Entercom-owned KMBZ Kansas City is splitting its AM-FM simulcast on January 5th. 980 KMBZ, a 5000 watt AM signal, will become the home of Rush, Hannity, Beck, Herman Cain and Laura Ingraham. 98.1 KMBZ-FM, a full power FM signal, will go with all local hosts all day, only keeping Ground Zero and Coast to Coast late nights.
It had been a trend for AM Talk stations to add an FM simulcast, or go FM only, to catch younger listeners. But in the last few years that trend has been reversed. iHeart gave up Talk simulcasts in San Diego, Tuscon and recently Columbia SC to put music formats on those FM stations. iHeart also flipped its Sports and Talk stations in Minneapolis, moving Sports to an FM signal from AM and moving Talk to AM from FM. Greater Media gave up an FM Talk station in Boston to go Urban AC.
But Entercom is still committed to Talk on 98.1, as long as it's Local Talk. So it will be interesting to see how a Talk station on FM in KC does, with all local hosts from 5am to 9pm. And Rush fans will have to find him on a 5000 watt AM signal instead of a 100,000 watt FM signal.
It had been a trend for AM Talk stations to add an FM simulcast, or go FM only, to catch younger listeners. But in the last few years that trend has been reversed. iHeart gave up Talk simulcasts in San Diego, Tuscon and recently Columbia SC to put music formats on those FM stations. iHeart also flipped its Sports and Talk stations in Minneapolis, moving Sports to an FM signal from AM and moving Talk to AM from FM. Greater Media gave up an FM Talk station in Boston to go Urban AC.
But Entercom is still committed to Talk on 98.1, as long as it's Local Talk. So it will be interesting to see how a Talk station on FM in KC does, with all local hosts from 5am to 9pm. And Rush fans will have to find him on a 5000 watt AM signal instead of a 100,000 watt FM signal.
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