Posted by Midwest on May 09, 2014 at 15:26:31:
In Reply to: Will we see talk shift to FM radio? posted by Paul on May 09, 2014 at 13:26:51:
FM talk was really the format du jour right after Variety (Jack FM, etc) died its quick or slow death, depending on your perspective. FM talk is alive and thriving in Madison on 92.1. Ironically in that case, The Mic's problem isn't with content, it's the same problem AM stations have: building penetration.
So far, nothing mainstream in Milwaukee comes to mind for FM talk outside of the public radio stations and some religious talk. When Jounal was blowing up KTI, for awhile I was sure they would simulcast AM 620 or create a talk station creatively aligned with 620.
The next FM talk station that comes to mind is the old Q101 in Chicago. FM 101.1 was born from that death, and mega millions were invested into its launch and attempts at dominating a market already saturated with news, news/talks, and hybrid talks. They hired a ton of out of work radio peeps and a bunch of people quit their existing jobs for what they thought would be a huge opportunity.
In response to 101.1, Chicago's long time AM 780 WBBM flipped whatever the format was at that time (80s rock?) of FM 105.9 to simulcast WBBM's AM programming. At this time, CBS is still simulcasting on 105.9 even though 101.1 is long gone from its new launch.