Translating what happened at KFI

 

It’s taken a couple of weeks of research, conversations, and seeking other sources of info to try to make sense of what’s happened on the local dial, particularly with KFI. We offer the best information we’ve been able to gather, with more to come as we confirm what we’re learning.

What happened at KFI?

After a relatively uneventful couple of years, at least locally, iHeart Media made significant cuts to their radio division, about 10 percent of their 10,000 employees. Although there were changes made on the music-based formats in other parts of the country, most of the cuts here in Los Angeles focused on the news operation at KFI, where the staff was reduced from 22 individuals to 13, including the dismissal of longtime news director Chris Little. Also departing was their veteran of 22 years as the station’s program director, Robin Bertolucci.

Why did KFI’s newsroom get hit so significantly?

Given the corporate mindset, it’s kind of amazing the newsroom was able to survive in its previous form as long as it did. KFI’s excellent news department was a great asset to their talk programming, giving all of the station’s shows gravitas that isn’t heard on other stations.”

KGO logo, circa 1990s (courtesy fandom.com)

The formula used to be a talk station had to have a strong news presence in the market, a formula that KGO-San Francisco successfully used for decades. The formula changed as news / talk formats had to compete with more digital sources of news, particularly the flexibility of news on demand. And of course, keeping a full-time, fully staffed newsroom costs money.

Back to KFI. Chris Little led an outstanding, albeit somewhat smaller, group of radio journalists to offer prizewinning work. But to a corporate accountant back at headquarters, they look at the cost of a news operation (it’s not cheap) and finding easy places to save money, particularly when regional news hubs are available (details in a moment).

Why did this story receive national attention?

KFI is considered one of the most successful AM stations in the country. The station was offered as an example that AM radio was still viable. Even the Los Angeles Times, which rarely covers local radio, offered an article detailing what had happened at AM 640.        

Will listeners notice?

This reminds me of the argument in music radio, whether listeners care if a disc jockey hits the post over the intro of a record. Most listeners can’t articulate the little details about how music is presented on the radio, but they will pick up when something’s different or missing.

Steve Gregory, Corbin Carson

Kris Adler, Jo Kwon

Right now, there are still some very talented anchors who will appear on the various talk shows. But what will be missing will be Steve Gregory sharing one of his investigative reports with John Kobylt, Corbin Carson bringing his award-winning journalism to Gary (Hoffman) and Shannon (Farren), Kris Adler offering live and local coverage during Tim Conway Jr.’s show, the multimedia expertise of Jo Kwon brought to mornings with Bill Handel, just to name a few examples. In addition, with the editor’s desk reduced to a two-person operation, listeners will notice the crisp, straight-to-the-point writing plus more redundancy and less fresh headlines and stories. Arguably listeners will indeed notice.

After several conversations with those “in the know” about local radio, it’s worth sharing what’s been said and what’s been the reaction.

Paul Corvino

Paul Corvino is the president of iHeart Media’s Los Angeles division. He told the LA Times, “iHeart owns the biggest news organization in audio — 24/7 News — and KFI has not been a part of that. This move, although painful because it impacts some jobs, is essential for KFI to be able to harness the full power of our iHeart 24/7 News organization, and better and more completely serve our listeners in the LA market.”

Translation: iHeart has a cheaper way to provide news product to KFI by using a news hub located either in Los Angeles or Phoenix. We learned it’s similarly organized like iHeart’s Total Traffic service. There will be professional journalists, but the content will be largely generic since multiple stations will now be sharing one regional source of news.  

Again Corvino: “We appreciate all the contributions of everyone at KFI, but we are excited about the future with the KFI team now being able to expand their resources and services.”

Translated: A cynical comment heard was that the only expansion will be the workload of those who remain at KFI’s newsroom, particularly with local breaking news. Too harsh?

Robin Bertolucci, KFI PD, told Richard Wagoner of the LA Daily News it was a mutual, but difficult decision: “It was a breakup,” she said. “Totally mutual. It was time. I am at peace. It was a good time to go, but leaving hurt. It was very hard to say goodbye.”

Translated: We’re not going to second-guess Bertolucci. She deserves to leave KFI with dignity. Nonetheless she was spared of having to oversee the severe wounding of her award-winning newsroom. Also, in considering what iHeart has done around the rest of their national properties, it wasn’t likely having one PD overseeing one station was sustainable. We’re aware Bertolucci did oversee The Patriot 1150 (KEIB), but that station runs almost exclusively syndicated programming on the weekdays, plus bartered programming on the weekend.

The word “irony” is often misused, nonetheless it applies here. When hurricane Helene caused devastation throughout North Carolina, it also knocked out mobile communication. iHeart’s seven radio stations, led by news / talk WWNC, worked together to help storm victims get in touch with loved ones who they couldn’t reach with their cell phones, as well as providing invaluable information about where to find groceries, keeping drinking water safe during a “boil water emergency,” and in general, “produc(ing) indispensable service journalism as communities reeled from the disaster.” iHeart raised money to help disaster victims, also Pittman congratulated his Ashville team on their work providing public service. 

Given the “24 / 7 News” model iHeart is imposing on their stations, such coverage would now become difficult, if not impossible.

https://www.hotrod.com/news/am-radio-new-cars/

Also ironic is the effort to mandate AM radio in all new vehicles. iHeart AM stations are imploring their listeners to send their legislatures text messages in support of this initiative. Again quoting Richard Wagoner, it seems contradictory to continue to observe iHeart downsizing the staffs of their AM stations while asking to keep AM on the dashboard radio.

There’s more to be said, we still need to profile more of those who were let go from the KFI newsroom. We also are aware of other iHeart layoffs in the LA market, both talent and sales. Though earlier this month the company is again trying to restructure their debt (which may be controversial), it’s estimated iHeart still carries more than $5 billion in debt. The latest round of layoffs will save the company $150 million.

We leave you with the words of Bob Pittman, who was interviewed by Radio Ink to justify the company’s latest strategy. Without translating, it nonetheless reveals his view of local radio:

“I think what we’re doing is not getting rid of air talent. What we’re able to do now, because we’ve got technology is we can take talent we have in any location and put them on the air in another location. So it allows us to substantially upgrade the quality of our talent in every single market we’re in.”

“Great talent are great talent because people all wanna be their friends. When you look at Ryan Seacrest, he’s America’s favorite friend. Everybody wants to be his friend. Or Charlamagne tha God or Bobby Bones.”

“There’s not a slot for everybody. Just because [talent] was willing to live in the market, doesn’t assure that they’re the best person for that slot.”

“The criteria had to be willing to live in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, or Jackson, Mississippi – my old hometowns – in order to be on the radio. Today, technology frees us of that constraint and our programmers can now make the decision about who’s going to be the best talent in that time slot on that radio station regardless of where they live.”

Please stay tuned.

ayodaradio@gmail.com