Prior to mid-February, it would have been a major market coup for a Talk station in need of a boost. Today, it only begs the question of why, and for how long, the Talk station has committed to a show with an expiry date.
The Rush Limbaugh Show, starting today, is now heard on a Talk station in the biggest city in the U.S. by square miles. It was previously heard on a crosstown News/Talker that has prepared for life without Rush.
Has iHeart or program syndicator Premiere Networks?
Now in the noon to 3pm time slot on WBOB-AM 600 in Jacksonville, a 50kw Class B blowtorch by day from 2 towers with 9.7kw at night from five towers is The Rush Limbaugh Show.
The AM’s signal stretches from Gainesville up past Savannah, Ga., and to much of the Charleston, S.C., market. But it boasts an FM translator — W266CX at 100.1 MHz in southeast Jacksonville — that gives WBOB all-important MHz coverage.
The program as today continues on with pre-recorded snippets of the late Rush Limbaugh, with Brett Winterble, Todd Herman and Ken Matthews taking turns setting up the content. Premiere has indicated this will continue until a transition to a new offering to its affiliates.
For Cox Media Group‘s WOKV-FM, the dominant spoken word FM along Florida’s First Coast, that wasn’t good enough.
Local personality Mark Kaye, who 4 1/2 years ago shared with RBR+TVBR five reasons why Snapchat matters for Radio, officially replaced Limbaugh’s program by shifting to the Noon-3pm time slot on WOKV today (3/22).
Kaye had been previously hosting the 10am-Noon shift on WOKV, following his morning co-host role on Cox Top 40 sibling WAPE-FM. Kaye is no longer heard on the pop music station.
With Cox’s decision to move on from the late Limbaugh, WBOB had an opportunity. With local market rights to the show now available, should it benefit from the now-deceased host as long as it can?
The answer for PD Gary Walsh and WBOB owner Chesapeake-Portsmouth Broadcasting Corp. was a definitive “yes.”
“Rush Limbaugh is a pioneering force in broadcasting,” said WBOB GM Jonathan McClellan. “He redefined talk radio and shaped the conservative political message for our country. We value the future of his legacy, and we believe his talented team will
drive the momentum of the movement far into the future. We welcome this monumental
voice.”
To bring Limbaugh to WBOB, The Dennis Prager Show was bumped.
Thus, WBOB has elected to replace a living Talk host’s program with that of a deceased one … for now. What’s on the table for WBOB could very well involve what Premiere decides to offer once it fully moves on from Limbaugh.
WBOB’s owner, Chesapeake-Portsmouth, is led by Nancy Epperson. She has family ties to Salem Media Group. But the lone involvement Salem has with WBOB is as a syndicated programming source. Following Limbaugh, America First with Sebastian Gorka, syndicated by Salem, airs in the 3pm-6pm slot. Mornings at WBOB are helmed by veteran local talk host and journalist Ed Dean.
While WBOB has elected to invest in Limbaugh’s legacy as a path for growth, Cumulus Media‘s rival to Premiere Networks, Westwood One, is in attack mode. On May 24, The Dan Bongino Show will be launched as a Noon-3pm Eastern offering. And, the show will air in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., where WMAL-FM has been a key bastion for conservative Talk in the Nation’s Capital.
