790/The Zone now part of Lincoln Financial
As I wrote a few weeks back, Big League Broadcasting, the operator of sports talk station 790/The Zone, has been having ratings issues and lost a bundle on some St. Louis radio station properties.
Now, Lincoln Financial, which has had a local marketing agreement with Big League Broadcasting for years, is buying Big League’s assets and wrapping 790/The Zone into Lincoln, which also owns Star 94. (Big League never owned the 790 signal. Lincoln had given them a long-term lease for use of it.)
Stephen “Steak” Shapiro and Andrew Saltzman, who created the Zone in 1997, will become employees of Lincoln Financial. Rick Mack, general manager of Star 94, will become the Zone’s senior vice president and general manager. Saltzman’s title will be VP/GM. Neal Maziar will remain station manager, Matt Edgar will stay on as program director and morning host Shapiro gets the new title brand manager. (That’s a lot of managers!)
This will have no immediate impact on what you hear on air. “These guys run an incredibly successful operation,” Mack said in a phone interview today. “We’re proud to be a part of it. We don’t want to mess up a good thing.”
The station for years generated revenues far in excess of its ratings, a testament to management’s plucky ability to sell its loyal listeners to advertisers and inserting sponsored segments anywhere they could. Saltzman said as recently as 2007, the Zone was bringing in $14 million in revenue despite a relatively weak AM signal (especially at night). Obviously since the recession hit, the Zone is nowhere near that number anymore.
It has also nurtured plenty of talent, including the 2 Live Stews and two mid-day hosts now on rival 680/The Fan: Matt Chernoff and Chuck Oliver.
But more recently, 680/The Fan began pulling in stronger ratings, fueled partly by the Braves. In July, the Zone ranked 22nd among men 25 to 54 while the Fan ranked 17th. The Zone recently lost the Atlanta Hawks to Cumulus, which will air the games on 99X and make 680 partners. (Dickey Broadcasting owns 680 but the Dickey family also have a stake in Cumulus Media.)
Rumors of this transaction leaked out last week but both Saltzman last Tuesday and Mack himself last Friday denied it had happened. Mack said the papers were finalized over the weekend.
This was Saltzman and Shapiro’s baby from day one. But Shapiro denied the station is in financial duress.
“Owning your own company is extremely rewarding,” Shapiro said. “We decided to trade in the day-to-day stress for the security of a great job at a great company.”
Here’s Saltzman in the press release:
“We have accomplished a great deal as entrepreneurial broadcasters, and this acquisition allows 790 The Zone to compete at an even higher level,” said Saltzman. “I am pleased with the development of this strategic partnership.”
UPDATE: Shapiro was always about promoting the Zone to me when he was the owner. But when I called him after he became a Lincoln Financial employee, he said he had to refer me to Saltzman, the designated spokesman for the Zone. (Now all on-the-record interviews with Zone employees have to be pre-cleared through Saltzman — even poor Steak.)
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117 comments Add your comment
dre
August 31st, 2010
11:18 pm
All of you “insider experts” seem to know what’s going to transpire. You think Steak allowed this to take place without a contract allowing him to stay on the air?
dre
August 31st, 2010
11:29 pm
Have never heard a more unprepared, unprofessional (chewing, swallowing, constantly interrupting colleagues and guests), slow-on-his-feet (often can’t articulate a thought) talk show host. But got to give him credit for giving us a radio station that has provided plenty of drive-time entertainment and laughter over the years. More Soon-To-Be-Famous, more Beau, more Bell and Cellini.
ryan
September 1st, 2010
1:58 am
The problem with 790 for me is they do not support their client (GT football/basketball) why in the hell is Fletcher Proctor allowed to crap on Paul Johnson. What is Radakovich thinking allowing jerks like Proctor, at times Shapiro and Bell savage their brand. Could you imagine Dowdle or a 750 personality treating Mark Richt with disrespect. Have some personalities with a clue- Bill King from Rivals on Sirius gets my vote and for pure entertainment, Finebaum.
Rebuild 790 with Nick and Chris, Wes and Tony and try to get Matt and Chuck back when their 680 deal expires.
How about a NBA oriented show with Steve Holman or Rick Bucher, they have passion and knowledge or maybe a college sports show with Brad Nessler (all of these national talents are based here) For some controversy bring in Terrance Moore, who is missed in the AJC.
sad brotha
September 1st, 2010
5:54 am
Shapiro has got to go…. go home to baby Sophie. What a buffoon! The worst on-air talk radio sports guy ever. His being a part owner kept him on air. Good by and go back to Boston or New Orleans. “Steak-Cha-cha” has worn out the welcome mat years ago… the only reason he is on the air is money (his/daddy’s). Eating at the Palm, and throwing craps doesn’t make one cool, no matter how hard he tries. Family money kept him in the sports airwaves loop, not talent or class.
Peachtree Pete
September 1st, 2010
7:41 am
790’s problem? Tom much juvenile “strip club” talk and not enough sports talk. Without Dimino (best in the business on baseball) and Cellini (good, but could be better), they’re nothing.
Reggie
September 1st, 2010
10:30 am
Wow!!!! I now understand why Atlanta is called hickville>.
