Salem Conservative Talk “970 The Apple” WNYM Hackensack, NJ/New York has rebranded as “970 The Answer“.
The new imaging takes hold as new PD Phil Boyce, formerly of crosstown 770 WABC and Talk Radio Network puts his handiwork on the station. Along with the new branding comes a modified programming lineup. Curtis Sliwa’s morning show shifts from 5 to 9am to 7 to 10. Dennis Miller, who had been heard from 11 to 1, moves up to 10 to noon which extends Dennis Prager an extra hour to 12 to 3pm. Michael Medved remains from 3 to 5. Sliwa returns for his 5 to 7pm show with Jeffrey Lichtman while Hugh Hewitt, John Gibson, and Jim Bohannon air at night. Bill Bennett’s Morning in America moves from 9-11am slot to 5 to 7am.
INSTANT INSIGHT: WNYM emphasized in the press release that the new branding will create a “hip younger sound for the station”. 970 is an AM that hasn’t been top of the mind in New York since it was doing Top 40 as WWDJ in the early 1970’s. If the big AM signals in New York are having a hard time acquiring younger ears for their stations, how is a fresh coat of paint on a station full of third tier syndicated hosts going to do it?
MattParker
@Lance: Right on. Add to that they hire an old school PD to attract those young ears. Dennis Miller did SNL’s Weekend Update a quarter century ago (and was most recently on WOR, your grandmother’s talk station). Apparently he’s in Salem’s local line-up because WOR picked up Salem’s Mike Gallagher.
It will be interesting to see if Salem’s owned stations will start bailing out of the Salem talk network feed to pick up other shows (maybe on a pay to play basis) or even try – gasp – local shows. Phil Boyce, fresh from TRN (the HOME of third tier syndicated hosts), has Guardian Angel Sliwa paired with a moonlighting lawyer (also ex-WABC). Does he really think two strident right-wingers can recapture the old Curtis and Kuby hot/cold, sweet/sour, right/left magic?