Premiere pulls Rush at KIDO after 17 years

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Peak Broadcasting’s KIDO-AM Boise (580AM and www.KIDOAM.COM) announced the appointment of Austin Hill as the host of a newly created LOCAL afternoon drive time show beginning on September 24th from 3 to 6 pm (MT). He hails from KTAR-AM Phoenix. This new program will feature live and local interactive conversation about news and events that affect the lives of people throughout the Treasure Valley, the nation, and the world. In addition to Hill, KIDO will feature all the latest news, dependable traffic, Bronco sports, and accurate weather services listeners have come to expect from 580 KIDO for the last eight decades.


The station had Rush for 17 years and then CC/Premiere cut a corporate deal with Citadel (KBOI-AM) and pulled the plug on KIDO.

Kevin Godwin SVP/Market Manager/Peak Boise tells RBR-TVBR they marketed Rush well and he was a very big piece of their programming. “I don’t know the full reason why he was pulled, I just know it was out of our hands. It was kind of handled by big, giant corporations that are doing radio and we’re just a small, private company.  But we feel long-term, it’s going to be better for us if we find local, proprietary content and do live and local shows. We think there’s enough news out there to talk about these days, whereas maybe 10 years ago, 15 years ago it wasn’t the case in a market this size.”

Hill is also a publisher of books, he does video. Peak is now hiring staff that in addition to them being able to do an air shift and get ratings, they have to be multimedia—good at TV, good at writing, etc.

Hill is also an editorial contributor to national publications such as U.S. News & World Report, a columnist with TownHall.com, and appears nationally on The Fox News Channel and Fox Talk Radio. His recent books “White House Confidential” and the forthcoming title “The Virtues of Capitalism” help to make the complex seem simple when exploring capitalism, socialism, and other “Isms.”

The New 580 KIDO lineup:
5a-9a Kevin Miller (from KDKA Pittsburgh)
9a-12p Glenn Beck
12p-3p Dr Laura
3p-6p Austin Hill
6p-9p Dave Ramsey
9pm-4a Coast To Coast
4a-5a Wall St Journal

The New KIDO AM 63 LINEUP
5:30a-7a Kevin Miller
7a-10a Dan Patrick
10a-1p Dennis Miller
1p-4p Todd Schnitt
4p-5p Lars Larson
5p-6p Ch 7 News
6p-8p Lars Larson
8p-11p Tony Bruno
11p-5a Fox Sports
5a-5:30a Farm to Market Report

RBR-TVBR observation: Content is king, but only when you control the content—sometimes that means Local Content. So if you are building a station on content that is controlled by networks/syndicators you could be SOL. This too can happen in TV with any syndication program.
 
So, along with strong syndicated talent, always invest in creative talent in your local market. Sort of like a stock portfolio: diversify.