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Yikes…97.1 😱

Other than hiring talk show hosts, what has TheFanLA done to attract listeners? What exclusive events does it have?

Is there anything any of their hosts have said that has attracted media attention outside of their existing bubble?

Once again, people aren't scanning the dial seeking new options on the radio. They use presets to listen to favorites.

For all we know, the "sampling" was done by people who went to 97.1 expecting to hear news or traffic.

We can all understand why a half million people are interested in hearing The Dodgers. What's the attraction at 97.1?
 
Last edited:
michael hagerty said:
June 6+ Quarter-hour shares (compared to May):

KLAC-AM 1.3 to 1.5.

KSPN-AM 0.7 to 0.7.

97.1 The Fan 0.1 to 0.2


Waiting on June cume figures. In May:

570 KLAC: 449,400

710 KSPN: 234,100

97.1 The Fan: 109.400
Click to expand...
Is 97.1 The Fan doing TV or billboards? Anything to spur rapid recognition of the station's recent launch? (OF COURSE, it would have been much easier to advertise on other media when CBS still had radio and outdoor advertising divisions.)
 
TheBigA said:
Other than hiring talk show hosts, what has TheFanLA done to attract listeners? What exclusive events does it have?

Is there anything any of their hosts have said that has attracted media attention outside of their existing bubble?

Once again, people aren't scanning the dial seeking new options on the radio. They use presets to listen to favorites.

For all we know, the "sampling" was done by people who went to 97.1 expecting to hear news or traffic.

We can all understand why a half million people are interested in hearing The Dodgers. What's the attraction at 97.1?
Click to expand...
Where will things stand in November? By then, the Dodgers season will be over, the Rams will be in mid-season (any word on what FM station will carry their games) and the NBA and NHL will be ramping up.
 
OldiesMaven said:
Where will things stand in November? By then, the Dodgers season will be over
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My view is that the peak potential audience for a station in this format is KRLA. That's as good as it will get. This is not a 3 share format.

The Rams say their games will be heard on KSPN and KCBS. We'll see if the KCBS agreement is transferable.

This gets back to something I said before about play by play. Some teams sign separate AM & FM flagships in the same town.
 
I was out of the country when this published and I don't know if it made it into a different thread or not, but this piece in Barrett Media explains what Audacy decided, when and how 97.1 is proceeding.

We (myself absolutely included) have jumped to some conclusions about how slapdash this effort is, but it was undeniably done on short notice. Essential pull-quote:

“Just after the new year, I got approached about the opportunity,” said Williams after stating there had been whispers and rumors about the opportunity for some time. “It wasn’t too long after that when I presented a thesis to Jeff Federman (Audacy West Regional President), Jeff Sottolano (Audacy Chief Programming Officer), Chris Oliviero (Audacy Chief Business Officer), and Chris Kinard (Audacy Sports Format Vice President). It kind of took off from there after I told them about my vision for what 97.1 The Fan can be.”
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And as for Jim Rome:

"Part of Williams’ vision included a fully live and local lineup. All talent and staff would work inside Audacy’s Los Angeles studios. Williams said that philosophy heavily influenced the decision not to add syndication to the the weekday lineup after internal discussions. That included a potential return of Jim Rome to the Los Angeles market.

“One hundred percent it [Jim Rome] was part of the conversation. I had a giant spreadsheet with talent and shows. Obviously, with our relationship with Westwood One Sports, it was brought up,” explained Williams. “I wanted all our people in this building. They are in this studio and conversing around the halls. That means something in the sense of trying to build something brand new.”

Another element surrounding Rome’s potential inclusion involved the difficulty of removing syndicated programming later if the station wanted to pivot toward a local voice.

“In my mind, if you go down that route, it’s very hard to go ask if we could take this off and get to a local voice that may make more sense,” said Williams. “I want us to all build something special together.”
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And this is key (emphasis mine):

"Success doesn’t happen overnight. Williams, a radio veteran himself, understands that building success takes time. However, he wouldn’t reveal what success might look like one year after the launch of 97.1 The Fan. Williams says he understands much of that success will begin with revenue.

“I’m having daily conversations with our sales team. Think about it, they haven’t sold sports before in Los Angeles,” explained Williams. “It’s so new here for everybody, but they’re so aggressive in the best possible way… Our talent also understands this is a startup. They know they have to sell themselves too, which all are on board with. We need to be green and healthy. That’s the goal.”
Click to expand...

Full article:

barrettmedia.com

Andrew Williams Details His Vision Behind Building 97.1 The Fan in Los Angeles

"I wanted all our people in this building. They are in this studio and conversing around the halls. That means something in the sense of trying to build something brand new."
barrettmedia.com barrettmedia.com
 
TheBigA said:
My view is that the peak potential audience for a station in this format is KRLA. That's as good as it will get. This is not a 3 share format.

