Is KFNX selling off its airtime?
Some local female business people got the email below from Francis Battaglia, billed as the “president” of radio station KFNX-AM, 1100 on your radio dial.
Basically, the station is now bartering off airtime. The move is interesting first because it’s another step in the slow decline of the radio industry. Debauched by Clear Channel, clogged with too many ads, having abandoned any pretense of serving its community, the industry is dying a slow death.
Second, this is interesting because of how it’s dying. Back in the day FM, then the industry’s stepchild, was the home of bartered weekly hours. In big cities, different ethnic groups would have their own few hours of paid-for programming each week. The “hosts” of the show would then sell ads to businesses catering to that community. As FM radio came to prominence in the late 1960s and the early 70s, fueled by tony classical stations and then so-called progressive rock radio, the bartering faded away.
Anyway, we’re now seeing the industry regressing to an unspeakably cheesy format it abandoned years ago. It always gets chuckles in the industry when you mention it, but federal law requires that that broadcasters, who after all are making billions off public airways they purchased for a song, operate in the public interest.
Note how Battaglia leaves the uncomfortable subject of the “production costs” to the end.
The memo:
Dear Prospective KFNX Broadcaster,
KFNX NEWS/TALK RADIO 1100 would like to offer you the unique opportunity to host a new radio program. The program will focus on the female entrepreneur and business woman. We are contacting informative professionals such as yourself to host this exciting new show. The show can be done live in the studio or conveniently over the telephone. It will be a weekly one hour radio talk show and have an initial pilot run of thirteen weeks. It is tentatively scheduled to start in the next 2 to 4 weeks. Our staff provides simple yet comprehensive training and full support throughout the run of the show. You as the host will determine the topics of discussion, plus select the guests desired and take phone calls from the listening audience.
KFNX was voted one of the Top Ten Radio Stations in Arizona by Ranking Arizona with over 89,000 weekly listeners. KFNX has one of the largest signals of any Phoenix Radio Station with 50,000 watts reaching almost 5 million people throughout Arizona from Sedona to Tucson and Yuma to Globe as well as worldwide at www.1100kfnx.com. KFNX exclusively features Six of the Top Ten Talk Shows in the country including – ‘Imus In The Morning’, mornings 3–6 a.m., ‘The Laura Ingraham Show’ mornings 6a.m.-8a.m., ‘The Neal Boortz Show’ mid-mornings 10a.m.-12 noon, ‘The Dr. Laura Program’ mid-day’s 1-3 p.m., ‘The Lou Dobbs Show’, afternoons 5p.m.-7p.m., ‘The Lars Larson Show’ and ‘The Jerry Doyle Show’, Nights. KFNX sports include NFL games, and are the Phoenix radio broadcast home of the University of Arizona Men’s Football and Basketball games. KFNX carries national features such as The Osgood File and Marketwatch and offers CNN national news as well as local news, weather (with Jim Howl) and traffic around the clock. Log onto the official KFNX website at www.1100kfnx.com for more information and live streaming 24 hours a day.
As I am currently scheduling our programming please contact me at your earliest convenience to discuss further details; including the production cost of the program, sponsorship and income opportunities.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely,
Francis Battaglia
President
602 277-1100 ext.——
A previous PHXated post on the issue is here.
6:00 AM
