Re: The Jolt is a victim radio station
> It has a "kick me" sign on its back.
>
> It picked up Sean Hannity in the beginning and lost it to
> competition. Now it has lost Glenn Beck. It just grasps at
> straws and when a show is successful, it gets stolen by the
> corporate-owned competition across town. Its programming is
> just sheer desperation, grabbing the leftovers of
> syndication, trying for anything that will stick. I don't
> think this was pay-to-play, although there's no shortage of
> it in Tucson.
That's a good assessment, although I'd say the previous administration did a better job of creating some programming continuity. Dr. Laura was a great addition, and because she prefers to be live, she'll stay on the Jolt (and probably stay its #1 show) as long as Sean Hannity is live on CC's KNST.
Personally, it seems the biggest error is their penchant for costly morning shows. Mancow carries a bigger price tag than Imus, and brings with him Rusty Humphries, which knocked out Phil Hendrie, who pulled mid-2 shares on a marginal night signal, about 40% of KNST's Tammy Bruce audience, on a station whose M-S 6a-12a share is 1/5 to 1/6 of KNST's. Now Phil's gone entirely, and WW1 synditalker de jour Jay Severin takes over late nights.
I've said before, I like the Jolt and a lot of the people there, and I'd like to see it succeed. It just seems like they keep shooting themselves in the foot rather than do what every other independent talker in America does to try to be competitive. KNST only has some many hours, and Rush, Hannity, Savage, and Coast (and based on her spring book, probably Bruce) are going nowhere. Their morning show has always been local. There's plenty of syndication product left.
Hey, at least they're not as boring as KVOI.