Radio Waves Podcast #369

 Radio: February 3

            I got into a minor disagreement with my podcast partner and friend Michael Stark over a recent column in which I was trying to clarify something and perhaps ended up making things murkier. It all had to do with the the word “stale” and radio station KABC (790 AM).

            Going back a couple weeks, I had mentioned that KFI’s (640 AM) recent changes had a lot to do with not becoming stale, as KABC had become. What I meant to reference was the mid 1980s, when KFI was moving to the talk format, and was able to overtake KABC relatively quickly due to sounding young, hip, and modern … while KABC was holding on to the old guard and had become somewhat stale in comparison. 

            It was not a direct judgement of KABC’s programming then or now, and often sounding fresh isn’t so much the talk programs themselves, but how they present themselves. What music  they use coming out of breaks, and more. A station that doesn’t evolve is likely to die due to a lack of new listeners. Done right, and a station thrives.

            A perfect example of that is KRTH (101.1 FM) … diehard oldies fans lament that they no longer play songs from the 1950s and ‘60s, but as KRTH has moved into the ‘80s and even the 1990s — still a longer period back than when it launched in 1972 and played music from 1955 and up — it has gained new listeners and remained one of the areas top-rated stations.

            My partner Stark believes I was too easy on the current KABC program lineup. It is stale, he says. I’m not sure that is the correct word, but I understand where he is coming from. Indeed, if KABC was playing something people wanted to hear, they would not be among the lowest-rated full-power stations in town. My choice of word to describe KABC: irrelevant.

            I think that the real problem with KABC is that it isn’t offering much to attract listeners, and they aren’t really even trying. The station is mostly repetitive conservative programming, basically preaching to the choir, with no promotion at all. Two of the shows are essentially replays of podcasts, and outside of midday host John Phillips and (another disagreement with my friend Stark) Ben Shapiro, the shows are not even really fun nor all that informative. Just kind of a rehash of negative political news.

            So what to do? The way I see it there are two choices. Either build around Philips and go live/local all day with people who can relate to local audiences and get out of the political gutter, or drop talk altogether and play music. Find a format for an audience that isn’t served by existing stations … such as oldies (new or old) that KRTH or KOLA (99.9 FM) doesn’t play, metal, or progressive rock. I guarantee any of those moves would do better than now, and may even bring a few younger listeners back to the band.

            You Know That …

            It’s funny how certain stories get told, and I suppose when they get told often enough they become “fact.” But many “facts” about radio are more legend than reality. Here are but a few examples:

            You always heard that KHJ (930 AM) used a cappella jingles when they launched the Boss Radio format in 1965 because there was a musicians strike. Sound reasonable, except that it’s not true. Oh, there may have been a strike — I didn’t check — but station consultant Bill Drake had already been using similar jingles at previous stations he consulted or programmed, including KGB in San Diego (now KLSD, 1360 AM) among others.

            Speaking of KHJ and KGB, it was actually KGB that launched “the Drake format” roughly one year before KHJ. They didn’t call it Boss Radio, but the elements were all there - quick jungles, fast moving format elements, and the top-30 records. The success of KGB helped pave the way for its implementation on KHJ.

            You know that Rick Dees came to Los Angeles to work at KIIS-FM (102.7), right? It must be true, as I even read it in an LA Times retrospective of Dees’ career and how his arrival at KIIS led immediately to the rise of the station to the top of the ratings.

            Except it wasn’t that way at all. Dees arrived with his “Cast of Idiots” to work at a revitalized KHJ (can’t get away from that station today) in 1979; he didn’t move to KIIS until 1981. And KIIS didn’t switch to a true top-40 format until a while after Dees’ arrival. Had they kept playing the sleepy “adult contemporary” format they ran when Dees first arrived, KIIS-FM would never have set records for ratings earned in the mid 1980s.

            Of course you know that AM radio broadcasts always sound awful and it is due to the AM transmission system. The only way to get good sound on the radio to listen to FM.

            Wrong again. While Edwin Armstrong, a key developer of AM, hated the sound or AM broadcasts so much that he invented FM, it wasn’t due to what we consider AM’s lack of fidelity. It was the interference. AM radio, due to the frequencies it uses, is prone to interference from natural and man-made sources: lightening, automotive ignition systems, computers, dimmers, and more. But Amplitude Modulation itself is not inherently bad — it was used for the video portion of television broadcasts prior to the switch to digital … which is why you could sometimes get a picture before the sound on distant stations in the old days  — AM travels further than FM.

            Radio manufacturers handled interference by reducing the audio bandwidth on AM radio broadcasts. Made it easier to listen to, but it cut sound quality dramatically. From a technical standpoint, analog AM broadcasts can actually have a greater bandwidth — the frequency response spread from the lowest notes to the highest — than FM stereo (20 Hz to 20KHz vs 20 Hz - 15KHz). 

            With modern circuits, it is relatively easy to design a great-sounding AM receiver; Carver, Denon, and a few others made great AM stereo receivers as far back as the 1980s. It just costs a little more, and the companies want to keep costs down. Too bad, actually … some AM stereo stations sounded better than their FM competitors, but few people had the right radios.

            Have any similar stories? Send them over - I’d love to hear them.

Radio Waves Podcast #368

 Radio: January 27, 2023

            I have always had a pipe dream of buying a radio station or two … primarily AM — because I want to prove you can get listeners when you program and promote a station correctly — or maybe an AM-FM combo in a major market. I’d probably run top-40 or progressive rock on the AM and something to complement it on the FM … such as Big Band.

            But as I write this, something dramatic is happening in radio: mega-owner Audacy — owner of six stations in Los Angeles, a handful more in the Inland Empire, and a total of 235 nationwide — has seen its stock decline by almost 90 percent over the past year, closing January 19th at just over 26 cents per share. With about 141 million shares outstanding, that puts its total market value at about $37 million.

            I think it’s time to buy the whole company. Anyone want to invest?

            Here’s my plan: offer a premium to buy the entire company at, say, $50 million. Then sell off most of the stations to others. You truly don’t have to get much for them … the selling price would only need to average a little under $213,000 to break even, and even stations in smaller markets would be worth more than that.

            Considering that KBLA (1580 AM) sold for $7 million in 2020, KLOS for $43 million in 2019 and KFWB fetched over $11 million in 2012, as but three examples, I figure I could sell just four of the six LA properties (KROQ 106.7 FM, KNX-FM 97.1, KTWV 94.7 FM, KRTH 101.1 FM, KCBS-FM 93.1, and  KNX 1070 AM) and pay off the debt; the rest of the stations nationwide would give me a lot of operating income. Keep about 10 stations total and I’m set.

            Why ten? That’s about as many as any one company should be allowed to own. More than that and you have what you have today — failing companies creating a declining industry.

            Of course in purchasing the company you’d have to deal with staggering debt, for which there may be no way out short of bankruptcy . Something that some observers say is inevitable. A search revealed that as of last September, Audacy had over $2 billion in total debt, with liabilities totaling $2.73 billion. That would bring the average station selling price quite a bit higher to break even: almost $12 million. But … and this is a big but - it seems do-able, given the right management. The trick is, the company cannot remain in its current form: it must sell assets in order to get down to the handful of successful stations and remain debt-free.

            Any financial wizards reading this want to tell me why the plan doesn’t work? Seems a no brainer … I haven’t seen a bargain like this since Cumulus stock was selling for under $1 a few years ago.

            Stale?

            I received a few letters regarding my recent column on KFI’s (640 AM) programming changes, one particularly good one from reader Alan Wolfe. 

            “I disagree that KABC (790 AM) programing is stale. 

            “Armstrong and Getty: I give this show a thumbs down. I don't know what the show is about the constant laughing of one of the hosts is totally annoying. New hosts. 

            “Dan Bongino: Two thumps up for this excellent show. Great show

            “John Phillips: One of the best interviewers on either the radio or TV. Great show

            “Ben Shapiro: Also a good show if Ben  did not talk so fast. Ben, slow down

            “Leo 2.0: During  the 60 minutes Leo covers more information than some of the other stations cover in four hours. Great show

            “Frank Motek: One of the best financial shows on the air and he is not selling anything.

            “Susan Shelley with John  Coupal: In one hour you know so much about what the city, county and the state are doing to rip you off.”

            That is an excellent analysis.

            Which made me realize I was unclear. I didn’t mean that KABC was stale; what I meant was that KFI changed this month because it didn’t want to become what KABC HAD become back in 1984. KABC being old and stale is what KFI — with a young, popular Rush Limbaugh and a few others such as Tom Leykis  — used to surpass them in the ratings.

