We have learned that beginning June 6th, Citadel Media's syndicated financial talk show "Moneytalk with Bob Brinker" will move to a Sunday-only schedule in the same time slot.
According to Bob Brinker's biography at Citadel
"Bob Brinker has nearly thirty years of investment management experience. He is the host of the weekend financial talk program MoneyTalk on the ABC Radio Networks. The program which celebrated its 24th anniversary on January 2010 is nationally broadcast live from 4 PM to 7 PM. Eastern time on Saturdays and Sundays. Bob answers investment questions from around the country and discusses current issues on the program."
I noticed something interesting about Bob's show today. Years ago he had 3-minute commercial clusters.
ReplyDeleteThen when he gained much fame for his January 2000 call, his commercials began to run 5 minutes. I presumed this was to pay his increased pay demands due to his ever growing popularity.
Today I noticed that the clusters have dropped to 4 minutes. I'm thinking that is due to his big drop in popularity when he failed to call the last bear market.
Bob seems to be making a round trip in popularity. If they drop back to 3 minutes, you can bet he'll be retiring soon.
NEWS BLOG (WSAU) Bob Brinker is to financial talk what Rush Limbaugh is to political talk. And there’s a change starting next month to Bob Brinker’s ‘Moneytalk’ program. After 25-years behind the microphone, Brinker is cutting back his broadcast schedule to once-a-week. Starting in June, Moneytalk will air Sundays only.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure what will happen to Moneytalk on WSAU’s schedule. During football season, a Sunday only show almost never airs because of Packers football conflicts.
We’ll decide in the next few days if some Moneytalk is better than none, or if we should add a new program to our lineup that would air both Saturday and Sundays where there are no sports conflicts.
Chris Conley
Operations Manager, Midwest Communications-Wausau
5.10.10
Well, radio is an interesting business. I originally thought his new replacement Linda was actually and attempt to bolster ratings and solicit feedback.
ReplyDeleteBrinker's format pretty much stinks. He gets good guest and is a good interviewer but when it is jsut Bob being Bob the show suffers because of the tight call screening.
I noticed many times how much better the callers are when Bob is not hosting. He really clamps down with the call screening and is not subtle when he cuts off a caller and talks over them.
I really think this is just a wind-down of an old horse that simply is too tired to come up with new tricks and shows no inclination to change what has essentially been the same format since the shows inception.
At one time Bob was relevant, his general advice to take charge of your investments and use no-load mutual funds, his comments about annuities and whole life were refreshing. The fundamental concept of critical mass was good and the message on target. But Brinker failed to change with the times. Market timing has been thoroughly discredited, managed mutual funds in general have been discredited and Brinker never really warmed up to ETFs nor the advantages that could be put into focus when using them over the traditional mutual fund market place.
I think Bob is simply too old, too out of touch and his disingenuous personality and lack of personal integrity has tainted the audience.
It is one thing to have a host who is arrogant and has talent (think Michael Savage) but with Brinker you simply get the arrogance and none of the talent.
The show is simply tired.
the fluffy bunny
WLS in Chicago wasted no time to get Larry Kudlow for the open 3 to 6PM slot on Saturday.
ReplyDeletestory
"Also new to the station’s lineup will be CNBC’s Lawrence Kudlow, who replaces Bob Brinker’s “Money Talk” from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturdays. (Brinker continues from 3 to 6 p.m. Sundays.) "
I always thought Larry was superior to Brinker with politics and Brinker was making a mistake to talk politics over investing...
Major affiliates like WLS, ABC and KGO carry a lot of weight... with so many dropping Brinker and Citadel throwing a bone to KGO by using their business reporter Lynn Jimenez as a substitute host, you could see the producers of Moneytalk were scrambling...
Kirk asked: "He may be scrambling to hold on to the three hours he has left. What do you think?"
