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You're hired to save KDKA-AM! What do you do?

P

Pratte4Life

I decided to look up their program schedule after realizing I didn't know what it was anymore.

And what I saw was not necessarily the 50,000-watt "Voice of Pittsburgh" that was once beamed out to 30 odd states and half of Canada that advertised our fair city, but instead a lineup that I thought resembled what you'd expect to hear on a 500-watt AM in a small town.

Four hours of Tradio on the weekends. A ton of brokered shows. Whereas once KDKA had talk show hosts beaming out slices of local life to the rest of the land, now it is Jim Bohannon.

So, if you were the PD of KDKA- or Jim Phelps as the case may be- what would you do to reverse the fortunes of KDKA and make the station great again?
 
1) New morning show. I realize your image is news, so I don't think you want to go off the deep end and hire Scott Paulsen, but Larry's role is more or less just that of a traffic cop. A lighter show, maybe a male-female team with more conversation and possibly some lightweight stuff as entertainment.

2) I would bring back Boortz live from 10a- noon because I think Beck has pretty much jumped the shark and there's an opportunity to take some listeners back from 104.7.

3) Pintek's OK.

4) PM drive is a key local time slot at a lot of talk stations. Hannity doesn't do as well in a lot of markets as he does here because he's competing with entrenched local shows, but he's essentially unopposed for a non-sports talk show in this market. then again, who do you put on against Hannity, Madden, Sean McDowell and the Fan that could get some under-55 numbers? If you've ever heard John Hancock, who does nights at WBT in Charlotte, he's the protoype. Substantial enough in content when he wants to be, but able to be entertaining as well.

5) Lynn Cullen or a syndicated show evenings. Females are the available audience here. I think you could go off the deep end later in the evening and run a liberal show like Ed Schultz or Randi Rhodes on delay.

Weekends are another matter entirely. The entire news-talk genre has given up on trying to do anything worthwhile because frankly the audience goes elsewhere no matter what (104.7 isn't a whole lot better, other than baseball). Penn State football might help, but you could not carry basketball.

I'm not sure there's anything you can do on AM at this point to make the audience radically younger, but they are not even in the top 10 25-54 (beaten by the Frogs). So anything less boring and bombastic and more entertaining would be a step in the right direction.
 
When I tune over to KD I'm looking for one main thing: accurate up to date news, especially during major events, weather etc. This means overnight and weekends too. They really need to integrate the TV and radio news depts so that it is a true 24/7 operation. The only thing that is going to pull listeners from the other 29 states would be if they became the Steeler's flagship but that's not going to happen anytime soon. (I can't count how many people I know out of state who would love to be able to tune in the local broadcast) The best they could do, would be to have a top notch Pittsburgh sports show in the PM (imagine Stan & Guy over 30 states broadcasting to the Steeler nation)
 
Tell CBS to get WBZ to shut off the IBOC so you can hear KDKA further then 30 miles out of town at night, then shut off the KDKA IBOC.
 
Probably the only thing that could save it at this point is to put it on FM, like many other heritage AM's are doing. Look at the success that WSB is having in Atlanta with an FM simulcast. But of course, CBS has no FM properties in this market that they would likely sacrifice for this. They should have bought 106.7 from Sheridan when it was up for sale!
 
Get WINS, KDKA and WBZ to shut off their IBOC, I'd have to say... doubt CBS would want to kill off the Fan or Y108 ;)

RFHog: Doubt the Godcasters would let 106.7 get sold either...
 
JohnW said:
Before doing anything else, turn the IBOC off.
Click to expand...

Amen to that! I have family members living within 50 miles of town who complain they have
trouble tuning in KD's signal. Likely a combination of The Buzz and some grounding issues.
Gotta be able to listen from somewhere closer than England in order to succeed.

Fully agree, ditch that gawdawful morning show! Maybe experiment with a Doug Hoerth-style
show in the mornings, focusing on pop culture, trivia, etc. Go for that audience that wants neither
politics nor the "Morning Zoo" schtick with breakfast.

Maybe bring back a "Party Line" style game show with contests, prizes, etc.

And although my personal opinions lean right, it is clear that people who disagree with me do
not really have a home on the local talk radio dial. Some liberal talk programming would seem to make
sense (though perhaps not of the wingnut Randy Rhodes variety). Particularly if it is local. Don't
know whether Lynn Cullen may be too burnt-out after her experiences of the past several years.
But something along those lines.

And maybe consider some Frankie Day-type Doo Wop show on weekend evenings, after the
AM's who specialize in that have shut down for the day. It does have a following here and with
a big enough signal you can probably sell some spots.

And I agree with the poster who said maintain (or even increase) their investment in the News Dept.
I learned last fall when I went without power for several days that KD is virtually the ONLY place to
get local news after 6PM if you are without both TV and the internet.
 
Two more thoughts....

1) I know CBS' mission was to start FM sports-talk stations, but I wonder what would have happened if they moved KDKA to 93.7 and put the Fan on 1020?

2) Play 50s and 60s oldies all weekend and get some people like Chuck Brinkman to VT it... WTKS in Orlando, which a true "FM talk" outlet (Stern wannabes in the morning, no politics, all local lifestyle stuff), plays Classic Rock all weekend.
 
