KABC Format Change

[semoochie]

Just to put this into perspective, in Portland, there are 14 stations with higher cume than KABC and LA has roughly nine times the population!

 

[Thomps2525]

Ayuh, those people in Maine ce'tainly do a lot o' radio listenin'.

Or were you talking about Portland, Oregon? At first I thought that maybe Portland doesn't have a lot of radio stations and that would explain the high cumes. But I checked with RadioLocator.com and found that there are 71 stations in the Portland listening area. There went my theory! (The Los Angeles market has 110 stations.) Now I'm going to posit a new theory: KABC has a low cume because (a) Larry Elder and Sean Hannity and Peter Tilden have been doing the same tired old shtick for far too many years, (b) Gerald Rivera---yes, that's his real name---became stale and irrelevant whiler he was still on television, and (c) KABC has no one who can compete with Bill Handel or John & Ken. Oh, did I mention the station's measly 5000 watts?

 

[michael hagerty]

Ayuh, those people in Maine ce'tainly do a lot o' radio listenin'.

Or were you talking about Portland, Oregon? At first I thought that maybe Portland doesn't have a lot of radio stations and that would explain the high cumes. But I checked with RadioLocator.com and found that there are 71 stations in the Portland listening area. There went my theory! (The Los Angeles market has 110 stations.) Now I'm going to posit a new theory: KABC has a low cume because (a) Larry Elder and Sean Hannity and Peter Tilden have been doing the same tired old shtick for far too many years, (b) Gerald Rivera---yes, that's his real name---became stale and irrelevant whiler he was still on television, and (c) KABC has no one who can compete with Bill Handel or John & Ken. Oh, did I mention the station's measly 5000 watts?

Signal and programming both matter, Steve.

Part of KABC's problem is that not everyone who might be a listener can hear them.

But if KFI and KABC swapped frequencies, KABC's programming on 640 would do a 2.0, max. Maybe a 1.5.

And KFI's lineup on 790? That'd probably drop to a 2 or so.

 

[Thomps2525]

I'm guessing that the news format is the most expensive format to maintain and is closely followed by the talk format. Am I right?

That's an interesting theory about listenership after a KFI-KABC frequency swap. It would never happen, of course, but I can recall three swaps that did happen in Los Angeles: KWKW-KALI, KCMG-KHHT and KDIS-KSPN. There have probably been many others...and Jim Hilliker is standing by with the details. Jim?

 

[michael hagerty]

I'm guessing that the news format is the most expensive format to maintain and is closely followed by the talk format. Am I right?

That's an interesting theory about listenership after a KFI-KABC frequency swap. It would never happen, of course, but I can recall three swaps that did happen in Los Angeles: KWKW-KALI, KCMG-KHHT and KDIS-KSPN. There have probably been many others...and Jim Hilliker is standing by with the details. Jim?

Right about news. Talk depends on how you do it. If it's syndicated hosts you're getting for barter (or who are paying you for the clearance), it's cheap.

And before the words "frequency swap" set off a whole crazy thing, my only point was this:

A 50,000 watt signal that covers L.A. flawlessly wouldn't get KABC's current programming a winning (or even good) rating. And putting consistently highly-rated content on the weaker 5,000 watt signal wouldn't make it a winner, either.

You have to be good AND be able to be heard.

 

[Thomps2525]

Essay questions:

How would Doug McIntyre do as a morning host on KFI?

How would John & Ken do as morning hosts on KABC?

Oh wait...just answer the first question. The second idea was already tried...and it failed.

 

[michael hagerty]

Essay questions:

How would Doug McIntyre do as a morning host on KFI?

How would John & Ken do as morning hosts on KABC?

Oh wait...just answer the first question. The second idea was already tried...and it failed.

It would all depend on whether Handel's audience would embrace Doug. How many of them even know who he is today?

 

[Thomps2525]

Hey, it isn't my fault that there's not a syndicated McIntyre On The Law program!

 

[ChannelFlipper]

Essay questions:

How would Doug McIntyre do as a morning host on KFI?

How would John & Ken do as morning hosts on KABC?

Oh wait...just answer the first question. The second idea was already tried...and it failed.

Actually, when KABC scored John and Ken for mornings, it was their last opportunity for relevance and a real chance to get back into the game. But Tinkerbell's parent company still owned the place and didn't want any controversies, so J&K were completely muzzled and the experiment was a total failure. I felt sorry for the guys at the time because you could feel their frustration coming through the radio.

Conservative talk radio in general is suffering for a lack of new talent. It is nearly time for Rush to hang 'em up and Hannity, Levine, Beck, and the repugnant Savage have all been taking the oxygen out of the room while their shows are getting long in the tooth. Time for some newer, younger, hungrier and more aggressive talent. The audience is still there, its just that a good part of it wants to move on to the next thing.

 

[Thomps2525]

John and Ken might have been succesful on KABC if they had stayed in afternoons. Remember in 1960-61 when KFWB's Bill Ballance was on from 9 to midnight and then got moved to the 6-to-9 a.m. slot? His risqué humor was more suited to late night. If we wanted to---which we probably don't---we could get into a discussion of other radio hosts who were put in time slots where they didn't really fit.

