Bloomberg 960 ending October 1

[Mark Roberts]

And---are we seeing the beginning of a trend? In New York, ESPN wanted a lower lease rate for a signal, so it didn't renew its deal with 98.7. They chose AM over FM because it was cheaper. Bloomberg seems to be choosing an app.

Bloomberg used KNEW as a promotional tool. Clearly they thought it was worth it in Boston. Whether they think it's still worth it in San Francisco is a question only Bloomberg can answer.

The real question is what becomes of these secondary and tertiary AMs like 960 when the syndicators decide they don't need radio.

There are many possibilities (note that I did not say probabilities) - brokered, either east Asian or south Asian; religious; some other kind of programming where reach is more important than revenue; you name it. As I said in post #22, being a dumping ground for syndicated talk programming is the most likely outcome, though one that seems like a big old waste of electrons. Moreover, something out of left field can't be ruled out. It's been the season for that.

 

[Mark Roberts]

KPFA and all of the Pacifica stations are so far up their own ass that nobody is listening. They are doing what they think people ought to hear as opposed what people want to hear.

I think this is an overstatement. Something keeps KPFA going after all these years. Look at the number of KPFA bumper stickers (yes, they exist) in Berkeley, Oakland, etc. I wouldn't pay too much attention to various forms of internal politics; that's been true for much of Pacifica's history.

Their capital costs are likely very low as well.

 

[Mark Roberts]

Carrying popular national shows doesn't feed "the overall decline." It simply makes the programming available to people if they want it. Even in San Francisco, there are likely some people who would want to hear Glen Beck or Sean Hannity. Their interests shouldn't be ignored. Competitively, iHeart should have the opportunity to compete against other talk shows in that format.

Let's review what I wrote.

Post #22:

The only rationale I could see for iHeart going back to talk would be to get clearances for what otherwise isn't cleared in the market. While iHeart has BIN in the market, that's a different kind of business model, to which an extreme-right approach would not be complementary. But it's the easy solution, so iHeart might do it.

Post #46:

Which {syndicated right-wing talk} is an obvious but not entirely foregone conclusion. With an industry in distress, expect unexpected moves.

Post #61:

I'll again point out that iHeart doesn't have the brand equity in talk in San Francisco that it has in many of its other markets. Even with KGO out of the picture now, it still will be hard to build that image at a new channel. Otherwise, if it's just about clearances, then it just feeds into the overall decline.

Do you think there would be a promotional budget for this sort of thing? How are people going to find out about Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, etc.? Osmosis? You tried to position yourself in your post as if the listeners mattered and then, in others, tried to argue that audience doesn't matter, that what counts is clearances to look a little better to media buyers.

I'll just repeat that no one knows except iHeart, and possibly they don't know right now, so have fun at the horse races while arguing with yourself.

 

[TheBigA]

How are people going to find out about Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, etc.? Osmosis?

Those hosts are not new to their audience. People know who they are. The question is can they hear them locally or do they have to listen online.

The audience side of this is no talk show host is going to turn a blue city red. Hannity is Hannity. He is on radio who he is on TV.

Using the McDonalds analogy, you don't open a McDonalds in San Francisco and act like you're starting from scratch. People know what to expect when they see the golden arches. Same with nationally syndicated hosts.

You tried to position yourself in your post as if the listeners mattered and then, in others, tried to argue that audience doesn't matter, that what counts is clearances to look a little better to media buyers.

It's both.

 

[408listener]

Those hosts are not new to their audience. People know who they are. The question is can they hear them locally or do they have to listen online.

Technically, Glenn Beck can be heard on tape delay at 6pm on KSTE 650 out of Sacramento. During the daytime, KSTE has decent coverage in the Bay Area, a reason why Michael Savage recommended listeners go there after 910 KNEW dropped his show back in '09.

But after sunset, good luck picking up KSTE west of the I-80/680 split.

KFBK 1530 does have Clay & Buck live, but despite having a class A signal, it only has grade B coverage in most of the Bay Area. (KFBK is scratchy on my car radio in south Alameda County and vanishes when driving into Santa Clara County.)

 

[TheBigA]

Technically, Glenn Beck can be heard on tape delay at 6pm on KSTE 650 out of Sacramento.

Why should someone in San Francisco be forced to DX a station in Sacramento 90 miles away to hear a national host when the company that syndicates them owns stations in both places?

 

[radiofan2023]

Why should someone in San Francisco be forced to DX a station in Sacramento 90 miles away to hear a national host when the company that syndicates them owns stations in both places?

They can listen to the Sacramento station online

 

[408listener]

Why should someone in San Francisco be forced to DX a station in Sacramento 90 miles away to hear a national host when the company that syndicates them owns stations in both places?

Because said company neglected the SF/Oak/SJ market in programming talk radio, resulting in this market being the odd one out for clearance of said company's talk and sports programming for near a decade.

 

[TheBigA]

They can listen to the Sacramento station online

Why should they have to when iHeart owns a station where they live? Sure, iHeart can also sell all its stations and just do online radio from now on.

Obviously iHeart sees value in owning AM stations, and now they can use one to fill a void.

