Great News/Talks

[Don62]

I will add to the list a GREAT smaller-market station:

NewsTalk 710 KGNC - Amarillo, TX

Why they are great:

I second that emotion!

I used to listen to that station years ago. They were one of the first talk stations in Texas, perhaps the first one in west Texas.

KGNC was also one of the first affiliates to carry Rush. I was in distant Wichita Falls in 1989 or 1988 when Limbo's show debuted. I could pick the signal up then. At that time, the only NTs in north Texas were 710 and 570 KLIF. KRLD 1080 was stricly all news, all the time. WBAP, when their announcers weren't mispronouncing names of cities in their listening area ( it's BOO-EE, not BOW-ee for "Bowie" Texas ), was running country.

KGNC- Good station that retains a local flavor.

 

[Don62]

yes, KDKA does well in the beauty contest, but the audience is dying. The standards station in Vegas had over a 5 share 12+ when it flipped. But having a very large audience of people in nursing homes doesn't do much.

Gotta disagree with you on this point.

There isn't much music radio appealing to anyone over 50 years of age, so why not try to find some way to serve the most loyal of radio's listeners, the older ones? They have much more experience - and an appreciation of - than that stupid 16 year old who like never heard of AM radio and only wants to hear rap or Brittney.

Keep in mind the AC artists that continue to stand the test of time--Phil Collins, Cher, Rod Stewart, Hall and Oates, Elton John, etc.--are all eligible for AARP cards. Or in the case of artists like Cheryl Crow, very close to qualifying for one.

I didn't realize an artist's age makes him or her inelgible for radio airplay. No wonder new material fro very few "older" artists are played regularly on radiio. Sounds like agism, which should be as bad as racism or sexism.

I read online how that monopolist Clear Channel is refusing to play singles from Bruce Springsteen's latest CD. Despite the fact that the CD is approaching nearly 1 million in sales, the brain trust at CC thinks Springsteen, because he's 58 or something, is waaaaaay too old for its listeners.

With bozos like CC in charge, no wonder radio is on its death bed.

 

[radiotower40]

In an earlier post on this topic someone mentioned WBAP playing country music. I remember them playing country music
at night, I was listening in Chicago, does anyone know when they stopped playing music at night? I miss the days of being
able to pick up stations from hundreds of miles away playing music at night. I was able to pick up stations in Texas, Kentucky,
Cincinnati, St. Louis and many others. I know the realities of music on AM, but what I find frustrating is that most of these
former music stations have the same syndicated programming, be it sports, George Norray or The Midnight Radio Network.
You turn on am at night now and literally 8 out of 10 stations carry George Norray overnights. There was a short time a few
years back when people I knew here in Chicago were upset when WLS pulled Coast To Coast AM to try something different
and I was able to point out at least 5 other stations outside of Chicago that came in perfectly clear. Yeah I know I babble
on to much.

 

[ajhenderson]

No, but very few people DX AM these days.

 

[EnoughJohnMayer]

How about WHP 580 in Harrisburg, PA? At top 100 market station near/exceeding double digit share and #1 every book. Local talk during drive time, and local news all day.

 

[jimwalsh2001]

KGNC and WHP are both damn fine stations. I'm acquainted with both Dan Gorman and R.J. Harris, and both gentlemen are world-class broadcasters.

 

[Don62]

I like great local content. Programs that show some effort and thought.

Running Bill-Oh- Riley, El Rushbo, Slanthead, et. al., back to back with little audience interaction show a station's owners only know how to "plug and play" and don't have much vision for real broadcasting.

Much like VT'ing that has taken over much of music FM and Crap Channel's seasonal gutting its staff ( the posts are rife on these boards ) makes me want someone in D.C. to strip such monopolists of their power, limit them to 1-2 stations max per market, prohibit them from owning the most powerful signals in a given market, etc.

 

[radiotower40]

Don, I agree with you something has to be done about one or two companies owning all of the stations in a given market,
until this issue is addressed talk radio,or just radio in general is going to keep suffering because of it.

 

[jimwalsh2001]

Who is Slanthead? ???

 

[ajhenderson]

Ed Schultz's name for Hannity. I think he is the guy Savage calls "wall banger".

 

[radioguyntx]

WHAM 1180 and WYSL 1040 in the Rochester NY are are both good news/talk stations in my opinion. WHAM does both morning and evening newscasts, while WYSL has local content as well as simulcasting a local TV station's newscasts in the evening.

Infact any news/talk station that has local news in the evenings or a local PM rush host is always good by me. I hate those stations that only devote time to just a morning show then syndicated shows the rest of the day with only brief updates through out.

See: KWTX News/Talk 1230 AM, They have a local show from 6-9, with a recorded sound byte on the top of the hour along with station ID of the weather. Unless there is severe weather... Then it is a simulcast of a local T.V. station.