Re: [IRCA] KDWN ratings

[Scott Fybush <scott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Doug Pifer-desert4wd.com wrote:
> Scott, thanks for the info on their future location.
> 
> It just seems odd, because KDWN should be a western powerhouse with a big 
> regional presence.  A booming city and nothing good to talk about or put on 
> the air. ??
> 73- Doug

It's evidence, I think, that a local standalone owner is not always the 
right answer, and that a good signal still doesn't do much with 
substandard programming.

Vegas is a booming city, yes - and especially on the FM dial, where 
there have been something like a half-dozen new full-market signals 
since the late eighties, plus at least that many new rimshots.

And since so much of the population is new to the city every year, a big 
promotions budget is absolutely essential to let potential new listeners 
know the station's there, especially when there's so little else on AM 
to draw an audience away from FM. My experience, on repeated trips to 
Vegas, is that there's absolutely no promotion for KDWN. The only thing 
that might have drawn new listeners was the station's Dodgers 
broadcasts, and even those weren't terribly well publicized. I'm not 
even sure they had the rights this year.

Beasley at least has the money and the promotional platform (from its 
other three FMs) to build 720 back into something closer to the regional 
presence it ought to be.

Las Vegas is, generally, a difficult town to do radio (and especially 
news-talk radio) in. It's very transient, so there's less of an overall 
common interest to talk about. You're as likely to find a transplanted 
New Yorker who's a Yankees fan as to find a fan of the Dodgers or the 
Angels. Voting levels tend to be very low, reflecting a lack of interest 
in politics. So you end up talking a lot about casinos and development 
and traffic and housing prices. It gets stale after a while.

There's also the little problem of drive time - in a 24-hour city, 
listenership is spread out much more through the dayparts than in most 
other markets. Spend a lot on a big morning show, and half the market 
will never hear it (or perhaps they'll hear it on their drive home after 
the night shift!)

And even with the best AM signal in the market (by far), even 720 
doesn't have a prayer of getting heard clearly in the RF mess around the 
Strip.

It's not, in short, a sure thing - and having corporate deep pockets to 
draw on while the station finds its feet should be a good thing, indeed.

s
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