Surprised me today to learn that KIRO is rebranding as N.W. News....LOL. Weird move since the market loves them for their position as a talk brand....First lesson I learned in radio is to stay focused on your core identity and don't try to straddle multiple identities......Have they had brand or programing management changes lately?
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KIRO Brand Mistake
- Thread starter radiogal
- Start date
Check other threads. It was sold and had to change call letters and disassociate from the KIRO brand.
Wait it’s KOMO that’s rebranding. Not KIRO. Or am I taking crazy pills?
Right! I was confused by the seeming overlap in positioning.
also, they had to.. part of the sale... they couldnt keep the KOMO calls
The new AM 1000/97.7 FM logo The New NorthWest NewsRadio Premiers February 2nd – PugetSound.Media
You mean KOMO, right?
..several days ago KIRO 710 started adding the positioning statement at the top of the hour ID "Northwest NEWS".
It's the old mind-game of preemptive strike against the new guy's in town. The tactic used to be more effective in the days prior to PPM. Idea was to catch listeners-listening to your station, then pepper them with other marketing identities potentially close to the new competition. The assumption was listeners would hear something close to a buzz-phrase, and only associate it with your particular station. Now with PPM determining who's listening to what, I don't think it would have the same desired results.
It's a fight over the "Northwest" name.
KIRO is trying to block KOMO from using the Northwest name.
92.5 and 101.5 did something similar when 101.5 dropped the "Mix" slogan. 92.5 ran sweepers in the middle of the night to secure the "Mix" with Arbitron.
In the case of 92.5 and 101.5 after the official launch of Mix 92.5, Star 101.5 went back to using the slogan "The Best Mix" However, Arbitron said to 101.5 that anyone righting down "The Best Mix" would go 92.5 since 101.5 had officially dropped it.
Obviously, it didn't work for either 101.5 or 92.5. Both stations dropped "Mix". It will be interesting to see how this one plays out and whether KOMO movies up their rebranding.
For years, Z-100 referred to itself as "Portland's #1 Hit Music Station". Not long after they dropped the phrase, another station picked it up. Soon thereafter, another station picked it up. Almost immediately, Z-100 returned the identifier and in a short time, the other station dropped it but there was a period when they were both using it.
Somehow I don't think a directional/location name like Northwest will ever be exclusive to anyone.
Not sure how that would be done. Care to share?
Or...It could be something as simple as the term "Mix" didn't register well during a research run?
Interestingly, this rebrand of KIRO is very similar to the branding they were using in the mid 2000's. Even the logo is very similar.
Or.. maybe they're just recycling some lines from the past? Hmmm....Could be!
True. KIRO is also identified as NewsRadio too.
I don't see any trademark for Northwest News Radio. If I were KIRO, I would try to register the trademark.
KIRO is using a liner called "Northwest News." I think it depends on how Nelson will handle if someone rights down "Northwest News" or "Northwest NewsRadio." I believe anyone identifying Northwest News or Northwest News Radio would go to KIRO since they are using it first.
If anything, It's going to confuse listeners.
The vast majority of average listeners don't pay nearly as much attention as radio nerds or hobbyists do to this sort of minutia. Slogans or positioning liners are used to quickly and precisely explain to the audience what you do. That's really all. We here seem to be inclined to dissect liners to analyze the inner meaning. That's a complete waste of energy.
Right, when I programmed a station in Tri cities we did research that our call letters were better known than any slogan. So my rule was call letters always first, slogan secondary.
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