KSAC Drops Progressive Programming, Finds Jesus Instead
Sunday morning, listeners in the Sacramento area who are used to hearing progressive talk on KSAC 1240AM instead got an earful of gospel music.
Confirmed by The Sacramento Bee last week, KSAC 1240AM announced their decision to switch from progressive talk to gospel. During its time as a progressive talk-format station, KSAC had many loyal listeners but failed to generate support from businesses in the way of advertising revenue.
“It’s not a ratings thing - we have plenty of listeners,” nationally syndicated talk show host Mike Malloy told The Sacramento Bee from Phoenix last Friday. “KSAC is experiencing what most other liberal talk show format stations are experiencing - it’s not a lack of audience, it’s a lack of business support.”
This problem is not just specific to Sacramento—a lack of businesses willing to throw ad money at stations airing liberal content is found throughout the country. “If you listen to Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity, you’ll hear (plenty) of national ads. If you listen to someone like me or Randi Rhodes, there’s a complete lack of those types of sponsors,” said Malloy.
Along with Mike Malloy’s program, KSAC also aired Christine Craft’s KGO-AM radio program. Craft became well-known in the broadcasting industry following her sexual discrimination lawsuit against Kansas City ABC affiliate KMBC 9 in the early 1980s after the station demoted her because of her age and lack of sex appeal. Both Malloy and Craft’s programs can be heard streaming online (Craft’s show was replaced with the Peter Collins Show last October after KSAC failed to reach an agreement over the host’s contract).
KSAC’s 1240TalkCity.com website has been “under construction” for weeks now, though it’s unclear if this is related to the format change. It’s also unclear if KSAC will relaunch a website under this URL or elsewhere in the days to come, and time will tell on KSAC’s format-flipping business strategy as well.
(Update: Sometime over the past week, KSAC changed its call letters to KRJY and is now branded as “Rejoice! 1240 AM”)
I'm a 21-year-old technology, music and local media blogger from Sacramento, California.
March 31st, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Yet another example of Sacramento taking one step forward and two back.
April 1st, 2008 at 1:07 am
@Lori: The general manager of KSAC came out on March 31st to say she’s glad the format flipped, blaming Sacramento Democratic groups and businesses for not giving the station ad revenue. “If you’re not sending us the marketing dollars, then you’re part of the problem,” she told The Sacramento Bee. Apparently, the new genre isn’t just gospel, it’s hip hop gospel. Sacramento sure will miss its progressive talk station.
April 1st, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Sorry unrelated to the above KSAC story, but wanted to let you know I laughed when I read your comment on today’s 21Q post about SacRag’s April Fools joke! Your April Fools jokes were more clever ;-)
April 1st, 2008 at 3:25 pm
@Jules: Thanks for the compliment! I’ll take it, even if it is unrelated to KSAC. I just think killing off a member of a band is in poor taste…
April 8th, 2008 at 1:34 am
Matthew…
Ya gotta do a little more research. Christine Craft’s KSAC show originated from…. KSAC!
Where you got the idea it came from KGO would be worth hearing about.
Ted.
April 8th, 2008 at 1:37 am
@Ted: You misinterpreted what I said above. Craft’s show is CURRENTLY at KGO. I never said it originated there. Thanks for the extra information though!
April 8th, 2008 at 1:41 am
You wrote: “KSAC also aired Christine Craft’s KGO-AM radio program.”
When?
April 8th, 2008 at 1:44 am
@Ted: Both KSAC and KGO-AM have aired The Christine Craft Show. Since she’s currently at KGO-AM, that would make it their show, so what I said above stands correct even if KSAC aired it before KGO-AM. If you want to get into semantics, take it somewhere else, it’s a stupid point to argue and it doesn’t make what was said inaccurate in any way—it’s simply the way you’re interpreting what was said.
April 8th, 2008 at 2:00 am
Gee, Matthew,
Let’s be accurate:
What you wrote leads readers to think that KSAC took a feed from KGO and broadcast Christine’s KGO show.. either live or delayed.
