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San Antonio Sports Talk

C

CTHank

I saw in the ratings released today (3-23-2011) that KTKR had a 0.6 and KZDC had a 0.3. Now if together they can't get a 1.0 then I believe there's something wrong.

My own opinion is that both stations have local programming that just a) isn't very good and b) is geared towards the teenage boy audience. It seems like every time I try to listen (to either station) the hosts on both stations are engaging in the kind of conversations I used to have in high school (you know, wow that's a hot girl and so on, and it seems to drag on and on) and they just seem to be trying real hard to be funny and 'cutting edge'. And there doesn't seem to be too many of the hosts who actually know anything about sports, now granted, I usually stop listening after a few minutes because they're not talking about anything that even remotely interests me, so I may miss out on some really good insights, but....

So my question is this, is San Antonio a market where sports talk won't work or is the problem with what's being offered?
 
A lot of it has to do with a lack of local teams. When the Spurs and Cowboys are in the off season, there's little to talk about that'll generate widespread interest locally.
 
anthonydt06 said:
A lot of it has to do with a lack of local teams. When the Spurs and Cowboys are in the off season, there's little to talk about that'll generate widespread interest locally.
Click to expand...

I could talk about how much the CB suck all year... on or offseason. lol

But then again, people say my teams sucks too.

On a more serious note I agree with anthony. in off season they have to fill time. however at this time of year conversations should shift towards the upcoming nba playoffs.
 
Ok, I'm really trying to understand this,because I've lived in other cities that didn't have major teams and sports talk did well.

San Antonio always struck me as a city full of people from all over the world, I mean it's military town USA, and it truly puzzles me. And I wonder if this listening audience is so unsophisticated and with such a narrow interest range that they really won't listen to anything other than talk about the Spurs and Cowboys (and the last book covered the time period of the Spurs season) or is the programming and on-air talent so bad that they're not giving people a reason to listen.

Other than Paul Alexander on 1250 and a show on 760 (I think it's called the Grind), everytime I've listened to any of the other shows on either of the stations, they've been tittering like a bunch of kids about hot women, and some really inane topics, so if the programs changed and became more adult and more insightful about actual sports would that make a difference and if not then why even bother having sports talk in town, nobody is listening to what they're offering.
 
Bingo! Unsophisticated is a polite way of describing our city. I know, because of the 1/2 century of living here, minus the years living and working in real cities, this town hasn't changed. Low literacy, low educational achievements, low paying, low skill jobs, etc, etc. Thus we have the type of adult juvenile middle school potty mouthed, moronic, inconsiderate, boorish and any other description you care to add, "sports show hosts" who have no experience in their field, other than being some PDs 'special boy'. Don't expect any improvement, the locals can't grasp it. On the other hand, tonight, the Spurs lost a game they should have won and there was no "react" program segment, featuring one of those juveniles, which usually follows most games. Was that kid in timeout, didn't want to discuss how the Spurs lost a 10 point lead and the game in the last few minutes, or afraid to take phone calls from furious fans?
 
Before you start bashing the listeners in San Antonio and blaming them for the poor performance of the local sports stations, look around the state. Austin is as high at it gets on the sophisticated scale. Tops in education, tops in number of bookstores per capita, etc. But the top local sports station only ranks #21 overall. Dallas' top sports station ranks #20 And Houston's top-ranked sports is #26. Where does sports radio do well?
 
First of all I'm not bashing, I'm asking but Fred, let's look at some numbers
I'm sure you'll agree that both Dallas (according to radio time 38 am and 58 fm) and Houston (don't have the exact count but I'm thinking it's pretty close to Dallas) and they both have a significantly larger number of choices for listeners than does San Antonio -

Dallas
KTCK 2.1
KRLD 1.5
KESN 1.4
Combined 5.0 market share

Houston
KILT 1.0
KBME 0.5
KFNC 0.5
Combined 2.0 (Not nearly as good as Dallas)

Austin
KTXX 1.1
KVET 0.9
KZNX 0.1
Combined 2.1

San Antonio
KTKR 0.6
KZDC 0.3
Combined 0.9

Now Fred, you may think those number are comparable to the other markets, but I suggest you take off the rose colored glasses, now I’m not saying it’s the listening audience, but I guarantee there’s nothing being broadcast on those two sports talk stations that make people ‘want’ to listen. Heck there are streaming sites that get almost the same numbers as KZDC (in Austin KTXX Streaming gets a 0.1)
 
If you think about it, San Antonio's sports radio scenario is kinda similar to Houston's, in that the second-place station has exactly half the share of the leader in the proverbial clubhouse.

