KTAR Programmer's Posts

FM & Talk

By the time most of you read this we will have rolled out updated imaging on 92.3 FM.  Imaging includes all the produced elements on the station, like promos, newscast music beds, talk show production elements, etc.

Normally, I wouldn't post anything here about updating a promo or music bed, but this is bigger than that. 

When we ask listeners to 92.3 why they're listening to the station more the main reasons they give are 1) being on FM, and 2) stronger talk programming.  As we've received this feedback from listeners to spoken word format stations in Phoenix we've examined how well we're positioned to benefit from those pillars of growth.  The answer is we needed to  tweak our positioning.

So, instead of burying "FM" at the end of our imaging, we are moving it to the front.  And, we're taking the step of adding "talk" to our imaging to make sure we're identifying what listeners are telling us they're turning to us for in increasing numbers.

On Wednesday, "News 92.3 KTAR-FM" will instead be positioned as "FM News/Talk 92.3 KTAR." 

Voices from the Past

The last few days have been quite interesting in the Phoenix radio world. 

Those of you who listen to Ankarlo have heard him chat about how much one of the political stations on AM has been talking about him and 92.3FM lately.  A few listeners have been emailing telling us that the two morning guys back on AM are talking about how their station is in "crisis" due to ratings.  And, apparently they're blaming a big part of their challenging times on Ankarlo.

According to the emails we've gotten, the hosts on the AM band are saying Ankarlo is copying their show.

When Ankarlo heard the claim he was rolling.  Afterall, he'll tell you he may have spent all of 10 minutes listening to stations other than Sports 620 on AM.

For those of us who listen to Ankarlo EVERY day the claim of plagiarism is nothing short of hilarious.

Why would ANYONE on FM seek to copy anything from the old-style AM political stations?  Especially when the old approach has clearly been struggling to remain relevant throughout this year.

Humor aside, the sheer amount of time these AM talk show hosts are apparently spending talking about their ratings trouble raise questions among listeners about exactly what is happening in Phoenix radio listening.  Allow me to give some background and maybe help us all understand why the "chatter" among these AM talk show hosts has shot up dramatically in recent days.

Here are the facts as I know them.  I've been in this town for roughly 18 months.  I know something of the history of the radio stations here, but I didn't live through it.  I think it's accurate to say there was a time when KTAR on AM sounded a little outdated.  Okay, a lot.  And, there was a time when 550am made a run.  In 2005 and 2006 550 on am did better than they had normally done in the past.  In fact, I would argue for a while they sounded better than KTAR on AM. 

But, clearly that day has passed.

KTAR was run by a different group of people during that period.  Those of us here now do things a little differently.

To the broader picture, though, the valley is in the middle of a dramatic shift of news/talk from AM to FM.  I make my living building great radio stations and that involves studying key indicators (like revenue and ratings, among other things).  On the ratings front, some interesting things have been happening. 

A year ago all of the news/talk/sports formated stations on AM had a combined rating share (in the target demo) of 11.2.  This year all those stations on AM have a 6.8.  Compare that with an 8.3 for the news/talk stations on FM.

But, it's not just about AM & FM.  It's about being innovative versus doing the same thing you did 10 years ago.  When you listen to news/talk/sports stations in this town it's clear which sports stations sound like they're still living in 1987 and which one is living in 2007.  The same is true for news/talk.  Some stations are clearly doing the same thing they did 3 or 4 years ago and one is moving into the future.

There's nothing wrong with using the same talking points all day every day on a radio station.  The fact is lots of stations did that 3-5 years ago.  It used to be popular.  And, successful.

That approach will still satisfy a small group of loyalists.  But, how many people do you know who like to talk about nothing but politics from 5am to midnight?  There are a few, but generally most of us prefer to hang with people with a little more excitement in their lives.  Those of us with kids frankly have a lot more on our minds all day than just Pelosi and Reid.

So, life moves forward and so do some news/talk stations in America.

While at the same time, others choose not to. 

That's their choice.  And, quite frankly, it's pretty cool every few months being able to switch over to the AM band for a moment, tune in an old-fashioned all-politics station and hear Voices from the Past.