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KZOK playlist shakeup

F

fordranger797

KZOK has added 90's rock from the likes of Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Pearl Jam (among others) to their playlist. At least "Matchbox Twenty" and "Train" haven't made the cut. Perhaps a response to the existence of the new "Rock 98 - 9"
 
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Certainly not surprising. We have seen this in a number of formats. Classic Hits are now mostly 80's. Mainstream AC has dropped much of the sappy 80's hits. Hot AC rarely goes back before 2000. So Classic Rock is just doing what everyone else is doing, trying to stay above the break even demographics, or put another way, "The soon to be irrelevant and/or soon to die audience". Sad, but true.
 
seatownmedia said:
Certainly not surprising. We have seen this in a number of formats. Classic Hits are now mostly 80's. Mainstream AC has dropped much of the sappy 80's hits. Hot AC rarely goes back before 2000. So Classic Rock is just doing what everyone else is doing, trying to stay above the break even demographics, or put another way, "The soon to be irrelevant and/or soon to die audience". Sad, but true.
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Very true. I think i'll just invest in a bigger album collection when "classic rock" consists of standards from "Megadeath" and "Five Finger Death Punch"...
 
It's about time Classic Rock moved out of the '70s/'80s. They should have started doing this 10 years ago
 
Bongwater said:
It's about time Classic Rock moved out of the '70s/'80s. They should have started doing this 10 years ago
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It's questionable that Classic Rock can survive without the 70s but they sure can't without the 80s! Everything after about 1990 was an ever decreasing niche' for the music when it was new. Surely, they can't make a viable format out of a classic niche'!
 
fordranger797 said:
KZOK has added 90's rock from the likes of Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Pearl Jam (among others) to their playlist. At least "Matchbox Twenty" and "Train" haven't made the cut. Perhaps a response to the existence of the new "Rock 98 - 9"
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Surprised it took them that long my gosh. Here take a page out of Sirius play book - it's called Classic Rewind - ch.25 the second generation of classic rock.
 
If you are about to die and like the older cuts, buy an HD radio and listen to KZOK-HD2 Deep cuts. Interesting to see sometimes what is now considered "deep" but I think they do a good job programming.
 
Despite the changes, KZOK is still a great example of classic rock radio. There are not many stations left that emphasize rock music of the 60's (like KZOK does) in both general programming, and specialty shows such as "The Psychedelic 60's". I've seen a few examples of "classic rock" radio stations that have morphed into a collection of tracks from Aerosmith, Oasis, Matchbox Twenty, Counting Crows, Nirvana, etc.
 
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At one point, Seattle had about 6 Oldies/Classic Hits and Classic Rock choices going at the same time. That has distilled significantly, and the formats have changed to accommodate age. KRTH, LA, for example, used to be about the heritage RKO days of KHJ ... and finally broke out of the mold and leaned younger and their ratings became more solid. I liked Rick Sklar's interpretation ... "let's brand the 'oldies' as anything five years ago and beyond". Every year, he'd add new stuff to the library and keep the mix fresh. Not surprised KJR-F (Jet) doing well because all their competition is gone; and the Adult CHR-AC's are all slugging it out with each other with slight variations of similar libraries. If three of those signals went away (like KMCQ did), there would be clear format winners again.

It's all a way of standing by my ongoing belief that we're WAYYYY over-saturated with too many signals, too much competition on the mainstream formats and it's bland. When format choice became about "this owner doesn't have one of THOSE in THAT market" the dial got really polluted. I bet this market would do just great with about 10 mainstream FM's and 5 mainstream AM's covering the sports/news/traffic/talk spectrum. Rest either cut it as a niche or fringe station, or sign off.
 
I was in Seattle for five days last week... and took a spin around the dial a couple of times.

I thought 98.9's playlist was awful. KZOK's has been a steady evolution for years, but you always knew what to expect when you dialed in. However, I believe the inclusion of 90s alternative will be awfully jarring to the brand. Alt was such a different sound versus the evolution of 60s->70s->80s.
 
Hmm interesting. I was floored 4 years ago when I heard Nervana on KKZX. Interesting that KZOK is doing something similar now.
 
The combined spins of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers (played for several months) and Alice In Chains (started this weekend) accounted for one percent of all the spins last week. That isn't a "shakeup" or "jarring", that is a mere slow introduction of them into the library.
 
I hope my post doesn't cause this thread to land in the obituaries section since the lead singers of two of the bands mentioned are dead.
 
First, Classic Rock stations are not giving up on the 70s and even some 60s music. But an occasional 90s song isn't a major shake up either. WAXQ in NYC plays 90s songs a few times a day... Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers and a few others. I'm sure they test the 90s songs to be sure they are acceptable to the audience.

Second, there's a reason why Classic Rock can go back to the 60s and 70s when AC, Classic Hits and other formats cannot. It's because as we were growing up, Rock stations played more library material than other formats. Top 40, Country and Urban formats rarely played music more than a few years old. But Album Rock/Progressive Rock stations played music recorded decades earlier. Maybe an average hour would only include four or five titles released that year, a clear contrast to other formats that played almost all current material. Even if you started listening to a Rock station in the 90s, you were hearing plenty of Beatles, The Stones, The Who, Creedence, recorded before you were born... or at least before you started kindergarten.

This is the reason why Classic Rock does well, not just with Men 25-54 but even Men 18-49 and in some cases, respectable in the Men 18-34 demo. So for those who are proclaiming that Classic Rock is about to abandon the 60s and 70s, it isn't true. Maybe someday, but not for now.
 
Gregg. said:
First, Classic Rock stations are not giving up on the 70s and even some 60s music. But an occasional 90s song isn't a major shake up either. WAXQ in NYC plays 90s songs a few times a day... Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers and a few others. I'm sure they test the 90s songs to be sure they are acceptable to the audience.

Second, there's a reason why Classic Rock can go back to the 60s and 70s when AC, Classic Hits and other formats cannot. It's because as we were growing up, Rock stations played more library material than other formats. Top 40, Country and Urban formats rarely played music more than a few years old. But Album Rock/Progressive Rock stations played music recorded decades earlier. Maybe an average hour would only include four or five titles released that year, a clear contrast to other formats that played almost all current material. Even if you started listening to a Rock station in the 90s, you were hearing plenty of Beatles, The Stones, The Who, Creedence, recorded before you were born... or at least before you started kindergarten.

This is the reason why Classic Rock does well, not just with Men 25-54 but even Men 18-49 and in some cases, respectable in the Men 18-34 demo. So for those who are proclaiming that Classic Rock is about to abandon the 60s and 70s, it isn't true. Maybe someday, but not for now.
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Very true. Also, just like in the 60's and 70's, not all bands will qualify as "classic rock". A band like "Nickelback" ending up on a classic rock playlist is like owning a rusted out 90's Honda Civic and saying that it's a classic car.
 
fordranger797 said:
Very true. Also, just like in the 60's and 70's, not all bands will qualify as "classic rock". A band like "Nickelback" ending up on a classic rock playlist is like owning a rusted out 90's Honda Civic and saying that it's a classic car.
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Couldn't agree more.
 
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