume, which is likely. But given the average commute time in Cleveland, they might just beat 2 quarter hours.

NO ONE in Cleveland is listening to him for a whole hour, and maybe not even a half hour.

Anonymous said...

You can be #1 with a strong cume and a decent TSL, but you don't pull 14-shares with cume alone. People are staying.

Anonymous said...

People may be staying, but for how long?

Drive time commutes average a little under a 1/2 hour. Are people immediately running into the house to turn on Trivisonno?

I listen to him on the way home. But it is for the time I'm in the car--no more, no less.

I'm sure I'm one of thousands--but these same thousands don't listen every day from 3 to 6 (or 7, if late baseball). In fact, it's doubtful they listen an hour of that time.

Remember, Triv's show is based around redundancy: audience moving in and out. News repeats, traffic repeats, weather repeats, sports repeats, even Triv repeats.