ReplyDeleteHi Kirk,
Okay, you asked for opinion, so here is mine:
I think that Brinker is desperately hanging on to the three hours and will continue to do so for as long as ABC will have him.
I think he does it for his "young sprouts" (all of which are in their 30's and 40's). The head "young sprout" is his son, who used to be known as "Bob Brinker Jr" but has dropped the Jr, which makes him indistinguishable from his talk-show host father.
I think Brinker knows that the sales of Marketimer, as well as Jr's fixed income newsletter (which so far, all callers indicate they believe is Brinker's), largely depends on Brinker's Moneytalk publicity.
I think that it is very likely that Jr has already been writing Marketimer for 3 or 4 years.
Why you ask? Because of the way that the "editor" billing in Marketimer changed to a simple "Bob Brinker" in Colorado at about the same time that Jr dropped the Jr and started posting on his website and at Twitter as "Bob Brinker."
The market is changing/evolving. The option dollar transactions dwarf stocks. Brinker never mentions options. Even Schwab is now revamping their software to be more option friendly. We are also getting Kudlow. Time for Bob to exit the stage. This generation of investors has passed him by.
ReplyDeleteI won't miss the QQQ debacle, his other misses or the cavalier, just amazing way he could "dump" on some callers.
ReplyDeleteI will miss his good calls which in the main were profitable to me and his shouts of Shark Attack!
Maybe Brinker just wants to slow it down as he is winding down his career. I've noticed over the years how Brinker takes more and more weekends off. Perhaps he's just gotten a bit burned out being a radio host. I agree with Fluffy Bunny above when he/she/it pointed out that Brinker is very tight screening his calls. The show primarily consists of a bunch of Brinker groupies, who bow down before the master. The show would be so much more stimulating with more debate and diversity of opinion about issues, rather than the cult just asking Brinker for his expert opinion on all the issues. Like Brinker really is the end all expert on all these issues.
ReplyDeleteThe QQQ call in the fall of 1999 lost me a bundle of money which lost me as a Bob Brinker Market Timer subscriber. I still listen to Bob's Money Talk but only as entertainment
ReplyDeleteReplacing Bob Brinker with Larry Kudlow is tantamount to taking passengers from the Titanic and putting them on the Lusitania.
ReplyDeleteLK is a perrenial bull on everything. He liked the market at 14,100 at 6,500 and now. Instead of telling listeners two years ago that 12 million home mortgage holders should not have gotten the loan he instead lauded the fact that a greater percentage of Americans than ever can afford a home! My advice --- petition your station to carry an inane football game instead.
Katie bar the door: "they're spending like drunken sailors," so "they can go to Helsinki" on "the bridge to nowhere" -- "chapter and verse." Those quaint, predictable clichés that make Lawrence Welk reruns seem post-modern. If Brinker could have freshened things up with some spontaneity and lively debate with all good callers, instead of taking so many obviously pre-screened and set-up calls, and the inevitable standby: Carl from Chicago, he'd still be on the air all weekend. Oh, and the well-known droning agenda of his default and guru, Dr. Bill Wattenberg, of whom nearly everyone in the Bay Area gets more than enough on KGO and other local venues.
ReplyDeleteSure, Brinker decided to take some weekend ... what does he do Monday through Friday? Well, we know what he's not doing: thorough market due diligence or he'd have made more astute calls over the past several years. Mercy, this isn't short-term market timing, so what's the problem? Comatose at the rudder.
But you could feel this downsizing coming. Last summer, ABC flagship, and Brinker's original home station, WABC NY, cut Moneytalk and replaced him all weekend with paid programming and a realty show. That must have been a rude awakening for the puffed up captain of the Starship, who was stuck in his last good call of 2000. Then the cohost thing. Neal what's-her-name means turn the radio off. And Lynn Jimenez, rumor has it, was chosen by Citadel Broadcasting to attract local and Hispanic listeners to replace the multitude who jumped ship after Brinker's waffling, and disingenuous mea culpa in November '08, at the height of the market maelstrom that he couldn't see coming, though many others did, including the FT, from early '06. But the big harbinger was at the tail-end of last Saturday's show. Right after the closing credits ... for anyone who stuck around, there was an astonishing closing comment by Brinker, thanking KGO technicians and others (I quote loosely) for keeping Moneytalk on the air Sundays. Doesn't sound quite like Saturday Lost was his unassisted choice.
