What horrible programming kabc has on the weekends!!! How far they've fallen

[hotpatrick2004]

I wonder what percentage of it is brokered???It really is a horribly awful station on weekends and yes I know most of you will say it is bad during the week not near as bad as the weekends!!! Very sad state of affairs kabc is in!!!

Not to terribly long ago the weekend line up was good. You had satellite sisters and bob brinker 1-4 then you had a number of people in that 4- 7 shift for sat and sun like Gloria allred kim serafin. I cant think of them all but it was a decent station.

Now that's not to say 870 is good either it aint!!! And 1150 is just as bad but 790 had a reputation to uphold.

I doubt the station is gonna be blown up I here douglas talking about he and his wifes cruise next year. And where else would cumulus put there shows they have like Geraldo which airs on kabc. N Huckabee which they don't have here?

Sad times at la cienega sad times

 

[Thomps2525]

...and don't forget that KABC also carried Dodgers baseball. That's the team that had a 30-42 record in June and miraculously started winning and finished in first place in the NL West and will play either St. Louis or Pittsburgh for the NL championship. But I digress. On weekends now KABC broadcasts several health programs, several investment programs, and several real estate programs.

From 1979 to 1989, astrologer Joyce Jillson was a regular contributor to the Ken & Bob morning show and had a weekend talk show on KABC. In the early 1980s, psychologist (and former actress) Susan Forward had a weekend program. Deputy district attorney Kevin Ross had a weekend program in 1997-98. Was the station "decent" back then? I guess it depends on whether you think that astrology/psychology/law programs are more exciting and listenable than health/investment/real-estate programs.

 

[hotpatrick2004]

I only have been here since 2000 and I thought kabc was pretty good up until 06-08 somewhere around there they went way downhill. They lost mr kabc and al rantel.

Peter tilden may be a nice guy but he aint no mr kabc who had a very unique show on kabc for he introduced me to Richard cheese n 2000.

They didn't use to have all those real estate etc programs in 2000 n was always pretty good on weekends till I guess the sales people ruined it with there brokered programming. I guess u could say they ruined the station.

 

[wadio]

Why is brokered programming even allowed on the "public airwaves?"

 

[LKellerIII]

There are quite a few low powered AMs that wouldn't survive without brokered programming. I remember listening to KTYM - a daytimer with brokered programming in the 60s. Everyone on the station had something to sell, inclulding religious hucksters, but there were some good music shows, like a guy named Godfrey who would buy time and sell his own advertising for the record store he was broadcasting from, up and coming dance shows and other products. It was pretty good radio. IIRC, Art Laboe also hawked his "Oldies but Goodies" collections on KTYM...then on vinyl, of course

 

[wadio]

But this isn't the '60s. In 2013 I'd have to say, "So what?" People can and do offer all kinds of specialty programs on the Internet. I believe anyone charged with operating a scarce broadcast frequency has a responsibility to provide programming that attracts a large enough audience to support it with spot ad sales.

 

[stevechang]

The difference in radio these days as opposed to the old days is that management and executives that now run radio stations are about as intellectual as the politicians in Washington. Their focus is extremely narrow and they cannot seem to see the big picture even if it benefits them. KABC has been dwelling in the cellar for so long that it has become a joke for the management's inaction to do anything. KFI now seems to be in danger of facing the same threat.

The example I use is KLSX. For years it was a semi-entertaining station and did about average ratings. When the economy tanked that is when management realized that every dollar meant something. So almost overnight they make the change to KAMP and now that station is always in the top 5 in listeners (and maybe in advertising dollars if their sales staff knows how to leverage their ratings success). It does not take years or decades to turn a station around, but all it takes is knowing what the public wants.

In case Robin or whoever is running the ship at KABC is reading, the public (in Los Angeles) does not want Bill Carroll, John Phillips, Geraldo, Mike Savage, Tim Conway Jr, Peter Tilden, David Cruz, Larry Elder and Bryan Suits. Get some exciting dynamic personalities that think on their own rather then regurgitate the talking points from their party of choice.

 

[davideduardo]

Why is brokered programming even allowed on the "public airwaves?"

Historically brokered shows have been the preferred method for smaller groups and communities to have a voice on the radio. The earliest uses were often those Sunday morning ethnic shows, where the Italian or Greek or Polish communities had the ability to buy some time and produce shows in their birth tongue, play their heritage music, and give community and home nation news.

In those days, when there were fewer stations, there were few all-Italian stations or similar. But brokered programming offered a chance for those communities to be served.

Brokered shows in many cases brought access to radio to groups that could not have "their own" station and represents a major part of radio's ability to serve diverse communities.

 

[davideduardo]

I guess u could say they ruined the station.

Let's not forget that KABC's signal can not compete in the LA market; much of it's 90's era loss to KFI was signal based.

So what is left for KABC? Sell whatever they can for whatever they can.

 

[SuperRadioFan]

Historically brokered shows have been the preferred method for smaller groups and communities to have a voice on the radio. The earliest uses were often those Sunday morning ethnic shows, where the Italian or Greek or Polish communities had the ability to buy some time and produce shows in their birth tongue, play their heritage music, and give community and home nation news.

Ahhhh you remind me of the days when as a kid growing up in New Brunswick, NJ listening on Sundays to WCTC 1450 AM playing a program "Hungarian Rhapsodies" (IIRC) to serve the city's vast Hungarian immigrant population back in the 50s and early 60s.

 

[davideduardo]

Ahhhh you remind me of the days when as a kid growing up in New Brunswick, NJ listening on Sundays to WCTC 1450 AM playing a program "Hungarian Rhapsodies" (IIRC) to serve the city's vast Hungarian immigrant population back in the 50s and early 60s.

I often got to run the board for WJMO-Cleveland's Sunday block of about 6 hours of such shows. Many of the shows had a crew that spoke no English, so I made a set of pictures to indicate remaining time in the show with little clocks. Most of the follks brought "their" food and I really enjoyed the experience... although not knowing the language may have kept me from knowing exactly what I was eating.

At the time, you could ride a bus in Cleveland and find nobody was speaking English. Later, two of the early FMs became wall to wall ethnic programming, but for the post-War years and into the 60's AM brokered / block programming was all that those fascinating communities had.