I just want everyone to realize sports isn’t the answer to every format that’s in trouble. and that there have been sports stations who have changes formats due to lack of billings and ratings. From when I sold, I never yelled out “sports” and all of a sudden we instantly made a lot of money. Sports is harder to sell than people realize
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Yet *ANOTHER* terrible move by the Eagle
- Thread starter Rudy Fitzneris
- Start date
It is true that I did not consider the hot talk aspect of the new format in my previous post. That is because hot talk failed in New York. WNEW-FM tried the format from September 1999 to January 2003.
WNEW-FM "Hot Talk" Era (Wikipedia)
I listened to The Ben and Skin Show this afternoon via the iHeart website. The hosts were basically shooting the breeze. I am wondering how iHeart is going to market 97.1 The Freak's new hybrid sports/hot talk format.
I am the last guy to advocate another Sports Talk station. I contend the audience is limited in size and revenue potential. Each signal doing sports splits that potential audience and splits the potential revenue. A mix of man talk and Sports Talk is interesting and I'll be the first to say man talk has been tried and it eventually went away. I'll say it is a risk but considering the Eagle's position and current state of the lack of consensus songs, almost anything, it seems, would work better,
As for selling Sports Radio, I am sure it is difficult and you have a learning curve in proper presentation. I sell advertising daily and it is never easy and you never get comfortable because something always happens. I know what it's like to be a PD but not in such a large market. And I've been a GM in a top 10 market and get having to produce the bucks to keep everything rolling.
They're taking a risk but something tells me they know a bunch of stuff I don't know about. At least DFW is sports crazy as far as pro teams. In DFW it seems the Cowboys or Mavericks, etc. is every other word. In Houston it's do we have any pro teams?' because we hear so little.
As for selling Sports Radio, I am sure it is difficult and you have a learning curve in proper presentation. I sell advertising daily and it is never easy and you never get comfortable because something always happens. I know what it's like to be a PD but not in such a large market. And I've been a GM in a top 10 market and get having to produce the bucks to keep everything rolling.
They're taking a risk but something tells me they know a bunch of stuff I don't know about. At least DFW is sports crazy as far as pro teams. In DFW it seems the Cowboys or Mavericks, etc. is every other word. In Houston it's do we have any pro teams?' because we hear so little.
I don’t think it was 2020. 2020 was already moving away from that sound outside of Billie and a few random TikTok hits. Audacy found that out the hard way. A pop-punk revival is what took over that year which carried over into the next.
I think the peak for that specific alternative pop/TikTok sound was 2018-19, which was right as Billie hit. Check the Billboard year-end for Alternative Airplay for those years. I would say half to even two thirds of the top songs (especially for 2019) fell into that kind of sound.
I know @DavidEduardo might chime in with stats, the US Alt radio scene is seen as a "Male Format". I saw the Pop influence of 20-21 as a good thing, and I wonder if (Mike) Kaplin's thought was to grow a larger Female share. If Audacy stations persisted with it, and a few newer hard edge acts, I believe it might have been a winner. The way I see it, Billie started at Alternative, then landed in Hot A/C and CHR. It's not like it's foreign ground. How many Alt Rock artists landed on those formats over the journey?
You have some of Russ's history mixed up, he was the replacement for The Howard Stern Show when 97.1 dropped Stern. Later when Stern and Russ would share KLLI Russ was one of the very few jocks that actually beat Stern in the ratings right up until Stern left terrestrial radio in 2006.
I don't think anyone thinks it is. But it's better than staying with the status quo.
We will be without a Active Rock format in Dallas
Outside of the southeast, a lot of bigger markets don’t have active rock stations. It’s not even that big in the southeast, but that seems to be where more of them are (demographically I’m not sure why, and I may be wrong).
Yes, 101tm, in the Norfolk, Virginia market, both the Active Rock and Classic Rock stations are doing reasonably well. Norfolk has a HUGE military population with a lot of men who probably enjoy those two formats. Of course, those same men might like the "man talk" y'all are talking about as well.
Years ago, I used to run the board for Dr. Drew and Adam as well as that show's predecessor, Dr. Judy and Jagger, and I enjoyed both of those shows even though I wasn't the target demographic.
If you head up the road a few hours The Buzz in Wichita Falls does very well as an active rocker, though I'd venture to say they're a bit more mainstream rock with a considerable demographic difference than DFW. That said, the classic rocker does poorly but I'd say that's a result of bad programming.
I will say that in various markets both Alternative and Active Rock have gotten more aggressive with currents aka new music. It takes 200 spins to crack the MB top 50 for Alternative and 100 to make MB Active Rock. I haven’t seen that since the mid-to-late 10’s for either format. However most of those stations are owned by smaller radio companies or operate independently. Cumulus, Audacy, and iHeart stations are extremely gun-shy with currents right now for both formats and you’re often lucky to get a single current in the daypart at some of their stations.
I don’t know if this is ultimately a good indicator for the formats or not but the higher barrier for entry usually means more viable music. Neither KEGL or KVIL are taking full advantage but KVIL is slightly better about it.
KEGL in its final days often won’t have a single current in a daypart hour at all. KVIL usually runs two currents plus a recurrent or two per hour in the daypart. Not great but at least something fresh is playing once in a while. KEGL’s lack of currents probably also led to the stale feeling that has been spoken about here.
