Couldn't agree more. Kelly is AWFUL!
I tuned in last week when Mo was filling in for John and Ken and happened to catch his phone interview with Jay Leno who took a nasty swipe at John and Ken. I no longer have any use for Leno either.
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KFI Major Schedule Change Starting Tomorrow
- Thread starter Ray D. Owe
- Start date
I tuned in last week when Mo was filling in for John and Ken and happened to catch his phone interview with Jay Leno who took a nasty swipe at John and Ken. I no longer have any use for Leno either.
That seems odd for a guest that was on John and kens show to take a swipe at John and Ken while they were on vacation!!! Poor judgement for leno unless it was in jest.
Could these schedule changes be a trial balloon to see who gets P.M. Drive?
Steve, It says you are new around here and you have done a nice analysis above so I won't go too hard on you, but you have forced me to address the the one-word response as to what is different now vs. 15 years ago, the "Elephant in the Room" as they say, so here goes:
Rush!
Rush not only carried many stations back in the day, he basically carried the format for years. Some have said he single-handedly saved English talk radio in all forms on the AM Band. Nobody has had the success he has had, nobody has the reach he had, and frankly, no one has even come close to touching his talent level. It was him and everyone else. Now it is just everyone else, and everyone else, even collectively, simply do not come close.
Perspective from a "young" listener (37 M):
John and Ken never really appealed to me. But over the past decade, they really began to come across as entitled "Statler and Waldorf" types: Enjoying the benefits of living in California while complaining about the cost of California. While state income taxes may be their biggest issue, for me (and my peers) it's the inability to acquire assets in the first place. Skyrocketing rent and the inability to build new condos so I can get a foothold into the market.
Hosts are past their prime. That's probably true. I don't see any of them really appealing to my peers, who have moved on to other figures online or in podcasts. Myself, I found Conway refreshing because he focused on California versus CA politics. I caught his show one time while visiting SoCal 10+ years ago and was hooked. Handel is a bit more "all over the road" politically. Not knowing where he's going (right or left) makes the show a bit more engaging. I actually feel like I'm learning something, versus the "pep rally" that talk radio normally offers.
Mo'Kelly is fine, I guess. He's one that when he fills in, I'd sometimes stick around and listen to. Other times, not. I'm not enthusiastic to listen to his new show. I'm more worried it could ruin Conway's show. For instance, if Robin insists Conway talk more about politics — which I don't need to hear. I don't care Conway's ideology. He's not interesting to listen to when he gets political.
Rush. Dumping Limbaugh was the best thing KFI could do. He's an incredible talent who singlehandedly breathed 20 more years of life into a dying medium, spawning countless imitators. But he increasingly became out of touch with the world I live in (and my peers of similar age). Toward the end, he became downright insane (in my opinion). Dumping him, KFI sent a message to me that the station was committed to win somebody my age, versus cling onto the aging 60+ year-old talk radio audience. And I still listen to a lot of KFI today because of it.
In the end, I hope they monetize their podcasts well. I listen to Handel on the News and an hour on Conway typically and nearly always by podcast now. So, time slots are actually a bit irrelevant to me now.
(Side note: That "fans of KFI" page on Facebook looks insane. Claims that "the station is all liberal now" has me chuckling. That crew doesn't even begin to know what "liberal" is. At a quick glance, it looks more like a "fans of John and Ken" page, so I can't blame them. J&K really kind of got an undeserved demotion).
John and Ken never really appealed to me. But over the past decade, they really began to come across as entitled "Statler and Waldorf" types: Enjoying the benefits of living in California while complaining about the cost of California. While state income taxes may be their biggest issue, for me (and my peers) it's the inability to acquire assets in the first place. Skyrocketing rent and the inability to build new condos so I can get a foothold into the market.
Hosts are past their prime. That's probably true. I don't see any of them really appealing to my peers, who have moved on to other figures online or in podcasts. Myself, I found Conway refreshing because he focused on California versus CA politics. I caught his show one time while visiting SoCal 10+ years ago and was hooked. Handel is a bit more "all over the road" politically. Not knowing where he's going (right or left) makes the show a bit more engaging. I actually feel like I'm learning something, versus the "pep rally" that talk radio normally offers.
Mo'Kelly is fine, I guess. He's one that when he fills in, I'd sometimes stick around and listen to. Other times, not. I'm not enthusiastic to listen to his new show. I'm more worried it could ruin Conway's show. For instance, if Robin insists Conway talk more about politics — which I don't need to hear. I don't care Conway's ideology. He's not interesting to listen to when he gets political.
Rush. Dumping Limbaugh was the best thing KFI could do. He's an incredible talent who singlehandedly breathed 20 more years of life into a dying medium, spawning countless imitators. But he increasingly became out of touch with the world I live in (and my peers of similar age). Toward the end, he became downright insane (in my opinion). Dumping him, KFI sent a message to me that the station was committed to win somebody my age, versus cling onto the aging 60+ year-old talk radio audience. And I still listen to a lot of KFI today because of it.
In the end, I hope they monetize their podcasts well. I listen to Handel on the News and an hour on Conway typically and nearly always by podcast now. So, time slots are actually a bit irrelevant to me now.
(Side note: That "fans of KFI" page on Facebook looks insane. Claims that "the station is all liberal now" has me chuckling. That crew doesn't even begin to know what "liberal" is. At a quick glance, it looks more like a "fans of John and Ken" page, so I can't blame them. J&K really kind of got an undeserved demotion).
