• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

NEED HELP WITH FM TALK LINEUP

R

RadioAMFM

We're in a small market which leans very far right (over 75% voted for McCain / Palin in 2008).

• Heritage AM has Rush, Hannity, Beck, Savage, Coast to Coast

• Other AM has Dennis Miller, Laura Ingraham, Dr. Laura, Mark Levin

We are intrigued about jumping on the FM Talk bandwagon, but now we're left stuck with third-tier programming to choose from.

We worked out a possible lineup using Fox News Radio news and branding, with some of their talk shows (Brian and The Judge, John Gibson) + perhaps Clark Howard or Dave Ramsey.

And now the question.....does this lineup have a chance to compete on FM with the other two AMs? This particular FM has a better signal than the two AMs, so coverage is not an issue. The only issue is finding the right correct programming.

Ownership is giving me the green light to do whatever I want as long as I keep costs to a minimum, since our last experiment on this FM with music completely flopped.

One colleague suggests that we go hard-left with it (Stephanie Miller, Ed Shultz, Randi Rhodes, Thom Hartmann), but in this town I might get stoned to death if I do that.

I appreciate your thoughts and ideas as we mull our options.
 
Looks like you are stuck with the bottom of the pack. You might look at some of the Salem talkers.

Do you have the budget to host a local show that may be conservative in nature, but presented with more depth than the national talkers who pretty much go no deeper than the raw emotions of the issues?

Or my market has a pm drive guy who sometimes just takes life issues and makes a show of them. An example the other day was "the thing you've done at work you most regret". Or "the worst date you ever had."

About as political he gets is he shares stupid news stories and sometimes approaches them from a right leaning perspective. But he doesn't spend a lot of time with the perspective as much as the stupid thing someone did.

To be honest, he's been in the market a long time and people sort of identify with him. He's sort of like the bar fly that sits at the end of the bar that everyone likes. He's done it all. Has an anecdote for everything. Played sports. Something of a blend of Norm Peterson and Sam Malone.
 
Your owners are getting on this wagon a bit late. Actually given the other factors you mentioned, probably too late.

No matter what programs you go with, it will be the third-tier talk station. A similar situation occurred in this market, but the CC/Premiere station had already moved to FM. A second talk FM did not last 6 months. It has
Imus in the morning and then oldies for the rest of the time.

Something else to think about might be some shows from the IRN/USA Network. This is a Christian network but does offer some talk shows. However, the name recognition there is limited. There are some Salem shows you may be able to carry, as mentioned earlier.

I like Del's mention of the local PM drive host. I can't take much of the political talk shows, period. It's too depressing to listen to day in and day out.

You have to know your market, and program to it. That is what works.

I've been a PD/ops manager. PM me if you'd like more specific ideas.
 
Coming from a listener standpoint I'd rather hear advice oriented talk than yet another political station, especially if you'd being going with third tier stuff.

How about Boortz (I know he's political, but he's a good host that's not typical right-wing)+ Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard? Dr. Dean Edell? Dr. Laura? Joy Browne? If the other stations are running Coast to Coast overnight, you could run Red Eye Radio. Those are all better shows than third tier right-wing talk. You could call it "Life Talk" or something like that....(yuck, that sounds bad now that I read it...)

Just a few suggestions from a complete novice. :)
 
"Do whatever you want as long as you keep costs to a minimum."

To answer your question, I'd ask my own question: Will your management, therefore, be satisfied if profits are also kept to a minimum?

More than many other formats, with talk, you have to spend some money to make some money.

Since you have to keep your market a secret, I'd also have these questions:

How does your FM signal compare to the AMs that already have the big names in syndicated talk radio? Is there any possibility you can steal the programs, if not now when their current contracts are up at the AM station? With Rush, and possibly some of the others, you'll pay a fee AND have to clear network commercials to run the show. It is a significant cost, and it sounds like your management may not appreciate that.

We don't know what time zone you're in, either. Stephanie Miller does lean liberal, but unlike the other lib talkers you mentioned, comedy (a la Jon Stewart and the Daily Show) is as if not more important to her than the political content. It might make a good morning drive show on the West Coast or Mountain Time zone.

Phil Hendrie is another host who specializes in comedy. His show airs 1-4 a.m. East, 10 pm to 1 am West. I've wondered what would happen if someone delayed his show to run it in morning drive as an alternative to other talk shows.

I wonder (because I don't listen to them) whether some other syndicated talk show hosts with a comedy background still employ that on their talk shows. You've mentioned another station already has Dennis Miller. What about Mancow?

I fear, even in your conservative market, the Fox line-up you've mentioned would flop. You're starting out as the talk station with third-tier hosts ... with no hope of getting ratings that are above third-tier, either.

In your market, the liberal talkers are probably a no-go. But don't rule out Stephanie Miller.

One more syndicated host to consider: Michael Smerconish who is Dial Global. He's a moderate independent who used to lean more Republican. His show is available 6-9 a.m. or noon-3 pm Eastern.

Good luck. Unfortunately, with your management's attitude (don't spend much), I fear you'll be looking for the next music format in a year or so.
 
You know what's really bad about your situation? If you get a third-tier talker that catches fire, it's likely to be stolen from you. Whatever shows you pick, if you think they're any good, make sure you go through the contract language to eliminate one-sided clauses added by the syndicator. They can give you 30 days notice, but you have to give them 90, etc.

