The “What’s Cookin’ Today” host is getting ready to stick a fork in KABC!
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560
- Thread starter K108 Sacramento
- Start date
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Aside from the simulcast with channel 7 (which in and of itself is weird, because Cumulus doesn't own the television station, and it's going to be full of "as you can see" references that the 790 audience cannot), the only local show on KABC is the one by Frank Mottek, a refugee from KNX/1070.
What has been opined here for years is true. Cumulus only keeps it on the air for WWOne clearances. Same thing goes for what was 560 and is now 810 in S.F.
What has been opined here for years is true. Cumulus only keeps it on the air for WWOne clearances. Same thing goes for what was 560 and is now 810 in S.F.
Hey! You’re on to something. They can simply simulcast and call it the “Who’s Listening to Us” radio network. As KNX and KCBS have recently demonstrated, you can cover traffic and weather in both areas and even do it while accurately using the correct local nomenclatures, like “the 101” for LA and “101” or “highway 101” for the Bay Area.
Is the John Phillips/Randy Wang show broadcast locally from Los Angeles? I realize it’s simulcast on KSFO.
What I think some folks forget to keep in mind is that a company such as Cumulus with multiple lines of business is going to consider how those lines of business complement one another. They will try to leverage that. Sometimes that means it will make decisions that don't make sense for an individual station but which are more reasonable when you step up a level and look at it from a portfolio point of view. Another corporate term for this is "cross-cutting". The WW1 shows may not do particularly well in San Francisco or Los Angeles, but they are there, and that can be a sales tool to get into other markets where Cumulus can get more for the availabilities that they're trying to sell within those shows.
KABC and KGO, oops, KSFO aren't local stations when it comes right down to it. That's a factor, too.
Of course, you're joking, but seriously, do they even do traffic and weather on KSFO and KGO (oops KSFO)? Finding out for myself would mean having to listen through Talk radio like this...something I just would rather not do.
BTW you were joking, right? 😁
Yes! But you never know, they could launch a national talk radio network full of these shows with infomercials as filler and then offer it for barter. But that could also be a joke that’s not far off from how things are now.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
That's indeed a major factor, not just in terms of ad revenue but clearance in other, smaller markets. Back in the 1970s, when NBC was trying to get affiliates for the News and Information Service, a lot of stations turned them down because in markets #1, 3 and 4 they put it on their O&O FMs, and in market #2 they were unable to get an affiliate after Earle C. Anthony (KFI) turned them down ... the closest affiliates ended up being in Palm Springs and Ventura County.
Every WWOne program needs to be in every major market, even if the local ratings aren't spectacular, or they look like failures.
Meanwhile, back on topic:
Thirty-five days.
Thirty-five days.
With numbers like that, and the trend Cumulus 810 appears to be on, you're absolutely CERTAIN my above post about trying entertainment as a format on 560 wouldn't be worth a try? The classic radio shows would be new to most people. Remember, the right ones would have to be selected; those that are not automatically dated with big band music or references to WW2. I am thinking that since they are on Internet Archive, they are available free or for very little. The people who might be invited to advertise might be the clients who are seeing their current audience evaporate with the existing lineups. Cumulus has the frequency at 560 for a few months more, and I read here apparently the tower lease and transmitter are still there.
Another problem may be Cumulus is not broadcasting to a viable left leaning audience. The idea of running a few hours of talk was shot down because experienced radio people cost money and screeners cost money and etcetera. Don't they have these people and studios at KNBR? For an experiment, I would think real radio people with Hertz in their blood would want to take part in something new (getting paid for their efforts). Even if it failed, they could say they gave it their all.
Another thought, if they tried a 560 experiment and resumed broadcasting at that frequency, does that reset any FCC delisting clock?
Maybe try thinking of how something new might work, instead of focusing on why it wouldn't.
Yes. A very common tactic is to put a station back on the air for a few days, notify the FCC, and turn it off again.
Maybe try believing people who have been in the broadcasting business for years and have explained clearly why playing 65+ year old radio shows is NEVER going to work.
Cumulus typically has not done that.
They did put a silent FM in Missouri back on the air last month, but that FM is being sold to K-Love.
