Debra Mark hinted on Monday's John Koblyt Show that KFI was embarking on a change in the hourly news format incorporating FOX News.
We'll see what comes off that, I guess...
We'll see what comes off that, I guess...
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KFI News Format Change?
- Thread starter sdwulfdawg
- Start date
The Fox News national radio product is pretty solid and I also think pretty fair, but in market two that sure seems like a huge downgrade compared to what Chris Little and others built at KFI, which was absolute top shelf for years!
A few months ago, quite a few KFI local newspeople were terminated. But as you listen, I don't think most people would be aware anything has changed much. KFI still does news every 15 minutes and an hour at 5 a.m. on weekdays. I suppose they have fewer people on the street coving stories. They rely on the Total Traffic news staff for some of that reporting.
I rarely hear any material supplied by Fox News Radio. In fact, I think KFI also uses ABC News Radio stories and sometimes has an ABC reporter on live during the 5 a.m. hour. Perhaps the news staff will incorporate more voicers from Fox News Radio into their newscasts. But will KFI start using the actual Fox News at the top of the hour, maybe overnight?
I rarely hear any material supplied by Fox News Radio. In fact, I think KFI also uses ABC News Radio stories and sometimes has an ABC reporter on live during the 5 a.m. hour. Perhaps the news staff will incorporate more voicers from Fox News Radio into their newscasts. But will KFI start using the actual Fox News at the top of the hour, maybe overnight?
I'm 40. The "Fox News Channel" brand is tOxiC 
I worked in news long enough to know that the FNC radio news team are actually quite good and very separated from the talk show teams. And have been OK with what I've been forced to hear when I'm stuck riding with a colleague running syndicated Hannity, etc.
But on KFI? After all the work they've done to build bridges with "younger" (if I'm young) demos since 2010 when they dumped Limbaugh? Robin, et. al worked very hard to win the trust of people like me. That it was a talk radio that was free from the partisan garbage pipe that poisoned my childhood. So, I've loyally listened since 2015.
The minute I hear that stupid FNC stinger, I'm out for good. KNX here I come. Thank god for podcasts.
I worked in news long enough to know that the FNC radio news team are actually quite good and very separated from the talk show teams. And have been OK with what I've been forced to hear when I'm stuck riding with a colleague running syndicated Hannity, etc.
But on KFI? After all the work they've done to build bridges with "younger" (if I'm young) demos since 2010 when they dumped Limbaugh? Robin, et. al worked very hard to win the trust of people like me. That it was a talk radio that was free from the partisan garbage pipe that poisoned my childhood. So, I've loyally listened since 2015.
The minute I hear that stupid FNC stinger, I'm out for good. KNX here I come. Thank god for podcasts.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but I think that several years ago when KABC 790 dropped it's ABC News affiliation, KFI picked it up but never actually ran ABC News on the hour. Now If they have a choice between Fox and ABC, I would think that it's obvious that ABC would have a much broader appeal. Fox is a turnoff/tune out for many!
ABC is just as much of a turnoff for many others.
This is a quick AI search for informative purposes, I do not vouch for accuracy:
In primetime, Fox News Channel generally outperforms ABC in terms of average viewership. For example, in the first quarter of 2025, Fox News averaged 3.6 million viewers during weekday primetime, exceeding ABC's 3.1 million. Fox News also secured its highest quarter cable news share ever, with 65% of the audience in total day and 66% in primetime.
Two different things. You're comparing a cable news channel to a broadcast network.
What we see is that people who like conservative talk don't want to hear news from any other source. They have bought the branding.
KFI is owned by iHeart, and iHeart distributes the Fox News radio service. That's why this is being done.
Different product. Same toxic brand.
I'm on business and was forced to watch Fox News each morning at the continental breakfast. Politics aside, I just don't like it (I also don't like MSNBC). FNC is practically a religion now. And their stupid bell and "FOX ALERT" graphic still cause a pavlovian response in me that takes me back to their aftermath coverage of 9/11 -- when the bell meant another building had collapsed.
There's WAY TOO much overlapping in the branding. Anything FNC is an immediate punch out for me. And I'm in media. What about my peers who just barely hang on to traditional radio listeneing, but will absolutely not hear a difference? What about Gen Z who are not forming listening habits and the FNC branding will absolutely push away the few who try to enjoy KFI?
They need to just keep doing the hub-and-spoke updates and pretending to be local. Period.
Thomas said he thinks Fox News would be a turn off for many. Especially in SoCal, I don't doubt that is true. I am just making the point that others probably feel the same way about "ABC News". If you look at recent surveys, the mainstream news outlets are even less popular than congress. KFI is a center-right station (more center than right in my opinion, but whatever). My guess is the "Fox News" brand is not the turn-off to most of its audience that Thomas postulates.
Yes, my little AI grab compares Fox News cable channel to the ABC Network news. Not directly comparable to radio TOH news for sure, but branding is everything and the fact that a cable channel is beating a network is noteworthy indeed. I suspect ABC news is not as popular as Fox News, and the stat points (but not conclusively) to that conclusion.
BTW, I am sure I don't have the same politics as Henry, but I share many of his complaints about FNC. It is highly annoying and the Pavlov's Dog comparison is apt. In fact, I never watch the channel except once in awhile when my wife commandeers the remote and won't give it back.
