Radio turns to business news

A Seattle radio station and ABC News Radio are both adding business coverage to their repertoire.

Bill Virgin, a reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, writes, “KKOL-AM/1300 this week unveiled its new identity as ‘Business Radio’ and a lineup including nationally syndicated talk host Ray Lucia at 9 a.m. weekdays, ‘Phil’s Gang,’ hosted by Phil Grande, at noon, and ‘Market Wrap with Moe Ansari’ at 5 p.m. The current lineup also includes programming from Bloomberg Radio and hourly updates from CNBC.

“Business news as a full-time format was last heard in this market in 2004, when Entercom sold what was then KNWX- AM/1210 to Bustos Media, which in turn converted the station to a Spanish-language music format. KNWX had started as a business-news station in 1998 when it was at 770 on the AM band. That same year, KKNW- AM/1150 dropped business and investing talk for a format featuring soul and R&B music. Several industry experts said the format appeared to be too narrow a niche to generate a large audience.

“But Tim Harper, Salem’s general manager in Seattle, believes there’s a market for a full-time business news station ‘with the U.S. in the position it’s in.’ He said Salem has had success with a recently launched business news station in the Bay Area, and the new format is drawing advertisers to KKOL.”