Salem Brands New Stations to ''The Answer''

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, January 5, 2015 | 2:18pm CT

Salem Communications has announced that it's converting seven more of its News/Talk stations to "The Answer." The move brings the number to twenty Answer branded stations owned by Salem around the country. The latest stations being converted as of this morning are:

• KCBQ-AM in San Diego, now AM 1170 The Answer
• KLFE-AM in Seattle, now AM 1590 The Answer
• KZNT-AM in Colorado Springs, now AM 1460 The Answer
• WGKA-AM in Atlanta, now AM 920 The Answer
• WGUL-AM in Tampa, now AM 860 The Answer
• WGTK-AM in Louisville, now 970 AM The Answer
• WLSS-AM in Sarasota, now AM 930 The Answer

Salem began using the Answer branding for AM 970 WNYM, its News Talker in New York City in April of 2012. The name caught on, and soon Salem stations in LA, Dallas, and Chicago had joined the crowd. "We discovered that our listeners are information seekers, always craving the answer to every possible question, from why am I stuck in Traffic to who won the November election," said Salem Senior VP of Spoken Word Formats Phil Boyce. "This branding allows our stations to cut through in markets where they are competing with more established stations that only need their call letters as a brand. We needed something more, and this works."

Boyce added that while some of Salem's competitors have begun to shift away from either politics or hard news in favor of more fluff, his stations have stayed true to the course and many of them benefited in the fall with better audience numbers.