From a cluster standpoint that makes sense, but yanking the rock format mid song? Why couldn't they have waited until the top of the hour?
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KNUC 98.9 has filed for a call letter change
- Thread starter The New Chico
- Start date
KMPS became the Sound at 9:12am. 98.9 flipped at 10:40am. Both were obviously attempting to beat others to the punch. Minutes could've made the difference between another company moving into a position they saw as optimal before them.
From the second Entercom closed on the purchase of CBS the previous month, it was known they were likely to flip one of their two Country stations especially once KMPS began stunting with Christmas music. Hubbard and likely others were already preparing for format changes and getting their systems ready to go.
Hot 103.7 is old school throw back music (Classic Hip-Hop). They play rhythmic tracks back from the 90's and 2K and none from today's music.
Hard to say, being that the PNW doesn't really have all that much of a country scene. It sort of petered out after the Urban Cowboy thing died in 1982 or '83. If you combine 'PNW' with 'rock' most folks would recognize at least a couple artists. 'PNW' and 'Country' you'd get a deer in the headlights look.
Right. What I’m saying is that the market, as it stands now, can only sustain one FM station (in this case, ‘Hot’) playing some form of rhythmic music.
Like Lance surmises, and he is rarely wrong, it is likely a repositioning.
My only other thought is that KPLZ seems to be kind of floundering. For a very long time, 101.5 succeeded as sort of the updated FM version of sister station KOMO. I often thought of them as KOMO-FM- personality driven inoffensive AC. You could make a case for calls like that driving into something like PNWcentric personality driven inoffensive AC. I just don't know if there is enough of that market left to make sense.
My only other thought is that KPLZ seems to be kind of floundering. For a very long time, 101.5 succeeded as sort of the updated FM version of sister station KOMO. I often thought of them as KOMO-FM- personality driven inoffensive AC. You could make a case for calls like that driving into something like PNWcentric personality driven inoffensive AC. I just don't know if there is enough of that market left to make sense.
All they'd have to do is bring back Ichabod Caine. When he did mornings on KMPS, people listened regardless of the music.
Hubbard owns Warm 106.9. Cannibalizing it is the last thing they would do.
Fair enough.
Bringing back The Mountain would probably rate as well if not better than the current format of 98.9.
KEXP, while they do great work, leans into a new music discovery model and there's a huge gap between them and other stations that KMTT fit perfectly into, but isn't being served now.
Brandi Carlile did very well at the Grammy Awards. Not a single commercial radio station in Seattle plays her music, and KEXP does so sparingly. There's simply a lot of adult rock and Americana that isn't on the air, but has a significant following in the market.
There are a couple of stations that would be no worse off filling that niche.
KEXP, while they do great work, leans into a new music discovery model and there's a huge gap between them and other stations that KMTT fit perfectly into, but isn't being served now.
Brandi Carlile did very well at the Grammy Awards. Not a single commercial radio station in Seattle plays her music, and KEXP does so sparingly. There's simply a lot of adult rock and Americana that isn't on the air, but has a significant following in the market.
There are a couple of stations that would be no worse off filling that niche.
I would love to see AAA back on the radio in Seattle, but I don’t see any world in which that will happen on 98.9 (or any FM frequency with less than stellar ratings at the moment). I think that Hubbard has some significant plans for the country format in Seattle, and are going to make an investment in beating “The Wolf.” If I were suddenly in charge, step one would be to find a brand that’s unique. Step two would be to find a local morning show that fits. If Hubbard really wanted to flip, they would have ditched their other local programming a long time ago. If they really want to win, they will.
This strikes me as the equivalent of an old MOR tying its product completely into its region. That would work well in the South. Whether or not a Country station can make the connection in Seattle is anybody's guess.
It’s not the greatest example in the world, but KMPS did it for decades. Arguably, it was a brand that should have stuck around (though I’m not suggesting that “The Sound” wasn’t a wise move on behalf of Audacy). Most people, even those who didn’t care for country, could probably tell you that KMPS is a country music station if asked. “The Bull” moniker isn’t necessarily bad, but Hubbard may want to refresh the image of the station if they’re going to make a push for beating The Wolf. Something more unique certainly won’t hurt.
Just like smooth jazz formats, AAA/KMTT/The Mountain died a relatively quick death after PPM was introduced. Come to find out; respondents who would put down in their diary that they listened, when really they didn't. PPM revealed perception vs. reality.
It was a little more than that. In the diary, stations listened to just a little often did not get mentioned, but in the PPM we found the average person heard around 6 stations in a 7-day period. So many popular stations ended up with much, much larger cumes... sometimes on the order of 50% to 60% more. But a few formats, with AAA and smooth jazz, had no listeners outside their core... no lighter listening, no occasional listening. So those formats tanked badly.
Since the PPM did show that people listened less time than they'd write in the diary, those stations actually lost share... by a lot... in the PPM. With no added cume to make up for shorter TSL, those two formats died.
Isn't that what I said?
I say bring back “This is KOMO Country”, not the format but the identifier. And bring back Larry Nelson. Oh wait…
It's part of what you said. The other ingredient was the inclusion in the PPM of what we always knew existed and called "phantom listeners": people who did not identify your station well enough to write it in the diary but they actually listened.
As evidence, in the diary the average is 3 stations per diarykeeper. In the PPM we see 6 stations in a week, and generally even more over longer periods. Of course, the one-week diary did not pick that light listening up.
So, the PPM catches "phantom listeners". Those two formats in question, though, did not seem to have any.
KMPS was the #1 station in the market in 10 of 11 books from 1992 through 1994 (when the station reached its largest shares ever), and again in 14 of 19 books from 2004 to 2008, with a total of 28 #1 books... KMPS, KAYO and KRPM never came close to #1 in the late 70s/early 80s.
Country was much more popular during the 90s boom (when at one point there were 3 Country FMs) and in the 00s than any other time.
In the Fall 1994 survey, the 3 country FMs totaled 13.5 shares.
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I know, I know and; Gary Lockwood, Jerry Kaye, Charlie Brown, Jim French, Jim Dai, Pat O'Day, Lan Roberts, Chuck Bolland, Burl Bayer, Dick Curtis, Bob Blackburn, or Larry Nelson. Let me know when you reach any of them.
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