Tonight, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time, the final step of the transition from Rush Limbaugh takes effect.
On the Premiere Radio Network, owned by iHeart, Buck Sexton had been the host from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. competing with Mark Levin, who works for Cumulus media. Buck is now teamed with Clay Travis in the former Rush Limbaugh time slot on Premiere.
That left a hole that needed to be filled, although Joe Pags already has a show on Premiere. They could have just combined the two audiences, but that’s why you have a VP of programming to justify doing their work.
Jesse Kelly is another podcaster (like Dan Bongino) who sees over the air radio as an opportunity, while other syndicated conservative talk show hosts have done the opposite.
Jesse Kelly has been doing a local show on iHeart-owned KPRC in Houston Texas since 2018. He is also written some stories for the the Federalist an online Conservative magazine.
His main claim to fame is he ran twice for the US House in Arizona in the same year (2012) and did not win either time. The first time, he ran in a special election to replace Gabby Giffords, who was shot in 2011. Jesse Kelly won the primary, but lost against the Democrat. He then decided to enter the primary for the redrawn second district, but withdrew prior to the primary. He has since relocated to Texas.
Jesse Kelly is an Iraq war veteran. In November 2018, he was “permanently” banned from Twitter without explanation and reinstated the next day.
Since many AM stations have to reduce power at sunset, a syndicated show from 6-9 PM ET is not going to have much of an audience in the winter, but it’s the middle of summer so he has a few months to prove himself. The ability to stream programming, in the proliferation of FM translators might help the show have a year-round audience.
If you are wondering where you can hear the show, here is the list so far
https://streamingradioguide.com/radio-show.php?showid=9808
Almost all of the affiliates are owned by iHeart, and most of them are NOT carrying the show live. At least half of the websites do not list the new show. iHeart is in the communications business right?
Another thing limiting the success of a syndicated talk show in the evening is baseball. While radio stations cannot stream baseball games, in the summer and fall there is a baseball game almost every night, and the stations generally bring down their servers during the game rather than carrying a syndicated show for online only.
Hmmmm, Maybe they should have tried John B. Wells ?
He’s on terrestrial radio Monday – Friday 10pm to 12am eastern, on a few stations, and 10pm-1am Saturday nights with Ark Midnight.
He’s no ‘Spaceman’ on Saturday nights, but gets the job done. I’m usually drunk by midnight, so I light up the chats.
best regards
parrott