Denver Visiting Denver with a radio

[jlalande]

I visited Denver earlier this month for a conference and looked forward to checking out Denver's radio dial -- so many good stations, so little time.

I've been a longtime fan of Channel 93.3 -- I love their airstaff, music selection, and station personality (like the Nerf's LOL @ 5:05 and numerous hilarious station liners). The Throwback Lunch is great, too. I used to listen to Channel 933 online a lot, but the station's excruciatingly long commercial breaks, when combined with the cheapo commercials they'd insert in the stream to replace the on-air commercials, got me out of the habit of listening to them.

So, it wasn't a shock, but still disappointing that the first time I tried tuning into Channel 93.3 during some downtime at the conference, I was greeted by a 15 minute commercial break. Brutal.

I don't think I've ever visited a city with 3 different adult alternative stations, but I enjoyed them all while visiting. KBCO has a nice music mix, but some of the same spot load problems as KTCL. Of the three, I found myself listening to "the Colorado Sound" (KJAC) the most, but I enjoyed CPR's Indie 102.3, too.

It was a good conference, so I didn't have as much time to listen to the radio as I'd hoped, but in addition to the stations already mentioned, I also enjoyed checking out Jazz KUVO and Mix 100.

Denver's lucky to have such a diverse radio dial with so many good stations, and I hope to visit again soon.

Cheers.

 

[JeremyAndrews]

I get a lot of Denver during E-Skip and have listened passing through. There are about as many Sports stations in Denver as there are in Milwaukee (A lot)

93.3's stopsets are typical of iHeart and a lot of big market radio.

It is a great market for Rock, Alternative and AAA

 

[Mark Roberts]

I moved to Denver almost three months ago and gravitated pretty quickly to the AAA stations.

iHeart has a rock cluster strategy that runs from KBPI (current rock) to KTCL (alternative) to KBCO (AAA) to KRFX (classic rock). There is some overlap. Thus, in comparison to the other two AAA stations, KBCO has more older tunes. It also has the longest track record for AAA in the market, and operates an HD-2 channel dedicated to recordings of live performances in its "Studio C". KBCO is reminiscent of San Francisco's former KFOG in a lot of ways.

KBCO is commercial; the other two AAA stations are noncommercial. KJAC calls itself "The Colorado Sound", focusing heavily on new music and local artists. KVOQ (Indie 102.3) has more of an alternative lean than KBCO and any gold it plays is likely to be alternative gold. It also will feature local artists, though somewhat less so than KJAC. I'll note that KJAC and KVOQ can have signal problems in different parts of the metro.

The market is sports-heavy. The Kroenke stations appear to be there primarily to support the teams that the family owns. KOA, which really should be a news/talk station, is more of a talk/news-ish/SPORTS station with a lot of play-by-play. (Bonneville's KKFN seems to be leader in sports talk. I'd personally rather read a life insurance policy while standing on my head, but that's my point of view only.) It's my opinion that iHeart runs news/talk stations that are mostly lousy, and KOA has done little to change my mind in that regard. In a weird way, KHOW comes across to me as having slightly better news coverage than KOA, though it's part of the iHeart cluster and shares news content with KOA. KOA can occasionally do a good job with news - I've even caught some actual street reporting on there as of late - but they're not consistent about it. There are a lot of talk stations of the far-right variety in addition to KOA and KHOW. KOA and KHOW at least try to be a little more mainstream but still come across as out of touch with what the Denver metropolitan area is becoming. In the more reasonable news/talk genre KCFR (Colorado Public Radio News) just doesn't resonate with me for some reason that I've not figured out yet. In contrast, CPR's "Denverite" website is excellent. Some of that reporting needs to make it on the air, too, instead of the featurish stuff with very limited audience appeal.

The one station that's likely to be under the radar is KLVZ 810 with a translator at 95.3 ("Legends 95.3"). It's hard to describe. It's kind of like a Music of Your Life aesthetic translated to rock and pop oldies. But not exactly. Elvis can come next to Bachman-Turner Overdrive - or the Bay City Rollers next to Teddy Pendergrass next to Glen Campbell - just to name two examples. It's a Crawford station, which is an even bigger surprise. It seems to make most of its money by leasing out time for weekend talk shows and the occasional ex-or-frustrated-DJ who'd like to play their favorites on the radio.

This isn't a comprehensive description, and I don't claim it to be, because I've left a lot out, but it is a taste of some of the choices that are available. I think exploring a new market can be interesting, even with radio being in the diminished state that it's in today.

 

[JeeperOne]

I visited Denver earlier this month for a conference and looked forward to checking out Denver's radio dial -- so many good stations, so little time.

