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Tony Duesing Is Wichita Proud

“When I decided I wanted to become a PD, I figured I would have had to go to a smaller market and start out.”

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The man is the radio equivalent of what Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley is to politics. Both have served their respective areas for about 40 years. During that time, as in a successful marriage, Tony Duesing has been with the same group of four stations through ownership changes, including Entercom, and now Audacy.

With Iowa and Kansas nearly touching, perhaps there’s some longevity secret in the water.

In 1996, the Telecommunications Act removed all national and local restrictions on national ownership that specified the number of stations one company could own in a set market. Groups started consolidating radio stations.

“When we started consolidating stations, AM radio was struggling,” Duesing said. “Rush’s show was coming along and I remember thinking this AM thing isn’t going to last much longer.”

Okay, who hasn’t made a miscalculation?

The consolidation lowered overhead, and groups could lean on sister stations for additional content and promotional material. Back then, Duesing said they had one promotional position instead of today’s four people.

“In particular, KFH was helped by consolidation. It really helped save it in a way.”

With extensive technology advancement throughout Duesing’s career, he’s grateful to one particular product and how it has changed our lives.

“It’s hard to imagine our industry without computers,” Duesing explained. “When we moved into this building seven years ago, it was all new. Even the control boards are computerized. The hard drives are the brains of this outfit.”

From 1983 to 1992, Duesing was entrenched in music-formatted radio, from Country, Oldies, and Top 40 formats. In 1992, Duesing was promoted to Program Director of talk radio station KQAM, and later sports radio station KFH along with news radio station KNSS.

This year KFH has been celebrating its 100th anniversary. Duesing had just been named the stations’ PD during its 75th anniversary.

“That’s when I became particularly interested in the stations’ history,” Duesing explained. “It had been sold a few times and I decided to make some promotions to commemorate the 75th anniversary.”

Duesing said he recognizes the milestone and how much the station has meant to the Wichita community.

“We were a CBS affiliate and carried programs like War of the Worlds, and Radio Mystery Theater. It puts things into perspective when you start recalling that history. I started finding some old photos and audio. We used to have a midday sports show on KFH and one of the on-air folks asked me if we had a copy of their first show. I said I’d look but it was most likely on cassette.”

That little piece of plastic with all that tape hanging out of it where you had to use your index finger to wind it back in. 

Duesing started working in Wichita Radio in 1983 just a month after graduating high school. “I learned everything on the fly. There wasn’t a lot of time or personnel for training.”

When he first became PD on KFH, they recently switched from Oldie’s to Talk. “I was the board-op when the PD left because he didn’t like the talk format. The owner said, ‘Okay, you’re PD now.”

At that time the owner was Norman Feuer and Triathlon Media. Duesing went to speak with him because the local general manager had decided he wasn’t going to pick up Don Imus for 50-grand a year. Duesing knew if the talk format was going to work it had to be interesting.

“I told Norm we should get Imus and he thought it was a great idea. Things got better after that move.”

Duesing was born in the Wichita area, and like Doobie, the cab driver in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, he is proud of Wichita.

“I’d always thought I was lucky to be in this market,” Duesing said. “When I decided I wanted to become a PD, I figured I would have had to go to a smaller market and start out. It turns out I didn’t have to leave because KFH switched formats and assigned me as PD.”

Wichita is known as the ‘Air Capital of the World,’ providing fuselages for big plane manufacturers such as Boeing. The huge fuselages are shipped by train to the West Coast. Hawker Aviation in Wichita also makes Cessnas, and Beechcraft planes. The industry brings about 20,000 good paying jobs to the area. Planes are to Wichita what cars are to Detroit.

The city is also the birthplace of Pizza Hut and White Castle.

“Our radio studios are in the same big building Pizza Hut had its headquarters back in the 90s,” Duesing said. Since the pizza giant’s merger with Taco Bell, KFC, and Pepsi, corporate offices moved south to Texas.

Wichita is interesting in that it’s very conservative, but also has a Democrat Mayor and Democrat governor. There are also a lot of middle-Republicans and Independents.

“On KNSS we have Levin and Hannity and they both work well here,” Duesing said. “I’d considered some additions of Alan Derschowitz and Mario Cuomo had a show for a while. Audacy lets us run our stations the way we see fit. They really do look at brand managers as people that know their market best and don’t dictate things to us.”

Duesing picked up Dana Loesch’s show and is pleased with that decision.

“We’re always looking for a good fit whether we have to hire a local talent or go with someone like Dana. She acts as though she works for Audacy. It’s easy to get her to do liners for us and she does well in her time slot.”

