Downfall of KFI???

[ibeckerca]

Since KFI had to let JZ go, one has to wonder what's in the water over at KFI as to why they are losing such talented people.
During KFI's search for a new host for the 7pm-10pm slot, I was happy to hear Kennedy on the radio. However it was short-lived when KFI hired Bryan Suits to host. When KFI saw their ratings drop in the 7-10pm slot, they added Kennedy. Once again, the world was in prefect balance. Until...
Paul T. Wall left the Bill Handel show in the morning and was replaced by Lara Hermanson. After a small comment that was made by her, she was let go soon after.
In Aug., Tim Conway Jr. and sidekick Doug Steckler filled in for John and Ken while on vacation. I liked listening to them. I thought KFI was searching for new hosts to take over the 12pm-3pm when Dr. Laura leaves.
That never happened. Instead the empty 3 hours slot went to 2 hours with Handel. And John and Ken started an hour early. To me, they didn't seem too thrilled with the new time frame.
Then Kennedy left her hosting chair on the Kennedy and Suits' Show. Now Bryan is doing it on his own. It was report just last week on the Handel PM Show that Bryan will be gone for a couple of weeks. Who will KFI find to host the Suits Show in his absence?
Could it be Adam Carolla? Just this Thursday, he will be filling in for Bill as he goes on vacation. Will this be a test-drive to see how well Carolla does as a host on KFI. It sounds like it to me.
I love KFI. But with all these hosts changes, it makes me wonder what's going to happen? Any thoughts???

 

[Robnoxious]

Conway should be given the 7p-10p slot and he should be allowed to do his brand of radio like "What the hell did Jessie Jackson say?" and report the twice weekly "LA Car Chase Supershow".

Barring that, give Hendrie his old slot back.

Carolla is o.k. but his show really doesn't involve callers and tends to be one long rant of "You know what grinds my gears?"

Even George Zimmer of The Men's Warehouse doesn't like the way a solo Bryan Suits looks and he guarantees it.

 

[nmoore6676]

Conway 7 to 10 would be an excellent choice. Adam Carolla, not so much. Dropping Dr. Laura was an excellent and overdue decision but why not Glenn Beck instead of Handel redeaux and an extension of J & K. Cashing in on Beck's Fox success would be nothing but good, especially for local listeners now that the 1260 flip made his show unavailable in LA, again. Any bets on the Retro 1260 longevity?

As for Handel's vacation I always have preferred Wayne Resnick who, to be quite honest, is better than Handel.

 

[ibeckerca]

I would have loved to see Wayne Resnick get the 12pm time slot.

 

[Rudy Canoza]

I would have loved to see Wayne Resnick get the 12pm time slot.

He makes my ears bleed. He is the worst choice for any radio station, let alone KFI.

 

[henry]

I'm a KFI DXer at night from time to time. I used to listen to Ziggy. I still listen, even though I have no idea who is in the the 7-10p slot.

I tune in simply because it's "live, local talk served up late" (or whatever the old KFI promo used to say). Doesn't matter if it's John Ziegler or Santa Claus. As long as KFI's product remains good, L.A.-centric talk, I think a lot of passive listeners like me won't tell the difference. Heck, they could can John and Ken so long as their replacement offers interesting, local talk.

I don't think KFI will meet a downfall, but it will continue to suffer as the radio ad market declines. PPM hasn't been as harsh on it as I thought it would be, either.

As long as there is local content on there (talk, TOH news, traffic, etc) there will always be a listener base for it.

 

[SuperRadioFan]

Where are you located, henry? How was the KFI reception while they were on lower power while their transmitter was being rebuilt?

 

[oldiesfan6479]

...but why not Glenn Beck instead of Handel redeaux and an extension of J & K.

Would 64/KFI really want to run the Beckster as a "six-hour rain delay"
as is done in Phoenix? All the other weekday local/syndie talkmeisters
are live (save for the 2-5 AM replay of C2CUFOs).

Airing Beck live outside of the Eastern Time Zone torches some or all of
the morning drive show (it sort of works in Central, if you don't mind AMD
ending at 8:00).

 

[westfield60]

I don't think having Glenn Beck would help KFI at all. Maybe he is getting numbers nationally but he has been on a few station here and hasn't produced anything. I think besides Rush (who now goes back over 20 years at KFI), the success of KFI has been based on local programming and the focus on local issues. Why do you think KABC died? They almost solely focused on national issues and no one in Los Angeles wanted to listen to them. When we had local news breaking the same hosts on KABC were bashing Hillary Clinton day after day. It seemed ridiculous and KABC paid a very heavy price for it. That is one reason why John and Ken are arguably the number hosts in Los Angeles radio. Their influence cannot be denied.

