Yes. I question why the FM is KNX news, instead of sports programming during that time.
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Sports to replace KNX News simulcast at 97.1 FM
- Thread starter Rollo-Smokes
- Start date
Apparently they're not staffed yet on weekends. The FM schedule lists mainly WW1 Sports shows.
Perhaps they decided with the emergency, they were better off with live news programming.
I see social media wasn't updated on Saturday either.
Yes! I had forgotten about 50,000 people being evacuated in Garden Grove. That's probably why.
Another case of why it's important to have an all news radio station in LA.
I feel like there may be some miscommunication here (or perhaps it's just me that's confused)- during the KNX simulcast, 97.1 would keep the format Saturday mornings while 1070 would be brokered. As of this weekend, 1070 remained brokered. But was KNX News actually airing on 97.1, or was it WW1 Sports? (I think the fact that the brand remains "KNX News" while the 97.1 calls are still "KNX" is lending to my confusion 😵💫)
The whole station launch seems to be rather rough.
I only listened in spots over a few days and it feels like an actual producer or even experienced board op is lacking. I heard the hosts simply get cut-off mid-sentence several times as they go to commercial, or, much worse yet, the TOH news. Look, I know this radio stuff is really new to a some of these hosts, but c'mon Radio 101 dictates that you KNOW THE CLOCK, especially the hard break at the TOH. As Chicky Baby said, "We gotta get off the air".
Then there is this TOH newscast anyway. What IS that? This isn't 1974 and sports stations (like everyone else) don't need to air one. And using KNX in the overnight hours and weekends? You are not accommodating leftover KNX News listeners, you are CONFUSING them plus your new sports listeners all at the same time. Why would they roll out such a high profile station without all shifts covered? There is no shortage of syndicated shows out there that could be used, or even repeats of the shows from earlier in the day would be better (so long as they are properly labled).
Then there are the shows themsleves. Decker seems very polished but he is stuck with D Fish, who can analyze basketball very well, but baseball (and presumably other sports).. not so much. If you are going to do morning drive, you need to be up to speed on everything. And like another poster said, he definitely needs a cup of coffee. He sounds like I feel. But it's his job to be up in the morning, not mine.
Brock and Alex could be a good team if there was an actual producer around to coach them. But they talk over each other, wander off on non-sports tangents, and lose all focus. Which brings me to my core issue. Every show that I heard has multiple hosts and sounds like B-quality podcasts. No professional production value at all.
I don't mind multiple hosts, but they should complement each other; the ones I heard feel like they were just paired together, thrown on the air, and told to just do it. I prefer just one host who talks to the audience and has takes ready to go. That is much harder to do but is much more compelling radio, and a quantity host can last years. The station needs one to serve as the anchor show badly. Jim Rome is available and they really need proven talent, I am surprised they didn't make that happen.
In short, I am trying to root for the station, but the roll-out has been disappointing. This radio quality may work in a market like Cincinnati, but this is #2 LA, and so far it is not up to snuff. Hopefully time will help.
I only listened in spots over a few days and it feels like an actual producer or even experienced board op is lacking. I heard the hosts simply get cut-off mid-sentence several times as they go to commercial, or, much worse yet, the TOH news. Look, I know this radio stuff is really new to a some of these hosts, but c'mon Radio 101 dictates that you KNOW THE CLOCK, especially the hard break at the TOH. As Chicky Baby said, "We gotta get off the air".
Then there is this TOH newscast anyway. What IS that? This isn't 1974 and sports stations (like everyone else) don't need to air one. And using KNX in the overnight hours and weekends? You are not accommodating leftover KNX News listeners, you are CONFUSING them plus your new sports listeners all at the same time. Why would they roll out such a high profile station without all shifts covered? There is no shortage of syndicated shows out there that could be used, or even repeats of the shows from earlier in the day would be better (so long as they are properly labled).
Then there are the shows themsleves. Decker seems very polished but he is stuck with D Fish, who can analyze basketball very well, but baseball (and presumably other sports).. not so much. If you are going to do morning drive, you need to be up to speed on everything. And like another poster said, he definitely needs a cup of coffee. He sounds like I feel. But it's his job to be up in the morning, not mine.
Brock and Alex could be a good team if there was an actual producer around to coach them. But they talk over each other, wander off on non-sports tangents, and lose all focus. Which brings me to my core issue. Every show that I heard has multiple hosts and sounds like B-quality podcasts. No professional production value at all.
I don't mind multiple hosts, but they should complement each other; the ones I heard feel like they were just paired together, thrown on the air, and told to just do it. I prefer just one host who talks to the audience and has takes ready to go. That is much harder to do but is much more compelling radio, and a quantity host can last years. The station needs one to serve as the anchor show badly. Jim Rome is available and they really need proven talent, I am surprised they didn't make that happen.
