As media consolidations go, the transistion from Citadel to Cumulus has been anything but partly cloudy.
One of the largest examples was the mass firing this past December at west coast blowtorch, KGO. Some of the biggest on-air talent was let go including Gene Burns, Ray Talliafero and John Rothmann.
Inserted in it's place was supposedly what the Bay Area wanted, another mostly news station to go head to head with all-news-all- the time KCBS. CBS has a track record of converting 50,000 watt major market stations am stations such as KNX, WCBS and others. Problem is, CBS radio did this years ago when it was inovative and had the resources to build a market leader as a format. As ratings go, KGO was once #1, now in 7th or lower until the spring books come out.
Ray Taliafero, the man who used to walk and talk after midnight.
While it's true that KGO faltered as far back as 2010 when it lost the top spot to rival KCBS, the talk as compared to "news and information" as KGO bills itself has replaced it's local weekday overnight hosts with syndication, as one of Cumulus' own programs, "Red Eye Radio" replaced the John Rothmann/ Taliafero era of live and local radio.
Red Eye, a repackaged name for the old "Midnight Truckers Radio Network" which consists of 2 hosts, Gary McNamara and Eric Harley, which would be better aptly named The Red State Radio Angst network.
School bus driver who also kinda drives a truck and is prime demo for Red Eye radio
Who else has Cumulus rained on?
While the Seattle market is not their territory since a local indie band has claim to that name, other market areas have seen similar mass firings.
In Knoxville TN, a four decade long run for WIVK' PD Mike Hammond ended this week from one of the highest rated country stations in the market. Hammond was replaced by a Cumulus insider with a background in syndication. Hammond's son, Jack Ryan was also let go at the same time. Ryan told WBIR TV, "It's the sign of the times I guess... we had strong ratings- it wasn't that. I think it was cutting jobs."
Is it possible for a large media giant to have mostly local hosts and still do News/Talk?
KMOX, a CBS owned station in St Louis has been a market leader whose programming is live and local with one major syndication, The Rush Limbaugh Show . KMOX held the distinction of holding the record for consecutive number one Arbitron ratings books in the United States. The station was consistently the number one radio station with listeners 12 and older since 1972.
We had strong ratings. I think it was about cutting jobs.
I think it is about controlling the message.
Posted by: truth-seeker | March 17, 2012 at 09:19 PM
Red Eye is one of my favorite TV shows on Fox - hosted by Greg Guttfeld, who would be a good comedian and has a lively round table discussion. Also like The Five on Fox with Bob Beckel, former campaign mgr. for Mondale in 1984 and 4 conservatives. Beckel usually gets in the good lines and makes sense about 1/2 of the time - Guttfeld is also on that show and Juan Williams shows up sometimes. The show is political, but also funny. They keep it light and it shows the people from both sides can still have civil discussions and be respectful.
Red Eye Radio ? Not heard around here, just stuff like Phil Hendrie and All-Night and reruns of conservative and liberal talk shows. Are folks in the deep south really as stupid as people around here portray them as being ?
Posted by: KS | March 17, 2012 at 10:01 PM
Are you from the South, KS?
Posted by: Walt | March 17, 2012 at 10:32 PM
Nope, from Oregon - are you from the South, Walt ?
Posted by: KS | March 17, 2012 at 10:56 PM
I assumed that the KGO format was doomed when Cumulus bought KGO form ABC Radio. They actually held on a lot longer than I thought that they would.
Entercom was in the running to buy KGO but lost out to Cumulus. I think that Entercom might have preserved the format like they did here with KIRO.
It is sad not to hear Ray Taliafero's voice cutting through the late night static while overcoming the preachers on KGNW-820. He got me through the bush Maladministration and I'm sure that he went down fighting.
Posted by: Ted Smith | March 18, 2012 at 01:16 PM
There couldn't be a bigger contrast than between Ray and Redneck radio. What a shame. I miss Ray.
Posted by: AprilMayJune | March 19, 2012 at 06:25 AM
WHO Des Moines has been a powerful top rated local talker for many years.
Entercom doesn't own KIRO.
Posted by: BR | March 22, 2012 at 01:19 PM
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Posted by: Bailey | April 21, 2012 at 09:23 PM