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Why Is KOMO Running Midday Talk Shows?

G

Gregg

First, the good news. The 9am-noon and noon-3pm talk blocks are about what the top local stories are, so they are news-related. And they're local, not syndicated. They break every ten minutes on the fours for traffic and weather, so they follow the news format, important for a station that promises traffic and weather on the fours around the clock.

But why do it? I don't think having two hosts with two producers and call screeners saves money over doing all-news during midday hours. On all-news stations, there isn't a great expense put into middays. Some morning drive stories can be updated but nobody expects an all new line up for middays.

There's really no precedent for stopping the all-news wheel on an all-news station during the midday hours. KCBS San Francisco used to do something similar, concentrating on interviews and lighter news during middays but that stopped decades ago. They now are all-news around the clock. WBZ Boston gets great numbers while preserving its nighttime talk shows, something that was carried over from before it was an all-news station. But weekdays and weekends, WBZ runs all news from 5am to 7pm or 8pm. KQV Pittsburgh also runs talk shows at night and weekends, but KQV still preserves 5am to 7pm weekdays as all-news. (OK, their ratings aren't great but Pittsburgh is the smallest market with an all-news station.)

I just don't understand the logic of KOMO doing all-news at 2am but not at 2pm.


Gregg
[email protected]
 
Don't expect radio decisions to be logical. You'll just be disappointed.

Once they "stop the newswheel," it's no longer an all news station. KIRO was once an all news station, too.

Why cut back on news blocks and go with talk? People listen longer to talk shows (TSL). KOMO is in a ratings race with KIRO and news through the midday period puts them at a disadvantage.
 
Mid-day news blocks did not rate for KOMO and got sub-one shares as I look back on numbers. Talk with news middays so far does about twice as well for them. KOMO maintains news in mornings, afternoons and nights. The biggest rated shifts for KOMO remain morning and afternoons. KOMO is number one 12+ in morning drive right now. KIRO just does news in AM drive and is talk the rest of the day. The KIRO morning show is also doing very well. I notice that KOMO, KIRO and KUOW are all very strong these days in morning drive along with KISW, KPLZ and KBKS. I wonder if the loss of Bob Rivers, Marty and Jody, Ichabod, Cashman and other adult morning talent on FM is helping news stations in mornings. Just a thought. ( the loss of Bob River certainly boosted numbers for KISW's morning show)
 
If you're going to retain listeners during the work day, it's a lot more difficult to do so with a format in which you repeat yourself every half hour with much of the same story lineup time and time again (save for the occasional breaking story and update). By running more of a talk format between morning and afternoon drive, you reduce the repetitive nature of the news and you're more likely to retain long-term listenership. So while I happen to like the all-news format, I think this is a good move for KOMO, and I'm glad they kept it live and local. Think about it -- 100% of KOMO's programming is live and local -- how many news and news/talk stations can say that?
 
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