Dont knock it just b/c you dont find it interesting. the ratings were not as bad as people think, or what the papers printed.
Uhhhh, yes they were. As bad as the station's AQH share was, the cume was even worse. It's hard to grow the ratings when you have such little cume. Even 100.3 The Sound was outcuming KLSX.
The only reason this change occured is b/c of the economy. CBS needs to save money somehow, and regardless of good ratings (FHF and Tom were #1 in their demographic and time slot), the talk format is expensive to uphold, especially when they count on advertisers to pay the bills. when they can't possible get more advertising, they have to do something else.
IMO, the economy has little do with it. The bottom line is the station was one of the weakest performers in L.A. ratings-wise, and I suspect ad revenue was starting to follow suit. (There is usually a lag between declining ratings and declining revenue for established brands. Once rating declines are sustained for several straight books, then billing will often start to dip.)
Regardless of overall economic conditions, the station would've been an underperformer relative to the other full-market FM stations.
I think many of you underestimate this station. Both Tom Leykis and Tim Conway Jr have been there for over ten years. Frosty, Heidi, and Frank were going on 8, and Adam was holding strong and just over 2 (stern before him on forever). Yeah, this is proof that this format is dead. if people really werent listening, the format would have gone away years ago.
No one cares about what happened in the past. Time to move into 2009 with the rest of us.
The format isn't dead? You haven't been paying attention, apaprently. It's performed poorly in every PPM market where the format's been on the air, and before that, it performed poorly in several diary-measured markets.
The one FM Talker CBS has left -- WJFK -- has been around 18th - 20th place overall in every PPM month so far. Every full-market FM signal in the market, commercial or non-commercial, has been beating them in the ratings with just 2 or 3 exceptions.
The bottom line is the format doesn't have nearly enough talent that can grab a large, captive audience. With the radio biz doing such a poor job of cultivating new talent, this trend will NOT be changing.
The number of FM News/Talk and FM Sports stations will continue to grow. FM Hot Talk will never be a widespread format.
also, the whole reason behin the switch was explained pretty graciously by all the hosts of all the shows today. its pretty clear from them, and prgram directer Jack Silver, that this decision came from east coast headquarters who are not personally involved in the show, or in its broadcasting area. it was a a money making decision that has beeni n the works for a long time b/c of the sinking economy.
I agree that it probably came from New York and it was a money-oriented decision, but again, the sinking economy has little to do with it. CHR stations are generally NOT very cheap to run, especially in large / major markets.
