Another Q&A: The future of 97.1 FM
Much has been written about today's rebranding of 97.1 FM, transitioning from simulcasting all-news KNX to becoming all-sports “The Fan.” Lance Venta at Radio Insight provided an excellent summary explaining why Audacy is making the change, another comprehensive story is offered by John Mamola at Barrett Media . Nonetheless, I’ve had a few questions that prompted me to do some digging. So it’s once again time for another round of Questions and Answers, this time about 97.1 FM. Wasn’t all-news KNX getting better ratings since adding an FM simulcast? This is one of those “yes, but…” answers. We refer you to the aforementioned story by Radio Insight’s Lance Venta. Still, at the risk of being redundant, what happened is KNX’s audience did grow, but in the wrong demographic. It appears the audience gain skewed toward older listeners, not the prized 25-54 demo. Compared to their sister stations across the country, KNX has underperformed – the LA outlet was #18 with the younger listener...