The Grab Bag: Robert Murphy out at Rewind; “Buzz Out Loud” gets buzzed out
– Its over and out for Robert Murphy: Hubbard-owned WILV-FM (Rewind 100.3) has pulled the plug on his morning show after just seven months on the air. Murphy, who was a morning superstar at the former WKQX-FM back in the 1980’s, was unable to replicate his previous success. February’s Arbitron PPM numbers showed Murphy tied for 25th in the key adult 25-54 demo, down considerably from his September 2011 debut. On Monday, Rewind reverted back to its lineup before Murphy arrived, with Brian Peck returning to the morning shift from afternoons (and a return to a more music-intensive show), and Brian Middleton moving back to afternoons from evenings.
– Also on the outs is one of yours truly’s favorite podcasts: CBS-owned CNET has canceled Buzz Out Loud, the “podcast of indeterminate length” after seven years and a whopping 1,586 episodes. The move comes as CNET is scrapping its live daily internet programming and most audio podcasts and focusing more on video on demand. BOL was a daily strip until September 2011, when it joined CNET Live’s lineup and seen and heard only on Thursday (and needless to say, the audience pretty much rejected as BOL’s declining audience numbers attest.) Co-host Molly Wood (whose been with the show since its inception) is planning to host a new video series titled Always On. BOL’s final episode will air April 5.
T Dog Media’s lesson of the day: Never cut back something you give your audience on a daily basis. But judging by the content of the weekly BOL, maybe it should have ended sooner.
– Mad for Mad Men: AMC’s much-hyped return of Mad Men after a seventeen-month hiatus proved to be worth the wait: the fifth-season premiere Sunday night drew 3.5 million viewers, up 21 percent from the season four opener on July 25, 2010, with 1.6 million viewers in the adults 18-49 demo. While those numbers are good, it pales in comparison to The Walking Dead’s season finale the previous Sunday, which drew nine million viewers in the same time slot.
– Entertainment Studios has renewed We The People With Gloria Allred for not just one season, but two seasons (renew for one season, get another free!) Last week, We The People only earned a 0.4 household live plus rating. By comparison, CBS Television Distribution’s Judge Judy earned a 6.3 rating. But according to Entertainment Studios, ratings don’t really matter, right?
Since NBC is dropping the show from its owned stations this fall (including WMAQ-TV), look for We The People to surface on WCIU. Or not.
– Fox is marking its 25th year in primetime with a special bash airing on April 22 and is planning cast reunions for the special. Among those confirmed include those for Married… With Children and for The X-Files, with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson. The first primetime shows to air on Fox when the network launched on April 5, 1987 were Married… and The Tracey Ullman Show, with both running their premiere episodes three times each.
(This post was updated on 2012-03-30 at 7:30 am.)