Kinda new to radio and very new to the forums

Hello All,

I just joined the board a few days ago after a co-worker introduced me to it, so far I am finding it kind of interesting. Especially reading some of the older posts here in the North Dakota section. It was interesting especially to read about Hennen and his moves KZFG to KNOX and then back to the Flag. Partly because I am now an on air host at KNOX (which Scott Hennen indirectly helped me with) and partly because I was an avid talk radio listener in the Grand Forks listening area at the time and remember listening to it unfold live.

I hear a lot of people suggesting that radio and especially AM radio is dying and to a lesser extent talk radio is dying too. However this is about as far as possible from my experience. Our station is doing really well and it seems that talk radio in general is not so much dying as it is evolving and learning how to leverage the new technologies of internet streaming and social media and others. I'd be curious to hear what others are feeling about the nature of terrestrial radio in their areas.

Brad Schmidt
Host of The Schmidt Show
1310 KNOX AM & 107.9 KNOX FM

It is my feeling that the further north you go of the Kansas state line, the better radio gets. That is radio in general from responsive programming to hard working sales staffs.

Part of the success on AM might be in part thanks to great ground conductivity. AM covers lots of ground in that part of the Midwest. I hear many more broadcasters that have the option to do better local programming, even in the smaller communities. Simply put, the business community supports these stations. In fact, many stations buck the trend nationally. I base this on my travels through many Midwestern states over several years. Even talk radio and full service stations (and they don't have to be heritage stations) seem to perform much better than the station in many other parts of the country, an opinion I developed by listening to radio while on the road on road trips that have taken me from Texas to Florida to North Dakota to Washington State.

Good dirt and bad weather = great radio. Info on bad weather is what you might call the killer app for radio. A blizzard that killed thousands of head of cattle in the 40s led to the creation of Nebraska's farmer & rancher owned KRVN. And it just builds from there.

I've seen enough bad winters in my life...so I'll settle for bad radio. But I miss good radio.

You certainly have something there with bad weather. I recall driving in to McCook, Nebraska as a severe storm loomed. They were on with spotters all over the area and their severe weather sponsors. Just by listening I knew how to continue my journey and avoid the storm that had some pretty big hail and spawned a couple of short-lived tornadoes.

Some of my favorites in North Dakota over the years were when KFYR played music (pre-Clear Channel), the AM station in Harvey and KNDK in Langdon with Bob Simmons' BS in the Morning show. Simply put, it was just fun radio. But keep in mind, this was always in summer although I do recall filling up the car in a heavy downpour with stuff wind and an air temperature of 38 when wearing a T-shirt in mid-June. The only gas station in town didn't have an awning either, so when I cranked up the heater once back in the car it felt pretty good.

KRVN is top notch, KFRM in Kansas, KMA in Iowa and WNAX in Yankton. all can be heard far and wide and certainly make plenty of Ag related dollars. None of them sound 'small market' in my book as far as the talent is concerned.