SPIRIT 102.3 SIGNS OFF.

[OKCRadioGuy]

Here's an interesting question for you guys. Do you think the Stewarts would have made such a blunder with 1170? I kind of doubt it since they were locals and knew the landscape of Tulsa radio. Out of town dead-tree printing people aught to stay out of town and keep playing with their folded dead trees.

 

[GeneSavage]

Well, now I'm going to flip back to the other side and say I understand WHY they switched 1170 from classic country to news / talk, even though I disagree with the decision:

The feeling was that the classic country format was pulling only an audience of 65+. That's darn near impossible to sell. Therefore, changing to talk allowed them to pull a slightly younger audience.

(Irony of ironies, the conservative talk format tends to pull a 45+ crowd... but it is technically younger...)

You're right that they could have kept their numbers up with the classic country format, but they were looking 25-54, not 12+. Apparently those numbers DID come up some when they switched... don't know if that's still true.

Besides, nobody in recent memory had ever challenged KRMG. Why not talk a part of that huge audience that's kept Cox in good money for years now?

Unfortunately, they were underfunded to really compete.

All they had was Michael DelGiorno. He didn't draw people to the syndication leftovers 1170 was stuck with like they had hoped. He's now been gone a long, long time.

They had Chris on in the afternoons, until budget cuts set him loose.

No disrespect to Pat Campbell, but he's not really setting the Tulsa airwaves on fire as far as I can tell.

Elvis Polo gets ONE hour a day.

The rest of the programming is "what KRMG didn't want to run," a tough position for anybody.

I haven't seen a billboard or any other advertising for 1170 in quite some time.

There's some good people over at 1170, but I don't know how you set that frequency back on fire. I'd like classic country, but Journal's idea of classic country seems to include the 80s urban cowboy scene, which turns me off. (Other friends disagree.) Perhaps if it were marketed as REAL country instead of CLASSIC country, you could play more modern stuff as well and perhaps pull in a younger audience that didn't see you as a country oldies station... ah, but marketing takes money nobody has right now.

I think where they are is where they will be for a long, long time: a minor nuisance for KRMG, & a station that isn't drowning as long as they don't spend any more money on anything. Perhaps once we're past this financial mess, they can bring in local talent and make a real go of it.

 

[G Thompson]

The guys at KXOJ are the luckiest people in the world. They are in it for the money just like Cox was. Simple fact, the KKCM crew proved that KXOJ was beatable. It was a bad beating too.

Congrats to both sides. KKCM for a job well done and KXOJ for getting another chance to live. If KXOJ was smart, they would try to hire some of the displaced KKCM crew. They should hire the former morning show and PD.

As for KFAQ, everything is just fine thank you. 1170 is a 50kw signal that covers more area than any FM. Day or night, KFAQ covers the metro with no problem.

I worked for KXOJ twice and I can tell you this. They kept every promise they ever made to me. That's more than I can say for some other companies I've worked for.

Are there some people on staff at KXOJ that have needed some people skills classes? Sure. But they're honest and I'd trust them with my life if they asked me to.

Some companies talk a good game and are great with people's feelings. But much of that talk is just campaign rhetoric, as I've discovered first hand. I'd rather have a boss who gives it to me straight daily with no frills than one who blows smoke up my skirt, tells me what I want to hear, and then doesn't follow through with promises.

You always know where you stand with the Stephens and their crew. And it's always an honest place. Better is open rebuke that a "friend" who is free with kisses that mean nothing.

 

[Footsteps of Fessenden]

KXOJ, with all their faults, has stayed CCM because they are owned by a family dedicated to Christian radio, according to both their word and their actions. They own other, secular properties, but they've never taken KXOJ-FM to any other format, despite the potential to make more money doing so.

No argument there. The Stephens family is truly dedicated to Christian radio. But about making more money...

Has there been any progress on their app to make KXOJ a C3? I searched for the app on the FCC site today and couldn't find a trace of it. Was the upgrade project for 100.9 abandoned? Improving the in-building penetration of that signal could only improve the ability to sell spots.

FCC dismissed the C3 application with this letter: http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=10468