Elliott off the air in San Diego

After less than six months, Jon Elliott is no longer the afternoon voice on XEPE ("San Diego 1700") effective last Friday. The only explanation thus far claims that it was revenue-related, with advertising sales in short supply these days, a situation all-too common in the industry these days. Elliott apparently funded the show himself.

Elliott joined the station in May after leaving Air America.

And for those still in the San Diego area missing progressive talk, there is a group called Liberty One Radio that has a goal of launching a progressive talk radio station in the area soon, perhaps as soon as January 2010. The station would replace KLSD, which flipped from a well-rated talker to a poorly-rated sports also-ran in late 2007.

The Clear Channel bloodbath

I was tempted to sit on this one for a few days, just to let the smoke clear. But to be quite honest, I really don't know if and when that will ever happen.

So, while the real world is caught up in the whirlwind of President Obama's inauguration, the radio world is reeling with news of massive layoffs by the industry's giant, Clear Channel. In essence, 1,850 positions, or about 9 percent of its staff, have been wiped out, effective immediately. These cuts are occurring at the outdoor advertising division and the company's stations nationwide, and have affected everyone, including management, salespeople, office staffers, part-timers and even full-time air talents.

The cuts began yesterday, and they keep coming in (industry bible Radio and Records is keeping a running update on their site). And where it all stops, no one knows.

Most of the paring down is due to the economy. As companies struggle, that leaves far less money to put toward advertising. And that lack of advertising revenue is hurting the media, especially newspapers, magazines and radio.

Of course, the cynical among us assume that the woeful state of broadcast revenue makes it quite convenient for radio station owners to cut staff down to a minimum to minimize expenses and maximize revenue. After all, does anyone expect radio stations to hire more on-air staffers once the economy rebounds? Considering that even music-oriented radio stations are filling afternoon and evening shifts with syndicated programming, that doesn't bode well for the local guy. The big corporations will see this as an opportunity to program stations from regional or even national offices. Look at all of this as a trend toward the national homogenization of radio.

Rumor has it that the Obama Administration's FCC will make the corporatization of the radio dial a heavy priority over the next few years. They would certainly like to expand access to the airwaves to more parties as opposed to the Bush/Clinton approach of letting a few big groups own virtually everything. This would certainly be a welcome development in the industry.

As for what layoffs concern stations covered by this blog, there are so far only a few. WXXM program director Brian Turany is one of those who have gotten the axe, which is a shame, since he has been a stalwart and sympathetic supporter of the station's progressive talk format.

And in San Diego, former progressive talk station KLSD, currently withering away with its sports talk format, has virtually eliminated its local presence on the airwaves. Four of its five on-air hosts are gone, with the remaining personality teaming up with the station's program director to host a four hour afternoon show. The rest of the schedule is straight off the FOX Sports national feed.

And for those curious, KLSD's sports format is still mostly a no-show in the local ratings, having fallen off the list with the departure of its old progressive talk format.

KLSD fudges the numbers

Clear Channel's controversial decision to ditch liberal talk on San Diego station KLSD has so far proven to be a dismal failure.

But after being a no-show in the ratings books since the flip to sports, a small glimmer of hope had surfaced in recent months, with the fledgeling sports format actually starting to show a small blip in the ratings book. In the two most recent Arbitron rolling trend reports, KLSD improved to a 0.5 and 0.6 share respectively. While not great by any means, and far less than the progressive talk yielded, it was at least some hope.

And then we found out how that might have happened. It started with the firing of morning co-host Dave Palet last week. Turns out corporate was informed that three Arbitron diaries for the San Diego market came from the home of a local media member - a big no-no. The household in question belonged to an on-air personality at KLSD. And then the memos started flying.

From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

The memo, which was sent out Friday, also states the “on-air personality in question has been removed from the on-air shift and will be subject to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal.” Palet was fired late Friday afternoon.

(snip)

Bob Bolinger, president and market manager for Clear Channel San Diego, said in the memo to “Valued Clients” that the company “agrees with the Arbitron policy” prohibiting media-affiliated households from filling out diaries.

Bolinger, who is out of town and has not responded to messages seeking comment, said in the memo that Clear Channel “moved swiftly to correct the situation.”

Arbitron announced yesterday it “learned that three Summer 2008 Week 2 San Diego metro diaries were returned from a media-affiliated household.” The company, which did not identify the household, said it would release revised ratings Friday for the past two “Arbitrends” ratings periods covering May-July and June-August.

Arbitron claims that the diaries in question could have significantly affected the outcome in the ratings book. They should announce by Friday how the 'Arbitrend' reports will be revised.

The Station Vanishes

Hard to believe it's already been nine months since KLSD (1360AM) in San Diego ditched its successful liberal talk format to jump into the overcrowded sports radio shark tank. So far, the new format is a flop.

The San Diego Union-Tribune is the latest to take note of the woes of the new "XTRA Sports 1360." At least somebody is, since the station, since its format flip in November, has virtually dropped off the ratings map. They are almost a non-entity in the San Diego radio market.

And the biggest irony is that another Clear Channel-owned sports station, KLAC (570AM), located approximately 100 miles north in Los Angeles, does show up in the San Diego book. In other words, an out-of-market signal gets listeners, while the hometown station with the same format does not.

Let's crunch some numbers. In the Winter 2008 Arbitron book, the first full survey since KLSD ditched liberal talk, the station, which averaged a 1.5 share of the overall listening audience over the past year, has dropped off the charts. Essentially, that's a 75-80 percent listener drop. KLAC, which carried the Los Angeles Lakers and their deep playoff run, got enough listeners to account for a half share of the overall listening audience. Still, when local listeners would rather tune in an out-of-town sister station, that's got to be a sign of something bad.

In addition, at a time when Clear Channel is wiping out as much overhead as they possibly can, the new XTRA Sports 1360 is a more expensive operation than KLSD's liberal talk lineup was. The daytime roster currently consists of live and local talent - a much more expensive proposition than merely slotting in bartered syndicated programming like Air America or Ed Schultz (with a couple local talkers like Stacy Taylor and Jon Elliott). Therefore, Clear Channel is paying more money for fewer listeners. Is that something new they teach in business school?
The Union-Tribune column quotes one radio veteran, who calls the results of the bungled format flip unprecedented. He says people in the industry will be doing case studies for a long time:

“I don't care what the format is, I have never seen a station disappear that fast. Never,” said Ron Bain, a radio producer and former radio/TV executive who lives in North County. “And the few times that I've seen a station go down (like this), it will tend to go down slowly. . . . This is precedent-setting, that it just ended. It's like it went off the air – and one could say they have.”

Meanwhile, Clear Channel is looking for the silver lining:

Bob Bolinger, vice president and market manager for Clear Channel Radio-San Diego, was on vacation the past two days. Brian Wilson, XTRA's program director, admitted frustration but said the station had its best month thus far in June. Of course, that came immediately after its worst month. “We made some progress in some day parts,” Wilson said. “ . . . I feel we do pretty good radio, and with football season coming up and some more marketing, I feel we're ready to turn the corner.”

The top sports talker in the market, XEPRS (1190AM), a.k.a. XX Sports, doesn't seem too concerned about its upstart rival, even though Clear Channel carried out a talent raid of the station, more recently snatching program director Bill Pugh. XX Sports did lose half a share, but that could be attributed to the recent split of the FM simulcast signal to launch an oldies format, which experienced a modestly successful debut in its first partial book.

Now, playing the devil's advocate here, I should be fair and offer a few points in defense of Clear Channel and the new KLSD. First, any kind of talk format, whether it be sports, 'hot talk,' liberal or even conservative, is a long-term proposition. Most stations like these are often slow-starters, and take a long time to generate an audience. In some cases, it may take years to see any kind of ratings success. It's the argument that I've often used for liberal talkers, but it is entirely true for most any kind of format, especially talk.

