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Sports radio in Seattle

F

fordranger797

Since KIRO-AM flipped to sports radio, they have seemed to be doing alright in the ratings. Why would they not be; they have a monopoly on every professional sports team in Seattle right now after all. Which I think is a better asset then any of their conversation programming.

That being considered, what kind of a purpose are stations like KJR 950, and KFNQ 1090 (and other outlets which I may be leaving out) serving? On a personal level, I usually only tune into sports radio when there is a game being broadcast. I do not listen to KJR or KFNQ, but are they really only being used for broadcasting syndicated talk shows? KIRO-AM is pretty darn good for the most part. Yes, there is a lot of talk, but at the same time that's where I will be getting the game, no matter professional local team I care to listen to.

One thing I find very disappointing... With all of these sports radio stations, there is not one station airing NHL hockey games. I know KJR would sometimes carry the Team1040 feed of the Vancouver Canucks when they made it into the playoffs, but that was only if they had nothing else to air. Without the rights to air anything besides college sports, does anyone know if KJR or KFNQ will be likely to air any NHL games in the future?
 
I'm with you on this one. KJR is a harritage sports station, and CC isn't going to flip it without serious thought. I've said this on these boards before, they've got a full TV studio and they've put a lot of money into it. I'm not sure what they've got for local content these days. KFNQ I think has a local show in afternoon drive, but that's it. As far as I know, it's a revenue thing here, CBS was able to make more money from their sports network than progressive talk. Sometimes the sports stations have some interesting chatter, but I'm with you most of the time. Usually if I'm listening to a sports station when it's not a game day, I'm just scanning the dial looking for something else.
 
I think we're wasting far too many signals with sports.

It must be hard to get that 12th Man excitement up knowing your station isn't carrying any Seahawks games.

While I can understand perhaps TWO sports stations, the sad fact is we're up to here in sports stations. And who's listening to all these AM signals in the age of On-Demand TV and sports bars?
 
I could see KJR and KFNQ co-existing a lot better if they changed their programming. Face it, everybody who is listening to sports radio is probably staying in KIRO-AM anyway for sports chatter, so why not put actual games on that might draw some attention?

If KJR-AM would pick two various NHL games to air each evening, I would gladly tune in (I bet there would be a ton of other people out there who would too). If KFNQ aired college sports games, im sure people would tune into that too.

I forgot to mention KHHO 850...
 
Why not look at the ratings to answer your questions…

First, your assumption that “everyone must be listening to KIRO-AM instead of KJR since they have the sports teams” is flawed. Ever since the Mariners season started KIRO’s ratings have been cut in half. Mitch wins mornings on KJR, Ian and Puckett win early afternoon…hell even the excruciating- to-listen-to Elise Woodward wins in middays. The only one who isn’t winning is Softy, and his numbers are coming up.

Secondly, KFNQ flipped to sports only because CBS needed stations for their new sports network. It’s a no-brainer. They can make a lot more off of selling national spots across their network than they ever would with progressive talk.

Third, let’s look at this from the big picture standpoint which is $. How many of the main commercial stations in Seattle specifically target men? 6 total. How many target persons? 4 total. How many target women? 11 total. Listening among women is fragmented between nearly a dozen stations, while there are only 6 stations fighting over the guys. That’s why when you look at a ranker for Men 25-54 in prime KJR is tied for #4 with KIRO-AM. That means they’re almost guaranteed to get on any male buy in the market. Not bad for an AM station in this day and age, which brings me to my final point…

Fourth…what the hell else should they do bongwater? We’re talking about an AM stick. The only thing keeping AM alive these days is sports. Sports sponsorship and marketing dollars have increased dramatically in the last 10+ years and KJR, KFNQ, KIRO, KHHO and (don’t forget) KRKO can capitalize on this. There is nothing to flip to that will make money like these stations do.

I do agree about hockey though. Go Canucks.
 
Thank you for the input. I believe I find it frustrating that with all of the sports station in Seattle, not one will air sports/sports talk I care to listen to (that being, hockey games or discussion about hockey). Its annoying to flip through all of these stations and hear the same annoying talk (when the Seahawks or Mariners are not airing).

KIRO AM is doing a great job at being the sports leader for sports in Seattle, KJR seems to air a lot of college sports (yawn fest, but I see how there is a market for it). As for KFNQ, how about they make the station part of the Canucks radio network and the Trailblazers radio network?
 
iamarussianpirate said:
Why not look at the ratings to answer your questions…

First, your assumption that “everyone must be listening to KIRO-AM instead of KJR since they have the sports teams” is flawed. Ever since the Mariners season started KIRO’s ratings have been cut in half. Mitch wins mornings on KJR, Ian and Puckett win early afternoon…hell even the excruciating- to-listen-to Elise Woodward wins in middays. The only one who isn’t winning is Softy, and his numbers are coming up.

Secondly, KFNQ flipped to sports only because CBS needed stations for their new sports network. It’s a no-brainer. They can make a lot more off of selling national spots across their network than they ever would with progressive talk.

