The following review of the Elliott In The Morning Show on WOR 710 AM is written by an on-air professional broadcaster. He has been a long time observer of the NYC market going back to the 60s. (Full Disclosure: the author has never been employed by Clear Channel.)
EITM STARTS ON WOR 710 AM: Click Here For Original Post.
"Elliot in the Morning" debuted today on WOR. Possibly the worst choice for a morning program on an established AM station that has been doing conservative talk for quite some time. The show is simulcast on WWDC-FM in Washington, an active rocker and a rock station out of Richmond. I set my alarm to 5:30 to hear the first show. Being on a New York station, AM or FM is a big deal. I thought they would play that up. Only reference to New York was a reference to Times Square.
Out of the gate at 5:45 the conversation with his co hosts, who weren't even introduced to a new audience,was a conversation about last night's Golden Globes. Timely, yes, but the whole bit and all the segments afterwards sounded very young skewing. Elliot says "hey dude", "hey man" and the whole show sounds like a "morning zoo" that's about as far from John Gambling as you can get.
Newsman Joe Bartlett, who was such an integral part of Gambling's show, sounds out of place on the show. He does a 45 minute news block from 5 to 5:45 and the show that follows it sounds like a totally different radio station. WOR and Clear Channel wanted something totally different from Gambling.
They have achieved it.
Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Dave Ramsey follow Elliot. Hardly compatible.
This show sounds like it is aiming 18-34. Problem is nobody in that age group even listens to AM radio, and Elliot's show is similar to his former partner, Elvis Duran,who airs on WHTZ(Z100) and IS compatible with the programming on that station. DC101 will follow Elliot's program with hard edged rock.
WOR will follow with conservative talk, even though Mark Simone,who works 10 to 12 preceding Rush and Sean will fit a little more into the demo.
WOR has retained Joan Hamburg for two weekend shifts. She has been at WOR for over forty years and sounds like the old WOR. She is 78 and does cooking and health segments in her show. This is the ultimate contrast on the same station. Elliot Seigal and Joan Hamburg. Another example is on the 96.3 frequency in New York on the day they switched from Classical music to uptempo Spanish music when WXNY took over the frequency.
However, that was a one time thing. Elliot in the Morning into the rest of the WOR schedule will be on a daily basis. I understand Clear Channel wanting to use one of their own talents on WOR. A better choice would have been Jim Kerr on WAXQ, but he is doing well over there.
Listening to this mornings show, I tuned out by 8AM, all the callers were from DC and Virginia. Not one mention of being on WOR. He was giving away tickets in that first break to a rock band I never heard of, probably most of WOR's audience never heard of either, and after long stop sets they resumed the program a few seconds after the break started.
I give the program three months. If there ever was a train wreck, this is it.
Rick Kaplan
I could not agree more. EITM was a mess and the "Jesus Christ" and "Holy Crap" catch phrases were out of place.
ReplyDeleteHello.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard for me to write this as I feel "ecoeuree" which is stomach sick in French.
Elliot is classless, loud and vulgar.
Withing in a 45 minute period, I heard God d. three times.
Tell me, would the owner of Clear Channel permit his children and co-workers to speak like this.
I realized today that once John Gambling left, everything good about WOR (with the exception of Joe Bartlett and Joan Hamburg) is now very, very much in the past.
WOR has gone from silk to polyester...foie gras to hot dogs...champagne to sangria.
It's so sad.
...And what' is more sad is that, as evidenced by their choice of the new morning talk show host, the higher ups in Clear Channel think that they have made a "clear", good choice.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
I miss David Patterson...he was so articulate, bright...and worth listening to instead of this new am drivel.
I am also upset that they cut Joe Bartlett's hours on Saturday am.
Life changes...but not always for the good.
Beatrice in CT
I agree. Elliot's show is awful. I turned it off after ten minutes. How many times in ten minutes can a man say vagina. I have kids in my house getting ready for school. Not interested in them listening to Elliot's crass garbage. Always listened to WOR in the morning to get the NY news, traffic, and weather. And I was assured it was family friendly. Won't do that anymore. Listening now to NPR in the morning. Really miss getting the local NY information, though. What a shame.
ReplyDeleteI feel really let down. How could they replace John Gambling with this? I miss John, Joe and JJ. Love Joan Hamburg too. I tuned in to Elliot and tuned right back out again. Gov. Patterson might have been a good choice or Ron Kuby. I would rather spend my one hour commute in silence than listen to Elliot. I like to think of myself as someone with a great sense of humor but his style of humor is unsophisticated and juvenile. Count me out WOR!
