WSB picks up Rush Limbaugh, moves Clark Howard to 8 p.m.
Rush Limbaugh jumps to 95.5FM and AM 750 News/Talk WSB starting at noon, October 1, 2012. CREDIT: AP
Rush Limbaugh, the most popular radio talk show host in America for more than two decades, is moving to AM 750 and 95.5FM News/Talk WSB.
Limbaugh will take WSB’s noon-to-3 p.m. weekday time slot starting Monday. Oct. 1.
“When you have the biggest talk personality on the biggest news/talk station in Atlanta, I expect the chemical reaction will be positive,” said Ben Reed, Atlanta market manager for Cox Media Group, which includes The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Our listeners will benefit from it.”
Limbaugh has been on news-talk 640/WGST-AM since the late 1980s and consistently has been the station’s biggest draw.
For WSB, Limbaugh’s arrival means several changes to its weekday lineup:
- Syndicated talk show host Neal Boortz, now based primarily out of Naples, Fla., will see his daily stint cut back an hour. He will be on the air from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Boortz is retiring in January and will be replaced by businessman and former presidential candidate Herman Cain, who had already planned to do three hours a day.
- Consumer advocate Clark Howard, who has been with WSB radio since 1991 and is now heard on more than 220 stations nationwide, is moving to the 8-10 p.m. slot from his current 1-3 p.m. time period. Howard — who recently began co-hosting an HLN TV news program from 5-7 p.m. weekdays called “Evening Express” — will still tape his Atlanta-based radio show from 1-3 p.m. because other markets will continue to run it live. He explains the changes on his popular website www.clarkhoward.com.
- Syndicated radio and Fox News host Sean Hannity’s program will air live from 3-5 p.m., but WSB will be adding a news program from 5-7 p.m. Erick Erickson, who runs the website RedState.com will be the show’s host/commentator. Hannity’s third hour, from 7-8 p.m., will be tape-delayed (Erickson has been hosting a talk show from 6-8 p.m.).
- Local talk show host Adam Goldfein gets pushed two hours later to 10 p.m. to midnight.
- Syndicated financial expert Dave Ramsey also gets moved two hours later and will start at midnight instead of 10 p.m.
WSB, which ranked ninth in Atlanta Arbitron ratings in August, has lost some steam since All News 106.7 (WYAY-FM) hit the airwaves in May.
“Summer is usually very tough for news talk stations,” Reed said, “so I don’t panic when I have a month that dips in the summer.”
WSB’s new 5-7 p.m. news program will try to counter that.
“Atlanta depends on WSB for news, weather and traffic information, and now WSB will provide even more,” Reed said.
Limbaugh has remained a durable powerhouse in radio despite controversies he has faced over the years. He is heard on more than 600 stations nationwide and draws more than 14.75 million listeners each week, according to Talkers magazine. Hannity is the nation’s second most popular radio host, with at least 14 million listeners a week.
WGST, which was a soft rock station in the early 1970s, went all news in 1977 and morphed into news/talk in the 1980s.
Howard, Boortz, Hannity and Ramsey were all personalities previously on WGST, which was competitive with WSB in ratings in the 1990s but now lags far behind. WGST ranked 21st in the August ratings.
Word is that WGST has laid off several people today in preparation for a likely format change. Right now, while Rusty Humphries is normally airing, WGST is running a Glenn Beck repeat. (He normally airs from 9 a.m. to noon.)
“I think I speak for a lot of people who used to work at GST to say that this is a very very sad day to see this happen,” said Mike Rose, who worked at the station from 1985 to 1998 in roles including producer and program director. “It was a great operation, a family-like atmosphere. It cultivated a lot of the great performers on radio today.”
The two likely formats available are syndicated comedy or Spanish sports talk, said Eric Seidel, who was station manager from GST from 1986 to 1997 and developed Howard and Hannity. “Hannity was a diamond in the rough when we found him and he got his radio legs with us,” Seidel said. And Howard was an accidental talk show host who started covering travel as a travel agent and adjusted into talk show work with Seidel’s help.
The station was ahead of its time when it was simulcast on FM from 1993 to 200 at 105.7 and its ratings were competitive with WSB for a time. Losing that simulcast hurt the station’s power, which slipped steadily throughout the 2000s as its core listeners moved further outside its AM grasp and outside the Perimeter.
