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KPLZ Changes

I

iamarussianpirate

KPLZ made a few changes today completely changing their imaging and altering their positioner to "Today's Best Mix" and the rumor is they have dropped John Tesh from evenings beginning tonight. They've also dropped a lot of gold records and are running powers every 2 hours.

Obviously reacting to their horrible May book. K&A were #13 W18-34, #12 W18-49 and #12 W25-54. Middays #14/#12/#15, Afternoons #15/#15/#14, Tesh #9/#11/#8. Ironically, Tesh outperformed the station yet he gets the boot.

They're clearly trying to go young which is why they're dropping Tesh, but he isn't the only image problem they have. If Sinclair is going to do this right they need to blow the whole damn thing up, change the name, and drop ALL of the jocks. Starting first and foremost with Kent & Allen. Nothing says old and out of touch like those two.
 
iamarussianpirate said:
KPLZ made a few changes today completely changing their imaging and altering their positioner to "Today's Best Mix" and the rumor is they have dropped John Tesh from evenings beginning tonight. They've also dropped a lot of gold records and are running powers every 2 hours.

Obviously reacting to their horrible May book. K&A were #13 W18-34, #12 W18-49 and #12 W25-54. Middays #14/#12/#15, Afternoons #15/#15/#14, Tesh #9/#11/#8. Ironically, Tesh outperformed the station yet he gets the boot.

They're clearly trying to go young which is why they're dropping Tesh, but he isn't the only image problem they have. If Sinclair is going to do this right they need to blow the whole damn thing up, change the name, and drop ALL of the jocks. Starting first and foremost with Kent & Allen. Nothing says old and out of touch like those two.
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Oh fantastic. Although I did not listen, I thought that KPLZ was actually a decent station. Prepare to say "hello" to another price of garbage like "Now 102-9", "goodbye" to 80's and 90's tracks and theme weekends, and "welcome" to more Hot AC.

If we are lucky, maybe KING 98.1 will flip to "Truck Country", featuring all of the hottest songs of today about driving, riding, and making love in pick up trucks. If we are really lucky, we'll lose KMCQ to "Teen Club Mix", all songs the horrid rap songs that teenagers want while they drive their daddy's SUV.
 
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That's interesting. Doesn't surprise me at all. Last week I received a call from someone representing "a radio survey company". They asked me what stations I listened to amd I told them, and they seemed very disappointed with my answer. At the end of the call they then asked me specifically if I listened to KPLZ. Obviously this 3rd party firm was working for that station, in my opinion. Why else would the prompt me about one particular station when they are supposedly doing a "survey"?

KPLZ is old and stale, and besides I hate Kent and Alan, and John Tesh.
 
So KPLZ is finally swinging back to CHR? I figured they would eventually. I'm surprised they took this long.

Wow. The Puget Sound dial is getting awfully crowded with teenybopper pop. That's not good. Because audience pie for that ain't getting any bigger. But I also see an implosion coming, as in the late '80s when KHIT and KNBQ had to get blown up. As then, there are going to be some losers here. And last I checked, KISW could use a good competitor.
 
Finally better imaging! The female voice which seems to be new is very much dominating. KPLZ has had the least and most boring imaging of any station in the market for years, glad they're switching it up. If they're going to keep the new music sounder the way it is, I'd suggest moving it back to 45 with music on either side of the new song, the way they transition into new music doesn't seem very natural with this new imaging. I'm glad they're using the imaging a bit more. Running the powers every 2 hours does seem a bit tight.
 
If you look at the country as a whole Tesh, Delilah, etc are getting dropped like a rock. Seeing more of shift in the age of the demo as one generation exits as we make way for another. The format is one that clearly is in flux and as the tastes of the listener change then you'd better be there with them. The ever changing workplace as well has a large part to factor in. We did a month long study and actually went into offices, etc and sought out to see for ourselves what was taking place. The sleepy soft AC days are long gone with days of $1.98 gas my friends. Today's work place is more contemporary and more engaged then we give them credit for. These were the buzzwords that came from our focus group: fun, upbeat, positive, family friendly. As one lady said "I'm not my Mom and I don't want to feel like her. Just because I'm a mom doesn't mean I still can't have fun and be hip." At the end of the day ya better know what "Jennifer" wants as a listener and from what we are hearing it's not the same ol KPLZ that you grew up with. "Turn and face the strange.....ch ch ch changes"
 
If I am ever in Seattle, this is a station I will stop listening to. Loved their mix of 80s and 90s at lunchtime, and John Tesh was a great fit to the station. Now it's going to be a "KISS" clone. Great, just great. How about if they flip KJR, KMCQ and KRWM while they are at it?! Teenyboppers seem to have a need to rule the whole freakin' dial.

-crainbebo
 
Well it happened. Tesh wasn't on last night, just jockless "More Music Nights" as they're calling it. No changes to their website at all though which is surprising. Old branding is still there, Tesh is still listed. Someone isn't doing their job. Not so "Super" are you Jen?

And for god's sake, can we get a new logo? not that it will help you, but it's a step in the right direction.
 
