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Talk Station of the Week: KFI

KFI has found the perfect balance for their audience...and I think they prove that the 'talk' demogrpahic is not aging. If you are engaging host who people find entertaining you will win across the demos...and KFI does that pretty well. Would Handel work in Dallas or Atlanta? Who knows...but he works there and keeps the sales machine rolling.
 
travisl5678 said:
KFI is in a bigger market than Clevland, and I think KFI does a better job at reacing younger demos

Umm, WLW is Cincy but close. And I'm not sure your thesis is correct. KFI deserves huge props for being a great station and attracting huge numbers in what many say is the number one radio market in the country. So I'm not taking anything away from KFI by asking where KFI ranks 25-54. I may be wrong, but I think WLW is often top ranked 25-54, although that might have adjusted some since the PPM started.
 
I think the topic here is great...people could nominate a talk station that they think is doing a good job etc and people can discuss. WLW is a great station (no one was arguing that) but I think KFI was brought up to prompt some discussion on what they might be doing right and we can learn from them.

I like topics like versus the topics that swerve off topic to easily to the right versus left bashing.
 
Signal_Faded said:
WLW ranks #1 P25-54 and KFI ranks #15 in Jan PPM

WLW is #1 P25-54? That is remarkable for a Talk station.

I live in LA and love KFI but it's an old folks' station to be sure. KFI's politics lean conservative but LA's 25-54 year olds lean liberal. The conservatives in LA are probably 45+. Another issue is that KFI is solely on AM. Clear Channel can not find a place for KFI on FM. All of it's FM stations are doing too well to give up on, at least for now.
 
radioville said:
That's what I thought lol. Plus, WLW is more local.

That's in part because a second-tier AM sister station - WKRC/550 - carries Glenn, Rush, Sean, Levin, Savage and C2C. In effect, that frees up WLW to be all-local on a nearly 24/7 basis ("America's Trucking Network," IIRC, now only airs on WLW and XM, so the "network" is a misnomer).

For point of comparison, WTAM/Cleveland carries Glenn, Rush and C2C and is only local in both drive-times and evenings (excluding Indians and Cavs PBP). They have no AM sister station like a WKRC to act as a syndicated flanker - what helps them considerably is being the flagship for all of the relevant sports teams in town.
 
KFI has long been one of my favorite talk stations, but I think too much credit is given to Robin. The core elements of their success, from Handel to Rush to J&K, have been there for some time. They might as well have a syndicated show at night because, while I personally like Conway, he's unbearable on KFI. It shows how lazy most programmers, including Robin, are, to simply hire a guy who got canned from a somewhat similar talk format in the same market and put him on the air. Hiring retreads who are uneducated on the facts, read newspaper articles verbatim (and make sure you know it), and stumble through their presentation, is not a good way to program a talk station.
 
KJCB said:
KFI has long been one of my favorite talk stations, but I think too much credit is given to Robin. The core elements of their success, from Handel to Rush to J&K, have been there for some time. They might as well have a syndicated show at night because, while I personally like Conway, he's unbearable on KFI. It shows how lazy most programmers, including Robin, are, to simply hire a guy who got canned from a somewhat similar talk format in the same market and put him on the air. Hiring retreads who are uneducated on the facts, read newspaper articles verbatim (and make sure you know it), and stumble through their presentation, is not a good way to program a talk station.

Tim Conway, Jr. gets great ratings because he is "appointment radio." Whenever I get a chance to listen I turn him on. Sometimes I don't care for his topics, but you don't always slam a homerun.

KFI's news coverage is incredible and is my "go to station" during breaking news.
 
Yes, KFI has it all, good news, good balance of programming and with Handel more on the left it appeals to a left of center demographic and isn't just another "conservative" station.
 
sdwulfdawg said:
KJCB said:
KFI has long been one of my favorite talk stations, but I think too much credit is given to Robin. The core elements of their success, from Handel to Rush to J&K, have been there for some time. They might as well have a syndicated show at night because, while I personally like Conway, he's unbearable on KFI. It shows how lazy most programmers, including Robin, are, to simply hire a guy who got canned from a somewhat similar talk format in the same market and put him on the air. Hiring retreads who are uneducated on the facts, read newspaper articles verbatim (and make sure you know it), and stumble through their presentation, is not a good way to program a talk station.

Tim Conway, Jr. gets great ratings because he is "appointment radio." Whenever I get a chance to listen I turn him on. Sometimes I don't care for his topics, but you don't always slam a homerun.

KFI's news coverage is incredible and is my "go to station" during breaking news.

Conway has a great show, especially after the two idiots that are on before him. But, its sometimes a challenge to pull in KFI from 350 miles away...
 
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