Second, KLSD's current moniker, XTRA Sports 1360, has been used by a number of Clear Channel stations in Southern California over the years. Originally, it was simulcast on Tijuana-based XETRA (690AM) and KXTA (1150AM) in Los Angeles. In January 2005, the original XTRA Sports simulcast was broken up, with the American programming rights of XETRA spun off to another group (which later changed the call letters) and the format moved to the stronger 570AM frequency in Los Angeles, with 1150AM becoming the current progressive talker KTLK. The XTRA name was eventually dropped by KLAC, but picked up by KLSD. Now, in its longtime but flawed methods of collecting data, Arbitron does keep track of station nicknames, in addition to call letters and frequencies. So, in Los Angeles, for example, a diary response that merely cites "KISS-FM" is actually read as KIIS (102.7FM), since that station has registered the nickname with Arbitron. In the case of KLAC, Arbitron considers it part of the San Diego market, since the station's signal does reach there. Even though they no longer use the XTRA moniker, a diary entry that says "XTRA" could still possibly be credited to KLAC. The fact that the moniker has been used on four Southern California signals over the past four years further complicates the issue. Now, I'm not sure how Arbitron compiled all of their information, but with all the confusion here, it is a slight possibility. Still, that would realistically only account for a small portion of the ratings share, so either way, the new KLSD is still a dog.

Finally, most programmers of sports formats claim that ratings mean virtually nothing. Sports talk targets a very specific segment of the audience, namely male sports junkies. With such a narrow demographic, it is an easy sell to advertisers who wish to target this audience alone (mostly sports bars, strip clubs, car dealerships, online gambling, ticket dealers, etc.). Therefore, the conventional wisdom goes, sponsors will pay more to hawk their wares directly to the consumers they want. Whether this is entirely correct, or whether most of the sports radio market will collapse once advertisers come to their senses in regard to advertising on stations with no listeners, remains to be seen.

But let's be real here. The new KLSD is closer to the ill-fated New Coke than an outright success. The tinkered with a successful formula and pissed off more listeners and advertisers than they satisfied. With liberal talk, the station got the best ratings (in more desirable demographics) it had received in years. Not many 1,000 watt AM stations in large markets can boast over a two share with a healthy portfolio of happy advertisers and ridiculously low overhead. Now that's all out the window, as KLSD currently scrapes the bottom of the also-ran sports stations in Southern California.

This seems to be a continuing pattern. Clear Channel stations in Cincinnati, Columbus, Akron and other places have fizzled since dropping progressive talk. And stations owned by other groups in other markets have had similar outcomes since ditching the format.

Add to that list San Diego, where the new KLSD has been a miserable failure.

The Saul shuffle sends Steph to San Diego

San Diego liberal talk fans still in KLSD remission do have at least a little something to cheer about, as a strong signaled station in the market adds one of the most popular progressive talk shows in the country to its lineup.

The Stephanie Miller Show has been added to Saul Levine's XESURF (540AM), which covers the San Diego market from its Tijuana tower. Her show will air in morning drive from 6-9A weekdays. This will be her first affiliate in the market, as KLSD never carried her show.

XESURF is part of a simulcast operation with KGIL (1260) in Los Angeles. Since KTLK (1150AM) already airs Miller, that station will get America's favorite right-wing coke addict Glenn Beck in that slot. The Ed Schultz Show follows immediately after on both signals, though only airing from 9-10A.

The two morning shows replace a replay of the previous day's Michael Savage airing.

In the words of Levine, "Since launching this station less than a year ago, we’ve worked diligently to assemble a unique, A-list roster of diverse talk radio talent. Now with Glenn Beck and Michael Savage live for our L.A. drive times, as well as the addition of Stephanie Miller to our San Diego signal, 1260 and 540 have further elevated their stature as major contenders on the Southern California talk radio scene.”

However, even with the addition of Miller to XESURF, and the following three hours of left-leaning hosts Schultz and Michael Jackson, this is not an indication of any further tilt to the left for the station. Levine has stated in the past that he's not a fan of overly partisan talk radio, and likes to mix it up a bit with a variety of viewpoints. And the acquisition of Miller (and the presence of former KLSD morning man Stacy Taylor and Air America rival Lionel on 1700AM) could also hinder the efforts of another liberal talk startup in the San Diego area, unless they come up with a different morning option (is Imus available?). Still, it's been over six months since KLSD flipped to sports and ratings obscurity, and nobody's stepped up to take on the popular format full time.

McCain furious at Schultz over "warmonger" remark

Proving that there's more going on than Randi Rhodes' "Whoregate," fellow progressive talker Ed Schultz is also making waves. He gets back clearances in a couple markets in Southern California, and now, he's also becoming a target in this year's election campaign.

Following on the heels of the whole Rhodes brewhaha, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, John McCain, is calling on Democratic front-runner Barack Obama to condemn Schultz for remarks he made while warming up the crowd at an Obama event.

So what did Big Eddie say? Did he call McCain a 'whore?' No, even worse.

Actually, what he called McCain was probably even more offensive. So devastating that people should take to the streets of Schultz' hometown of Detroit Lakes, MN with torches, pitchforks and shotguns. Okay, not really

Because you see, Schultz had the audacity to call McCain a... get ready... "Warmonger."

Yes, you read that right. I am not making this up. And as you can see from the link above, it appears that McCain's protectors at FOX Noise, the same network where John Gibson demanded Rhodes apologize for her 'whore' comments the other day even though Gibson often says way worse, are gearing up to spread this ridiculous meme.

To make it even more ridiculous, the McCain campaign likened the insult to the language used by conservotalk radio goon Bill Cunningham, who warmed up the crowd for a McCain rally in Cincinnati in late February by repeatedly invoking Obama’s middle name, “Hussein,” mocking him as a “hack” and suggesting that as president he’d cozy up to Hezbollah and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. McCain, in quick damage control mode, condemned Cunningham, and Cunningham subseqently turned on him.

So, what provoked this vile insult? Could it have been that time last year at a VFW hall when he launched into a clever little ditty called "Bomb, bomb, bomb. Bomb, bomb Iran?" Or the fact that he's long been one of the most vocal cheerleaders of the war in Iraq? The guy who said that if it came right down to it, spending 100 years in Iraq "would be fine by me." Yeah, doesn't sound like a warmonger to me.

You see, there's a big difference between the race-baiting antics of Cunningham, and calling a spade a spade (figuratively speaking). McCain certainly ain't no agent of peace. And it's likely this ridiculous demand from the McCain camp will open up a can of worms that he doesn't really want opened.

And yes, the Obama campaign responded promptly to McCain's finger-pointing. And they didn't even throw Schultz under the bus in doing it. Campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement: "John McCain is not a warmonger and should not be described as such. He's a supporter of a war that Senator Obama believes should have never been authorized and never been waged."

Notice the nice little polite dig at McCain there? It was a classy and clever response.

Meanwhile, Schultz didn't back down in a telephone interview. He said he has used the term many times on the air to refer to McCain because of his support for the war in Iraq.

"He voted for this war. He's a perpetrator of the war. He's an advocate of the war," Schultz said. "In my personal definition, that's a warmonger."

Needless to say, this proves once again how thin-skinned crybaby conservative Republicans really are. In a nutshell, anyone offended by the 'warmonger' slur has serious self-esteem issues, especially McCain. Rather than call out his opponent over this ridiculous matter, perhaps McCain should prove to the voters of America why he isn't a warmonger.' But that would be only slightly easier than squeezing blood out of a rock. Therefore, labeling a notorious war hawk like McCain a 'warmonger' is not a slur. Anyone who thinks it is should go suck on a pacifier.

