WKTU-FM - WABC-AM - Upset

[kfbkfb]

I followed this ratings upset situation in Billboard mag, in eastern IA during the late 1970s, IIRC, KQCR-FM had Disco music for several hours friday or saturday evening/night, but there was no full time Disco music station.

On a trip to Las Vegas in late 1979, the rental car only had an AM radio and there was a full time Disco music station - "Disco 1 2 3 KLAV 1230 AM".

Has this type of dramatic ratings upset happened in any other radio market?


Kirk Bayne

 

[davideduardo]

I followed this ratings upset situation in Billboard mag, in eastern IA during the late 1970s, IIRC, KQCR-FM had Disco music for several hours friday or saturday evening/night, but there was no full time Disco music station.

Has this type of dramatic ratings upset happened in any other radio market?

Sure. Plenty of "worst to first" type situations have happened in radio over the years. Scott Shannon's New York Z-100 was another example. The Power Pig in Tampa is a famous one. Bill Tanner at 13-Q in Pittsburgh over KQV and WIXZ is another. Cecil Heftel's KIMN in Denver in the 50's is yet another.

The original Top 40 station, KOWH in Omaha, a daytimer, did it in 1952. That one is well documented: https://worldradiohistory.com/KOWH_Birth_of_Top-40.htm

I took a former Beautiful Music station in Puerto Rico (a top 20 market) and reformatted it in 1979 and it went from nowhere to a 22.5 share in 20 days... a 33.5 in 60 days. Emmis' Mega in Buenos Aires, a 300 station market, went from a 1.9 to over a 20 share and #1 in less than a month. And those are just two of a number of quick start launches I have been involved with.

There are lots more, but most were before so many stations were competing in each market, resulting in enormous fragmentation.

 

[michael hagerty]

San Diego was a market where the challenger always seemed to score an upset. KGB over KCBQ in 1964, KCBQ (reinvented by Buzz Bennett with the "Q format") over KGB in 1971, KMJC over KCBQ in 1977 , B-100 over them both in the very next book, KGB (turning back to Top 40 as "13K") back to the top in 1980 and XTRA over KGB in the very next book.

 

[davideduardo]

San Diego was a market where the challenger always seemed to score an upset. KGB over KCBQ in 1964, KCBQ (reinvented by Buzz Bennett with the "Q format") over KGB in 1971, KMJC over KCBQ in 1977 , B-100 over them both in the very next book, KGB (turning back to Top 40 as "13K") back to the top in 1980 and XTRA over KGB in the very next book.

Of course, starting with KGB itself, the whole Drake phenomenon worked that way in LA, SF, Windsor/Detroit, Tulsa, Boston.

 

[vchimpanzee]

I guess this qualifies. WGSP was a 1000-watt daytimer in Charlotte which has moved the only full-time Christian format in the market to a 24-hour station, also 1000 watts but 250 at night. The new owner of 1310 put oldies on it. I don't think anyone else was doing that. But then the album rock station changed to top 40. In the mid-80s this was a common occurrence. There was a distant FM doing rock but most people in Charlotte couldn't hear it until it went to 100,000 watts and a close tower a few years later--with beautiful music. The solution? WGSP did rock. Top 10 12-plus! I shared an apartment with a guy who liked this music and he was frustrated by not having a radio station until he heard this one. He said it was nearly perfect.

One of the nearby FMs put a stronger signal into Charlotte and called itself "The Rock". Another FM also increased its signal, and, while it had been leaning rock, it went all the way and leaned classic. WGSP ended up doing a different kind of Christian music and was never heard from again.