Robert Biltmore Jennings said:
If you look at the country as a whole Tesh, Delilah, etc are getting dropped like a rock. Seeing more of shift in the age of the demo as one generation exits as we make way for another. The format is one that clearly is in flux and as the tastes of the listener change then you'd better be there with them. The ever changing workplace as well has a large part to factor in. We did a month long study and actually went into offices, etc and sought out to see for ourselves what was taking place. The sleepy soft AC days are long gone with days of $1.98 gas my friends. Today's work place is more contemporary and more engaged then we give them credit for. These were the buzzwords that came from our focus group: fun, upbeat, positive, family friendly. As one lady said "I'm not my Mom and I don't want to feel like her. Just because I'm a mom doesn't mean I still can't have fun and be hip." At the end of the day ya better know what "Jennifer" wants as a listener and from what we are hearing it's not the same ol KPLZ that you grew up with. "Turn and face the strange.....ch ch ch changes"
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Clearly you haven't listened to KPLZ in the last 10 years. It's anything BUT sleepy and has targeted young soccer moms quite well - until the last few books, that is.

iamarussianpirate said:
Well it happened. Tesh wasn't on last night, just jockless "More Music Nights" as they're calling it. No changes to their website at all though which is surprising. Old branding is still there, Tesh is still listed. Someone isn't doing their job. Not so "Super" are you Jen?

And for god's sake, can we get a new logo? not that it will help you, but it's a step in the right direction.
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How do you know Jen has anything to do with this? Sounds like it's personal...
 
>>>If you look at the country as a whole Tesh, Delilah, etc are getting dropped like a rock. Seeing more of shift in the age of the demo as one generation exits as we make way for another.<<<

But the station itself isn't changing its focus. It had been Hot AC and it wants to stay Hot AC. Seattle already has two Top 40 stations and a Rhythmic Top 40. So what you're saying is that today's 35 year old just wants to hear the same music as they can hear on a Top 40 station? That doesn't make sense. Generations may change but if you're 35 you DON'T want the same music as your teenage daughter... or at least you shouldn't.

What's wrong with John Tesh? If you want to run a daypart without a DJ, yet you want to be something more than just continuous music, you put Tesh on. He tells you how to ask your boss for a raise, or how to get a good deal on a vacation. You can get the version of Tesh where you still play all your same music, he just supplies some commentary a few times per hour. Is that something that a 35 year old doesn't want to hear? Just keep playing Rhianna and Justin Timberlake, don't try to inform me of anything between the songs. I'm still too young to be informed, even though I'm 35 and have kids and a job and a mortgage. I just want non-stop Top 40 music from my radio, because I don't want my daughter to think I'm over the hill.

I don't understand this concept that AC has to be virtually the same as Top 40 for fear of being viewed as too old. I also don't understand why previous generations of adults decided to leave Top 40 after reaching a certain age for an upgrade in music, be it Classical, Smooth Jazz, Easy Listening, Soft AC, Adult Alternative. But today's adults want to listen to only the pop hits. Don't challenge them with anything more than the same music their kids are listening to.
 
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crainbebo said:
If I am ever in Seattle, this is a station I will stop listening to. Loved their mix of 80s and 90s at lunchtime, and John Tesh was a great fit to the station. Now it's going to be a "KISS" clone. Great, just great. How about if they flip KJR, KMCQ and KRWM while they are at it?! Teenyboppers seem to have a need to rule the whole freakin' dial.

-crainbebo
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I am 110% with you. Heck, I am a "teenybopper" (age wise) but i'm sick of seeing all of these radio stations flip to cater to what "teenyboppers" want. The reality of the mater is that there are few stations left on the radio dial that target people who are not young in age. Counting commercial music stations, KMCQ, KJR, KJAQ, KZOK, KIXI, and KING (even though its non-com) are the only stations that are not trying to target the young demographic. KPLZ was the only Seattle AC station that was incorporating music that both younger and older people could enjoy. Now KPLZ is just another suto pop wannabe station; they will gain support from a younger audience, but their loyal audience is sacrificed.

This is the same reason why there isn't AAA or Smooth Jazz in Seattle. Its the type of format that is typically enjoyed by an older audience, but people of all ages can enjoy the programming. Unfortunately, this isn't good enough because in this day and age, the goal is to pick up the a certain age bracket (usually young people) and thats it. That means no specialty formats, just popular music from a certain era or new country.

So in short, keep ridding the radio dial of older programming, keep trying to make it appeal to young people, keep trying to make sure that specialty formats never make it to the airwaves. I sure am never going to listen to this garbage anyway; i'll find other means.
 
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Here's a question, if Hot AC was even playing 70s in the latter half of the 90s and early 2000s, they have dropped them by 2004 yet some Hot ACs still won't let go of the 80s. What's up with that? The thing I never liked about Star's 80s lunch is how much overlap there was with KJR. Hot AC and Classic Hits should never under any circumstances overlap. As for John Tesh, that's a good point, I'm not sure why they dropped them. The problem I had with the way they did Tesh was that they would air the opening story of the hour, then would skip the next one. It seemed as if they were deliberately trying to shortchange us listeners. This is why I would listen to Tesh on KBBY or KISC when I committed to listening to his program regularly a couple years back. I've since switched to listening to either Y94 from Fargo or Mariners baseball in the evenings.
 
crainbebo said:
If I am ever in Seattle, this is a station I will stop listening to. Loved their mix of 80s and 90s at lunchtime, and John Tesh was a great fit to the station. Now it's going to be a "KISS" clone. Great, just great. How about if they flip KJR, KMCQ and KRWM while they are at it?! Teenyboppers seem to have a need to rule the whole freakin' dial.

-crainbebo
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I suppose you can always hear John Tesh on CKOR 800, they blast into the Seattle area like a local on most nights.
 
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