Thursday, November 26, 2009

So many turkeys, so little time

Just wanted to drop a note, saying yes, I'm still alive, and yes, the Turkey Of The Year is on the way. Just takes a little time to prepare the succulent feast.

Look for it later today, or no later than tomorrow. Until then, Happy Thanksgiving. Regular updates will resume tomorrow, with some current news.

In the meantime, enjoy "Alice's Restaurant."



Breaking news, fun and frivolity, always on LTR's Twitter Page. If you have Twitter, please follow.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Schultz dropped in D.C.

Syndicated talker Ed Schultz is without a Washington, DC affiliate for the first time in five years as WTNT (570AM) has dropped him from the on-air roster in favor of local conservotalker Jeff Kuhner.

Station management cites ratings, though ratings for the station as a whole are pretty lousy all-around.


DCRTV.com's Dave Hughes sums it all up this way:

WTNT does a splendid job keeping all its programming changes a deep dark secret. And, as a result, it has almost no listeners. Great station, huh! What? 30th in the PPMs. The only reason it exists is to satisfy the egos of a batch of syndicated talkers who can claim that they're "on the air in the Nation's Capital." Keep up the good work, WTNT owner Dan Snyder. At least you get one or two people to listen, which is more than the cluckheads at CBS get for "The Big Talker 1580," which has yet to even show up in the PPMs. Sheesh.....

And Hughes is right. Aside from WMAL, all-news WTOP, and public radio, talk radio in D.C. gets crummy ratings all around. Getting a D.C. clearance typically seems to be more about bragging rights. That's conservative, liberal and everything else in between.

Schultz was added to WTNT's lineup in February after the demise of sister station WWRC's progressive talk format.

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Progressive talk gone in Missoula... again

Missoula listeners were no doubt shocked when, tuning in to listen to Stephanie Miller last week, they heard liners like "A new attitude and a great line-up or some of the best conservative talk!" Yep, KMPT (930AM) has abruptly shifted ideology. The station now airs a conservotalk format.

Market manager Scott Lindahl said the station under-performed with its progressive talk format, and they had to either "turn it off," sell it or change formats. Sports was considered, but they decided instead to go with conservotalk.

Lindahl said corporate members at GapWest Broadcasting gave the station input, but local programmers ultimately made the decision to go conservative. The station says they've answered several calls from progressive listeners.

"Did they like it? No." said Lindahl. "Did they understand it? Yes."

The KMPT flip is a sign of the times for radio. The current slump in broadcast advertising revenue has especially hit small AM stations hard. Many have flipped to tried-and-true predictable formats like sports and conservotalk to stop the bleeding. Some have gone off the air completely. Lesser-established formats like progressive talk are having a rough time as a result.

KMPT had adopted the format in January, 2008, after the market's previous libtalker, KKNS, switched to the Jack-FM format.

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