1--Wait until fall when they will be in the top 2 or 3 again.
2--Give Chris Moore the 9-noon slot, move Marty to noon-3 and get him to do briefer resets.
3--fire pintek again
4--Live and local news 24/7
5--Move to FM
 
As I was reading these comments, I went back to the discussion we're having about WDVE on another thread.

And then it occurred to me.

KDKA isn't "Pittsburgh" enough.

Doug Hoerth used to say this- that people in a locale like to hear broadcasters who sound like themselves. Think about this- how many broadcasters in New York- from Howard Stern to Phil Rizzuto- have/had New York accents?

This is the largest market there is! Supposedly the highest standards! And yet there is no shortage of broadcasters in NYC who have voices that are about as far away from Midwestern Standard as can be.

This is not to say that KDKA should scrap everything and go "All Yinzer- All the Time!" or replace everyone on their airwaves with people who sound like Myron Cope. But you could take a great many of their broadcasters- some who have been there for many years- and put them in another market and they wouldn't miss a beat. There's nothing distinctly unique to this locale about a great many of KDKA broadcasters.

Really, I can only think of two people on their airwaves that I would classify as "Pittsburgh Guys." One is Larry Richert. The other is Rob Pratte.

And while to some people to say backboning the station around those two would be akin to WJM backboning around Ted Baxter, there's got to be something that's kept those two on the air for this long. Sure- Richert could ask more probing follow-up questions on his interviews. Pratte has been called the King of the Malaprop. Yet there is clearly something distinctly neighborly about these two men.


To some consultants, what I am saying is blasphemous. But I think in future job interviews a little less emphasis on asking what they studied at Syracuse or what their ratings were in market 50 and more on how they like their perogies or what their favorite Mario Lemieux moment was would go a long way at KDKA.
 
Pratte4Life said:
Doug Hoerth used to say this- that people in a locale like to hear broadcasters who sound like themselves. Think about this- how many broadcasters in New York- from Howard Stern to Phil Rizzuto- have/had New York accents?
Click to expand...

You mean like everyone on the Fan?
 
Parttimer said:
2) Play 50s and 60s oldies all weekend and get some people like Chuck Brinkman to VT it... WTKS in Orlando, which a true "FM talk" outlet (Stern wannabes in the morning, no politics, all local lifestyle stuff), plays Classic Rock all weekend.
Click to expand...

I would think any temptation to program music would be negated by the need to pay music licensing fees.

Given that Brinkman would only mean something to the 50+ audience, I don't think his presence would help anyway.
 
pman44 said:
1--Wait until fall when they will be in the top 2 or 3 again.
2--Give Chris Moore the 9-noon slot, move Marty to noon-3 and get him to do briefer resets.
3--fire pintek again
4--Live and local news 24/7
5--Move to FM
Click to expand...

A real All News 24/7 station, maybe with a couple of the local talk hosts remaining. Maybe something like their old Group W brethren, KYW or WINS (yes, I'm dating myself).
 
Interesting question:
I would love to give re-birthing KDKA a try.

Here's my plan:

1. Move to an adult Oldies format that plays more than just the top 10, (use the Pittsburgh area's songs and groups in good rotation)

2. Hire talent that knows the music, and don't limit them to liner cards.

3. Hourly Local News

4. promote promote promote. If there are more than 3 people gathered for something be there with your call letters!

5. Remember the stations roots.
 
Parttimer said:
Pratte4Life said:
Doug Hoerth used to say this- that people in a locale like to hear broadcasters who sound like themselves. Think about this- how many broadcasters in New York- from Howard Stern to Phil Rizzuto- have/had New York accents?
Click to expand...

You mean like everyone on the Fan?
Click to expand...

Poor Vinnie is still fumbling with CAR-nuh-gee/car-NAY-gee after all this time! :D
 
Hmm....

I like the idea of doing something with the FM band. I think AM is eventually going to be a thing of the past Out here in the Bay Area their flagship KCBS is now simulcasting on their FM frequency and it does fairly well in the ratings. Perhaps tailoring the station back to a more of a Pittsburgh theme and either local talk or local news all the time and simcuasting on the FM wave. Though, I doubt they would want to give up one of their FM stations right now.

Did KDKA ever move up to GreenTree with the rest of the CBS Cluster? I heard the AM Station was going up there but also heard the FM station was joining the AM station downtown (dahn-tahn) but didn't know who is really where.
 
CaliRadioGuy said:
Hmm....

I like the idea of doing something with the FM band. I think AM is eventually going to be a thing of the past Out here in the Bay Area their flagship KCBS is now simulcasting on their FM frequency and it does fairly well in the ratings. Perhaps tailoring the station back to a more of a Pittsburgh theme and either local talk or local news all the time and simcuasting on the FM wave. Though, I doubt they would want to give up one of their FM stations right now.

Did KDKA ever move up to GreenTree with the rest of the CBS Cluster? I heard the AM Station was going up there but also heard the FM station was joining the AM station downtown (dahn-tahn) but didn't know who is really where.
Click to expand...


KDKA moved to Green Tree last November. All the CBS stations are in the same building now.

For all this discussion of "local" talk, they're already local talk or news from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. The only satellite slots are graveyard shifts from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.
 
Parttimer said:
Pratte4Life said:
Think about this - how many broadcasters in New York- from Howard Stern to Phil Rizzuto- have/had New York accents?
Click to expand...

You mean like everyone on the Fan?
Click to expand...

Interestingly, Gregg Giannotti came to 93.7 The Fan by way of New York's WFAN...
 
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