I wonder if an FM simulcast for the leading station can make a difference in either scenario...
 
Well, I guess if those childish, middle school gym clown sports shows are still on the air, then they must appeal to those who find that kind of stuff entertaining, regardless of certain sensitivites. Past history indicates that this has always been a second hand talent market, resulting in the fine high quality broadcasting that is imposed on the populace by some experts who know what is good for us.

Besides, why was there no "React" postgame program hosted by one of those fine high quality sports talk show hosts after the Spurs lost a ten point lead and the game in last last few minutes of the game?
 
I don't know if putting the same talent that's here now on FM would help, there's an axiom for websites, that content drives traffic, if you have enough high quality content the people will visit, I think it's the same for sports talk.

Maybe SA is nothing but a dumping ground for those who can't make it elsewhere, but the local shows here are definitely not of a quality that is designed to attract a wide audience. they seem to be designed to appeal only to the 'let's get drunk and go to the strip club' crowd. The hosts don't seem to really have a good grasp of sports, at least one of them is a failed stand up comedian who has never been successful on any station he's been on in the past and when they stop in the middle of a broadcast because of the two hosts is ogling a girl walking by and they begin to make crude comments and start talking about how long it's been since one of their team members has been able to hook up, it makes me wonder how on earth they ever got their jobs and if anybody in management ever listens to them.

I'm lucky enough to be in an area where I can actually pick up 5 AM sports talk and 2 FM sports talk stations, and as much as I love SA and do business in SA the two stations coming from there are always the last two I will tune in because after the national shows, there's just nothing worth (in my opinion...) listening to and judging by the numbers, I'm not alone.
 
IMO, a big factor in the low ratings is that the game broadcasts for the teams that most people here care about are not carried on the Sports Talk stations. The Spurs, Cowboys and Longhorns broadcasts are on WOAI, not KTKR or KZDC. KTKR carries Rampage hockey and Silver Stars games, but those might be broadcasts that are actually of less interest to listeners than sports talk.
 
Sports radio is driven by interest in local pro sports .I don't think that San Antonio is a big enough sports market because there's only one real pro sports team, thus the lack of interest in local sports talk.
 
CTHank said:
First of all I'm not bashing, I'm asking but Fred, let's look at some numbers
I'm sure you'll agree that both Dallas (according to radio time 38 am and 58 fm) and Houston (don't have the exact count but I'm thinking it's pretty close to Dallas) and they both have a significantly larger number of choices for listeners than does San Antonio -

Dallas
KTCK 2.1
KRLD 1.5
KESN 1.4
Combined 5.0 market share

Houston
KILT 1.0
KBME 0.5
KFNC 0.5
Combined 2.0 (Not nearly as good as Dallas)

Austin
KTXX 1.1
KVET 0.9
KZNX 0.1
Combined 2.1

San Antonio
KTKR 0.6
KZDC 0.3
Combined 0.9

Now Fred, you may think those number are comparable to the other markets, but I suggest you take off the rose colored glasses, now I’m not saying it’s the listening audience, but I guarantee there’s nothing being broadcast on those two sports talk stations that make people ‘want’ to listen. Heck there are streaming sites that get almost the same numbers as KZDC (in Austin KTXX Streaming gets a 0.1)
Click to expand...

Who looks at sports talk station ratings in 6+ numbers?

Why don't you find what the target audience numbers are? The target audience for sports talk is Men 25-54.

Then you'll get a more accurate portrayal of what piece of the pie these stations get in any market.
 
As SportsDotCom mentions, sports stations significantly outbill their ratings shares. That's probably true when it comes to San Antonio sports stations, too.

Maybe it's not this way anymore, but the sports stations in San Antonio didn't actually have the big sports teams. The Spurs and the Cowboys, for example, were on WOAI 1200. If that's still the case, that probably helps explain their somewhat low ratings. After all, I believe KILT 610 in Houston carries the Texans. Disney/ESPN has also gone out of its way to get the rights to as many major league teams as they can on KESN in Dallas. You're not likely to see the same thing in San Antonio since the major sports are on WOAI, and keeping them there means more money than moving them to 760.
 
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