Radio station WTKK-FM’s switch from all-talk programming to an all-music format this week comes amid lackluster ratings and a failure to carve out a niche in the crowded Boston market, media analysts say.
The final talk show will air from 7 to 10 a.m. on Wednesday with the broadcast of “Jim & Margery” hosted by Jim Braude and Margery Eagan, according to a station source who requested anonymity because owner Greater Media Inc. has not made an official announcement.
Comments
This is sooooo sad! I loved listening to Margie and Jim in the morning. I always got a good laugh in the morning.
Laughing at or with them?
In the past year, Graham turned the drive time show into a frat-house...boys will be boys..enrovironment. It soured the whole day...poor producing...they guy should have been reigned in a bit to bring in a more diversified audience, rather than driving listeners away in droves. Very sad....the station had so much promise..we don't need more mediocre music stations in boston...most people I know are moving to sirius radio for their music.
I have a feeling (hope?) they will find a new home on the AM dial!
Jim and Marge will be doing morning drive on RKO or GBH very soon.
The afternoon show was suck a right wing cliche I almost vomited the few times I listened to it. All Lindsay of misinformation and bizarre arguments neither racial overtones. Obviously with the poor ratings many others noticed too. Good riddance!!
I've listened to WTKK since 1999, when Jay Serevin started his show. Too bad they are going to music format! Or is it floormat?
Unless they were willing to work of free - why would RKO put them on? E & B probably had the strongest ratings of the group of WTKK personalities and it was an example of good counter programming; if you had no interest in sports talk or right wing ranting - they offered an alternative for listeners. Granted, RKO line up beyond Howie is weak but E & B would muddy the conservative brand of the station - actually, Graham would be more in line with the current brand of yak if you were looking to land some talent from TKK. Further - take a look at the career grave yard that RKO morning drive has become. Finneran never really fit in and he had a short and unhappy period at 680. Feinberg and McPhee had a very short run and if you fire Kuhner after only four months - then you have to ask is it the talent or the management? Wicked Witch of the Kahn and the Big - Bad Wolfe can't hire and fire fast enough - would E & B really want to be " next! " ?
My thought is that the reason that the morning drive conservatives on RKO aren't successful is that the audience of grumpy old men conservatives are tuning into EEI to get their politics and sports from Callahan and Dennis. The more liberal slant of Marge and Jim has a better chance of success.
I really liked Feinberg, but not with McPhee. Not saying I don't like Michelle McPhee, I think she's great on her own, I just don't think they worked togeter.
No tears here for the departure of Braude, an offensive and pompous progressive.
You are so right. He raises arrogance to a new high.
Really? I found him wonderfully self-deprecating. He took his lumps for being a Cambridge liberal with great humor.
This is too bad. Who needs another music stattion? Jim and Margery are great. So is Michael Graham.
Well, after nearly a week being out, the word is finally coming from the Boston Globe about WTKK's sad and disappointing departure from talk radio. I still consider the Boston Globe the premier newspaper of New England and had thought WTKK was the premier talk station for about five years; with Jay Severin as the number one talkmaster who even beat out the long running David Brudnoy at WBZ. But Severin had made so many repulsive/offensive statements that he drove himself out of a job and it was the beginning of the end for WTKK. Don Imus also made a fool out of himself and was just hard to listen to until they pulled the plug on Imus. Jim and Margery in the morning show might be boring but they are far better than the extra boring Doug Meehan and Michael Smerconish.
The only true talkmaster left standing was Michael Graham and he clearly should be doing mornings. Both Jim and Margery have some talk radio left in them but not with each other. I am going to try WRKO but am not looking forward to it.
Who will Deval find to pat him on the back once a month?
I'd love to see Graham in the morning slot on RKO. Todd Feinberg was okay in that slot but I just can't warm up to Kuhner. I won't miss the oozing smugness blathering forth from Jim Braude!
I'm truly going to miss Eagan & Braude. They did not conduct a "my way or the highway" attitude with callers who had a different viewpoint. Nor did they ridicule them after the callers were off the air. When that happened on WTKK's other shows, I clicked it off or changed the station, often after one call. Rudeness and incivility are not good calling cards. Jim and Margery both, at times, criticized and complimented public people whether agreeing or disagreeing with their stances on issues. And in a civil manner. Jim Braude could be pompous, OK, is pompous, but that's Braude being Braide. Even liberal or progressives knew that. Margery was too often so unprepared that it lost it cuteness and approached a certain level of being unprofessional. But she had a point of view on the more important issues being discussed and played well against Jim. They were the most humorous radio talk show co-hosts in my opinion. They do have a chemistry between them. Thank you, Jim and Margery, for many years of entertainment in the AM on the FM, 96.9. Bon chance!
Jim and Margery had a wonderful mix of light banter on light topics coupled with substantive discussions of issues that truly mattered. Hope others' comments that they'll find another home soon are correct. Thanks Margery and Jim for making the morning ride more enjoyable and interesting.
Thank goodness Michael Graham will finally be absent from the dial here in Boston. His racist and misogynist views will not be missed. Michael please pack your bag of tricks into your sad suitcase and point your vehicle in the direction of Florida, or Texas, or South Carolina and keep driving.
Too bad, I enjoyed both the Jim & Margery show in the morning and the Michael Graham show on the drive home.
I think WBUR's high standards and impressive ratings are giving the Boston radio market headaches. WGBH's copy-cat, parallel programming of WBUR's offerings hasn't worked. Listeners were and still are angered about paying for duplication. Many refuse to donate to WGBH radio. There's always room for other formats; the problem is how to sort them out and where to go with a diverse listening audience. I think a commercial rage-radio audience is limited in the Boston market and is already captured by Howie Carr.
Boring and lame, both of them. Braude acted like a snake oil saleman with the TH-121 ads. I'd rather listen to snoring.
One more point- When these two Bozos were on the air, I was happy someone stole my car radio last month. Thank-you whoever you were but can you please return the Nano.
Jim Braude being shown the door. At last.
A more pompous, rude, self-centered human being couldn't be imagined, let alone found.
Perhaps he can go to Current TV, the new Al-Jazeera purchase from Ali Gore.