KIRO-AM to go all sports

[BurntOutRadio]

WKomm, you are as boring as you claim Dori is.   I don't listen to him but you are sure boring with your constant harping about him.

[Rich Johnson]

KXL in Portland was about to do the same thing as KIRO a few months ago: Migrate the existing station to FM and put sports on the AM. Then the lightbulb went on somewhere on Bancroft street, and management realized that a sports station would be going after a primary demographic that doesn't know the AM band even exists. So they put 'The Game' on 95.5 and kept KXL on 750. It's early, but that someonewhat contrarian move bears watching.

RJ

[FMSteve]

Hey Rich, I totally agree with you on this last point. KIRO should have left the AM as news/talk and turned the FM into Sports, as that demo is younger, Men 18-49. Men 18-34 don't even know about FM.

I really think KIRO will live to regret this bad policy move. It's not too late to change it back............just keep things on the low for a while and then migrate back by stopping all the promos and doing a pure simulcast until the early spring.

This is quite a serious mistake.

[FMSteve]

Men 18-34 don't even know about FM.

Whoops. I meant to say men 18-34 don't know about AM.

[notalent]

Don't forget ESPN710 will be contractually obligated to air two of three daytime dayparts worth of ESPN national programming.  This will likely be AM drive and either middays or PM drive. 

[talkerdjdude]

It's likely that 710 AM will end up doing better than 97.3 when the stations split. 710 will be an okay station regardless of the local product because people will find the Mariner games. Instant cume, as KOMO would attest, with little matter of the kind of programming around the games.

FM will suffer, in my view, because the audience isn't there for the lame product KIRO keeps pumping out. The news product will continue to dwindle with more layoffs. I wouldn't doubt that they'd can the news alltogether and put a talk show in morning drive. Why not? It would save money. Anyone who seriously wants news doesn't need KIRO to get it. Traffic can only save them so long, and there are NO compelling news anchors or reporters to keep listeners coming back. Don't forget KUOW has been doing news for years, and although it's novel to people inside the Eastlake building, FM news is nothing new.

I'd bet by this time next year 710 will pull a larger share than 97.3, and Bonneville will wish it hadn't destroyed KBSG.