Just another twist in this often silly election cycle. Sometimes I wish this whole campaign cycle would just end. But where would I get my laughs?

Speaking of Schultz, Big Eddie fans in Southern California will be able to hear him via the airwaves once again. The co-owned combo of KGIL (1260AM) and XESURF (540AM) in Tijuana/San Diego have added Schultz's show, albeit only on Saturday afternoons for now. Listeners can tune in from 4-7P PT.

Schultz was previously heard in the market on KTLK (1150AM), until the station dropped his show a few months ago. He was also on KLSD (1360AM) in San Diego, which flipped to sports last fall and has since spiraled down the ratings sewer, dropping almost 75% of its Arbitron ratings share.

Holiday soundbytes

If you've all been wondering where the rest of the previously promised end-of-the-year Top 10 lists are, they're coming. I came down with a brief yet nasty case of the flu right after Christmas and didn't feel the urge to do anything but attempt to sleep and watch TV (mostly DVDs and Benazhir Bhutto). The rest is forthcoming, most notably the Top 10 Liberal Talkers of 2007. Stay tuned.

Turning back to the present tense, there's still a little bit going on. First is good news for fans of the late KLSD in San Diego. Stacy Taylor, the former morning show host on that station, was offered a position at another Clear Channel-owned station. But when all was said and done, he opted to part ways with them and has instead taken the afternoon (4-7PM PT) shift on XEPE (1700AM) starting January 3, 2008. He'll be sandwiched in between investment shows and local and syndicated conservojocks that garner the station little in the way of ratings. Perhaps Taylor, who actually did get decent ratings on KLSD, will deliver a shot in the arm to this border blaster.

Another programming change also rings in the new year. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that WWRL in New York will be getting a new morning show co-host next Wednesday in the guise of Chicago's Coz Carson, formerly of urban talk-formatted WVON. Whether he is joining the relatively new duo of Richard Bey and Mark Riley or replacing one or both people is unknown. I guess we'll see on Wednesday January 2.

UPDATE: Looks like Riley is heading back to WLIB, where he's worked off and on over the years. Carson will pair up with Bey on WWRL's morning show, according to FishbowlNY (disregard the various errors in that posting).

The guy Bey and Riley replaced, Sam Greenfield, just got a new gig. "Mornings With Sammy" will debut on January 7 and air 7-9A ET weekdays at WVNJ (1160AM) in Oakland, NJ. The Northern New Jersey station has a decent signal that also targets areas to the north and east of New York City. The station's on-air lineup is nothing to really get excited about, unless you like infomercials. Nonetheless, a longtime New York liberal talker gets a new gig, sans the excess baggage that was Armstrong Williams.

And finally, Sirius Left host Alex Bennett is hitting the road. No, he's not leaving his radio gig. He's taking it across the country next week, covering the 2008 Iowa Caucuses and the 2008 New Hampshire primary (yes, they're coming up). Bennett and company will deliver breaking election news, get voter reaction, and analysis straight from the epicenter of the beginning of the madness that is the 2008 Presidential Election.

According to the press release, according to All Access, Bennett will take listeners "inside" two actual Iowa Caucuses, "bringing a firsthand account of the debate, discussion, and procedure by which America’s first political choices are made for the 2008 presidential campaign." Look for him there January 3-4. On January 8 and 9, Bennett will broadcast his show live from the iconic Red Arrow Diner, a focal point for many presidential candidates, in Manchester.

Speaking of the 2008 Election, I have finally thrown my support behind a candidate in the race, after holding out for quite some time. Perhaps in the next few days or so, after I sort out this year-end stuff, I'll even share it with all of you. Until then, have a happy, safe and prosperous 2008.

The Top 10 wherabouts of former progressive talk stations

The holidays are over, we're sobering up and playing with our new toys, and we finally throw down our arms in fighting the mythical and nonsensical War On Christmas. So now, it's time to take a look back on 2007.

In this installment, we'll take a look at the corpses left behind during the year. The stations that gave up and flipped from progressive talk to other, often less-successful formats. This isn't a complete list, as I tried to keep it down to ten. But it does show that perhaps the owners of some of these stations were a bit hasty in their programming decisions.

The year 2007 marked the big liberal purge from quite a few AM stations owned by Clear Channel Communications, Entercom and others. So far, none of the successor formats have done anything in the ratings. Check this out:

1. Cincinnati - WSAI dropped progressive talk in late 2006, going with some kind of advice-talk format. Well, that format blew dog, and it lasted a mere six months or so before becoming a dumping ground for leftover programming from sister sports station WCKY. To their credit, at least the station is getting ratings now, though nowhere near what they got with their half-assed and underpromoted approach to progressive talk.

2. Columbus - After WTPG also dropped progressive talk last December, it's replacement, right-wing babbler WYTS turned out to be a complete joke. Unlike its prececessor, which actually got the best ratings the signal had in years, WYTS has dropped off the chart. Not even Michael Savage can save them. Now, with progressive talk back on WVKO, perhaps we'll get proof that Clear Channel screwed the pooch when they hastily dropped the format.

3. Santa Cruz - KOMY ditched the Air America feed early this year. With their replacement oldies format, the station has not shown up in the ratings at all. At least liberal talk showed up on occasion. KOMY and their sister station are currently on the market.

4. Duluth - KQDS dropped from 2.1 to 0.8 overall after switching to an automated oldies satellite feed in February.

5. Fresno - KFPT was forced to switch to sports when they were sold by Peak Broadcasting to Fat Dawgs 7 in February (there was a no-compete clause in the sale papers to protect Peak's talk station, KMJ). A station that quite often floated around a one share completely dropped off the list.

6. Burlington, VT - WTWK thought the'd have more luck with estrogen, dropping progressive talk and picking up programming from Greenstone Media back in March. They were thrown a curveball when Greenstone closed up shop, and had to scramble to refill their schedule. They also brought back Stephanie Miller. So far, no ratings.

7. Sacramento - After sponsoring a Christmas season contest on their sister station in which they actually killed one of their listeners in public, Entercom killed progressive talk on KCTC in February. It was replaced by a sports format that has all but killed the 1320 AM signal in Sacramento. Locally-owned rival KSAC picked up some of the abandoned programming from KCTC and experienced a 300% jump in the ratings.

8. Akron - The axing of WARF ("Radio Free Ohio") in March completed Clear Channel's "Ohio Trifecta," where they effectively killed progressive talk on all three stations in the state programming the format. The replacement format was (surprise!) sports, and their ratings are currently (surprise!) nonexistent. They are currently getting their asses kicked by an independently-owned sports station out of Cleveland.

9. Memphis - WSMB was a joke when they did progressive talk. The station suffered from horrible promotion, poor sales efforts and serious neglect. No local presence whatsoever. An amateurish-looking website with an ugly station logo. A real shame, since the signal really kicks ass. But Entercom has never been adept at running progressive talk formats (as seen in New Orleans, Sacramento and other places). The result was a signal that was horribly neglected. So the flip to FOX Sports in early September likely came as no surprise to anyone.

10. San Diego - And now we save the most notable for last. Perhaps the most drawn-out format flip in radio history, Clear Channel in San Diego made few friends when word got out that they were about to flip KLSD to sports, going up against two other station in the area already doing the same. Time will tell if it will succeed, but Clear Channel screwed up royally when they ditched a format that was getting decent ratings and reportedly pulling in $2.5 million a year in revenue. Low-powered AM stations are not known for doing that in this day and age.

