Whats the possiblity that either of these stations flipping to sports in the near future? I would listen if Live flipped to sports but I'd rather have Free FM back.
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1550 The Fan?105.3 The Fan?
- Thread starter travisl5678
- Start date
They'd have to have something other than sixteen weeks of Raiders football on weekends during the Fall and Winter months to make it feasible. If they're going to try something live and local, they'd be in an uphill fight with KNBR. Just flipping to sports won't guarantee success.
I can't see the advantage to being the #3 or #4 in a format in a market...particularly when #1 & #2 are already 50Kw, as is #3 (at least daytime...nighttime when they have the fuel to run full power!) It would seem to be a lot better strategy to find a hole in the market, or at least a format area that is underserved.
Wow. Free FM. Adam Carolla. Darian O'Toole. John London's Inferno. Penn Gillette. Some other stuff.
Still stunned that it didn't work.
Still stunned that it didn't work.
Speaking of which, did John London simply fall off the planet? I can't think of any other radio person who just simply disappeared as he did.
I think the only reason Free FM Failed is because it was on a Frequency that had been Religous for the past 40 years, so there was no buzz when it flipped to FM Talk. 106.9 Free FM was also the first Free FM to flip. After a while all the ones that were left(They were mostly on the East Coast) Simply flipped to FM Sports Talk, So sadly I doubt Free FM is coming back
travisl5678 said:
You can invent excuses for Free FM if you want, but in my opinion, the reason Free FM failed is that it really and truly sucked. Hard. I actually find Carolla kind of funny - but not in an "appointment radio" sense. There was always something better in morning drive for me to listen to.
As great as London might have been in the past, he was just being a shrill shock-jock on Free FM. He deserved to be fired. Penn Gillette's show was mediocre, too.
Darian's last few years, and her sad and lonely death were a real tragedy. RIP. I liked her as a morning DJ book-ended by music. But as a talk host, she was way beyond her ability. She knew nothing about politics, or anything else. A real train wreck.
Free FM was ill-conceived and badly run. Keep in mind that Adam Carolla's morning show no longer exists anywhere...outside of podcasts, anyway. The station that became Free-FM in LA also did not survive, and it had some history as a successful FM Talk station years before the "Free" label was attached to it.
For a better example of FM talk, 95.7/KPIX was actually far superior to Free FM. After abject failure as an FM news station, then months as 'All OJ, All the Time,' the station had actually come together as a decent talk station in their last few months, and might have built an audience if Westinghouse had given it longer, and not sold out to Bonneville.
I don't doubt that talk on FM can be successful at sometime n the future, but Free FM was a piss-poor effort.
http://web.archive.org/web/19961109015613/http://kpix.com/index.html
Here's a link to the old KPIX 95.7/1550 Website
I think 105.3 would be a good station to pick the A's, and here's the link to some other CBS FM Sports outlets. Their shows are mostly local, and being on FM would give them an advantage over KNBR, maybe they would be able to get a KNBR host to move to the new station
98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston http://985thesportshub.cbslocal.com/
106.7 The Fan, Former Free FM for DC http://1067thefandc.cbslocal.com/
105.3 The Fan Former Free FM in Dallas http://1053thefan.cbslocal.com/
Here's a link to the old KPIX 95.7/1550 Website
I think 105.3 would be a good station to pick the A's, and here's the link to some other CBS FM Sports outlets. Their shows are mostly local, and being on FM would give them an advantage over KNBR, maybe they would be able to get a KNBR host to move to the new station
98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston http://985thesportshub.cbslocal.com/
106.7 The Fan, Former Free FM for DC http://1067thefandc.cbslocal.com/
105.3 The Fan Former Free FM in Dallas http://1053thefan.cbslocal.com/
Back to KPIX, maybe Bonnevile should have kept it FM Talk. Bonnevile owns successful FM Talkers in Seatle(KIRO-FM http://www.mynorthwest.com/?nid=134 ) Phonix (KTAR-FM http://ktar.com/category/shows ) Salt Lake City(KSL AM and FM http://www.ksl.com/ ) and an All Newser in Washington DC (WTOP-FM http://www.wtop.com/ ) The talk programs on these stations are mostly live and local, I think if KPIX had gotten in the game as a live and local FM Talker back when it was purcased in 1997 it could have had a big following by now. Your thoughts?
