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CSFMB gets a message in Ted Cox's column today.
WMVP pulls even and makes move to improve
By Ted Cox
TV/Radio critic
Posted Friday, May 04, 2007
Monday was a very good day for all-sports WMVP 1000-AM — in part due to its own actions, in part due to news from outside the station.
On the one hand, it finally pulled the plug on Sean Salisbury and Steve Rosenbloom. They were gone, replaced from 9 a.m.-noon by Tom Waddle and Marc Silverman. Instantly, the station sounded better.
On the other hand, it found itself tied with all-sports WSCR 670-AM in the winter Arbitron ratings. It came with the stations on even footing without the Score running play-by-play — unless you count the Blackhawks as a handicap, a not unjustified position.
“If you look at the numbers, this is the first time there was really no play-by-play at either station,” said WMVP program director Justin Craig. “For the most part, this is straight personality.”
WMVP didn’t catch the Score so much as the Score suffered more from post-Bears depression. The Score dipped from a 2.0 percent share of the overall audience 12 and older to the same 1.5 share WMVP had in the fall and held over the winter.
“What I like is we didn’t take the bigger fall that everybody else seemed to,” Craig said.
Both stations were up from a year ago overall and in their target demographic of men age 25-54. “The station is very healthy,” said Score program director Mitch Rosen. But there’s no denying that, if they tied overall, WMVP had the far prettier sister, especially as it led 3.7-3.2 in the target demo.
The Score figures to get a bump from the Sox in the spring book, which made it time at WMVP to end the experiment in listener endurance that was Salisbury & Rosenbloom. They had a year to win over listeners, and they finished 14th in the demo with a 3.0 share. The Score did a 3.3 in the same time slot.
The fear among listeners — and a common refrain on the Chicago Sports Fan Message Board — was ESPN had too much invested in Salisbury to move him out of Chicago, no matter the results. Craig, who came to Chicago from ESPN Radio in Bristol, Conn., figured to be a company man.
Craig nixed that thinking with Monday’s move. “They’re very supportive and they offer us a lot of resources,” he said of the ESPN Mothership, “but they’re not telling us, ‘You must keep him on.’æ”
Craig attributed much of the move to Salisbury’s need to spend time with his ailing father.
“My priority is always family first,” Craig said. “If you’re happy with your family or you’ve got good things going on with your family, you’re going to perform better. So it just made sense.
“They had a year,” he said, “and it was time for him.” Salisbury will contribute to WMVP’s Bears coverage this fall.
Craig also made it clear he likes a “comfortable listen,” something Dan McNeil’s afternoon show and the syndicated Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic in the morning both have.
Mac, John Jurkovic and Harry Teinowitz returned to No. 1 in the men 25-54 demo with a 4.8 share, topping the Score’s Dan Bernstein and Terry Boers’ 3.7. Mike & Mike did a 4.6 to Mike North’s 3.4. Add to that Waddle & Silvy are already more comfortable for listeners than Salisbury & Rosenbloom ever were.
“Tom Waddle and Silvy have really gelled,” Craig said. “I was brought in to deepen the bench, and it’s about finding the next one, finding the stars. I think Tom is a star.
“He’s just so likable,” he said, “and he knows his sports, and he’s so well-respected.” As for Silvy, “He’s the driver,” the radio pro who must push things along when needed.
If that positions WMVP for better things, Rosen took it philosophically at the Score, saying, “It’s a compliment that they’ve changed their midday show three times” in the last year and a half.
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