Holiday 2024 numbers are here

[Mediafrog+]

Holiday numbers: Houston/Galveston

Huge as expected for Sunny.

The Spot still in a slump.

KROI cut in half. 15 days of Praise, 20 days of La Ley.

Classical on KUHF HD-2 manages a 0.4.

 

[JustinT]

I saw this post and wanted to check in with the Spot. So this afternoon, I listened to the Spot for about 20 minutes. Here’s what I heard:

- Burnt out 80s song (We Didn’t Start The Fire)
- Burnt out 80s song (Raspberry Beret)
- Commercial break long enough to leave the car, come back, and the break was still going.
- Promo promoting the Spot’s music, including a sample of a real “oh wow” song, Raspberry Beret.
- Burnt out 80s song (I Love Rock and Roll)
- Less burnt out 80s song (Soul II Soul - Back to Life)

I’d venture to say The Spot’s stale music is holding them back. All of these songs can be heard on Sunny. Check out the playlists for Audacy’s KCBS-FM and WOCL. Going in either direction would really freshen things up.

 

[A_b_m_90]

How does Sunny keep holding high when we all know they play a lot of the same songs throughout the days?

 

[Mediafrog+]

How does Sunny keep holding high when we all know they play a lot of the same songs throughout the days?

I’m guessing you’re asking why Sunny does so much better than The Spot when there is considerable playlist overlap between the two.

Sunny is unabashedly female targeted, which is why it includes lots of pop recurrents (Taylor Swift, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.) that aren’t played on The Spot.

Sunny’s primary competition isn’t The Spot, but rather KSBJ. As we have discussed before, Sunny is designed for soccer moms, while KSBJ is aimed at evangelical soccer moms.

 

[Huff]

Again, "burned out" songs hurting a station is typically a fallacy, those are the biggest testing songs - there is a reason they get played over and over again. And KKHH only plays their powers once a day. Imagine hearing those songs 4-5x a day - that's exactly what KRTH does in Los Angeles, and they are typically in the top 3, if not number one, in the market. YOU may get tired of those songs because you are tired of them, but when the typical listener only listens a few minutes at a time, and less than an hour in a day, THEY are not getting as burned out as you think, especially if they are being properly rotated. The bigger challenge for adult and classic hits stations is playing songs that don't test well and playing them too often.

 

[Holstead]

I have no idea who calls the musical shots at KKHH, but I presume they still have plenty of data they rely on to make sure they are playing the songs they believe work the best, but I gotta tell you, I have heard a few titles the past few days that I find questionable, and just do not fit. 90's material mainly, that sounds gritty and sticks out like a sore thumb. Perhaps it is a counterprogramming measure to cut off KKPT/KGLK from invading that space, but I doubt it would keep them from it. Linkin Park into Phil Collins needs a bit more than a few seconds of Allan Peck's sweeper 'snark' to make the transition. It may just be me or my age, but I'd rather hear HAPPY not ANGRY.

 

[jt99]

I have no idea who calls the musical shots at KKHH, but I presume they still have plenty of data they rely on to make sure they are playing the songs they believe work the best, but I gotta tell you, I have heard a few titles the past few days that I find questionable, and just do not fit. 90's material mainly, that sounds gritty and sticks out like a sore thumb. Perhaps it is a counterprogramming measure to cut off KKPT/KGLK from invading that space, but I doubt it would keep them from it. Linkin Park into Phil Collins needs a bit more than a few seconds of Allan Peck's sweeper 'snark' to make the transition. It may just be me or my age, but I'd rather hear HAPPY not ANGRY.

The songs may not fit in a Classic Hits format, but unfortunately I don't think KKHH is trying to be that anymore. But in the context of an Adult Hits station, transitions like that are what make stations like Jack-FM what they are.

Audacy sister station WOCL in Orlando was mentioned earlier, and looking at their playlist, I don't think it is too far off from what KKHH sounded like in the first few years in terms of genre balance. The main difference I see between WOCL of today and KKHH of 2017-20 would be that WOCL seems to have completely abandoned the '70s, whereas KKHH was playing a decent amount of '70s back then, with disco titles in place of some of the '90s rhythmic tracks WOCL is playing now.