Duesing has recently made some changes to the KFH morning show, which just wasn’t working.

“We used to have Mike & Mike, which did well. Then we tried some other shows but they didn’t drive ratings. We had Bob & Tom, but iHeart switched formats and wanted more music. We picked them up again this year.” 

As a brand manager, Duesing said you always have to ask yourself if your shows are winning or losing.

“I think local shows do better with two or more hosts,” he explained. “Jim Rome can do it by himself because he’s really good at what he does. One person can get a little boring. The cost is obviously higher to have more, but I think it’s worth the investment. We love doing local and it connects well with listeners. Much more than national stuff.”

Duesing studied broadcast journalism at Wichita State University. In the early 80s, he said the program was lacking.

“When I first went there it was a very generic major,” Duesing said. “They told us they’d teach us radio and television broadcasting. The equipment we used was from the 1950s, antiquated stuff. One of our assignments was to make a commercial. Since I was working at KFH, I did the assignment there. I went back to school and the instructor said, ‘Wow, you did that here?’ I had to break the news to him. I created it at the radio station where I was working.”

Later, the college began to emphasize news and media. The school had a television station on cable that produced a weekly news show where the students did it all.

“I wanted to learn the news part of radio and television. At that point I was happy with what  I learned there,” Duesing said.

During his first 10 years in radio, Duesing was focused on becoming a better DJ, and presence on the air. Then the program director job came into being.

“We flipped from an oldies station to a talk station in the early 90s. Once again it was a sink or swim situation. My boss said, ‘Tony, you’re the PD. Figure it out.’ I realized I was 35 years-old and I was the demographic for the station, so I started programming it with shows I would like. We had a food talk show among others. It was horrible stuff. Then I started filling in with network shows like Coast to Coast. I was able to give the people working overnights on airplanes something to listen to while they worked, someone to help them stay awake.”

Like most young broadcasting professionals, Duesing had one eye on bigger opportunities, but in the end, he was already where he wanted to be.

Duesing was approached by one of his regional managers who he’d gotten to know well.

“He called after he left and said he thought I’d be a good fit in Santa Barbara, California,” Duesing said. “He flew me out to look around. It isn’t far from Los Angeles and I liked it. But I ended up not taking it because of the tremendous cost of living and I have a lot of family in the Wichita area. It just didn’t add up to make a change at that point. I had discussions with a station in Denver about the possibility of going there. Another outside of Seattle. In the end it just made sense to stay here.”

Duesing said the people are great and the cost of living is low.

What keeps him charged about the industry and his job is the constant challenges.

“I’m always asking myself what I can do to make things better. Can we  improve the way we go in and out of breaks? I do all the imaging on the stations. It’s always a challenge to do better in the ratings. There’s so much to do online, with our app on social media.”

With news reported instantly on Twitter, Duesing said his reporters in the news department still try to get two or three sources to confirm a story.

“I always tell them we don’t need to be first, just right. Just back up the story with facts, verify them. It’s so embarrassing to get a story wrong. I’d rather just not report it.”

His stations carry Kansas City Chiefs’ games, University of Kansas sports, Wichita State programs. While the Royals are not big moneymakers for the station, the others do produce revenue. Duesing said you have to carry those games as it keeps the stations relevant in the market.

“My sales people love to sell Chiefs and KU time. You bring in new listeners, promote your other shows.”

Doobie and Duesing are, and always will be, Wichita Proud.

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BNM Writers

News is the Only Thing Missing From Election Coverage

Coverage of the election is, as we’ve discussed, still very horse-race-centric, and there’s been, of course, coverage of the various Trump court cases, but where is the coverage of exactly what the candidates plan to do if elected?

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The first thought I had when I heard NBC had hired Ronna McDaniel as a commentator for $300,000 a year was to wonder how many actual journalists they could have hired for that money. Then, I recalled that NBC had laid off dozens of news staffers just a few months ago. Then, I remembered that I had just recently written a column decrying news organizations throwing pretty much anybody on the air as a “pundit” and this….

This was worse. It’s one thing to grab some rando who happened to be a minor functionary for the Executive Branch. It’s another to hire someone whose job was to promote election denialism and pretend that her opinion is something valuable for viewers. And, yes, it’s just as ridiculous when news organizations hire former presidential press secretaries (that’s you, Jen Psaki and Sean Spicer), their very jobs were to spin everything in their bosses’ favor and now you’re going to pay them big salaries for, um, what? Because they “have a name” or you’re afraid someone else will snap them up? Why them?