In short, I am trying to root for the station, but the roll-out has been disappointing. This radio quality may work in a market like Cincinnati, but this is #2 LA, and so far it is not up to snuff. Hopefully time will help.
97
Has the radio business ever seen a top 5 FM station drop to last or near last place, the next month? I think that might happen with 97.1
I'm sorry, I did not phrase my post above correctly and I have caused a whole page of confusion.
During the 2+ years of simulcast, FM stuck with news on Saturdays, while the brokered programming was on AM.
I moved out of Los Angeles after a decade 4 weeks ago, so I can only listen via the web stream...
One example might be Hubbard's KNUC flipping to AAA in Seattle
Hubbard Brings Adult Alternative Back To Seattle With Launch Of KPNW.
Hubbard Radio places “98.9 The Bull” out to pasture with the launch of adult alternative KPNW Seattle on the former KNUC. Hubbard brings the format back to Seattle after a
At the time, KNUC was middle of the pack, not Top 5. The flip to AAA never got better than a 1 share.
But what we see is that companies flip to sports for revenue opportunities, not ratings.
WFAN isn't a big ratings getter in NYC, but it's regularly among the top revenue producers in the market. News is also good for revenue, but suffers from bad demos.
To clarify:
Since Mon. 5/18/2026, only *once* did The Fan L.A. *webstream only* run KNX News on the overnight -
which was early Tuesday morning 5/19/2026 when technical glitches were happening during the first day of the launch.
Since then:
10 PM - 5 AM weeknights *and* all weekend programming has been provided by Westwood One Sports Network.
The Fan L.A. schedule page:
*********************************
As to the top of hour "KNX news briefs" appearing on 97.1 The Fan L.A.:
I think Audacy uses these since they still have to redirect some listeners back to 1070 for news.
Since Mon. 5/18/2026, only *once* did The Fan L.A. *webstream only* run KNX News on the overnight -
which was early Tuesday morning 5/19/2026 when technical glitches were happening during the first day of the launch.
Since then:
10 PM - 5 AM weeknights *and* all weekend programming has been provided by Westwood One Sports Network.
The Fan L.A. schedule page:
*********************************
As to the top of hour "KNX news briefs" appearing on 97.1 The Fan L.A.:
I think Audacy uses these since they still have to redirect some listeners back to 1070 for news.
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You didn’t actually think KNX would drop that dreadful brokered programming? From what I heard they ran infomercials on the AM right up to the max permitted to keep Dual Line Reporting. I think it is some like 8 hours of the entire week can be different to keep the AM/FM combined reporting status. They had that Texas car dealer on Saturdays and there was something else on Sunday. Once they are on the station, they are damn hard to get rid of - being that these shows are the crack cocaine of sales departments. I’d be shocked if they went away. Especially with an ownership willing to put the news station into crisis to add FM sports.
I don't know if it's a case of the schedule not being updated, but tonight KNX 1070 still has 60 Minutes on the schedule from 7-8 pm , and Peter Greenberg's Eye on Travel at 11 pm.. Both are CBS shows.
And Face the Nation earlier (or was that KCBS I checked?). Either way, Face didn’t run in its usual time for reasons I already know.
I know Audacy felt compelled to get this thing on the air quickly so another owner wouldn't beat them to an FM Sports station in Market #2. But not having any local programming after 10pm or all weekend?
Audacy should tap some hosts from the company's FM sports stations in San Diego, San Francisco or another city to do some weekend work for the Los Angeles station, just until local weekend hosts can be hired. The Fan 97.1 should not be running canned national network programming from 10pm Friday to 6am Monday. This is the second largest market in the U.S.
Two Audacy sports stations are all live and local, WFAN NYC and WIP Philadelphia, even at 4 a.m. WSCR Chicago, WZGC Atlanta and I assume other Audacy sports stations in large markets only run Westwood One Sports overnight. Every other hour is covered locally.
I just listened to KGMZ in San Francisco, and they're running Fox Sports. They've been running the national format all day.
Over at The Fan in San Diego, they've got Mike Wickett of Westwood One Sports. Other than the Padres game at noon and a paid program at 7AM, they've been running the national format all day. The Fan is #5 6+ in San Diego.
So this is likely to be what you can expect from TheFanLA on weekends.
This isn't the only station in LA that's canned national programming on weekends.
On the actual O-T-A (1070) there is no 60-Min(uets) at 7:45p Sunday, May 24th.
Based on what I heard, the canned weekend shows may be better than the weekday lineup they have rolled out.
How does the joke go? Audacy wanted to debut a Los Angeles FM sports station in the worst way. And that's what they got!
Nope. It's either betting shows or Westwood One Sports Network
WSCR has one local show on the weekends (Matt Spiegel) plus Cubs baseball. The rest is Westwood One Sports.
WQAM Miami has sports betting shows on the weekends, plus Marlins baseball. The rest is Westwood One Sports