Update 1/2: 1150 KTLK Los Angeles has relaunched as “1150 The Patriot” with new KEIB call letters. The KTLK calls moved to 1130 KTCN Minneapolis.
The new lineup at “The Patriot” has been finalized beyond the previously announced Glenn Beck from 6-9am, Limbaugh from 9am-12pm, and Hannity from 12-3pm. The remainder of the lineup will feature former KNBC-TV anchor Carlos Amezcua from 3-6pm, followed by some remnants from KTLK. Advice host Clark Howard from 6-10pm, NBC Sports Radio from 10pm-2am, and America In The Morning from 2-3am. Doc Thompson from Glenn Beck’s Blaze Radio Network will air from 3-6am.
Update 1/1: 960 KNEW San Francisco has completed its revamp as “960 The Patriot“.
Original Report 12/5: Clear Channel will shuffle the lineups of its talkers in Los Angeles and San Francisco on January 2 as Rush Limbaugh moves to their soon to be former Liberal Talk stations.
In Los Angeles, 1150 KTLK will flip to Conservative Talk as it adds Limbaugh from sister 640 KFI and Sean Hannity from Cumulus’ 790 KABC. Being rebranded as “The Patriot“, KTLK’s lineup will feature Glenn Beck in mornings from 6-9am, Limbaugh from 9am-12pm, Hannity from 12-3pm, with the rest of the lineup to be announced later. Losing their spots on the KTLK schedule are syndicated Liberal talkers Stephanie Miller and Randi Rhodes as well as local shows Diverse LA and David Cruz. Cruz will move to a weekend slot on the station.
To replace Limbaugh on KFI, the station will extend morning host Bill Handel to 6-10am and move Bill Carroll from 12-3pm to 10am-1pm. A new 1-3pm show will be announced as KFI will be locally hosted from 6am to 10pm daily.
In San Francisco, Limbaugh will move from 910 KKSF to 960 KNEW. KNEW will drop its mix of Liberal, Business, and Advice hosts to go all Conservative Talk branded as “Right Radio“. Sean Hannity will move to KNEW as well from Cumulus’ 560 KSFO, while Glenn Beck will remain in mornings.
KKSF will expand Armstrong & Getty’s morning show until 10am and move Frosty Stillwell from 12-3pm to 10am-1pm. Randi Rhodes will move from KNEW to fill the 1-3pm slot preceding Gil Gross’ local 3-7pm show.
It had previously been revealed that Limbaugh would move from Cumulus’ 770 WABC to Clear Channel’s 710 WOR New York in January.
Bain Channel kills progressive talk in two markets.
They move Premiere’s syndicated right-wing talkers from a blow-torch to a weak-stik and from an OK stick to a weaker stick. El Rushbo gets downgraded in favor of local talk. Sounds like the company realizes coast to coast gas bags Beck-Rush-Hannity are running out of gas.
Check their ratings and get back to me how these “gas bags” are running out of gas.
Furthermore, KTLK is a 50,000 watt signal daytime, 44,000 watt signal at night. KNEW has a 5,000 watt signal that is non directional, and very strong.
KTLK is directional toward the ocean, which makes that signal iffy in the Antelope Valley and Inland Empire. Good luck trying to hear Limbaugh in Palmdale or Pomona come New Year’s Day.
KNEW is directional as well.
Looks to me like they are trying to replicate the WLW model in LA and SF… with the larger station being heavily local, and the smaller station carrying all or mostly syndicated talk as a flanker. It’s actually not a bad strategy.
It’s a strategy that seems logical. As we saw in Philly, they could end up just splitting the audience for right-wing talk between the two stations.
Two stations. One owner. One ideology of talk radio. This is why the fairness doctrine needs to be brought back. Clearly, Bain has an agenda and anything else gets shut out.
You’re thinking of the strategy the wrong way.
And I’ll bring it back to WLW. It’s an aggressive, all local talker with years of heritage behind it. WKRC is the all-syndicated sister station that clears Beck, Rush and Hannity, and their ratings are competitive, but are often overshadowed by WLW’s Bill Cunningham and Tracey Jones.
KFI has seen itself go stagnent ratings-wise over the past year, and quite frankly, this is the best possible direction for them to take. I wouldn’t even be surprised to see them go local in overnights, displacing the double-up of Coast to Coast AM (which could move over to 1150).
The difference in Philadephia is that KYW is an all-news outlet, and CBS will do everything in their power to protect KYW. WPHT is basically an inert signal that can’t really do anything to better themselves, in a market that is not receptive to issues-related talk on the commercial band, regardless if WWIQ existed or not.
As for using the “Bain” red herring, Gil Gross is far from a conservative talker… and Randi Rhodes got PROMOTED to KKSF as Gil’s lead-in (this after Premiere UNcanceled her show). Plus KKSF is still clearing Alan Colmes, and I bet that Gene Burns would still be there had he not tragically lost his voice and subsequently passed away. Quite frankly, KNEW’s programming lineup became so oddball (Glenn Beck in MORNING DRIVE and progressive talk the rest of the day? Huh?) that this change may have served more of a public service to the entire market.
Same old Bain-Clear Channel talk.On one hand Rush still successful enough to make 59 mil per year.On other if Bain so powerful why didn’t they get their man Romney elected? Fairness Doctrine: Rush:”I AM equal time.’..or yeah, get the FD and I expect to hear 50 per cent conservative views on those powerful FM NPR stations.
