KNTU flips to Indie

[Huff]

Not the format change anyone saw coming:

https://radioinsight.com/headlines/235224/kntu-goes-indie/

Although there has been discussion of this going back over a year:

Students hope to promote diverse music, local artists with alternative university radio station

Two students are working to bring an alternative radio station to the university population in hopes of broadening students’ music tastes and showcasing local talent. Chloë Boyter, one of its co-founders, is a recent transfer student pursuing a journalism degree with a concentration in broadcast. A

www.ntdaily.com

 

[nalyem]

Great news! I always have wondered why KNTU didn’t go indie beforehand. UNT has a fantastic music program and Denton has a robust music scene. It seems like 40 percent of KXT’s local show bands are from Denton and Paul Slavens is a noted Dentonian. I’m also in range for a bit and it has a bit better range than KTCU does. It’ll be nice to have one more option if KXT and KTCU aren’t playing something I care for.

 

[sox fan matt]

The signal reaches northern Tarrant County too where I am.

 

[Miss Tuned]

Makes sense. College radio has been struggling to attract enough student interest for a long time in the face of competition from other student activities (and YouTube, MixCloud et al for those who want to "broadcast"). Running a jazz format is just going to exacerbate that - what college student wants to sit there on a Tuesday morning spinning jazz, and who's actually listening within the university community?

The alternative is that the university administration takes a look at the station during their next round of cutbacks and selloffs, sees a lack of student engagement with the station, and takes a big check from a religious organization for the 100,000-watt stick.

 

[sox fan matt]

I agree, honestly where I am I can get 88.1, 88.7 and 91.7. I haven’t listened much to KTCU recently, and I have listened to KXT a bit.

 

[Megapsycle]

I think it stinks! I was surprised this morning when I turned it on and heard Beck and the ID on my RDS radio said "Indie". No jazz programming at all now in DFW. If I wanted "indie" there is KKXT. The number of jazz albums I've bought over the years after hearing on KNTU is countless.

 

[tested]

It should be noted the Jazz format is continuing to stream on their website. They also said they will add Jazz to their HD2 channel when they get the HD equipment installed in early 2023.

The news release from the station makes it pretty clear they had no choice but to do this because they just didn't have enough students interested in running the station since it was a format few of the students liked or listened to. I think they're hoping this will get more listeners on campus and in the community so they can get enough underwriting to be self-supporting.

I think it's a good thing for the station and the school. It sounds very professional.

 

[Mediafrog+]

No jazz programming at all now in DFW. If I wanted "indie" there is KKXT. The number of jazz albums I've bought over the years after hearing on KNTU is countless.

I’m sure the “Friends of KNTU” will come to the rescue just like the “Friends of WRR” did for 101.1. Wait, what?

”Friends of KJZY” didn’t work out 30 years ago…🥱

 

[CTListener]

It should be noted the Jazz format is continuing to stream on their website. They also said they will add Jazz to their HD2 channel when they get the HD equipment installed in early 2023.

The news release from the station makes it pretty clear they had no choice but to do this because they just didn't have enough students interested in running the station since it was a format few of the students liked or listened to.

If they're like the college students who made up the starting lineup for the local collegiate summer league team (Upper Valley Nighthawks, New England League), they're not going to jump at the chance to play indie rock, either. Of the nine starters -- eight non-hispanic white, one African American -- the "walk-up music" for six was hip-hop, for two it was country (Florida Georgia Line and Chris Stapleton), and for one it was a pop thing by Taylor Swift! (Sorry, no IDs on the hip-hop stuff, couldn't make out enough lyrics to let Google guess the titles.) Rock is dead, at least among these 19-22 -year-olds.