NOTE: In attempt to save space, stations such as WKOX in Boston, KDXE in Little Rock, WAVZ in New Haven, WLVP in Portland, ME, KOKE in Austin, KHRO in El Paso, and perhaps one or two others were left off the list. Of those, the new formats of WKOX and WAVZ are ratings dogs, some of the others are too early to tell, and only KHRO went up in the ratings, thanks to actually doing a locally-oriented liberal talk lineup after dropping the straight Air America feed.

KLSD will definitely maybe flip soon, we think

NOTE: See end of article for update. KLSD will officially flip to sports on Monday, November 12.

In the radio business, there are format flips that are pulled off well, and format flips that are completely botched.

An example of a successful flip occurred in Chicago earlier this week. CBS Radio's WCKG, a longtime FM talker, had in recent years gone into a serious slump. Since Howard Stern bolted to Sirius a few years back, the station was left with very few options. Afternoon personality Steve Dahl, a market legend, was the sole ratings grabber and cash cow for the station. For mornings, CBS tried to fill the Stern gap with Rover, a guy out of Cleveland. His show bombed quickly, and Rover rolled over and went back to Cleveland. The next plug-in was Opie and Anthony, who were lured back to CBS after a couple years in satellite radio exile. That didn't help, and the duo has just recently lost their Philadelphia and West Palm Beach affiliates, in addition to Chicago, and as of late have been irritating their stations in New York and Boston.

So WCKG, which had crashed hard in the ratings, had to do something. They finally came up with a plan to send Dahl to do mornings on sister station Jack FM, fired everyone else, and start anew with a different format. They teased rock, adult contemporary and even Mexican music formats as possible replacements. All last week, there was even more teasing, after CBS allowed their talk show hosts to say goodbye on the air. They aired reruns of Dahl's show around the clock, and even sent more teasers to the media about a possible flip to Christmas music. That didn't sit well with Clear Channel's WLIT, the traditional Christmas station in town. In response, they cranked up the holiday cheer right away, several weeks ahead of schedule. They took the bait.

When WCKG relaunched as Fresh 105.9, the new format was adult contemporary, similar to that which WLIT had temporarily abandoned for the holidays. So, in essence, CBS found a place for the high-billing, big-contract Steve Dahl, the only thing worth salvaging from WCKG, effectively toyed with the media, scared a top competitor temporarily out of the format, and launched a format that is already doing well in New York. All in all, a very effective format flip.

Contrast that with what Clear Channel is doing in San Diego. Rumors have persisted since August that the company was planning to flip progressive talker KLSD to a sports talk format, making it the third one of that sort in the market. Of course, the way that it was handled stirred up quite a firestorm of protest, as the station had until recently done very well in the ratings (given its weak signal) and has always been profitable. The station even encouraged protest rallies in support of the progressive talk format, as there were rumors within the building and regional office of conflicts over the flip. Meanwhile, program director Cliff Albert waffled and played coy about a possible flip, claiming at times that he didn't know or that management was still undecided.

A month went by and it was still the same ol' song and dance. More support rallies took place. And then management sneakily hired a whole roster of sports talk hosts, even raiding other stations. Yes, they decided to flip anyway. Morning host Stacy Taylor found out while reading the newspaper at home on a Saturday morning. This was four weeks ago. Along the way, many rumored flip dates came and went, though the most recent proposed date, November 1, could possibly have been delayed due to the rash of wildfires that swept through the area and disrupted everything.

Now, the word is that this is the last week of progressive talk on KLSD. The station may flip sometime next week.

In essence, this is perhaps the sloppiest format flip in history. First of all, it has taken almost three months to pull off. Second, it involved pissing off displaced listeners, who may realize that they don't really want anything to do with Clear Channel anymore after this. And it's a slap in the face to advertisers who really stood behind the format. All this just to establish yet another sports talk station in a market where they failed at it once before, and will never surpass a competitor running the format on both a high-powered AM signal and an FM one. Gee, smart move guys. Guess they're willing to feed on the scraps.

To add insult to injury, the station's likely compromise is to move KLSD's format (or more specifically, Air America Radio) to an HD Radio subchannel of KIOZ (105.3FM). Of course, if you don't own a receiver capable of picking up HD Radio signals, which few do, forget it. Besides, people at Air America, who have say as to where their programming gets moved to, have reportedly already said that they will not allow their programming to be shuffled off to the HD ghetto in San Diego.

So, Clear Channel and KLSD can get bent. What's next for the format in San Diego? Obviously, progressive talk has been very successful in the market. And I say that because it actually made a thousand watt nearly-forgotten AM signal a formidable talk station. Not to mention, they made it profitable. I'm sure the other owners of struggling AM outlets in the area have been watching this situation. Though whether they are willing to take the plunge is another issue.

Luckily, the San Diego radio market is packed with radio signals, thanks in part to Mexican-licensed stations in border cities such as Tijuana, Ensenada and Rosarito. There are also several AM stations licensed on the U.S. side.

Obviously, the big conservotalkers such as KOGO (owned by Clear Channel) and KFMB are not possibilities. They are already doing well. Forget KECR (910AM), a religious station piping in programming from Family Radio. KCBQ (1170AM) and KPRZ (1210AM) are both owned by Salem Communications. Fuhgettaboutit.

But there are possibilities. One unknown entity seems to be KSON (1240AM), which reportedly is or was leased by a group programming an urban gospel music format. They may have renewed the lease recently, after being temporarily deposed from the signal. The station is owned by Lincoln Financial Media, and whatever is currently airing on the signal or will in the future is unknown (can anyone there fill me in?). If there is already a current lease on the station, rule this one out. Rumor has it that Lincoln Financial seeking out a buyer for the whole radio and TV group, if not the 1240 AM signal alone. Signal coverage on 1240AM is similar to that of KLSD.

Astor Broadcasting Group operates KCEO (1000AM) and KFSD (1450AM). Neither station is a ratings force. KCEO carries a business-oriented news/talk format with lots of brokered programming, so they're obviously making money already. KFSD simulcasts with an adult standards station in suburban Los Angeles. Both have crappy signals. I can't imagine either station picking up progressive talk, as it just doesn't seem to be a proper fit with what they are currently doing. And these small mom-and-pop outlets seem to have some sort of reason for airing oddball formats.

KURS (1040AM) has an incredibly weak 340 watt signal, and currently airs a satellite-fed oldies format. The station's owner, Quetzal Bilingual Communications, has leased this station out in the past. Oldies seems to be a filler format. But on a pipsqueak signal such as this, anything could be considered a filler format.

The San Diego area is also home to quite a few stations broadcasting from across the border in Baja California, Mexico, the so-called 'X' stations (the letter that all call signs start with). Mexican law prohibits foreign entities from owning licensed stations in that country, but many Mexican owners near the U.S. border lease out programming rights to United States-based broadcasters. Quite a few of these stations do quite well in San Diego and other border markets with American-oriented programming.

Would U.S.-oriented political talk work on a Mexican radio station? There's really no reason why not. Keep in mind, Rush Limbaugh was once on XETRA (690 AM), so anything goes. Well, almost. XTRA-FM (91X) once carried Stern, but the Mexican government took issue with the racy content of the show, forcing Jacor Broadcasting to move it to a co-owned San Diego-based signal in the market. And they forced 'border blaster' pioneer John R. Brinkley
off the air for using 300,000 watt Mexican signals to sell his various quackery methods (implanting goat glands in male patients to increase virility), publicize his unsuccessful run for governor of Kansas, and the final straw - airing pro-Nazi propaganda in 1941.

Basically, the government of Mexico requires the hourly legal ID to be read in Spanish, and also mandates playing the country's national anthem at midnight daily. But there's something that seems cool about progressive talk on a border blaster. Keep in mind, guys like Wolfman Jack became legends in the 1950s and 1960s blasting rock and roll music from Mexican transmitters, on signals so powerful (back then) that birds would drop dead around the towers.

