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Yikes…97.1 😱

This station is very much in its infancy (to state the obvious).

I also wonder how much planning happened behind the scenes before the flip occurred. A few weeks? Many weeks?

I think we need to wait until we're well into football season to make any reasonable assessment of success or lack thereof. I also suspect the current on-air host lineup will undergo a modification or two over the next year.

As I recall, 95.7 in San Francisco took a long time to see halfway decent in-demo ratings. That station was a very slow build, it seemed, yet it's now in its 15th or 16th year and fares quite well in Men 25 to 54. Perhaps 97.1 in L.A. will follow a similar trajectory.
 
This station is very much in its infancy (to state the obvious).

I also wonder how much planning happened behind the scenes before the flip occurred. A few weeks? Many weeks?

3½ minutes? 🤪
 
Your assuming my criteria, and incorrectly so.

Success for this station will be based on money. If the powers that be feel it's not successful, there are many changes they can make before they give up.

As I recall, 95.7 in San Francisco took a long time to see halfway decent in-demo ratings. That station was a very slow build, it seemed, yet it's now in its 15th or 16th year and fares quite well in Men 25 to 54. Perhaps 97.1 in L.A. will follow a similar trajectory.

That should be the model for success in LA.
 
I worked with Rome back in 1988 in Santa Barbara, his first professional radio job after graduating from UCSB. (Believe it or not, in addition to doing a sports talk show on our AM, KTMS, he was the traffic reporter during my afternoon drive show on Y97.) So I speak from personal observation when I confirm that he had those "moments" even back then.

My father was a fan of Jim Rome, precisely because of many of his immature comments, especially those about Jim Everett. For the record, my dad died in 2001, and I never found much liking for Jim Rome or his comments--I preferred Calvin Calherd when I had to listen to sports talk stations. And John Feinstein (who used to appear on NPR's "Morning Edition" when it was hosted by Bob Edwards) was another sports commentator I could stomach.

As to the fate of 97.1's sports format, I think it's still way too early to judge its success or failure. Give it two or three months and see if it pulls in an audience. If it does, then the move was okay. If not, well, it's either back to the KNX-AM simulcast (most likely) or the drawing boards (less likely).
 
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I think it's still way too early to judge its success or failure. Give it two or three months and see if it pulls in an audience. If it does, then the move was okay. If not, well, it's either back to the KNX-AM simulcast (most likely) or the drawing boards (less likely).

The other thing none of us know is how successful they will be in non-broadcast revenue. Good Karma's entire business model is based on digital. iHeart is also very strong in creating & monetizing non-broadcast content. I think that's where this game will either be won or lost. Not on air.
 


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