Terry
Silver Level Member
Posts: 488
Usual Listening Area: east Murray
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Post by Terry on Oct 28, 2016 15:12:32 GMT -6
They've changed their "imaging". They're no longer The Wolf, but something else equally unmemorable; maybe they said The Pulse? At least the guy has a better voice.
And they've added a bunch of new programs. I've only listened to 2 of them and they are shockingly poor. And I actually thought that they couldn't get any worse. I was wrong.
Wow! I'm convinced that they've got liberals attempting to program a conservative talk station. They are doomed.
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Post by David on Oct 28, 2016 17:24:01 GMT -6
I'm a bit confused. I thought that KKAT-AM dropped "The Wolf" tagline when they dumped the classic country format a few years ago? Have I missed something by not tuning in to 860 AM for a few weeks?  I've said many times that I think KKAT made a mistake in dropping the classic country format in favor of third rate talk programs. Since Phil Hendrie took his program to an all-digital format via TuneIn, the only thing I listen to on 860 is Redeye Radio and occasionally Michael Savage. At least with the classic country format the station showed up in the ratings occasionally. But since KSOP-AM seems to have a corner on the classic county audience in the Salt Lake metro, KKAT-AM might as well dump the crappy talk shows and switch to a syndicated "real oldies" or adult standards format. From what you've described, the station has hit rock bottom and has nowhere to go but up from here. By the way, the station's web site is still promoting 860 AM as "Utah's Big Talker", which is the slogan they were using last time I tuned in. Maybe Cumulus just hasn't bothered to update their web site yet. |
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Oct 29, 2016 21:43:37 GMT -6
In this world of corporate radio it's important to have your syndicated programs on as many stations as possible. I'll bet that's an important part of why shows like Levin and Savage are on these, even if the ratings are bad.
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Post by David on Oct 30, 2016 10:05:36 GMT -6
In this world of corporate radio it's important to have your syndicated programs on as many stations as possible. I'll bet that's an important part of why shows like Levin and Savage are on these, even if the ratings are bad. Yes, it certainly gives the sales staff a big talking point to tell prospective advertisers "this program is on 500 radio stations in the U.S.!", while conveniently ignoring the fact that 400 of those stations are graveyard AM's that rarely show up in the ratings.  |
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Post by David on Nov 8, 2016 17:14:39 GMT -6
One thing is certain about KKAT-AM: the station's automation needs some serious fine tuning. Their new top of the hour legal ID comes on at 58 minutes past the hour, and then there's almost two minutes of dead air before the network news comes on. Not at all a professional way to run a radio station, and not a good reflection on Citadel. It's kind of ironic that the current legal ID announces that KKAT-AM is "proud to be a Citadel station" or something similar, and then is followed by nearly two minutes of silence. Fix the automation and squeeze a couple more commercials into that dead air, Citadel--either that or change the station's call letters to KDOA.
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Nov 9, 2016 23:52:25 GMT -6
At least they run a legal near the true top of the hour, unlike some stations that bury the legal in a stopset at 20 minutes to and run a big sweeper at the TOH. And please tell me they aren't IDing as Citadel. Cumulus bought Citadel 5 years ago.  |
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Post by David on Nov 10, 2016 0:06:14 GMT -6
Sorry, my bad again, CA. Yes, they are ID'ing as a Cumulus station. I got the two confused because both names start with a "C". Another premature senior moment, I'm afraid!
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Post by David on Nov 10, 2016 15:27:50 GMT -6
The new slogan for KKAT-AM with their legal ID is "the only talk radio with a pulse". I think that's pretty darn funny considering that the station sounds like it's on life support! |
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Terry
Silver Level Member
Posts: 488
Usual Listening Area: east Murray
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Post by Terry on Nov 20, 2016 11:55:14 GMT -6
OMG! I just listened for a half hour this morning to a couple of dummies make complete fools of themselves on a local program. They actually said, "Racism is rampant in the media", without, of course, any examples at all just sly references to Trump. Who's in charge over there? Nobody? High school kids? Is Air America coming back from the grave? What kind of management would give voice to programming of such low quality?