Spot-on comments above by fluffy bunny and Wolfman, and Anonymous re. the ubiquitous and useless Larry Kudlow. Targé (Target stores, cutely) to you too, LK.
Surely our broadcasting giants can do better by the long-suffering critcal mass public who might like to participate in the capital markets, than those tired retreads.
Well call me what you wish, but if theres such a thing as hot air, than look no further than Kudlow. Talk about a waste of your time. Ill do everyone a favor and save you the time listening by repeating his mantra which is regurgitated every called. Lets cut taxes at the corporate and individual levels now. The unions and not the corporate clowns are ruining this country. Now you can enjoy your day doing anything but listening to Larry the blowhard.
ReplyDeleteYes, Bob has had some miscalls, Ultra Tech Stepper and didn't forsee the latest bear market. Despite this, Bob was on the mark in the 90s and in his calls in both 2000 and 2003. I have the utmost respect for this guy. He deserves the best in his later years and will be difficult to replace. I am just happy that he is still on on Sundays. Bob will always be my favorite and his longivity is a rare thing in todays fast paced world.
ReplyDeleteI agree with others who say Kudlows views on the stock market are worthless. I put no faith in him or Brinker when it comes to their opinions on the market. I did however like the job Kodlow did hosting Moneytalk those few times he was on. He attracted knowledgably experts that he interviewed. I found his technique to be similar to the way Lou Rukeyser did his TV show. He even had some of the same people that Lou used to have on. Kudlow has more to offer than Lynn and Neale when it comes to attracting topnotch guests to interview. Remember he spent an entire program on CNBC interviewing Hank Paulson. Brinker lacked the clout to get the Paulson interview.
ReplyDeleteNot to "pile on" but Brinker's show has been non-relevant for a number of years now. It would be nice to say that he has earned our respect for years of good service.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that he has been an old, arrogant creep these last few years. His advice is 1990's, and his persona is unlikeable.
I'd give him maybe 6 more months.
(Kudlow is a total ass).
Count me in as one of the listeners who bailed from the 'Starship Moneytalk' after the 2000 QQQ debacle. I was a subscriber and a loyal weekend listener. listening on my old Walkman as not to miss a beat.
ReplyDeleteI remember my sinking feeling when I missed that first QQQ call back around '99 (I think...it was before easy email and Bob was parading around on a simple AOL forum), and then feeling really lucky when I received the 'special notification' via mail in October of '00, telling me that aggressive investors should take that cash that was in the money market account and put it into QQQ's at right around $80 for the counter trend rally.
And then the sinking feeling as those QQQ's started dropping, and my belief that Bob would surely let me and the other subscribers know if and when to sell, and then finally looking at the QQQ's in the low $20's and feeling really ripped off.
Let's just say it wasn't hard to let the subscription go and recoup my thousands of dollars of Q's, $250 yearly dollars at a time.
My favorite guest host was Terry Savage. She was on quite a few times until she interviewed James Dines. After that great interview, she was never asked back.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I can hardly listen to Bob anymore is because he takes credit for being a fiscal conservative but blasts those that attempt to make a difference in the financial world. He completely discredited the one candidate that made financial responsibility his platform. I continue to listen so I can hear his guests.
His topics of conversation are usually so common. I don't need to hear about a storm headed toward the Atlantic, the oil spill, etc. I can find more than enough info on CNN for those items. I listened to Money Talk for financial commentary only. I found his recommended reading list to be particularly useful. Has he dropped the price for Money Talk on Demand in half?