Because said company neglected the SF/Oak/SJ market in programming talk radio, resulting in this market being the odd one out for clearance of said company's talk and sports programming for near a decade.

Not exactly true. That have 910. But now they also have 960. Just because they didn't do something doesn't mean they can't change.

 

[radiofan2023]

Why should they have to when iHeart owns a station where they live? Sure, iHeart can also sell all its stations and just do online radio from now on.

Because Iheart doesn’t clear them on that station and figures Sac is a better market for that show. If Iheart could get a buyer for their standalone AMs, they just might sell them.

 

[408listener]

[They] have 910. But now they also have 960. Just because they didn't do something doesn't mean they can't change.

910 dropped the Premiere lineup around 2016. Hence my point about "near a decade".

My speculation of iHeart's decision is that the company decided it made more business sense (ahem) to program its own content on 960 instead of leasing to an outside provider.

 

[K.M. Richards]

That’s a good point I guess the Dana loesch show was on in that time slot before, and I know that show gets high ratings in many markets but I don’t believe it airs live at that time. But I know Walter’s show is getting a much a larger share than that show was on a delayed broadcast.

But even as you agreed with David that a large share of a small audience is pretty much negligible, you think that there is still some kind of meaningful difference between the two shows?

At that hour, the margin of error is huge when trying to determine actual numbers of listeners. There isn't anything significant between 10% of a base of 5000 (500) and 30% (1500) when you factor in that margin.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I'm shocked, shocked to hear that there's gambling in Casablanca...

Or on 810.

 

[TheBigA]

Because Iheart doesn’t clear them on that station and figures Sac is a better market for that show. If Iheart could get a buyer for their standalone AMs, they just might sell them.

Or they might put syndicated talk shows there, as they do in a lot of other markets.

My speculation of iHeart's decision is that the company decided it made more business sense (ahem) to program its own content on 960 instead of leasing to an outside provider.

We really don't know who dropped who.

 

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Why should someone in San Francisco be forced to DX a station in Sacramento 90 miles away to hear a national host when the company that syndicates them owns stations in both places?

True too! There's a reason why right wing talk does well in the Sacramento Radio Market and some of this is that it's the surrounding counties like El Dorado, Yuba, Sutter and Placer median demos are more conservative. It's not Sacramento County or Yolo County that makes the majority of listening to those shows.

El Dorado County, California - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Placer County, California - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yuba County, California - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Sutter County, California - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Michael Rivers Kramer]

True too! There's a reason why right wing talk does well in the Sacramento Radio Market and some of this is that it's the surrounding counties like El Dorado, Yuba, Sutter and Placer median demos are more conservative. It's not Sacramento County or Yolo County that makes the majority of listening to those shows.

El Dorado County, California - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Placer County, California - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yuba County, California - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Sutter County, California - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Subtract Yuba, Sutter from the market and add Nevada (West)

 

[Weiserguy]

Credit where credit is due...

60,000 messages posted. This is someone who has given up on sleep.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

That said, radio stations run with fewer people now than 30 or 40 years ago. When I worked at WOR, there were plenty of empty desks and offices, even though it was still local most of the time in those days. I suppose at one time, it had several people working on PSAs alone. Its newsroom once rivaled an All-News station, turning out hourly 10-15 minute newscasts. It once had a sports department and so many other things it didn't need anymore. But that is going back multiple decades.

you're not telling us anything we don't know.

when KSKO launched 43 years ago, we had a GM/CE, a music director, a program director, a secretary, a full time staff announcer, a book keeper and a generator maintenance director (since we were on generator power 24/7 at the TX site then)

Now? Im "assistant CE", MD, PD, secretary and announcer. i have 1 part time announcer, 1 part time working remotele from 250 miles away office manager and 1 contract accountant.

 

[Syfy]

That show does not have a high "rating" either. Please note the difference between "rating" and "share".

But it still has a very low rating. I believe most recently it is a 0.0.

So you don’t consider 8 million unique listeners a week a high audience or rating for the Dana show? Because I believe that number would be a rating not a share unless you are questioning the validity of talkers estimation….

 

[cc333]

Maybe iHeart should launch a Classic Country format on the 103.7 HD-2 channel with the brand name "The Legend" and then launch a classic MOR format on 960AM

I would like that very much, but sadly, it'll never happen.

Right! They could call it KABL, and they could get Bill Moen and Jim Lange and Carter B. Smith to play the records for the old audience....

...who, like Bill, Jim and Carter...are all dead.

Tempus has done fugited on that one.

I'm just old enough that I remember hearing them on KABL when they were still alive and well, if only barely.

As I've said often enough, I dearly wish that some sort of KABL soundalike would come back on the air, but, again, it'll never happen. Especially in the SFBA, which seems to be a particularly fickle market where many things that work elsewhere fail miserably, at least recently (it wasn't always this way, and as recently as 5 years ago it was more diverse than it is now; of course, the COVID-induced cuts did away with that).

In other words, realistically, some sort of junky talk with no meaningful audience (and thus no revenue) will likely prevail.

I think Bloomberg would do well on KGO, with it's decent, far reaching signal, but I doubt it'll happen, since Bloomberg seems to be questioning the viability of radio in general here.

c