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Did "FM Talk" happen?

R

RobinsonShow

It seems to me the buzz started roughly 2 years ago about the new brand of talk that was to hit FM radio like a tidal wave. It was to wash away dying music formats and leave programing that would redefine the talk radio industry in their place. "FM Talk" was pitched by industry leaders as less partisan, less angry, targeted at younger audiences, still largely news and politics based, but not ALL politics. It was to feature hosts (even local hosts!) that would blend lifestyle content, maybe a little sports talk, with current events (local/state) and political topics handled in more of a discussion format than that of a partisan instruction manifesto.

So, what happened? Seriously. Did this happen anywhere? Examples?

Simulcasting Hannity, Beck and Rush along with your local morning dinosaurs on a dead in the water 1'000 watt FM after dropping "Jammin' Oldies" is not what our industry's 'thought leaders' were talking about when they said "FM Talk".

Thanks for your thoughts.
 
You may be referring to some of the Hot Talk stations. Many of them were anchored by Howard Stern in the morning, and were light on politics, heavier on sexual topics from a male perspective. Earlier, there was WLS-FM Talks, with a younger skewing talk format to gpo along with the mostly separate AM format.
 
There are isolated instances such as New Jersey 101.5 which interestingly airs classic hits on the weekends including an all 80s Saturday night show.
Existing all news stations that have added or changed completely to FM seem to be doing well, see WTOP in Washington and KCBS in San Francisco.
But the biggest story on FM talk might be FM sports talk. See WYSP and WPEN in Philadelphia. I think the sports talk FM in Boston is doing well, too.
I agree about the transfer of Beck-Rush-Hannity to FM. WMAL in Washington DC has had no apparent lift from simulcasting on a full-market FM signal that not too long ago was a fairly successful smooth jazz station.
 
New Jersey 101.5 succeeds because it is so unique in a market that is shadowed by two larger ones that would prefer to think it doesn't exist. It's a very well programmed station. The weekend classic hits make sense - better than a wasteland of reruns.
 
w00t said:
Hot Talk flatlined when Howard Stern went to Sirius. Even WTKS isn't what it used to be.
Click to expand...

In Orlando? I thought they were doing pretty well. It's 8 years later and the Monsters are still on in mornings and the local talk format is still there.
 
They're still there, but the station isn't what it was in the glory days of the 90s/early 00s. I remember when they were always at the top of the pack.
 
I guess the answer is that these "FM Talk" stations are rarities as apposed to widespread. That's what I thought. Kind of a disappointment when compared to 'projections'. Plus, music stations were gonna have to start paying royalties to SoundExchange causing a tsunami of new talk stations. Remember? Yup.

Thanks everybody for your responses!
 
Knoxville, TN has two conservative FM talkers....100.3 and 98.7. 100.3 came on over a year ago and 98.7 has been on for years. They both seem to be making money in a smaller market size like this. In addition, the AM band is full of sports and religious talkers.
 
100.3's programming moved to 98.7 after Citadel dropped it's LMA with John Pirkle's Oak Ridge FM. Pirkle started a rival talk staton on 100.3. The market actually have the top tier talkers on the weaker signal in town, with the second tier on a 100,000 watt signal. Sports talk is on an AM and 2 FM rimshots. None fit into the Hot Talk category
 
FM Talk certainly didn't "happen" in the way Walter Sabo predicted. Not only did it not expand, but it contracted, losing KLSX and many of its clones. 104.1 in Orlando and New Jersey 101.5 are about the only ones left in that mode. One problem is that FM talk is part of the "guy talk" orbit and cannibalizes sports stations. One need only look at sports radio's poor performance in Orlando to see that.

Most of the talk stations on FM now are not "FM talk." They're AM talk moving to FM. The goal is not to grow a new listener base but to survive by adding a few younger listeners before the base moves out-of-demo.
 
I agree that most of FM talk is AM stations migrating their audience to FM, and the AM stations being sold or switched to Spanish language or Sports. FM translators are also a major factor in this news/talk audience migration to FM and a fairly recent development, and the beginnings of the feed of FM talk using HD2/3 feeding an FM translator, creating a "new station" in a market.

While I mostly look at radio stations that stream, I count 182 full time FM talk stations
http://goo.gl/4iSbW

The most significant being
WPGB-FM in Pittsburgh (Clear Channel home of Quinn & Rose)
KTYM-AM in Minneapolis / St Paul
WTKK-FM in Boston (Greater Media)
KFTK-FM in Kansas City (Emmis)
WTKS-FM in Orlando (CC)
and among the list of AM to FM Migrations and simulcasts
WSBB-FM in Atlanta (Cox)
WBAP-FM in Dallas Fort Worth (ABC -> Citadel -> Cumulus)
WMAL-FM in the DC area (ABC -> Citadel -> Cumulus)
WTOP-FM All news in DC (Bonneville -> Hubbard)
KIRO-FM in Seattle (Bonneville)
KTAR-FM in Phoenix (Beonneville)
KOGO-FM in San Diego (CC)
WIYY-FM in Baltimore (Hearst - Simulcast of WBAL-AM)
KXL-FM in Portland, OR (Alpha)
KFBK-FM in Sacramento, CA (CC)
KMBZ-FM in Kansas City (Entercom)
KNRS-FM in Salt Lake (CC)
KXNT-FM in Las Vegas (CBS)
WEAN-FM in Providence RI (Simulcast of WPRO - Citadel/Cumulus)

The CBS Mel Karmazin "Free FM" is long dead and buried, but FM talk is alive and still growing - and this doesn't count the 123 FM stations that are now full time FM Sports Talk. Attracting listeners younger than 50 to news / talk is still a challenge.

From a ratings standpoint, the one that sticks in my memory was the sudden spike of WSB after it added and FM simulcast.
 
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