Yes, there is money changing hands at KAZG-AM....that's how my show was produced....I don't know if Chuck is selling the time or revenue sharing, but personally, I think it's great that there is a broadcaster that allows talk on his air that is locally produced and to a greater or lesser degree reflects what is going on in the market outside of endless political diatribes of one stripe or another.
In my last meeting with Chuck, I suggested he take on left-wing radio....it always did a small, but measurable audience, which is a hell of a lot more than can be said for KXAM, KFNX and others on the AM dial. He demurred. Before I brought back East Valley Radio, I pitched him on turning KAZG into an all East Valley station, complete with call letter change (KXEV)....I had hoped to have a 6a-6pm live lineup and had extremely cursory conversations with Charles Goyette to do mornings, Jeffry O'Brien to do middays and I would have done afternoon drive. Chuck, who liked the idea a lot, also was prescient about the market and economy and at that time did not feel he wanted to rev up the costs of starting a new station if he was not going to go balls to the wall to make it work. He felt like it would take $500,000 to a million to get a foothold in the market and that was a tad rich for his blood just then. So, I went on to lose MY money instead of his....although he has a lot more than me by far.
I know he has detractors, but Chuck Artigue is a flipping radio-station running genius....his stations make so much more dough than anything else in the market with NO debt service. I'd like to think he's a fair judge of talent, because he has always been more than fair with me, and it ain't because I'm such a nice guy. When he believes in somebody, he gets behind them.
Scott Anderson
East Valley Radio
(coming soon.....watch for
http://andersoninthemiddle.com , a radio talk show that points out the hypocrisy on boths sides of every issue.)
