Huge success for KDWN

[AMFM702]

KDWN Town hall brought more than 1,000 people to Stoney’s. Also looks like every TV station covered the event as well. More recently KDWN’s morning show went #1 so they are making great strides at KDWN.

 

[davideduardo]

KDWN Town hall brought more than 1,000 people to Stoney’s. Also looks like every TV station covered the event as well. More recently KDWN’s morning show went #1 so they are making great strides at KDWN.

KDWN is 10th 12+ in mornings and also in 25-54. It is hardly first.

 

[Jay F]

KDWN Town hall brought more than 1,000 people to Stoney’s. Also looks like every TV station covered the event as well. More recently KDWN’s morning show went #1 so they are making great strides at KDWN.

KDWN is 10th 12+ in mornings and also in 25-54. It is hardly first.

Maybe they meant #1 talk station in mornings? Is KDWN ahead of KXNT?

 

[davideduardo]

KDWN Town hall brought more than 1,000 people to Stoney’s. Also looks like every TV station covered the event as well. More recently KDWN’s morning show went #1 so they are making great strides at KDWN.

KDWN is 10th 12+ in mornings and also in 25-54. It is hardly first.

Maybe they meant #1 talk station in mornings? Is KDWN ahead of KXNT?

Not unless 4.7 is less than 3.3

 

[Tony V]

Not unless 4.7 is less than 3.3
[/quote]

Look at 5-9am 25-54, and 35-64. When have you ever heard of 12 year olds listening to news on AM? I saw the spring book maybe you should ask somebody who has one, if not call me during the show I tell you the numbers (702-257-5396). KDWN's Morning show is from 5-9 so is the other station, 6-10 will includes two different shows on both stations.

Thanks,

Tony
Heidi Harris Show Producer

 

[davideduardo]

Not unless 4.7 is less than 3.3

Look at 5-9am 25-54, and 35-64. When have you ever heard of 12 year olds listening to news on AM? I saw the spring book maybe you should ask somebody who has one, if not call me during the show I tell you the numbers (702-257-5396). KDWN's Morning show is from 5-9 so is the other station, 6-10 will includes two different shows on both stations.

Thanks,

Tony
Heidi Harris Show Producer

Morning drive is 6-10, whatever may be on.

35-64 is not a sales demo. It's an excuse for stations that swing too old.

The 25-54 difference is 0.1, which in a market with as much wobble as Las Vegas is hardly enough to call a victory; statistically, and at best, it is a tie. In fact, in June, KXNT won 25-54 in Morning drive by 0.7!

Of course, this is the market where a leading morning show can go 14.1 to a 6.1 to an 11.9 in 25-54 in three successive months... again showing that the numbers in that market are not absolutes and they wobble a lot due to the smaller market diary sample size.

And I have my own access to the data, thank you.

 

[Organizer]

Vegas hasn't had a true all-news radio station since KNUU gave it up in the late 1980s. It was the only station the market ever had that followed the round-the-clock all-news formats of major-market news stations like KNX and KCBS...All-news, all the time, with talk and network programming relegated to the weekends, and even then, sparingly. The closest we came after that was the former KDWN, which would actually break into talk programming for a big local story. But their talkshow hosts were mostly right-wing extremists, which kept ratings and revenue low, and assured that almost no one heard whatever coverage they were able to provide (which consisted mostly of phone calls from locals, describing the news story).

Since then, we've had KXNT and Beasley's sorry excuse for KDWN, neither of which is an all-news radio station and neither of which has a real news reporting staff. Both run 90% canned hate programming and are so indistinguishible it's amazing that one has any kind of a lead over the other. KNUU has blended back in to our local AM wasteland because the current owners aren't capable or qualified to offer an all-news format. Las Vegas would see a great benefit from a real all-news radio station, but it takes money to make that work, and that's why we don't have one now.

 

[Jay F]

You are right, all-news is a very expensive format to operate. That's why it doesn't exist outside of the top 15 markets.

It's interesting to note that the morning ratings on KDWN have improved since they dropped the all news block in favor of Heidi Harris (with news reports of course). When it was just straight news the ratings were really low, the worst on the station. Maybe if there was a 24/7 news station it would gain a following, but KDWNs former AM numbers are not a good sign that it would. I noticed KDWNs news block format was identical to Cox stations such as WSB AM/Atlanta and KRMG/Tulsa...they even used the same sounders and beds, yet it never caught on here.

 

[Organizer]

KDWN's former numbers are no indication as to how a true all-news format would do in Las Vegas, because that's not at all what it was or is. Every news-talk station we've had since KNUU has been 95% the latter, 5% the former. The "news block" you describe was just more of the same...Mostly opinionated talk, references to news stories, and maybe a 5-10 minute newscast once an hour. That's not all-news, and we can continue to debate why it didn't and doesn't work. But what does work is hiring the right people, paying them fairly, getting the stories with live soundbites, wraparound pieces, in-depth reporting, solid network affiliation and a concept that used to be known as "serving your community." And I mean really doing it, not just saying it as part of a slogan or promotion. This actually does happen in markets below the top 15, but certainly not here. Interminable blocks of extremist programming with local cut-ins now rule the day and the news reporting is strictly second-rate, amateur rip-and-read. When it comes to this type of format, ratings take care of themselves (and sponsors and listeners fall in line) if you do it right and don't cut corners. That mentality is long gone from Vegas radio and so we are stuck with KXNT and KDWN instead of a real all-news station...which, I reiterate, is something from which this community could really benefit.

 

[Jay F]

I wasn't a frequent listener to the KDWN morning news block but did listen to it enough to get a feel for it. My impression is they had a large news staff both in the studio and on the street, It was fast paced, some criticized it as being too fast. There was minimum chatter or banter between the anchors They broke for traffic many many times per hour. They mostly covered local stories. I did not hear them give any opinions on the news they reported, it was straight news, weather, and traffic. It's only after they moved Heidi to mornings that it turned into opinion (both host and callers) with newscasts.

Maybe someone who was more familiar with the former KDWN morning news show could confirm if it was or was not opinionated.

 

[jh]

I only heard KDWN's all-news block a couple of times, but I did sit and do nothing but listen to it for one hour... and it was all news. No chatter, the anchors didn't even acknowledge each other. Almost all local news stories, one after another interrupted for all those traffic updates.

The longest segment after the 2:00 Fox news at the top of the hour was local sports at :15 and :45, both less than two minutes. Very little Fox material otherwise, maybe one feature story the whole hour.

Nothing I heard was opinionated, nothing in-depth, few stories were longer than :30. They had a lot of reporters and they were all heard voicing stories several times an hour, way too many voices which made it hard to listen to.

They had a lot of local stories. They were staffing the news room then 24/7, but a lot of the stories were of little consequence, such as minor crimes and car fires, which was also true of their updates every half hour around the clock.

It was all-news, not news-talk, it just wasn't very good.