travisl5678 said:
Could be, but it would only be speculation. The station was such a train wreck while Westinghouse owned it up until the talk format,that it would have taken a few years to build an audience, at a time when KGO was still very dominant.
What was irritating is that Bonneville didn't know what to do with 95.7 at first, and simulcast one of their Chicago FM stations for a couple of months, until they decided on Top 40 (Z95.7). It probably would have been smarter to keep the talk format going in the interim to see how it would do - but I'm sure it was cheaper to just plug in Chicago.
As far as I know, there were few, if any other successful FM talk stations anywhere at that time, so it would have taken some innovation on their part. Sadly, radio is generally an imitative medium, not a innovative one.
what Chicago FM was it?
"What was irritating is that Bonneville didn't know what to do with 95.7 at first..."
They buy a decently powerfull FM station in the 4th largest market and don't know what to do with it?
Mike
They buy a decently powerfull FM station in the 4th largest market and don't know what to do with it?
Mike
travisl5678 said:
I didn't remember anymore - it was a CHR on the light-rock side. I did remember that the morning show was (Somebody) & Kathy. A little Googling brought me to 101.9 "The Mix," a Bonneville station with the Eric and Kathy morning show. So it was probably that one, though I think it was called something different at the time.
http://www.wtmx.com/home.php
mikecroaro said:
That's right. The station wasn't half bad, but hearing local Chicago news, weather, and traffic was strange. This went on for at least a couple of months. I recall that the legal call letters at the top-of-the-hour ID were KOYT.
Lkeller said:
The Mix in Chicago at that time was branded as " 101.9 FM, Today's Rock Mix" featuring the Eric and Kathy morning show. Here is the complete Jock line up from 1997:
5:30-9am The Eric and Kathy Morning Show
9am-2pm Dave Hilton
2-7pm Brian Peck
7pm-Midnight Heidi Stern featuring The Retro '80s at 8
midnight-5:30am Mike Roberts
All times listed are Chicago time!
You can still listen to The Mix in Chicago at http://www.wtmx.com
With no pro teams up for grabs, a new sports station wouldn't have a chance...and 1550 doesn't have the signal to cover at least half of the bay area.
As for Free-FM, the format was ill-conceived to start with, having been a knee-jerk reaction to Howard Stern going to satellite radio.
This talk format was "free"...get it? No monthly charge. Groan. Yes, Free-FM did suffer from being on a dead frequency at 106.9, just as KFRC-FM did, but the format idea was ridiculous. "We'll show Stern" could have been their unofficial slogan. They obviously didn't.
I also don't believe that a talk format on FM in SF is a great idea. No one knows how many people are listening to news on 106.9 and we probably never will. It could be a massive waste of an FM frequency...a thought that has crossed Dan Mason's mind more than once.
As for Free-FM, the format was ill-conceived to start with, having been a knee-jerk reaction to Howard Stern going to satellite radio.
This talk format was "free"...get it? No monthly charge. Groan. Yes, Free-FM did suffer from being on a dead frequency at 106.9, just as KFRC-FM did, but the format idea was ridiculous. "We'll show Stern" could have been their unofficial slogan. They obviously didn't.
I also don't believe that a talk format on FM in SF is a great idea. No one knows how many people are listening to news on 106.9 and we probably never will. It could be a massive waste of an FM frequency...a thought that has crossed Dan Mason's mind more than once.
No pro sports up for grabs? If 105.3 becomes avalible to the A's, then they'll leave KTRB in an instant
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