This is being done for corporate reasons, not for the listeners. iHeart used to also syndicate NBC News, and that contract ran out last year. Some of their talk stations were actually running NBC News, much to their annoyance. It didn't happen at KFI. But anyone who listens to KFI knows what they're getting. Nobody is fooling anybody.
I'm one of those who believes that you don't do news to be popular or to win in the ratings. If my doctor told me I had cancer, he wouldn't be popular with me. Say what you will about mainstream news. A lot of people watched 60 Minutes last night, and that fact really bothers someone.
What does that survey have to do with "radio"?
You are comparing apples to oranges. Fewer and fewer people are watching live primetime programming as everything on ABC, CBS and NBC is available via streaming and if you are willing to pay more, without any adds.
FOX fans want to use ratings to show that their views are popular when it is well known that confirmation bias is what drives these viewers and talk radio listeners. 3.6 million viewers out of the 330 million living in the U.S. is next to nothing. One side of the political spectrum supports this type of programming better than the other and it's been proven time and time again thanks to the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Rupert Murdock.
The only thing working well on live linear television in 2025 is news, commentary and sports.
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If you read the totality of my posts I think it is quite clear that I am neither a FOX fan nor looking for any confirmation (especially on this site!). But facts are what they are, I neither boast of them or run from them, I just simply point them out. In this case, the Fox brand is probably at its highest point in popularity commensurate with its mostly positive reporting on a president that just won an election in a landslide and is also at the peak of his own popularity.
My postulate remains the same - the Fox brand no doubt does alienate certain listeners, but the ABC brand no doubt alienates others. In reality, I doubt most KFI listeners care one way or the other. I really don't even see what about that point is at all controversial.
I'm not looking to get into a political discussion with Flip, and I actually offer this in hopes of putting some basic facts on the table that keep this from a multi-poster brawl that gets the thread shut down (Lance, if you'll give me a little room here):
In terms of the popular vote, it was NOT a landslide: Trump received 49.8% of the popular vote and Harris 48.3%. That's a point and a half, which is the polar opposite of "landslide". The raw popular vote margin was 2,284,967 (out of more than 152,000,000 votes).
However, in the metric that actually decides elections---the Electoral College vote---Trump's 312 equals 58% to Harris' 42%.
In the popular vote, anything bigger than 55-45 is generally considered a landslide. But because each state equals a chunk of electors, huge differences in electoral votes are pretty normal, so this 2024 electoral vote margin ranks only 44th in the 60 presidential elections.
As for Trump being at the peak of his own popularity, it depends on which poll you're looking at. Real Clear Politics has a tracker of multiple polls:
It is indisputable that FOX News is currently doing exceptionally well in viewership:
Fox News Channel makes history with highest-rated quarter in history among weekday viewers
During the first quarter of 2025, Fox News averaged 2.2 million total day viewers on weekdays as Americans relied on the network for information and analysis during a momentous news cycle.
It's funny how we can equate less than 1 percent of the population watching a particular channel as considered doing "exceptionally well". Yes compared to other individual channels, but hardly big enough to warrant THAT MUCH attention. I think more people talk about CNN, MSNBC and FOX than they watch them.I'm not looking to get into a political discussion with Flip, and I actually offer this in hopes of putting some basic facts on the table that keep this from a multi-poster brawl that gets the thread shut down (Lance, if you'll give me a little room here):
In terms of the popular vote, it was NOT a landslide: Trump received 49.8% of the popular vote and Harris 48.3%. That's a point and a half, which is the polar opposite of "landslide". The raw popular vote margin was 2,284,967 (out of more than 152,000,000 votes).
However, in the metric that actually decides elections---the Electoral College vote---Trump's 312 equals 58% to Harris' 42%.
In the popular vote, anything bigger than 55-45 is generally considered a landslide. But because each state equals a chunk of electors, huge differences in electoral votes are pretty normal, so this 2024 electoral vote margin ranks only 44th in the 60 presidential elections.
As for Trump being at the peak of his own popularity, it depends on which poll you're looking at. Real Clear Politics has a tracker of multiple polls:
It is indisputable that FOX News is currently doing exceptionally well in viewership:
Fox News Channel makes history with highest-rated quarter in history among weekday viewers
During the first quarter of 2025, Fox News averaged 2.2 million total day viewers on weekdays as Americans relied on the network for information and analysis during a momentous news cycle.www.foxnews.com
The media landscape is so fragmented these days. So many choices, so many digital options. At 61, I barely watch linear television or listen to terrestrial radio, but I would count as a viewer and listener because I am exposed at at least once a week to both of them.
C’mon, Michael. You’ve been in the business. You know how ratings work. FOX News set a cable news rating record. That’s the yardstick and they’re doing exceptionally well by that standard.
I agree. But compared to 10 years ago, how is it doing in overall persons?
That’s not what Flip was talking about, but since you asked…FOX News averaged 1.8 million daily viewers in 2015. It’s more today—-2.2 million:
Fox News Scores Best Ratings Quarter Ever With 2.2 Million Daily Viewers
The right-leaning cable channel drew more weekday primetime viewers than both ABC and NBC during Q1
www.thewrap.com
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