KCBS was #1 in the latest ratings,geting an FM simulcast helped them beat Citadel Talker KGO.Could geting an FM simulcast give KNX a boost,maybe even beat KABC and KFI?
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KCBS #1 in the city by the bay, would an FM Simulcast help KNX?
- Thread starter travisl5678
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musicfan101
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NO! LA isn't a news town, we don't care about the news stations as it is. Why would an FM simulcast work?
musicfan101 said:
It would help the younger end.
The key here is that KFRC-FM wasn't making any money anyway so it was easy to blow it up to help KCBS's bottom line. CBS, Citadel and Clear Channel don't have a Los Angeles FM station doing poorly enough to warrant blowing up in favor of a simulcast. They may not make up the revenue lost by gaining the younger 25-54 demos.
It also doesn't help that the News/Talk share in this town is lower than in the Bay Area.
TheBigA said:
I think that the line you quoted from MRK speaks to that. My experience and observation is that San Franciscans are more sophisticated, or like to appear to be so, than Angelinos. They tend to identify more with New York City in cultural interests where News as in all new WCBS-AM does much better, placing more comparably to KFI than to KNX on AM. Having worked at an NPR station years ago I know that they are still responsive to local tastes considering content, just not as ratings driven as their commercial counterparts.
So the bottom line as to KNX doing a simulcast on FM is not likely given the ratings of their FM properties.
nmoore6676 said:
Both New York and San Francisco are more compact in terms of physical size...with Manhattan and The City being the focal points of the overall metro. If something big happens in those two downtowns, the entire area pays attention. You can't say the same about Downtown L.A. and the rest of Southern California.
TheBigA said:
And it used to be worse in LA until Minnesota Public Radio /American Public Media was brought in to take over the operations of KPCC a few years ago. NPR News listeners had to settle for KCRW and their lack of a local news department and their avant-garde music programming to get their NPR. I believe that KUSC carried Morning Edition and All Things Considered for a time.
The following suggestion may upset a few Pacifica Radio fans, but I beleive it could be a win-win situation in the long term:
I would love to see Pasadena City College and American Public Media to make a deal with Pacifica to trade KPFK's facility at 90.7 with KPCC's 89.3 plus some cash. I think the money would be better for Pacifica than contiuning to operate their large signal at 90.7. I believe the signal is better suited for a potentially larger audience that could be had with NPR programming. As it stands, KPFK's cume is less than 2 persons for every watt of ERP.
This way, Pacifica which has had financial troubles in the past could spend more on resources with the money gained from the transaction. NPR will gain a more usable signal in the second largest radio market in the nation.
Anyway...back to the main subject at hand...I don't see All News KNX-FM anytime soon unless the billing drops out rapidly on say....KTWV.
Michael Rivers Kramer said:
That makes way too much sense. We've discussed similar proposals on the NY and SF boards about Pacifica. I know that the Pacifica board of trustees have been offered huge amounts of money for their stations in several markets, and have also been offered trades in facilities. In all cases, they were absolutely uninterested. You're right that they could use the money, but they don't care about money. Radio for them is a mission, and dial placement and signal strength is a victory for them, regardless of the actual listenership.
TheBigA said:
You do bring up a good point. I do remember a time though, when the Pacifica Board threatened to sell KPFA/ Berkeley during a dispute between the organization and the station.
Personally, I believe an FM could help KNX...But, as I listen to KNX every morning I'm getting tired of way too many commercials, it just turns me off. So, I flip to KPCC (FM) for 'Morning Edition' when I reach my limit of Mortgage Refiance commercials. BTW - The quality truly shows on air at 740/106.9 KCBS - I truly enjoy listening to that station as they really have a good news vibe in the Bay Area (At night when KBRT is off air and my iPhone/Wunderradio during the Day. JGtravisl5678 said:
goriajk said:
I also don't like KPCC's low powered, high altitude signal that goes everywhere yet penetrates nothing. When my engine is cold in the morning, I hear ignition noise on the station when driving to work. Their facility is limited below the maximum class B at their HAAT. They tried to up grade to a whole 800 watts ERP directional;, but were denied by the FCC due to having to protect KSFV-CA Channel 6. It probably wouldn't have made much of a difference, though.
recto101 said:
Yes, LA is more of a get-to-the-point-quickly, love-to-talk-more-but-I-gotta-go, type of town. And, if you can make it loud and confrontational, all the better. No time for long, intellectual analysis here.
Whenever I listen to KNX in the morning, Dick Helton is often attacking some poor fool with a loaded question. By the time the interviewee realizes this was not what he expected and gets his feet under him, Dick is saying, "That's all the time we have" and cuts him off.
No doubt that the addition of the FM simulcast has helped ratings for KCBS in the Bay Area, and David Eduardo has said the FM has helped deliver the more desirable (younger) audience that doesn't listen to AM. But KCBS was already a high rated station before that, unlike KNX.
Putting aside whether or not LA is a more "tabloid" market, I'll note that KCBS does not run a lot of long news analysis, it's really just your basic "give us 22 minutes" brand of news station, with lots of sports and traffic.
Personally, after years of NPR, I can't deal with the huge spot load on KCBS or any other All News station. I realize they probably need all those commercials to pay the bills, but I find it intolerable. At least when NPR runs a long boring story, I know I can safely tune out for a few minutes.
Putting aside whether or not LA is a more "tabloid" market, I'll note that KCBS does not run a lot of long news analysis, it's really just your basic "give us 22 minutes" brand of news station, with lots of sports and traffic.
Personally, after years of NPR, I can't deal with the huge spot load on KCBS or any other All News station. I realize they probably need all those commercials to pay the bills, but I find it intolerable. At least when NPR runs a long boring story, I know I can safely tune out for a few minutes.
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