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KNUC 98.9 has filed for a call letter change

Thinking (as a guy who used to live in the Seattle area and still follows radio stuff) that Lotus could do Country at 101.5... Do they have other country stations?

Theyre mainly rock, spanish and sports.. boise is none of that and they have an ac station in tuscon.

they have no worthwhile station to put it on in Seattle.
 
A bit unusual for a commercial station to go after the audience of a non-commercial station (KEXP). One is Where The Music Matters, and now KPNW is the Station For Music Lovers.

Here's a story with a quote from the PD:

https://news.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=n43257

Mahalick said, "The new 98.9 KPNW fills a void in the Seattle market that our local research and gut instincts identified as a station that people will embrace."

Taking a quick look at what they're playing, it strikes me as an older mix of music with a lot of 70s. But that's worked for KSWD.

They may have determined that the under-40 audience for radio doesn't exist anymore in Seattle.
 
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In All Access, the decision was based on local research and gut instinct to fill a void, which apparently is AAA. Back to the past in a way, as 98.9 was branded as "Northwest Progressive" KEZX, doing a format now defined as AAA but then switched to NAC (smooth jazz).

Hubbard sees a better future with this, and not Country. Very surprising to see a new AAA being launched in a major market, as this is considered a dead or dying format by many on this board.
 
Very surprising to see a new AAA being launched in a major market, as this is considered a dead or dying format by many on this board.

Correct, because it mainly appeals to an over-50 audience that's hard to sell. But somehow Audacy is doing it with The Sound. So my conclusion is that these companies have given up on trying to reach younger audiences. I think it will be tough to win people from KEXP, because it's commercial free and has established local personalities. But we will see. KEXP can be inconsistent.

 
Second hour:

Queens of the Stone Age - “No One Knows”
Tom Petty - “Don’t Come Around Here No More”
White Reaper - “Pages” (current)
Weezer - “Buddy Holly”
Rosa Linn - “Snap” (current)
Jimmy Eat World - “The Middle”
Portugal.The Man - “Purple, Yellow, Red and Blue”
Blondie - “Heart of Glass”
David Byrne - “Everybody’s Coming to My House”
The National - “Tropic Morning News”
(Current)
Temple of the Dog - “Hunger Strike”
Maneskin - “Supermodel” (recurrent)
David Bowie - “Young Americans”

I believe this is Hubbard’s first AAA station.
 
The move is a risky one, but I like it!
When I saw them apply for KPNW, and with the knowledge of Seattle's music scene, I had the feeling that a flip was forthcoming to some kind of alternative/AAA format. I had a hard time rationalizing them dumping country because I would imagine the billing is better/fits better with an AC and CHR, but the rationale of "oh we're just going to call it 'Country for the PNW', The Bull is staying!" never sat right with me.

But well played on Hubbard's part, they did a lot to throw us off from guessing.
 
I bet Mr. Reeb actively advocated for the change to AAA given his background. No void for Alternative, so AAA was the next logical choice.

The company does have (did have?) an eclectic AAA in Frederick, MD, airing on an all-digital AM / analog FM translator combo.

I love the fact some recent format changes around the country, including this one, are anything but "cookie cutter."
 
I would imagine the billing is better/fits better with an AC and CHR,

I just compared the format profile of AC with AAA and in a way, AAA is a male version of AC. Although AC is 60% female, while AAA is 53% male. AAA is 93% white, which fits well with Seattle. AC is 72% white. Median age for AAA is 52, while AC is 45. 60% of the AAA audience is over 45. Whereas country is very similar to AC. They may see it as a way to broaden the sales demo for Warm.
 
KPNW has a much more adventurous AAA playlist than other large market AAA's like WXRT, KINK, and definitely KBCO.

This will be very interesting to see if this works. Although I suspect the playlist will become more mainstream as time goes by.
 
If KEXP can get those ratings without having a rotation that's tight enough for most casual listeners to be familiar with their music, I'm hopeful KPNW can be successful with a more structured approach.
 
KPNW has a much more adventurous AAA playlist than other large market AAA's like WXRT, KINK, and definitely KBCO.

This will be very interesting to see if this works. Although I suspect the playlist will become more mainstream as time goes by.

Considering KEXP's performance over the passed 12 months, I wonder if Hubbard have decided that the audience is there.
 
If KEXP can get those ratings without having a rotation that's tight enough for most casual listeners to be familiar with their music, I'm hopeful KPNW can be successful with a more structured approach.

In order to attract the average KEXP listener, I suspect the challenge will be to match (or manage) the inventory level to that of listener expectations.
 
Wow, this was unexpected. As for who would pick up country, to me there are only two possibilities, both involving iHeart:
1. They flip 93.3, though as I've said many times on this board, we won't see a flip there until January at the earliest. They're pretty committed to sports talk there, and I can't see them reversing that decision because someone dropped a format and there's now a hole.
2. This is probably the more likely scenario, they flip 106.1 back to country, though many in the market wouldn't remember the frequency's previous run with the format. While that would leave Jubel without a flagship, does that really matter to iHeart, given how much tracking from out of market they do anyway? KBKS consistently trails KQMV in the CHR battle and has for years. Then again, would country do any better? I have no idea what the billing numbers for 93.3 are, but it just may be more benefitial to flip 93.3 than 106.1, but they're not going to do that for a while as I've said many times before.
 
101.5 is the only station I could potentially see flipping, but I suspect they won't.

Most likely - no one flips to country. 98.9 ditched the format for a reason. Evidently, trying a risky AAA format was seen as a better long-term business move than sticking with country.

KKWF will most likely have the format to itself.
 
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