The new krth

[semoochie]

I was actually saying the same thing in a different way. For the majority of people, it is out of their scope, to be listening at those hours, so for all practical purposes, the total amount of plays is closer to three than seven. I'm not suggesting that anyone heard it that many times or even, at all.

 

[michael hagerty]

I was actually saying the same thing in a different way. For the majority of people, it is out of their scope, to be listening at those hours, so for all practical purposes, the total amount of plays is closer to three than seven. I'm not suggesting that anyone heard it that many times or even, at all.

But that's not really accurate.

The math tells the story. 2 million people listen to KRTH each week. Only 56,000 hear any given play of any given song. That's 2.5% of KRTH's listeners. This is how it's possible to play a song 7 times in a week and have a listener hear it once in three weeks.

 

[oldies76]

Interesting that KRTH will play "I Love Rock and Roll" at 12:55am, 7:48am, 12:35pm (so far)....wonder if that had to do with Joan Jett being in the Macy's parade this morning.

 

[semoochie]

But that's not really accurate.

The math tells the story. 2 million people listen to KRTH each week. Only 56,000 hear any given play of any given song. That's 2.5% of KRTH's listeners. This is how it's possible to play a song 7 times in a week and have a listener hear it once in three weeks.

I don't disagree with anything you say. Let's just concentrate on overnights. Most people NEVER listen during overnights, so if you take out the three plays there, it leaves four, which for all practical purposes is the total that most people would have a chance of being exposed to. It's a little bit like cable TV. You may have hundreds of channels but there's a good chance that one of the local access channels isn't going to have more than a handful of viewers.

 

[michael hagerty]

I don't disagree with anything you say. Let's just concentrate on overnights. Most people NEVER listen during overnights, so if you take out the three plays there, it leaves four, which for all practical purposes is the total that most people would have a chance of being exposed to. It's a little bit like cable TV. You may have hundreds of channels but there's a good chance that one of the local access channels isn't going to have more than a handful of viewers.

True, and I'm not thinking you're disagreeing...I'm just going for the bigger point of clarity (critical on this board, and even then.....)

Even four plays would only find the ears of 224,000 people. About a tenth of KRTH's weekly cume. So most of KRTH's listeners (90% of them) are exposed to the song ZERO times in four plays.

If your horizontal and vertical rotations are right, you've got 40 plays before all your audience has heard the song once.

 

[oldies76]

Anyone notice what CBS-FM has been playing today? These are the softer of the bunch, others have been played as well besides these listed here, usually in groups of two or three by year, every hour.

It's the top three songs of each year in musical history weekend (Thanksgiving Triple Play) in major market #1. Too bad KRTH can't follow this example of great specialty airplay.

12:31am "On My Own" (1986)
12:36am "That's What Friends Are For" (1986)
3:34am "Seasons in the Sun" (1974)
3:37am "The Way We Were" (1974)
4:32am "Seperate Lives" (1985)
5:42am "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (1972)
6:42am "You Light Up My Life" (1977)
7:33am "I Think I Love You" (1970)
7:40am "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" (1969-70)
8:32am "Endless Love" (1981)
8:36am "Bette Davis Eyes" (1981)
8:40am "Physical" (1981)
11:43am "Tie a Yellow Ribbon....." (1973)

 

[davideduardo]

Interesting that KRTH will play "I Love Rock and Roll" at 12:55am, 7:48am, 12:35pm (so far)....wonder if that had to do with Joan Jett being in the Macy's parade this morning.

And it may tie in with sets for the feature programming today. Or it just may be a good grasp on what drives holiday listening.

Stations know that adult PUR's fall by as much as half on holidays (with Thanksgiving and Christmas the absolute worst), and listening spans are very short and erratic (save for all Christmas stations) so they can pick prime cuts and play them as if they were currents if they want.

And if you want to use the correct terminology, holiday and weekend features are just that... features or themes. "Specialty shows" are regularly recurring shorter-form things like a doo-wop show or a countdown from another year or an artist feature like an hour of "Sinatra on Sundays" or similar things.

 

[LKellerIII]

Anyone notice what CBS-FM has been playing today? These are the softer of the bunch, others have been played as well besides these listed here, usually in groups of two or three by year, every hour.

It's the top three songs of each year in musical history weekend (Thanksgiving Triple Play) in major market #1. Too bad KRTH can't follow this example of great specialty airplay.

