I certainly agree but it's more of a situation of if it is at least breaking even when all revenue streams are included. It might be better to lose a little each month, if that is the case, versus spending huge multiples of that amount on a new format launch. I am not saying KVIL is in a good spot but rather between a rock and a hard place. ALT has not done well since The Edge was at 94.5 but then again that was a different time in the lifecycle of ALT.
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I know ALT 103.7 (KVIL) hasn't ever had great ratings, but a 1.1?!?!?
- Thread starter victorres43
- Start date
Exactly....That's what I've been saying all along. Getting 103.7 to flip to Adult R&B makes sense signal wise, but if the costs to flip and run it are more than what they are making now, then that dog ain't gonna hunt.
I think I've mentioned it before, but, though I don't have access to the figures, I'd have to think Alt 103.7 is probably making a small profit simply because operating costs are next to nothing. It doesn't have to perform well relative to its past or to the other stations in the market to be profitable. I also wouldn't be surprised if some of Audacy's thinking is that KEGL's audience might be tappable with it adding more talk and sports programming.
The funny thing is we remember The Edge's heyday as when it was on 94.5, and, in many ways, it was. However, it was about two weeks from being extinguished in 1992. KEGL had just dropped its Rock 40 format to go full-blown rock, and KDGE hired its general manager as well as Fast Eddie Coyle after KEGL purged its staff. The story I had heard was that it was preparing to go CHR only to get blindsided by Gannett pulling the trigger on KOAI 106.1 and launching 106.1 Kiss FM. It decided its signal couldn't compete with Kiss and kept plugging away at modern rock. It mostly lucked into already running the format when it really started catching on. It was a poor performer early in its run, and its original owner went broke trying to make it work.
with ESPN 103.3's decline as a local sports talk and the fact that The Eagle has the Mavs, i think we can see a repeat of 105.3's 2008 flip on our hands and the post-RMS death RMS could move to LoneStar 92.5, go full on Ticket and go sports talk or leave to another station owned by a different company or just end the show on the radio and move to Podcast as Dan, Alfie and Clo could do an unfiltered and uncensored show from their home and could put it on a paywall to make their own money or if they join a major podcasting company (if they leave iHeartMedia), just get paid to host a podcast while still putting it on paywall with the money going to the RMS Listener's Foundation to help families of firefighters and cops killed in the line of duty in North Texas.
face it, Russ is dead and he truly was the face of the station, Russ is the reason why The Eagle declined after 2000 and flipped in 2004 and Russ' death will kill this incarnation and lead to a birth of a new iHeart sports station in Dallas on 97.1. now as for the future of Rock music, this is a music genre that is dying anyway or at least migrated to the streaming services and SiriusXM and most of DFW's rock fans are listening via these platforms, same goes for Alternative hence why 103.7 is struggling.
At this point, I'll believe a format change will happen in this market when I hear it...🤷♂️
Well, the new ratings are out for the Holiday period. Alt rose from a 1.1 to a 1.6 and I think their cume rose from 375,000 to 412,000. So dropping the morning and afternoon shows did some positive. The bigger question is: Is it enough of a positive change to justify the local talent expenditure? or to justify Alt’s continued existence? I think we, and Audacy, still need at least a few months to decide.
It's actually the December period, which covers 11/11 to 12/8
They dropped morning & afternoon shows just as this ratings period began
Just checked 'em out for a few minutes before they started doing the countdown today. In addition to taking away the morning and afternoon shows, the music sounds much better. Sounds like what I would expect to hear on an Alternative station in Dallas, not cookie cutter Alternative.
Two words: John Allers
It only has one local full time talent. I can’t imagine talent expenses being a problem.
I've mentioned before that, while I haven’t had access to radio billing figures in over a decade, I'd have to think Alt 103.7 is making money on account of low operating costs. I doubt it’s making a huge profit, but it's unlikely to be a loser.
If Audacy decides it can make more money doing something else, it will likely drop the format for something else. Walking away from profit, even when it’s small, can be a tough sell, though.
I think Mr. Allers may be receiving too much credit here.
95% of the music heard on KVIL is played on most of Audacy's other alternative stations. The vast majority of the imaging liners are identical to those used on the other stations. Several added gold artists that had not previously received airplay were added to multiple Audacy "Alt" stations at the same time. Bottom line - it seems to me there are still plenty of programming elements being coordinated in centralized fashion.
There remain noticeable absences in the artist choices (no Rage Against the Machine, as an example). The biggest positive change at 103.7 is the dumping of the lousy morning & afternoon shows from out of town. Didn't exactly take a rocket scientist to figure out that cancelling both shows would be a good idea; they were chasing away cume.
95% of the music heard on KVIL is played on most of Audacy's other alternative stations. The vast majority of the imaging liners are identical to those used on the other stations. Several added gold artists that had not previously received airplay were added to multiple Audacy "Alt" stations at the same time. Bottom line - it seems to me there are still plenty of programming elements being coordinated in centralized fashion.
There remain noticeable absences in the artist choices (no Rage Against the Machine, as an example). The biggest positive change at 103.7 is the dumping of the lousy morning & afternoon shows from out of town. Didn't exactly take a rocket scientist to figure out that cancelling both shows would be a good idea; they were chasing away cume.
Keep in mind that although John Allers is based in Dallas, he oversees several other alternative stations. Keep in mind that the company centralized imaging a long time ago, prior to the 2020 programming changes. That's not going to change, and I doubt it has anything to do with a station's ratings. The centralized imaging is heard on highly rated stations as well as this one. They're searching for some kind of consensus music policy that will meet the requirements of the music charts while satisfying a very picky audience. Any solution they come up with will be met with hostility. That's the nature of the format.
I’m wandering if Audacy will bring in Elliott In The Morning to Alt 103.7 as morning host? They’ve already done it in Kansas City.
Potentially, but then again for the same reasons I stated in the Alt 92.3 NYC thread, I think the listeners want more music and less talk on these stations. KVIL is currently fairing better thanks to cutting the talk and re-emphasizing more music intensive programming.
The station is seeing slightly better ratings than it had previously with said programs, so Audacy will likely keep it this way to see if it continues to improve cume/share. I know it's very early on to see if it remains a trend, but if you look at this from a glass-half-full view, it seems to be working for them, and I think it will stay on that path to see how it goes for a while.
Uh... Interesting... 103.7 Instagram post
That’s an Audacy thing. They do this in Chicago. B96 has Commercial Free Tuesdays, WBMX has Commercial Free Fridays. Basically they get a single sponsor to buy out an entire day or in this case it looks like a week.
I worked at a station that did “1,000 song weekends.”
Even with commercials, we had little trouble playing 1,000 songs from 5:00 PM Friday to 6:00 AM Monday. All it took was 14 songs an hour.
Removing commercials, it should be able to get 17-20 songs an hour. That would amount to being done with the music sweep in 4-5 days. January is also routinely the worst month in terms of billing for almost every station. It’s not losing a whole lot on this promotion. I wouldn’t read too much into it.
Even with commercials, we had little trouble playing 1,000 songs from 5:00 PM Friday to 6:00 AM Monday. All it took was 14 songs an hour.
Removing commercials, it should be able to get 17-20 songs an hour. That would amount to being done with the music sweep in 4-5 days. January is also routinely the worst month in terms of billing for almost every station. It’s not losing a whole lot on this promotion. I wouldn’t read too much into it.
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