Big Boy Leaves Power 106, Jumps Ship to iHeart's Return of 92.3 The Beat

[ChannelFlipper]

Ha! And how "boomer" of you to think people's lives revolve around a radio station.

Keep in mind what may be "fun and creative" for you is "annoying and obnoxious" for someone else, especially fans of the previous format who are now screwed and upset.

As I said, any impact the stunting COULD have had was completely blown when Emmis sued Big Boy. The cat is out of the proverbial bag. No real surprise or anticipation any more.

I've been on both sides of this. The one that hurt the most was just recently mentioned on this board - When Frank Cody fired all of the KMET jocks on a Friday in February 1987, he did somewhat of a reverse stunt. Instead of playing music or some sort of stunt regarding the next station to come, he played this ominous death sound and then an ominous voice said how many days, and then on the last day, how many hours until the station died for good on Valentines Day. It was an agonizing week and a half as I listened to what was effectively the corpse of my favorite station and rumors swirled as to what would come next. But I did listen. And even listened to the first few hours and days of the Wave, although as a rock 'n' roller, it wasn't really my thing, and I was consigned to just suffering with KLOS up the dial.

It is true that I didn't have a smart phone with social messaging and texting apps at the time, so yes it was a bit different then.

 

[Thomps2525]

Mister Flipper, today's Rewind feature at LARadio.com focused on that so-called "Valentine's Day Massacre." The KMET airstaff was fired on February 6, 1987. I've mentioned how all the KBLA DJs were fired in 1967...and now all the KHHT DJs in 2015. There have been many other mass firings. Job security is virtually non-existent in radio. Rick Dees at KIIS? Kim Amidon at KOST?

San Francisco DJ Matt Haze posted this comment, an obvious reference to the new Real 92.3:

"How should we launch a new radio station? I KNOW! 10,000 SONGS IN A ROW! No one has EVER done THAT!" - every single radio consultant ever

https://twitter.com/matthaze

How many different songs will be part of that 10,000? Does anyone have an idea as to the size of the everyday playlist? How many currents and how many "classic r&b/hip-hop" songs? And is it too soon for anyone to speculate as to how successful the new format will be? Real 92.3 is pretty much identical to KPWR but with no DJs and no personality.

 

[TheBigA]

Job security is virtually non-existent in radio.

The only people I know with job security are justices on the Supreme Court. Everyone else lives either day to day, or contract to contract. Why should radio be different?

 

[kzpo]

Harry Newman survived the slaughter when KBLA dropped chr for country as KBBQ.

 

[hotpatrick2004]

Off topic a bit if alt 98.7 new morning show why would they keep it if it is dragging the station down as david implies? Why would they have even added a morning show when there music in the morning was working for them? And I wonder how 98.7 was being considered for a potential flip to 98.7 the beat?

I think beating heritage like kroq is very difficult. Look at just one example 94.9 in san diego. They did it for awhile but 91x is alive and kicking and doing very well. So same can be said of power 106. Beating them will be difficult.

As I said I like the new morning show just strange for a company that loves to cut corners to ad all that expense to there payroll.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Off topic a bit if alt 98.7 new morning show why would they keep it if it is dragging the station down as david implies? Why would they have even added a morning show when there music in the morning was working for them?

You may as well ask why 100.3 The Sound just did the same thing on Monday.

And I wonder how 98.7 was being considered for a potential flip to 98.7 the beat?

Already asked and answered in this thread. 98.7 was probably not considered because its signal is inferior to 92.3, and if iHeart has even a prayer of knocking off Power they need the best signal they could afford to flip.

I think beating heritage like kroq is very difficult. Look at just one example 94.9 in san diego. They did it for awhile but 91x is alive and kicking and doing very well. So same can be said of power 106. Beating them will be difficult.

KROQ is not as hard to beat anymore. Their music mix works against them now every bit as much as it helped them in the 1980s. Power 106 is a different situation. They play music which is currently very popular, they have been unchallenged for the past couple of decades, and Emmis has no choice but to pull out all the stops in answering the competition, because since they sold 93.9 off to GRC they have exactly one source of revenue in this market. They are going to protect that with all their might.

As I said I like the new morning show just strange for a company that loves to cut corners to ad all that expense to there payroll.

You have it slightly backwards, Patrick. Morning shows are the one area of payroll where stations don't mind spending. They simply cut everywhere else to pay for it.

 

[davideduardo]

How many different songs will be part of that 10,000? Does anyone have an idea as to the size of the everyday playlist? How many currents and how many "classic r&b/hip-hop" songs? And is it too soon for anyone to speculate as to how successful the new format will be? Real 92.3 is pretty much identical to KPWR but with no DJs and no personality.

Likely list, if full-ahead Urban with throwbacks and some old-school, will be in the 200 to 300 range, including dayparted songs and mix show songs.

The fact that they are pushing the powers at 90 minute rotations means about 120 or so spins a week...

KQBT in Houston where the PD comes from has 260 songs on the playlist, with about 90 spins a week on the top 5 songs.

 

[jasonharper2013]

no website for real 92.3 but have facebook and twitter could this be a stunt

 

[Unregistered]

no website for real 92.3 but have facebook and twitter could this be a stunt

They've had a website since 9:23 am... http://www.real923la.com

 

[Unregistered]

Power 106 Playlist

It will be interesting to see how Power 106 "adjusts" it's playlist with the competition in town now. Will they go hardcore hip-hop and dump the few odd dancey tracks out of their playlist like they did in 1996. Also, will the mixshows become strictly hip-hop, getting rid of the tracks that are questionable hip-hop/R&B? I would think so if the competition is billing themselves as "Real."

