Name: the media
Age: ageless
Occupation: the educators and informers of the general public
Last Seen: everywhere
Bee-otched For: I don't even know where to begin
----Age: ageless
Occupation: the educators and informers of the general public
Last Seen: everywhere
Bee-otched For: I don't even know where to begin
It appears that WPRR - Public Reality Radio is dead and gone.
This weekend, their translator at 102.5 in Alpine Township flipped to an R&B format called "102.5 The Ride". Meanwhile, their originating station at 1680 was on reduced power and not airing the same format. Today, the station was back on full power with virtually the same format but still not simulcast with 102.5.
Since 102.5 MUST simulcast with 1680, owner Bob Goodrich and programmer and afternoon talk host Tyrone Bynum - who was not on the air today - are in a whole heap of trouble if caught by the FCC.
Under FCC rules and regulations, an FM translator MUST be a simulcast of another station, whether it's an AM station, and FM station or an HD side channel of an FM station. If caught, Goodrich could face a serious fine by the FCC.
Several years ago in Detroit, two translator stations signed off because their originating stations were HD subchannels of WGPR 107.5. WGPR suspended HD broadcasts, causing the two stations - alternative 94.3 The Bone and smooth jazz 94.3 The Oasis - to be silenced. The owner of the two translators was renting out WGPR's HD spectrum to feed them.
WPRR was one of the lowest-rated radio stations in Grand Rapids. As a matter of fact, they didn't even crack a .1 in the ratings. Both Goodrich's station and theaters have suffered these past few years thanks to poor management. Four years ago, the station fired programmer and host Darren Gibson when he announced that he wasn't voting for Hillary Clinton and shamed the Democratic establishment. Tyrone Bynum, on the other hand, has often been criticized for how he runs and operates every station he's ever walked into. After all, the now-defunct 640 AM WMFN left Grand Rapids with very little-to-no tears being shed, especially with how Tyrone treated both Detroit Tiger fans by pre-empting Sunday games for Gospel music and, well, anybody that didn't listen to his shitty radio shows.
The death of WPRR sadly leaves leftists in traditionally conservative west Michigan without a voice, even when it was mostly silenced when Gibson and other hosts were shown the door. It was merely apparent when Tyrone took over programming of WPRR that its days of liberal talk were over. Over time, most of the local shows were axed and R&B music took over the overnight hours. Now, with the exception of Bynum's crappy-ass afternoon show, WPRR is R&B 24/7.
On paper, flipping WPRR to R&B might be an OK idea. Bear in mind that Townsquare's Magic 104.9 flipped from urban AC to full-urban not long ago. But let's remember that when Bynum ran AM 640 with the same format, he ended up not renewing his lease because it simply wasn't making money. With Goodrich's bankruptcy, Only time will tell if 102.5 will keep riding along into the future.
Of course, today's BOTD isn't just Goodrich and Bynum. Yes, I gotta put the smackdown on WOOD-TV 8, too.
Late last week, the Grand Rapids NBC station aired a so-called investigative report on an organization that was freeing those involved in last month's riots. Simply put, the station put the focus on what is really a non-story since the rioters didn't kill anybody. All they did was smash and vandalized downtown buildings as part of a revolt against the city and the police.
However, the woman who reported on the situation, Susan Samples - who reminds me of Will Ferrell's impersonation of Janet Reno on Saturday Night Live - relied on false reporting by Andy Ngo, a far-right-winged prick who is known for spreading lies about antifa. Even though WOOD-TV has long been the news leader in west Michigan, at times, they do have a right-leaning bias. After all, morning weather girl Terri The Whore-er, DeBoer held a dinner at her house in 2006 to support Dick Devos' failed run for governor. Chief Meteorologist Bill Steffen is an avowed climate change denier (though I enjoy watching his cats fight in his mancave). Political report Rick Albin has worked closely with Republicans for years.
What's sad in all this is that WOOD-TV is the better of the big four news choices in Grand Rapids. ABC WZZM 13 (TEGNA)'s lead news anchor, Juliet Dragos comes off like an annoying old skank. Fox 17 WXMI (Scripps) isn't bad on the local news front, but the fact that they carry national stories from Fox Propaganda Channel hurts them. And yes, the reason why CBS WWMT-3 sucks is because they're owned by Sinclair. Plus, they didn't cover the Grand Rapids riots.
Meanwhile, back on the radio front in GR, WFUR-FM 102.9 has THANKFULLY been sold! However, the new format on 102.9 sucks.
