Radio networks moving from Boston to Las Vegas

Monday, April 3, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.

A small private company that operates two national radio networks is relocating to Las Vegas from suburban Boston this summer.

Talk America Radio Networks, which syndicates 60 talk show hosts to 430 affiliate radio stations in 50 states, also plans to take the company public with a stock offering when the move to Nevada is complete.

Paul Lyle, executive vice president and one of 18 shareholders in the company, already has relocated to Las Vegas and is leading the company's move to the Southwest from Canton, Mass. While gearing for the move, Lyle also is serving as a temporary talk show host for AM-840 KXNT in the station's 5-9 a.m. time slot.

In addition to liking the climate and business environment, Lyle said Las Vegas offers several key logistical advantages for the networks.

"It's easier to run network distribution from the Pacific time zone," Lyle said. "For getting guests to appear on the show, you can rely more on the time difference working in your favor."

And Talk America has plenty of guests. The company runs two separate networks and each has a broad variety of hosts that not only chat politics, but also entertainment, personal finance, technology, health and sports. Company executives say the city's reputation as the "Entertainment Capital of the World" will provide a steady lineup of entertainers to take the airwaves with various hosts.

They also said the variety of conventions that come to the city attracts experts in their respective fields and those experts make perfect talk-show conversation.

Talk America's president is counting on the Las Vegas dateline to generate more exposure for his enterprise.

"Las Vegas has an appeal other markets don't have," said Tom Star, who founded the network in 1992. "There's always something going on, it's a town that never sleeps. It has great sporting events, it's got a NASCAR race. That's a perfect fit for us."

A handful of the company's syndicated shows have landed on local news and talk stations KNUU and KRLV. But Star's dream is to develop a network of radio stations that runs the company's shows and that's what the proceeds of the initial public offering would finance.

The company plans to raise $150 million to buy stations in the top 25 U.S. metropolitan markets. The company also will build a studio in Las Vegas. Star would like to have a Strip location, but he fears that real estate is out of his price range.

The company plans to secure a 3,000-square-foot off-Strip facility to house the 30 employees who will work at the Las Vegas headquarters. Lyle said 10 executives would make the move to Las Vegas with the rest being hired locally.

Among the personalities syndicated by Talk America are Gene Burns, Pat Choate, Jim McKay, Dr. Gabe Mirkin, Jackie Mason and Ken Dashow, who hosts "Edge of Reality." Company officials said show hosts wouldn't have to move to Las Vegas because the networks use phone and satellite communications links on broadcasts.

Talk America also has a 24-hour news service offering world and national news, sports and national weather on the hour and news headlines and weather on the half hour.

The network also offers sports betting shows originating from the Imperial Palace hotel-casino.

Network programming also is broadcast via streaming audio over the Internet at www.talkamerica.com.

Star believes talk radio only is going to get more popular as the genre expands to the FM dial. The reason: People are hungering for information about topics that affect their everyday lives.

"The Rush Limbaughs of the world are great, but people say they want to hear how issues are going to affect me, my pocketbook," Star said. "Take the gasoline issue, for example. People want to know, 'How do I conserve?' and they're looking for experts to tell them how. People are looking for direction and assistance in every way possible."

Star also doesn't believe cable television and its growing lineup of talk shows will cut into radio's market share because of radio's portability.

"You can only watch it at home or in an office where there's cable," Star said. "You can't carry it around."