If a radio station falls in the forest...

Okay, I ran across this one yesterday. I was in a bit of a hurry, and didn't get around to posting about it. Then again, I admittedly didn't really care. Actually, I'm not the least bit surprised by this move at all.

What is this? Well, we finally heard some vague, cryptic message from the powers-that-be who run KHRO in El Paso, TX. And the news ain't good for anyone who listens to Air America on 1650AM (if anyone even knows that they are an Air America Radio affiliate, that is). It seems the station is looking to shake up the on-air lineup, and adding a few local shows.

Paul Strelzin, a longtime El Paso radio personality, has been doing a morning show for the station since last June. "El Paso on the Move" airs weekdays from 7-10AM. Station management decided to program a conservative counterpoint to Strelzin's liberal commentary with the addition of local blogger David Karlsruher, a frequent caller on Strelzin's show. His one hour show will be called "The Other Side" and will air immediately after Strelzin's. According to Strelzin, “David K. has no radio experience and has never even been on the radio before, and David Candelaria (general manager at Entravision) gave him a show. He’s a Republican and will give another a view.” All fine and dandy, but station management has other plans in store for KHRO as well, and it looks like Air America will not be a part of those plans.

Candelaria says he "wanted to have a democrat, republican and moderate. We are also talking to Sito Negron as the moderate host. We want to keep people in El Paso to be better informed and have two main shows that can come together and talk about the issues in a friendly debate fashion. I would like to call it 'Radio Free El Paso,' from 7AM to noon, and at 12 o’clock flip it to 50s and 60s oldies. The music part starts in April, and Air America will end. El Paso is way behind the eight-ball when it comes to local talk."

So, why didn't I care? And why am I writing about it now? Well, KHRO ain't much of a station. Their previous new rock format didn't play well on a weak AM station on the 'extended band' (1600AM+), so they blew it up early last year and added a straight Air America feed. They didn't do much with it. In fact, their website, who's domain name hasn't changed from the rock format, has consisted solely of a white page with a solitary link to Air America. Heck, they didn't even bother to take down the rest of the site! Hopefully, they didn't pay a webmaster to do all this.

If you guessed that the station didn't do a whole lot of promotion for the station,then you get a cigar! And remember kids, just because you build it doesn't mean they'll come. Which is why liberal talk's weakest links have been falling by the wayside in recent months. In fact, aside from blurbs announcing broadcasts of UTEP sporting events, this is the first time I've read about KHRO in the press. Actually, management has been thinking of dropping Air America since last December.

KHRO has had an uphill battle with their liberal talk format. In a market where people of Hispanic origin make up roughly 82% of the population, an Anglo-oriented talk format was obviously going to struggle. On top of that, Entravision, a relatively large broadcasting company programming mostly Spanish-language formats on stations across the country, didn't even bother to announce the initial flip to talk in the local media. Or promote it. Or even slap up a website.

Same could be said about KCCT in Corpus Christi. The 1,000 AM station has also reportedly dropped Air America programming from the schedule and replaced what little of the network's programming it still aired with oldies and a few more local shows. On a positive note, they are keeping some of their left-leaning local hosts, though it would be nice if owner Manuel Davila could shell out a couple bucks and slap up a station website, instead of relying on staffers to do it themselves. KCCT wasn't much of a station. Listeners have informed LTR that the station occasionally disrupted Air America programming to run a shopping show (or something loosely resembling a shopping show) and infomercials during the weekday. On-air hosts often joked about how the station couldn't sell advertising. In essence, the station itself is a joke, though it deserves credit for airing local progressive programming.

I've said many times before that it is very possible to succeed with liberal talk on the radio. Of course, just like with any other format, even cash cows like country or sports, it won't go anywhere without proper promotion. That means press releases to the local media, advertising, publicity, and even a working website. The fact that they're going to flip formats once again should come as no surprise to anyone.