Shake-up at WRKO may be a signal that more changes are in the air
After a pair of high-profile departures and one big hire, WRKO-AM (680) seems to be gearing up for a ratings war. The announcement Monday that Brian Whittemore was returning to Boston to be operations director of the station followed news that program director Mike Elder was leaving to become director of talk programming at Fox News in New York City. That departure was announced after WRKO general manager Tom Baker was let go on Aug. 12, although Elder had given notice two weeks earlier, says Julie Kahn. Kahn, who is currently managing WRKO, is also market manager for Entercom's other Boston stations, WEEI-AM (850) and WAAF-FM (107.3), as well as WEEI-FM (103.7) in Providence.
This change, with Whittemore assuming Elder's duties yesterday, should complete the current transition, says Kahn. ''Eliminating Tom Baker was a mixed bag," says Kahn, who acknowledges that the move -- which consolidates all the market stations under her management -- would also provide ''a little cost savings."
''The station felt they needed a boost," she says. While WRKO's ratings have remained fairly stable over the last few years, the market's biggest talk station, WTKK-FM (96.9), has increased its audience substantially. ''Our plan with 'RKO is to inject some more swagger into the brand," says Kahn.
''I've been hired to make WRKO a lot more exciting and really light up the lights," Whittemore said on the phone Friday from outside Minneapolis. Whittemore is already quite familiar with Boston audiences. Most recently, he's been vice president and general manager of a 50,000-watt talk station in Minneapolis. But he cut his teeth as the morning news anchor for Jess Cain on the old WHDH (which became WEEI) in the 1980s.
Whittemore served as news director and then director of news and programming for WBZ-AM (1030) from 1990-1996. Under his leadership, the AM station turned from a full-service (music and news) outlet to talk and ultimately to news. ''Obviously 'BZ has been successful ever since," he said.
Whittemore is keeping mum on what changes may be in store for WRKO. ''This has all happened so quickly that I haven't had time to listen yet," he said. But he does have strong ideas about what makes talk radio work. ''No. 1, relevance. No. 2, the strength of the personalities, and No. 3, the delivery of the information."
The question of what stations, perhaps including WRKO, have been doing wrong is more difficult.
''It's not an easy answer," said Whittemore. ''It's all changed. There's so much information available [now] on so many venues . . . satellite radio and the Internet, and TV options that weren't there before.
''The real challenge is how to fit in with listeners. I truly believe that AM radio is unique: It's the only venue that offers instant local information and opinions. Local is the key," he says. ''You need to talk about your own market most of the time."
Spinning the dial
Last Friday's 18-hour WEEI/NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon raised $2.27 million for the fund, which supports the search for new cancer treatments and cures for adults and children at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. 