I don’t know if this is ultimately a good indicator for the formats or not but the higher barrier for entry usually means more viable music. Neither KEGL or KVIL are taking full advantage but KVIL is slightly better about it.
KEGL in its final days often won’t have a single current in a daypart hour at all. KVIL usually runs two currents plus a recurrent or two per hour in the daypart. Not great but at least something fresh is playing once in a while. KEGL’s lack of currents probably also led to the stale feeling that has been spoken about here.
About 70% non-Hispanic white. Very different demos in DFW.
I've said this earlier, but people who complain about how radio in Texas has changed haven't been watching how their area's population has changed. Look a little closer, folks. The changes in radio directly reflect the changes in population.
Actually, the Tidewater market is 55% non-Hispanic white, 33% Black, 5% Asian and 7% Hispanic.
But it is still a majority of non-Hispanic whites, and the "role reversal" of the Black and Hispanic percentages make it a very different market. Add in the huge military presence and it's close to what could be called a unique market.
And the huge influx of new immigrants will make this even more accentuated.
The people calling for Active Rock in DFW seem to be motivated by the blockbuster success of KTBZ in Houston, which is a market that is pretty similar to DFW, albeit a bit more blue collar.
Transplants have moved to the Metroplex, but it's still different from New York, Los Angeles, or Miami, culture-wise.
on the topic of the Rock Music changing and Russ refusing to play it, bascally it's the "Grandpa Simpson effect" and Russ used to be with it (in this case 1980s hair metal rock) then they change what it was (to Grunge and later Nu Metal, post grunge and other forms of today's rock) and then what the it that Russ was with isn't it anymore and what it is seemed weird and scary to him and it is all happening to us eventually. the it in question is the sound of Rock Music in general, today's Rock is starting to become not it to me and what it's becoming is starting to seem weird and scary to me.
Grandpa Simpson's quote sums up what we viewed as our "age of new rock" and aging out of it for the new generation and this generation of rock isn't strong enough to sustain a successful hard rock station in a market that the white demos that kept it alive has been replaced by Latinos who listen to Spanish language music, people of African American descent listening to hip hop and R&B, the youth listening to Top 40 as well as Hip Hop and other youth friendly formats, and the fact most white people here in this area would listen to Kiss FM, Jack FM, Lonestar, and maybe Star 102.1 and 102.9 Now as well as classic rock on Lonestar 92.5.
Today's rock isn't mainstream enough to play, is pretty much entering a period where the only way to hear it on the radio in Dallas is via internet connection, HD Radio (if iHeartRadio launches a HD2 station on 97.1 or 92.5 that can cover the loss of The Eagle), or Sirius XM and their radio channels devoted to Rock formats, and for concerts of the major names, i would say just personally follow your favorite bands on social media and their websites for details of their touring schedule and also for local bands, you do the same but also if you want to discovered them, go to the local music places they perform at like bars, clubs, and other music venues. and just crank it up on what ever streaming platform or Sirius XM you listen to for rock.
Grandpa Simpson's quote sums up what we viewed as our "age of new rock" and aging out of it for the new generation and this generation of rock isn't strong enough to sustain a successful hard rock station in a market that the white demos that kept it alive has been replaced by Latinos who listen to Spanish language music, people of African American descent listening to hip hop and R&B, the youth listening to Top 40 as well as Hip Hop and other youth friendly formats, and the fact most white people here in this area would listen to Kiss FM, Jack FM, Lonestar, and maybe Star 102.1 and 102.9 Now as well as classic rock on Lonestar 92.5.
Today's rock isn't mainstream enough to play, is pretty much entering a period where the only way to hear it on the radio in Dallas is via internet connection, HD Radio (if iHeartRadio launches a HD2 station on 97.1 or 92.5 that can cover the loss of The Eagle), or Sirius XM and their radio channels devoted to Rock formats, and for concerts of the major names, i would say just personally follow your favorite bands on social media and their websites for details of their touring schedule and also for local bands, you do the same but also if you want to discovered them, go to the local music places they perform at like bars, clubs, and other music venues. and just crank it up on what ever streaming platform or Sirius XM you listen to for rock.
While I think their success shows that an Active Rock or harder Alternative station could succeed in demographically similar Dallas-Fort Worth, the fact that KTBZ-FM has gone unchallenged for so long despite their huge success shows that there's likely only room for one modern rock station in Houston, so it's only logical that there would only be room for one modern rock station in Dallas-Fort Worth as well. Plus, in the case of KTBZ-FM, they do have a heritage morning show that is surely a big part of their success.
Bingo. The programmers at iHeart talk to each other. If there was a way to duplicate the success of The Buzz in Dallas, they would have done it.
Houston also has half as many commercial rock stations as it had roughly 10 years ago. Today, it has KTBZ-FM and The Eagle, and that's it. I suppose you could make a case for The Spot being rock, but it sounded more pop'ish last time I listened to it.
"The Arrow" went away around the end of 2013, and I seem to remember 103.7 going to EMF about a year earlier.
Either this is the weirdest format flip in the history of radio, or it’s a stunt, or music must still be involved in new format. No one has addressed it on air? No logo and no set on air line up yet? Not to mention how the name of the station is named after an upcoming concert they’re doing in a few weeks? Flipping to talk on a Friday?
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