12:31am "On My Own" (1986)
12:36am "That's What Friends Are For" (1986)
3:34am "Seasons in the Sun" (1974)
3:37am "The Way We Were" (1974)
4:32am "Seperate Lives" (1985)
5:42am "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (1972)
6:42am "You Light Up My Life" (1977)
7:33am "I Think I Love You" (1970)
7:40am "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" (1969-70)
8:32am "Endless Love" (1981)
8:36am "Bette Davis Eyes" (1981)
8:40am "Physical" (1981)
11:43am "Tie a Yellow Ribbon....." (1973)

Somebody actually plays Seasons in the Sun? I thought that was radio poison.

 

[Thomps2525]

The evolution of KRTH seems to be complete now. Almost all of the 1960s songs have been eliminated. That is understandable, considering that KRTH (and its advertisers) want to attract the 35-to-49-year-old listeners and they can no longer do that by continuing to play 50-year-old songs. Unfortunately, KRTH did not add many 1980s-90s songs to compensate. The active playlist is now a measly 400 titles and many songs are now played three times a day. Instead of complaining about Brown Eyed Girl being played so much, we can now complain about Hotel California, which is played four times a day. Michael Hagerty points out that the average listener will never hear the song four times a day because the average listener listens for only a few minutes at a time and might hear the song only once or twice a week and therefore not think that it's being played too often. Okay...but what about people who listen for several hours at a time? What about workplaces (such as my own) where the supervisor has the radio on all day? KRTH is much too repetitious. At least in my own case, I and several of my co-workers kept complaining about KRTH and our supervisor switched the radio to KHHT. Yay!

 

[Thomps2525]

After checking several days' playlists on KRTH's website---which is not nearly as painful as actually listening to the station---I found several songs that seem to repeat every four to six hours: Jump, September, Hotel California, Holiday (Madonna), Good Lovin' (Rascals), Take On Me, Tainted Love, Miss You, Hotel California, Every Breath You Take, Don't Stop Believin', Old Time Rock & Roll, Best Of My Love (Emotions), Maybe I'm Amazed, Livin' On A Prayer, Give A Little Bit, Rock'n Me and Hotel California. I may have mentioned Hotel California more than once---and with good reason! The largest part of KRTH's playlist covers 1973 through 1989. Around 375 songs for a 17-year period? An average of 22 songs per year? That's pathetic!

 

[oldies76]

K-Earth 101 will never appeal to the way and wishes to those who really love classic hits and oldies. They will never satisfy us. That ended, probably in 1988 when KRTH was sold to Beasley Broadcasting. Before that, KRTH had an endless library with enormous weekend specials and promotions with Bob Hamilton. After 1988, the playlist shrunk to fewer than 400 songs during the Mike Phillips and Jay Coffey time periods. Only Jhani Kaye saved the station in 2005, by adding a few hundred more tunes. Since then, the 60's have largely dropped and what's left is a miniscule "sample" (if you want to call it that) of the 70's and 80's under Rick Thomas. And what's left is being played very frequently as Thomps / Steve noted.

K-Earth 101 is just a tiny shell of what it used to be and frankly, I can no longer call this station...a legendary radio station. It is not unique anymore and really, it sounds just like any other CH station owned by the same company...too generic!

Angelinos will never know what real music and classics sounded like.......back in the day. They will mostly believe that the 15 or so songs that are being played per year, from the 1973 to 1989 time period on KRTH, are the only tunes that ever existed. Yet 90-95% of the top 20's that do exist from the 60's to the 80's.....are unplayed and ignored. Too bad.

 

[Thomps2525]

A year ago, KOLA-99.9 dropped all the 1950s-60s music and switched to '70s-80s-90s and the station is a lot more listenable than KRTH. The simple reason: The playlist is larger. Yeah, KOLA plays Tainted Love, Hotel California, Old Time Rock & Roll and other burned-out hits that are played to death on KRTH, but KOLA also plays Someday, Breathe, Lovefool, This Kiss, If It Makes You Happy, You're Still The One, Fly Away, If I Could Turn Back Time, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, Just A Girl, She's So High, Raspberry Beret, I Can't Wait, Don't Get Me Wrong and dozens of other songs that KRTH ignores. And...they're played no more than once a day. When you have a big playlist, you don't have to play certain songs three or four times a day. What a concept!

 

[SuperRadioFan]

When you have a big playlist, you don't have to play certain songs three or four times a day. What a concept!

And Steve, when they have a small playlist, you don't have to listen to them three or four hours, each and every day. What a concept!

 

[Thomps2525]

Since the playlist shrank, I don't even listen to KRTH three or four hours in a month. Of course they don't care about me because I'm not in their "target demo." But how can anyone get excited about hearing the same few songs over and over and over and over and over? I doubt any listener will ever exclaim, "Wow, they're playing Hotel California! I haven't heard that song for two hours!"