I also listened to Brinker on a regular basis for many years. I stopped listening and subscribing to his newsletter about 3 years ago since I tired of his nasty political comments. I listened to him for financial advice not politics. I think Ric Edelman has a much better show and find it of value.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the other people that, with Brinker he was good in the late 80s and 90s. I learned a lot about the world of investing and finance from his show to which I am grateful. He is in his late 60s time has passed him by and he is no longer prescient of value to listen to.
I, too, am wondering what is going to happen to the price of Money Talk on Demand. Half the content, half the price...Right? I see my VISA was billed the full amount in July. If it doesn't drop in August, I will drop the service.
ReplyDeleteI doubt if Bob has much say in the matter. I suspect the rates are totally controlled by ABC/Citadel, whoever.
I would still listen to the Brinker show for half the show time if I paid half the money! However, I am older and am tired of we old retired folks listening to those poor young people who are looseing their homes. In my youth I would not of thought of buying a home if I could not put 20% down! "So sorry you were misled by those greedy bankers!"
ReplyDeleteIt is horrible but I am much older and at one time Brinker gave good advice to we older folks that are trying to leave our children and grands a small portion of our hard earned rewords and sacrifices. Brinker please come back on for two hrs and advise we old folks where to invest! You are old enough to be in our position! Pat Ing \
I think Fluffy Bunny makes the point about Bob being too old, too behind the times etc. It proves that Fluffy Bunny really has learned the lessons that Bob has been trying to teach for 25 years. That's why it seems stale. He should be thanking him for all he has learned and that it is now boring. So many more people are listening each week that don't have the experience to manage their affairs that Bob has to repeat much of his advise. Many people see the stock market as a way to get rich quick or as too complicated to understand. Bob tries to level out these attitudes and protect us from our own flip tendencies. In the end his main lesson is don't rely on others for your financial advice. Get educated, make mistakes and learn from them. I have listened to him from Moscow, Bangkok, and Whitehorse and hope he continues for a long time. He has kept me from selling too soon and too often when I panic. I say keep it up.
ReplyDeleteJohn Lee said...
ReplyDeleteI think Fluffy Bunny makes the point about Bob being too old, too behind the times etc. It proves that Fluffy Bunny really has learned the lessons that Bob has been trying to teach for 25 years. That's why it seems stale. He should be thanking him for all he has learned and that it is now boring.
No, my point is he does not understand globalization as DEMONSTRATED by his constant references to the great future Binkey was going to have in IT. And guess what Binkey does now, he exploits the the financially challenged for their ignorance just like daddy.
More to the point he constantly harps on education without putting it in the context of the actual job market, political forces, and economic realities of a globalized world. In other words this dottering old fool does not have a bloody clue what he is yammering about. He sees the numbers but draws the wrong conclusion because he is living in another date and time.
As to the rest of your comments they seem more sage. Brinker's audience is clearly the financial neophytes. The problem is he is a charlatan hawking a theory that has thoroughly been discredited and has demonstrated no ability to do what he claims he can do. So he basically is shaking down the ignorant for their lunch money.
And if new people were tuning in, he would not be down to one day. Ever notice most callers have been subscribing to his newsletter and thanking him for all the years of great advice (which they then go on to bluntly state they ignored). That flies in the face of your new listener theory.
In the end his main lesson is don't rely on others for your financial advice. Get educated, make mistakes and learn from them.
Then why don't you take his advice? If you belief that is such good information then why do you need Da Brink to:
He has kept me from selling too soon and too often when I panic.
