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Infinity's New "FM Talk" Definition

O

OldAkronite

When you say the words "FM talk" and "Infinity" in the same sentence, it usually brings up thoughts of Howard Stern, Don & Mike, and former Infinity hosts Opie & Anthony, along with other such "hot talk" shows. Could that be changing, drastically?

Consider: Infinity recently announced the pickup of WTKK/96.9 Boston afternoon host Jay Severin for a syndicated show, to begin airing early next year. Severin is very much a political talker, and WTKK (owned by Greater Media, not Infinity) is not a sex-fueled "hot talk" station, but a political talker on FM.

Severin's planned national show - "Jay Severin Has Issues" - is tentatively set to air on about 10 Infinity talk stations at launch. Could some of those be FMs?

That moves us to San Francisco, where Infinity recently hired former Clear Channel talk PD/OM Ken Kohl (KNEW/KQKE in that market, home base was at KFBK/KSTE Sacramento) to be VP/GM of a powerful local FM station that's widely expected to turn to a talk format soon, as soon as religious Family Radio hands over the keys (tied to the soon-to-end Oakland A's season, which Family has been forced to run on its new AM, now-religious KFRC/610).

Market observers say he's likely drooling over two of his proteges for the new station, KSTE/Sacramento-KNEW/SF-KFIV/Modesto morning hosts Armstrong and Getty, a former FM morning team Kohl hired for KSTE a number of years ago. They're not "hot talkers"...they're more along the lines of "funny issues/lifestyle talkers".

Could THIS - shows like A&G, shows like Severin - be Infinity's new FM talk "blueprint" post-Stern?

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
Infinity wants to Jack up its audience

Traditional AM talk gets audience demos almost - but not quite - as old as does Oldies. They have been flipping their Oldies to get younger listeners. Now they are doing the same with talk. The model for younger skewing talk is NJ 101.5. FM. Edgier. More water cooler topics; less straight politics.

I don't see this as directly related to Stern, who mostly played on music stations (music the rest of the day).

> When you say the words "FM talk" and "Infinity" in the same
> sentence, it usually brings up thoughts of Howard Stern, Don
> & Mike, and former Infinity hosts Opie & Anthony, along with
> other such "hot talk" shows. Could that be changing,
> drastically?
>
> Consider: Infinity recently announced the pickup of
> WTKK/96.9 Boston afternoon host Jay Severin for a syndicated
> show, to begin airing early next year. Severin is very much
> a political talker, and WTKK (owned by Greater Media, not
> Infinity) is not a sex-fueled "hot talk" station, but a
> political talker on FM.
>
> Severin's planned national show - "Jay Severin Has Issues" -
> is tentatively set to air on about 10 Infinity talk stations
> at launch. Could some of those be FMs?
>
> That moves us to San Francisco, where Infinity recently
> hired former Clear Channel talk PD/OM Ken Kohl (KNEW/KQKE in
> that market, home base was at KFBK/KSTE Sacramento) to be
> VP/GM of a powerful local FM station that's widely expected
> to turn to a talk format soon, as soon as religious Family
> Radio hands over the keys (tied to the soon-to-end Oakland
> A's season, which Family has been forced to run on its new
> AM, now-religious KFRC/610).
>
> Market observers say he's likely drooling over two of his
> proteges for the new station,
> KSTE/Sacramento-KNEW/SF-KFIV/Modesto morning hosts Armstrong
> and Getty, a former FM morning team Kohl hired for KSTE a
> number of years ago. They're not "hot talkers"...they're
> more along the lines of "funny issues/lifestyle talkers".
>
> Could THIS - shows like A&G, shows like Severin - be
> Infinity's new FM talk "blueprint" post-Stern?
>
> -OA
>
 
Re: Infinity wants to Jack up its audience

> Traditional AM talk gets audience demos almost - but not
> quite - as old as does Oldies. They have been flipping
> their Oldies to get younger listeners. Now they are doing
> the same with talk. The model for younger skewing talk is
> NJ 101.5. FM. Edgier. More water cooler topics; less
> straight politics.

I would say that there are a number of "traditional" talk hosts already doing this. But they're stuck on formats with Rush, Hannity, and other crap dreamed up by the syndication wizards at Jones/WW1/RA/etc. Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, and others devote a good part of the time discussing non-political issues; Savage with his talk of food, personal experiences, and so on, Beck with More-On trivia and comedy bits. We need to get away from the model of syndicating everything that moves. The Rush model is done... Rush is only keeping it up because he's who he is.
 
Re: Infinity wants to Jack up its audience

> Traditional AM talk gets audience demos almost - but not
> quite - as old as does Oldies. They have been flipping
> their Oldies to get younger listeners. Now they are doing
> the same with talk. The model for younger skewing talk is
> NJ 101.5. FM. Edgier. More water cooler topics; less
> straight politics.