 

[macattack]

If they're like the college students who made up the starting lineup for the local collegiate summer league team (Upper Valley Nighthawks, New England League), they're not going to jump at the chance to play indie rock, either. Of the nine starters -- eight non-hispanic white, one African American -- the "walk-up music" for six was hip-hop, for two it was country (Florida Georgia Line and Chris Stapleton), and for one it was a pop thing by Taylor Swift! (Sorry, no IDs on the hip-hop stuff, couldn't make out enough lyrics to let Google guess the titles.) Rock is dead, at least among these 19-22 -year-olds.

The kids in the Dallas area aren’t the same as those who live in New England. The South and Midwest are still rock hotbeds; the problem is that they are looked down upon culturally compared to the West and East Coasts.

 

[Miss Tuned]

One of the major issues with college radio in 2022 is - if there's a training aim, what exactly are they training the students to do? It's not like there are thousands of unfilled jobs in radio just waiting for kids with experience of spinning indie on a non-commercial to graduate and fill them. There is an argument that it's good training in more general communication and teamwork skills, and my own work in non-commercial (community, not college) radio training unemployed people bears that out, but from the college's point of view, there may well be cheaper ways of doing that than running an FM radio station.

Additionally, who is the target audience? Students, or the wider community? If the former, I'm really not sure how many students are packing an FM radio with them when they head off to school. Where I live, a lot of stations have been online-only for years, but many (accelerated by the pandemic and lack of access to studios) have ceased their "live" broadcast streams and now concentrate on producing podcasts related to campus events and news instead.

 

[CTListener]

The kids in the Dallas area aren’t the same as those who live in New England. The South and Midwest are still rock hotbeds; the problem is that they are looked down upon culturally compared to the West and East Coasts.

Except this is a top level summer league, with players from all over the country and Canada on the rosters. Only four Nighthawks are from New England. Four of the guys with the rap walkup music are from Crystal Lake, Ill., Seminary, Miss., Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Madisonville, Ky. The country guys, as you might expect, are from the South -- Orlando and Birmingham. The poppy Taylor Swift fan is from ... wait for it ... Brooklyn. Unscientific sampling, yes, but I have a feeling that if I were to go to any of the other 13 teams' home games, I'd find the same sort of walkup music being played. I think it's becoming obvious that rock is on the decline nationwide, and that includes on college campuses.

 

[Megapsycle]

It should be noted the Jazz format is continuing to stream on their website. They also said they will add Jazz to their HD2 channel when they get the HD equipment installed in early 2023.

I'll believe the "HD" when it happens.

Last time I tried their stream it crashed my computer. That never happens anywhere else. So I haven't been back to try it again. Don't need the trouble it caused that time.

Seems to me having students who want radio experience play jazz they don't get into isn't a bad thing. Not all jobs in the real world cater to the whims and desires of the employees.

 

[Jay S]

The signal is worse than I expected. It dips in and out around the mid cities in a car radio. You’d probably need to be north of 635 to get a good signal.

It is a C1 just like KVRK 89.7 was before Way Media bought them and upgraded the signal. The tower locations of KVRK and KNTU were pretty close to each other. I listened to KVRK extensively on the road during their “Power FM” days and never had any problems except for in far southeast DFW.

KVRK didn’t penetrate buildings well, but it was good on the road. That might have something to do with tower height. As I recall, KVRK transmitted with lower power from a higher height. KNTU is a full 100k power. So it wouldn’t be as high as KVRK was. However, I’m not a broadcast engineer. These are just my observations.

 

[Kent]

Seems to me having students who want radio experience play jazz they don't get into isn't a bad thing. Not all jobs in the real world cater to the whims and desires of the employees.

I get your frustration. I was 16 when Y95 became Power 95, which became Oldies 94.9 before I turned 17. I know what losing one of your favorite stations is like, and, if you were in the area 30 years ago, you experienced it then, too, when KJZY 99.1 switched to Z-Rock. Jazz stations were always hard to find, and finding one isn't getting any easier.

I also get your point that playing music you don't like is often part of a job or career in radio. I routinely played songs and worked in formats I didn't like during my radio days.