So, could progressive talk land on a Mexican stick? Let's take a look:

XESURF (540 AM) has a pretty nice signal, but a loser classic country format. The station's programming rights are owned by veteran Los Angeles broadcaster Saul Levine and his Mount Wilson Broadcasters group, which also owns country-formatted FM KKGO and classical AM outlet KMZT. The AM station recently dropped classical music and went with a hybrid talk/adult standards format as KGIL, going so far as to drag venerable liberal talker Michael Jackson (no, not the "Thriller" guy) out of mothballs for a 9-11AM shift (with 5-7PM replay). He's joined by Dr. Joy Brown, Larry King and Neal Boortz. Levine's philosophy behind the station was to create a spot on the dial where people of all stripes and ideologies could play in the same sandbox. While a flip of XESURF, which has a strong signal but no ratings to speak of, to progressive talk makes a lot of sense, Levine has gone on record as expressing his disdain for any kind of overly-partisan talk radio formats. And Levine's history of broadcasting in Southern California shows that he's the type of person who is more keen on putting on programming that he likes, ratings be damned. He seems to march to his own drumbeat. Heck, at one time, his AM station in L.A. had an all-Beatles format!

I mentioned XETRA (609AM) before. At 77,000 watts, this is one of the most powerful AM signals in North America. For many years, this station was leased by U.S. interests and blanketed most of Southern California. This is where Clear Channel first failed with sports (begging the question why they think it will work on piddly 1360). It is currently managed by a global company, Union Radio, which operates radio stations all over the world through subsidiaries. They currently hold a lease deal on 690, which runs a Spanish-language news and talk format called "W Radio," mostly targeting Los Angeles (believe it or not). While ratings in San Diego and Los Angeles are nil, I highly doubt this frequency would be a candidate to replace KLSD. Besides, they recently expanded W Radio to a Bakersfield station.

XESPN (800 AM) is one of several sports stations in the market. They basically offer a straight feed of ESPN (naturally). Not a likely candidate, especially with those call letters. Basically a nonentity in the ratings, but I'm sure they are doing reasonably well, even with stiff competition. Airing the ESPN feed costs them little money. They also carry USC football.

XEPRS (1090AM) is the wildly successful sports talker in the market. The two powerful signals carrying "XX Sports Radio" - 1090 AM and 105.7FM - are leased by the Broadcast Company of the Americas, operated by John Lynch. Ratings are excellent, and Lynch and company have busted ass in succeeding where Clear Channel couldn't (he helped run XETRA's former sports format). And Lynch is quite pissed now that Clear Channel, in building KLSD's new format, helped to build it by raiding his stable. Lynch also operates another Mexican signal, XEPE (1700AM), which a few months ago flipped from business news to a mostly conservative talk format featuring Dennis Miller, Michael Reagan, Neal Boortz and others, including a couple local voices. While Lynch is described as being rather conservative in his ideology, as is often the case with businessmen, this could mean that he likes making money. And with a built-in advertiser portfolio and dedicated listener base, this could be a good opportunity for Lynch to stick it to Clear Channel (he seems to be supportive of the plight of KLSD's disenfranchised listeners) and put progressive talk on one of his stations. Obviously, he won't mess with his cash cow sports format (that would be a really dumb idea), but 1700 sounds like a no-brainer. Since it signed on in 2005, XEPE has been far from a force in the ratings. Granted, the current talk format just started, but will it really scare the three other conservative talk stations in town (plus L.A.'s KFI, which shows up in the local ratings books)? In that format, "San Diego's 1700" is basically the low hanging fruit. Left leaning talk on the far right of the dial sounds like a pretty interesting marketing ploy (and I will even forgo royalty rights to it if Lynch takes up this idea).

The other 'X' stations are either programmed by Mexican interests, or are targeted toward Mexican audiences. Not likely candidates for Air America and the rest, but if someone came up with the money, I'm sure they could score a lease deal with one of these outlets. Station leasing seems to be the name of the game in San Diego.

So, as it looks like progressive talk in San Diego will be a goner next week, will there be a successor waiting in the wings? We'll just have to wait and find out. Hopefully, someone will see an opportunity to do something to bolster their obscure and struggling radio outlets.

UPDATE: Clear Channel has made it official (finally!). KLSD will become "XTRA Sports 1360" on Monday at 3P PT, with market mainstay Lee "Hacksaw" Hamilton at the mic for the switch, according to AllAccess.

Chris Carmichael of sdradio.net is claiming that Clear Channel wants to put Air America on the HD3 side channel of KHTS (93.3FM). Again, not sure if Air America will sign off on that.

For the morbidly curious, the new XTRA 1360 website can be found here.

Rumors, soundbytes and whatnot

Seems like forever since I actually wrote about liberal talk radio. As news was a bit slow in that department, and with so many other things going on, I got a little sidetracked.

So, after a week devoted to a 1938 radio drama, the pending Hollywood writers strike, Don Imus' semi-triumphant return and a Clear Channel/Bruce Springsteen boycott story that wasn't, it's time once again to return to what we do best. So, here goes.

First up is WCPT (850AM) in Chicago. And this one is not even up to rumor class yet. So far it's mere speculation, but Robert Feder of the Sun-Times is pondering it, so I will too. Anyway, WCPT is still chugging along and doing quite well, thank you. They are owned by Newsweb Corporation, headed by Fred Eyechaner, a well-known activist and fundraiser for the Democratic Party. The company also owns several other small stations in the area, including four FM outlets, three of which air an eclectic format called "Nine FM." They also own several AM stations, all but WCPT are leased out to Starboard Broadcasting, which runs a Catholic-oriented religious format called "Relevant Radio." Relevant Radio recently picked up another Chicago outlet, WNTD (which some of you may remember as the original Air America Radio affiliate in the Windy City for about a minute or two).

Well, the new signal came at just the right time for Starboard, as Newsweb informed them that they would not renew the lease on one of their stations, WAIT (820AM). The frequency will be vacated on November 25. Evidently, they're taking it back for their own purposes. Does this point to a possible move of their relatively successful progressive talk format to the much-stronger 820AM? An early Christmas gift, perhaps? At a robust 5000 watts, the 820AM signal does pack twice the punch of 850AM, with a centrally-located signal that covers the entire Chicago market and other nearby areas such as northwest Indiana (as far out as South Bend), Joliet, Rockford, Bloomington and even up into Wisconsin, as far north as Milwaukee. The 820AM frequency has had some success in years past, particularly when they were the original home of sports talker WSCR back in the 90s.

The hitch? While WAIT does have a much stronger signal, like 850 it's still a daytimer. While WCPT shuts down after dark for KOA in Denver, WAIT shuts down at sunset for the strong signal of WBAP in Dallas. That's part of the peculiar nature of AM radio and FCC regulations. Newsweb has been trying to get FCC approval for a 1500 watt nighttime signal for a while now, but so far have been rebuffed. Still, that daytime signal looks quite nice, and would allow WCPT to cover the entire market and then some. Milwaukee could actually get that progressive talk station they've wanted for so long.

Again, don't even think of quoting me on this, as if it were gospel or anything. I need to make this clear. It is still officially unclear what will become of WAIT, and if anyone does know, they aren't saying anything. But it sure looks like they have plans for it, and WCPT's progressive talk format, which has been doing decent in local ratings considering how weak their current signal is, must obviously be a consideration. It's either that or leasing it out to another entity, ala Relevant Radio. This situation merits keeping an eye on, and if I hear anything else about it, I'll let you know. Again, this is not even a rumor yet.

In other WCPT news, belated congrats and best of luck to Scott Foval, a blogger and writer who took matters into his own hands a few months back and is currently employed as a sales rep for WCPT and Nine FM. So if you're in the Chicagoland area, own a business and want to reach out to like-minded folks, let him or anyone else there know.