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By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk
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305 comments Add your comment
Radio GaGa
September 26th, 2012
8:01 pm
Goodbye, WSB. Clark was your only show worth listening to. Limbag truly reeks. I’ll also move my news listening habits permanently to 106.7. As for WGST, it’s been dying for years.
Shannon
September 26th, 2012
8:04 pm
Its a shame that a City the size of Atlanta doesn’t have a non-bias local talk show during prime hours. I’ve listened to talk radio in Atlanta for over 20 years and it’s a shame to see what has happened. I’m not a right-winger, nor am I a liberal, I’m a truth seeker and I care about my city. It’s obvious to me that the leadership at WSB/Bain could care less…..and it will be their loss….
RIP: WGST — Peach Pundit
September 26th, 2012
8:06 pm
[...] been caused by Rush Limbaugh switching his show to WSB. The new all news 105.7 surely hurt as well. Rodney Ho has more on new lineup at WSB. Our buddy Erick Erickson will move to the 5-7 slot and do more of a [...]
Anne Cox Chambers
September 26th, 2012
8:11 pm
Who did they add to my station?
Colonel Klink
September 26th, 2012
8:16 pm
Hogan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Clark was screwed.
September 26th, 2012
8:17 pm
Where can we find a list of dials that Clark is on during the day?
Bill
September 26th, 2012
8:17 pm
Thank God I have Sirius XM and don’t have to listen to any of these nincompoops. Anybody that actually proud of having developed Sean Hannity deserves what they get…unemployed.
Dan
September 26th, 2012
8:30 pm
T and chrono
I pay attention to your fearless leader Rush and hear about gems like this
“Rush Limbaugh said Wednesday that voters should ignore “bogus” swing-state polls that show President Barack Obama pulling away from GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, blaming pollsters for “oversampling” Democrats and accusing them of “trying to get this election finished” before the debates by “suppressing your vote and depressing you.”
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/81711.html
I question why anyone regards this sort of propoganda as something worth programming for 8 hours straight each day if you also try to program morning drive time (and now afternoon drive time) with supposedly unbiased “news” programs while you play to only half of the potential listeners for the “news” programs from 8:30 to 5
There is a reason 106.7 sees an opening for news
Beano Cook
September 26th, 2012
8:31 pm
If WGST changes format I wonder what happens to Mark Levin. Lots of comments on the other programming on 640 but not “the great one.”
The Truth
September 26th, 2012
8:35 pm
Cant believe they are doing Clark like that. Only one worth a damn and you move him to bedtime. that’s crazy yo
Pennie
September 26th, 2012
8:37 pm
There is always 920. But I really wish someone would bring back ‘kimmer’
Cold Front
September 26th, 2012
8:40 pm
WSB’s ratings are suffering and they go out and get a once-popular, heading downhill, ex-drug addicted host?? One more reason to keep the new All-News station on the dial so I won’t have to be buried by the right-wing hate speech.
Double D
September 26th, 2012
8:44 pm
OMG my new baby 106 7 is now dead in the water
David Archimedes
September 26th, 2012
8:54 pm
My Mom worked for WSB in the 1960’s when the station stood firmly for good government and the Civil Rights Movement. For no other reason than they were right. She was very proud of it. No longer: The transformation is complete, WSB is officially a full time HATE Radio Station, engaging in Republican Propaganda:. Hate and Greed 24/7. Millions of dollars in Free airtime and poliitical contributions to the Republican and Tea Party. Smearing, slurring and slandering democrats, Democrats and the poor. Shame on what you have done to a once great radio station.
David
September 26th, 2012
8:58 pm
Hate radio station, a term used by libs who can’t defend their points of view and opinions against a person who has opposite views.
Rod
September 26th, 2012
8:59 pm
Nice adding some fat hot air to the line up. He is laughing and eating all the way to the bank. I love america where a fat a– , sexist, racist piece of trash can make millions.
jay
September 26th, 2012
9:01 pm
Way too much hateful, extremist, right wing talk radio down here. And way too many stupid people end up getting brainwashed to vote against their own economic interests. Newsflash: Limbaugh and Hannity don’t believe half the crap they talk about on the radio. They do it to drive ratings up.