 

[Bran1993]

They play the same ratchet songs that Power 106 burned out 6 months ago. It's been a long time since LA had a full signal urban besides. KJLH is close to urban despite being still billed as Urban AC per Mediabase and BDS but then again KJLH ain't goin nowhere. I'm only 21 but I'd rather listen to KJLH for my current R&B fix.

 

[K.M. Richards]

no website for real 92.3 but have facebook and twitter could this be a stunt

You've got to be kidding, Jason.

They fired the entire Hot 92.3 airstaff.
They made an offer to Power 106's morning man which has triggered a lawsuit.
They brought in a high-octane program director.
They're doing much the same as Amp did when it launched, which is play 10,000 songs before they take their first break.

I mean, come on ... does that sound like a stunt to you?

 

[davideduardo]

They play the same ratchet songs that Power 106 burned out 6 months ago. It's been a long time since LA had a full signal urban besides. KJLH is close to urban despite being still billed as Urban AC per Mediabase and BDS but then again KJLH ain't goin nowhere. I'm only 21 but I'd rather listen to KJLH for my current R&B fix.

If they go full Urban, they will not make it. There is not a big enough population base for the station to get the needed share level without crossing color lines... and if anyone remembers The Beat they will remember that it positioned exactly that way with "no color lines" promotional material to try to bring people of all ethnicities into the audience.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

If they go full Urban, they will not make it. There is not a big enough population base for the station to get the needed share level without crossing color lines... and if anyone remembers The Beat they will remember that it positioned exactly that way with "no color lines" promotional material to try to bring people of all ethnicities into the audience.

And how did that work out?

 

[Dj Woody]

On average, how long does it take to play 10,000 songs in a row?

 

[TheBigA]

On average, how long does it take to play 10,000 songs in a row?

About a month.

 

[Bran1993]

@David I remember The Beat and their "No Color Lines" campaign even though I'm only 21 years old. That's what "Real 92.3" is lacking.

 

[DOB]

The Beat was a successful station up until radio one took over and decided that they didn't want anyone not black listening to the station. No that is not what they wanted I"m sure, but that is how they programmed it. Big Boy is mass appeal, everyone likes him, radio one with the beat brought in a black only morning show to the beat and then with the music and imaging as well they alienated all the non black listeners who are needed in LA to make a go of it as the black population is not big enough to sustain a black only radio station like their say magic 102 in Houston.

Clear channel will not make this mistake but at the same time they are smart enough to know that they need to be a hip hop and rnb station only. Being a second rhythmic copycat of Power wont work, they need their own angle and playing Power as being a pop techno station is the way to go. Now, 4 years ago I'd say that is a bad play, but recently dance music has been scaled back and hip hop has gotten much stronger. I expect that trend to continue until it runs its course in say 5 to 7 years from now.

 

[Bran1993]

The Beat was a successful station up until radio one took over and decided that they didn't want anyone not black listening to the station. No that is not what they wanted I"m sure, but that is how they programmed it. Big Boy is mass appeal, everyone likes him, radio one with the beat brought in a black only morning show to the beat and then with the music and imaging as well they alienated all the non black listeners who are needed in LA to make a go of it as the black population is not big enough to sustain a black only radio station like their say magic 102 in Houston.

Clear channel will not make this mistake but at the same time they are smart enough to know that they need to be a hip hop and rnb station only. Being a second rhythmic copycat of Power wont work, they need their own angle and playing Power as being a pop techno station is the way to go. Now, 4 years ago I'd say that is a bad play, but recently dance music has been scaled back and hip hop has gotten much stronger. I expect that trend to continue until it runs its course in say 5 to 7 years from now.

They might take the smart route and make it more like sister station KMEL in San Fransisco. They did that a longtime ago when they were The Beat and make it into a mass appeal urban contemporary radio station. Can anyone else see that for "The Real 92.3"?. Here's how it should go down.


1. Local morning show

2. During middays play current hip hop and R&B along with throwbacks

3. Afternoons the same as middays and have a mix show during the evening drive.

4. Late Nights have a quiet storm show and play songs by Anita Baker, Babyface, Toni Braxton, Charlie Wilson and hopefully include those artists in regular rotation. They need to claim ownership of true R&B artists such as Goaple, Charlie Wilson, Fantasia, John Legend, Sam Smith, Tank, etc. There is a lot of great R&B out right but signal challenged KJLH is focusing on the new R&B. We'll see how this plays out by the summer and hopefully they'll daypart their playlist as time goes on.

 

[only1moore]

They might take the smart route and make it more like sister station KMEL in San Fransisco. They did that a longtime ago when they were The Beat and make it into a mass appeal urban contemporary radio station. Can anyone else see that for "The Real 92.3"?. Here's how it should go down.


1. Local morning show

2. During middays play current hip hop and R&B along with throwbacks

3. Afternoons the same as middays and have a mix show during the evening drive.

4. Late Nights have a quiet storm show and play songs by Anita Baker, Babyface, Toni Braxton, Charlie Wilson and hopefully include those artists in regular rotation. They need to claim ownership of true R&B artists such as Goaple, Charlie Wilson, Fantasia, John Legend, Sam Smith, Tank, etc. There is a lot of great R&B out right but signal challenged KJLH is focusing on the new R&B. We'll see how this plays out by the summer and hopefully they'll daypart their playlist as time goes on.

A local show, yes. But the other three, well save for the mix shows don't expect KHHT to go that far into the R&B realm. After all they are trying to take down KPWR and the only way to do that is match them music for music.