http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/NEWSV5/storyV5medicol8o.htm
Finebaum show to expand to five hours beginning Aug. 16
There's plenty of radio- related news to report this week, not the least of which is the expansion of *Paul Finebaum's *radio show from four to five hours each day beginning Aug. 16.
The /Paul Finebaum Radio Network /began alerting its affiliates about mid-week that it would begin offering the extra hour at mid-month. It's up to each affiliate to decide whether to run the extra hour or not. The show will run from 2-7 p.m. daily.
Cumulus Operations Manager *Bill Jones*, reached in New York, said Saturday that he hasn't had a chance yet to look at the options available to WMSP-AM 740, the Montgomery Finebaum affiliate. The station currently carries one hour of /The Dan Patrick Show/ between Jim Rome and Finebaum (2-3 p.m.). The /Patrick/ show is provided by ESPN Radio.
"We have some contractual obligations with ESPN to consider," Jones said.
WTLS-AM 1300 in Tallassee also carries Finenbaum, and station owner/operator *Michael Butler* said late in the week he will carry all five hours of the show.
There are several reasons why the Finebaum show is adding a fifth hour. One primary reason is that its flagship station, WERC-AM 960 in Birmingham, has been operating with an awkward programming schedule for some time. It carries the /Rush Limbaugh Show,/ which airs normally from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Central time zone. Rather than insert one hour of another program between Limbaugh and Finebaum, WERC has been running Limbaugh on a one-hour delay each hour -- not an ideal situation considering the popularity of the Limbaugh program.
Starting Finebaum at 2 p.m. alleviates that programming headache. It also gives the Finebaum show some much-needed scheduling flexibility, according to the host.
"Starting at 3 o'clock, we never could get a football coach during the season, except for *Tommy Tuberville*," Finebaum said. "Most coaches start practice at 3 or 3:15.
"Likewise, people on the East Coast we might want to schedule as guests, it's 4 p.m. for them when we start, and by that time they're looking to catch the train home. And radio is just different now than it once was. The old 'drive-time' concept of 5-7 (p.m.) is over. The interstates are just as busy at 2 in the afternoon these days as they are at 5. We've found that there might actually be more listeners at 2 than at 6 (p.m.)."
Finebaum and his executive producer, *Pat Smith*, say they haven't yet developed a firm plan for the expanded show but they agree it will rarely be five live hours, unless a situation merits such attention. The best interviews from a particular show -- or even a previous show -- will be replayed, most likely in the final hour.
"One of the complaints we hear from people who listen to the final hour is that they never hear any of the guests," Finebaum said. "So it's very possible that we'll replay some interviews in that last hour.
"And when stations begin powering down in the winter at about 5 (p.m.), we'll at least have three good hours in before they lose some of their listeners."
Finebaum also confirmed that *Pat Dye* will rejoin his show for the football season, returning to his old 5:30 p.m. slot on Mondays. Finebaum added that he's in the process of securing former Georgia coach *Jim Donnan *as a regular guest this fall.
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