KABC with a .9

[LKellerIII]

Do you guys think Cumulus will make radical changes to all their stations nationwide? Even the ones making money?

At KFOG in SF, they basically pushed Dave Morey out the door, although I don' t think he was ever terminated outright. He was essentially the voice and face of the station for years, so clearly heritage doesn't mean very much to them. No one should feel safe.

Do you have information that Morey was pushed out? All public information disseminated at the time indicated that his departure from KFOG was a voluntary retirement, which is not that odd considering he's getting up there in age, and had been at the station for 2+ decades. I don't recall any talk on the SF Boards about him being "pushed."

Of course, it'c certainly possilbe that I missed something, and even if I didnt- that you are correct. Not challenging, Just asking...

 

[ChannelFlipper]

Do you guys think Cumulus will make radical changes to all their stations nationwide? Even the ones making money?

At KFOG in SF, they basically pushed Dave Morey out the door, although I don' t think he was ever terminated outright. He was essentially the voice and face of the station for years, so clearly heritage doesn't mean very much to them. No one should feel safe.

Do you have information that Morey was pushed out? All public information disseminated at the time indicated that his departure from KFOG was a voluntary retirement, which is not that odd considering he's getting up there in age, and had been at the station for 2+ decades. I don't recall any talk on the SF Boards about him being "pushed."

Of course, it'c certainly possilbe that I missed something, and even if I didnt- that you are correct. Not challenging, Just asking...

Lew, I agree with everything you said above. At the time it was definitely touted as somewhat of a stepping stone, voluntary retirement agreement. At first they said that Dave would continue to produce the iconic 10@10 from his new retirement home in Michigan(!), but that didn't last long, if ever, and then that was ultimately taken away from him and represented the final parting. My suspicion all along (and I could be wrong for sure) is that they gave him some sort of buyout or other parting incentive, and part of the deal was for both parties to make the split look amicable.

But the fact of the matter is he was a highly paid employee and they needed to cut costs, and the split was meant to look amicable, but in my opinion, came off looking awkward.

 

[Skyboyrox]

I worked with Dave at KFOG--trust me, he retired. I tried to get him to be the imaging voice at KCSN and he was polite but firm--enjoying retired life on Lake Michigan.

Dave was the most creative imaging talent I ever knew. Plus, you won't meet a nicer person.

 

[davideduardo]

As for the signal.... As has been noted, I'm sure 5kw going up against a 50kw blowtorch in KFI doesn't help matters. But the 790 signal isn't exactly chopped liver, either. IME...which takes in more than 25 years, the signal seems decent enough in most of the metro.

Depending on the area, it takes between 10 mV/m and 15mV/m to get any significant listening in LA at-home and at work (where 70% of radio listening occurs). About 95% of AM listening is inside the 10 mV/m in LA.

The KABC signal at that level covers less than half the population of the metro, while KFI pretty much covers all of the market (although I know of several places where the KFI signal is near 25 mV/m and they are overridden by line noise along miles of busy streets).

 

[davideduardo]

From what I've read and through my research KMPC didn't "fail", they were sold to ABC who then flipped format to regular talk programming.

The sale was announced in April of 1994; the previous book had KMPC at a 0.5 which was about 35th in rank. The station actually went up with the format ABC put on, but not by much.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

I worked with Dave at KFOG--trust me, he retired. I tried to get him to be the imaging voice at KCSN and he was polite but firm--enjoying retired life on Lake Michigan.

Dave was the most creative imaging talent I ever knew. Plus, you won't meet a nicer person.

In that case I will go with it and am glad to hear that I should have taken the announcement at face value. But with the way radio works these days (particularly Cumulus), my original suspicions, even if incorrect, were not unreasonable.

Smart move trying to get Dave to image the station. Anything you could do to get him on would definitely class the place up!

 

[cyberdad]

As for the signal.... As has been noted, I'm sure 5kw going up against a 50kw blowtorch in KFI doesn't help matters. But the 790 signal isn't exactly chopped liver, either. IME...which takes in more than 25 years, the signal seems decent enough in most of the metro.

Depending on the area, it takes between 10 mV/m and 15mV/m to get any significant listening in LA at-home and at work (where 70% of radio listening occurs). About 95% of AM listening is inside the 10 mV/m in LA.

The KABC signal at that level covers less than half the population of the metro, while KFI pretty much covers all of the market (although I know of several places where the KFI signal is near 25 mV/m and they are overridden by line noise along miles of busy streets).

Point taken, David, thanks. Of course, my experience is essentially that of a visiting business traveler in a rental car. From that perspective (between appointments on the freeway), the signal seems fine. But even with that said, it's not that I spend a lot of time listening to a station that I find neither entertaining nor informative.