{"id":448,"date":"2021-09-07T23:05:11","date_gmt":"2021-09-08T04:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/609495b192.nxcli.io\/?p=448"},"modified":"2021-10-15T10:33:40","modified_gmt":"2021-10-15T15:33:40","slug":"another-talker-in-the-stl-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiopoop.com\/?p=448","title":{"rendered":"And Then There Were Four: The Patriot"},"content":{"rendered":"

So why did I Heart’s John Beck jump into the Conservatalker battle with 104.9 The Patriot?\u00a0 \u00a0 For totally different reasons than the Refugees at 101.9 and the Newbees at 93.3.\u00a0 \u00a0First, a\u00a0 little background.<\/p>\n

I Heart is a text book example of a vertically integrated company.\u00a0 \u00a0They don’t subscribe to any of the music rating services because they own their own:\u00a0 Mediabase.\u00a0 \u00a0To automate their stations they use RCS, which they own.\u00a0 \u00a0Traffic and weather is provided to their stations by Total Traffic, which they own.\u00a0 And when it comes to talk they use Premier for most of their syndicated talk shows.\u00a0 You guessed it.\u00a0 They own Premier, which is why a switch to talk for 104.9 is a natural move for I Heart in the STL.<\/p>\n

After Rush died KMOX decided to drop network programming for the 11 a to 2 P slot and go local (It’s good to hear Bo on the air on the Mighty MOX).\u00a0 The Rush show was a Premier syndicated show.\u00a0 When the Rush replacement show Clay and Buck was launched the new show was not being carried in the STL.\u00a0 \u00a0And neither was another Premiere show, Glenn Beck.\u00a0 Nor was the newly minted Jesse Kelly show, another Premier show.\u00a0 \u00a0Sean Hannity was on in the STL but 97.1 demoted the show to run time shifted in the evenings and not live.\u00a0 Yep, Sean is another Premier talk show.\u00a0 \u00a0I think you see where this is going.<\/p>\n

So I Heart flipped Majic 104.9 (then KMJM now KTLK-FM) over to talk and instantly had a St. Louis affiliate for all of their Premiere Network shows including my favorite “The Jesus Christ Show” (Jesus hosts a Premiere syndicated national talk show on Sunday morning where you can call in and ask questions of Jesus….I’M NOT KIDDING…I told you they were vertically integrated as they have the Big Guy on the payroll).\u00a0 The current line up on 104.9?\u00a0 Glenn Beck from 9A to 11A, then Buck and Clay from 11 A to 2 P, Sean Hannity now live during the day from 2 until 5 P, then Jesse Kelly from 5 until 8 P.\u00a0 \u00a0All of these are Premier shows ultimately owned by I Heart.<\/p>\n

And last but not least there’s Jamie Allman.\u00a0 \u00a0Jamie lost his morning gig on 97.1 during the transition from Emmis to Entercom\/Audacy with just one infamous Tweet.\u00a0 \u00a0Jamie was going to become part of the Refugee crew.\u00a0 That didn’t happen.\u00a0 Then Jamie was going to be part of the Tracy Newbee crew but they dropped him at the last moment.\u00a0 \u00a0So Jamie gets a call from his old Boss John Beck and the rest is history.<\/p>\n

I’m not a big fan of McRadio (and I Heart is the KING of McRadio, well maybe the Queen behind EMF, but that’s another story), but this is a really smart business move.\u00a0 \u00a0Super low overhead.\u00a0 They’re only paying salary on one shift, that being Jamie.\u00a0 They’re even cutting corners with Jamie’s show as he’s running his own board (translation:\u00a0 He’s his own engineer pushing all of the buttons and moving the pots…he’s never done this in the past and always had a board op).\u00a0 In the radio syndication biz it’s important to have your shows in each of the top 30 media markets.\u00a0 \u00a0Now their key talkers are all on in the STL.\u00a0 \u00a0That means instant money for I Heart as they can now charge a bit more for their national ads on their shows as they’re now being heard in another top 30 market.\u00a0 \u00a0The lack of national ad revenue is going to be a big problem for Jeff and Joe at 101.9 and for Tracy at 93.3.\u00a0 \u00a0But do they care?\u00a0 \u00a0NO!\u00a0 Because it’s just a hobby for Jeff and Joe and an ultra conservative political platform for Tracy and Rick, who are super rich from their real estate business.\u00a0 \u00a0Now, onto the P’s and C’s<\/p>\n

PROS:<\/p>\n