The new owners are Bible Broadcasting Network and the new callsign is WYHA. BBN purchased 102.9 for $2.75 million a few months ago. WFUR still broadcasts on AM 1570 and translator 92.9 FM. WFUR was often picked on for years for being a station that skewed older than other area Christian stations like WCSG and Joy 99. One long-running joke was that if you wanted to know who listened to WFUR, just turn it to the obituary page in the Grand Rapds Press.
Well, as both Joni Mitchell and Cinderella once sang, "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone."
Turns out that BBN's programming is mostly old hymns sourced off of scratchy vinyl. I'll betcha that some of the nursing homes in the area will be proud of a station like this one. Apparently, the Kuiper family - who has owned WFUR since 1950 - has been wanting to sell the 50,000-watt FM for years. However, they had a stipulation that the new owners play Christian music. Well, they got their wish and nobody under the age of 90 seems to like this new station.
Meanwhile in Detroit, classic rocker WCSX is now the #1 station in town. It's just too bad that the man running the show, Jerry Tarrants is no longer there. He exited the station last week. No word if it was his decision or corporate's.
Tarrants was also the PD of sister active rocker WRIF. He also programmed other rockers in Michigan, such as Saginaw's Z93. Several years ago, he was responsible for the transformation WGRD here in Grand Rapids from wimpy alt-rocker to the hard active rocker it became. Sadly, since he departed WGRD, the station is just a shell of its former self.
And Tarrants' departure isn't the only tragedy in Detroit. Last week, anemically-rated sports talker WXYT added (ugh) "Huge" Bill Simonson's shitty-ass show to its weekday lineup. What's even more embarrassing is that the dickwad at MLive.com who wrote the article about the Huge Retard's Detroit debut called his show "popular". Apparently, Josh VanDyke has never read a radio ratings book before. '
Oh, and did you hear that Cumulus is laying off 3% of its staff? Not only that, they're eliminating their top of the hour newscasts, which is fed to 900 stations.
But in all fairness, not everything is all bad in the media. Up in the upper peninsula, the decades-old simulcast of Iron Mountain's 93.1 WIMK and Marquette's 94.1 WUPK has ended with 94.1 flipping to soft AC. But the best part of it all is that WIMK and 99.5 WNGE in Marquette are now active rock as K-Rock. Ironically, 93.1 and 94.1 were known as K-Rock in the 1990s through the mid-2000s. Most of the time, K-Rock was satellite-fed from Westwood One's "Adult Rock" format. Northern Star bought the stations and flipped them to mainstream rock as The Bear, originally carrying Bob and Tom in the morning. However in 2010, Sovereign Communications bought The Bear and flipped them to "93 Rock" and "94 Rock" to match their sister station in Sault Ste. Marie, Rock 101. Bob and Tom were axed and replaced with Free Beer and Hot Wings. But in recent years, Sovereign has dealt with financial issues, so they sold their western UP cluster to AMC Media not long ago. Since AMC already owns a classic rock station, 107.3 The Eagle, change definitely had to be made.
WOW! An actual radio market that makes a wise decision regarding what their listeners want? I'll be damned! Funny thing is that some "experts" cry that the active rock format died 15 years ago. Bitch all they want, but Michigan loves good 'ol hard rock and metal over, say, wimpy alternative any day. Christ, Detroit doesn't even HAVE an alternative station now that 89X is active rock!
Look. Radio is like a restaurant. If the food sucks, people won't come back. Same goes with service and respect. You treat people like the way you want to be treated. If you own a business and somebody writes a bad review of it, you simply realize that you gotta do better. You don't harass the people who write that negative review and even threaten to sue them, like the asshole who owns several silent radio stations in northern Michigan. Same goes with the people who used COVID-19 to crowdfund their stations, even though they started their campaign BEFORE COVID-19 hit (and the fact that they now air Huge on one of their stations ain't going to make me grab my wallet, either).
I guess the moral of the story is simple: GIVE THE PEOPLE WHAT THEY WANT. DON'T GO WITH YOUR EGO. GET OFF YOUR ASS AND ASK PEOPLE! DO YOUR GODDAMNED RESEARCH! END OF STORY!
Remember, there's a popular saying going around: "Mask it or casket". Well, how about "What format would you like to hear on the radio?" ASK IT OR CASKET!
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Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!
Bee-otch of the Day Archives can be seen on http://beeotchoftheday.blogspot.com
Bee-otch of the Day is a production of Chuck69.com, Grand Rapids' site for Stern, politics and more!
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