...There was never any reason to listen to KVI....
You hit the 'nail right on the head' there PSR...
Indeed. A conservative talker without Limbaugh has more filler than you can shake a meatloaf recipe at. Granted, I'm certainly not a Limbaugh fan, but people in that category look up to him with almost religious conviction. Everything else that surrounds his program in all other dayparts barely registers compared to Limbaugh.
When a talk station gets Rush Limbaugh, it's all cigars and Dom Perignon. You have a ready-made audience, the books look impressive, life is good. When an AM talk station LOSES Rush Limbaugh, well, face it - you're going sports. Or brokered Vietnamese. With a few exceptions, most stations hit rock bottom. KVI had to REALLY paddle their butts back to shore. But in the end, they NEVER recovered from Limbaugh's departure.
It's a Faustian deal really. If a better deal comes with a (usually) Clear Channel station (or one with a better signal, like KTTH vs. KVI's once magnificent, now barely audible in Everett signal) for Limbaugh and company, it's always going to be bang for the buck over station loyalty. And when he's gone, in most cases it's over. KVI however took the high road and fought like a badger. But even before PPM, they trailed behind KTTH as the "me-too" station in that genre of talk radio. (KKOL's failure explains itself.)
But looking at KVI now, they would probably be better off playing smooth jazz at the rate they've tanked....
