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KXNO Re-hired everyone....

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Did I hear KXIC 800 AM let their staff go as well this week?

They've definitely changed some things. DP Show/Eisen Show are now on the same hours as live. They'd delay DP an hour and run all 3 hours, then the last 2 hours of Eisen. Now they run live and in full.

So I'm assuming something as far as local content has changed because the 8am hour was local stuff.
 
Excellent.. You don't know what you got til it's gone. Glad they were able to correct their decision so quickly
 
What is the point of being on both the FM and AM?

Depends on how they use it.

AM for one, it's difficult to receive inside certain areas if the channel doesn't have a blowtorch transmitter - say office buildings for example. I believe 1460 doesn't really reach much beyond the DM metro - so an FM station will bring better reception indoors across the board and depending on the FM's power may reach farther.

Then you can do like what KGYM does in the CR/IC market. They have 1600 (low power PM to mainly the CR metro, say 50-75 mile power AM), then 107.5 in CR and I believe 106.3 in IC - which are both roughly 50 mile stations.

Again, clarity of signal on the FM's. But they also multi-cast. There are times that all 3 stations will have 3 different programs running at the same time. Many times it'll be a different game on all 3...college football and basketball season, NFL, MLB, ESPN radio, even local high school games etc.

KGYM is a darn good local sports talk radio station for a metro the size of CR. Then CR also has KXIC to fill in the gaps and then I believe 600 WMT does an NFL team (Bears?). There are times when there's 4 different NFL games on the radio locally. Then you got Cubs and Twins for MLB, too.
 
KXNO is 5,000 watts, and the new 106.3 FM station is 25,000 watts. It's 5x more powerful for better reach.
I'm not saying you're right/wrong but AM travels a lot further per watt. Just anecdotally, when I'm driving from DSM to Iowa City we lose 1460 and 102.5 at about the same range. 1460 is 5,000 watts and 102.5 is 92,000 watts. I do understand that FM sounds better though. That must be it.
 
Marketing 101.

we were all played like a fiddle.

it’s why nobody fired went on some long bridge burning rant. They knew they would be ok.

Pretty big play by iHeart to fire all those people in other markets just for this gimmick here in Des Moines.
 
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I'm not saying you're right/wrong but AM travels a lot further per watt. Just anecdotally, when I'm driving from DSM to Iowa City we lose 1460 and 102.5 at about the same range. 1460 is 5,000 watts and 102.5 is 92,000 watts. I do understand that FM sounds better though. That must be it.

Daytime/night time licenses for AM enter into it too. Many stations are 5k watts daytime, barely 500 at night - much like 1600 in CR.

I believe KXNO is 5k daytime only station if my memory is good, and it's also non-directional (some licenses can only broadcast full power in certain directions).
 
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Marketing 101.

we were all played like a fiddle.

it’s why nobody fired went on some long bridge burning rant. They knew they would be ok.
If it was just KXNO I could see this as a remote possibility. But nationally, in Star Wars terms, iheart executed Order 66 where they turned on and summarily terminated the careers of legions of radio personalities. It was only a local rebellion of listeners, advertisers, and surviving local celebrities that turned it around.
 
Daytime/night time licenses for AM enter into it too. Many stations are 5k watts daytime, barely 500 at night - much like 1600 in CR.

I believe KXNO is 5k daytime only station if my memory is good, and it's also non-directional (some licenses can only broadcast full power in certain directions).
I can listen to 620 KMNS out of Sioux City all the way to the outskirts of Des Moines yet any FM station starts to fizzle out an hour or so down the road.
 
So iHeart Radio owns the station. They made cuts for business purposes. The station manager calls and says everybody is really mad can we hire them back? And they say "sure"

OK. I'm glad they got their jobs back but that is just strange.
 
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So iHeart Radio owns the station. They made cuts for business purposes. The station manager calls and says everybody is really mad can we hire them back? And they say "sure"

OK. I'm glad they got their jobs back but that is just strange.
it's got more to do with probably: "hey when we said we wanted to merge Sirius and i-heart we wanted the talent to go along with the deal…"
 
So iHeart Radio owns the station. They made cuts for business purposes. The station manager calls and says everybody is really mad can we hire them back? And they say "sure"

OK. I'm glad they got their jobs back but that is just strange.
The article is a little inconsistent. It says that "KXNO general manager Joel McCrea . . . reconsidered his decision to restructure KXNO." But then it says "He was given permission by iHeartMedia, which owns KXNO and its sister stations in Des Moines, to re-hire the employees . . . ." So my take is that there must have been a national initiative from iheart which he agreed to, thinking it would make KXNO more profitable. He pushed the kill button and lit up a cigar to watch said profits roll in. Then when the cigar exploded in his face, he sought to reverse course, but needed to be released from the national iheart initiative first.
 
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Pretty big play by iHeart to fire all those people in other markets just for this gimmick here in Des Moines.

i have spoken.

Radio is kids stuff compared to my NBA prognostications.

remember, I could also win the Masters if I was allowed to play a 1 man 20 person best shot.


Pfff...to question me, please.
 
The article is a little inconsistent. It says that "KXNO general manager Joel McCrea . . . reconsidered his decision to restructure KXNO." But then it says "He was given permission by iHeartMedia, which owns KXNO and its sister stations in Des Moines, to re-hire the employees . . . ." So my take is that there must have been a national initiative from iheart which he agreed to, thinking it would make KXNO more profitable He pushed the kill button and lit up a cigar to watch said profits roll in. Then when the cigar exploded in his face, he sought to reverse course, but needed to be released from the national iheart initiative first.
yes like I said, the people working there are an asset and part of the deal... if everyone leaves there is no reason for the merger
 
I’m sure the GM in DM got a lot of heat from listeners, but more so, sponsors that were going to pull their advertising dollars due to the changes that they tried to make. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
I know if I owned Jethro's or I was that Bruno guy who owns/manages all of the bars/restaurants, and I spent all of those resources cultivating my KXNO pimps only to have half of them vanish with the snap of Thano's fingers, I would have raised hell.
 
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The article is a little inconsistent. It says that "KXNO general manager Joel McCrea . . . reconsidered his decision to restructure KXNO." But then it says "He was given permission by iHeartMedia, which owns KXNO and its sister stations in Des Moines, to re-hire the employees . . . ." So my take is that there must have been a national initiative from iheart which he agreed to, thinking it would make KXNO more profitable. He pushed the kill button and lit up a cigar to watch said profits roll in. Then when the cigar exploded in his face, he sought to reverse course, but needed to be released from the national iheart initiative first.
giphy.gif
 
I'm not saying you're right/wrong but AM travels a lot further per watt. Just anecdotally, when I'm driving from DSM to Iowa City we lose 1460 and 102.5 at about the same range. 1460 is 5,000 watts and 102.5 is 92,000 watts. I do understand that FM sounds better though. That must be it.
I could be wrong, I'm just gathering that from other tweets and articles from media members. I imagine it also matters how many other stations are broadcasting near those frequencies as well, but I don't entirely understand it. They seem very confident it will increase their reach.
 
Marketing 101.

we were all played like a fiddle.

it’s why nobody fired went on some long bridge burning rant. They knew they would be ok.
That crossed my mind, and it certainly worked out that way, but I don't think that was it at all. Ross Peterson announced he was starting full time with Charter Real Estate in DSM yesterday, don't think that would have otherwise happened (and I guess he's not doing that now...???)
 
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The KXNO GM was on the radio this afternoon, and to give him credit he explained the situation pretty well and took accountability
 
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