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KSAZ LMA'd

R

radioguy58

Inactive
Inactive User
This just in...
KSAZ AM 580 has entered a LMA with Aim Broadcasting, effective immediately, Pending sale of same.Details to follow . Stay tuned for further developments.
 
Assuming this is the Aim Broadcasting to which you refer--

http://www.aimbroadcasting.com

--out of Las Vegas, with two class IV AMs.

But the numero uno question on everyone's mind...does this spell
the end for Dancin' Danny Babich and his Dead-Air Disco Polka Show?
In Tucson...Arizona? Not to mention...heard all over Arizona on
the Giant 580?

Saturday mornings at 11 just won't be the same anymore! :'(
 
"We intend to specialize in foreign language media that offer in-language programming for new Americans. "

OK then go and serve the rednecks of middle nowhere az.
 
The only thing I know is Mike Barna is one of the partners and will be the GM to get the station started. He ran KFYI in Phoenix for alot of years, 15 or 16 years I think. He spent a year at KFNX and it sold. So most of his AM radio is News/Talk. He also ran Power 92 in Phoenix along with KFYI. He is interviewing alot of people for different positions at the station in Tucson. I was told they are looking for much bigger space and have two engineers working for the station. One has been hired to build out a new studio. The other is doing field measurements. LMA's usually last 3 to 4 months.

Side note rumor has it they have offers in for stations in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The other partner had 16 stations and a tv station before he sold them to three different groups.
 
Just a point of clarification about Mike Barna, with whom I once worked, and whom I like personally.

He did not "run" KFYI and Power 92 in the 1990s. He was the General Sales Manager, which, obviously, is a very important job. But KFYI and Power 92 had Program Directors who ran those stations. In addition, Fred Weber, the part owner of both stations at the time, was actively involved in the operation of those properties.

This is not to disparage Mike at all. He's a great guy who knows broadcasting. I wish him great success at KSAZ. As long as he has the resources he needs, he can do something pretty cool in Tucson.
 
I guess I used the word run when I shouldn't of. Every big station has different departments with department managers that help to run the station. I new Mike as the vice president of KKFR and KFYI. I was a program director at KKFR and yes Fred was the owner but my meetings were always with Fred and Mike. Most of the time I wondered who was the GM because Fred always asked for his opinion before making the final decision. Plus the joke was that Fred worked 2 hours a day and 1 hour was lunch with Mike and the other sitting in Mike's office.
 
Intheday said:
I was told they are looking for much bigger space and have two engineers working for the station. One has been hired to build out a new studio. The other is doing field measurements.
Click to expand...

They need to look at a nightime transmitter site that puts a good signal into Tucson. 390 watts from Marana just doesn't cut it, but 390 watts from the old KSAZ towers near Swan and Sunrise would provide good nightime coverage throughout Tucson on the 580 frequency.
 
RadioBill said:
They need to look at a nightime transmitter site that puts a good signal into Tucson. 390 watts from Marana just doesn't cut it...
Click to expand...

I know that Radio Locator's pattern depictions are only "ballpark accuracy" but they show most of the metro in their main lobe, particularly the NW side growth area which is of course closest to the Marana sticks. You lose it on the far SE side, along with Green Valley.


RadioBill said:
...but 390 watts from the old KSAZ towers near Swan and Sunrise would provide good nightime coverage throughout Tucson on the 580 frequency.
Click to expand...

Not unless it was non-directional, which would be unlikely. The original KCNA/KTAN/KIKX 500-watt night pattern cut a big null right through the east side of Tucson. Think of a line from the XMTR site toward 22nd St. and Kolb and on out in that direction--this was about the middle of the null which of course got wider the further you were from the sticks. Not to mention another null right through the aforementioned new growth NW side as 580 here has to protect KMJ Fresno.


Closed-circuit for radioguy580--what's the further scoop? It's approaching four days now since the LMA post and I'm still hearing the Stardust nostalgia format on the Giant 580 (albeit with Christmas music), the same Bob Wagner legal at 59:55, the same ABC "generic" network news at the TOH. Does this mean Dancin' Dan gets to do a swan song this weekend? We'll all be listening. ;)
 
My understanding is something is in the works for a power increase. Also I've been told they have to hire a staff, relocate to new office and have a new studio built out before they can go live. The current place is nothing but an office that was built in 1860, I was in there on Friday to say hello. It will be fun to see what happens, I predict he changes to news/talk within 4 months with local talk show hosts. He did that at KFNX in 2 months after he took over. He is saying no way the station will stay music and go HD with baby boomer music. The rumor is Bill Heywood will do mornings. No way it will be news/talk
 
Intheday said:
The current place is nothing but an office that was built in 1860, I was in there on Friday to say hello. It will be fun to see what happens, I predict he changes to news/talk within 4 months with local talk show hosts. He did that at KFNX in 2 months after he took over. He is saying no way the station will stay music and go HD with baby boomer music. The rumor is Bill Heywood will do mornings. No way it will be news/talk
Click to expand...

