I'm surprised it didn't get noticed on this board. Actually, I'm not, given the tendency to understate and underreport conservative talk's failures. The Truth format, brimming with second-tier and third-tier conservative talk, fails and flips format in Denver. Now a Fort Wayne station is using virtually the same lineup and the same name. Same result? Perhaps between this and the unexpected drops in share for some talk stations around the country, this particular take is just saturated.
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A Bit Late: "The Truth's" Conservatalk Failure in Denver
- Thread starter smedge2006
- Start date
The Truth is also falling in Fresno,California where a Smooth Jazz Stationn with a 1.4 flipped to this format about a year and a half ago, and hasn't showed up in the books since
This failure has little to do with the content, and a lot to do with whose putting it out... as pointed out... 2nd and 3rd tier talk show hosts.
smedge2006 said:
You must be reading a different board. There's almost a party here every time something related to conservative talk fails.
But that's the point... the hosts ARE the content. They're all on the same side of the fence as Limbaugh, Beck and Hannity. If there's an ever-expanding market for conservative talk radio, they should be getting listeners. If these second-in and third-in stations are failing, maybe it's a sign that the market for that kind of talk radio is tapped out and not growing. That, along with unexplained drops in the ratings of some of those L/B/H talk leaders.
Is this the same station that used to be called "The Pole" and was an all-stripper-music format? Perhaps airing syndicated talk shows wasn't the problem.
What is "The Truth"? Is it some canned format, or just a marketing name someone picked for their talk station because all of the good ones were already taken? What station in Denver carried "The Truth"?
According to that bastion of reliable information, Wikipedia, the station sought bankruptcy protection in February 2008 and has since emerged from bankruptcy. They went through several formats before and after the bankruptcy, then were sold to Max Media, and engaged in a week long stunt of playing "stripper music" and calling themselves "The Pole" while sponsored by Denver's local strip club Shotgun Willie's. At 4pm on Thursday, August 6, KTNI became a Talk format as 101-5 "The Truth", simulcasting conservative talk along with local AM stations carrying the same programs surrounding the Denver market. On September 3, 2010 KTNI 101-5 "The Truth" changed their format to Rhythmic Oldies as "Jammin 101.5".
So, the station had a 13 month excursion into simulcasting an AM talk station before reverting to an even older format. Big freakin' deal. That doesn't indicate that conservative talk failed, it indicates that the station is a basic loser that changes formats the way Lady Ga Ga changes outfits.
And, as pointed out, their hosts were 2nd and 3rd tier losers: The Phil Hendrie Show, Mancow's Morning Madhouse, Jerry Doyle, The Savage Nation, and Rusty Humphries.
According to that bastion of reliable information, Wikipedia, the station sought bankruptcy protection in February 2008 and has since emerged from bankruptcy. They went through several formats before and after the bankruptcy, then were sold to Max Media, and engaged in a week long stunt of playing "stripper music" and calling themselves "The Pole" while sponsored by Denver's local strip club Shotgun Willie's. At 4pm on Thursday, August 6, KTNI became a Talk format as 101-5 "The Truth", simulcasting conservative talk along with local AM stations carrying the same programs surrounding the Denver market. On September 3, 2010 KTNI 101-5 "The Truth" changed their format to Rhythmic Oldies as "Jammin 101.5".
So, the station had a 13 month excursion into simulcasting an AM talk station before reverting to an even older format. Big freakin' deal. That doesn't indicate that conservative talk failed, it indicates that the station is a basic loser that changes formats the way Lady Ga Ga changes outfits.
And, as pointed out, their hosts were 2nd and 3rd tier losers: The Phil Hendrie Show, Mancow's Morning Madhouse, Jerry Doyle, The Savage Nation, and Rusty Humphries.
On whose part? You just told us about it.smedge2006 said:
Not everybody keeps up with every 2nd-3rd tier talker.
Not everybody looks at a failure of one station as THE bellwether for a format.
You probably don't look at any other format with that jaundice, so you can feel the rest of us on that, surely.
Talk_Dude said:
I wouldn't call Savage or Hendrie losers.
I think "The Truth" is a format in a can, I know of two markets that have one, Ft. Wayne and Fresno,CA. For the Fresno station (105.5 The Truth) google 105.5 The Truth
Talk_Dude said:
Looks like someone's not a fan of Talk Radio Network.
livingfruitvirus said:
Should I be? I don't think any of those shows are available on any stations I can pick up on my FM radio, so I haven't listened to them. I base my assessment of them as "2nd and 3rd tier losers" on the number of affiliates carrying them. For all I know, they could be outstanding hosts. But winning and losing are based on how many affiliates carry you and what kind of ratings you get. Many affiliates and/or good ratings = winner. Few affiliates and/or poor ratings = loser.
I don't know, Talk_Dude. By that metric Justin Bieber gets played a lot, so he would "a winner" in the music world.Talk_Dude said:
I don't think we should take it quite that far. I hope there's room for calling "winners" in more than just "popular vote" categories....
quadraphonic said:I don't know, Talk_Dude. By that metric Justin Bieber gets played a lot, so he would "a winner" in the music world.
I don't think we should take it quite that far. I hope there's room for calling "winners" in more than just "popular vote" categories....
That's exactly correct. In radio, winners and losers have nothing whatsover to do with quality. If a winner happens to also do a quality show, that's merely a coincidence, not a cause-and-effect.
There is plenty of room for calling people winners for more than just being popular, but that room is located outside the world of radio.
Talk_Dude said:
Even under those criteria you can't call some of those shows losers. Savage is one of the top five listened to shows in the country. He just had a number one bestseller book. By any measure of "success", he's successful.
And the bottom line in radio isn't ratings, or affiliates. It's sales. A show that makes a profit for its syndicator and affiliate stations is successful.
Personally, I don't like most of the shows on TRN, but you can't say that they're not successful.
I guess radio got different terminology all around, don't it?Talk_Dude said:quadraphonic said:I don't know, Talk_Dude. By that metric Justin Bieber gets played a lot, so he would "a winner" in the music world.
I don't think we should take it quite that far. I hope there's room for calling "winners" in more than just "popular vote" categories....
That's exactly correct. In radio, winners and losers have nothing whatsover to do with quality. If a winner happens to also do a quality show, that's merely a coincidence, not a cause-and-effect.
There is plenty of room for calling people winners for more than just being popular, but that room is located outside the world of radio.
I just attended the TMC in Marina del Rey and they failed to mention, as the presenter was bragging about the success of 'The Truth' from the stage, that it bombed in Denver. I guess we were not getting the whole truth.
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