It would really be nice to get some thoughtful, progressive talk radio down here. It’s disgraceful that right wing crap has a monopoly on the entire market, but I guess that happens when you have conservative companies like Cox and Clear Channel controlling the entire radio market. Disgusting.
Zantavious
September 26th, 2012
9:02 pm
“WGST ranked 21st in the August ratings.”
That is because their signal is weak and for years we’ve been unable to hear them out in the burbs after sundown. Memo to WGST management, unless the plan is to limit your listening audience to inner city Atlanta find a way to boost your nighttime signal and success will follow.
Stan
September 26th, 2012
9:12 pm
WSB [i]really[/i] doesn’t want me to listen to them, do they?
Gee
September 26th, 2012
9:13 pm
Please don’t call WSB-Radio a “news” station. Making up stuff in the Rush/Hannity mode does not count as news!
gnd
September 26th, 2012
9:15 pm
Question? Is this 1 OR 2 flips? Are the AM and FM stations going 2 continue to simulcast the same station, or are they going back to being 2separate station? If so, maybe oldies can return on the FM signal! Either way, this is stupid. Itend to lean mre to the right, but I can/t stand Rush. Sean and Neal are to preachy lately. Loved them when they were just local talk show people. It seems as if they are pushing the hometown boy(Clark Howard) out to the pasture. I would love to see the 7 pm shift go back to being a local broadcast that was entertaining and fun, but also did local issues. Remember Pete Davis years ago? Mark Arum would be perfect for this!
alpharettamom
September 26th, 2012
9:16 pm
Whose stupid idea was it to replace Clark Howard with Rush Limbaugh. Clark is the only reason that I still listen to WSB. Oh well, more time for NPR news and classical music.
Brewmaster
September 26th, 2012
9:22 pm
Hey Really, thank you for using the typical liberal tactic of demonizing the messenger. Rush suffered severe pain from losing his hearing and became addicted to the painkiller, like many other good people have. Have you ever actually listened to his show ? He speaks the truth and exposes all the liberal lies that are covered up by the blamestream media. You probably still believe that the murder of our ambassdor and 3 others was because of a YouTube video. You probably have never heard that Oblamer was not a “rock star” professor, as Time magazine put forth in 2008, but was actually an un-tenured, part time “lecturer” who received dismal reviews from his students.
SuzeC
September 26th, 2012
9:27 pm
This is unbelievable. WSB is no longer a “news” station, just a right-wing propaganda tool. I used to love to listen to Boortz, followed by Clark. But Boortz has become insufferable (all Obama-bashing, Naples-name-dropping all the time), and now Clark is relegated to nights and Goldfein (whose show is pretty good, actually) gets the bedtime slot. Did I already say “unbelievable”?
Time to get rid of the WSB presets – I’ll follow Jamie Dupree on Twitter, and watch Clark on HLN – and give myself satellite radio for Christmas.
What a shame for WSB, and for the ATL, after all these years. Oh, and RIP Royal T….
I can't believe Rush Limbaugh is still on the radio
September 26th, 2012
9:28 pm
@ alpharettamom- NPR and classical music, you are like my kind of gal!
@ Brewmaster- You are everything that is wrong with this country personified
rexob
September 26th, 2012
9:29 pm
Listened to Clark Howard regularly… and Boortz was tolerable when he wasn’t ranting about Obama… but now I am done with WSB. Bye bye.
I can't believe Rush Limbaugh is still on the radio
September 26th, 2012
9:29 pm
*you are my kind of gal!
I can't believe Rush Limbaugh is still on the radio
September 26th, 2012
9:31 pm
@ Jay- Preach!
SuzeC
September 26th, 2012
9:31 pm
Oh, and BTW, who the hell thinks that the 5-7 “news” hosted by Erick Erickson will be anything remotely resembling real news? Puhleeze….
dean
September 26th, 2012
9:32 pm
No offense to the other hosts at WSB, and sorry to disagree with so many of you other posters, but I’ve been quietly hoping to see Limbaugh on WSB for almost 20 years. Too bad following Boortz will be so short-lived.
Brewmaster
September 26th, 2012
9:34 pm
Surely I am not the lone conservative reading these libtard blogs right now.