NJ 101.5 is an archetype of what I'm talking about. Heck, even Infinity is doing it, itself, in some markets or or with some shows. I haven't listened in a long time, but I believe WKRK/Detroit is basically this kind of station...not necessarily built around sex topics (though their afternoon show has gotten in trouble for that before!), but more lifestyle/hot button personal topics that affect people.

One other model - KFI/Los Angeles' John and Ken. They go more political, and are on AM, but they're more "populist" talkers than anything. If there's an issue they think will get their listeners riled up, like immigration, they'll ride the horse no matter which political party is on the other end.

Since the GM of the soon-to-be Infinity FM talker in SF is a huge fan of KFI (and used to be PD, before its current run took hold), I wouldn't be surprised to see them go in this direction...and go after the aforementioned Armstrong & Getty.

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
Re: Infinity wants to Jack up its audience

National syndication isn't going away, but there really isn't room for everything that's out there. A new crop of talk hosts is needed, and it looks like Infinity may be stepping in that direction.<P ID="signature">______________
Greetings from Ohio-where the governor wants everyone to know he's sorry.</P>
 
Re: Infinity wants to Jack up its audience

> One other model - KFI/Los Angeles' John and Ken. They go
> more political, and are on AM, but they're more "populist"
> talkers than anything. If there's an issue they think will
> get their listeners riled up, like immigration, they'll ride
> the horse no matter which political party is on the other
> end.

Your wrong on this one. John and Ken are in lock step with Republican party here in California. They are stauch supporters of Arnold and hard core critics of all statewide Democratic politians. They (and other rightwing talk show hosts statewide) probably deserve more credit for the recall of Gray Davis than anyone else. They pounded away at Gray Davis for weeks prior to the recall election and treated Arnold like he was the messiah featuring several softball interviews with the governator. The only times where they actually criticize Republican's is on the red meat topic of illegal immigration where they are actually to the right of Republican party. They want Mexican immigrants deported, not allowed to attend public schools, and denied treatment in hospitals. They are being picketed by Hispanic groups this week and have asked their listeners to call police departments asking them to arrest the illegals who might be there. They did this even though police in the Southern California are overwhelmed with emergency calls related to a wild fire that has consummed 25,000 acres. They are programming to their listeners which are dominated by angry white men over 50 years old.
 
> When you say the words "FM talk" and "Infinity" in the same
> sentence, it usually brings up thoughts of Howard Stern, Don
> & Mike, and former Infinity hosts Opie & Anthony, along with
> other such "hot talk" shows. Could that be changing,
> drastically?
>
> Consider: Infinity recently announced the pickup of
> WTKK/96.9 Boston afternoon host Jay Severin for a syndicated
> show, to begin airing early next year. Severin is very much
> a political talker, and WTKK (owned by Greater Media, not
> Infinity) is not a sex-fueled "hot talk" station, but a
> political talker on FM.
>
> Severin's planned national show - "Jay Severin Has Issues" -
> is tentatively set to air on about 10 Infinity talk stations
> at launch. Could some of those be FMs?
>
> That moves us to San Francisco, where Infinity recently
> hired former Clear Channel talk PD/OM Ken Kohl (KNEW/KQKE in
> that market, home base was at KFBK/KSTE Sacramento) to be
> VP/GM of a powerful local FM station that's widely expected
> to turn to a talk format soon, as soon as religious Family
> Radio hands over the keys (tied to the soon-to-end Oakland
> A's season, which Family has been forced to run on its new
> AM, now-religious KFRC/610).

In an onair announcment by Mr. Camping he say's the Oakland A's are running on 610AM as agreed to in the sales contract for the 610 license. There was nothing
forced about it at all. By the way the last Oakland A's baseball game starts today at 1:05 PM. Afterward its bye bye 610 KFRC and hello 610 KEAR..

> Market observers say he's likely drooling over two of his
> proteges for the new station,
> KSTE/Sacramento-KNEW/SF-KFIV/Modesto morning hosts Armstrong
> and Getty, a former FM morning team Kohl hired for KSTE a
> number of years ago. They're not "hot talkers"...they're
> more along the lines of "funny issues/lifestyle talkers".
>
> Could THIS - shows like A&G, shows like Severin - be
> Infinity's new FM talk "blueprint" post-Stern?
>
> -OA
>
 
Re: Infinity wants to Jack up its audience

> National syndication isn't going away, but there really
> isn't room for everything that's out there. A new crop of
> talk hosts is needed, and it looks like Infinity may be
> stepping in that direction.
>
Do you mean "stepping in it" in that direction? Talk on FM in SF is going to have one hell of a bumpy ride because the talk radio format is so over saturated in the bay area already.
 
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