East Valley Radio Dies a Second Time

[admanscott]

Sorry to say, but due to my near-total inability to get advertiser support for "East Valley Radio with Scott Anderson" on 1440 KAZG, I am pulling the plug on the program.

I have been selling advertising since 1969, and I have never seen a time where I could not get even a small group of companies to support a program. These are truly perilous times. The few companies who did use the show got fine results, but there were just too few.

The sad part is that people were reacting nicely to the project, we were getting nice listener feedback, advertisers and interviewees were getting results and I had kept the cost of producing the show to a seriously bare minimum, but even with all that, I couldn't make things happen. It's really too bad, but these economic times are truly a killer.

Thanks to all for not ripping my hide off while I was trying to make things happen. I know my show was not much of a blip on the radio big picture.....I was sincere in my effort to put on a good show that supported and showcased the East Valley, but my timing obviously sucks big time.

If you hear of anybody looking for a good talk show host. I'm available.

Scott Anderson
East Valley Radio with Scott Anderson

 

[landtuna]

Sorry to see the show go Scott but one of the major factors might be that the signal sucks (here in the South East Valley at any rate) and the station is a daytimer. After months and months of trying my best to listen to The Lumberyard I finally gave up due to the poor signal and the infomercials during my listening time. I'm going to guess I'm not alone.

 

[KeithE4]

Sorry it didn't work out, Scott, but one problem I noticed that the audio quality was horrible - overly loud and distorted on the occasions I tuned in.

But the biggest problem you had is that, other than the denizens of this board, few if any people are aware that there is a Lumberyard 1440 in the first place. You can't get an audience or advertisers if almost nobody knows that the station even exists.

 

[admanscott]

Boy the comment that surprised me was the one about sound quality. I had numerous people (including my producer in her office) monitoring the signal, and heard nothing but kudos quality-wise. Perhaps the board op might have had the ISDN pot a little hot one day, but I never heard anything about that...we really tried to send a clean signal to KAZG, and engineer Gary Jacques is a stickler for sound quality, so I'm sure if it were a big problem, he would have beaten me about the head and shoulders about it.

Can I just say that after working at some of the biggest talk stations in the country, I was never treated better nor my product treated more professionally than by Chuck Artigue, Gary Jacques and the staff at Sandusky.

Saw what you will about the state of AM radio, but these guys are great broadcasters who really care, and if KAZG is not the ratings monster the other Sandusky stations are, it's not from lack or effort or caring.....believe me, if Chuck knew the answer shy of spending a million bucks on programming KAZG, he'd be doing it.

He loves that station....he even programs it himself.

Scott

 

[FeeKnixRadio]

if KAZG is not the ratings monster the other Sandusky stations are

Scott

Sarcasm ? :-\
KUPD is #3 12+ ;D KSLX is 14th :-[ KDKB is 18th :'( And then there is 'The Duece' :

 

[admanscott]

12+ is not the real yardstick of success....... you should know that, and the cluster makes millions in profits, even in tough times like now. And the Deuce makes a tidy pile as well. KAZG, not so much, but I believe it could be re-purposed after this recession into something that would pay as well, and I have talked to Chuck about it. Nobody is taking chances on anything right now, but somebody will come up with the right combination to make KAZG a winner again.

 

[FeeKnixRadio]

25-54 as 4th, 10th, 11th and n/a doesn't look much better.

Just saying, the phrase 'ratings monster' doesn't quite apply to the cluster. KUPD is a solid station but one station alone doesn't bring legitimacy to everyone in the building.

 

[KeithE4]

12+ is not the real yardstick of success....... you should know that, and the cluster makes millions in profits, even in tough times like now. And the Deuce makes a tidy pile as well.

Kevin McCabe, Bob Kemp, & Rock & Manuch are OK, but who's listening given that they're competing with Jim Rome/Dan Patrick on XTRA, and Colin Cowherd/Gambo & Ash on KTAR. Plus, since they lost the Coyotes to XTRA, there is little reason for a 3rd sports station in Phoenix anymore. I'm guessing that 1060 makes money only because of Sporting News Radio (cheap to carry?) and what they charge the Nebraska group to buy the time for those football games.

