War of the (radio) worlds

Industry watchers are eagerly anticipating the pending showdown between Clear Channel and Cumulus as the latter is adding new voices and services to their line up. Maybe the most interesting face off starts next week when Mike Huckabee goes directly up against Rush Limbaugh (770 KTTH M-F 9a-12p).  Now that Rush has gotten himself in some hot water, however temporary, will listeners tune in to Huckabee as an alternative? Cumulus certainly hopes so, and also hopes that audience will give the other new voices, such as Ryan Seacrest, a chance as well.

The New York Times has this to say:

 "Cumulus, which is publicly traded, and Clear Channel, which is privately held, mostly by Thomas H. Lee Partners and Bain Capital, are highly profitable. But Cumulus and Clear Channel are also saddled with enormous amounts of debt — $20 billion in Clear Channel’s case and $2.8 billion in Cumulus’s. For years they have been squeezing costs out at stations by laying off employees and cutting local programming."

Cumulus hopes to offer alternative programming with other voices, such as Seacrest and Geraldo Rivera, as well as local traffic news, to advertisers looking to buy time on shows with less controversial hosts.

Our friend over at Daily Kos, Joan McCarter, says, "With Huckabee, it's all of the conservatism, none of the hate. Well, none of the explicit hate, implied maybe, given Huckabee's extreme conservatism shielded under the nice-guy image...Whether this can make a huge dent in Clear Channel's dominance in talk radio remains to be seen. They've got 900 stations to Cumulus' 580. Limbaugh's show runs on 600 of Clear Channel's stations. So far, 140 stations have contracted to air Huckabee's show, but significantly "only about 45 of those stations are owned and operated by Cumulus, meaning that the other stations that agreed to carry Huckabee's show have no affiliation with the company."

 Washington listeners can find Huckabee on the following stations:

                          KBKW AM 145  Aberdeen           

                          KEDO AM 1400 Longview

                          KBSN AM 1470 Moses Lake

                          KNCW FM 92.7 Omak

                          KOMW AM 680 Omak
 

                          KONA AM 610  Pasco

                          KONP AM 1450 Port Angeles

                          KCIS AM 630 Seattle

                          KVNI AM 1080 Spokane

                          KXLY AM 920 Spokane

                          KBBO AM 980 Yakima

Comments

[Truth-Seeker]

none of the hate. Well, none of the explicit hate, implied maybe, given Huckabee's extreme conservatism shielded under the nice-guy image.

That's sure the truth and well put. Conservatism these days is so extreme that it is almost synonymous with hate for so many about so much.

[Truth-Seeker]

I have to add that I predict Huckabee will be the winner because I think Rush has worn out his welcome with all but a few low-lifes who still think in put-downs and name-calling.

[casual observer]

That's an UGLY affiliate list for Huckabee.

[Preston]

He doesn't even make it in seattle

[sparky]

I was thinking the very same thing. The towns in E. Wa that are carrying him might do pretty well for their particular stations. KONA has a pretty strong signal..you can get it all along the Columbia Gorge from about Cascade Locks to way beyond Pendelton, going east, and once you are over Snoqualmie Pass on 90. Huckabee is actually a perfect match for the Tri-city area. What these stations need to do is stream their broadcasts if they don't already. KCIS is All Religion, All the Time. I dont think he will do much in the Seattle market.

[KS]

I'll check him out in between Bob Rivers. KCIS is a rather weak station, but so is KLFE.

[Cueburner]

The Santorum campaign has energized the Religious Right in the GOP and this will boost Huckabee's chance against Rush. Huckabee, an old Baptist minister, can blend religion with politics at a time when Rush is causing some of the fathful to lose faith in him. In additon, if old political polls are to be believed, Huckabee will be a bigger female magnet than Rush.
In any event, it will be interesting and you can bet on one thing, the company losing this race will be doing another round of layoffs.

[Chucks]

Huckabee will pick up new listeners as well as steal a few from Rush. Rush will remain the king for as long as he chooses. He has stumbled a number of times before and will again. He still has the best show on all of talk radio.

[Mary]

Well, Rush's show is the meanest.

[KS]

The meanest show with substance. Mike Malloy and Ed Schultz (to name two lefties) can outmean Rush, but they lose on the substance.

[Mary]

Sorry, I thought we were talking about Rush and Huckabee?

[Coiler]

Rush and Huckabee, like two bald men fighting over a comb.

[Paul]

You complain about lack of local talk radio, but you ignore KJR and KIRO AM. It doesn't just have to be politics. Case in point: you often talk about R&D and they are not political. I'd rather read about sports talk or anything local, rather than some network show on KPTK that no one has ever heard of.

[The BW Crew]

Paul if you have news about the sports radio channels please email us at the link above and let us know. We will follow up on it right away. Thanks!

[Paul]

But I though YOU listen to talk radio so I dont have to?!?!?