The McDaniel deal lasted five days, one completely unilluminating interview, and one unexpected Chuck Todd spine-growing outburst, so it’ll all blow over soon enough. The problem is, though, the part about having fired several news staffers, and what it means in an election year on both the national and local levels. If you have the money to hire an alleged pundit – any alleged pundit – you have the money to hire reporters, and I don’t mean anchors or opinion show hosts.

Coverage of the election is, as we’ve discussed, still very horse-race-centric, and there’s been, of course, coverage of the various Trump court cases, but where is the coverage of exactly what the candidates plan to do if elected? Who’s probing Project 2025 and why isn’t it front-page, first-segment news? Who’s pressing the Biden administration on Gaza? Is anyone reporting on the candidates’ record on climate change?

Beyond prescription drug prices, is anyone digging into the broken healthcare system and demanding answers from the candidates about what they’ll do to fix it (and not letting Trump get away with “I’ll have a better plan, a beautiful plan” without a single specific detail, like they did in 2016)? Why didn’t anyone focus on, for example, the GOP candidate for governor of North Carolina and his incendiary past comments well before the primary?

Pundits are not going to do the legwork on the issues; they’ll just talk about swing states while John King and Steve Kornacki point at their touchscreen maps. We need reporting on the things that matter (and can affect that horse race, even if most people have made up their minds). It shouldn’t just be Pro Publica and scattered independent journalists doing the dirty work.

Honestly, I don’t want to hear the complaints about the quality of the candidates or how this is a rerun or any of that. (We’ll leave that to The New York Times.) We are a horribly underinformed electorate and we got the horse race we deserve. It might just be idealists like me who think that, just maybe, the news media can play a role in educating the public and bursting the bubbles and echo chambers. This country has survived and prospered for a few centuries with the press shining a light on injustice and corruption.

Now, when we need that most, they’re more concerned with what they think will bring them ratings and money (although someone will have to explain to me who thought having Ronna McDaniel as a paid commentator would draw a single viewer to NBC).

Here’s a thought: Don’t lay off reporters, especially in an election year.  Assign them to dig deep on issues that matter to the voters.

Let the pundits talk about that.

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8 Ways to Take Your Commercials From Drab to Fab

Our main source of income is derived from commercials. There are a lot of bad commercials.

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Another reason to read this column, I often add an Easter egg. We are in the advertising business. Our main source of income is derived from commercials. There are a lot of bad commercials. Frequently, clients write these ads. You can excuse it if the spots suck. But when the commercials are written by Account Executives or the production department at the station, it is kind of unforgivable.

I am going to share the most meaningless phrases in commercials.

Locally Owned and Operated

Customers do not care. If customers cared about a business being locally owned and operated, Walmart would not exist. People want service, selection, and value. They do not want to get soaked. When you purchase something, are you willing to pay 20% for a local company? If you say yes, you are wrong. People want a deal.

The Phone Number

Doing 70 down the 405, John slammed on the brakes to write down the phone number for an amazing HVAC Company. That is not how it works people. HVAC companies rarely have or should have regular customers.

Normally, your AC is out. You call the HVAC Company that you are familiar with. Radio advertising allows people to have “TOMA”: Top of Mind Awareness. There are stats that show when a company is advertising on your radio station, their website shows an increase in traffic. When you needed a service for your home, you hit Google and choose the company that you’ve heard of. It’s that simple. I actually heard a commercial asking listeners to add a businesses phone number to their contact list. That is a moronic use of advertising real estate.

Street Addresses

“Tequilaberry’s Prime Rib is located at 106 East Governors Drive in Peoria.” 

The people listening cannot process that detail. You could say “Tequilaberry’s Prime Rib is on Governors Drive just off 10th in Peoria.” That is almost digestible. That creates a picture of where it is.

Trust me, people interested in prime rib will Google you and load the address in their navigation system. Spend that precious spot time selling the experience of the restaurant.

Always Using the Company Owner/Founder in Commercials

Sometimes, it is amazing when business owners are their spokesperson. They have passion and are natural salespeople. Some business owners are terrible at speaking about their product.

When you have a business owner who is a natural promoter, they can drag listeners into their business. I once worked with a family who owned a couple of hardware stores. They spoke about the benefits of visiting their stores. It was heartfelt and real. They promised that their employees can help solve any problem in your home. If you went to that store and had a simple or complex problem, the employees helped you out.

I once worked with a man who owned a really nice flooring company.  For whatever reason, he thought that he was funny. He had spots written by him, his wife, or a kid. The ads were dreadful. They were not funny at all. Account Executives need to talk these clients out of doing commercials like this. Nothing says wacky hijinks like flooring.

Overuse of Numbers

“We have grapes at 99 cents a pound, Chuck steak at $1.99, two-for-one zucchini.”