Elsewhere, I've been working on yet another entry about KLSD (1360AM) in San Diego. Yes, they're still doing progressive talk, in what has become perhaps the most drawn-out format flip in radio history. Rumors began to swirl back in August about a possible flip to sports. Station personnel even acknowledged it. And the most recent rumors pointed to a flip date of November 1. Well, it's November 2 now, and nothing's changed. This could be due to the chaos of last week's devastating wildfires, which seems to have upset many things around the area. Now the flip is rumored to be November 15. Adding fuel to the fire is morning host Stacy Taylor moonlighting on sister station KOGO (600AM) weeknights from 6-7PM. Whether this fits into his future plans is unknown at this time.

For the past couple weeks, I've had parts of a future KLSD entry in the can, but the fires of last week, the other events of this week and uncertainty about the fate of the station has kept it under wraps. In it, I'll fill you all in on the latest in regard to that HD Radio signal they've threatened to dump the programming on, plus a profile of other area stations, some that could possibly pick up the deposed format. I'll probably put it up over the weekend. I tend to keep many fragments of entries stashed away (ScribeFire for Firefox is a wonderful thing!) for future use, and in this case, I'll actually try to unleash it.

Finally, the fine folks at KUDO in Anchorage, AK have dropped a line to inform me of their revamped website, and what appears to be a revamped on-air lineup that consists of three local shows. Filling out the roster is the standard syndicated fare, including Stephanie Miller, Ed Shultz, Air America and "Democracy Now." And they've even added a webstream, too, so we can all get some of that 'northern exposure.' I'll add their local shows to the listings on the left, once I figure out the difference between Alaska time and Eastern time. Of course, with Daylight Savings Time coming to a close this weekend, and some states not recognizing it, such as Arizona, I'll also have to figure out what KPHX and other stations plan to do with their lineups.

Be patient, and set your clocks back an hour Saturday night.

The San Diego snowjob

“The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There’s also a negative side.”

Hunter S. Thompson said that famous quote about the recording industry. If he were still among us, he could have easily used it to describe the world of broadcasting. Radio is a very dirty business. It's full of sleazy money-hungry backstabbers, who think nothing of teasing and leading on, only to give the big "fuck you" when they're all done and gotten their jollies.

Well, at least that's the way it seems at Clear Channel headquarters in San Diego.

For almost two months now, the management of progressive talker KLSD have been coy about a proposed change in format to sports talk. Rumors began leaking in August, and since then, there has been a massive groundswell of support, three rallies, the saveklsd.com website, a petition and vague reassurances from program director Cliff Albert that they are indeed trying to save the format.

Sorry, but this kind of tease shouldn't drag on for two months. Especially with a company as big as Clear Channel. Because when all is said and done, it looks like they're going to flip anyways, and AM1360 will become the third sports station in San Diego come November 1.

SDRadio.com reported the rumor Friday. I didn't believe it, since they have already cried 'wolf' too many times. But then the San Diego Union-Tribune pretty much confirmed a talent raid of local sports outlet XEPRS 1090 ("XX Sports Radio"). Bob Bolinger, vice president and market manager of Clear Channel San Diego, confirmed that longtime XX host Chris Ello had been signed to a contract, but declined further comment.

Let's face it, Ello, Hacksaw Hamilton, Dave Palet and whoever else they've tapped aren't being hired for the FM music stations the company owns. And they aren't being hired for the cluster's conservotalk stations either. All fingers point to AM1360. Sorry KLSD fans - you've been had. You've been chewed up and spit out, treated like a Tijuana hooker.

Keep in mind, this same company couldn't make the sports format work when they programmed it on XETRA (690), at 77,000 watts one of the most powerful AM signals in North America. For over ten years. And now they think it will work on the little peashooter that is 1360.

Now, this isn't all about the flip to sports. Formats change all the time in radio, especially on underpowered AM stations owned by mammoth corporations with low patience and itchy trigger fingers. It's the way they're doing it that's just plain shitty.

Here's the latest scribe from Program Director Cliff Albert, via the KLSD website:

Thanks for your support to keep the progressive talk voice alive. As I told our listeners at the Friday morning rally where I tried to directly address their concerns, their feedback has had an impact, even if sports talk were to move onto 1360.

In fact, the strong support from our listeners over the last several weeks prompted us to look into several alternative ways to keep the progressive talk format alive in San Diego. While various options are under consideration, final decisions are still being made.

However, we do expect a decision and an announcement very soon about the future of our Progressive Talk format in San Diego.

Thanks again for your support. We will keep you informed.

Cliff

So, if one were to read between the lines of this directive, they would derive that Albert already knows what's going on, and probably has for some time. And the "several alternative ways" and "future of our Progressive Talk format" basically means that, as rumored, that stuff's going to HD Radio, on the subchannel of one of their FM stations. At least that's what I get out of it, and what some, including Ed Schultz are already saying.

Keep in mind that a move to HD means that anyone desiring to listen to it will have to shell out $200 for a radio that may or may not work. Want to listen in the car? Better be prepared to install an aftermarket deck. Regular radios won't get it. And Stacy Taylor? An HD station won't have local talent. Likely, it will be a straight feed of Air America, with maybe Schultz's show thrown in. And for all of this, Clear Channel San Diego has pulled off the tease of the century. A big middle finger thrown out to their devoted listeners. Gee, how nice.

In the world of radio, stations usually just up and switch formats with little to no warning. Sometimes, they give a little time to say farewell. But I don't ever recall a long drawn-out period where they tease a 'will they or won't they' move, publicize support rallies on their own websites, put supporters of the format on the air, and even asking inane poll questions on the site asking, "are rallies helping?" Especially if they already know the answer. Stacy Taylor and others at the station have denied time and time again that this was all just a cynical ploy. I even gave them the benefit of the doubt. But all of this smacks of the biggest, sleaziest, cruelest tease that I have ever seen committed by a radio entity. And believe me, I've seen some pretty nasty stuff done in the name of our nation's airwaves.

Keep in mind, I don't blame Taylor for this. He's done a lot to help save the format, at the possible risk of his job. I don't blame the rank and file working at the station. It seems that the format has had a lot of support inside the building. As for Albert, I don't know. He's claimed time and time again that he's fighting to save the format. But this big long tease has been a major slap in the face to the many that fought so hard for them, and gotten nothing out of the deal but a crappy HD channel few can conceivably listen to. And even as he claimed as recently as Friday that no decision had yet been made. That means he lied. And that's sleazy.

So a middle finger right back at 'ya, courtesy of yours truly, and likely many of your devoted listeners. Thanks for nothing.

The last KLSD rallying cry

Will they or won't they?

That's been the mantra from KLSD and Clear Channel San Diego for almost two months now, as they've been keeping their devoted listeners dangling as they have bickered internally about whether to ditch the whole liberal talk thing and just do the FOX Sports thing instead. Rumor has it, we should know for certain what will happen by next Monday, October 15.

But do they really know yet whether or not Air America et. al., stays?

In one last hurrah, KLSD listeners are organizing one "last big rally" in support of the format. Like the previous two rallies, which packed the parking lot of the station, this one will start at 6:30 this morning, San Diego time, with a bagpiper-led march to the station's studios. Most of it should get under way by 8:30.

Didn't know about it? KLSD's web site is promoting it too. Now wait a minute! Why are they hawking a protest rally against their station management? This question has left me puzzled too, and even made me question the whole 'flip to sports' thing as a rather crass publicity stunt. But that's Clear Channel for ya, and while the company is pretty damn large, they're also at times pretty damn weird. But hey, there's a rally this morning. And if nothing else, attendees can at least get some fresh air (if that's to be found in San Diego) and make some new friends.

