Merlin Media’s “IQ 106.9” WWIQ Philadelphia has officially confirmed that Rush Limbaugh will debut on the station on Monday, June 25.
The addition of Limbaugh from noon to 3pm finalizes the daytime lineup on the station that also includes a local news block with Al Gardner and Larry Mendte from 5am to 9am and syndicated talkers Glenn Beck from 9am to 12pm and Sean Hannity from 3pm to 6pm. Dial Global’s Overnight America with Jon Grayson has been added for overnights. The evening slots are still to be filled, although a comment on the station’s Facebook page hints at the addition of Mark Levin, whose show currently airs on Salem’s 990 WNTP in the market.
CBS fills the departure of Limbaugh at 1210 WPHT with the addition of a new local afternoon drive program hosted by author Buzz Bissinger and Steve Martorano. Michael Smerconish, moves from having his syndicated show aired on tape delay at his flagship station to a live 12pm to 3pm clearance. WPHT will now have live & locally originating programming from 530am to 1am daily.
MattParker
I wonder how much CBS is paying Bissinger? Probably not the McWages most radio people get. The guy has several best sellers, including one turned into a movie and TV series. I doubt he comes cheap to do a radio show. And he spends part of each year at his other house in the Pacific Northwest, so there’s the additional cost of having him working remote.
Clearly, he’s a good writer but he’s never been a radio guy. Once again, the suits bring in somebody from outside at great expense. Since local, live radio is pretty much dead in smaller markets, they haven’t got much choice except to go outside and hope success in something else translates to radio.
Update: Be careful what you say about Buzz’ new show. He has quite a temper and he doesn’t like bad reviews.
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2012/06/buzz-bissinger-furious-at-bad-review-unleashes-fury-upon-dallas
http://artsblog.dallasnews.com/2012/06/buzz-bissinger-dallas-can-go-itself.html/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/post/bissinger-buzzes-dallas/2012/06/07/gJQA3ko9KV_blog.html
Then again, a penchant for rants and outrage may be why CBS hired him. Maybe they are giving him big bucks looking to have a second WPHT show in syndication. As long he doesn’t call anybody a “slut” or a “nappy headed ho” h might do OK. But, Ivy League elitism (Buzz went to Penn) may not play that well where people follow the Big 12. Maybe Buzz should lay off TCU. Bob Scheiffer is higher on the CBS totem pole than he is (CBS’ News seems to hire a lot of Texans). And Dan Jenkins is arguably a better writer.
Meanwhile, despite Buzz, “Dallas” returns on TNT Wednesday night. They can shoot JR but they can’t stop him.