Clear Channel's POOR business decisions in axing KLSD and other prog talk stations exposed!

[cascadiance]

It's been noted in a number of places now that the station that replaced KLSD here in San Diego is a MISERABLE failure!

This article all but answer the question as to WHY Clear Channel would make this poor BUSINESS MOVE of taking away a profitable channel for the resources expended (KLSD) to replace it with something that just makes their bottom line worse! And this article notes that it isn't just here in San Diego that this is happening. That similar problems are happening with replacements for progressive talk channels that Clear Channel has dumped all around the country.

WHY?

Of course we KNOW why! Clear Channel has a right wing serving agenda, and are willing to sacrifice short term profits to protect their monopoly status being served by a compliant corporatist Republican controlled Washington.

From:
http://ltradio.blogspot.com/2008/07/station-vanishes.html

The Station Vanishes



Hard to believe it's already been nine months since KLSD (1360AM) in San Diego ditched its successful liberal talk format to jump into the overcrowded sports radio shark tank. So far, the new format is a flop.

The San Diego Union-Tribune is the latest to take note of the woes of the new "XTRA Sports 1360." At least somebody is, since the station, since its format flip in November, has virtually dropped off the ratings map. They are almost a non-entity in the San Diego radio market.

And the biggest irony is that another Clear Channel-owned sports station, KLAC (570AM), located approximately 100 miles north in Los Angeles, does show up in the San Diego book. In other words, an out-of-market signal gets listeners, while the hometown station with the same format does not.

Let's crunch some numbers. In the Winter 2008 Arbitron book, the first full survey since KLSD ditched liberal talk, the station, which averaged a 1.5 share of the overall listening audience over the past year, has dropped off the charts. Essentially, that's a 75-80 percent listener drop. KLAC, which carried the Los Angeles Lakers and their deep playoff run, got enough listeners to account for a half share of the overall listening audience. Still, when local listeners would rather tune in an out-of-town sister station, that's got to be a sign of something bad.

...

[jimshoes]

1. I had been listening to Stacy Taylor on KLSD

since AAR replaced my other favorite personality, Sam Seder, and yes, that was a crap move by clear channel cuz KLSD had some good programming. So now I hope they sink like a stone.

[KharmaTrain]

2. Today Cheap Channel Has New Bosses...

Bain Capital...the vulture capitalist firm once run by Mittens and with connections to the Carlyle Group. The deal went through the other day and you may see some changes with this new company and the local radio dial in the future...and not for the better. Surprise Surprise.

Cheap Channel under the Mays family all but trashed hundreds of local operations and drove away a generation of listeners in the process. It turned AM into a combination of macho-dripping sports talk formats or hate spewers...both cheap formats to operate and sold en masse to agencies wanting 25-54 males. The "model" was overplayed and resulted in fallng ratings that have led to falling revenues that led to further cuts that continued the spiral. It was this mismangement, along with a massive debt load in creating an over-inflated value in their licenses that led to the Mays having to divest control and has affected a lot of stations, including KLSD.

There short term doesn't bode much better. Bain isn't into running radio stations, they're gonna try to turn around and sell 'em...eventually canibalizing this company. I expect some stations to completely vanish as the costs to run them vs the revenues they generate will lead to the plug being pulled to save a few bucks. Also note that CBS is also ready to start dumping stations...another sign that things are going very badly in radioland.

Stay tuned...