KKGO Hires Radio Consultant

[TheBigA]

For those of you who think KKGO doesn't care about its place in the ratings: They hired a top country radio consultant to improve its numbers. At one time they were the #1 country station in the country. Not any more. Saul & Michael Levine are doing something they rarely do: Ask for outside help:

KKGO Hires Consultant As It Makes Some ‘Minor Adjustments.’

“Go Country 105” KKGO Los Angeles President Saul Levine says the station has entered a consulting agreement. According to a news release, country radio consultant Albright & O’Malley & Brenner

www.insideradio.com

This consultant specializes in country radio, so they won't suggest a format change. This is mainly to improve the sound and marketing. Perhaps fix the artist-hosted segments, which tend to be pretty weak.

 

[henry]

Pfffft. Best consultant in the country? I could do the job much cheaper:

• Rebrand from GO COUNTRY to "YO COUNTRY"
• Play only tracks from Lil Nas X, Jelly Roll, or Florida Georgia Line (or groups that have significant rapping)
• Hire someone like Bubba Sparxxx as the new liner voice. Whomever it is, they must be rap all the liners
• Pay Reelworld to re-sing old JAM'N 94.5 Boston jingles as "L.A.'s COUNTRY JAM --- YO COUNTRY 105!" but to keep that country cred, have 'em add a random banjo on top the instrumentation or whatever
• Using 50 Cent's "YO YO YO shawty... it's YO birthday" as the traffic report music
• At station events, hand out "YO COUNTRY"-branded yo-yos

And when the ratings tank, they can hire me again to "fix" it!

 

[henry]

Joking aside, it's a good time to put a little effort into country. I know the hip-hop format is really struggling (as are some other youth-oriented stations), but I'm seeing pretty good engagement with country audiences in other markets. There's some strong power players like KKWF in Seattle and KSON down in San Diego.

Putting a bit of money into sharpening their tools and leaning into the "boom" is probably a wise move for KKGO.

 

[xkxrx]

Here are the details on some of the changes.

KKGO Go Country lost its ‘kick-butt’ spirit. ‘Gold’ may help get it back.

Richard Wagoner writes about radio in Southern California.

www.dailynews.com

 

[TheBigA]

Here are the details on some of the changes.

Not Richard Wagoner again! As I said in another thread, don't ask a boomer about the future.

I had this exact conversation today with an artist. He said covid changed everything, which is exactly what Saul said. But he took in a different way. The artist I spoke with said country music is changing, and it's changing quicker since the pandemic. Just one look at the country chart will substantiate that. Post Malone has a country hit. Shaboozey has a country hit. The music sounds different than it did before the pandemic.

So you can either pay attention to the trends, or you can try to defy them. Saul wants to add more gold to his mix. Of course he does. We know how that goes. If he is careful with what he adds, and sticks with mostly 90s gold, he'll do fine. It won't hurt him in the demos. BUT he's handing the current hits to non-country stations in the market. Right now, KIIS is playing Post Malone/Morgan Wallen, Kane Brown/Marshmello, and Shaboozey. These are three huge songs that country radio has to themselves if they want them. But Saul wants to take the easy way and play Reba & Garth. In my view, he's leaving money on the table. But it's up to him.

 

[K.M. Richards]

Rather than quoting you, A, I will simply repeat what I always do about Saul Levine.

He will do whatever he wants, because he can. No stockholders, no debt service, no worrying about the "other four stations in the cluster" (because there aren't any), and his adult children being on board with whatever changes he makes.

He's a throwback to the way the business used to be, and that's a big part of why I like him so much.

(Please also note that I refuse here to repeat what I always say about Richard Wagoner. )

 

[TheBigA]

Rather than quoting you, A, I will simply repeat what I always do about Saul Levine.

He will do whatever he wants, because he can. No stockholders, no debt service, no worrying about the "other four stations in the cluster" (because there aren't any), and his adult children being on board with whatever changes he makes.