Good Lord, not this again. I can't believe I'm even responding to this.
The problem is, it's not new. It's radio as it was done until TV came along.
If someone wants to listen to classic radio shows, they can go direct to the Internet Archive or wherever else they get their classic radio shows. There's no need for a middleman to spoon it out. Linear intermediation is much diminished, which is a fundamental problem that broadcast radio and TV have to deal with.
I am absolutely certain.
Sure. So would most old movies. But Turner Classic Movies isn't in the Top 10 channels. Or the Top 50. It's a niche. And old radio is a niche of a niche.
The example I posted wasn't dated with big band music or references to World War II. It was from 1962, it is the newest old-time radio drama---literally the last on network radio.
It's not references---it's language. The way we communicate evolves. Nobody talks like that anymore, tells stories that way anymore.
Yeah. Most are in the public domain.
Others above have explained the value to Cumulus in simply clearing the current programming despite the ratings decline.
True.
There is no viable left-leaning audience listening to AM radio in San Francisco in 2026.
They might. But you'd have to pay them for two stations (KNBR and KSFO) instead of one. You're back to "experienced people cost money and screeners cost money and etcetera."
And when it fails, and Cumulus has lost still more money, there will be layoffs, so the people who gave it their all will then be in jeopardy of losing the jobs they had.
It does. I don't know if there's a minimum amount of time they would have to be on the air before filing for another Silent STA, but assuming it was months, then yes. You'd reset the clock.
But again---anything you do costs money. Even the free programming idea requires people to implement it, equipment to broadcast it, power for the equipment, shelter for the equipment, insurance for the equipment and people and liability.
I've said this before, but it's been a while. What we really need is an online radio station simulator...y'know like Flight Simulator. Something where you can play radio, try these ideas and see what actually happens in the real world without putting revenue and the salaries and benefits that revenue pays for at risk.
I'll also repeat what I said last time around. Wanna save radio? Get to work on FM. It's still got a pulse, but it's fading fast.
Most Bay Area techie-types (many of whom tend to be left-leaning, I believe), wouldn't be caught dead listening to radio at all, especially on AM.
They all seem to prefer to use their phones for pretty much everything possible.
That's actually an interesting idea!
I don't have the skills or experience to do such a thing myself, but I might know of some people who do.
I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult for someone with the know-how to throw together a basic proof of concept.
c
How do you know it will NEVER work? Didn't someone cite Antioch Radio as being able to make a go of old radio on a small scale?
I'll bet you were around in 1987 - What did you think about Roger Ailes putting that guy Rush Limbaugh on the air with a daytime national talk show? Hadn't ABC just got done failing with that idea? Surely that would NEVER work, and the safe approach would have been not to try.
Without having the willingness to try the new, aren't we watching the business collapse before our eyes? I'll admit that 560 and Cumulus are in a tough spot. The point made above that AM is a Cumeless empty street is a good one. The financial situation of Cumulus is less than great, so affording anything new may be beyond their reach. Even I have stated above, 560 may be too far gone. But there are a lot of malingering decently powered properties across the country that are flirting with .5 ratings and might be able to do more with something different and new. And with appropriate promotion, maybe attract new listeners to the radio.
However, the start of something new has to start somewhere, and that new eventually requires a step beyond the comfortable. No evolution, and I think we know where that leaves FM radio in 20 years.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
As another "I know better than everyone" is heard from.
Turn 810 into a classic hits station. Now guys don't go throwing any rocks at me. Its just a thought that crossed my mind. Put Sue Hall on 9 to 1PM and Celeste Perry or perhaps Sylvia Chacon on 1 to 5 PM Simulcast SiriusXM'S Phlash Phelps 5 to 9am and Shotgun Tom Kelly on in the evenings. Music pow pow power 810 KSFO. I'm ducking and all the rocks missed me but you did break my kitchen window and scared my German Shepherd. Lol lol. Cumulus ha ha never going to happen. Classic hits well maybe in another world. I can certainly dream with the best of you other dreamers. Lol.
Well, if it were a relatively common 70s/80s variety, it night work, except an AM without either an FM translator or full power FM simulcast is pretty much dead in the water regardless of format.
Plus, there's KOSF, so there'd be competition.
c