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PROGRESSIVE TALK ON AM 1150
Los Angeles, January 12, 2005 - Clear Channel Regional Vice President Roy Laughlin announced today that Progressive Talk will debut in Los Angeles on AM 1150 on February 3, 2005. The station call letters will be KTLK (K-TALK).
"Progressive talk is one of the fastest growing formats in radio," said Gabe Hobbs, VP of Programming-News/Talk. "We are filling a huge void that exists in Los Angeles and expect a success story similar to the other markets where we have launched progressive talk."
Clear Channel has adopted the format in 21 markets to date and found significant ratings growth on every occasion. For example, in the first six months against 12+ (M-Su, 6a-12m), San Diego is up 75%, Portland is up 1000% (from a .4 to a 4 share) and Denver is up 300%.
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"The people in Los Angeles are about to get a double-barrel of a gun-totin', meat-eatin' liberal," said Ed Schultz, midday host. "I can't wait to give the listeners in LA a chance to push back against the conservative noise machine that has crowded the talk radio airwaves for too long." Schultz concluded, "There is a big unserved market for Progressive Talk in America."
Laughlin comments, "This will be a nice balance in the LA market to the conservative voice of talk leader KFI. The fact is that talk radio has never been bigger. Couple that with all the dissatisfaction surrounding the current administration and you have the perfect platform to launch a progressive talk station."
John Quinlan, VP of Clear Channel Traffic, has been named Station Manager. Quinlan has 20 years of experience in Los Angeles radio with a broad range of duties including news reporter, sports reporter, sales manager, operations manager and general manager.
"I appreciate the opportunity to help bring progressive talk to Los Angeles. As a long-time talk radio listener, I've always felt that we were missing the other side of the story," states Quinlan.
The line-up includes The Morning Sedition (5a-9a), Al Franken (9a-12n), Ed Schultz (12n-3p), Randi Rhodes (3p-7p) and Janeane Garofalo (7p-10p).