KTAR - no more news Sat morning, either?

Made a mistake of moving the dial a little to the right of Weekend Edition - at 6:00am, then at 7:00am - to see if anything has changed. Is this the same 92.3 that made a huge dog and pony show not too long ago letting us all know oh-how-serious they are about being a credible news source? Wow. I wish I could say I'm surprised - a market this size, and they've already brokered out their Saturday morning news to prostate pill infomercials? It's time Bonneville flips to all sports and quits insulting their listeners by claiming "we're the first to know - again" when in actuality the only thing we're first to know is what a joke 92.3 has become. Will things EVER improve at 92.3? Truly the most staggering "lost cause" in the history of Arizona broadcasting. Shame on Bonneville for ruining a once-great station. smh

What the OP failed to mention is that at the exact same time on KFYI, you can hear an info-mercial for Prevagen.

Here's the deal: News/Talk is struggling right now. Lots of aging boomers, not many advertisers who want to reach them. However, drug and financial companies will pay a lot to reach that N/T audience with info-mercials, and Saturday morning at 6AM is not a big time for local news. So it's a compromise that every station has to make, regardless of market size or owner. That way, you get to hear the news and talk you want when more people are awake.

TheBigA said:

What the OP failed to mention is that at the exact same time on KFYI, you can hear an info-mercial for Prevagen.

Here's the deal: News/Talk is struggling right now. Lots of aging boomers, not many advertisers who want to reach them. However, drug and financial companies will pay a lot to reach that N/T audience with info-mercials, and Saturday morning at 6AM is not a big time for local news. So it's a compromise that every station has to make, regardless of market size or owner. That way, you get to hear the news and talk you want when more people are awake.

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I "failed to mention" it because KFYI has never held themselves up to be the beacon of local news like KTAR has - and on a frequent basis, too, with its very-public re-branding seemingly one or twice a year. Other than Clear Channel changing its name to I Heart Radio/I Heart Media and a changing of the guard with the Nearly Bald One's retirement, things have remained fairly constant for KFYI: Dr. Bob's Saturday morning show on 550 has practically been on the air since before our good Doc was born.

indieradioguy said:

KFYI has never held themselves up to be the beacon of local news like KTAR has

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Sure they do. KFYI's website says they're "The most trusted news in Phoenix."

That doesn't mean they're not allowed to make money at 6AM on Saturday. Same with KTAR.

I think Talk stations, especially in a market like Phoenix, should avoid infomercials on weekend mornings. Maybe we're still in our college student frame of mind that most of us sleep late on weekend mornings, so a Talk stations might as well sell weekend mornings to the highest bidder.

But the older we get, the more we keep our normal routines regardless of whether its a weekday or weekend. If it's important to us to hear news, weather, sports and discussion on a Tuesday morning, it's equally important to hear it on a Saturday morning. I've seen ratings where NYC's All-News stations have higher ratings on weekend mornings than on weekdays, probably because all the FM morning shows that include some news, weather and traffic are off and there's no place else to go on the radio dial (other than NPR) for even a small amount of news and info.

Since Phoenix has no All-News station, many people are tuning to KTAR-FM and KFYI for info. I understand Talk stations use infomercials for their bottom line. I'm not saying these stations can't run X number of infomercials per weekend. But I think it's bad thinking to use up weekend mornings. Put the infomercials on Sat. and Sun. later in the day and keep weekend mornings relevant.

Gregg. said:

I think it's bad thinking to use up weekend mornings. Put the infomercials on Sat. and Sun. later in the day and keep weekend mornings relevant.

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Tuesday and Saturday are VERY different. Much fewer people listening at 6AM Saturday than later in the day.

Phoenix is very different from NYC. More retired, fewer commuters, thus less use of news on Saturday morning.

Also better to use your staff at a time when more people listen. That's after 8 AM Saturday.

It's a necessary evil, and you run your evil where it will hurt you least, and one good time is Saturday at 6AM.