I've been a longtime fan of Channel 93.3 -- I love their airstaff, music selection, and station personality (like the Nerf's LOL @ 5:05 and numerous hilarious station liners). The Throwback Lunch is great, too. I used to listen to Channel 933 online a lot, but the station's excruciatingly long commercial breaks, when combined with the cheapo commercials they'd insert in the stream to replace the on-air commercials, got me out of the habit of listening to them.

So, it wasn't a shock, but still disappointing that the first time I tried tuning into Channel 93.3 during some downtime at the conference, I was greeted by a 15 minute commercial break. Brutal.

I don't think I've ever visited a city with 3 different adult alternative stations, but I enjoyed them all while visiting. KBCO has a nice music mix, but some of the same spot load problems as KTCL. Of the three, I found myself listening to "the Colorado Sound" (KJAC) the most, but I enjoyed CPR's Indie 102.3, too.

It was a good conference, so I didn't have as much time to listen to the radio as I'd hoped, but in addition to the stations already mentioned, I also enjoyed checking out Jazz KUVO and Mix 100.

Denver's lucky to have such a diverse radio dial with so many good stations, and I hope to visit again soon.

Cheers.

A 15 minute commerical break?? YIKES !! I've NEVER heard of a station taking THAT long Other than early Sunday Mornings for the usual E/I crap (Which is usually used by the Sales Department to shill some infomercial advertising anyway))

As for your overall stay, you should bring along one of those Portable HDTV's next time & watch some TV while attending one of your conferences

 

[CTListener]

A 15 minute commerical break?? YIKES !! I've NEVER heard of a station taking THAT long Other than early Sunday Mornings for the usual E/I crap (Which is usually used by the Sales Department to shill some infomercial advertising anyway))

Seems wildly exaggerated to me, too. The longest advertising break I've ever encountered on radio is about half that length. I wonder if the original poster was actually timing the break as it was happening or if he was just so frustrated waiting for the music to resume that the break seemed like it went on for a full quarter-hout.

 

[JeremyAndrews]

Seems wildly exaggerated to me, too. The longest advertising break I've ever encountered on radio is about half that length. I wonder if the original poster was actually timing the break as it was happening or if he was just so frustrated waiting for the music to resume that the break seemed like it went on for a full quarter-hout.

I have heard stopsets that long on iHeart stations

 

[CTListener]

I have heard stopsets that long on iHeart stations

IHeart's stations actually are the stations I've listened to that have the longest stopsets. Eight or nine minutes has been the absolute longest I've ever encountered on any music station. Most of my listening has been to its Hartford and New Haven clusters, so maybe they are saddling stations in larger or more prosperous markets with 15-minute breaks, or maybe they're using longer breaks on talk stations so the hosts can prepare properly for their next segment. Where and on which stations have you been hearing those show-killing quarter-hour adfests?

 

[JeremyAndrews]

IHeart's stations actually are the stations I've listened to that have the longest stopsets. Eight or nine minutes has been the absolute longest I've ever encountered on any music station. Most of my listening has been to its Hartford and New Haven clusters, so maybe they are saddling stations in larger or more prosperous markets with 15-minute breaks, or maybe they're using longer breaks on talk stations so the hosts can prepare properly for their next segment. Where and on which stations have you been hearing those show-killing quarter-hour adfests?

Chicago. KISS FM

 

[CTListener]

Chicago. KISS FM

I'll give it a listen sometime next week, morning and evening drive, and time what I hear. Thanks.

 

[jlalande]

Seems wildly exaggerated to me, too. The longest advertising break I've ever encountered on radio is about half that length. I wonder if the original poster was actually timing the break as it was happening or if he was just so frustrated waiting for the music to resume that the break seemed like it went on for a full quarter-hout.

I wish I was exaggerating, but I was actually recording to try and capture some top of hour IDs. Had I not been trying to record the station ID, I would have changed the station after a few minutes, but I went back and listened to the recording and confirmed it was a 15 minute break. It wasn't all commercials, but was a 15 minute break between songs. Look at KTCL's music log on their website, and you'll see these aren't isolated incidents. iHeart really schedules ads this way.