I would, however, fall more on Miss Tuned's side in this debate. The problem is the University of North Texas has to get students interested in the station if it's to survive. You don't do that by not catering to the student population. Whether or not this change accomplishes that goal remains to be seen, but at least the university is trying. If this doesn't work, we're likely to see KNTU get sold, and the buyer would likely be a religious broadcaster. How many colleges have just given up? I don't know the exact number, but it seems like we see a college selling its radio station at least once every couple of months.

I'll also add that, if we really have the passion for radio we claim we do, we need more of these college stations turning out passionate radio people. The next generation of talent has to come from somewhere, and it's not going to be from people who see the business as a large and steady paycheck. I've lived in the Midwest for about the last 25 years, and the premier broadcast education program in my area closed even before COVID hit. It couldn't find enough people willing to pay $10,000 to learn a job that pays about what you can make at McDonald's or Walmart. We need those college students who are intrigued by the radio station, walk in out of curiosity, and decide they love it if we're going to grow the talent pool. They're not going to choose radio as a major.

 

[Megapsycle]

It should be noted the Jazz format is continuing to stream on their website. They also said they will add Jazz to their HD2 channel when they get the HD equipment installed in early 2023.

The news release from the station makes it pretty clear they had no choice but to do this because they just didn't have enough students interested in running the station since it was a format few of the students liked or listened to. I think they're hoping this will get more listeners on campus and in the community so they can get enough underwriting to be self-supporting.

I think it's a good thing for the station and the school. It sounds very professional.

I get your frustration. I was 16 when Y95 became Power 95, which became Oldies 94.9 before I turned 17. I know what losing one of your favorite stations is like, and, if you were in the area 30 years ago, you experienced it then, too, when KJZY 99.1 switched to Z-Rock. Jazz stations were always hard to find, and finding one isn't getting any easier.

I worked at 94.9 when it was KFAD! They were in a transition in 1970 when I started, playing a mix of jazz and prog rock. 94.9 had been KCLE-FM playing jazz before that. Used to tune it in from NE Dallas when I was a teenager. ☺

 

[LibertyNT]

So far on my long listen today I've found Indie to be infinitely better than KXT and Alt. I can honestly say in all the years I lived in DFW today is the most I've EVER listened to KNTU. But I never was much of a jazz fan, it's admittedly cool how much there is worth listening to below 92 in the area now.

 

[E-Cam]

Goodbye jazz, hello "ALT 88.1, The Edge" (I know that's not the name)

 

[salemjedi54]

Makes sense. College radio has been struggling to attract enough student interest for a long time in the face of competition from other student activities (and YouTube, MixCloud et al for those who want to "broadcast"). Running a jazz format is just going to exacerbate that - what college student wants to sit there on a Tuesday morning spinning jazz, and who's actually listening within the university community?

The alternative is that the university administration takes a look at the station during their next round of cutbacks and selloffs, sees a lack of student engagement with the station, and takes a big check from a religious organization for the 100,000-watt stick.

But KNTU is still the "flagship" of the UNT Radio Newtork for football and basketball. I know KHYI is supossed to be the flagship, but they get the signal from Learfield. KNTU does the production.

 

[Will_H_69_9]

makes sense that Jazz got replaced on that station, UNT wanted a format that targeted the demo of the students of UNT, which would be 20somethings, which Jazz is not that format as Jazz seems to be a format for older people and as someone who is pretty much now in his mid to late 30s (i'm turning 37 in a few weeks), i know that Jazz is not targeted to the 18-49 demo anymore, it fits in with the 50+ demo aka the typical News/conservative talk target demo.

plus KVIL ALT 103.7 is trying to win over the typical KEGL 97.1 The Eagle listener who tunes out when Ben & Skin or The Treehouse (FKA The Russ Martin Show before his untimely death making Dan O'Malley the de facto show host) or Mavs basketball during the NBA Season by playing harder rock music as well as the normal Alternative Rock music, and Audacy changed they way they run the station to target the market instead of the not working cookie cutter formatting of the station.