You're right, and I don't disagree completely with Saul's view. He's right that there's an audience for country gold in LA. There was 15 years ago when he ran a gold show Sunday night hosted by actor & singer Mac Davis. I would suggest he do it again, maybe this time with Kevin Costner or Dennis Quaid as host. Hire Billy Bob Thornton to be your imaging voice. I think it would be killer.

 

[MarkW]

I like the 90s era of country and am very happy to see Saul is giving (or soon will give) these artists a more prominent place on his station.

I am skeptical this move will work well in LA and OC, especially if the goal is to increase money demo audience share, but I hope it succeeds!

 

[K.M. Richards]

I am skeptical this move will work well in LA and OC, especially if the goal is to increase money demo audience share, but I hope it succeeds!

Country has been a niche format in the Los Angeles market for a very, very, very long time. Saul has been the only game in town for 17 years now, beginning six months after KZLA left the format in 2006. And 93.9 was only Country for a few more years than Saul currently has, having flipped from soft rock around the same time as KHJ flipped from top-40 (1980). Before that, KLAC was it for a little over a decade, which takes us back over a half-century on the timeline.

(I don't consider Art Astor's KIK-FM, which simulcast on the 94.3 signals in Orange County and the San Fernando Valley in the 1990s, to have been much of a factor as it was far short of full-market coverage.)

In a few years, Saul will hold the record for number of years in the format, if he doesn't flip 105.1 again in the interim. Even the predecessors to KLAC -- 1500 (as KBBQ) only lasted from 1967 to 1972 and 1110 (as KXLA) was Country from 1945 to 1959 -- lasted for shorter periods than Saul has already. If a 90's based approach to the format works for him, I'm sure he will be pleased.

Revenue has never been his motivation anyway.

 

[TheBigA]

I am skeptical this move will work well in LA and OC, especially if the goal is to increase money demo audience share, but I hope it succeeds!

According to the article I linked in the OP, the goal is to increase the cume, and make KKGO the #1 station in the format, a title currently held by KKBQ in Houston. It's basically about bragging rights.

KKGO FM is aiming to restore its former No. 1 USA cume in the Nielsen ratings, Levine said. Cume for KKGO Los Angeles in the Holiday 2019 PPMs was 1,179,900.

 

[TheBigA]

On a related note, Country Aircheck tonight published a list of the Top 10 country radio stations based on billing. KILT in Houston was #1 (probably because of they broadcast Houston Texans). They bill $16 million. The #10 station bills almost $9 million. KKGO is not among the Top 10. So yes, revenue is not a motivation at KKGO.

 

[TheBigA]

KKGO has named Pat Welsh as PD.

KKGO Los Angeles Names Pat Welsh PD.

Pat Welsh has been upped to PD at Mt. Wilson Broadcasting “Go Country 105” KKGO Los Angeles, reports the Los Angeles Daily News. Welsh’s promotion is among the tweaks owner

www.countryinsider.com

Prior to this, programming at KKGO had been overseen by station GM Michael Levine.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Its a major market so they have to be somewhat precise and studied in what they're doing, but with no competition in the format, they can do things they might not otherwise.

However, a consultant who knows the format intimately is not a bad idea in a case like this.

I can tell you, them adding gold isnt a bad idea at all.

In my personal, lived it on air expierience with 4 years at a country station in Western PA and 6 years doing a nationwide overnight classic country show, there's been a real resurgence in interest in what id call "real country", as thats what listeners call it, but also abc;s old real couyntry network mirrors when im referring to.

Good current hits
with time tested favorites.... stuff after country stopped being old and twangy but before the pop country hit in the late late 90s early 2000s.

If I were in a small market with the same situation as Saul, no competitor... id do what hes doing now, if id been doing what he had been doing.. and in a smaller market.. id maybe be a tad tad bit mroe adventurous. id mostly add in 90s country... but once in a blue moon sprinkle in a big big 80s tune.