Here's a cost-saving idea for a local talk block: Instead of trying to find an intense conservative who knows how to do talk and is looking for a way up the ladder, find someone who'll be a moderator and just sit back and let the callers be the stars, with just enough formatic insertion to keep the program going. That skill set is easier to find than the total package of a talk host. THEN let the CALLERS be the stars. They won't be asking for more money or leaving your market, and if the other two statons are syndicated with no local talk, then they won't be going to your competition. If the town is as conservative as you say it is, then they'll make your station sound just as conservative as the town is.
 
I really like the caller idea. The trick is finding a host that doesn't let his ego get in the way of implementing that idea.

Of course you could always hire me, I'll work dirt cheap. The catch? I have no experience. ;)
 
One way to potentially keep/develop a local talker you develop is to include some sort of incentive package in exchange for loyalty. Not some cheesy bonus scheme that amounts to nothing. Let them put something at risk in exchange for the risk you're putting in them. When they make you sucessful, they are financially rewarded.

It also may allow them to "buy into" your station and the market. The commissions may be enough to keep them from moving across town are across the country. And the host will do everything possible to grow the show and their income in the process.

And with the alternative ways to advertise (web pages and so forth), you're not limited to on air inventory. Only by what the market is ready to pay in advertsing.
 
A show where the callers were the major ingredient of the program is "old fashioned" in the mind of some people but it is the way we came into the current genre of Talk Radio. An "Aunt Bea" type host can make it work. Do consider a female host as young men may be more likely to begin to see themselves as the future Rush or the future someone else and then you end up with a third-tier me-too ho-hum product. Also consider bringing in some people to be interviewed. I know. It's so 1960s.... but only those of us with radio experience or who are radio groupies know that. You audience hasn't gone to radio announcer school and they don't know that such a show is un-cool. They might be so naive as to like the program and tell their friends about it.
 
You're not alone!

Two conversations that, increasingly, have been finding me lately:

1. FM station owners and managers, asking which-shows-are-still-available-in-the-market (as though simply cobbling-together the-rest-of-the-best-of-what's-unclaimed will result in success).

2. Networks, who can't focus on development, but DO want to know "who's next out there" in terms of talent-ready-for-the-bird when (not it) the coming FM Talk tsunami comes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2XEe_0KH4o).

In many markets, there still ARE lots of "name" shows still dark...if not-necessarily 24-hours-worth.

That notwithstanding, a new FM talker should offer a new kind of talk, more-broadly-appealing than more-of-the-same acts. Why commit an FM to a yet-another version of the Talk Radio caricature? Talk radio's reigning stars are talking to 5%-10% of the audience.

So, about that other 90-95%, especially by the listeners local retailers want to reach most: Soccer mom -- her family's Secretary of the Treasury -- is high-TSL in-car and might not even use AM radio, beyond cherry-picking service elements attributed more to the market's legacy AM than to any FM. And, based on perceptions I witness in various markets, she probably thinks Beck is a fringe show-off, Limbaugh's a rude buffoon, and Hannity is too shrill to be engaging at the end of her wearying day.

Talk saved AM, and it'll save FM...unless we simply dish-out more blah blah blah...

HC
www.HollandCooke.com
 
Holland, what do you think of Dave Ramsey and Clark Howard? Seem to be a LOT of women calling those shows. That's why I suggested a lineup of primarily non-political shows. Anchor the lineup with a good political name, but make everything else "service-oriented talk radio" as Ramsey calls it.

Perhaps we can even convince Bruce Williams to come out of retirement!
 
Am I the only one that thinks that a schedule of quality shows of varying types (not ideologies) would work if done right? Instead of trying to have ideological "balance", have topic balance. Have a local morning show that takes lots of calls and has good traffic and news. Then mid morning, have one of the doctor shows, whichever one does mornings (Edell?). Noon run Boortz. PM drive run Dave Ramsey or Clark Howard. Evenings run something else advice oriented (maybe even *gasp* a music show with advice like John Tesh) or an entertainment/gossip talk show, and overnights run Coast to Coast or Red Eye radio.

Is that too "all over the place" to ever work? The main audience would obviously be the "soccer moms" that Holland mentioned, but they're conservative soccer moms, so lib talk is out. Women tend to like advice shows, it seems, so why not?

Just dust off TalkNet. That should do it. :)
 
There is room for competition against the big political talk stations. You have mentioned Ramsey here and he is doing well in many markets and in some cases up against Rush or Sean. I believe the best option is to counter program with service oriented or strong local. Those are the best weapons to win. Holland is right...don't be so quick to move and try to recreate that heritage AM line up with second or third rate political talkers...do something different!
 
Free Talk Live, of course!

Talkers Top 100, Arbitron Rated #1, 74+ Affiliates, and available Mon-Sat live from 7-10pm Eastern. Take as much or as little as you want and air it when you want. Details, demo, full archives, and more all at http://pd.freetalklive.com

Oh, and FTL was born on FM talk. Almost 25% of our affiliates are FM talkers.

Don't hesitate to get in touch with questions - I am at your service.
 
I hate to be the downer...especially when there are a ton of NT consultants that hang on this board but the market is over-saturated with political talk. Even with Ramsey and Clark you will not make any money. Find something else.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom