Questions and answers, KNX News 97.1 FM
Indeed, there's no shortage of opinions about Monday’s debut of “KNX News 97-1 FM,” Audacy’s foray into an AM-FM all-news simulcast in Southern California. It's what's available on WBBM-Chicago, KCBS-San Francisco, KMOX-St. Louis, WWL-New Orleans, and other Audacy stations across the country. The launch of the revamped KNX was designed to be a surprise, although some predicted a KNX simulcast over the years, the timing was unexpected.
Looking at various social media platforms, there were a number of comments. A sampling:
• “It would appear to be a brilliant move from a business and ratings standpoint”
• “The inevitable future of spoken word formats. And you can’t argue with the success WTOP, KCBS, WBBM and KYW have had since embracing FM.”
• “It will make the news twice as bad…in stereo!”
• “Up where I live, KCBS 740 has also been on 106.9 FM for 13 years. Why didn’t KNX do this sooner?”
• “Yes, it does sound great, including the new sounder behind your traffic reports.”
• “My kid is totally devastated by this move as KNOU was her favorite station. Kind of disappointing but it is what it is.”
• “P**sing away a recognized trademark for news like 1070 is shortsighted.”
• “Good luck. Had it on this morning. Miss Frank Mottek.”
• “Those Gen Zs are gonna go GAGA for this hip and cool news format. Radio’s descent into the depths continues.”
• “All this on the day Jack in the Box buys Del Taco. Something is happening here.”
OK, I can’t comment on the coincidence (?) that Del Taco was sold the same day KNX went FM. There’s gotta be a conspiracy…er, I mean a connection. But I digress.
I did what I could to get answers, here’s the best I could do. I’m certain others will offer differing opinions.
What took KNX so long to get an FM simulcast?
It’s true KNX is a bit late to the party, but there are several possible factors. One is the L.A. market has more Spanish-speaking stations on FM, so frequencies available for English-speaking formats are at a premium more than any other market.
Also, there’s no guarantee an FM simulcast will lead to greater success. We’ll address that subsequently.
Why 97.1 NOW FM (KNOU)?
Many have mentioned the lower ratings with the format, they were in 28th place with a 1.4 share in the November 2021 Nielsen report. Still, the station still had a cume of over 1,127,000 million. Ratings alone don’t offer the full explanation.
When the station flipped from the “FREE FM” talk format in 2009 to CHR-formatted AMP Radio, the station gained a significant listenership, led by Carson Daly in morning drive. However, the issue was attracting advertisers. KIIS-FM has long dominated the CHR audience and locked up much of the advertising clientele. Unfortuately for Audacy, rebranding the station as “97.1 NOW L.A.’s party station” didn’t boost the ratings nor make it any easier for their sales department.
It’s was also explained to me how iHeart in L.A. can offer advertisers REAL 92.3 (KRRL) / ALT 98.7 (KYSR) / KIIS-FM / KOST / MyFM (KBIG) together as a cluster. Just about every possible demographic is covered by their various music stations with – and this is an important detail – some significant overlap between these listening audiences.
By contrast, each of Audacy’s music stations (with the possible exception of some sharing between JACK-FM [KCBS-FM] and K-Earth [KRTH]) attract divergent listeners. There was very little overlap between KNOU and Audacy’s other music properties. Which leads to the next question…
When will KFI get an FM simulcast?
The response I received when I asked this question was “why?” KFI, a station with a strong news department, is consistently in the top ten of the Nielsen ratings. As recently as May 2020, the station was number one (!) in the L.A. market. Also, the station has a strong older male audience, the one demo that consistently still listens to AM radio (note all-sports KLAC has a respectable 2.2 share, KFI’s sister station). Plus the aforementioned ability for iHeart to sell their music stations as a cluster makes sacrificing an FM signal not a good business plan. At least not now.
Is this simulcast guaranteed to boost the KNX audience?
Most agree, save for the aforesaid older male audience, there’s not a lot of interest with AM radio with women listeners nor younger listeners who, as Audacy Regional President Jeff Federman noted yesterday, never listen to AM, period. KNX is hoping to catch more listeners in these demos. The majority opinion is the simulcast will pay off, as it has with Audacy’s all-news stations in Chicago and San Francisco.
But a simulcast doesn’t always work as predicted. KOGO-San Diego tried a simulcast in 2011 but abandoned it a year later. In the November ratings, KOGO was #5 as an AM-only. KFBK-Sacramento switched frequencies for their FM simulcast from a powerful 50,000 watt signal to a dimmer 20,500 watt signal which is actually considered a fringe signal (the antenna is located in Pollock Pines, nearly 60 miles away). In both cases, the simulcast wasn’t needed, at least not a strong, dominant FM. KFBK was #1 in the Capitol City in the November PPM.
Will KNX-AM change format?
KIRO-FM Seattle was once an AM station which moved to the FM dial, allowing the AM to become an ESPN-affiliated sports outlet. It has been noted there’s not a local outlet for either CBS’ gambling-oriented “The Bet” programs nor CBS Sports Radio. Jim Rome is still a recognizable name, now heard locally only on 93.1-HD3 or via Sirius XM. So flipping KNX-AM to a sports station is not inconceivable.
But unlikely. The data indicates 40 – 50 percent of the audience stays with the AM band even with an FM simulcast, plus KNX and its 50,000 watts has a following in Ventura County and San Diego, beyond the 97.1 FM signal. Remember, the older male audience still is fairly loyal to AM radio.
Any other tidbits of info?
If the 97.1 FM announcement caught people by surprise, try this rumor. KROQ has had signal issues in Orange County. At one time, the thought was to move KROQ to either 94.7 or 97.1 and have KNX on 106.7 FM. As it turns out, current 94.7 occupant The WAVE (KTWV) was able to revive their ratings (number four in the November book), plus much of the 97.1 NOW-FM staff is syndicated across the country, lessening the need to relocate their personnel. So the latter frequency was considered an easier choice as the FM outlet for all-news.
It may only be of interest to those of us who still have an interest in radio, but as previously stated if social media is any measure, listeners did notice and have an opinion. Some believe this portends the eventual demise of the AM band, others believe it simply expands the potential audience. Plus 97.1 NOW FM wasn’t a traditional CHR (it was known as a “rhythmic CHR," I didn’t come up with the title) but there’s already been a lot of conversation about CHR-formatted stations across the country no longer dominating music-formatted radio.
Stay tuned.
Hope that answers a few questions. I welcome feedback, just not in my headphones (haven’t used that one for awhile). Also, I can try to find answers to any additional questions, ayodaradio@gmail.com.
I'm unclear on the benefits of KNX simulcasting on FM. Yes, people in the L-A metro area will be able to hear the product static-free and with a much cleaner signal. But how will this result in more money flowing into Audacy? KNOU had a 1.4 rating in the latest book and was clearly in decline. KNX maintained it's long standing position in the high 2's with a 2.9. But KNX's cume was 911,000 while KNOU's was 1.28 million. KNOU had more than 216-thousand more set of ears tuning in than KNX. KNX was able to keep those ears for a much longer period of time and that's what gave it a higher rating. I don't see KNX AM going any higher and in fact, will probably lose some of its cume to KNOU. But KNOU will likely lose most of it's cume so it's doubtful that it will pick up enough to compensate for the 1.28 million lost to the format change. If the two stations don't grab at least 1.8 million combined, they could wind up with a net loss of audience. Maybe Audacy could compensate for that by selling each station separately. It would mean different commercials filling the breaks on each station, but even that presents some difficult challenges. It requires each station to carry a full load of commercials in all breaks and accurate timing to properly sync the breaks. Good luck with that in January when spot loads typically fall off.
ReplyDeleteFinally, I haven't seen anyone address the underlying issue which is putting on programming that people consistently want to hear. Some days are just not as compelling as others when you are doing news. Up until recently, KNX was able to compensate for that with frequent traffic reports that kept the churning audience returning. But mobile phone technology has been eating into that advantage for the past ten years. I doubt younger people will give up their phones and return to the radio.
If the programming can’t be sold, big numbers are just a Nielsen trophy. Going to where the ears are with an existing brand is logical (i.e. location location location).
ReplyDeleteNow, if they could dispense with anchor Karen Adams, who is cringingly not ready for prime time…
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