But, Christine didn’t do a simulcast or anything close.
If she subbed at KGO on days she also had her five-day a week show on KSAC, KSAC got her live and local… and never aired anything that aired on KGO.
If you’re going to publish information, spend some time checking the material… because your reputation (good or otherwise) depends on it.
I popped into your blog to see what was here after seeing your post on 21Q bonking Rachel for making a bonehead mistake.
It seems that you’ve got a few of your own.
And lest the pot seem to be calling the kettle “black”(as my mother would say) I’ve been writing news professionally since my high school days in the early 1970’s.
I’ve made a few mistakes along the way, and have learned from them.
Learned that my writing and clarity is better from spending some time verifying what I write (from spelling to the accuracy of information) and really LOOKING at the meaning of what’s conveyed by the arrangement of the words.
Accuracy. Clarity. And trying to do so briefly.
Sometimes brevity or being in a hurry to “get something out there” leads to unclear communication, and I don’t think you want that on your blog.
Just some thoughts from an experienced writer and reporter who’s more interested in seeing you and your blog improve as a resource than having an argument with you.
Ted
April 8th, 2008 at 2:10 am
@Ted: First off, I didn’t criticize Rachel for any inaccuracies. The information I received this afternoon has not been published anywhere, and since I was privy to the information regarding the affiliation swap between KSWB and XETV, I was making it aware in her post. Rachel is a great reporter, as is everyone at the Sacramento Bee, and they are quick to point out, accept and rectify their own mistakes, they don’t need someone like me to point it out.
Second off, I’m a blogger, not a journalist. I do not work for a newspaper. I am not required to write in AP style. I am not required to clear my news articles with lawyers. While I try to remain as accurate as possible and cite as many sources, there are bound to be the occasional slipups. People usually are quick to point them out, and I fix them where necessary—go through more of my posts, and you’ll see comments that prove as such.
Third, please don’t tell me what I do or don’t want on my blog. This is my place and while I am open to comments and even criticism, I’m not up for people telling me what I want or don’t want.
Fourth, you don’t come off as someone who wants to help me “improve” my writing. You deliberately sought out and commented on a blog entry that you felt was an easy target of attack. And you did it publicly, so I responded publicly, but nothing stopped you from sending me a private e-mail, pointing what you call “inaccuracies” out. Even if you had, I would have told you the same thing. I’m not worried about my reputation as a “blogger.” People who are frequent readers of this blog know me to be very accurate, very articulate and extremely interesting. Those who don’t usually don’t stick around, and that’s cool with me.
Last, but not least, I’ll tell you what I tell everyone who becomes confrontational about the content that is written on this site—if you feel you can do better, sign up with WordPress.com or Blogger and start your own blog. If you can do better than me, by all means, do better than me. But don’t be condescending and disguise it as constructive criticism.
April 8th, 2008 at 2:14 am
@Ted (Part 2)…: By the way, I’m done discussing this issue here on the blog. You can e-mail me if you want to discuss this more; just click on the “E-mail” button above. Or, if you want to have the last word of the argument, go for it, I won’t stop you, but this trivial matter about Christine Craft—which was really background info and had nothing to do with the format change of KSAC—is not quite worth my time. Call it what you will, “Radio Matthew says accuracy isn’t worth his time!” Go ahead, be my guest. People may believe you, and that’s totally cool, but I know that my daily readers know otherwise. Ask yourself: If I wasn’t accurate, why are my blog entries being picked up by local news and radio stations in Sacramento? Clearly, they must think me as reputable. And someone who has beef with me, like you Ted, won’t change that.
April 8th, 2008 at 2:41 am
And re-reading the 21Q comments, I see that I’m “hoist by my own petard” for writing “after seeing your post on 21Q bonking Rachel for making a bonehead mistake.”
To be clear, you did NOT do that at all on 21Q… and in MY comments here, I did just what I was taking you to task for.
So, please accept my apology. Nothing like making a point at ones’ own expense.
Have a fine Tuesday.
Ted.