Third, let’s look at this from the big picture standpoint which is $. How many of the main commercial stations in Seattle specifically target men? 6 total. How many target persons? 4 total. How many target women? 11 total. Listening among women is fragmented between nearly a dozen stations, while there are only 6 stations fighting over the guys. That’s why when you look at a ranker for Men 25-54 in prime KJR is tied for #4 with KIRO-AM. That means they’re almost guaranteed to get on any male buy in the market. Not bad for an AM station in this day and age, which brings me to my final point…

Fourth…what the hell else should they do bongwater? We’re talking about an AM stick. The only thing keeping AM alive these days is sports. Sports sponsorship and marketing dollars have increased dramatically in the last 10+ years and KJR, KFNQ, KIRO, KHHO and (don’t forget) KRKO can capitalize on this. There is nothing to flip to that will make money like these stations do.

I do agree about hockey though. Go Canucks.
Click to expand...

But how many times can you invent the wheel?
 
fordranger797 said:
I could see KJR and KFNQ co-existing a lot better if they changed their programming. Face it, everybody who is listening to sports radio is probably staying in KIRO-AM anyway for sports chatter, so why not put actual games on that might draw some attention?

If KJR-AM would pick two various NHL games to air each evening, I would gladly tune in (I bet there would be a ton of other people out there who would too). If KFNQ aired college sports games, im sure people would tune into that too.

I forgot to mention KHHO 850...
Click to expand...

KFNQ does air some college games on Saturdays and NFL games on Sundays. They also do the T-Birds WHL broadcasts.
 
KFNQ is just an outlet for CBS Sports Radio. It doesn't really matter if the station has listeners or not. Just as long as CBS can tell their national advertisers it has another outlet for their bucks. A value-added thing.

Someone summed this up perfectly the other day to me: "It's like cotton candy. A little bit of sugar and a LOT of puffed air."
 
I'm not a sports nut. But I do follow football a little. I listen to the sports networks when I get sick of political talk. Which is pretty often anymore. When I want to hear about what's going on in sports, I don't care to just hear about the Seahawks. I have the newspaper for that.

Besides, I want to know what's going on with the other teams in the NFL. That's where the national sports radio networks are useful. And some of the national sports talk hosts are interesting to listen to, Ben Maller being one of them. Scott Ferrell is interesting at times, in a gruff sort of way. There's a couple others I don't mind listening to.

With the national sports radio networks, you get a perspective of the sports beyond the Seattle zone. I suppose most guys who are into sports get it from TV. I don't watch TV.
 
Hey guys, a question for you.

If Seattle does manage to pick up a NHL team here in the neat future, what sports station would be most likely to be the official broadcaster?
 
W7PAT said:
Since Seattle no longer has an NBA franchise, I'm surprise no station has picked up the Blazers.
Click to expand...

Nobody in Seattle wants to pick up a minor league basketball franchise.

Seriously, with the real possibility of the Kings moving up here, any station that would be locked in to a multi-year commitment with the Blazers would likely be locked out of a deal with a new local NBA franchise. While the Kings deal is dead, it would be a bad move even now.
 
W7PAT said:
Since Seattle no longer has an NBA franchise, I'm surprise no station has picked up the Blazers.
Click to expand...

I'm not surprised. You are making an assumption that once the Sonics left, NBA fans immediately became Blazer fans. Wrong. The rivalry between these two teams would never allow that to happen. The Blazers on Seattle radio would be a complete flop, IMO. Longview/Kelso, perhaps, but this as far north as it should ever get.
 
I hate to bring sports talk to a radio forum, but is Seattle likely to pick up an NBA and NHL team in the future? The NBA deal fizzled, but there are a lot of talks of NHL coming to Seattle in the near future. I'd love to know what station would pick up the broadcast rights..
 
fordranger797 said:
I hate to bring sports talk to a radio forum, but is Seattle likely to pick up an NBA and NHL team in the future? The NBA deal fizzled, but there are a lot of talks of NHL coming to Seattle in the near future. I'd love to know what station would pick up the broadcast rights..
Click to expand...

There will likely be an NBA franchise in the future because Hansen desperately wants one. NHL, possible if another team goes bankrupt.

As to what station gets the rights - like most things, it comes down to money. Someone will be a high bidder.

And to answer the next question - WHO will be the bidder - it's anyone's guess. No one knows.
 
Hansen may want one but so does Sacramento and the former NBA player, now mayor (hey that rhymes) . You also have a short memory of Hansen funding ($100k)an anti-Sacramento stadium drive--is he really credible with the NBA at this point??? It's really up to David Stern who doesn't live in either city. It's also up to Seattle voters to fund, once again a welfare ponzi scheme for rich owners, a new stadium. (sorry, the so-called private funding trick of the eye released earlier this year when Seattle went into more apoplexy than a 747 doing a barrel roll over Lake Wash, had a public bailout clause in it .) also Seattle needs to shed Hansen from any involvement, did I mention Hansen? Rant off. Back on the terrestrial side of this, the sports thing can work for awhile longer since CBS owns 1090 and the format, I see contraction later on. Most of these networks which own dozens to hundreds of corporate owned stations is all leveraged money. It was doable when the money was backed up but now that it's being printed on more phony paper and IOU's. with the return on the investment, being less than lackluster, look for some bloodletting later on.
 
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