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Is the "Apocalypse" Nigh for Family Radio?

stewie said:
Lkeller said:
SF Gate and the Chronicle report that Harold Camping's East-Bay based Family Radio network may be near the end - going broke. And not because the world is ending...

http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/End-may-near-for-Calif-evangelical-radio-network-4510752.php
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:eek: Surprise surprise :eek:. You can only cry wolf so many times before your credibility gets flushed down the toilet.

Maybe EMF will swoop in and buy up a few of the signals.
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or maybe KQED can expand their network. Or maybe USC would buy a few frequencies to expand KDFC? I think we have enough of EMF/K-Love. Some might be changed from non-commercial to commercial use. Family Radio sold a Stockton translator to KSTN-1420 AM.
 
WHO ever listened to Family Radio anyway?

They sound so grotesquely old.......
 
Imagine what a little simple counseling might have done for Mr. Camping, who, in the end, thought he was a prophet and had to control everything about his radio network. Because God depended on him and him alone "to do the numbers."

Then again, Family Radio was probably the first of the mega-nationwide religious networks, despite it not having programming that would attract a noticeable audience, even among religious conservatives. Guess you had to squeeze what you could out of a wide swath of the country to keep it all afloat. They had some impressive shortwave facilities, tooo. And, boy, could they file for FM frequencies in the damndest places!

When I asked Mr. Camping in September 1995 to donate several of his California frequencies to the public radio broadcaster I represented, effective on the date following one of his much-publicized "second coming" predictions (so that we could play classical music to soothe those "left behind" and to prove he really meant what he was saying), he told me it was "the craziest thing I ever heard" before he hung up on me. Apparently what the man heard and what came out of his mouth didn't get processed thru the same part of his brain.
 
Put KFRC back on The Big 610. I know, it's a dream
 
jprg said:
Put KFRC back on The Big 610. I know, it's a dream
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CBS would have to unload something in Sacramento.

Still, someone might find a decent use for 610 once Camping decamps. Both KNBR and KCBS show that a good AM signal can deliver good ratings.

Of course, KGO shows that you have to have programming to go with it...
 
1069_KIFR said:
Maybe Young Broadcasting can expand into radio!!! KRON610!
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Maybe Clear Channel should buy the 610 frequency and the KFRC call letters, but I doubt that will ever happen.
 
michael hagerty said:
jprg said:
Put KFRC back on The Big 610. I know, it's a dream
Click to expand...

CBS would have to unload something in Sacramento.

Still, someone might find a decent use for 610 once Camping decamps. Both KNBR and KCBS show that a good AM signal can deliver good ratings.

Of course, KGO shows that you have to have programming to go with it...
Click to expand...

IMO, the best use for the signal would be as a repeater for KQED. Maybe you could get Matt Elmore and Jerry Neuman to ID it as "the Big 610, KQED-AM."

More likely, it will go to another religious broadcaster.
 
I'm in favor of letting the KFRC calls stay buried. Each attempt to bring them back has simply devalued them. Unless you've got a format that can draw the kind of numbers KNBR and KCBS get, call it something else.
 
From Rich Lieberman's blog yesterday, he seemed to be hinting that Michael Zwerling could be interested in an AM signal such as KEAR. He also directly refered to this article about the decline of Family radio.
 
onairb said:
Can't anybody program music on AM anymore? How many crappy political or religious formats are there?
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The answer appears to be no. The last attempt at a new music station in the Bay Area was KPIG 1510. They even moved the transmitter to Oakland and boosted the power, but that still didn't work. As I recall it didn't even show up in the ratings.
 
travisl5678 said:
From Rich Lieberman's blog yesterday, he seemed to be hinting that Michael Zwerling could be interested in an AM signal such as KEAR. He also directly refered to this article about the decline of Family radio.
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Now, would Michael Zwerling reveal his hand an thereby boost the asking price for 610? I'd say that either Zwerling is a fool if he's revealed such a strategy before buying the station, or Wrong Way Lieberman got it wrong again. Your choice.
 
DavidKaye said:
The answer appears to be no. The last attempt at a new music station in the Bay Area was KPIG 1510. They even moved the transmitter to Oakland and boosted the power, but that still didn't work. As I recall it didn't even show up in the ratings.
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Not that I disagree with you - music as a format on AM is marginal at best. But in all fairness the power increase did not take effect until they switched format to the brokered programming, and they never did have an Arbitron encoder.

Dave B.
 
onairb said:
Can't anybody program music on AM anymore? How many crappy political or religious formats are there?
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Dozens, at least - it seems. Somebody could conceivably program music on AM, but nobody would listen - not after 30+ years of FM (high fidelity stereo) dominance.

I was sad to give up KFRC (speaking of 610) in the late 70s, but the music sounded so much better on FM - especially after advancing technology worked out all the signal problems...listening to FM in the car in the 60s and early 70s was torture...especially in hilly San Francisco

Take the KDFC repeater idea, for instance. I assume the theory is that listeners in regions who can't pull in KDFC's weak FM signals would be willing to listen to low-fidelity monaural classical music just to hear KDFC. But why? Maybe 40 years ago - but now you can listen online, use Pandora, cheaply download classical content to your MP3 and cell phone, buy some classical CDs, subscribe to satellite radio, etc.....
 
DaveBayArea said:
Not that I disagree with you - music as a format on AM is marginal at best. But in all fairness the power increase did not take effect until they switched format to the brokered programming, and they never did have an Arbitron encoder.

Dave B.
Click to expand...

All right, let's put it another way. Name me one AM music station in any market of size that is successful on its own (without an FM counterpart). One.
 
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