"The Other Side" - Another Saturday Show Leaving Syndication

[Ian Freeman]

If you are an affiliate of WestStar's "The Other Side", you probably
already have heard that the Saturday late-night ghost-talker show is
leaving syndication at the end of July. According to WestStar, there
are no plans to replace his show with any live content. As if your
choices for live syndicated talk radio on Saturday nights weren't slim
enough, now you have one fewer. Talk radio syndicators tend to hit
the auto-pilot button when it comes to weekend nights, but why?
Budgets too slim? Do they think no one is listening? Whatever their
excuse, it's just an excuse. Saturday is our biggest show each week,
and we know people listen. In fact, we know they appointment listen,
according to the PPMs in Indy! So, if you're an "Other Side"
affiliate and are looking for something fresh to give your listeners
on Saturday nights, look no further. Well, you can look, but you
probably won't find too much. Actually, I've been trying to figure
out what else is out there and have posted about it on Radio-Info's
message board. You can see the most recent post here:
http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=151866.msg1683961#msg1683961
Let me know if I missed anything, but I'm pretty sure that's a
complete list of all the "live" syndicated shows available on Saturday
evenings. It's good for me that there's so little competition, but
it's also a sad commentary on the state of the syndicated talk radio
business.

In other news, our longtime affiliate in Geneva, NY, "Finger Lakes
News Radio", WGVA-AM adds an FM translator at 96.1! In my humble
opinion, getting your AM talker on FM is one of the most critical
things you can do to stay relevant and attract new audience. Whether
it's a full-power FM station or a low-wattage translator, any presence
on FM will open up a whole new world of potential listeners. Of
course, the FM audience is younger than AM, so having a show like Free
Talk Live on at night is a perfect fit! (I'm 30 and my co-host Mark
is 40.)

Need a refresher on Free Talk Live? We're available via XDS (Citadel)
live Monday-Saturday from 7-10pm Eastern. Free Talk Live has been
syndicated since 2004 and now has over 98 affiliates from coast-to-
coast. FTL is preemptible with no makegoods, plus we're streamable and
flexible - so you can air us whenever and however is best for your
station. Visit our Program Director's website: http://PD.freetalklive.com
- there you'll find full archives, a shortform demo, promos, ratings,
testimonials, our show clock/satellite info, easy one-page agreement,
and more!

As always, please let me know how I may be of assistance,
Ian Freeman
Host, "Free Talk Live"
603-513-2449