KFWB: Goodbye Hollywood, hello news/talk
I barely make my opinion known on KFWB-AM 980's entertainment-news format when the station announces it's going in a different direction: news/talk, picking up well-known personalities such as advice-giver Dr. Laura Schlesinger, right-winger Laura Ingraham and others along with an undetermined amount of news:
L.A. Observed: KFWB going all-talk, dropping news
Orange County Register: KFWB will switch to news-talk format, add Dr. Laura
Radio Online: News KFWB-AM/Los Angeles Readies News/Talk Flip
My take on the situation, before this announcement of the Sept. 8 format change, was that KFWB could make a go of the entertainment-news format given more time but would be better off incorporating an increased emphasis on entertainment into a larger commitment to local, business and national/world news ... kind of like the old "you give us 22 minutes, we'll give you the world" KFWB.
I also noted that CBS owns both KFWB and KNX-AM (1070), the L.A. market's other news station, and appears content to keep the news audience listening to KNX with less competition from KFWB.
I still believe that the way to go with KFWB is more local, with KNX skewing more national and worldwide in its news coverage.
And I also believe that news is perhaps the most important format there is on radio, and it would be a local tragedy to lose KFWB as a news outlet in the Los Angeles area.
(Disclaimer: KFWB's Ken Jeffries reports out of the Daily News' Woodland Hills offices and occasionally interviews me for technology-related stories).
I totally agree! I have been listening to KFWB for many, many years and have not been pleased even with the Hollywood news format. Going all-talk is a great tragedy -- I probably will now have to switch to KNX. I dislike the silly sound KNX uses during its traffic reports!