 

[semoochie]

At this point, you could probably run Bill Ballance in and out of the Sunday Sermon and no one would bat an eye!

 

[Robnoxious]

Hell, I remember Bill Ballance still getting the lady juices going with his callers when he was on KFMB late nights in the late 70's early 80's.
The guy was a master craft.

 

[michael hagerty]

Hell, I remember Bill Ballance still getting the lady juices going with his callers when he was on KFMB late nights in the late 70's early 80's.
The guy was a master craft.

He certainly was. The KFMB show was great...and an amazing run....14 years. Admittedly, the station itself was stable through that period, with almost everyone else (Hudson & Bauer, Clark Anthony, Mark Larson) having been there longer than Ballance, but Bill was the lone talk show on what was then primarily a music station.

 

[Marv-L.A.]

It was really disgusting how the FCC came in and ordered the honchos at KGBS to make Ballance 'clean up' his show due to some fourth-rate imitators who were really out of their element in attempting to emulate Ballance's wildly successful show followed by Ron Landry's downright hysterical 3-7PM show in which he seemingly zinged Dave Hull almost daily.

Two of the finest personalities in the history of LA radio at a time (1970-73) when the airwaves were loaded with them at too many stations to count; those were 'the good old days'......

 

[Thomps2525]

KHJ, 1970: Robert W. Morgan, Don Steele, Charlie Tuna, Humble Harve, Jerry Butler, Bill Wade, Chuck Browning, Mark Elliott, Shadoe Stevens, Johnny Williams.

KRLA, 1971: Tom Murphy, Dave Diamond, Shadoe Stevens, Dick Sainte, Russ O'Hara, Johnny Hayes, Johnnie Darin, Don Burns, Lee "Baby" Simms.

KROQ, 1972: Charlie Tuna, Sam Riddle, Shadoe Stevens, Steve Sands, Steve Lundy, Jim Wood, Jimmy Rabbitt, Lee "Baby" Simms.

It's obvious that Tuna, Simms and Shadoe just couldn't hold down a steady job!

 

[michael hagerty]

KHJ, 1970: Robert W. Morgan, Don Steele, Charlie Tuna, Humble Harve, Jerry Butler, Bill Wade, Chuck Browning, Mark Elliott, Shadoe Stevens, Johnny Williams.

KRLA, 1971: Tom Murphy, Dave Diamond, Shadoe Stevens, Dick Sainte, Russ O'Hara, Johnny Hayes, Johnnie Darin, Don Burns, Lee "Baby" Simms.

KROQ, 1972: Charlie Tuna, Sam Riddle, Shadoe Stevens, Steve Sands, Steve Lundy, Jim Wood, Jimmy Rabbitt, Lee "Baby" Simms.

It's obvious that Tuna, Simms and Shadoe just couldn't hold down a steady job!

1. Where'd this topic come from?

2. Tuna's movement wasn't his choice.

3. You could say the same thing about Morgan, who caused the Tuna move (1970:KHJ, 1971:WIND, 1972:KHJ, 1973:KIQQ 1975:KMPC).

4. Shadoe didn't arrive at KROQ until 1973.

5. Neither did Lee. He came over with Shadoe in late 1973 from KRLA...where he'd spent a bit over two years and Shadoe three.

 

[Thomps2525]

1. From Marv's comment about all the talent on L.A. radio in 1970-73.
2. I never said it was.
3. Yes, I could.
4. Then I was mistaken. I though Shadoe left KRLA for KROQ in fall of 1972 when KRLA installed their "Future Rock" format. (In 1973 KRLA tried two-man DJ teams---remember that?)
5. See #4.

Thank you for your interest.

 

[michael hagerty]

1. From Marv's comment about all the talent on L.A. radio in 1970-73.
2. I never said it was.
3. Yes, I could.
4. Then I was mistaken. I though Shadoe left KRLA for KROQ in fall of 1972 when KRLA installed their "Future Rock" format. (In 1973 KRLA tried two-man DJ teams---remember that?)
5. See #4.

Thank you for your interest.

Ah, okay.

No, Shadoe didn't get canned until early '73, and the two-man DJ team thing happened a week or two later.

A full examination of the talent we enjoyed back in those days would be a long list indeed.

 

[Thomps2525]

So true---those were the days when DJs in every time slot were friendly and personable and upbeat, as opposed to today, when the only "personality DJ" is in the morning slot and all the other DJs are pretty much interchangeable since all they do is back-announce two or three songs an hour and read an occasional contest promo.

Getting back to KABC, I wonder if anyone there has seen this comment from Jeanne Sims on LARadio.com: "Just a note to say how terrible I think Leo Terrell is as a substitute for Peter Tilden...He is rude to callers, self-important, and claims to be all-knowing. I refuse to listen when he is the fill-in...Leo Terrell is just awful."

Yes...but how do you really feel?

 

[OC3]

KABC to CBS Sports

How long before Cumulus makes the move??