The Rams say their games will be heard on KSPN and KCBS. We'll see if the KCBS agreement is transferable.

This gets back to something I said before about play by play. Some teams sign separate AM & FM flagships in the same town.
Click to expand...
One would like to think that they already approached the Rams before they launched? Common sense would only dictate as much. Unfortunately, with the roll-out so far, it is definitely not safe to make such an assumption. Crazy, I know.

The more interesting decision lies with the Rams. Having their games on a dedicated FM sports format seems ideal, except for two things. (1) They are currently on KCBS-FM ("Jack") which has a much better signal at 93.1 than KNX-FM does at 97.1. It sometimes (usually?) pushes well into SD county, and (2) Jack's regular audience is already comprised of a lot of in-demo, sports oriented listeners on an established station.

Would they really want to upset what they've got in a year where they are talent loaded and favorites to make Super Bowl for what is currently being programmed on The Fan?
 
TheBigA said:
Other than hiring talk show hosts, what has TheFanLA done to attract listeners? What exclusive events does it have?

Is there anything any of their hosts have said that has attracted media attention outside of their existing bubble?

Once again, people aren't scanning the dial seeking new options on the radio. They use presets to listen to favorites.

For all we know, the "sampling" was done by people who went to 97.1 expecting to hear news or traffic.

We can all understand why a half million people are interested in hearing The Dodgers. What's the attraction at 97.1?
Click to expand...
It was supposed to be Derek Fisher
 
TheBigA said:
My view is that the peak potential audience for a station in this format is KRLA. That's as good as it will get. This is not a 3 share format.

The Rams say their games will be heard on KSPN and KCBS. We'll see if the KCBS agreement is transferable.

This gets back to something I said before about play by play. Some teams sign separate AM & FM flagships in the same town.
Click to expand...
On 710 one afternoon, Beto Duran made it seem like Audacy and GK were partners in this. Like it is in Cleveland. It’s a mistake overall, being in the same bed as your competitor.
 
K.M. Richards said:
Is it possible to agree and disagree with a post simultaneously?

I don't think Carson's leaving made that much difference at Amp. But I agree that the news simulcast made more sense than this latest move.
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He’s not wrong actually. AMP struggled for years in mornings post Carson. That did kill AMP. CBS/Entercom wanted to salvage it. I remember at the time, there were rumors at Entercom CEO was looking to woo Seacrest to 97.1.
 
I can’t see this lasting long, sadly. 97.1 FM Talk was axed and they actually had better ratings. The crazy part is. The 97.1 the freak, hybrid guy-talk, sports format might have actually worked in L.A.
 
Loverofradio said:
On 710 one afternoon, Beto Duran made it seem like Audacy and GK were partners in this. Like it is in Cleveland. It’s a mistake overall, being in the same bed as your competitor.
Click to expand...

Audacy is in bed with GK in NYC too. They leased GK WCBS-AM 880. There's a deal to be made in LA.

I think my view is rebroadcasting KSPN on FM isn't enough to move the needles. We're still talking less than 1 share.
 
TheBigA said:
Audacy is in bed with GK in NYC too. They leased GK WCBS-AM 880. There's a deal to be made in LA.

I think my view is rebroadcasting KSPN on FM isn't enough to move the needles. We're still talking less than 1 share.
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Nor will it be enough to move the needle with 97.1...Its a huge gamble that won't pay off for audacy
 
TheBigA said:
That audience is already being served. Less than a million people are even interested.

You have to give me a reason to leave my friends.



All good questions. I don't know.
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How much of the potential sports/talk audience is under 40 and absolutely, positively won't listen to AM ever? While I have my doubts about Audacy upper management, odds are they have looked into the potential listeners that would only listen to an FM station. And with fewer and fewer people willing to even punch up AM, a sports or talk FM does theoretically make sense.

Of course, so did an all-news FM.
 
Loverofradio said:
I can’t see this lasting long, sadly. 97.1 FM Talk was axed and they actually had better ratings. The crazy part is. The 97.1 the freak, hybrid guy-talk, sports format might have actually worked in L.A.
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The KLSX talk format was doomed when Howard Stern jumped to satellite radio. A lot of similarly formatted stations had to throw in the towel.

In a way, this new move may suffer a similar fate from lack of an anchor personality that people will specifically tune in to hear.
 
K.M. Richards said:
In a way, this new move may suffer a similar fate from lack of an anchor personality that people will specifically tune in to hear.
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So you're saying going with some unknown GenZ hosts that sound like college podcasters may not draw in the audience like established name talent? It sounds like this might be news to the local Audacy managers running the station. But what the hey, they probably know better.

I am sure of it. Well, at least they are sure of it, anyways.
 


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