Younger Skewing Conservative Talk

[ajhenderson]

Re: FM Traditional Talkers

(Time expired to edit below post, hence a new one)

Don't forget KAGM 106.3 in Albuquerque. [insert yawn sfx here] Live and local 6a-7pm with former KKOB morning man Larry Ahrens, who Citadel was more than happy to say "forget the heritage rule"... "we had an [xxx] share when he got here and we have a [xxx] share now that he left"

 

[OldAkronite]

Why Not Sell the Station Instead of Talk?

> True, but with the debt these companies have, they could
> SELL the station to an outfit of lesser intelligence and
> bring in that amount in cash.

But that misses the GREATER point.

Clear Channel wants to own X-number of stations in any particular market... and it just happens that not all of the "X" can be high performers like talk WTAM here.

So, they have to figure out what format works on those stations, and on the FMs, it can mean a rotation from hot AC to smooth jazz to a country flanker. And it usually doesn't work like they expected, so they change format again.

Selling the station solves nothing. The incremental costs for that 5th or 6th lower rated FM are not much, since the cluster already exists and is already serving 4 or 5 other stations. They don't need a 5th or 6th set of managers, aside from maybe a PD (if he or she isn't already programming other stations in the cluster). The only costs are basically the electric bill and whatever they're paying on-air people for the station - which can be virtually nothing if it employs a lot of voicetracking.

Welcome to today's radio!

In this environment, it clearly (so to speak makes sense for Clear Channel to flip a smooth jazz station in Minneapolis to a "mainstream" talker...especially with the likely key to the whole thing, getting the rights to Rush and later, Hannity, from KSTP. CC only has one decent full signal AM in the market, but it's already successful as sports KFAN, so they get the FM talker.

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>

 

[clichemoth]

Re: Let's not forget the technical side

> Conservative talk will have a hard time skewing younger as
> long as the format is mostly stuck on the AM band (your
> grandfather's standard broadcast band). At least some of NJ
> 101.5's success with younger listeners is a result of being
> on FM.
>
> There are some hot talk FM stations (or partly hot talk),
> but outside of NJ 101.5 no mainstream FM talk stations come
> to mind. (I imagine somebody will point out some but I feel
> safe in saying they are few and far between.) In most
> markets, you have multiple FM stations fighting it out for
> the same piece of format turf (Urban, CHR, Country), and at
> least one of them is not doing well. There seems to be an
> untapped opportunity for both conservative and progressive
> talk on FM.

The South is full of traditional talk formats that have moved to FM either entirely or in simulcast.

Birmingham has WYDE 101.1, which focuses on live local talk in the day and carries Rusty Humphries and America At Night after sunset. Definitely a conservative-leaning station and not a hot talker. Geneva, AL (Dothan market) has WRJM 93.7 which carries O'Reilly, Boortz, Savage, Joel Wallach, and C2C.
Augusta, GA has WGAC 93.1, Anderson, SC has WRIX 103.1, Macon has a couple, Columbus and Jackson, MS have the "SuperTalk Mississippi Network" on FM, Chattanooga has WGOW 102.3, which leans hot talk with its local programs and Hendrie, but also carries Rush, Laura Ingraham, and C2C. Knoxville has WNOX-FM 100.3, Abingdon, VA has WFHG 92.7... And I'm probably leaving a few out, and I'm not counting the sports stations (which is still generally an FM format) or the stations that carry a lot of talk but also play music at other points.


Most people, even in the older demos, are more likely to listen to FM unless there is a strong heritage AM in their market. Being on FM gives a second-tier talk station the ability to expand their audience.





>
> Let's note that progressive talk averages a few years
> younger than conservative talk, not a lot younger. Mostly,
> they are your father's kind of talk show host, too.
>