BTW, very nice writing, but you come across as shill pure and simple as demonstrated above.
tfb
Bob Brinker recently complained about Congress taking six weeks of vacation. Here is part of what he said:
ReplyDeleteSunday, August 29, 2010
August 29, 2010, Bob Brinker's Moneytalk:
.....The surveys show that the people do not believe that the president and members of Congress are working hard 24/7 on this economy. And I think the people are right in their analysis. It's in the polls. Less than 45% now trust Congress to do a good job on the economy. And only 41% approve of the president's performance with reference to the economy.....And right now, what are they doing? They're on a six-week summer vacation....When is the last time you had a six-week summer vacation (unless you are a teacher)?.........We are only about nine weeks away from a major election. Every member of the House and about 1/3 of the Senate and I expect that you will see at least some of the incumbents joining the ranks of the unemployed. And I'm sure some people would consider that to be appropriate."
Hey Bob, I know somebody who has an even better deal than that. It is the host of Moneytalk. The job only requires that you show up for work 1 day a week. The host has been off 5 out of the last 14 weeks. Here is the record,
June 6th: Bob Brinker
June 13th: Neale Godfrey
June 20th: Bob Brinker
June 27th: Bob Brinker
July 4th: Lynn Jimenez
July 11th: Bob Brinker
July 18th: Bob Brinker
July 25th: Lynn Jimenez
August 1st: Bob Brinker
August 8th: Bob Brinker
August 15th: Lynn Jimenez
August 22nd: Bob Brinker
August 29th: Bob Brinker
September 5th: Lynn Jimenez
BRINKER RETURNS
ReplyDelete"Money Talk" with Bob Brinker returns to KABC/790 AM Sunday (Oct. 10) as part of a post-Dodgers change in weekend programming. Brinker will be on 5 to 8 p.m. Sundays.
Bob,
ReplyDeleteI can't stand Lynn Jimenez.
Please chose a different host to fill in for you....there is no replacement for you. Now that you air only on Sundays I wish you would host more than you have been. I turn off your show when I hear that agravating Jimenez as she interrupts people if she doesn't like what they are saying.
Why is the price for Money Talk on Demand still $4.95 when it is only one show per week? Couldn't they at least have said something when they went from two to one per weekend and kept the same price? There wasn't a word to the customer. Does "Replay AV" make better sense to use instead?
ReplyDelete"Does "Replay AV" make better sense to use instead?"
ReplyDeleteI like "Replay AV" since it records Money Talk automatically each week for me on my hard drive. An added bonus feature is it will record copies of youtube and "naughty" videos on my hard drive too. I put a few of those videos on my smart phone.
Happy Replay AV user
Bob Brinker seems to focus primarily on fixed income investing these days, and complaining about the political - economic situation. For a Joe-average investor, who is mostly interested in the stock market, the MoneyTalk doesn't really hold my interest. I dropped my MarketTimer subscription after Bob completely missed the 2008 debacle, and just left us hanging, with no real advice, and only his explanation, "we didn't see this coming!" I was also screwed in the 2000 QQQQ fiasco, and feel like I gave him a second change. He won't get a third chance....
ReplyDeleteI lost respect for BB about 16 yr ago when
ReplyDeletehe got on his ....per BB: -we all like grid lock in Washington DC
Congress to stay in grid lock...what do we care.
Instead of end dead locked govt by selecting
a course for America....he bet on a screwed up
repub side and a carnivous democrat govt.
So..he essentially bet on kicking the can , thinking business would stay out the fray. It didn't take long for the cannibals to take over.
Instead the fanatical /cannabilistic limo left
has set a course to shred the constitution,
make success shameful/ but more importanly make
business govt partners { picking winners} & insiders a favored method of American business.
Result is a sideways drift in America...an acceptance of ridiculous left wing policy &
a disrepect for "chaining govt expansion"
the founders true gift to mankind.
You make a LOT of good points Charlie.
ReplyDeleteHow do I unsubscribe to monthly charge for access to Bob's podcasts? There's no email address, no phone number on his site. Help?
ReplyDeleteIt looks like they require you to have Flash enabled as once I turned that on I got a graphic that read "for help with billing issues, logging trouble or to change or retrieve user information call toll free 24/7: 888-596-9279
ReplyDelete