            What KABC has now is an image problem that they refuse to do anything about. And their technical sound is occasionally abysmal: the audio often sounds like high school quality … Leo Terrell could not even be heard talking the other night coming out of a commercial because the music level was so high. There are also too many syndicated programs, and they refuse to promote ANY of them. 

            Which is too bad - Shapiro is considered by some as genius and even fun, and Phillips is a definitely a wasted talent waiting for someone to notice how good he really is. I like Bongino, but you can only say something sucks so many times before it gets dull. He needs to listen to early Limbaugh shows to see how it’s done. And why is Dr. Kelly Victory still not on the air here? She was a highlight of the day on The Doctor Hour of Phillips’ program.

            KABC should be a competitor … they invented the format! But they just won’t go the extra mile to make it work. There is no reason for a major market station, even on AM, to be rated as low as is KABC, shares running between 0.6 and 0.9 for the past six months. 

            KABC is probably a station that purists wouldn’t want me to own: I’d take it to top-40.

Radio Waves: January 20, 2023

Benny Martinez, the young kid and relative newcomer to Los Angeles when he was picked in 1981 for the early evening shift on program director Chuck Martin’s top-40 K-WEST 106 (now KPWR, 105.9 FM) has passed away on January 3rd from complications related to diabetes. He was 66.

I remember listening to Martinez on K-WEST, the little station that should have dominated radio in Los Angeles, a true version of KHJ (930 AM) on FM, launched about six months after KHJ went country. Unfortunately, upper  management didn’t give it enough time and dropped the format just as KIIS-FM was moving in; KIIS would eventually become the top-rated station in America due in part to K-WEST leaving the format to them.

I asked Martin to talk about Martinez. “I first heard of Benny while I was programming KHJ. We would receive a lot of air checks from DJs around the country … so many people wanted to work at KHJ. One day my assistant, “Hurricane” Heron, came to me and said ‘you want to listen to this one.’ It was Benny Martinez, which was working at a little station in El Centro called KXO.”

“Benny had a decent voice, but there was something more to it. He had a vibe, something in his attitude, that stuck out. He had excellent delivery, with a great pace and momentum. He was not ready for KHJ yet, but he was close to the type of personality I wanted for the station: someone with an ethnic feel  … who can talk with Southern California in a general sense, but relate to listeners in the inner city as well.

“One day, he showed up in my office. My secretary said he was in the lobby, had sent me a tape and was hoping we could go over it together. So I brought him to my office, we sat down and listened; I gave him suggestions, such as to start speaking both Spanish and English on the air, moving between the two as effortlessly as he could. He was quite talented in this. After the meeting, we agreed to stay in touch while I continued to offer suggestions… which we did for many months”

It was the Spanish-English announcing that made Martinez fun to listen to for me, even though I am still most definitely not a Spanish speaker. Long before it was trendy at some stations, Martinez would through in a few Spanish words as he spoke, often culminating with “on K-WEST, uno cero seis.” But I am getting ahead of the story.

Fast forward a bit … KHJ has gone country, Martin is up in San Francisco consulting with KHJ sister station KFRC, when he gets the opportunity to program K-WEST. “We had most of the staff set … Bobby Ocean, Pat Garrett, London and Engelman, and the one holdover from the old format, China Smith. But I still needed an evening jock. Hurricane brought up Benny.”

After thinking about it for a while, “he was at the top of my list” for potential candidates, he explained. But Martin had lost track of Martinez when the young DJ left KXO. “I had no clue where he was,” said Martin. “I finally found him … working at a bank! He had given up radio because he needed a more stable job as he started a family.”

Would he be interested in working the evening shift on K-WEST? “Yes,” came the immediate reply from Martinez. And he didn’t let Martinez down. “He was exactly what I wanted for the format, for that time slot especially. He did really well for me,” he said.

Unfortunately, as I said, it didn’t last. Just as the format was building momentum, and immediately prior to KIIS-FM starting its ascension, Martin realized the station was not being supported correctly, and promises were being broken. So he reluctantly left the station, the last station he ever programmed. Martinez went on to work at other stations in town, including the KIIS-AM (now KEIB, 1150 AM) “shadow cast” of KIIS-FM, B-100 (KIBB, now KKLQ, 100.3 FM), and KRTH (101.1 FM).

Martinez also worked on Westwood One’s syndicated 70s format but ultimately realized what he already knew: radio is not the most stable of industries. So he left and sold cars at Ed Butts Ford in La Puente.

