Just wanted everyone's opinion about KCAL being a 90's gold based rock/alternative format?. If it leaned more towards attracting females I think that would help their billing as well as the music direction they are in. They currently are at a 2.5 overall in the shares book. Their best showing in years. Just a thought.
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KCAL FM
- Thread starter 30james
- Start date
Changing format to attract females seems like an excellent way to take the station from a 2.5 to a 1.8.
How is that? From what I've read elsewhere on RD most formats are aimed at female demos.
Isn't CHR and AC formats more aimed for female audiences than rock is on average based on past studies on this.
Yep. The target of CHR is young adult women as primary, but men a strong secondary. With AC, it is much more female targeted, with men just as icing on the cake. Rock of any kind is the opposite.
Not so. There are formats that lean male, like rock, urban, regional Mexican and sports, and others that lean female like AC and Urban AC.. And there are some that tend to be closer to balanced like Country, classic hits. Much depends on the array of stations in each market..
In the case of Riverside/San Bernardino it is important to recognize the strength of LA stations and their effect on how the local-only stations program.
KCAL-FM has always leaned harder-edged in its playlist. According to Wikipedia, the rock format goes back to 1969! I just checked the "Recently Played" list. Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Guns n Roses, Rage Against The Machine and Linkin Park. That's clearly an Active Rock playlist.
Sometimes softening a station will bring additional women. But in the case of Rock stations, that is not really true. Most women aren't that interested in rock formats. And guys who want rock may think their station has become too pop for their tastes.
BTW, the KCAL stations are similar to the WBZ stations. Three stations with the same call letters but all with different owners. KCAL-FM is owned by Anaheim Broadcasters (which also owns Classic Hits KOLA). KCAL (AM) is owned by Lazar Broadcasting (which specializes in Latino formats). And KCAL-TV is owned by CBS, as a duopoly with KCBS-TV.
Sometimes softening a station will bring additional women. But in the case of Rock stations, that is not really true. Most women aren't that interested in rock formats. And guys who want rock may think their station has become too pop for their tastes.
BTW, the KCAL stations are similar to the WBZ stations. Three stations with the same call letters but all with different owners. KCAL-FM is owned by Anaheim Broadcasters (which also owns Classic Hits KOLA). KCAL (AM) is owned by Lazar Broadcasting (which specializes in Latino formats). And KCAL-TV is owned by CBS, as a duopoly with KCBS-TV.
KROQ, with its transmitter at a lower location
KROQ is only 5,600 watts at about one-quarter the height of the Mt Wilson stations. It does not even have a 60 dbu in the southern half of Orange County and no signal in Lancaster/Palmdale. KYSR has
Note: corrected later to prevent misinformation getting perpetuated.
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Most of the artists you mentioned Gregg are 90's. I think if they went 50 percent 80's and 50 percent 90's it would attract more listeners just my thought.
I wonder why KROQ never moved up to Mt. Wilson? It signed on fairly late, 1962. So maybe KROQ wanted to join the other FMs at that high perch. But the FCC didn't allow it by that late date?
It simply has a standard Class B signal, 5,500 watts on a 1400 foot tower. Nearly all Los Angeles FM stations are grandfathered at higher antenna height or power. So KROQ is difficult to hear in the IE.
It simply has a standard Class B signal, 5,500 watts on a 1400 foot tower. Nearly all Los Angeles FM stations are grandfathered at higher antenna height or power. So KROQ is difficult to hear in the IE.
KROQ-FM is not on Mullholland Drive. KYSR-FM is at 2555 Briarcrest Road, Beverly Hills (PO) but really in the city of Los Angeles.
KROQ-FM's transmitter is located at Verdugo Peak, East of Burbank.
KROQ-FM's transmitter is located at Verdugo Peak, East of Burbank.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
And KYSR has an ERP of 75,000 watts, not 60,000.
Sorry, inverted these.
The Mulholland Drive tower was just a short distance to the East of the home of the late Tom Rounds, co-creator of AT40 and one of the Drake PDs (KFRC). I used to drive by it when visiting him.
Verdugo was right above my former Glendale home (on the eastern side of the hills). Could still see the old AM-1500 towers there.
Sorry, inverted the two Alt station sites... not excusable since I live in the foothill of the Verdugo site and had a dear friend who lived near KYSR on Mulholland and I saw that tower dozens and dozens of times. And, of course, it iis 75 kw there. Vastly better than KROQ's Verdugo site with much lower power.
Lots of early FMs did not move when they could, and later the frequency was blocked from improvement by other, newer station.
The KROQ tower is just a small stick... I am guessing 200' or less. It's on top of a small mountain.
I know... I mistakenly inverted them.
Which is a tiny street off of Mullholland which you can nearly touch from a car as you drive by.
And it is right up the hill from where I lived... so close I could see the cross sections of the towers. In another direction I could see the KRLA towers and the FM antennae on top of the hilltop off Glenoaks. Lotta stray RF.
What percentage of radio listeners in a given metro (LA, or the Inland Empire, for example) are female? The reason I ask is because it seems that the 'female' leaning formats you mentioned are the top formats in a lot of markets.
It's the other way around. The advertisers want female listeners, so the radio stations create formats that attract female listeners, and it works. And the men either mainly listen to some kind of talk or their own playlist. The women are seen as the decision-makers and the buyers.
I was reading an interesting article about how country radio's emphasis on music for women has almost totally alienated the men. One consultant said the male exodus has led to a 20% decline in the format.
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