I don't think people are still in the college frame..I think they've moved on to being parents, and they're running around Sat mornings, taking their kids to a million different activities. And with the kiddies in the car, they're not listening to talk radio...

I think you folks misunderstood me. Most people listening to News-Talk stations are older, empty-nesters. Saturday morning is not different to them than Tuesday morning. They don't stay up till 2am Friday and Saturday nights, they don't wake up at noon on weekends. I meant the programmers are still in the college-student frame of mind that nobody is up early on a weekend.

I'd bet that listening to the News-Talk radio is higher at 8am on a Saturday than at 2pm, and certainly by 7pm. That's the stats I've seen for news stations in NYC. By afternoon, unless they're in a car going someplace, most News-Talk listeners are into their day. But they still have a clock radio wake them up on a weekend morning, or have the radio on in the kitchen for breakfast.

I'm sure music stations have minimal listening on weekend mornings. That's why they put the public affairs shows or specialty shows on then. But not for the mature audiences tuning in News-Talk.

Gregg. said:

I'd bet that listening to the News-Talk radio is higher at 8am on a Saturday than at 2pm, and certainly by 7pm.

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We're not talking about 8 AM. They're back to regular programming by 8AM.

Radio stations don't bet. They know. And they have decided that running this at 6AM Saturday won't hurt them in the ratings. That's all that matters.

Raise your hand if you think a lot of people get their news from radio on the weekend.

Aha...just as the Nurse and I thought. Good thing we didn't substitute the McRepublic for radio in that exercise!

There's fewer people using radio on a Saturday morning at 6 than on a Tuesday morning at 6, period. It doesn't matter what format, there just isn't that much demand. You could bury an infomercial on KEZ on an early Saturday morning and probably get away with it.

johndavis said:

You could bury an infomercial on KEZ on an early Saturday morning and probably get away with it.

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shhhhh...don't give them ideas!

I know infomercials are a necessary evil and bring in money. I would imagine the audience for these programs is miniscule, but probably enough people listen to make it worthwhile. Personally, the second I hear "the following program is paid for..." I'm gone. Phoenix does not have an all news station, so if you want news on a weekend morning, TV or the net are the options. I love listening to talk radio on my Internet radio during the week. I avoid them on the weekend.

I would imagine the ratings for all news stations that run the format 24/7 have good weekend ratings. You won't find infomercials on WCBS,WINS,KNX and WTOP, to name a few.

benale said:

I know infomercials are a necessary evil and bring in money. I would imagine the audience for these programs is miniscule, but probably enough people listen to make it worthwhile. Personally, the second I hear "the following program is paid for..." I'm gone. Phoenix does not have an all news station, so if you want news on a weekend morning, TV or the net are the options. I love listening to talk radio on my Internet radio during the week. I avoid them on the weekend.

I would imagine the ratings for all news stations that run the format 24/7 have good weekend ratings. You won't find infomercials on WCBS,WINS,KNX and WTOP, to name a few.

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Yeah, it's pretty mind-boggling. At the very time the Phoenix metro area is getting to be as big as LA & NY, how do our flagship news/talk stations respond to that growth? By brokering their weekend airtime to the highest bidder, that's how. Brilliant. And to think of how much money is being left on the table by NOT wanting to be a go-to Tune-In/Internet station like WCBS, et al. It's no wonder this town still gets talked about like we're in the Appalachian backwoods - only in this town do people WANT to listen to KJZZ because the alternatives (both AM and FM) are downright unlistenable.

indieradioguy said:

Yeah, it's pretty mind-boggling. At the very time the Phoenix metro area is getting to be as big as LA & NY, how do our flagship news/talk stations respond to that growth?

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FYI All of the news/talk stations in NYC run infomercials and brokered shows on the weekends.

Phoenix does not have an all-news station, so to compare KFYI or KTAR to WCBS or WTOP is wrong. They are not the same format. There are markets bigger than Phoenix, such as Atlanta and Houston, that don't have all news stations.

The Phoenix metro area is 3.5 million. New York is over 16 million. So no, Phoenix is not getting to be as big as NY.