 

[oldies76]

So, it's a "Love Dedication Weekend" on KRTH, where "supposedly" (or most likely NOT), listeners are calling or facebooking KRTH to dedicate love songs for Valentine's Day and the weekend, and looking at the "last played" list, there are hardly, if any noticeable songs that would even relate to the playing of love songs. I mean, couldn't have KRTH played 1981's "Endless Love" just once, for this weekend?? But instead, it's their darn everyday playlist, twisted to make it sound truthful, when it isn't by any stretch of the imagination. Geez, what has really become of this station. Terrible.

I suppose for true classic love songs on the radio, most were out of luck.......again.

Sorry, but "Hotel California" and "Low Rider" do not qualify as love songs in my book.

Once again, creativity lacks from here to the moon.

 

[davideduardo]

But how can anyone get excited about hearing the same few songs over and over and over and over and over?

As stated before, the issue is not about how many times a song is played but whether the average listener hears songs they really, really like every time they tune in.

 

[Thomps2525]

David, I have something which will amaze and amuse you. I found a letter that KRTH program director Mike Phillips wrote me on May 5. 1995, in response to my lengthy complaint about the repetition on KRTH. (Yep---even back then!) He wrote, in part: "KRTH conducts regular music testing with our listeners. We actually get a large group of people together periodically, have them listen to 10-second slices of our songs, and have them rate them on popularity. This process also alerts us to the songs that listeners are most tired of. We do music testing several times a year to insure our music is fresh and on target. Over the years we have tested literally thousands of songs. Our policy is to play the most popular songs for the greatest number of listeners. I'm sorry you find some of the repetition to be annoying. However, we do our best to stay on top of what listeners like and dislike."

"10-second slices"? Is that enough? And is there anybody on the planet who would ever refer to KRTH's playlist as "fresh"? I think not!

 

[Thomps2525]

I'm finding all kinds of good things in my collection of radio memorabilia. I have the KRTH Top 30 survey #275 for the week of October 5, 1982. Laura Branigan's Gloria was number one. Aretha Franklin's Jump To It climbed from #10 to #5; it peaked at #24 nationally. At #6 was Don Henley's Johnny Can't Read, which peaked at #42 nationally. At #16 was El Chicano's Groovin', which failed to chart nationally. One of the four new adds was Cool Magic by the Steve Miller Band; the song stalled at #54 nationally. KRTH was much more listenable as a top-40 station than it is now as a classic hits station!

 

[krth101]

Was curious as to where the disenfranchised former KRTH listeners wound up after the major changes instituted last fall? After stumbling through several options, I found myself gravitating more often than not to CBS fm out of new York recently. Even though they are not anywhere near where the old KRTH was in terms of programming, they are much closer to the jhani Kaye era than what we were hearing in the Rick Thomas regime. CBS FM has great jocks, some fun specialty programming *the music is upbeat and has more of a pop flavor as opposed to the urban feel KRTH has taken on. Plus, the CBS fm playlist appears to be much larger and the repetition far less than what apparently still is taking place at KRTH. Even though I can't listen any longer I do check out the last played page on their website regularly to see if anything has changed. It hasn't!*

After months of listening to the new KRTH, I find that i completely disagree with posts on a previous site by David and Michael in regard to how well Rick is managing the playlist. In a recent trip to LA. I was inundated with the endless playing of "hotel california", "tainted love" and "we are the champions" just to name a few. The repetition is real and makes the station unlistenable for anything past 15 minutes or so.

I guess where I'm still somewhat confused in terms of where KRTH went these past few months is what precipitated them taking on a more urban/classic rock direction rather than the oldies/adult contemporary style under jhani Kaye. If it's true that the station tests it's target audience several times a year, how did the target audience tastes change so dramatically since last summer? Or was the musical change in direction simply a matter of what Rick felt more comfortable programming? Either way, CBS fm is not a bad option.

 

[davideduardo]

If it's true that the station tests it's target audience several times a year, how did the target audience tastes change so dramatically since last summer? Or was the musical change in direction simply a matter of what Rick felt more comfortable programming? Either way, CBS fm is not a bad option.

The target did not in itself change. The station changed the target.

As the ethnicity and composition of the 40-54 population changes, the station will likely research a much more diverse cross section compared to when the lily-white Beach Boys et. al. version of oldies was on the air.

A programmer's job is to program to the target that management sets. It's usual for quite a collective effort to be made to determine the target for the station and to design research specifications to study it. One person's "comfort zone" is hardly the way CBS lets its stations be programmed.