Here's the 15 minute break:

Nerf’s LOL @ 5:05 - Casa Bonita - 30s
iHeart sports network - what’s trending - 30s
Furniture Row - 15s
American Financing (credit card debt relief ... with a home equity loan!) (read by KTCL DJ Nerf) - 90s
the Sharpest Rides used cars - 30s
Kaiser Permanente Health - 30s
WeBuyAnyCar.com - 30s
Denver Education Vision Project (PSA?) - 30s
AXS commercial for 30 seconds to Mars Denver concert- 30s
Urban Lights lighting showroom- 30s
Intermountain Health - 30s
American Family Insurance - 30s
Willhite Law Firm - 30s
Xfinity - 60s
Del Taco - 30s
Tacori jewelry at Williams Jewelers - 60s
Whole Foods - 15s
Denver 7 News - 30s
Gilette Intimate - 15s
BMO bank - 30s
Boost Infinite (ad ready by KTCL DJ Smitty) - 30s
Trice Jewelers - 30s
Verizon Run the Playlist - Denver Broncos (read by DJ Smitty) - 30s
Shane Co. jewelers - 30s
Circle K - 30s
KTCL top of hour ID -20s
Nerf’s LOL @ 5:05 - Cash Panda contest - 30s
Emich Volkswagen - 10s
Channel 93.3 station liner - 15s

 

[CTListener]

So everything from Sharpest Rides through Whole Foods ran one after the other, no DJ happy talk/bits or traffic reports between them? That's actually what I was looking for documentation on: 15 minutes of solid, bought-and-paid-for ads, with no elements but maybe a short ID or jingle among them. There's obviously a lot more going on in this hour than ads.

 

[jlalande]

So everything from Sharpest Rides through Whole Foods ran one after the other, no DJ happy talk/bits or traffic reports between them? That's actually what I was looking for documentation on: 15 minutes of solid, bought-and-paid-for ads, with no elements but maybe a short ID or jingle among them. There's obviously a lot more going on in this hour than ads.

The "Denver 7 News" was an ad for Denver 7 news, not the news. So, more like everything from Furniture Row through Circle K. The ad read by Nerf was pre-recorded, judging by the sped-up legal disclaimer at the end. These weren't live ad reads, just noting that a few of them were at least voiced by station personalities.

 

[davideduardo]

Seems wildly exaggerated to me, too. The longest advertising break I've ever encountered on radio is about half that length. I wonder if the original poster was actually timing the break as it was happening or if he was just so frustrated waiting for the music to resume that the break seemed like it went on for a full quarter-hout.

Some of Stern's breaks went on almost that long. Apparently he would not call a break and by the time he got to doing it, two whole breaks were piled up and run together. Long bathroom break.

 

[CTListener]

Some of Stern's breaks went on almost that long. Apparently he would not call a break and by the time he got to doing it, two whole breaks were piled up and run together. Long bathroom break.

I remember those from his early days at WNBC, when he was still required to play music between his bits and amid the ads. Of course, his bits were longer than the songs and IIRC it didn't take long for the music to be eliminated.

 

[TheBigA]

So, it wasn't a shock, but still disappointing that the first time I tried tuning into Channel 93.3 during some downtime at the conference, I was greeted by a 15 minute commercial break. Brutal.

This comes up a lot, and probably more in the last few years. The way I evaluate spot breaks is by counting the number of songs an hour. A typical radio station plays 12 songs an hour, assuming 3-4 minute songs. Channel 93.3 plays 10-11. That's one or two fewer songs an hour than an average station. If alt songs are longer, that might explain fewer songs. Turning it around, the typical radio station runs about 14 spots an hour. So using what you're telling me, I'm guessing the station does two breaks an hour, which is what is recommended for PPM markets. Perhaps one long one and a shorter one. The research tells us that if someone is going to tune out during a break, they'll usually do it early, in the first or second spot. So the length of the break is less on a tune out than the break itself. If you can limit the breaks to 1 or 2 an hour, you can hold the audience long enough to get good ratings. Commercial placement changed when PPM came out. In the last ten years, the recommendation to do just one break an hour. But it's a long break.

Other thing to factor is that revenues are down on average 7% this year. So even with long commercial breaks, stations are losing money compared to last year. If there was another way to make money besides :30 spots, everyone I know would jump on it.

 

[FM_Listener]

Long breaks and messed up audio caused me to give up on the Denver area FMs.

 

[TheBigA]

Long breaks and messed up audio caused me to give up on the Denver area FMs.

So are you going to change your screen name?

 

[ksradiogeek]

Long breaks and messed up audio caused me to give up on the Denver area FMs.

Ehhh…Max has done some decent things with the two properties they’re now selling. Held out for a while despite having only rimshots. Friend that was the engineer there a few years back made them hum despite the signal deficiencies. And spot breaks aren’t too horribly long now. Sucks to see them leave, but c’est la vie. I had a feeling something was going to give eventually.

 

[FM_Listener]

So are you going to change your screen name?

I've gotten that before, but I'm keeping it to mess with people.

 

[Loverofradio]

Other thing to factor is that revenues are down on average 7% this year. So even with long commercial breaks, stations are losing money compared to last year. If there was another way to make money besides :30 spots, everyone I know would jump on it.

I’ve heard your ideas on other boards about what radio needs to do. You mentioned being more digital heavy for revenue. What are your ideas to get radio back to where it should be? How can we get there?