Built in 1860? Do you mean 1960? They moved to the N. Craycroft address a year or more ago after being at 6381 E. Grant Rd. for a long time.

Please explain what appears to be a contradiction--first you predict a change to N/T then at the end you say it won't go N/T.

If the Heywood rumor ever pans out--for whatever format comes about--the new guys must be willing to spend $$$$ for an ISDN line to his home since Bill's not going to leave PHX after all these years (nor would he do such a long daily commute). When he's done on air at 9am, it's out to the golf course or to his apparently burgeoning (sp?) high-end real estate gig.
 
Intheday said:
LMA's usually last 3 to 4 months.

Side note rumor has it they have offers in for stations in Phoenix, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The other partner had 16 stations and a tv station before he sold them to three different groups.
Click to expand...

More like three or four years. How could you get anything done in 3 or 4 months?

We've been hearing this rumor for some time now, and for whatever reason, it just isn't materializing, despite the fact that there between the three markets, there are eight or nine AMs actively listed for sale.

If KSAZ goes talk, it's just what the market needs. A 4th-and a half talk station. They might as well keep it oldies, because the local talk will be just as boring. There's a reason no great talk talents come from markets like Tucson, and has-beens like Heywood, Mohan, whomever, won't get the job done. Although maybe it will force the Jolt to finally go libtalk like they should some time ago.
 
The reason for the contradiction to go news/talk is I think Mike would enjoy that alot BUT he is to smart to spend the dollars to get it going the right way. It's not about the old way things were done or old call letters or dj's in the day or what people remember, that's in the past. In 1980 Tucson area had a population of 551,000 in 2006 it's just about 1 million and the real growth didn't start until mid 1990"s. The new residents don't remember the old days and don't care.

If he was to do news/talk my bet would be UofA communications and political science majors, he would build new talk hosts. But I was shown on Wednesday a new playlist of songs that will start after Christmas.

His long time friend Phil Goodman is consulting him and I think he is listening. I stop in every couple of days just to see the progress and get the scoop.
 
Intheday said:
The new residents don't remember the old days and don't care.
Click to expand...

Correct.

Intheday said:
If he was to do news/talk my bet would be UofA communications and political science majors, he would build new talk hosts.
Click to expand...

Hiring people with no radio experience? Brilliant! But just what you'd expect.
 
Barna says he’s been doing this since Dec. 13 when his company began operating KSAZ. He says his goal is to get a place in Tucson but it’s also important that he spend time with his family.

“I’m not leaving Arizona,” he says.

Umm, I thought Tucson was in Arizona?

“I could probably get a 10 share in three months,” he said. One alternative might be a talk format in Spanish. Talk formats are sweeping the country, doing one in Spanish only makes sense in a market like Tucson, he said.

Yeah, seeing how well Radiovisa did. And KNUV/Phoenix, too. If only 1190 actually reached his home, noted in the article as Ahwautukee, he would know how horribly Spanish talk does.
 
oldiesfan6479 said:
Current format appears to be status quo, at least for the time being.
(Does that include our buddy on Saturday mornings at 11?)
Click to expand...

Maybe not. Tuned in this morning a bit after 11 and...no Dancin' Dan!
It was the usual Stardust satellite feed for the entire hour.

Was it just "technical difficulties" with the program source, or is the
Dead Air Disco Polka Show no more?

Oh, and two strange things occurred during my listen:

1) One of the Giant 580 voice drops over a song intro promoed "Dan Babich
Saturdays and Sundays at 11." (Well, not today at least!)

2) About 11:29 when a break hit on the sat feed, they hit the TOH legal ID
track then nothing but dead air for about three minutes, followed by a spot
or two then the next song on the feed.

Paging radioguy58...what's the scoop?
 
oldiesfan6479 said:
oldiesfan6479 said:
Current format appears to be status quo, at least for the time being.
(Does that include our buddy on Saturday mornings at 11?)
Click to expand...
Oh, and two strange things occurred during my listen:

1) One of the Giant 580 voice drops over a song intro promoed "Dan Babich
Saturdays and Sundays at 11." (Well, not today at least!)

2) About 11:29 when a break hit on the sat feed, they hit the TOH legal ID
track then nothing but dead air for about three minutes, followed by a spot
or two then the next song on the feed.
Click to expand...

Maybe dead air should be the new format...you're listening to it for three minutes!
 
RadioBill said:
Are you sure you weren't listening to KNST? Those kind of "glitches" are a normal part of every KNST weekend.
Click to expand...

No, it was the Giant 580. I can't get KNST--other than a barely audible signal--
up here in the 'Tuke.

But now confusion reigns even more, as this morning (Sunday) I spot-checked KSAZ
a few times between 11-12 and heard (the normal second play of) Dancin' Dan's show.
So it must have been one of them "technical glitches" on Saturday. The program is
recorded on an electrical transcription, correct? ;D
 
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