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KOA/KDFD

In 2019, KOA moved Rush to what became "Freedom Talk." How did this work out for KOA, which had until this switch, been a consistently top rated station? In light of recent events, what will this mean for KDFD?
 
In 2019, KOA moved Rush to what became "Freedom Talk." How did this work out for KOA, which had until this switch, been a consistently top rated station? In light of recent events, what will this mean for KDFD?
I mean they should just shut that station down in my opinion. The denver audience for hannity isnt that great and thats the main draw.
 
KOA has been a shell of its former glorious past.
In the 80s and 90s, the station was mostly live and local, with great hosts like Ken Hamblin (the Black Avenger) and Alan Berg, who was gunned-down by white supremacists.
The last I listened, it was running DAVE RAMSEY at nights after sports (like KRLD-1080 Dallas, another once-great station).
It ran Coast to Coast AM overnights. Nothing wrong with that great show. I am a regular listener. But, like Dave Ramsey, it's super-syndicated and something that airs in nearly every other market. A waste of space for a city-grade signal, imo.

I haven't heard the station or viewed its website in a couple of years. I sense a local refocus happened, and hope that occurred.
 
As of the latest ratings for May, KOA is climbing back on top while KDFD is in freefall.
 
It's unusual that one owner, iHeart, would have THREE talk stations in one market. KOA is local by day and with sports in the evening. KDFD is all syndicated featuring co-owned Premiere Network's big names. And KHOW is a mix of local, regional and national hosts.

In the latest ratings, KOA is #10, KDFD #15 and KHOW #18.

I've often thought in a situation like this, KOA should be all news during the day, similar to iHeart's WBZ Boston and Audacy's KRLD Dallas. Denver is probably not big enough to go 24/7 all-news. But what is KOA's real drawing power? News, traffic and weather. So let KOA's news department shine from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m. Then do sports in the evening and Ramsey/Coast to Coast late nights. No political talk in the quite liberal Denver-Boulder market on KOA.

Let KDFD run Hannity, Beck and Travis/Sexton. Let KHOW have the local and regional talk shows.
 
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I am not even sure why iHeart came up with KDFD to begin with. KOA and KHOW had been around for years and complimented each other nicely. I suppose iHeart wanted all of the Premiere shows on one station (Hannity had run on Salem’s KNUS for years) but it is ridiculous to have another station cannibalize your historic stations. No wonder iHeart has gone off the rails.
 
In Boston, iHeart also owns three news/talk stations. WBZ 1030 is the big clear-channel station always in the top 5. All-news from 5 a.m. to 7 p.m., a live local talk show in the evening, seven days a week, and automated all-news overnight. WRKO 680 has local talk all day with Coast to Coast AM all night. And WXKS 1200 is the home for all of Premiere's syndicated talk shows, Hannity, Beck, Jesse Kelly, Clay & Buck.

I think it makes sense for iHeart to follow this formula. All News on KOA all day, sports talk and live sports in the evening and automated all-news overnight. Let KHOW have all the local talk shows. And run the Premiere syndicated programs on KDFD.

I listened to KOA's morning news yesterday. It's a really good, real all-news operation from 5 to 9 a.m.! Local reporters, some from Fox 31, an airborne helicopter traffic reporter and live weather forecaster, also from Fox 31. Why not benefit from that effort all day? Then at night, carry the local sports talk shows when the Rockies and Broncos aren't playing.
 
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