The almost-nonexistant night signal in the SE valley doesn't help (about 3 watts ERP to the south). IBOC hash from KNX overrides KDUS anywhere south of Warner Rd.

My guess is that the FMs have been propping up the AMs for many years. I find it hard to believe that KDUS makes even an untidy pile by itself.

KAZG, not so much, but I believe it could be re-purposed after this recession into something that would pay as well, and I have talked to Chuck about it. Nobody is taking chances on anything right now, but somebody will come up with the right combination to make KAZG a winner again.

When has 1440 ever been a "winner?" It's either been a 100% simulcast of 100.7 (KDOT, KOPA, KSLX) or just a placeholder for a satellite feed (the current oldies or CNN Headline News a few years back).

I'm one of their four listeners, but if they went off the air, noboby but me and the other 3 people would notice. Same goes for most of the stations not located at 550 or 620 on the dial.

 

[johndavis]

12+ is not the real yardstick of success....... you should know that, and the cluster makes millions in profits, even in tough times like now. And the Deuce makes a tidy pile as well.

Kevin McCabe, Bob Kemp, & Rock & Manuch are OK, but who's listening given that they're competing with Jim Rome/Dan Patrick on XTRA, and Colin Cowherd/Gambo & Ash on KTAR. Plus, since they lost the Coyotes to XTRA, there is little reason for a 3rd sports station in Phoenix anymore. I'm guessing that 1060 makes money only because of Sporting News Radio (cheap to carry?) and what they charge the Nebraska group to buy the time for those football games.

The almost-nonexistant night signal in the SE valley doesn't help (about 3 watts ERP to the south). IBOC hash from KNX overrides KDUS anywhere south of Warner Rd.

My guess is that the FMs have been propping up the AMs for many years. I find it hard to believe that KDUS makes even an untidy pile by itself.

KAZG, not so much, but I believe it could be re-purposed after this recession into something that would pay as well, and I have talked to Chuck about it. Nobody is taking chances on anything right now, but somebody will come up with the right combination to make KAZG a winner again.

When has 1440 ever been a "winner?" It's either been a 100% simulcast of 100.7 (KDOT, KOPA, KSLX) or just a placeholder for a satellite feed (the current oldies or CNN Headline News a few years back).

I'm one of their four listeners, but if they went off the air, noboby but me and the other 3 people would notice. Same goes for most of the stations not located at 550 or 620 on the dial.

With a relatively efficient TX, both of those AM's cost nothing to run. Broker out the time, run a barter satellite feed the rest of the day, and you'll make money. Sure, you won't bill more than KFYI, but your profit margin would be fairly high.

Sandusky does the same thing with its garbage AM in Seattle. They plug in CNN during the hours that they don't have Super Colon Blow infomercials and brokered talk shows.

If you can afford to pay to play, you can have as much time on 1440 or 1060 as you'd like. That's the story on pretty much the entire AM band these days. A win on a craptacular AM isn't measured by Arbitron, it's measured in your profit margin.

 

[landtuna]

A win on a craptacular AM isn't measured by Arbitron, it's measured in your profit margin.

And THAT, Dear Reader, is probably the most succinct bottom line I've heard in years.

Radio, and the people running the stations, used to take pride in their engineering, format, presentation and personalities. Some obviously still do and their market ratings are reflected in their earnings. But with consolidated corporate ownership it seems the bottom line is all that matters and to hell with the on-air product. The business schools must not be teaching the history of business these days as even in my limited number of years on this planet I've taken notice of corporation after corporation that died as a result of that "philosophy".

That may be harsh and I apologize to those of you who still tilt at windmills and may be painted with this broad brush.

 

[admanscott]

For your information, the Deuce is mostly brokered. Rock & Manuch buy 5 hours a day (I think Kevin McCabe works for them), and it's true it costs little to keep the transmitter going. I hate that radio is not what it was even 10 years ago, but it's always been about money, and even a station that is a well-kept secret like KAZG is able to create sales results for advertisers....it certainly did for the few I was able to corral. But to even suggest that radio stations are anything other than advertising delivery vehicles that MIGHT have some content squeezed in is just avoiding the obvious.

