UTICA/ROME -- Townsquare Media's Newsradio 950 WIBX has moved Dr. Dean Edell from Sundays to Saturdays, replacing a late afternoon vacancy left by MoneyTalk. Last month, the latter's host, Bob Brinker, rumored to be in his late 60s, announced he would be scaling back his twice-a-weekend show to Sundays only.
Program Director Gene Conte tells CNYRadio.com the Saturday 4-7pm timeslot will now be filled by Dr. Dean Edell, another longtime fixture of the station's weekend lineup. That's likely welcome news for fans of the good doctor, seeing as how his show has recently been pre-empted most Sundays for WIBX's live coverage of NASCAR races. Edell's old timeslot was 1-4pm on Sundays, and most Sunday races this season start at 1pm, with a few starting at 3pm.
At this point, Conte says he hasn't chosen a replacement to fill Edell's old Sunday slot. But with most NASCAR races running anywhere from 3½ to 4 hours, we assume there's no rush to find a replacement since the replacement show would see very few chances to air until the racing season ends anyway.
The only other local affiliate of MoneyTalk is CNY Talk Radio (WFBL/WMCR-AM). According to their website, Brinker's Saturday timeslot has been replaced by The Larry Kudlow Show.
NEW YORK -- After 25 years of offering financial advice, syndicated MoneyTalk host Bob Brinker is ready to scale back his work schedule. Right now, the show airs on Saturdays and Sundays, but pretty soon, he'll be working on Sundays only. That leaves many affiliates -- including at least two in CNY -- with the challenge of finding new programming to fill the Saturday timeslot Brinker is vacating.
We first learned of the change via the Taylor on Radio-Info e-newsletter this morning and immediately contacted local program directors to inquire about their plans. Tom Taylor reports Brinker's new Sunday-only schedule is effective the weekend of June 5-6.
According to the MoneyTalk website, the show is carried locally in all four markets covered by CNYRadio.com. However, the listed Cortland affiliate, WKRT, ceased to exist in 2007 when it became an O&O of Bible Broadcasting Network, who changed the calls to WYBY. For Watertown, the show claims news/talker 790 WTNY as an affiliate, but there's no mention of MoneyTalk on the station's schedule. (The website also lists WQTK as a "Watertown" affiliate, but they're actually located in Ogdensburg, well beyond this website's geographical scope.)
That leaves two confirmed affiliates: Newsradio 950 WIBX in Utica and CNY Talk Radio (WFBL/Syracuse and WMCR-A/Oneida).
WIBX Program Director Gene Conte jokingly tells CNYRadio.com, "we've got top men on it... TOP MEN," borrowing a line from Family Guy (or Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark). He continues with a serious answer -- he says he's currently planning on "moving a current show to the slot, unless the wave of syndicators that are calling me give me another option."
We left a message with WFBL/WMCR-AM General Manager Judy Kelly this morning, but had not heard back by close of business today. As soon as we hear "definite" plans from Kelly or Conte, we'll post an update here at CNYRadio.com.
The last time they had a hole to fill, they used Phil Valentine to replace Larry King, I wouldn't be surprised if they did that again - it's an existing show they have rights to and there are hours of it they don't already air.
In the end, the syndicator hired someone else and The Larry Kudlow show appeared to fill the hole left by Brinker's cutting back, so the stations carrying the show didn't need to do anything if they so chose.