On Friday (3/27), a Hot Talk radio station featuring such well-known Atlanta personalities as The Kimmer, Shannon Burke, Kara Stockton and Mike Brooks will fade away … but for how long, and to what extent?
“Something is in the works … seriously … it is … so stay tuned … we’re not dead yet,” the proprietors of “The Talk of Atlanta” promise on their website.
According to local media reporter Rodney Ho of Cox Enterprise-owned The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, COVID-19 fueled investor decisions to stop funding the station — in concert with a nearly full stop on advertising — led the owner to pull the plug on the seven-month old enterprise.
The “Talk of Atlanta” was heard on WTZA-AM 1010 and FM translator W227DN at 93.3 MHz in Norcross, Ga., sold by Oscar Zelaya-led K&Z Broadcasting to RC Media Partners for $352,500.
RBR + TVBR reported the deal on February 18, which was brokered by Beth Griffin of Griffin Media Partners.
RC is led by CEO William Regan, and since February 3 it has been operating the AM and FM translator, switching it from the soft Spanish-language ballads previous owner K&Z had aired under the “Vida” branding.
In the 7am-10am slot Mondays-Thursdays is conservative talk host Shannon Burke; Fridays go to Kara “In Studio” with a guest. Mike Brooks takes the 1pm-4pm slot, while Atlanta market veteran comedy and conservative talk program The Kimmer Show — with Pete Davis and Jim Gossett — is in the 4pm-7pm time period.
The 10am-1pm time period was in on-air audition mode, with candidates including J.D. Hayworth, Flat Earth Jamie, and The Rob Carson Show.
Now, all is set to end Friday.
Ho says Regan “threw in the towel last week” because investors pulled out, and because of “a hard stop on radio buys.”
Then, there was Regan’s discovery of damage to the signal tower he tells Ho K&Z did not disclose prior to the sale.
A repair, Regan claims, would run well over $100,000 — money that is not available at the present time.
“At the end of a day, it was too big of a blow too early in the process,” Regan said to Ho. “If you had told me this was going to happen three months ago, I would have laughed at you. This was a perfect storm.”
Now, podcasting of “The Talk of Atlanta” seems the more likely route.
Regan launched “The Talk of Atlanta” after the demise of “Talk 106.7,” the former WYAY-FM in Atlanta. The station was sold to Cumulus Media and on May 31, 2019 became WAKL-FM, a KLOVE member station under Educational Media Foundation ownership.
The last show for The Kimmer was on Friday (3/20).
