Turn off the "Power", 89-7 finds the "Way"

[purpledevil]

http://radioinsight.com/blog/headlines/92957/wayfm-acquires-kvrk-dallas/

Christian Rock 89-7 KVRK has been sold to Way-FM, according to a report from Insight, and will flip to the Christian "Way-FM" programming upon completion of the sale. Can it compete with KLTY, given the rimshot signal into the Metroplex?

Your thoughts?

 

[xmusicmatt]

http://www.allaccess.com/net-news/a...edia-to-purchase-christian-rocker-kvrk-89-7-p

It will be interesting.. KVRK was a Christian Rock format. Way FM is very Christian AC (CCM) formatted. Dallas already has established Christian AC (KLTY) and also Christian Music and teaching KCBI.

But at least while most of the programming will be brought in from Nashville WAY will maintain a LOCAL operations staff to work in the community and do community service type events. [Which would not have happened if say KVRK was sold to EMF who would have just plugged in the satellite dish and had no local studio presence]

 

[Anonymouse]

But at least while most of the programming will be brought in from Nashville WAY will maintain a LOCAL operations staff to work in the community and do community service type events. [Which would not have happened if say KVRK was sold to EMF who would have just plugged in the satellite dish and had no local studio presence]

I haven't heard too much of Way FM, so we'll see how it turns out with them in Dallas. From what I have heard, they are kinda catchy with their music. I know they're not as popular as EMF but at least they are partially local.

From what I've heard out of EMF, it's not local at all. I do like both K-Love and Air 1 music-wise, but it's all piped in from California, never mind anything to do with the community the stations serve. They're probably so popular and doing so well because they play catchy music and 99% of their listeners just turn it on for the music and don't have a good idea what "local" means as far as radio. I mean, I know EMF does try to spread the message of Jesus Christ, and that's great! I just like it when radio stations actually are involved with the community in which they can be heard.

 

[Unregistered]

It's minimal, but EMF does have a team that travels the country doing local public affairs programming on their stations.

Also, they have a promotions team office in Dallas as well.

 

[E-Cam]

Too bad EMF can't air "K-Love" since there's KLUV

Aside from that point, haven't heard of Way FM before but I do expect the playlist to be very KLTY/"K-Love"-like which has some pretty good mix of Christian Pop/Rock bands. However, I'll miss the Christian Rock bands on DFW airwaves after the last couple of decades of them being on the air. Hope Power FM will be an online radio station. If not, I know some Christian Rock stations that I can stream on my phone and listen to in my car.

Btw, living in San Antonio, when someone mentions "K-Love," I gotta remember they're talking about a Christian station, not a CBS-owned classic hits station. Just as much as when someone down here mention's Babe's, they're talking about a burger place, not a country-style chicken place.

 

[Rick Rose 2.0]

I use to love WAY fm and would vacation in Nashville and Florida to listen when the were CHR but those days are gone. They started targeting young people then over recent years the station evolved into AC. It think they started off a rock chr mix then slowed it up. I am not sure how another AC station will work in DFW plus i believe KCBI airs a fair amount of AC music mixed with preaching shows now yet KLTY pushes a million cume sometimes. I guess for WAY to grow and stay financially stable they had to soften up but i miss the old way of the 90s into the early 2000s.

 

[b-turner]

Way FM was really quite good when they were CHR based. These days its more AC oriented. Some former KSBJ jocks landed there but even more ended up at EMF.

Judging by the signal and the strength of KLTY, I really think they have a tough road ahead of them. Then again, they are not below starting small and growing. As I recall, in Nashville they were very much a rimshot out of Columbia, Tennessee. The local presence will be a real deciding factor. If they can outwork KLTY, and that will be tough as Salem can play hardball when needed, they will have a chance. I expect a translator or two to bolster the coverage.

There's much that can be said about starting small. As they grow, assuming they will, it will be blamed on the audience that donates to makes it happen. That will establish some good loyalty among listeners. People love underdogs and as they succeed, are only too eager to hang on every success along the way.

Having a Dallas/Fort Worth signal, even a rimshot, is a nice thing to add to their portfolio.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

The WAY-FM's vary a lot in quality - I've heard the one in Colorado. It is a lot better than most, but it will still be a big step down from the excellent quality of KVRK. I remember the glory days of WAY-FM in Florida, they were a tough receive from Daytona Beach, and when Andrew roared through there, they never replaced all of their antenna so they were even weaker. Their Sarasota outlet was not much better from Daytona, but they finally put in a West Palm outlet and that really helped. I moved to Palm Bay, and the West Palm outlet was almost strong enough for the car, and I understand the upped it even more.

Back to Colorado - their former signal was best in the north part of town, it started to fade about downtown. Too bad a lot of the affluent suburbs are south of Downtown.

I can't help but think the Sanger location of KVRK hampered it a lot - but perhaps WAY-FM is used to dealing with rim shot audiences. I am not sure it is a smart business move with Air 1 now on the air. Some of the WAY-FM outlets are little more than Air 1.

 

[purpledevil]

Kind of makes you wonder if a similar purchase near Houston might be in the works for Way-FM somewhere down the road. Like Dallas, there is a well established CCM here in KSBJ. Like Dallas, we too have a somewhat distant Air 1 affiliate in KHJK. Like KVRK, we have a couple of rimshot signals that might garner the current owners attention if a $2 mil offer was made for the facility. While not necessarily covering the Houston metro entirely, would cover largely populated areas around Liberty, Beaumont, Pasadena, etc., in the same vein of KVRK's coverage of Sanger, Denton, Sherman/Denison, etc. Perhaps a signal like KSHN Liberty.

Completely speculative, yet where there is smoke there is likely fire. This, too, is a market that has long had only one choice for CCM and just like Dallas, EMF is blocked from bringing K-Love to town as we already have one owned by Univision. Certainly would be a feather in Way-FM's hat to launch in two Top 6 markets that EMF would be unable to do anything to combat.

 

[b-turner]

A very interesting observation.

If we look at things, Air One has stated that Houston almost instantly became a very important property to them, literally exceeding what they suspected.

Meanwhile KSBJ, while feeling the pinch from Air One is proving there is plenty of room for two such stations.

Houston might be a very good place for Way FM to grab a rimshot. Maybe a South or West side metro signal would be the way to go. What about KQLC in Sealy? Might Bob sell that one?

 

[xmusicmatt]

Completely speculative, yet where there is smoke there is likely fire. This, too, is a market that has long had only one choice for CCM and just like Dallas, EMF is blocked from bringing K-Love to town as we already have one owned by Univision. Certainly would be a feather in Way-FM's hat to launch in two Top 6 markets that EMF would be unable to do anything to combat.

WayFM is on a goal to reach many people as part of their 2020 vision... I would not put it past them on future expansion if the cards are right. Oh yeah let's not forget that EMF came into WayFM's home turf (Nashville) with their programming "KLove" (in a market that already had Salem's Fish programming by way of "Today's Christian Music") so WayFM already knows a thing or two about competing against Salem.

One thing I really like about WayFM is even though they are a AC they have some compelling content between the songs (Wally in the mornings, etc that makes them stand out from the typical soccer mom CCM...)