Cumulus has an all news format in Atlanta is LA Next?

[recto101]

Update Look at WYAY in Atlanta a Cumulus O&O like KGO-AM in SFO has an all news station that resembles the WTOP-FM and KCBS-AM, KCBS-FM (officially KFRC-FM 106.9) in its content. I know Cumulus has plans to sell 50 of its stations in other markets due to low rating. I do remember an article on March and April that said that Cumulus was supposed have an all News format in LA right after Atlanta started their all News format. If the rumor is true which low rated AM or FM station in LA will Cumulus buy out so they can put an all-news format to compete against KNX?

http://www.allnews1067.com/

 

[davideduardo]

I do remember an article on March and April that said that Cumulus was supposed have an all News format in LA right after Atlanta started their all News format. If the rumor is true which low rated AM or FM station in LA will Cumulus buy out so they can put an all-news format to compete against KNX?

LA has a 50 kw non directional clear channel AM news station.

There have been rumors that Cumulus might move the talk format of low-power KABC (AM) to its KLOS on FM. Those noises have been bouncing around for a while.

By process of elimination, we can see that there is no AM available that could compete with the coverage of KNX. KFI is obviously not for sale, and nothing else comes close to being competitive with KNX.

An FM acquisition would require a Mt Wilson signal. Based on the current offering price to GRC of KXOS, an FM might be worth upwards of $100 million at this point. I do not think that Cumulus, which is in the process of digesting the Citadel deal, is about to sink that kind of money into a situation where there is already a dominant news station (as dominant as you can get in low-news-rating LA) with a huge signal. They can't afford to "do a Merlin" in LA.

 

[RicoGregg]

In 1991, Fred Sands bought 1580 and changed it from KDAY to "Smart Radio" KBLA, with the intention of competing against KNX and KFWB. With this format, the directional 50K station crashed and burned. Ill-conceived, poorly managed, and badly programmed, KBLA was doomed from Day 1.

 

[LKellerIII]

In 1991, Fred Sands bought 1580 and changed it from KDAY to "Smart Radio" KBLA, with the intention of competing against KNX and KFWB. With this format, the directional 50K station crashed and burned. Ill-conceived, poorly managed, and badly programmed, KBLA was doomed from Day 1.

The SF Bay Area had two similar fiascos - in the 80s, soul and R&B station KDIA became all news 1310/KFYI. The station only lasted a couple of weeks. They couldn't even make payroll. In the 90s, it was 95.7/KPIX - a truly pitiful effort from Westinghouse, which is a company that should have known how to program an all-news station. It limped along for awhile, then became the gavel-to-gavel OJ Simpson station for the duration of that trial.

 

[recto101]

In 1991, Fred Sands bought 1580 and changed it from KDAY to "Smart Radio" KBLA, with the intention of competing against KNX and KFWB. With this format, the directional 50K station crashed and burned. Ill-conceived, poorly managed, and badly programmed, KBLA was doomed from Day 1.

The SF Bay Area had two similar fiascos - in the 80s, soul and R&B station KDIA became all news 1310/KFYI. The station only lasted a couple of weeks. They couldn't even make payroll. In the 90s, it was 95.7/KPIX - a truly pitiful effort from Westinghouse, which is a company that should have known how to program an all-news station. It limped along for awhile, then became the gavel-to-gavel OJ Simpson station for the duration of that trial.

How about KNAI from NBC in the 1970's It was supposed to be all news but the problem was that KCBS and KGO killed NIS off.

 

[michael hagerty]

In 1991, Fred Sands bought 1580 and changed it from KDAY to "Smart Radio" KBLA, with the intention of competing against KNX and KFWB. With this format, the directional 50K station crashed and burned. Ill-conceived, poorly managed, and badly programmed, KBLA was doomed from Day 1.

The SF Bay Area had two similar fiascos - in the 80s, soul and R&B station KDIA became all news 1310/KFYI. The station only lasted a couple of weeks. They couldn't even make payroll. In the 90s, it was 95.7/KPIX - a truly pitiful effort from Westinghouse, which is a company that should have known how to program an all-news station. It limped along for awhile, then became the gavel-to-gavel OJ Simpson station for the duration of that trial.

How about KNAI from NBC in the 1970's It was supposed to be all news but the problem was that KCBS and KGO killed NIS off.

NIS died nationally...in every market. San Francisco was just one of many. All-news is an expensive format to do properly. Maybe there's a hole Cumulus can successfully exploit in Atlanta. There isn't one in Los Angeles or San Francisco.