Jonathon Brandmeier to Replace Dennis Miller on KABC

The Chicago Tribune story says that Brandmeier will be on WLS from 9 to 11 AM (local time). He will replace John Kass, who is a columnist for the...umm...Chicago Tribune. Kass's former co-host, Lauren Cohn, may wind up on John Howell's morning show. If KABC carries Brandmeier's show at 10 PM, who gets to be the lucky guy to work that highly desirable midnight-to-1 shift?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/ct-johnny-b-wls-am-0227-biz-20150226-story.html

So the Trib---I used a Chicago expression in order to sound hip---says Brandmeier's show will be two hours but All Access says it will be three hours. That makes more sense. Who would want to syndicate a two-hour morning show? Is there even the slightest chance that KABC would carry Brandmeier live? If they air the show from 10 PM to 1 AM, will anyone even be listening?

LARadioRewind said:

So the Trib---I used a Chicago expression in order to sound hip---says Brandmeier's show will be two hours but All Access says it will be three hours. That makes more sense. Who would want to syndicate a two-hour morning show? Is there even the slightest chance that KABC would carry Brandmeier live? If they air the show from 10 PM to 1 AM, will anyone even be listening?

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Leave it to KABC to go with a retread that has already failed in the market once. Such innovation. Such out of the box thinking.

The real question here is, "Is cumulus the worst run radio company in America?" I am sure there are other poorly run radio companies these days, but I can't think of a worse one right now.

Pretty much as bad a decision on KABC's part as putting Miller on in that timeslot.

A delay of that long means that any topicality goes out the window. It's like reading yesterday's newspaper.

And Flipper ... your last remark on Cumulus? Right. On. The. Money.

This makes no sense in any direction to me as a three hour show. If aired at 10:00 pm it cuts into the first hour of Red Eye radio on a fifteen hour delay. If aired live in the morning it cuts into both the last hour of Red Eye and also the first two hours of Doug McIntyre. Either way I predict KFI/KEIB will benefit and KABC slips further into oblivion.

Too bad really - I actually tuned in to KABC for awhile while taking the wife shopping the other day. Despite comments here the signal was fine in the SGV and the program hosts were interesting.

*slight correction - KABC presently only starts Red Eye Radio at midnight on Mondays - the rest of the week the first Red Eye hour is already preempted by Dennis Miller.r. But a fifteen hour delay still makes one wonder.

ChannelFlipper said:

Leave it to KABC to go with a retread that has already failed in the market once. Such innovation. Such out of the box thinking

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I could be mistaken but didn't Brandmeier fail twice in Los Angeles?
Once on KLOS during The Greaseman Era fiasco in the early 90's and another on KLSX in the late 90's.

Robnoxious said:

I could be mistaken but didn't Brandmeier fail twice in Los Angeles?
Once on KLOS during The Greaseman Era fiasco in the early 90's and another on KLSX in the late 90's.

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Yes, he was in the market twice previous, but your recollection of timeline and stations is slightly off.

Brandmeier was on KLSX following Howard Stern from January 19, 1998 until 2001, via a two-hour tape delay of his Chicago midday program. Then he did mornings on KCBS-FM starting April 19, 2004 until the flip to Jack a little less than a year later.

http://ftp.media.radcity.net/ZMST/insideradio/Interviews/BrandmeierArticle0327.pdf

ChannelFlipper said:

Leave it to KABC to go with a retread that has already failed in the market once. Such innovation. Such out of the box thinking.

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Who would you suggest? Who hasn't failed who would be available? That's sort of circular logic. Miller obviously wasn't setting the world on fire either.

The reality is they're running it at a time that really doesn't matter. They're getting a market clear, and that will help them for national sales. Local spots will likely be PSAs.

This is a garbage station that will never have anything more than garbage programming that scrapes the very bottom of the ratings pile. Does it really matter what they put on the air? The station had about 10 listeners before and will continue to have about 10 listeners.

KABC is to Los Angeles what WGST is to Atlanta, AM 950 is to Houston, KLIF-A is to Dallas, etc.

Cumulus is likely dropping Rush on WLS to move Brandmeier to mid-days. They've destroyed that station as well. Did they think dropping long time local hosts like Roe Conn would increase ratings? Soon they'll be out of scapegoats for their poor performance.

I thought Cumulus just recently re-signed Rush for WLS, WBAP, and WMAL.

MarkW said:

This is a garbage station that will never have anything more than garbage programming that scrapes the very bottom of the ratings pile. Does it really matter what they put on the air? The station had about 10 listeners before and will continue to have about 10 listeners.

KABC is to Los Angeles what WGST is to Atlanta, AM 950 is to Houston, KLIF-A is to Dallas, etc.

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...no, in L.A. terms that station would be KEIB, not KABC. Feeble as the efforts may be, at least KABC seems to be trying something different, while KEIB is nothing more than a clearance dump for Chump Channel syndicated crud...