I realize this is a long tribute for Martinez, who certainly would not be considered a “legend” in the vein of Charlie Tuna, Robert W. Morgan, or “the Real” Don Steele. But he represents the last gasps of personality-oriented top-40 radio, and for that matter made his mark in an increasingly tough industry. I remember him so well because my radio was glued to K-WEST in that era, whether I was driving to Long Beach State or working at the Sears Surplus Store warehouse. It was fun; Martinez will be missed.

Radio Waves Podcast #367

 Radio: January 13, 2023

            To borrow a slogan from ABC-television in the 1970s - unfortunately when they cancelled my favorite game show, Split Second - It’s a brand new day on KFI (640 AM), and it all started January 3rd. Tim Conway made the announcement of the change on the last day of his told time slot, January 2nd at 7:00.

            Some of the shows remain the same: Wake Up Call with Jennifer Jones Lee still starts the day at 5 a.m.; Coast to Coast with George Noory still ends the day at 10 p.m. But between the two some shows were shortened and times adjusted in order to launch the all new Later with Mo’ Kelly. More on that, um, later.

            It could be said that the changes reflect a reality: in talk radio, longer shifts can be tough. I think even in music radio, four hours can be too long, especially if the show is entertainment-based. Perhaps that explains why so many morning shows repeat segments or even full hours rather than having new content throughout the morning. Three hours in my opinion is a much better program length, but I digress.

            Bill Handel loses an hour and will be heard from 6-9 a.m. Gary and Shannon keep the same length but move up an hour, taking on 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Next is John and Ken 1-4 p.m., followed by Tim Conway 4-7 p.m; both also sans one hour each shift. And then … Later, 4-7 p.m.

            I had a chance to talk with Mo’Kelly, and he explains his new show this way: “Think the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, but on the radio rather than television.” Rather than being issues-oriented like his old weekend show, he says this one will be entertaining. “Sure, a guest may want to talk about something political, and I’ll let them. But it’s not going to be a political show. It will be fun, joyous … hopefully magical.”

            It’s definitely a gamble for the station, which just saw it’s ratings high enough to be tied for the number two station in the city. But it’s also been a while since any real changes have been made … by my count, no major changes have been made since 2013, the year Rush Limbaugh moved over to then-new KEIB (1150 AM), also in early January.

            I have yet to reach KFI programmer Robin Bertolucci, but I can surmise a major reason for the changes was making sure the station didn’t get stale, along with trying to make sure that its audience didn’t get “too old.” Just as KRTH (101.1 FM) has remained at the top of the ratings by constantly evolving to continually attract new listeners, KFI wants to make sure it doesn’t become what KABC (790 AM) had become: old and stale.

            But to do it at the almost top of the ratings? There has to be information Bertolucci has that I am not privy too. Yet I can guess: Most of the shows have not changed in years. John and Ken have been doing essentially the same show for about 30 years, for example, and moving earlier in the day may actually expose them to a newer audience. Conway seems an odd fit at his new time, but again: new audience, new potential. And Kelly? He’s been a wasted talent on the station for years; his new show gives him the chance to shine … and bring a whole new crop of listeners to talk radio.

            So why didn’t KFI promote the heck out of these changes? They never do. KFI has always been run as a top-40 station that plays talk instead of music. It’s the station experience rather than any one host that has always gotten top-billing. As it continues to evolve away from issues and politics and toward general entertainment — ironically the format that KABC ran when KFI did it it — I can see it helping to keep talk radio viable. Certainly KABC  — and KFI sister station KEIB — constantly prove one simple fact: that political talk as a full format is dead … both stations are consistently toward the bottom of the ratings lists.

            The Greatest Ninths

            K-Mozart (1260 AM, 105.1 HD2) will present what station owner Saul Levine calls the greatest Ninth Symphonies — the Schubert, the Mahler, and the Beethoven — beginning at 12 noon on January 22nd.

            Listeners have a chance to voice their opinion on the subject matter as well; during the presentations, votes will be taken via email for their own thoughts on the best of the three.

            And as I visited the K-Mozart website - Mozart.com - I was reminded of Levine’s dedication to shelter animals … on the top of the page, as on all of his station websites, is a link for information on pet adoptions. Levine has been a proponent of shelter pet adoptions for many years, and that definitely continues into the new year. I like that.