ReplyDeleteClear Channel must be out of their minds...EITM is a classless, moronic show..The host can't put two sentences together without a GD or a Dude..Please, can we get someone with at least half a brain?
ReplyDeleteI listen to Simone and the rest of the day any other station..If I had wanted Limbaugh and Hannity I would have listened where they were.
Please Clear Channel undo this mess...NYC had a class act in the Gamblings...The least you can do is find someone remotely close and not an idiot whose only ambition seems to be to remain 19 and work at the zoo..Classless, messy, dumb, idiotic and those are the good things.
POOR CHOICE-ELLIOT IN THE MORNING!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? REPLACING JOHN GAMBLING WITH THAT CLOWN AND CIRCUS SHOW? YOU DON'T KNOW THE NEW YORK AUDIENCEI I SWICHED TO IMUS, BET HIS RATINGS HAVE GONE UP -NOT MY FAVORITE , BUT 1OO% BETTER THAN ELLIOT!!!!! AND FORGET RON KUBY NO CLASS.
ReplyDeleteAgree with the above. Have been listening to WOR in the morning for years for news commentary, political updates, traffic and weather, etc. And I have purchased many products from their advertisers as a result. I'm not sure what Clear Channel is looking to accomplish with this choice for this prime slot -- it makes no sense to me. I have to wonder what their advertisers think. I now listen to Joe Bartlett, then watch some TV news and then tune in to NPR (93.9FM).
ReplyDeleteClear Channel took a page out of the New Coke book of marketing. Change what works to something your audience hates. Coke had the sense to switch back fast at least.
ReplyDeleteAgree with the analysis. I sent this to WOR after the first time I listened.
ReplyDeleteI've listened to John G. on WOR for a most of my life. It was a part of waking up in the morning schedule.
His replacement "Elliot In the Morning" has a voice of a teenager going through puberty … high pitched and annoying and uses phrases of a 1960s throwback.
"Hey Dude” is his way of greeting and addressing callers. Also "Bro"… and I've lost track of the number of times he used "Awesome" in the short time I listened to him.
Oh, he likes to SHOUT his comments! That really important to do if you want to make or prove your point.
"Right On!" is followed by "Awesome" and "Pisses me off", "Dammit", "Totally Believe", "Total Dick Move" ... that was only in the last minute as I typed this.
I can respect the fact that WOR wants younger Demographics, but is there that big a market for Pre-teens, Retards, and Sixties throwbacks who still use Dude?
"And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem WOR to be born?
ITS ELLIOT IN THE MORNING ... DUDE!
Well thank god HE's GONE!!! hopefully for good!
ReplyDeleteJohn Gambling's show was a class act show,
Elliott in the morning - real trash!
His vulgar language, constant shouting and cackling - actually I am surprised the FCC even allows him to continue broadcasting on the air. So either Wor came to their senses or they ran out of money paying FCC fines......either way I'm glad he's gone! Now I'll return to listening
rick kaplan predicted 3 months. he was off by one. he knows his stuff. too bad management didn't.
ReplyDeletebut now what.
simone would be good but he does not like early mornings.
doesn't john gambling have a few sons?
Just turned on WOR by chance because I stopped listening weeks ago.Nice surprise hearing EITM gone. Who cared about Richmond?
ReplyDeleteWhomever is responsible for hiring that total jackass Elliot should be fired. Bad judgement of that magnitude should not be tolerated.
ReplyDeleteHE WAS ON WITH THE DEMOGRAPHICS. HE APPEALS TO A YOUNGER CROWD, WHEN IT IS OBVIOUS FROM THE COMMENTS AND THE STATIONS PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE THAT THE DEMOGRAPHICS OF WOR IS OF OLDER, PRUDISH, HUMORLESS, REPUBLICAN MORONS WHO LISTEN TO A STATION THAT PROVIDES OVER 20 MINUTES OF COMMERCIALS EVERY HOUR SINCE THEIR LISTENERS ATTENTION SPAN IS LIMITED TO SHORT BURTS.
ReplyDeleteElliot's fan has spoken.
ReplyDeleteWhat an incredible Legacy AM station WOR was...So much ad money prior to the early 2000s they had an incredible LOCAL lineup....
ReplyDeleteBought at a firesale by clearchannel (junkchannel) they completely destroyed what was left (fired John, Joan and nutty Dr Joy)...Now WOR is much worse than the junk 1050AM talk channel WEVD was about 12 years ago before it was bought by ESPN and turned into sports crap...