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KITS 105.3 Stunting... Return of Live 105?

KITS mostly earned terrible ratings for its final decade or more as an alternative station. To achieve a better result this time will require formidable programming resources and something more than a generic playlist & piped-in air talent.
 
MarkW said:
KITS mostly earned terrible ratings for its final decade or more as an alternative station. To achieve a better result this time will require formidable programming resources and something more than a generic playlist & piped-in air talent.
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Doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a lot of “new alternative.” Admittingly the format has no real identity, it could be called “softer active rock” but it also drifts into pop too.

I’ve always said you need to go classic and new if you’re going to use such a niche format, or go after a blend of newer rock with it. Rock fans exist. I don’t know how many people will actively call themselves a fan of alternative.

I say this as a listener of 105.3 before Dave was thrown onto the station. Once that hit, I left so fast haha.

What pre Dave 105.3 was providing could maybe pull higher numbers with more local investment but nothing is going to go above a 3 share I think in that realm.

This Live 105 reboot is probably going to look a lot like Alt 94.7 in Portland. Maybe they’ll try what Cumulus did with WNNX, too. I believe that Cumulus tends to have smaller clusters however and as a result has more room to experiment with their stations.

I don’t think anyone has tried mixing harder modern rock (think Bad Omens or Shinedown) with alternative yet, but I have seen stations playing mostly from the active rock charts on media base.

I think KSAN is going to start with some more modern rock mixed in like WMMR in Philly if their formats keep trending down, anyway.
 
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DavidEduardo said:
This is sort of like asking how many Americans like cajun music or bluegrass...

There are about 700 million people in Latin America. That is twice the population of the United States.

But few know even conversational English. And they are generally the ones who went to expensive private schools and have traveled.

According to the English Proficiency Index, “Latin America is the region [with] the lowest levels of English” as of 2020. Low English proficiency rates stem from a “low quality of language teaching programs in public education and the difficulties in accessing alternative training” as a result of the scarcity of language training institutions and the expensive costs of such programs.

According to the index, some of the Latin American countries with the lowest rates of English proficiency are Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Mexico. In Mexico, less than 10% of schools have English as part of the education curriculum. Furthermore, in 2015, Latin America lagged 2.5 years behind Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations in schooling development.
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This was an eye-opener for me. I always assumed (without data to back it up, to be sure) that there would be relatively higher rates of English proficiency just due to its proximity to the United States. ("Poor Mexico. So far from God, so close to the United States.") I always had trouble squaring this assumption with reports of the poor state of Mexican primary and secondary public education, and of a teacher's union that makes the California Teachers Association look like a declawed pussycat. Thanks to your quote now this makes sense.
 
ksradiogeek said:
I used to think like you. Grew up with classic rock and country everywhere, whining about ‘why don’t I have a modern rock station near me? This is dinosaur and twang music!’ ‘I want music to move forward!’ ‘Stations NEED to do this!’ I understand the passion you have - I’ve long had it as well and still do. That’s how I became interested in this industry.

But then I connected with DJs and even PDs and GMs from across the country and even the world, asked them about this or that and learned about what goes into radio. I actively studied the business. Then I actually got a job at a station; over time, it made me open my eyes to how music testing and the business as a whole works. Work one day in radio, commercial or non-comm, and you might see it too.

I like modern alt, but I respect the classics (not to mention grew up with them as well), those who have poured the foundations for the modern acts. I want both, but that may not be a sustainable, long term option. By and large, outside of just a few operators, commercial stations have to pick a side - they’ve had to for awhile, and we’re now beginning to see those two listener ‘camps’ form.

I’m not saying you have to like it; I know there are some things the business does that I personally don’t care for and would like to see change. But I understand how and why.
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Now I cringe when I remember things I wrote on rec.radio.broadcasting 30 years bemoaning the lack of a modern rock station in Kansas City, at least until KLZR from Lawrence and then KISF came along. By that point, I had been out of radio for upwards of 10 years, but still should have had a better comprehension of why Kansas City radio operated the way that it was. I still hold the opinion that the radio choices on offer at that time and place were stale and pedestrian, but then again, I felt that the Kansas City suburbs, to which these stations seemed to be appealing, were also stale and pedestrian. I still rant about the awfulness of KYYS occasionally, but it's gone and the effort to revive it fell flat. I'll note that things have changed somewhat in KC - I've had a good time on recent visits there, and the radio choices on offer there now are, in some ways, more diverse than those in the Bay Area.