Radio Waves Podcast #366

Special Guest:  KFI's Mo Kelly who discusses his new weekday show.

Radio: January 6, 2022

            Wasn’t that you who told me you always wanted to own your own radio-related internet domain, so that you could direct your friends and family to your chain of online radio stations that you program out of your spare bedroom?

            You’re in luck. Audacy, owner of stations nationwide including eight here in Los Angeles (seven if you count the failure of the KNX Newsradio simulcast (1070 AM, 97.1 FM) that earns roughly the same combined ratings as it did as a standalone AM signal, but I digress) is auctioning off the radio.com domain it once used for its online presence. The company dropped radio.com in favor of audacy.com when it changed its corporate name from Entercom to Audacy a couple years ago.

            Available through GoDaddy.Com, the auction ends March 28, 2023. Starting bid: $2.5 million. That’s right - $2.5 million. Minimum.

            On a serious note and just for reference, Audacy couldn’t really do anything major with either radio.com or audacy.com. It is a decent little domain name, though … I just can’t see anyone or any company finding it worth that much. Generally speaking, online radio doesn’t make a lot (read: none) of money, so paying off that $2.5 million may take a while.

            So if that’s too rich for your blood, I’ll sell you socalradiowaves.com for much less. Maybe half a million. Send me your offer …

            Also on a serious note: I’m kidding about selling socalradiowaves..

            The Radio.Com domain itself goes back to at least 1996. It was once owned by CNET networks — which paid $30,000 for both Radio.Com and TV.Com — and became part of CBS Radio when CBS bought CNET. In 2010, CBS launched Radio.Com as a clearinghouse of all CBS radio station streams. When Entercom bought CBS, the domain became its own. 

            AllAccess.Com, which broke the news of the auction, reports that similar domains such as Radio.Cloud, Radio.Co, and Radio.IM recently sold for anywhere from $2500 - just over $25,000. 

            American’s Samoa’s Best Music

            Ever wonder what the legendary KHJ (930 AM) might sound like, musically at least, if the station still played top-40? Wonder no more … South Seas Broadcasting has you covered.

            Using the call-letters KKHJ and broadcasting at 93.1 FM out of  Pago Pago in American Samoa, the station brands itself as 93/KHJ in a tribute to the original. The music is considered an adult top-40, which is probably what I would program on the station if I were running it here in Los Angeles. 

            According to the station website at southseasbroadcasting.com/93khj, “the idea for KHJ Radio came about in 1994 when Larry Fuss (now President of South Seas Broadcasting, Inc., the parent company of 93KHJ) was looking out the window of his radio station in Mississippi following a big ice storm. The streets were littered with fallen trees, broken branches and tons of ice, and the electricity had been out for over a week. Fuss thought to himself, ‘wouldn’t it be nice to have a radio station on a tropical island in the South Pacific?’ 

            “On somewhat of a whim, Fuss immediately began researching the possibility and ran across an available frequency for a new FM Radio Station in Pago Pago, American Samoa. The FCC application was filed on November 20, 1995, and finally granted on February 13, 1998.”

            Regular programming began in May of 2000 — almost exactly 35 years after the late April, 1965 “sneak preview” of  the “Boss Radio” top-40 launch that helped change radio forever. Like the original, the format was an instant hit.

            The station features a two-man morning team, a three-person news department, and runs public affairs programming benefiting the local community. And modern “93/KHJ” jingles … so cool. Hear it yourself on the various smartphone apps or online at the website.

            Ratings

            The December ratings (which due to the four-week cycles actually includes more of November than December) had KOST (103.5 FM) at the top, as usual, with their Christmas music format earning a whopping 12.1 share of the audience. You can expect that to be even higher when the “holiday” ratings period is released in January.

            But what caught my eye is the stellar performance of KFI (640 AM), which tied with KRTH (101.1 FM) for second place at 4.7. That’s right: an AM station tying for second place. It is truly amazing what happens when you program something people want to hear on the AM band: you get ratings. Just like so many stations did before they sent listeners to FM … such as KLAC (570 AM), XETRA (690 AM), KPRZ (now KEIB, 1150 AM), KEZY (now KGBN, 1190 AM) , KABC (790 AM) and even KHJ itself, most of which have never had ratings as high as they had when they played music (country, top-40, or even adult standards). KABC is a special case because they stopped trying to compete in talk in spite of inventing the format.

