Update 4/21: KWQW relaunched as “98.3 The Torch” today as expected with all the changes telegraphed below coming true.
New Program Director Robert Rees is hosting mornings from 5-9am. Glenn Beck is added from 9-11am and Dennis Miller from 11am to 2pm. The station is now positioning itself as “Common Sense Radio”.
Original Report 4/13: Cumulus Conservative Talk “98.3 WOW-FM” KWQW Boone/Des Moines appears in-line for a revamp.
A registration was been made by the company for 983TheTorch.com on Friday. An accompanying Twitter account ties it to Des Moines along with some lineup changes.
The account lists Robert Rees, who quietly joined the station from “Cities 92.9” WRPW Bloomington, IL last month as Program Director as part of the lineup. In a comment on his Facebook page Rees notes that he’ll be going on-air beginning Monday, April 21. Other differences between the current lineup and the one on listed are Glenn Beck and Dennis Miller instead of Chris Plante and Herman Cain. Miller currently airs on Clear Channel’s 1430 KASI in the Des Moines market. The rest of KWQW’s lineup should remain in place with Cumulus Media Network’s Michael Savage, Mark Levin, John Batchelor, and Red Eye Radio.
KWQW registered a 1.9 share of the Des Moines market in the Fall 2013 Nielsen Audio ratings; well behind Clear Channel’s market leading 1040 WHO and its 7.5 share.
theoutsider
The changes will not move the ratings upward. WHO has most of the top tier conservative talk shows. Other than Beck, 98.3 seems to have also rans chasing a very limited audience. I think they have run through a couple of other PDs since Cumulus took over, and that position was not much more stable when Citadel was in charge. I am surprised they haven’t switched it back to some sort of music format.