The whole Bain Capital thing is a red herring.
They are trapped with a toxic asset in Clear Channel and can’t get rid of it. Most private equity companies eventually divest of an investment in a company a few years after investing in it. They DON’T want to hold onto it for years on end, and if you really think that Bain Capital wants to hold onto Clear Channel so they can “stick it” to liberals and Democrats, then I have nothing to offer you.
The Bloomburg article earlier this week should sound off klaxon sirens to anyone and everyone. Clear Channel is in serious jeopardy here, and it could get really ugly soon.
Station Move a Blow to Liberal Radio
>>The move is a blow to liberal talk radio, which has long struggled to build an audience. KTLK, once thought of as a potential competitor with KFI, now garners a fraction of the audience that KFI does.
The move, though sudden, isn’t particularly surprising. KFI’s live hosts are significantly less conservative than Limbaugh — Handel endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008 & again in 2012, for instance — & many have voiced annoyance about being tied to Limbaugh. In recent years, KFI has tried to brand itself as less conservative.
There was no political motives at play here.
Bain (Or OakTree) don’t oversee day to day programming at Clear Channel. They just want to make money.
CC gets the best of both worlds here. They keep the revenue of KFI, and add a second stream at KTLK to clear their network spots in the top radio market.
COMMERCIAL Liberal Talk doesn’t make money. Maybe some of it is because of not having a strong, marketable voice. But its also in how the potential liberal audience uses radio. They’re likely listening to NPR on KCRW, KPCC or news on KNX or KFWB when utilizing radio for news or information.
Also keep in mind that KTLK was far from all Liberal Talk. They aired Glenn Beck in mornings, Clark Howard in evenings, and NBC Sports in late night. Not very consistent in terms of building an audience.
(by the way is it OK to quote actual ratings on RadioInsight? RadioDiscussions wouldn’t let us, and it prob is a Nielsen Radio rule…
>>KTLK’s foundering liberal line-up had included Stephanie Miller, Randi Rhodes, and Bill Press. KTLK’s ratings have been anemic, averaging 0.2 in the 6+ demographic over the past six months. In November, the liberal line-up registered #41 in the crowded LA market. In comparison, conservative KFI finished in the top 10 with a 3.4 in the same demo
Clear Channel’s powerhouse station KFI, which has dominated the talk radio scene since they picked up a Rush Limbaugh early in his national syndication career, will be sending Rush over to Patriot 1150 for the launch. The Patriot 1150 line-up will also include syndicated powerhouses Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, all three syndicated by Clear Channel’s Premiere Radio Networks.
You can quote 6+ numbers. Just not demo breakdowns.
link didn’t show up? trying again
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/12/06/Liberal-Talk-Radio-Station-Flips-To-Rush-Sean
I wonder why KLAC wasn’t considered for the “patriot” format. Their signal is far better than KTLK. Their current sports format isn’t setting the world on fire. This is a big demotion for Rush…..probably a lateral move for Sean Hannity.coming off KABC..
How does Rush do on KFI compared to the other hosts?
I would love KFI to go local overnight, ala WBZ and WGN. “Coast to Coast” can be heard everywhere.
Billing. Sports, especially with KLAC as Dodgers flagship will make a lot more money than Conservative Talk on the 570 signal.
There was no political motives at play here.
Bain (Or OakTree) don’t oversee day to day programming at Clear Channel. They just want to make money.
With all due respect, given statements from some senior Clear Channel people, I say there are political motives. Yes, they want to make money but it’s not all they want. And as somebody who, after several years, sold Clear Channel stock at a big loss, they aren’t doing a good job at making money.
This doesn’t make sense in one way: KFI-640 has the best AM signal in Los Angeles.
A lot of people might not be able to hear and enjoy Rush after the switch.
They may be too far to hear KTLK-1150, and also too far to hear any other Rush affiliates.
Not a big surprise at all. One often forgets that Bill Carroll is doing a show both in Los Angeles and in Toronto, on par with Lars Larson doing six hours of radio. The problem is that because the LA and Toronto shows are scheduled at the same time it makes it impossible to host during breaking news events, which in case you haven’t noticed Toronto is having a lot recently with the Rob Ford fiasco. (Right now Toronto gets a taped show during the overlap.) So Carroll gets to host a live show in LA and a live show in Toronto.
KFI is not conservative. Bill Handel is at best centrist, Bill Carroll essentially does “mommy talk”, and John and Ken are populists, with equal rage at Wall Street bankers and union hacks. Tim Conway Jr. might be the most conservative host on the station. And KTLK has failed with their local hosts. When Thom Hartmann moved off the 9-12 slot, that ceded 9-12 on KTLK with a wasteland of talent. Marc Germain (Mr. KFI/KABC) had a PM drive show which failed to get any traction, because he had a niche doing question and answer freeform radio and wasn’t good at conventional talk radio. David Cruz is a nice man and tries hard but the program is unlistenable. Plus KTLK gets all the sports interruptions with Kings Hockey, Monday Night Football, and other random games that get bumped off 570. Strategically Clear Channel wants to turn KFI and KKSF into something like the old KGO in San Francisco – news focused, local talk – while leaving 960 in SF and 1150 in LA to syndicated, automated programming.