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Posted by Allan Sniffen on May 29, 2002 at 21:13:41:

In Reply to: WNEW posted by Frank S on May 29, 2002 at 20:39:22:

There are no posts because those that post about WNEW generally do so like uneducated fans who don't know the first thing about radio. This board is better than that.

There's no news on this. It's a boring subject until there is news. Speculating that "so and so sucks" brings nothing to the table. That's all that anyone has managed to say about this over the last few days. Not good enough.

That said... Here's what I think is going on. Radio wars between shows owned by the same company that air on [mostly] the same stations is BAD business. It's one thing to attack a competitor. It's another to attack your own team. Opie and Anthony have been all over Don and Mike for the last few months. And, before all the O&A lemmings jump in here and swear that isn't the case, let me remind you of all the comments from Opie on how he objected to "that other show" being syndicated to Philadelphia and therefore hurting their lead in just like they were being "hurt" in New York. Ok guys... that's just one example so don't respond to me with the usual "they're not at fault" nonsense.

Don and Mike did not return fire until recently because, supposedly, both shows were told not to. I think that, finally, Don Geronimo had enough. While I can understand why he felt the need to respond, it's still bad business for all the same reasons. Attacking your own team hurts everyone. And, aside from the hard core radio fans, most people don't give a damn about highly paid radio stars whining about each other.

The real problem here is the Infinity/WNEW management that allowed this to spiral out of control like this. I'm sure that something is now being done about it. You don't take your behind the scenes disagreements public. My strong suspicion is that until there is some kind of compromise worked out between these two shows, they're both going to stay off. Both shows have backed management into a corner over this and everyone now has to dig their way out.

Neither show is going to get totally fired. Don and Mike make too much money for Infinity for that to happen and they are big stars in Washington and their Philadelphia numbers are promising. And, of course, O&A aren't going anywhere. Maybe D&M get yanked in New York, maybe not. But not matter what, both shows need to put a lid on things.

My prediction is they will be back soon and both shows will make a couple of comments so as not to look like they were muzzled by management (even though both will have been but won't publicly admit it) and life will go on.

I've got news for all you WNEW fans. There aren't enough of you. The station is the laughing stock of the industry right now. It could be the worst station ever in New York (although we've had some other beauties over the years). If you guys think that having two shows clawing away at each other is a way to solve this problem, you're wrong. It may be fun in the short term but in a month it will be so worn out you won't be interested anymore. All that will be left will be the fallout which will drag the station down even further. That is something that WNEW can't afford and it's something that Infinity can't afford. They have too much invested in this concept.

Now... if anyone wants to respond to this, go ahead. But write something intelligent. When it comes to WNEW that seems virtually impossible most of the time.

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