Brewmaster
September 26th, 2012
9:36 pm
Birth control is just fine. Pay for it yourself, not with my taxes ! Take some resposibility for yourself !
JimD
September 26th, 2012
9:37 pm
This change IS NOT good. BOrtz 12-1 is the best hour. Need Jamie. SHoving Clark to evening IS a terrible idea. Guess I’ll b e listening to CD’s in the afternoon. Don’t want Rush.
Anonymous
September 26th, 2012
9:37 pm
Rush Limbaugh is a jerk, and so are his listeners. Could a guy be any meaner? Ultra-rich fool who stays locked up on the north end of his little island in Florida, broadcasting from a closet.
Come on
September 26th, 2012
9:39 pm
@ It’s been fun WSB- Well said!
Come on
September 26th, 2012
9:40 pm
@ Brewmaster- So you’re saying I should have been aborted?
Come on
September 26th, 2012
9:44 pm
@ Anonymous- It really is amazing (in a bad way) that anybody wants to listen to this guy
Brewmaster
September 26th, 2012
9:45 pm
Any of you liberals using your Solyndra-powered panels to plug your laptops or your wildly successful Chevy Volts into ? How’s the ” not so shovel-ready” stimulus working out for you ? Are you using your food stamps to buy free-range tofurky so you can conform to Michelle’s diet plan ?
Seriously?
September 26th, 2012
9:46 pm
Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus and Ann Coulter should hold hands and jump off a bridge. The world would be a much better place
Seriously?
September 26th, 2012
9:47 pm
Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus, Bill O’Reilly and Ann Coulter should all hold hands and jump off a bridge. The world would be a much better place
Talk Radio Fan
September 26th, 2012
9:49 pm
WSB picking up Rush is a great move. This about marketing and advertising sales..When you have the #1 and #2 talk shows in the country with over 28 million listeners, this is a no brainer. Cox still own the left wing AJC rag, so all this nonsense about Cox moving to the right is nonsense. This is pure economics. Management may disagree with Rush and Hannity on political views, but even WSB knows when you land the number one talk show, their ad rates just went to Pluto and they’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.
Come on
September 26th, 2012
9:50 pm
@ Brewmaster- “Free-range tofurkey”, dude I gotta hand it to you, that is funny…but you’re still a crazy moron
Come on
September 26th, 2012
9:54 pm
@ Talk Radio Fan- Valid point, this move is all about ratings. People who like Rush (mind boggling) and people who hate Rush will both tune in
OTP
September 26th, 2012
9:55 pm
What a MESS of a new schedule! Funny how liberal Cox, (and AJC), have such conservative programming. Clark Howard should take his money and run, (retire). I could barely tolerate Boortz-will never listen to Cain. Don’t like Eric Eric, either. Guess I will move up the dial to a real news station.
The only really good thing on WSB radio is Scott Slade, and his morning team, and Jamie Dupree.
salvatore
September 26th, 2012
10:22 pm
Jamie, Clark, Adam, and Mark Arum are the only people on WSB worth listening too. You don’t learn anything from right wing or left wing talk shows. They are simply entertainment for the people who can’t think for themselves.
Greedy Kilowatt
September 26th, 2012
10:23 pm
Deck chairs. Titanic.
jamie
September 26th, 2012
10:33 pm
Glenn Beck is moving to GKA? Well I guess that’s one way to get him off the air in Atlanta.
Ronald Reagan
September 26th, 2012
10:35 pm
There you go again Eric Seidel taking credit/blame for Hannity when you would have fired him in the first three months if Jacor had let you!
GoodTalk
September 26th, 2012
10:40 pm
Take a try at the Mo Ivory Show on News/Talk 1380 WAOK 10a-1p Monday-Friday. She’s smart and its great conversation!
ane
September 26th, 2012
10:41 pm
I’ll never hear clark howard again. I don’t listenb to radio at night. Even though I’m a political conservative, I couldn’t stand both Ha nnity and Limbaugh. I haven’t heard Linbaugh in years and I listen to Hannity in short bursts occasionally. Clark Howard was the only one I listened to regularl6y. I don’t watch HNL so I won’t see him there either. Adam Goldfine was interesting but haven’t heard him in weeks, not since he’s on nights. I don’t care for eric Ericson either. Boortz, I gonna miss you.