The next change in Cumulus Media’s revamp of its Kansas City cluster took place this morning as Conservative Talk 710 KCMO Kansas City has added a simulcast on 95.7 KCHZ Ottawa KS.
The move gives KCMO a full-powered FM signal in the market to match Audacy News/Talk 98.1 KMBZ-FM. KCMO current features locally originating programming from 6am to 12pm with Pete Mundo in morning drive and the Chicago based Ray Stevens hosting 10am-12pm. The remainder of the lineup features content from syndicated content with Dan Bongino from 12-2pm, Ben Shapiro 2-3pm, Dave Ramsey 3-5pm, Mark Levin 5-8pm, Matt Walsh 8-9pm, the first hour of Bongino from 9-10pm, Chris Plante 10pm-12am, and Red Eye Radio overnight.
KCMO and its current FM simulcast 103.7 K279BI Kansas City were tied for 20th place in the market with a 1.0 share in the September 2023 Nielsen Audio ratings. That trailed KMBZ-FM’s 5.1 share (plus 0.9 from its stream) that tied for fourth place in the market and “Talk 980” KMBZ’s 1.2 share.
The flip of KCHZ follows the move of its “Vibe” CHR format to 107.3 KMJK last week. That was preceded by KMJK’s Hip Hop format replacing Rock “105.1 The X” KCJK os “Power 105.1“.
INSTANT INSIGHT: It won’t matter in terms of ratings with Kansas City being a PPM market, but Cumulus will now have market leading Classic Hits 94.9 KCMO-FM and Conservative Talk “95.7 KCMO” as next door neighbors. At the very least it could lead to some brand confusion.