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Too bad KDWN news department was slashed
- Thread starter jk111
- Start date
It's impossible to make news talk work in a city like Vegas. Locals here are blue collar, casino workers and don't much care about news and politics. Plus, we don't have weather in Vegas other than "it's gonna be hot again today"! Even CBS can't make it work on 2 signals, a 100,000 watt FM and an AM. So it wouldn't not be a good financial decision for Beasley or any other cluster in town to heavily invest in News Talk.
Exactly JayF. Man you're a smart guy. I always enjoy reading your posts. KDWN even owned or leased a freaking helicopter back in those days!!! It was wise to cut back and invest in the music stations.
MC said:
What does that mean? I don't get it
J
JEREMIAH
Guest
Yeah! Memories of KDWN in Jackie Gaughn's Plaza Hotel..No. 1 Main St. Las vegas.
When we moved here in 1995, from San Francisco, me to KNEWS(KNUU) and my wife a S.F traffic/continuity pro, looked for work here. Before she landed at Channel 13 she was interviewed at KDWN...buried upstairs at the Plaza and totally covered with christmas decorations(year round) It reminded her of something Alfred Hitchcock would dream up.
The station was owned by a guy named Williams, an eccentric who put it on the air in 1971 much to the dismay of 720 WGN Chicago. The FCC allowed former clear channel station's frequencies to be shared if they could show non-interference with the former clear channel station. Williams and his ecqually eccentric girlfriiend Claire Reis (also station manger) never forgave engineer Gordie Alsum for doing the parameter measurements for WGN, to make sure the new KDWN wouldn't exceed their bounds. They never forgave him. They were a pair. He later died of Alstheimers, I don't know of her fate.
Our engineer at KNUU, Joe Sands was also KDWN's engineer. KDWN had an ancient transmitter and some years back he convinced Williams ( real cheap skate) to spend 10 grand on a new transmitter...after he showed him it would save megabucks
on yearly power costs.
Jerry Gordon
When we moved here in 1995, from San Francisco, me to KNEWS(KNUU) and my wife a S.F traffic/continuity pro, looked for work here. Before she landed at Channel 13 she was interviewed at KDWN...buried upstairs at the Plaza and totally covered with christmas decorations(year round) It reminded her of something Alfred Hitchcock would dream up.
The station was owned by a guy named Williams, an eccentric who put it on the air in 1971 much to the dismay of 720 WGN Chicago. The FCC allowed former clear channel station's frequencies to be shared if they could show non-interference with the former clear channel station. Williams and his ecqually eccentric girlfriiend Claire Reis (also station manger) never forgave engineer Gordie Alsum for doing the parameter measurements for WGN, to make sure the new KDWN wouldn't exceed their bounds. They never forgave him. They were a pair. He later died of Alstheimers, I don't know of her fate.
Our engineer at KNUU, Joe Sands was also KDWN's engineer. KDWN had an ancient transmitter and some years back he convinced Williams ( real cheap skate) to spend 10 grand on a new transmitter...after he showed him it would save megabucks
on yearly power costs.
Jerry Gordon
J
JEREMIAH
Guest
Oh! I almost forgot, Williams & Claire lived in a trailer!
JG
JG
I think KDWN's investment in news might have paid off had they been able to snag Limbaugh or another first-tier host. Some of the denizens of the Vegas board almost seem proud of their community's rejection of news and information radio. I remember when KDWN first upgraded its news operation, someone kept posting "no one wants to hear about dog crap on the freeway", as if that was all they could comprehend radio news being in LV. Back to that time honored Vegas trick of inviting call-in reports when there's breaking news... :
smedge2006 said:I think KDWN's investment in news might have paid off had they been able to snag Limbaugh or another first-tier host. Some of the denizens of the Vegas board almost seem proud of their community's rejection of news and information radio. I remember when KDWN first upgraded its news operation, someone kept posting "no one wants to hear about dog crap on the freeway", as if that was all they could comprehend radio news being in LV. Back to that time honored Vegas trick of inviting call-in reports when there's breaking news... :
12th or 13th is where Rush is ranked in the money demo over the last 3 months. In fact, his best book of the year, he was tied for 10th. His worst, 18th. I wouldn't say that's setting the world on fire. I guess I'm one of the denizens of the Las Vegas board that simply has a grasp of reality. I'm not proud that the community doesn't care about News Talk compared to other markets... It's just the way it is.
If news talk was done correctly in this town then it would succeed! Good radio is good radio. You can't blame listeners for the failure of a station you can only blame the employee's and management. Las Vegas is a town that is notorious for doing things half assed, just look at our roads. Radio is no different. The news was done all wrong. The shows were all wrong. The imaging was all wrong and nothing was changed to make it right. There are to many people in this business who are dinosaurs that are in positions of power and believe what worked in their "HEY-DAYS" of the 90's still works. Local works! A list syndicated hosts work! Local news done correctly works!
Radio is an amazing business. Some how, along the way we have all lost our way when these big companies came in and ripped it to hell and back in the markets from 10 and below. "Good Enough" has become greatness. When one person is doing the job of 3 people the product suffers. I know for a lot of us radio is in our blood and we crave it like a drug. But when a few degrade the business by working for little to know money because "YOU LOVE IT" you had a part yourself in killing this business. There is nobody to blame for a stations failure but the owner(s), management, and employee's. Quit being yes men and worried about losing your job. A lost job is better than a lost soul! And you lose that soul everytime you do not stand up for this business that I know we all love.