 

[K.M. Richards]

I should probably offer a disclaimer at this point, since it appears that I may end up offering more opinions on the viability of the Classic Country format.

Before I went into consulting full-time my last on-air work was in my hometown market of Oxnard-Ventura CA (the market immediately north of Los Angeles, where I am now based) in 1989 at KMYX, which had what could best be described as a cross between an album-oriented Country format and a Classic Country format. We played whatever songs on a current album that we thought were an artist's best work, and we predicted a lot of hits in the process. KMYX was the first Country station in the U.S. to play Randy Travis' cover of the Brook Benton song "It's Just A Matter Of Time", which ultimately went to #1 on the Billboard chart when it was finally released as a single ... months after we played it as an album cut. But inbetween those songs, we also had a gold library that went back as far as the early 1960s to choose songs from. It was not uncommon for "Timber, I'm Falling In Love" by Patty Loveless to segue into "I've Been Everywhere" by Hank Snow!

So when Saul says he's adding gold from the 90s, I support the move, even as part of me would rather hear "Abilene" by George Hamilton IV ... or anything by the Statler Brothers or Larry Gatlin.

(Oh, BTW, I was originally hired to do mornings but ended up APD and MD as well.)

 

[TheBigA]

More on new KKGO PD Pat Welsh as reported by Country Aircheck:

Welsh had been PD for the station's HD-only Adult Standards channel, "Unforgettable FM" until earlier this year, and launched his own music programming consultancy in 2005. Levine says Welsh is an employee, but will maintain some consulting clients. Levine adds, "This is not a major revolution. Just a tweak."

So this may explain why Unforgettable went away last month.

 

[30james]

So when are these changes Going to happen? I just went on go country playlist and they have only currents Playing they play a lot of Luke combs

 

[TheBigA]

There's a lengthy interview with Saul Levine in the latest issue of Country Aircheck. In it, he explains how he will add more gold to the format, and will add a classic country channel to KKGO's HD3. He also says he will be discontinuing the mid-day guest host series.

He believes “the gold from 2000-2010 has a lot of life left.” So, in a typical hour with eight to 10 currents, there will be two or three gold titles “that are compatible,” he says. There will also be some new, gold-specific features during the week, and Levine plans to launch a Classic Country station on his HD-3 channel.

Here's what he said about replacing the daily guest host with a regular DJ:

Levine hopes to either hire a “top-rated DJ” to replace the midday guest artists, or move an existing personality into that spot, and says he scrapped guest artists because “people should do what they’re trained to do. The national singers are wonderful. I enjoy talking to them, but just because you’re a great singer doesn’t mean you’re a great DJ.” The station’s night shift is also currently open, and Levine hints they’re developing a “special treatment” for that daypart.

 

[TomásEstefan]

There's a lengthy interview with Saul Levine in the latest issue of Country Aircheck. In it, he explains how he will add more gold to the format, and will add a classic country channel to KKGO's HD3. He also says he will be discontinuing the mid-day guest host series.



Here's what he said about replacing the daily guest host with a regular DJ:

Will the new country classic channel on HD3 be in stereo? As I've mentioned in a number of posts concerning KKGO, whatever format appears on 105.1's HD3 has always been monaural...perhaps this will change?

 

[TheBigA]

Following through with what he tipped earlier in the week, Saul Levine splits up his morning team:

Go Country 105 Breaks Up Morning Show

Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters Country "Go Country 105" KKGO-FM Los Angeles is breaking up its morning show as Adam Bookbinder

radioinsight.com

During his interview with Country Aircheck (Post 17) Saul talked about replacing the artist hosted midday show by moving ''an existing personality into that spot."

 

[JobyOne]

This is a very good first move and for the very reasons Saul states in the article. Would like to hear more passion for the format and for the artists come through in the presentation. Country is very hot right now with several mass appeal emerging superstars right now and the only country outlet in market #2 should reflect that.