Trust me, no one driving in city traffic can keep track of that. “The 2025 Chevy Chevette is back with 45-mpg efficiency and amazing 18-inch tires. Prices start at $19,999…  The New Chevy Silverado starts at $32,999.”

It gets really confusing fast.

WWW.

Yes, I hear commercials saying check us on the internet at “W-W-W dot business name here dot com.”

WWW is assumed and not needed anymore unless you are running a Commadore-64 with the latest floppy disc technology.

Yellow Pages Ad

“Check out our new ad in the Yellow Pages!”

OMG, no one reads those damn things anymore. Most people born after 1960 just toss those suckers in the trash. There was a time when the Yellow Pages were the largest revenue generator in advertising. Yes, a book of ads. Like Facebook, without your buddy’s political, vacation, or food posts. It was just ads. Zero content.

I had stuffed salmon tonight that I engineered myself. I would make Sydney Sweeney quite the trophy husband. Set us up. Hey, I am single. It was not that long ago that you would hear a radio ad that promoted a coupon in the Sunday paper.

Well, that copy should be deader than a doornail.

Amateur Theater

A husband and wife discussing their lawn and how she heard about Telly’s Lawn Service from her friend Stacy. 

Those commercials are obviously contrived and not interesting at all. 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Open every commercial must have an attention-grabbing opener. “Totally Jammed…  The floor covered with the guest towels. Fearing the horrific consequences of another flush…  I did the right thing. I called ABC Plumbing. Quick service, a great price, and peace of mind.”

The next time that the plunger is failing to get the desired results, the listener of that commercial will identify with the very realist scenario.

We are in the advertising business. Use radio as it was meant.

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The Lost Art of Using Sound as a Springboard

Use sound it wherever you can. All you need is a loyal, capable and willing board operator, to go along with a conscientious host.

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Jon Stewart was the first guy to do it — take a politician’s words from the news of the day or week. Search his or her entire past and find a sound byte saying the exact opposite.

It became an art form – and a great way to keep people accountable.

Most radio operations don’t have the resources necessary to consistently do something like that, but truth be told, that kind of journalism isn’t really the point of this week’s column.

It’s an example of the simple power of sound. We need to use it more within our shows. Use sound it wherever you can. All you need is a loyal, capable, and willing board operator, to go along with a conscientious host.

Speaking from experience, not doing it is lazy.

Doing it takes minimal effort and helps conversations tremendously – especially when it’s in real-time. I know. I’ve been there – missing opportunity after opportunity because I didn’t think of it, ask for help or just do it myself.

Put simply, good sound is a better springboard to a question than just a question.

Just the other day, I realized how well it works and how little I’ve been doing it.

Here’s what happened.

We have one particularly heated congressional race in our state. The Republican candidate is running for a second time after narrowly losing in 2022 in an election where Connecticut’s gubernatorial candidate from the same party got smoked, and the Republican presidential candidate lost the state as well.

This time around, there’s a struggling Democratic President with real doubts about the economy and the country’s standing in the world.

Put simply, the Democratic congressional incumbent has a massive task ahead to get re-elected.

On my show, I try to be consistently independent and be a place for both parties to appear with the expectation that the conversations will be fair and honest.

The Republican candidate came on the show earlier this month, and we went through a number of issues. Connecticut is a relatively strong Democratic stronghold, where the party controls the legislature, the Governor’s Mansion, and the entire congressional delegation.

Having said that, the largest voting block is unaffiliated, so appealing to independents is crucial for either side to win. I asked the Republican candidate twice about whether he will support Donald Trump, and both times, he equivocated. I asked the follow-up, we were on the record, so I moved on.

The following week, his opponent, the Democratic incumbent, was scheduled to appear on the show. Before her arrival, I realized the Trump Q&A should probably be replayed for her. Duh.

My producer found it, clipped it, and had it at the ready. I felt that I should have realized it sooner and not put some added strain on my partner’s morning routine. He was fine, but it definitely added unnecessary work within the show.

Lesson learned.

The sound byte worked well. I played it. She responded. We moved the story forward, and it was compelling – as you might imagine, the topic of Trump vs. Biden is pretty compelling these days.

By no means did it create a “wow” moment. That would be a little much. But it did make the show better, using the opponent’s own voice as opposed to my paraphrasing something. That lends credibility, not only to the topic but also to the show. He gave this important answer on our show, and she gave her response … on our show.

My final thought on this is that we (I) need to look for more places to utilize sound as a springboard to conversations, as opposed to simply raising the topic and discussing it. Maybe you’re already good at it and do it all the time, but this past week, I realized I need to push myself to do it more.

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