The Spot was female friendly and '80s heavy during the first few years, likely in an attempt to take female listeners in their 40s and early 50s from Sunny, and they definitely did very well with that approach, not sure why they moved away from it.

 

[JustinT]

I have no idea who calls the musical shots at KKHH, but I presume they still have plenty of data they rely on to make sure they are playing the songs they believe work the best, but I gotta tell you, I have heard a few titles the past few days that I find questionable, and just do not fit. 90's material mainly, that sounds gritty and sticks out like a sore thumb. Perhaps it is a counterprogramming measure to cut off KKPT/KGLK from invading that space, but I doubt it would keep them from it. Linkin Park into Phil Collins needs a bit more than a few seconds of Allan Peck's sweeper 'snark' to make the transition. It may just be me or my age, but I'd rather hear HAPPY not ANGRY.

Being as Houston doesn't have a Classic Hits station, KKHH is trying to tread the line to be both Adult Hits and Classic Hits. But it lacks the exciting variety of an Adult Hits station and the personality factor of a Classic Hits station. The end result is a station with little unique music, stale attitude, and a playlist that is just... blah. And ratings seem to be reflecting that.

Here's a set this evening of four songs tonight on KCBS: Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams", Foo Fighters "Learn to Fly", 50 Cent "In Da Club", and Billy Idol "Rebel Yell". Huge variety, but all upbeat and fun to sing along to, and spanning a wide range of eras.

Here's a set this evening of four songs on KKHH: Marcy Playground "Sex and Candy", Soundgarden "Black Hole Sun", Stevie Wonder "I Just Called To Say I Love You", Radiohead "Creep". No sing-along factor. I'm struggling to think a listener is going to sit through all four of these songs -- either they'll like 1, 3, or none.

The Spot has good bones. Just freshen things up a bit and listeners will be back.

 

[Mediafrog+]

I have no idea who calls the musical shots at KKHH, but I presume they still have plenty of data they rely on to make sure they are playing the songs they believe work the best, but I gotta tell you, I have heard a few titles the past few days that I find questionable, and just do not fit. 90's material mainly, that sounds gritty and sticks out like a sore thumb. Perhaps it is a counterprogramming measure to cut off KKPT/KGLK from invading that space, but I doubt it would keep them from it. Linkin Park into Phil Collins needs a bit more than a few seconds of Allan Peck's sweeper 'snark' to make the transition. It may just be me or my age, but I'd rather hear HAPPY not ANGRY.

From listening to The Spot the past few days I can agree they’ve made a very significant revision to the playlist recently. Still plenty of familiar tunes, but I’m hearing a lot of songs from the 90s and later that haven’t been played on the station before. Sounds like they are trying to skew quite a bit younger, and perhaps slightly more male, perhaps to add a bit more separation from Sunny.

There are a bunch of tunes that would make you think you’re listening to 94.5 The Buzz.

One other thing about The Spot: I’ve noticed that they are now using different versions/mixes/edits of some familiar tunes, as if they’ve changed their library source.

 

[Huff]

One other thing about The Spot: I’ve noticed that they are now using different versions/mixes/edits of some familiar tunes, as if they’ve changed their library source.

In addition to a number of 90s and 00s titles that have been added in the last two weeks, the rotation on powers has been increased with many playing at least twice a day.

 

[stan]

From listening to The Spot the past few days I can agree they’ve made a very significant revision to the playlist recently. Still plenty of familiar tunes, but I’m hearing a lot of songs from the 90s and later that haven’t been played on the station before. Sounds like they are trying to skew quite a bit younger, and perhaps slightly more male, perhaps to add a bit more separation from Sunny.

There are a bunch of tunes that would make you think you’re listening to 94.5 The Buzz.

One other thing about The Spot: I’ve noticed that they are now using different versions/mixes/edits of some familiar tunes, as if they’ve changed their library source.

I noticed some of these changes as I listened this past week on the way to Austin.