Radio is an amazing business. Some how, along the way we have all lost our way when these big companies came in and ripped it to hell and back in the markets from 10 and below. "Good Enough" has become greatness. When one person is doing the job of 3 people the product suffers. I know for a lot of us radio is in our blood and we crave it like a drug. But when a few degrade the business by working for little to know money because "YOU LOVE IT" you had a part yourself in killing this business. There is nobody to blame for a stations failure but the owner(s), management, and employee's. Quit being yes men and worried about losing your job. A lost job is better than a lost soul! And you lose that soul everytime you do not stand up for this business that I know we all love.
You obviously know more about New Talk than I do. So, in what ways did Las Vegas radio do News Talk all wrong? In what way is Rush doing it all wrong in Las Vegas?? And what about the other A list syndicated hosts that haven't been able to achieve any ratings in Vegas since PPM? And even before PPM, those A list hosts like Rush, Hannity and others had much lower ratings in Las Vegas compared to other markets of similar size. How do you explain that?
It's funny to me that in every market, some people who live in that city think their local radio isn't as good and the people running the local stations aren't as smart or don't work as hard compared to other markets. Read any other radio board here on RI and you'll see the same sort of thing. I guess the grass is always greener.
In this economy and the lack of jobs available in any industry (not just radio), I don't know too many people who have the luxury of "standing up" for the business. Most people have families to worry about and can't afford to lose their job in order to defend the integrity of our business. I could be wrong...
It's funny to me that in every market, some people who live in that city think their local radio isn't as good and the people running the local stations aren't as smart or don't work as hard compared to other markets. Read any other radio board here on RI and you'll see the same sort of thing. I guess the grass is always greener.
In this economy and the lack of jobs available in any industry (not just radio), I don't know too many people who have the luxury of "standing up" for the business. Most people have families to worry about and can't afford to lose their job in order to defend the integrity of our business. I could be wrong...
By the way, I forgot to mention. I have lived in and been to many states in which their roads are WAY worse than ours! In fact, I just had an old friend come in to town and he commented on this very thing expressing how much better our roads than his state (California). Have you ever been to any southern state? Way better here!
J
JEREMIAH
Guest
I have to agree...our roads are pretty good. Since 1995 when I arrived here from SF....I have seen the 215 beltway actually become a beltway all the way from Henderson to the NW side and they did it in record time.
There are other examples all over the valley.
Drive I-15 from Vegas to the CA state line and see how poor the road becomes once you cross the state line.
I don't know what that guy was talking about.
Jerry Gordon
There are other examples all over the valley.
Drive I-15 from Vegas to the CA state line and see how poor the road becomes once you cross the state line.
I don't know what that guy was talking about.
Jerry Gordon
There is no arguing. I'm telling you how it is. But you are locked in your mindset. There is nothing compelling about LV radio. Music, talk or brokered! So blame the listeners etc. to help you sleep at night. "Good Enough" is the new exceptional and it is more true in this market than any other.
You may be right. Like I said before, you probably know a lot more about this format than me. I personally don't work for a Newstalk station and I never have in any major way. So, I don't know if our Las Vegas talk stations are better or worse than in other markets and furthermore I have no trouble sleeping at night. All I know is that News Talk has never been successful in Las Vegas as long as I have been here. Even the big A list hosts are not and have not been performing from a ratings standpoint. The point I was making is that it would be foolish for local companies to invest a ton of assets in a format that most people don't really want. It's hard to sell a ketchup Popsicle to a girl in white gloves (a little Tommy Boy quote for ya... Ha!). Have a great week everyone!
J
JEREMIAH
Guest
IMHO the reason News radio has never made it here has nothing to do with the I.Q. of the market.
In markets where News does well you'll find a large portion of the population grew up there. ie: SF, NY, LA Chicago, St. Louis,
Pittsburgh to name a few. The folks there have a personal interest in what's going on.
Not so in Vegas, most of the people did not grow up here. Even traffic reporting doesn't have the same impact because compared to those other cities our traffic isn't that bad. I've heard traffic reporters here fake it, saying theres a slowdown
when there isn't because there usually is, assuming it's the same now.
Do people care whose in court this morning? Or what the county commission is up to?
Jerry Gordon Jack B. Show Salem radio network & V.O.'s to go
In markets where News does well you'll find a large portion of the population grew up there. ie: SF, NY, LA Chicago, St. Louis,
Pittsburgh to name a few. The folks there have a personal interest in what's going on.
Not so in Vegas, most of the people did not grow up here. Even traffic reporting doesn't have the same impact because compared to those other cities our traffic isn't that bad. I've heard traffic reporters here fake it, saying theres a slowdown
when there isn't because there usually is, assuming it's the same now.
Do people care whose in court this morning? Or what the county commission is up to?
Jerry Gordon Jack B. Show Salem radio network & V.O.'s to go
When Alan Eisenson was programming KXNT AM on 840, shares were between a 4 and 5 share and that station was making money. They had a lot of decent local programming. Lou Epton with his cult like following pulled HUGE numbers at night! GOOD radio is hard to come by. Like ANY format, GOOD local programming and marketing will pay off. With so many companies having debt service, they see cutting here and there as the only way. The problem is one ratings point will cost you much more than the salary you just saved, so what are you REALLY saving. Some get it! Most don't!
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