NewstTalk STL. AKA The Refugees. They’re all (with the exception of Vic) refugees from KFTK 97.1. The two ringleaders are Jeff Alien, former PD at 97.1, and Joe Rush, former Grand Poobah of Sales at 97.1. Joe lost his job at Emmis when the station was sold to Entercom (now Audacy). Jeff lost his job about a year later when Audacy figured out they could have Steve Moore be the program boss of KMOX and 97.1. Jeff and Joe hooked up with John Beck, the former Grand Grand Grand Poobah at Emmis, who also lost his job when Emmis left the STL market. I call them J3. They tried to put together a deal to buy 101.5 from Steve Kaspar. Steve wanted each of their first born in addition to $$$$. They gave up their kids but couldn’t come up with the cash so the deal fell apart. Then John got hired by I Heart. So it was now J2.
Jeff calls up Sandy Brown, Grand Poobah at Gateway Creative Broadcasting which runs Joy 99 and Boost. Gateway just bought 95.5 (are you lost yet???) and was going to move Boost over there. So Jeff cuts a three way deal to get the old Boost frequency of 101.9, which is actually owned by EMF, The GRANDEST Poobah of all religious broadcasters and the HUGHEST proponent of McRadio. And then Jeff calls John and cuts another three way deal to get the old KSHE studios at Union Station in downtown Liberalville (I will leave out all the details as this part of the deal is really complicated) And then? Well, Jeff raids 97.1 off all the bench talkers at 97.1, and Voila! NewsTalk STL was born!
Now, on the with the Grand Poopah’s P’s and C’s:
PROS:
- The entire air staff is made up of talk radio veterans, even though most of them were back benchers (thanks Mark Levin) at 97.1
- Mike Ferguson is excellent in AM Drive
- Vic Porcelli is turning out to be a nice surprise as a talker (his background is mostly music radio)
- The imaging of the station is excellent (Jeff’s really good at programming talkers)
- Conservative network news form Salem and Townhall.com (also owned by Salem)
- Dan Bongino in the old “Rush Slot”
CONS:
- Dan Bongino in the old “Rush Slot” (they’re “SHARING” Dan with Tracy and the Newbees) Click here for the explanation
- Terrible signal on 101.9 (it’s only a 250 watt “translator” on the “Super Tower” in South St. Louis County) with very little coverage in Conservativille St. Charles County
- Mediocre signal on their second station, 94.1 (the transmitter is just south of Hannibal!!!), but it gives them a presence in St. Charles County.
- No national advertisers (this puts them at a financial disadvantage with both 97.1 and The Patriot 104.9)
- A conservative station with studios in Liberalville! They’re all paying their 1% to Tishaura. What’s that saying about putting your money where your audience is?
- No ownership of any of the stations they’re on (they’re leasing 101.9 from EMF, and leasing the HD channel on 99.1 and the main channel of 94.1 from Gateway Creative Broadcasting AKA Joy 99 and Boost 95.5).
- No female talkers (well, just a short shift with Katie as second fiddle to Tony “I’m going to retire just like Mark Klose” Colombo). She’s better than most of the dudes on 101.9. She’s talented and very relatable. SHE NEEDS HER OWN SHOW!!! (97.1 now has three lady talkers: Annie, Dana and Heidi).
- Doug Voss is not on the station enough. He’s needs to be on every other hour 24 hours a day.
Joe has already been able to get a number of 97.1 advertisers on the new station. But can he get other advertisers? That’s the challenge. Only time will tell if the J2 crew can make this new station(s) financially viable.
I
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