I had been hoping they'd improve. I'm convinced now that they don't have the ability. Sad.
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Post by David on Nov 20, 2016 21:46:51 GMT -6
The station's web site is just as poor as their on-air programming. They don't even have a complete schedule listing on the KKAT-AM web page right now. I can almost guarantee that 860 AM would at least show up in the ratings more often if they 86'ed the third rate talk programs in favor of a syndicated rock oldies or adult standards format. Or Cumulus could just surrender the license for KRUZ (1230 AM) to the FCC and put the sports talk programming on 860. That would take care of the problem of locating a new tower site, and with 10 KW days and 3 KW critical hours, I'm sure the KRUZ programming would be heard by a lot more people than the 20 watt flea power transmitter 1230 is currently using. But hey, Cumulus is paying the power bill for 860, and if they want to waste a 10 KW signal on crap programming, that's their choice. |
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Nov 21, 2016 2:25:38 GMT -6
Terry, remember that radio is there to entertain. That sort of rhetoric has been around on talk radio for a quarter century (at least) since Rush Limbaugh came on the scene. Nothing you described is anything even remotely new.
Cumulus corporate (where the decisions are made) probably doesn't care all that much about the ratings for either KKAT or KRUZ. They own most (or maybe all) of the programming on KKAT so that's going to get the priority. The CBS Sports Radio national programming (which Cumulus distributes but doesn't own) is just there because they can get the programming for either nothing or next to nothing and keeps the license alive while they look for something to do with it or to unload it. I'm guessing the latter, since they could easily have already diplexed KRUZ into one of their other towers to make a permanent transmitter site. Diplexing into KKAT's tower actually makes a lot of sense since it's only a few miles away from the former KRUZ (then KJQS) site and is also a single tower non-directional (if I'm reading the FCC data right). They haven't done that because it would cost money and they don't want to spend money they don't have to, which makes sense. KRUZ is worth something eventually, so they aren't going to turn in the license unless they really have to. This buys them time and CBS Radio can say they have an affiliate here even if nobody actually listens. The same "we have an affiliate there" argument works for selling KKAT's talk programming. And if all that wasn't good enough, they've got problems over on the FM side of the dial that I'd argue are even more important than worrying about whether an AM that isn't going to crack a 1.5 share no matter what you put on it is doing. If you want an oldies or standards format, put it on 101.9 or 94.9 or 101.1 first.
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Post by David on Nov 21, 2016 11:52:41 GMT -6
IMHO, KBER (101.1) was doing well in the ratings when Kelly Hammer was PD. The station's downfall was hiring Sue Kelley as PD, who switched the station's format to classic rock and tried to go head to head against KRSP-FM, the 800 pound gorilla of classic rock stations in the SLC market. She's much better off staying at 103.5. Unfortunately, it looks like KBER is still continuing its downhill slide in the ratings as CA noted. I still don't fully understand the "we have an affiliate there" business model, but I guess that's why I don't work for corporate America, specifically broadcasting. To me it makes more sense to fill a format hole be it on an AM or FM station and at least get minuscule but measurable ratings rather than playing the numbers game by bragging about how many stations your program is on when hardly no one's listening.  |
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Post by drpepper on Nov 24, 2016 2:20:37 GMT -6
Even though KFNZ has a pretty good signal, maybe moving the sports format over to KKAT then having 1320 fill in with the rest of the CBS national programming could work. Then do something else with KRUZ. Or maybe leaving sports as they are between kfnz and kruz and lmaing KKAT for brokered programming. Theres got to be something else they could do. Does anyone think it would be cheaper to turn the licenses of consistently underperforming stations throughout the country in to the FCC rather than run them further in to the ground? I just ask because of how many articles seem to mention cumulus and Iheart being in such bad shape financially.
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Nov 25, 2016 9:25:02 GMT -6
You get zero financial benefit from turning in the license. Keeping it alive costs virtually nothing and then selling it makes money. Turning in the license really doesn't make sense to me.
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