Having said that I do however think that KFI is going through some internal rough spots. The erratic decisions of late seems to indicate that they themselves don't know which direction to go in.

Wayne Resnik really deserves a permenant weekday spot since he has really put in the time over there, but as someone else mentioned he is really tough to listen to, so I don't think KFI management will choose him. Bryan Suits is a total waste and the sooner they wash their hands of his experiment the better.

Carolla I agree tends to really drone on incessantly and that was one reason I stopped listening to him after Howard left. Conway is now showing his limitations and after 2 months has run dry on anything new or entertaining. I wouldn't listen to him on weekdays either.

I think KFI needs to investigate bringing back Joe Crummey or Phil Hendrie (or even Leykis if CBS agree's). I think they would bring a good mix to KFI amongst the heavy political talk. They would bring some light-hearted entertainment in the evening spot. Remember entertainment is what the radio medium is all about. It does not all need to be heavy handed political talk.

I think KABC made a great bold move in bringing FHF to their airwaves. The youthful callers and a younger audience really is the future and KFI needs to prepare for that. Talk radio has been stagnated for the last decade with older clone hosts and even older listeners.

 

[jrplbg]

JZ had a tenuous grasp on reality at best. Same for Beck, who seems to be flirting with a nervous breakdown.

Conway would do fine, but needs a bit of help fact-checking.

KFI's best bets would be to put Wayne Resnick into the mix somewhere, doesn't matter where, and bring Phil Hendrie back so that L.A. can actually hear him again.

 

[henry]

Where are you located, henry? How was the KFI reception while they were on lower power while their transmitter was being rebuilt?

An hour south of Salt Lake City, which is a DX breeze even with the reduced power. Easily the strongest AM I get at night, although it was pretty weak during the rebuild. KNX is also a flamethrower up here, but our 1060 causes some hash.

 

[david]

Bring in New Talent: Downfall of KFI???

I think KFI needs to investigate bringing back Joe Crummey or Phil Hendrie (or even Leykis if CBS agree's). I think they would bring a good mix to KFI amongst the heavy political talk. They would bring some light-hearted entertainment in the evening spot. Remember entertainment is what the radio medium is all about. It does not all need to be heavy handed political talk.

These are all retreads. KFI needs to be bold. Find good talent from outside this market and bring them here for the 7p to 10p. That was what they did with Zig, and he was quite listenable. They tried the same with Brian Suits, and he has been not as good. But kudos to KFI for trying. Similarly, John & Ken were fresh to this market when KFI brought them in from New Jersey. So, I would advise KFI's PD Robin Bertolucci to seek, discover, and import fresh talent from other markets.

 

[Generic]

Didn't Reznick have the 7pm-9pm weekdays slot several years ago? Back when KFI still had Mr. KFI. My memory escapes me right now.

 

[nmoore6676]

I don't think having Glenn Beck would help KFI at all. Maybe he is getting numbers nationally but he has been on a few station here and hasn't produced anything. I think besides Rush (who now goes back over 20 years at KFI), the success of KFI has been based on local programming and the focus on local issues. Why do you think KABC died? They almost solely focused on national issues and no one in Los Angeles wanted to listen to them. When we had local news breaking the same hosts on KABC were bashing Hillary Clinton day after day. It seemed ridiculous and KABC paid a very heavy price for it. That is one reason why John and Ken are arguably the number hosts in Los Angeles radio. Their influence cannot be denied.

Having said that I do however think that KFI is going through some internal rough spots. The erratic decisions of late seems to indicate that they themselves don't know which direction to go in.

Wayne Resnik really deserves a permenant weekday spot since he has really put in the time over there, but as someone else mentioned he is really tough to listen to, so I don't think KFI management will choose him. Bryan Suits is a total waste and the sooner they wash their hands of his experiment the better.

Carolla I agree tends to really drone on incessantly and that was one reason I stopped listening to him after Howard left. Conway is now showing his limitations and after 2 months has run dry on anything new or entertaining. I wouldn't listen to him on weekdays either.

I think KFI needs to investigate bringing back Joe Crummey or Phil Hendrie (or even Leykis if CBS agree's). I think they would bring a good mix to KFI amongst the heavy political talk. They would bring some light-hearted entertainment in the evening spot. Remember entertainment is what the radio medium is all about. It does not all need to be heavy handed political talk.

I think KABC made a great bold move in bringing FHF to their airwaves. The youthful callers and a younger audience really is the future and KFI needs to prepare for that. Talk radio has been stagnated for the last decade with older clone hosts and even older listeners.