But the underlying question, the elephant in the room, is this: Will they or won't they?

Syndicated talker Ed Schultz, who's show airs on KLSD weekdays, is not very optimistic about the whole situation. He hosted an online chat last weekend, and said point blank that the flip would happen. But that many inside the Murphy Canyon building, including program director Cliff Albert, are against dumping progressive talk.

In the chat, conducted via his official message board on Sunday night, Schultz says that his people are hearing that the flip will indeed happen.

"(T)he word we have here at the ESS, it's over... we'll be offered on an HD channel which is bullshit. Air America is trying to write a check but that's not going to work in the long run," he claimed.

As stated before, KLSD management is keeping mum about the station's fate. They still say that a decision has yet to be made, though many outside the station are claiming that a change in format could occur as soon as next Monday, October 15.

All in all, everything is vague. What could possibly be happening is that there are different factions involved, each with their own ideas of what to put on KLSD. Morning host Stacy Taylor claims that program director Cliff Albert is strongly in favor of keeping the format. Some say that some regional Clear Channel management types, and even the head office in San Antonio, want sports. But nobody really knows for sure. And if they do, they're not saying anything.

But it was a pretty good chat. And like Schultz's show, it was pretty straight-forward. He criticized the way many of his affiliates are and were run, essentially reduced to computers in a closet shuffling on-air programming and nobody paying attention to the many gaffes that often occur. He also singled out the Clear Channel operation in Cincinnati as the worst offender.

"Flipping the switch when you walk in the room is not how to run a radio station," Schultz said in his chat. "Most of the progressive talk stations are run like that. It's sad...I've seen it all over the country. Most stations are grossly under resourced and get little attention. The industry has lost alot of good people and with down sizing all over the country the low hanging fruit gets picked and we lose stations. It has nothing to do with ratings. It's the money. It takes attention to detail to make money in radio. We need to own stations and run them (like) we own them."

And with that, Schultz unveiled his own plan. It's time to take control and operate the stations themselves. "We are working on it. I want to put a group together and buy a station. I know we can do it. Who wants to sell, that's the question." Far from a pipe dream, he claims that he already has a lawyer looking in to it.

But that question, as asked several times here, remains: What the heck is going on at KLSD? Quite honestly, I have no idea. And I'm not so convinced that the station does either. Needless to say, they need to announce a decision soon. Dragging it out will do nothing but irritate their obviously devoted listeners.

What the @#$&% is going on at KLSD?

It's been a month already since rumors started to surround the fate of San Diego's KLSD (1360AM) . Speculation has pointed at a format flip, most likely to sports.

The rumors were rather vague at first, but station staff and management ran with it. The station's website has been a virtual clearing house of information, pictures and video of rallies geared toward saving the station. KLSD even links to an outside petition to save the current progressive talk format. Morning host Stacy Taylor has also enjoyed considerable freedom in discussing the issue over the air.

A month later, the tension has only increased. Rumors started heating up more in the past week. Scott Tempesta, a.k.a. Scooter, the on-air sidekick for Taylor's morning show and host of his own weekend show, was dismissed from the station late last week. More speculation has also arisen claiming that the station will flip to sports after all, with dates such as October 1 and October 15 bandied about.

So, what the hell is going on in San Diego?

Program director Cliff Albert went on Taylor's show yesterday, answering questions from listeners and stating the company line in regard to happenings at the station. Albert claims no decision has been made, but a verdict will disclosed by the end of this week. He said he would not discuss why Tempesta was fired, due to confidentiality reasons. Albert also discussed the station's signal limitations, which is due to FCC and various other reasons. A substantial signal increase has been applied for and is in the works, but it needs approval from both the FCC and the Mexican government. In addition, real estate would need to be obtained to construct a new tower.

There was also discussion about ways of bringing in new revenue. Albert cited KKGN in San Francisco, which recently changed their on-air moniker to "Green 960" in what he claimed was a naming rights deal with a local company (likely the Green Building Exchange) as a way of boosting revenues. The underlying sentiment in the discussion is that KLSD management wants to bring in more money, which in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Unfortunately, they don't appear to know how to do it, and I don't think a sports format will help matters.

My theory? The decision has likely already been made. Again, that's just my theory, so don't take it as gospel.

Let's be real here. A program director for a high-profile station in the 17th ranked market, a station owned by Clear Channel, is not indecisive. They know the ultimate fate of KLSD already. It all reeks of a big tease, or the cushioning of a rather big blow to a large group of listeners.

What that fate is, nobody outside of the glass and concrete bunker that houses the station knows what's going on. Some say it's going to be an all-out flip to sports. Some say it will be a talk/sports hybrid, keeping some of KLSD's shows and adding more sports. Albert is even teasing an alternative besides progressive talk or sports. And there's been talk about "keeping the progressive talk format alive in San Diego," which could mean a shallow gesture such as turning an HD Radio subchannel in to a feed of Air America or whatever. Too bad customers are having a hard time actually trying to buy an HD Radio and make it work. Who knows? Maybe they'll just turn the damned signal off.

But this is known. KLSD is profitable. Reportedly, they have made or exceeded their budgetary goals. Demographics for the format are very desirable, with a highly educated and prosperous listener base. Granted, many advertisers shy away from political talk, due to fear of blowback from customers who may object to a particular station's stance. Yes, this does happen with conservative talk as well. Advertisers are often scared of polarizing formats, and many right-wing business owners won't advertise on progressive talk, due to their shallow lines of reasoning.

So, the next time I write about this, will KLSD be kaput, or will it get a new lease on life? I'm sure somebody knows already. Unfortunately, all I know is that somebody indeed knows something.

Is KLSD flipping anyway?

Aldous Tyler at NonStop Radio claims that KLSD (1360AM) in San Diego, which for the past few weeks has been the subject of rumors regarding a pending flip, will likely drop its moderately successful progressive talk format for sports, despite the strong show of support by listeners.

From his email:

At Monday, August 27th's rally, Program Director Cliff Albert confirmed that AM 1360 KLSD was being scheduled to flip from Progressive Talk. Today, news has come down that this flip is imminent, possibly as soon as Friday! Progressives and Liberals of San Diego aren't taking this lying down.

The rally was attended by hundreds of loyal listeners as well as Bree Walker and Jon Elliot, with Stacy Taylor broadcasting live from within the rally itself!

GET INVOLVED!

Make the fight more effective by going to www.NonStopRadio.com now! There you can:

* Print out listener pledge sheets and sponsor pledge sheets for KLSD
* Join the SaveKLSD Yahoo Group
* Sign the petition to save KLSD
* Download the PDF flier for the Save KLSD Movement
* Fight back against negative media coverage
* Listen to the broadcast of Stacy Taylor's show from the rally, and watch a short documentary of it, and much more!

We need YOUR help today if we will stand any chance of saving San Diego's only Progressive Talk outlet! Visit www.NonStopRadio.com right away!

Yours in the Cause,
Aldous Tyler,
NonStop Radio

UPDATE: There will be yet another rally for KLSD, this one scheduled for Friday morning (September 14) at 7:30AM local time. The location will be Clear Channel's San Diego offices. For more information, see NonStopRadio.

Concerned listeners can also sign a petition.

Don't be cruel

Jon Elliott claimed on his show last night, which originates from the studios of KLSD in San Diego, that things are looking up for that station, which has been rumored to be considering a flip to a sports format. Evidently, Monday's rally must have been effective.

In the midst of all this and other format flips on their progressive talk stations, Clear Channel Communications itself has taken a lot of heat, some deserved and some not. Many see this as some sort of conspiracy to remove the format from the nation's airwaves, and point to the political lean of the Mays family, founders of the company.

