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KNUC 98.9 has filed for a call letter change

TheBigA said:
That's what it would have to be for it to have an impact. Hubbard knows from their experience in St. Louis that they need a strong and heritage morning show to pay for the rest of the day. I suspect they already know who they want, and perhaps it could come from KINK.
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If Hubbard can make the Alternative format as successful as it is in St. Louis with The Point, which is a struggling format, then I have high hopes for what they can accomplish with KPNW.
 
TheBigA said:
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.
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Can't say what it looks like now, but, when I worked for a cluster with a AAA in it, the AAA was more than 60% female.

I know the 12+ ratings (diary market) have gone down, and the last two ratings periods were WAY down. I also know the average age of the audience has grown steadily older. Don't know it has also become more male, though I wouldn't expect it.
 
leethalweapon said:
I'm going to stick my neck out here and say, that Classic Alternative is ripe for today's AAA audience. As the original Alternative audience ages, AAA should be the next step for those who still want their Classic Alternative fix, but also like current music.
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I agree 100%.
 
bobdavcav said:
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.
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If iHeart tries to run a country format in Seattle, I suspect they might do it via an HD subchannel - they have five stations to choose from in Seattle to add an HD country subchannel. Although it's not likely they'll do that since they have no translators to simulcast the station on.
 
dxsphere said:
If iHeart tries to run a country format in Seattle, I suspect they might do it via an HD subchannel - they have five stations to choose from in Seattle to add an HD country subchannel.
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Why would iHeart, let alone anyone bother doing a country HD-2/3 channel? They can't sell ads on it, so what would make the work of programming it worthwhile?
 
Kelly A said:
Why would iHeart, let alone anyone bother doing a country HD-2/3 channel? They can't sell ads on it, so what would make the work of programming it worthwhile?
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iHeart runs an HD2-fed country translator in Spokane (via KISC-HD2 & 99.3 FM). And as I had mentioned above, it's not likely they'd do the same thing in Seattle.
 
Kelly A said:
Why would iHeart, let alone anyone bother doing a country HD-2/3 channel? They can't sell ads on it, so what would make the work of programming it worthwhile?
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The thought is that even taking a portion of a share point off the competitor helps their cluster look better on group buys.
 
I think the only reason to run a Country format on an HD subchannel is...

1) if the main channel were originally Country and you want to ease the loss. In NYC, which no longer has any station doing Country, when WNSH flipped, the country format moved to HD2. It gets a point one or point two.

2) if iHeart has an FM translator in town to rebroadcast it. Some translators are doing remarkably well if they offer a format unavailable anywhere else. But not in a situation like Seattle where there is a full power FM station doing Country. I doubt doing Country on an HD subchannel or a translator will get much traction. Folks will simply tune in The Wolf if they want Country music. It's probably on their pre-sets anyway.
 
Kelly A said:
I suppose. For the amount of time spent on Selector programming it, still wonder if it would be worth the effort.
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In either widely used music scheduler, if the rules are made flexible enough, one can get it to do entire weeks if not whole months without need to edit. When I set up MusicMaster after a music test, I'll have it do a whole month while I do something else, then find the issues, correct them, and do it again until I get it as good as it can be prior to manual editing... but with a few tweaks I can get it to have no errors and be adequate for an HD channel intended to be a fragmenting alternative.
 
The logo and imaging have a very lo-fi vibe, perfect for this format in this particular city. It's also refreshing that they're leaning into the retro simplicity of using call letters as the brand.

KPNW-FM.jpg
The sound is definitely not cookie cutter, with stuff like Alarm "Rain in the Summertime", Smashing Pumpkins "Thirty Three", Howard Jones "No One is to Blame", Dandy Warhols "Bohemian Like You", Jimi Hendrix "All Along the Watchtower", Alan Parsons "Eye in the Sky", Smokey Robinson & The Miracles "Tears of a Clown", Fatboy Slim "Rockafeller Skank" etc.

The non-rock songs spiked in make this instantly one of the most musically diverse commercial stations in the U.S. The average CHR 25 years ago had a vastly wider range musically than nearly all commercial stations today.

There is also textural depth, with the station playing such varied sounds as Filter “Hey Man Nice Shot” (hard alternative), Lizzo “About Damn Time” (rhythmic pop), Steely Dan “Ricky Don’t Lose That Number” (soft classic rock) and more.
 
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Alan Parsons Project 'Eye in the Sky' - not bad! I will have to listen to this station. Great to hear they honor Jimi's heritage in Seattle, too. If they follow in something similar to KNDD's '2 Minute Promise' for commercial breaks, they could gain even more listeners from KEXP.
Is there former KEZX talent out there that could come back for the new KPNW?
 
Smart to start with a wide variety, then narrow the list/sound somewhat as the core audience develops. AAA stations play Lizzo (could argue this is where she was discovered) along with Classic Rock and alternative. Start with an open tent and then serve the fans. I hear two or three currents an hour, two or three from the last couple of years and then a wide variety of gold and classics. Well done and nice to see a broadcast company take risks on a format that hasn't been launched in a major market since PPM arrived 15 years ago.
 
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I guess the burning question with this new format, and as it develops, will they or have they played We Belong by Pat Benetar? Can we look forward to hearing Kokomo any time soon on 98.9 KPNW?
 
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