I think that you are wrong about Beck. He has never been on a signal with full coverage in LA. He is getting good ratings elsewhere an his move to FOX news has served him and them well. As for his mental state I am sure that it is all schtick as you have to be entertaining and if you can be informing that is even better. I have been reading his books and they are quite interesting and well thought out so I can't think that he is on the verge of a breakdown.

The rest of your analysis and most of the rest preceding it are pretty much in line with my own assessment. Definitely I think that Wayne Resnick deserves a prominent position. I do think that the time for Tom Leykis as past as his latest incarnation is a little over the top for KFI and his previous tenure there as a more conventional talk host on KFI was less than stellar. Joe Crummey would make a good fill in or weekend host but he again did not do spectacularly in LA, his firing from Phoenix for doing his show on ISDN was bogus and he would have been good in a market like that. I am not sure why KFI let Hendrie go, the line was the Phil wanted to retire but only after they has shifted him to KLAC, in any event that is water over the dam now, if he wanted to come back though it couldn't hurt either side.

 

[davideduardo]

Where are you located, henry? How was the KFI reception while they were on lower power while their transmitter was being rebuilt?

A minor clarification... KFI's transmitter was not rebuilt, it's tower was. Neither the transmitter building nor the transmitters were damaged when the tower came down.

A transmitter can, with proper preparation of AC, RF piping and floor space, be installed and on the air in 24 hours or less.

 

[AM FM listener]

I thought Kennedy was OK and Suits is fine, too, but I really like Aaron Bender and the "News Bender" segment. I think Conway could work well with Bender..."Conway & Bender" 7-10 pm?

 

[westfield60]

Don't know much about Aaron Bender except I think he is a news reporter, but please no more pairings with Tim Conway Jr. That guy is such a mental lighweight that I really believe all the drugs he took when he was yonger fried his brains. He never is able to complete a cohenrent thought and or argue any point intelligently. If he did not have that last name I think he would be pumping gas at your local gas station. He was a mental midget compared with Doug Steckler and didn't even come close to the comedic talent of Brian Whitman. I think now that he has moved out of LA and to Oregon he should join Roy Masters cult and meditate all day long.

I think KFi needs new talent in that spot.

 

[musicfan101]

Don't know much about Aaron Bender except I think he is a news reporter, but please no more pairings with Tim Conway Jr. That guy is such a mental lighweight that I really believe all the drugs he took when he was yonger fried his brains. He never is able to complete a cohenrent thought and or argue any point intelligently. If he did not have that last name I think he would be pumping gas at your local gas station. He was a mental midget compared with Doug Steckler and didn't even come close to the comedic talent of Brian Whitman. I think now that he has moved out of LA and to Oregon he should join Roy Masters cult and meditate all day long.

I think KFi needs new talent in that spot.

So, how do you feel about Tim Conway Jr.?

 

[mr_arbitron]

Not the downfall, just a poor programming decision that will crash in the next several months. Bill Handel has a poor attendance record. Witness the first week his noontime show started. He took 1½ days off. Last week, he took a couple of days off from the morning show.. His trend is will be 36 extra days off this next upcomming year, and that doesn''nt include his normal vacations and holidays.

It is a fact that 40-70% of the listening audience twist the dial when the star of the show is off the air. wayne resnick is 4th rate. Tim conway is a
shyster and Carolla did not fit in at all. You could hear a pin drop.
But the main thing is the advertisers pay top dollar for audience exposure and if the star is off, the audience ain't there either. The advertisers are ripped off.

Mr. Arbitron

 

[gcreedle239]

I have a hard time believing the "Bill Handel has a Poor Attendance Record" line. First, he is a highly rated personality and has been so for some time. I would imagine (hope) that his contract calls for at least 4 weeks a year vaca. Try cranking out any content heavy show (especially getting up at 330am) and see how you'd like doing 50 weeks a year. Second, Jewish holidays don't line up with Christian holidays. Get over it. Third, I'm guessing the Dr Laura situation came to a head rather rapidly and the time to launch the syndicated afternoon show was now or never. Bill had previous vacations and commitments. I've heard him do the syndicated show several times where he had (prearranged) days of at KFI. After listening to the afternoon show, Bill has loosened up and hit his stride. With Handel, you love him or hate him (and in both cases may listen much like Howard Cosell). Missing a few days here and there is not likely to cause new listeners to bail when you consider how entertainment-starved that time period is on radio. Fourth, Handel does 4 hours in the AM, 2 hours in the PM and 4 hours of HOTL on Saturdays (6am KFI hour is repeats so he can sleep in to 545am on Saturdays - slacker!). Thats 34 hours of content a week compared to Rush's 15. Bill is one hard working dude.

As far as KFI's downfall, I look forward to being able to hear Bill mock Balloon Boys and such, he's much better than cable nets. I'm guessing his new show and the J&K pullup are doing just fine.