Rodney Ho Moe
September 1st, 2010
11:49 am
Fire Steak
Fire 2 Live Stews
Hell fire ‘em all they all blow.
Hire the Kimmer.
tbone
September 1st, 2010
4:41 pm
Bring back AJ Cannon
Mikel
September 1st, 2010
4:47 pm
To have ANY credibility and to have the slightest chance of survival, Lincoln should fire shapiro immediattly. if not, they dont stand a chance.
Michael
September 1st, 2010
7:00 pm
Lincoln Financial has the naming rights at the Eagles stadium in Philly, by the way.
one track
September 1st, 2010
7:16 pm
790 has made a series of programming errors. Their best morning show was Chris, Nick & Bell – very funny, informative and entertaining. Steak is like a cloud hanging over the other 2, who ALWAYS has to get his opinion in on EVERYTHING however inane or uninformed it might be. They should have put him in PM drive opposite C Oliver, listening to those 2 Titanic egos fight it out would have been very listenable. Pollack just doesn’t bring anything to the table at all, and Bell can’t carry the show by himself. He’s a comedic foil, not the leading man. As for the afro-centric midday show, I just don’t get 1/2 of the lingo, and I’m not interested in learning it. 11-1 seems to be amateur hour. Finally, I live in Walton county and 40% of the time 790’s signal is too weak to hear, plus why does 680 power up right at sunrise, while 790 takes another 2o minutes to be hearable at all?? The only bad thing I can say about 680 is that “update” guy in the PM who reads the same 4 stories, word for word in the same order, EVERY 1o minutes. It’s mind numbing. He must be the laziest guy in Atlanta radio, they must have an intern who could take over that job and do better than that.
Steak's breath of death
September 1st, 2010
11:34 pm
Steak Shapiro is the worst radio personality of all time. If you took every cliche of a bad radio guy and wrapped them up and multiplied by 10, you get Steak. I also despise Wolverton, let’s be serious if he wasn’t a member of the tribe he never would have got the gig, well the other possibility is that 790 was fulfilling diversity requirements by hiring a stuttering retard. And all you people who like Dimeano, I can not forget or forgive the man crush he had on Barry Bonds. He would talk to all the old timers and then spit in their face by playing up how great Bonds was without acknowledging the doping that was obvious. Dimeano is a fraud. And that brings me to one last horrid detail, Tony in Smyrna. What a Georgia Tech Piney rooter doofus this clown is. I can picture him staring at the clock on his sofa, Detroit redwings jersey, no pants (ewww), a bucket of KFC waiting till 10:09 on Saturday to call in and give his putrid take. Dude you are a moron, get a life.
790 fan
September 2nd, 2010
1:02 am
Do you guys really have nothing better to do than sit at the computer and trash talk people who some of you have never met, and say that you want them off the air. If you guys think that Steak is so bad then why dont ya’ll become a sports talk show host, and then when ya’ll are horrible, Rodney can write a blog about you and your station, and see how people think that you are horrible. Geezes give Steak a break. Then you guys want to trash talk the callers who call into the station, who happen to be sports fans, and write on these blogs to tell the callers to get a life. Are you guys serious? GET A LIFE!
Paul
September 2nd, 2010
9:50 am
Nick and Chris are outstanding! Dimino’s contacts are second to none, as is his knowledge. How anyone can listen to Rude, who knows nothing or Belue with that god awful enunciation is beyond me!
justin
September 2nd, 2010
11:03 am
Considering the audience size is roughly 3 to 1 in favor of 680, it is clear what they have been doing is the successful formula.
Jock sniffing the local teams and acting like you are the big dogs when you have 1/3 of the audience is smart only to the uninformed.
Get some more minimum wage talent and put them on the air.
Frontman
September 2nd, 2010
5:27 pm
I couldn’t care less who is the big dog, but 680’s on air talent is pathetic. Christopher Rude? Go back to being a DJ. Perry Laurentino? Somewhat mitigates Rude’s stupidity, but doesn’t bring a whole lot else. Leo? Great baseball man and love to hear his stories, but I HATE Notre Dame. Chuck and Matt? I like them both on 680 and 790. Buck Belue? If it’s not about UGA or SEC football, he is useless. John Kincade is the most knowledgeable, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he gets a bigger ESPN radio gig soon.
And that’s it for 680.
790 has done a great job of developing on-air talent over the years. 680 got most of their talent FROM 790. If 680 did not have the backing of the Braves and ESPN, they would have been long gone by now. Kudos to them for getting the Thrashers, but there’s not enough hockey talk in a football town.
All in all, 790 has 680 beat hands-down in local talent. Add to the mix Tony Barnhart and Wes Durham with the College Football show on Thursday, and it’s a really good lineup. Heard a great interview with Houston Nutt today as Ole Miss prepares for the appeal to the NCAA about Masoli’s eligibility.
You can dislike Steak if you want, but to say the station and lineup is bad just because you don’t like one guy – as Michael Irvin would say, “Come on, man…”
Jason
September 6th, 2010
2:21 pm
Bring back Home Team! Get rid of Steak asap! Can’t stand that pompous a-hole! I love it when it’s just Chris and Nick. And yes I love the Stews but please get rid of Jazzy. I could do without Pollack and Bell’s act ran it’s course a long time ago.