N/T Radio KMBZ-AM To Add FM Simulcast

The national trend of moving news and talk radio to the FM dial has come to Kansas City, reports Aaron Barnhart at the Kansas City Star.

On Wednesday, KMBZ-AM (980) will begin simulcasting on 98.1 FM, currently the home of longtime adult rock station KUDL. Entercom Communications Corp., which owns KMBZ and seven other frequencies in Kansas City, has done the same with its news-talk stations in New Orleans and Greenville, Miss.

“We are putting KMBZ, which has been a hugely successful station over the years, in a position where it can reach a larger audience,” said Dave Alpert, who oversees the Kansas City market for Entercom, one of the nation’s largest radio groups.

Making the move possible was a station shuffle that will combine two stations into one. KUDL, which appealed to older female listeners, will merge with 99.7 FM KGEX. Alpert said the new station would call itself The Point and launch Monday with a simulcast at 98.1 and 99.7 for 48 hours.

The Point will also expand its playlist to include songs that Alpert thinks will appeal to listeners of the former Star 102. That format was wiped out recently by the station’s owner, Wilks Broadcast Group.

KUDL morning show host Tanna Guthrie will move to The Point afternoons, and longtime morning-show host Kelly Urich, formerly of Mix 93.3, will be The Point’s morning man. KUDL afternoon host Roger Carson will move to Entercom’s country station, 106.5 The Wolf.

The move is expected to boost KMBZ’s ratings considerably, if the experience of other cities is any indication. Other longtime news and talk stations, such as Salt Lake City’s KSL and San Francisco’s KCBS, boosted their audiences using FM simulcasts.

According to data from Arbitron, the 12 most-listened-to stations in Kansas City in February were music formats. KMBZ was ranked 13th, WHB-AM (810) 15th and KCUR-FM (89.3) 18th.

KMBZ has been hurt by the switch of ratings company Arbitron from paper diaries to portable people meters. KMBZ was often a top-five station in the diary era. But starting in 2009, listening was measured with a meter that people wore everywhere. Critics say that method tended to reward music stations, which could be played in the background.

Alpert said he had no plans to move KMBZ off the AM dial, as Entercom did with the former “61 Country,” now The Wolf. Entercom owns two other AM stations in town, 610 Sports and KXTR (1610).

Read more here.