But it's never that simple. Over time, I've found that in the radio industry, politics often takes a backseat to pure commerce. Meaning, they don't really care what's on the air, so long as it pads the bottom line and takes next to no overhead to keep it running. How else to explain Entercom Communications, the fourth largest radio group in the United States? Now here's a major radio station owner that, ironically, actually donates heavily to Democrats. In a simplistic form of thinking, one would think progressive talk would be a slam dunk for some of their struggling AM stations. So, how have they been doing thus far in this regard? The first Entercom station to pick up the format was WROC in Rochester, NY. After three years, the station is doing modestly, given its AM dial position and rather weak signal. From there, Entercom stations in New Orleans, Sacramento, Buffalo and Memphis picked up the format.

Flash forward to 2007. WROC has been climbing in the ratings. WWKB in Buffalo occasionally does well, in spite of how badly neglected the station is. And progressive talk has been dropped in New Orleans and Sacramento. The format seems to be badly neglected in Buffalo. And now, rumors are swirling in Memphis, where it looks like WSMB (680AM) may soon flip to sports. At least that's the rumor coming out of there, as salespeople are allegedly breaking this news to their clients.

Needless to say, this doesn't sound surprising. WSMB (formerly WWTQ until they grabbed the current call letters from their defunct New Orleans progressive talker) is blessed with an amazing signal (10,000 watts day at a very low spot on the dial), rare for a progressive talk station. But they had to go and screw it all up by doing a rather half-assed job of programming and promoting it. Until today, I didn't even realize that they have rolled out a new website for the station. For a long time, it was the same old tired WWTQ site that prominently featured relics of the past such as Jerry Springer, Al Franken and Janeane Garafalo. Not very up-to-date, is it? And that's another thing. While progressive talk stations around the country have experienced some sort of success with a mix of shows from various syndicators, and even some local programming, WSMB couldn't even be bothered to program their computers to flip a satellite switch! That's right - they carry the straight Air America Radio feed. Meaning no Stephanie, no Big Eddie, no local talk. Nothing that can help a station boost their numbers and draw potential advertisers. To be fair, though, they did carry a local morning show at one time, but it was universally hated by everyone.

Keep in mind that, like at Clear Channel, format decisions for stations are made mostly at the local level. One look at the vast differences of the various stations easily prove that. WROC has been pretty aggressive, have a fairly good mix of programming, and are currently getting the best ratings the weak AM signal could possibly hope to get. Meaning that the people there are at least doing something. Not sure the same could be said about their other progressive talk stations, certainly not WSMB.

Granted, the station did add some other programming. But that programming consisted of St. Louis Cardinals games and University of Tennessee sports. It's true that locally-oriented sports programming does pull in the bucks. Even high school football on the radio can rake in a ton of loot. So when this stuff pops up on progressive talk stations, I often give it a pass. Hey, if this stuff is good enough for conservotalk stations (and many of them have sports contracts that often contribute the bulk of station revenues), then it's good enough for the liberal talk outlets.

Given the amount of neglect that progressive talk has gotten on this signal, and the increased emphasis on sports programming, it should be no surprise that liberal talk will likely soon be leaving the Memphis airwaves. And no, it's not because nobody wants to listen to it, as this ignorant pinhead seems to think. I chalk this one up to neglect. The progressive talk format is only as strong as the stations that carry it. And when it's viewed as merely cheap, latchkey programming, well, how well is that going to turn out? Weak promotion (except for a billboard or two a long time ago and some bumper stickers), poor ad sales efforts, uninspiring programming choices, and perhaps the ugliest logo in the radio industry. What aggravates me is that WSMB had so much potential, even in a market like Memphis. This station has been badly neglected.

Yes, Entercom really screwed the pooch on this one. Let's hope they know how to do sports.

UPDATE: And it looks like it's been confirmed. According to AllAccess, Entercom Memphis announced this afternoon that WSMB will become FOX Sports 680 on Saturday evening (9/1), immediately following the Cardinals/Reds game. They will carry the FOX Sports feed most of the time, save for the 11A-2P shift weekdays, Saturday mornings and whenever they run local play by play.

KLSD rally draws hundreds of listeners

Yesterday's early morning rally outside of Clear Channel's San Diego complex was deemed by many to be a success, as a crowd of roughly 500 people showed up to fight for their favorite station.

In addition, almost 1,200 people have signed a petition calling on Clear Channel to keep KLSD’s progressive talk format. Clear Channel executives have also been deluged with thousands of e-mails, virtually all in favor of keeping the format, rumored to be replaced, on the San Diego airwaves. Program director Cliff Albert, just returning from a vacation, came home to 847 emails in his inbox, all supportive of the format.

Morning host Stacy Taylor greeted the protesters on-air (audio here, here and here), and also played host to others, such as Air America Radio/KLSD host Jon Elliott, KTLK's Bree Walker, local politicians and others. The promotions department of the station itself even set up a tent in the parking lot. Albert himself even addressed the crowd, trying to explain what was happening.

“Clear Channel has no agenda to shut down progressive voices,” Albert said at the rally. Albert was the one who brought the format to KLSD in 2004 and even chose the call letters, both of which he said he is proud of. According to station insiders, consideration of a format change is motivated solely by fallen ratings in the recent Arbitron book and concerns over advertising dollars. No decision has been made about the fate of the station.

Other station insiders disagree, as at least one has claimed that its three year old progressive talk format has always met or exceeded its revenue goals. Ratings, save for the last fluke book, have been about as good as can be expected for a small AM station in a heavily radioed market. Taylor claimed on his show last Friday that a recent market survey showed that KLSD's listeners are more affluent than any other station in town.

So, who's behind all these rumors anyways? And where did they come from? That seems to be the million dollar question, and nobody's providing any answers. Taylor, who has devoted a large amount of time to KLSD's fate on the air, claims that many people in the building are supportive of the format, including office personnel, promotions, people at sister stations and even the sales department.

A domain name, xtrasports1360.com, was reserved by a station employee, Mike Costa, who appears as a sideline reporter and sports commentator on sister station KOGO's play-by-play coverage. This is likely where the rumors started. Granted, a domain name can be registered for as little as the amount of a pack of cigarettes. The name also makes no sense, as the "Xtra Sports" moniker, utilized when the format was carried on XETRA (690AM) is no longer used by Clear Channel in Southern California. Why revive it, especially since XETRA (no longer run by Clear Channel) still exists, albeit under a Spanish language news format?

Some fingers are pointing at the building's upper management. The general manager of KLSD and sister station KOGO is reportedly rather conservative, and dislikes KLSD's format. The general sales manager is a bottom-line guy who likes selling sports formats.

And, of course, many fingers are pointing east, to San Antonio, Clear Channel's corporate home. All involved in the situation deny that any directive has been sent from head office to ditch progressive talk. And with Clear Channel struggling to gain government approval of their proposed effort to sell the company to Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners and go private, it is highly unlikely the company would do anything to attract more controversy to their programming practices. In recent format flips from progressive talks, there are no signs whatsoever that the directive came from San Antonio. Those decisions seem to have been made at the local or regional level (Clear Channel's corporate structure is very, very complicated).

So, the bottom line is this: Who is making the decision to axe KLSD? Is the flip going to happen (everyone involved claims that no final decision has been made)? And finally, will the grassroots effort work? So far, things are looking somewhat positive. The outcry so far has rivaled or even exceeded the backlash that WXXM in Madison received when they tried to install a sports talk format. And we all remember what eventually happened there.

So for now, concerned listeners can sign the petition to save the format, visit saveklsd.com, NonStopRadio.com or their Yahoo! group. And most of all, support the station's many advertisers, who are really the voice that station management listens to. After all, money talks.

KLSD has more about the rally, including photos and even video on their website. Also read the excellent article at Brad Blog.