The Jim Engster Show is ending its run on Guaranty Broadcasting’s Talk 107.3 FM, a little more than three years after moving to the station from public radio station WRKF 89.3 FM.
Engster says the decision to end the two-hour, afternoon drive-time show was mutual and, for his part, was based on the need to concentrate more of his efforts on “the mother ship.”
Engster owns the Louisiana Radio Network and is president of the company. He is also the publisher of Tiger Rag magazine, and earlier this year returned to WRKF with a one-hour morning talk show, Talk Louisiana with Jim Engster.
“For the last nine months, I’ve been doing two shows a day and when the governor comes on (with his monthly Ask the Governor call-in show) I’m doing three,” he says. “I think it will be better to focus on one show and two businesses than two or three shows and two businesses.”
For his part, Gordy Rush, Guaranty’s vice president and Baton Rouge market manager, will say only that his station is “looking to go in another direction,” adding he will announce a replacement for The Jim Engster Show before the first of the year.
When Engster announced his planned move to 107.3 in the fall of 2014, he said it was an opportunity to reach a broader audience. The Louisiana Radio Network produces the show and offered it to Guaranty affiliates around the state, six of which aired it.
But Engster, a perennial favorite on the commercial-free local NPR affiliate, never drew huge numbers from among the Guaranty station’s more conservative talk radio audience. The two-hour format, which required breaking for commercials every seven minutes, also tended to work against Engster’s strengths as an interviewer with a photographic memory for political and historical factoids and a penchant for cerebral, serious discussions.
Engster says the show is one of the highest rated on the station, but concedes ratings were an issue.
“We have some ground to make up, not only in that time period but in others and there may be someone out there who can do better than I did,” he says. “I feel like we gave it a good shot.”
Guaranty launched Talk 107.3 FM in 2011. The station’s previous format was country music.
Engster’s last day on Talk 107.3 is Friday, Dec. 29. He will continue to produce and host Talk Louisiana with Jim Engster, which airs from 9-10 a.m on WRKF.
—Stephanie Riegel