Like I said, if you wanted to staff up and buy expensive talent, you could get a station like KAZG or the Deuce to play with the big boys.... it could be done, but when you have big money makers making it easy to pluck the low-hanging fruit, you can see why it would be hard to put a million bucks toward an uphill battle like making them competitive.

I HAD hoped that IBOC would make these AM's more competitive by improving their audio, and making more hi-fi music channels available, but noone has made that work well on an AM yet.

 

[oldiesfan6479]

I'm one of their four listeners, but if they went off the air, noboby but me
and the other 3 people would notice.

Four? Hmmm...from what I've read, or read into, past postings on
Lumberyard 1440, there's you, me, pberger, Akbar...oh, and Jeff.

Make it five. Gotta be more though. How about Lauren, Legend City
and pattiwacki? We're up to eight now.

Can we get the Old Gringo to commit to listening, at least in passing?
(Passing through Phoenix on the way to Prescott?) Then there's
zumah--uh, no. Don't even go there. ;D

C'mon Phoenix board-ers, if you listen to KAZG--if only for the faulty
lamptimer and the botched sign-ons/sign-offs--give us a holler here.

 

[landtuna]

C'mon Phoenix board-ers, if you listen to KAZG--if only for the faulty
lamptimer and the botched sign-ons/sign-offs--give us a holler here.

I try real hard but the signal don't like me here in Fashionable South Tempe.

 

[pattiwacki]

I'm one of their four listeners, but if they went off the air, noboby but me
and the other 3 people would notice.

Four? Hmmm...from what I've read, or read into, past postings on
Lumberyard 1440, there's you, me, pberger, Akbar...oh, and Jeff.

Make it five. Gotta be more though. How about Lauren, Legend City
and pattiwacki? We're up to eight now.

Can we get the Old Gringo to commit to listening, at least in passing?
(Passing through Phoenix on the way to Prescott?) Then there's
zumah--uh, no. Don't even go there. ;D

C'mon Phoenix board-ers, if you listen to KAZG--if only for the faulty
lamptimer and the botched sign-ons/sign-offs--give us a holler here.

Yikes, oldiesfan! You came perilously close to summoning he who should never be mentioned!!!!!!

 

[DrAkbar]

C'mon Phoenix board-ers, if you listen to KAZG--if only for the faulty
lamptimer and the botched sign-ons/sign-offs--give us a holler here.

The Nure and I gotta give it up to Lumberyard 14~Forty...they have the best AM processing in town, bar none! The added bonus is hearing the terribly out of place "My Way" in regular rotation. Wonder which Gumpdusky exec mandated that one?

 

[oldiesfan6479]

The added bonus is hearing the terribly out of place "My Way" in regular rotation.
Wonder which Gumpdusky exec mandated that one?

Earlier in this thread, I think admanscott revealed the answer:

...Chuck Artigue...(snip)...believe me, if Chuck knew the answer shy of spending
a million bucks on programming KAZG, he'd be doing it...(snip)...He loves that
station....he even programs it himself.

Chuck--we need a new lamptimer, and legal IDs synched with it. ;D

 

[ajhenderson]

KKNW in Seattle isn't that bad of a station. They run very, very few "infomercials" and in reality, the format suits the market relatively well. Not many listen, but that's why it's a niche format. Sandusky could charge a lot more than they do, but the product is better the way it is.

 

[DrAkbar]

KKNW in Seattle isn't that bad of a station. ...Not many listen, but that's why it's a niche format.

Then Lumberyard 14~Forty must be ultimate niche station. Aside from the six or seven on this board, absolutely no one listens to it. Including the Gumpdusky suits!

 

[johndavis]

KKNW in Seattle isn't that bad of a station. They run very, very few "infomercials" and in reality, the format suits the market relatively well. Not many listen, but that's why it's a niche format. Sandusky could charge a lot more than they do, but the product is better the way it is.

Anytime you don't hear CNN news on KKNW, it's a pay-to-play show. It's not a format, it's just an advertising avail.