UPDATED: Bonneville blows up oldies KBSG to simulcast KIRO- will KIRO go all sports?

This thing of the past -- oldies station B97.3 -- will truly become a thing of the past.

This from Carl Gardner, Bonneville Seattle Market Manager:

... We know there are a significant number of radio listeners who use FM on a daily basis, but may visit the AM dial only sporadically. In addition, we also know that as the music radio landscape has become more and more fragmented, it's clear that there will be a limited available audience for KBSG's music programming. Puget Sound listeners have shown great support for the quality news and stimulating talk on 710 KIRO. This is why KIRO has been a perennial audience leader in the region. We believe we can best serve Puget Sound Residents by instead offering News Talk 710 KIRO's rich mix of news, local talk, public affairs, and community service on 97.3 FM. Therefore, we will begin simulcasting KIRO on FM 97.3 and AM 710 beginning at 5am, Tuesday, August 12th. Again, thank you for being a loyal KBSG listener.  I hope you continue to listen to the KIRO programming on 97.3 FM. Sincerely,

We reported rumors to this effect last month -- more rumors persist that with the Seahawks already in hand, and the recent acquisition of Mariners' baseball broadcasting, KIRO AM will morph into all sports.

Here are two fairly brilliant observations from two of our fairly brilliant readers:

This from our friend Rev:

Consider what's really happening here:

1) Bonneville is shutting down one of their Seattle program streams. One assumes they are also eliminating some jobs, both on-air and in sales.

2) They're placing the KIRO program stream on two transmitters. Unless this produces a larger share or cume of the total radio audience in this market, they can't charge more for commercial time.

3) The #1 news and talk station in this market is FM (KUOW). So one must assume that the news/talk audience knows how to operate the AM/FM switches on their radios.

4) So it's likely that most of the "new" KIRO-FM audience will switch over from AM. Minimal gain BlatherWatcher  numbers equals minimal increased revenue.

5) Which suggests that the simulcast is only temporary. A new format on one of the duplicated transmitters will (one assumes) grab at least some new that audience Bonneville can sell separately.

So it seems likely that this is not the last chapter in this particular shift of transmitters and formats.

This is from RadioWonkLance, a Seattle ex-pat living in Toronto

Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but read the FAQ on the mynorthwest.com site carefully

It says that the Seahawks will be heard this coming season on 710 and 97.3.

However, it says that the Mariners will be on 710, no mention of 97.3.   Do we smell TBTL on FM and the Mariners on AM?

Also, I found this interesting at the end:

Q: Where else can I hear the music B97.3 played?
A: 95.7 KJR or 102.5 KZOK"

It's not every day that one promotes someone else's radio stations. 

Comments

[Fred Leitch]

KIRO lost me with the launch of TBTL. I just don't get it. Boring to nausea. All sports & ESPN on Kiro? Interesting. 710AM may ger me back. Better signal here in the south sound than KJR 950. What about new on-air staff? No more David Locke hope. He's too much like Dick Vitale on steroids...