            KFI does have an advantage of being a signal blowtorch, covering most of Southern California during the day and much of Western America at night. But they compete by having a good programming, good promotion, and a local presence that is missing from so many stations, both AM and FM. One could learn a lot by studying these successes past and present, especially now that so many competing stations don’t really try.

Radio Waves: December 30, 2022

Poorman rings in the new year with his 3rd annual marathon

What would the new year be like without family, friends, food, fun, and The Poorman?

You don’t have to wonder, as Jim “Poorman” Trenton is once again ringing in the new year with a 30-hour marathon on-air party you can be a part of. Just tune into KOCI (101.5 FM) in or near Costa Mesa, or via kociradio.com, poorman.net, your favorite smartphone app, or your smart speaker.

There will even be a live video stream of the event at facebook.com/jim.p.trenton

It starts at 7 a.m. on New Year’s Eve and runs until 1 p.m. New Year’s Day; the idea is to showcase local community members as they take to the airwaves with Poorman as the official Master of Ceremonies.

Each segment features a different host, and can be a station sponsor, local business owner, listener, or even a surprise celebrity guest. Each hour spotlights a different charity, and Poorman will offer live public service announcements directing marathon listeners to the charity web site as a part of the festivities.

The first four hours will be his normal show … as I wrote last year, the word “normal” being a strange description for what is one of the most unusual shows on the radio. “We – either me or listeners – choose a theme, and then listeners call in to suggest songs that match the theme.” It could be any theme: food, cars, dance moves, drinks … after the theme is chosen, Poorman tries to play as many of the suggested related songs as possible. “It’s an all-instant request morning,” he explains.

For the marathon, at 11 a.m., Poorman turns the program over to his guests, who are allowed to do basically anything they want, as long as it is FCC-legal. Poorman stays on hand to handle any issues or technical problems that crop up. 

Of course this means he has to start sharp and ready to go if the guest hosts run a little too loose … I see lots of coffee being brewed at Poorman’s control center during those 30 hours. 

This is the third year for the event, and it truly is a lot of fun.

Predictions for 2023

With radio stations possibly being forced to pay new royalties to the artists of the music they play, there are many expecting more radio stations to shift toward talk. Not necessarily talk formats — though I would not be surprised to see a commercial FM talker within the year. I am looking to see fewer songs being played on some stations and the ability of those in front of the microphone to have a but more personality. Think Booker and Stryker on Alt 98.7 or Kevin and Sluggo on KLOS (95.5 FM).

This stems from the possibility that radio stations may have to pay these new royalties if a deal is struck between artists and the various organizations working on it. In the past, radio stations were able to avoid artist fees due to the argument that they expose listeners to new artists and new music, driving sales of records. Since radio became a thing if the past by playing mostly oldies and shunning most new music, they can’t hide behind that any more.

Will it actually happen? And will such an agreement actually mean more talking on the radio? I don’t think it will be a dramatic shift, but I do believe a subtle change will happen in the new year.

What else? I can see at least one of the major owner groups going bankrupt this year, especially if the economy declines at all; my bet would be on Audacy but honestly all three of the largest and most of the smallest are in trouble due to over leveraging their properties and the lack of content development on the part of most. Hopefully this will lead to a resurgence of independent owners, but I’ve been saying that for years … and remaining disappointed that it never seems to happen.

Expect a few talk programs to show up on KNX (1070 AM, 97.1 FM). Where? Overnights is the rumor. Probably cheap syndicated fare.

At least one major talk station will have some changes. Will it be KABC switching to sports betting? KFI making some adjustments? KEIB (1150 AM) dropping talk altogether? I’ve heard nothing in particular about any of the stations, but KABC and KEIB are still in obvious ratings trouble and KFI seems due in spite of quite excellent ratings — the last major change KFI made was years ago when they sent Dr. Laura to satellite and Rush Limbaugh to a different dial position. I don’t expect wholesale changes, but perhaps a few tweaks. 

Would it surprise me if KFI started simulcasting on FM? Actually yes, even though I know programmer Robin Bertolucci would love that chance. KFI does so well on AM (and KNX does so poorly on FM) that the move requires a low-rated FM to make the risk acceptable. Owner iHeart has no low-rated or unsuccessful FMs in town.

Other than that, I don’t see many changes. Regardless, you’ll read it here first. And if you hear anything, or just want to know something that I can help with, please drop me a line.

Happy new year!