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San Jose's 1590 KLIV Changing Formats to...

stewie

stewie

... CLASSIC COUNTRY!

Having grown up in San Jose and worked in that building for a short time, this doesn't come as a huge surprise. If anything, I applaud Empire for keeping KLIV going as long as they did.

From the KLIV Facebook page:

----

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM ROBERT S. KIEVE, PRESIDENT OF EMPIRE BROADCASTING:

Within a few weeks, KLIV will be changing its format. The high expenses of running a news station, and declining ad revenues have become too great.

Indeed, in the 30 years that KLIV has been a local news station, it has never made a profit; it has lost money every year. 2015 was the worst year in our history.
We’ll retain many features that have made KLIV distinctive – Carl Guardino’s weekly programs, our traffic reports, the voice of John McLeod, Phil Cosentino’s Produce Reports, commentaries about local issues by local community issues, speakers from the San Jose Rotary Club and from the Commonwealth Club. And yes, the “Secret Sound.” In place of local newscasts, we’ll play the best country music of the 80’s and 90’s. We will miss our small news staff, especially its leader, George Sampson. They’ve done a wonderful job. We hope that you can view this change with sympathy – and that you give our new format a fair listen. Although the changes are still weeks away, we wanted you to know about our plans.

Robert S. Kieve
President, Empire Broadcasting
 
Has it really been 'local news' all that time? I thought they simulcast CNN Headline News (when it was called that) in the '90s?
 
I had a conversation with Mr. Kieve regarding this -- I disagreed with the decision to go Classic Country, and suggested why not go Classic KLIV Oldies?

He didn't feel there was any listener base for 1960s/1970s Oldies on KLIV, but I argued that there was a greater opportunity with that format than there is for Country Oldies.

I did not win the argument.

DJ
 

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BossRadioDJ said:
I had a conversation with Mr. Kieve regarding this -- I disagreed with the decision to go Classic Country, and suggested why not go Classic KLIV Oldies?

He didn't feel there was any listener base for 1960s/1970s Oldies on KLIV, but I argued that there was a greater opportunity with that format than there is for Country Oldies.

I did not win the argument.

DJ
Click to expand...

There's probably a listener base, but no advertising base. The country oldies format right now is focused on the '80s and '90s, not the '60s and '70s. I'd expect to hear a lot more George Strait and Alan Jackson than George Jones and Stonewall Jackson on KLIV.
 
CTListener said:
There's probably a listener base, but no advertising base. The country oldies format right now is focused on the '80s and '90s, not the '60s and '70s. I'd expect to hear a lot more George Strait and Alan Jackson than George Jones and Stonewall Jackson on KLIV.
Click to expand...

I'm surprised there is ANY market or advertising base for music on AM, even for a format that appeals to older listeners like Classic Country. Especially on a signal-challenged top of the dial frequency. I'm reminded that in the early 90s, KSAN 94.9 was current country music while sister station KNEW-AM was Classic Country. But that was only viable until the mid 90s. That was 20 years ago.

Hell - I'm 64 and in the demographic advertisers don't care about. But even at my age, I made the switch to FM almost exclusively for music in the early 70s, when I was in my early 20s. That's 43 years ago!

The last AM music station I can recall in the San Francisco market was KABL's MOYL/MOR format and I think that folded before the new millennium. A couple of those brief Saul Levine formats like K-Mozart might have come and gone since then, but they didn't last long.
 
LKellerIII said:
I'm surprised there is ANY market or advertising base for music on AM, even for a format that appeals to older listeners like Classic Country. Especially on a signal-challenged top of the dial frequency. I'm reminded that in the early 90s, KSAN 94.9 was current country music while sister station KNEW-AM was Classic Country. But that was only viable until the mid 90s. That was 20 years ago.

Hell - I'm 64 and in the demographic advertisers don't care about. But even at my age, I made the switch to FM almost exclusively for music in the early 70s, when I was in my early 20s. That's 43 years ago!

The last AM music station I can recall in the San Francisco market was KABL's MOYL/MOR format and I think that folded before the new millennium. A couple of those brief Saul Levine formats like K-Mozart might have come and gone since then, but they didn't last long.
Click to expand...

Here in central Connecticut, we still have WQUN Hamden with standards and soft pop, WNTY Southington with classic hits (supplemented by a 250-watt FM translator), and a couple of Spanish-language stations doing a tropical music format. Oh, and there's also WCTF Vernon, owned by Family Radio, playing Christian music when it's not predicting the date of Second Coming. Nothing in Hartford or New Haven proper, though.
 
LKellerIII said:
The last AM music station I can recall in the San Francisco market was KABL's MOYL/MOR format and I think that folded before the new millennium. A couple of those brief Saul Levine formats like K-Mozart might have come and gone since then, but they didn't last long.
Click to expand...

Scott Shannon's True Oldies channel lasted on 1550 for what... 8 months? That was back in 2009 IIRC. That might have played a part in KLIV's decision not to go with classic oldies.

Dave B.
 
RadioPatrol said:
"it has never made a profit; it has lost money every year."
Click to expand...

So am I supposed to feel sympathetic because the owner didn't have sense enough to pull the plug years ago? This is not a business, it's a hobby..and a costly one at that. Good luck with the Country format...another bad business decision, but it's your station!
 
DrAkbar said:
So am I supposed to feel sympathetic because the owner didn't have sense enough to pull the plug years ago? This is not a business, it's a hobby..and a costly one at that. Good luck with the Country format...another bad business decision, but it's your station!
Click to expand...

I think it would make more sense to try to talk format with nationally syndicated programs. Maybe a local afternoon drive show focusing on topics relevant to the Silicon Valley.
 
CTListener said:
There's probably a listener base, but no advertising base. The country oldies format right now is focused on the '80s and '90s, not the '60s and '70s. I'd expect to hear a lot more George Strait and Alan Jackson than George Jones and Stonewall Jackson on KLIV.
Click to expand...

Awesome! 80's and 90's country in crystal clear mono. :/
 
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