UTICA-ROME -- Frank McBride's "Big Show," last heard a few years ago on the former Rock 107 (WRCK) will be returning to the air next week.
The Utica Observer-Dispatch reports McBride's show will air weeknights from 6-10pm on Arjuna Broadcasting's 92.7 The Drive (WXUR).
That's the timeslot immediately following Bill Keeler's afternoon drive show. And it won't be the first time McBride follows Keeler -- when Keeler and WRCK parted ways in December 2002, then-sidekick McBride was thrown into the morning host's chair.
The newspaper says McBride will also serve as a "media consultant" to the station. The article did not elaborate on exactly what that means... but perhaps it might be a sign we'll see some progress with the station's website. The same "Coming Soon" splash screen we first told you about 11 months ago is still there.
In all do respect, I am not sure what the hoopla, if any will come of Frank McBride being on the Drive 92.7. First of all, it's one of the weakest radio listener parts of the day, especially in the Utica market, and his show never set the world on fire when he was at WRCK.
The Media Consultant part of the story is somewhat amusing. If you look at Mr. McBride's history and credentials, most of his career has been at auto dealerships in the position of auto salesperson. Not sure where the media marketing experience or marketing/consulting degree comes into play to help the Drive become a contender. Seems like every person that has been a DJ, or salesperson for one particular media becomes a consultant, expert or ad agency when they quit a particular media or get terminated.
To date, the Drive has been a non factor in the Utica market, even with Keeler on in the afternoon. The last winter ratings book showed the Drive barely on life support. If anyone can help the station out, it would be Bill Keeler. He is very talented and has a smart sense of the business, but until ownership listens to people who know what they're talking about such as Keeler, they will never succeed, even when they increase their power to 25,000 watts in the very near future. Keeler should be on in the morning and not Imus who only draws older men, and not even many of them.
No offense to Mr. Keeler, I can't say we ever had the pleasure to meet, but if he is so great and such a good business person than why has he bounced all his life? Why doesn't he manage a radio station or program a station? We sometimes give people much more credit than they deserve. McBride was not so good at RCK, the numbers showed us all that for years so why does it make any difference now. What is his credentials? where has he been? and has it been in the radio industry for the past few years?
I think what you're referring to is how Ed Levine fired Keeler twice - he had to buy WRCK to do it the second time. I'm sure he didn't specifically buy WRCK to do that but I'm also sure from day one he was looking for a reason to can Keeler yet again. From what I was able to gather asking around, the two just don't work well together, sort of a clash of personalities type of thing. Which one is the jerk is more or less open to interpetation.
Personally I don't care for Levine, between the whole Keeler deal and the way he dumped WSCP, and then MRN radio, and the fact that it seems like when I do turn on WTKW they're always playing the same 100 or so songs over and over (The Who did record more than just Pinball Wizard) even though they should have a huge library to play from - even if you restrict it to just the top 100 rock singles from like 1967 to 1997. It just seems like everything Levine touches turns to turd, particularly if it's something I actually want to listen to. But that's just my opinion.
I am glad Frank is back. I loved listing to Frank when he was on rock107. I ( and many of my friends) thought he was very entertaining. I'll be listening