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Drew hayes out from KABC.
- Thread starter 34james
- Start date
AllAccess reported that eighteen days ago.
You think it's possible to take that signal in modern-day Los Angeles and make it a "powerhouse"?
Define "powerhouse".
Hard to become a powerhouse when you have a station that is required by law to operate with limited power.
The truth is they've had a series of extremely experienced programmers at the station for years. The problem isn't getting the right programmer. When are these media writers going to wake up and realize that it's not the 1960s anymore, and the real problem is how to pay for local programming.
Nobody can make KABC a "powerhouse".
An "outhouse" maybe.
Keyword "out".
Terrible limited coverage signal that mostly reaches ethnic and immigrant neighborhoods that do not listen to any kind of English talk radio. And a stand alone AM that is not part of a cluster has a big disadvantage.
I can think of a number of talk programmers who have been successful in LA, and none of us could make KABC competitive, let alone "powerful". In this case, "powerful" is the stench from the aforementioned outhouse....
Well, if Southern California Edison bulldozed it and installed some transformers and lines...
I was thinking about something more spectacular, like a true Sendero Luminoso production or at least something engineered by the chemists in the Mara Salvatrucha (coming to a border near you soon!) style.
What is keeping Kabc from becoming the next kgo?
In San Francisco, Cumulus owns another AM: KSFO, where it clears all of its talk shows. In LA, all they have is KABC.
They own 3 AMs and 2 FMs in San Francisco.
Don't they own *4* AM's there, if you add 1050 KTCT?
It used to be 4 and 3, but they sold KFFG Los Altos (the South Bay repeater for KFOG) to EMF a few years back after they killed KFOG and replaced it with a simulcast of KNBR.
As mentioned by Mr. Hagerty, the news was also posted on this very message board on 6/12/2023:
California’s not a sports betting state, correct? At least KGO has a big enough signal that it justified having those networks buying airtime on the station anyway.
And they still discuss sports in general, not just betting.
And if you look at those 4+2 signals Cumulus owns in the SFBA market, four of them are airing some version of sports: KNBR (680/104.5) does traditional sports talk (read as "Guy Talk") + Giants PBP + 49ers PBP, KTCT (1050) carries overflow PBP games as well as an alternate sports talk lineup + CBS Sports Radio in off hours, and KGO (810) with the betting dreck + CBS Sports Radio + Cal Bears football & basketball + other overflow PBP. (All of which is a big reason why Audacy's KGMZ has had such a difficult time getting traction, even after a decade at it.) Only KSFO (560) and KSAN (107.7) are doing something else: KSFO all the syndicated right-wing, old guy blather, and KSAN with classic rock. SIx signals, only one airs music of any kind. They are effectively cannibalizing themselves.
Not really. The money from KNBR subsidizes the entire cluster. Sports is the driving force, and there are many ways to approach it.
The big issue is signal. KNBR needs three signals to cover the market.
By “covering the market” I assume you’re talking about reaching demos that aren’t going to listen to Ancient Modulation in their lifetime, because doesn’t 6~Eighty have one of the best AM signals in the market, if not the best?
California is not a sports betting state, with the dueling propositions to allow it going down in defeat last November due to general public fatigue with the constant advertising and confusion between what each of the propositions would allow and for whom it would allow it. (Having the kidney-dialysis proposition on the ballot again probably didn't help.) When Cumulus decided to switch KGO to the sports-betting format, which occurred before the November election, the company should have been aware that neither proposition was polling well. Whether the company was that aware is open to question; or possibly they're betting on a future proposition, assuming that betting proponents will, at some point, reach some kind of agreement and put forth a single proposition for voters to decide on.
The market extends from Santa Rosa to beyond Gilroy to the South. And the AM needs FM to enhance its usage among the demos who would never "tune in" an AM station.
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