Letterman to be simulcast on radio in synergistic crossover
My favorite talk show host, David Letterman (who wins regular Emmy's but is always second in popularity according to the numbers -- what are people thinking?) is moving to radio according to this New York Times story (registration required):
In the latest example of a synergistic crossover of two units of the same company — in this case, the Infinity radio stations and the CBS television network of Viacom — Mr. Letterman's show will be simulcast in most of the nation's biggest cities, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. In New York, Mr. Letterman's show will play on WNEW-FM.
"Late Show" will become the second CBS broadcast to be simulcast on radio. For six years, a group of CBS stations has carried "60 Minutes" on radio on Sunday nights.
...Nor did the Letterman show demand a fee for the simulcast. Instead, the Infinity stations that carry the show have agreed to expand greatly the total of promotional announcements about Mr. Letterman's show they will broadcast every day. Mr. Letterman has complained about the dearth of promotion his show gets elsewhere in the Viacom empire, and CBS promised earlier this year to fix that situation as part of its deal to keep him from moving to ABC.
"We're in this for the promotion," said Mr. Burnett, who estimated the value of the promotion at several million dollars.
Infinity owns 183 stations and reaches more than 70 million listeners, with most of its stations concentrated in the largest cities. In New York, for example, Infinity has six stations.