So what's going on with KTAR-FM's ratings? Things must be bad if the FM side has lower ratings than their AM counterpart (which has also been going down the past few months). Looks like the great Karie and Chuck experiment hasn't been working out too well and I bet people are starting to get sick of 6 hours of Dave Ramsey during prime-time.
IMO, KTAR needs to do what they do best and that's focus on news and actual real talk where they take listeners calls. The way it is now, the only time you can call in is on the weekends or after Cardinals games, and to me that's ridiculous for a station that brands itself as "News/Talk." If we wanted Twitter talk, we would go on our computers and do that. Give us a reason to listen KTAR (same goes for the AM side where no sports hosts take calls except after Suns and ASU games). It almost seems like KTAR is creating a recipe for disaster.
Also, I think the reason why KJZZ ratings have been so high these past few months is because people are fed up with the lack of real news radio options out here. Instead of listening to Karie and Chuck or Mac and Gaydos, people are listening to NPR for the news and in-depth stories. I think KTAR-FM could drastically improve their ratings if they brought back all news during the drive home. Those traffic reports at odd times during Mac and Gaydos that are 15-20 minutes apart just doesn't cut it. It confuses the listeners because nobody really knows when the traffic report is going to air and it under utilizes one of KTAR's greatest assets, Detour Dan Beach. The way things are now, the only thing worth listening to on "News/Talk 92.3" is Arizona's Morning News, a wonderful news program that reminds me how great KTAR can be. KTAR needs some more of that and then some talk hosts who actually take listener calls on the air. There's no excuse why KTAR should have lower ratings than an AM talk station and a public radio station. If they got their act together, KTAR would be fun to listen to, kinda like how it used to be before the switch to FM.
P.S. Will the one guy who had the Purple People Meter please turn it back to KAZG? They've gone two months now without showing up in the ratings!
P.S.S. Isn't it funny that for the holiday ratings, even Radio-Info acknowledged that KEXX wasn't playing alternative music anymore? They seemed confused by the previous format and list KEXX as "90's hits." In reality, X 103.9 just played the same old boring 90's alternative songs. A real 90's hits station would have actually been kinda fun to have on the air with dance, country, alternative, rock and all kinds of music. Now that would be an interesting format!