There's a personal irony for me in all this. My dissatisfaction with Kansas City radio deepened after trips to the Bay Area and exposure to the 1990s version of KITS. The station had verve, personality, and music that really resonated with me. I was looking for something different, and there I found it. Problem was, I lived somewhere else where more conventional programming ruled. By the time I moved to the Bay Area a few years later, for career and personal reasons, CBS had taken over KITS and essentially installed the harder KOME format (complete with terrible audio that wasn't fixed until "Dave FM" came along). For a few years I referred to KITS as "The Station for Angry Tattooed Restaurant Workers". In the last few years, it seemed to be searching for an identity. This may indeed be related to the fragmentation of the "alternative" audience that has been referenced upthread.

One outcome of my Kansas City experience is that I have a substantial collection of early 1990s modern rock CDs, including most of the "Volume" series.

If "Dave FM" is indeed being sent to the junkpile, I hope KITS doesn't go back to the distorted, unlistenable audio processing that it featured since the CBS takeover.
 
sfradio said:
It looks like there will be new music, from the 90's to today
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Thanks for posting that. The article mentions John Allers, who is Audacy VP of Alternative Programming. He most recently fixed KVIL Dallas. So that may be the template for what will happen at KITS.

“Our entire team has great respect and admiration for what Live 105 means to the Bay Area alternative community,” says brand manager John Allers. “We will continue to honor Live 105’s rich history and legacy by bringing back brand mainstays such as ‘Soundcheck’ with Aaron Axelsen and other familiar voices while collaborating with Live 105 alumnus ‘Miles the DJ’ in guiding the evolution of Live 105 into the future.”
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It appears that John is now based in San Francisco. Prior to KVIL, John was PD and morning DJ at WRFF in Philadelphia.
 
Theater of My Mind said:
David hates Alternative music, he has admitted it many times here. You're never going to get a positive opinion about the format from him.
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I don't "hate" alternative music. I just don't personally enjoy it, appreciate it or understand it. That is because it is very far removed from the kinds of music I do like. Yet I have programmed some successful stations in formats where I did not like the music, but where research among those who did made the station successful.

You don't understand that those of us who have owned, managed, programmed or sold for radio stations are involved with a product which we do not have to like personally. Heck, the CEOs of most cosmetic companies use the "he" pronoun yet they are involved with the creation of products principally used by women.
 
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DavidEduardo said:
I don't "hate" alternative music. I just don't enjoy it, appreciate it or understand it. That is because it is very far removed from the kinds of music I do like. Yet I have programmed some successful stations in formats where I did not like the music, but where research among those who did made the station successful.

You don't understand that those of us who have owned, managed, programmed or sold for radio stations are involved with a product which we do not have to like personally. Heck, the CEOs of most cosmetic companies use the "he" pronoun yet they are involved with the creation of products principally used by women
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Like that didgeridoo station you programmed in Toledo? 🤣

Sorry, I had to make the easy joke.
 
Theater of My Mind said:
Alternative stations that are both well programmed and profitable exist. They have been discussed extensively in other threads. KPNT is a good one. The constant hate from some members under the guise of objectivity gets old here.
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But the reality is that KPNT has a power ratio of around 0.7. That means that the station is underperforming in billing compared to its ratings.

In the same market, there country, talk, urban, hot AC and CHR stations that all have power ratios above 1.3,

The station is likely very profitable, as it is in the top 10 in billing. But, like nearly all Alt stations, it has a poor power ratio because many advertisers don't select that format for their campaigns.
 
DavidEduardo said:
I don't "hate" alternative music. I just don't enjoy it, appreciate it or understand it. That is because it is very far removed from the kinds of music I do like. Yet I have programmed some successful stations in formats where I did not like the music, but where research among those who did made the station successful.

You don't understand that those of us who have owned, managed, programmed or sold for radio stations are involved with a product which we do not have to like personally. Heck, the CEOs of most cosmetic companies use the "he" pronoun yet they are involved with the creation of products principally used by women.
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First [or maybe the 2nd station....heck, it's been so long ago] we had a "Mellow Rock/AAA-ish" format. Soon as one of the guys was off the air and in his jeep, he flipped on his radio and headed to the lower end of the dial to listen to any jazz music/station he could find. Couldn't stand the format of the station we worked for but you'd never know it by his on-air demeanor. And I was really chuffed when I was talking to one of the top rated morning DJs [had a AC drifting to oldies format] in the area and his face lit up when I said where I worked, he said" Cool! I listen to you guys all the time when I'm off-air." Almost wet myself!
 
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