And Rush himself lost his touch, to some extent, in his later years. There's a reason his show was exiled to KEIB.
I'm listening to Mo Brooks now, my first time listening to his show. It's nice to listen to 30 minutes of talk radio without hearing a word about any elected leader, but still feeling topical. Whether the audience of KFI will like it may be a different question.
I'm listening to Mo Brooks now, my first time listening to his show. It's nice to listen to 30 minutes of talk radio without hearing a word about any elected leader, but still feeling topical. Whether the audience of KFI will like it may be a different question.
They probably won't, but the real question is can he bring some younger listeners to a station that mainly attracts over-55s?
Let's be honest here, t
It was in jest.....so many people these days don't get sarcasm and when things are said in fun....
He is too damn boring and really would not be the guy who you would invite to a under 55+ birthday party....
She may have been programming for KFI and 20+ years and she has a good track record, but there is always the airline pilot who has been flying for 30+ years and on their last flight before retiring they end up having an emergency and crash the plane.
It was all in jest. Jay Leno doesn't have one mean bone in his body. So may people don't understand sarcasm or things said in jest.
My two cents: Mo Kelly’s show is boring. I listened today and it just doesn’t cut it for me, especially when you compare it to what Tim Conway did in that slot talking about breaking news and police chases. Mo Kelly‘s show is a lot about being in the business of music, entertainment, television and movies. Lots of random guests from the entertainment industry and interviews, which might appeal to some, but for me, it’s boring and a little too much “Inside Baseball.” Not what I would expect from a “more stimulating talk” station as KFI. I think Mo Kelly’s show was great for the weekends, but as an everyday 7-10 thing, it does not work.
I love Conway and I am sad that his show is now cut down by an hour to just three hours, but I guess he got a “promotion” to P.M. drive-time 4-7 which is a good sign that he is not going anywhere anytime soon. Gary and Shannon keep their 4 hours which is nice, but the show that seems to have been hit the hardest with this change are John and Ken being demoted to just three hours from 1-4. Bill Handel also got demoted to three hours, but I am never up early enough to listen to his show anyway.
For me, the KFI lineup was working and the ratings were on the upswing, so why fix something that isn’t broken?
I love Conway and I am sad that his show is now cut down by an hour to just three hours, but I guess he got a “promotion” to P.M. drive-time 4-7 which is a good sign that he is not going anywhere anytime soon. Gary and Shannon keep their 4 hours which is nice, but the show that seems to have been hit the hardest with this change are John and Ken being demoted to just three hours from 1-4. Bill Handel also got demoted to three hours, but I am never up early enough to listen to his show anyway.
For me, the KFI lineup was working and the ratings were on the upswing, so why fix something that isn’t broken?
That's what I used to think about Leno.
It was definitely not in jest. Go to the podcast page:
The John Kobylt Show | iHeart
John and Ken have been on KFI for over thirty years and with Ken's recent retirement John now takes the show solo. John Kobylt digs into the news to uncover the real story hidden below the headlines. John regularly exposes liars and “spokesholes” while providing blunt, fast paced analysis of the...
Go to 12/26/22 Hour 4, at 20:30 in:
LENO: "I love it when you fill in because, again, it's not all about the LA City Council every day. Thanks for doing interesting topics."
Can you imagine if a guest on the Jay Leno Show had said something like that to a fill-in host?
To be fare I to listened to some of Mo's new show. He did some trivia playing clips and ya had to call in name the clip and win a KFI T-shirt. He also was saying how much Barney Miller was a great show of which I was barely on this earth when that dropped. Just didn't care for the show. It will have it's appeal to some.
You're talking about the 6+ numbers. The bulk of the audience is over 55. That audience becomes harder to sell, and there's an expiration date.
At some point, they need to think about the future of the station, and the future of talk radio.
Beyond BigA being absolutely right about the need to look at the future of the station and get the demos down a bit, there's this:
Even if Robin's making a mistake here, she's not making it in middays (Gary and Shannon and John and Ken will do just fine) or afternoon drive (Conway's a big talent finally getting a big stage).
IF she's making a mistake, it's in 7-10 p.m. And as well-regarded as Conway is, that's a timeslot that has much lower listening than mornings, middays and afternoons. It's not where the money gets made. Tim's way overperformed the time slot expectation.
So IF Mo Kelly's awful, Robin still hasn't crashed the plane. She's got four shows in moneymaker slots instead of three and can, if she needs to, replace Mo without much fuss.
And....
IF John and Ken are leaning toward retirement, Conway will already be established with the audience and you just have to add an hour back to Handel and Gary and Shannon when J&K leave.
The real challenge here is what happens to mornings when Handel retires. And I won't bet against Robin on that one either, though I also do not envy her.
IF John and Ken are leaning toward retirement, Conway will already be established with the audience and you just have to add an hour back to Handel and Gary and Shannon when J&K leave.
The real challenge here is what happens to mornings when Handel retires. And I won't bet against Robin on that one either, though I also do not envy her.
I think the concept of this show is a good idea, especially for the entertainment capital of the world. If the conclusion is that Mo isn't the best person for the concept, replace him with someone else. But I wouldn't give up on this show idea. I believe talk radio has been missing a huge audience by doing host-oriented talk the way it's been done.
That's a good point. But talk radio during the day will always be about current events be it local or national but a show like Mo's in the evening isn't a bad idea. I gave it a shot I didn't care for it but that's just Me. There are listeners for he had callers so time will tell.
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