Okay, the Eagle is going nowhere fast.
What is your prescription, Kramer?
KVIL went back to the same well that made them kill The Eagle in the first place - playing KEGL's music in a way Dallas prefers to actual KEGL. Once again, KEGL doesn't have an answer and seems to be preferring to do nothing.
Within months of KEGL returning to Rock, KVIL brought back the 00's alt-metal songs and post-grunge anthems, as well as a small selection of Active-to-Alternative crossovers and eventually surged ahead in the ratings again. KVIL has been playing Active Rock darling Badflower as well as new music from Linkin Park, 311, and Shinedown in the last month - all of them KVIL standbys, and mixing them with the standard Alternative currents from other Audacy stations. KVIL also promoted Ian Camfield to mornings with a music-driven show and it's also helped with KVIL smacking KEGL around just like a couple of years ago.
KEGL's playlist is stagnant and directionless in comparison, and Ben & Skin remains a ratings albatross around KEGL's neck. They just have not resonated despite years of trying.
All of this has played on KVIL while Ben & Skin have been yapping for the last hour.
Everclear - "Santa Monica"
Audioslave - "Like A Stone"
Alanis Morissette - "You Oughta Know"
Dexter & The Moonrocks - "Ritalin" (current)
Puddle of Mudd - "Blurry"
Florence + The Machine - "Dog Days Are Over"
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Maps"
Breaking Benjamin - "The Diary of Jane"
311 - "Full Bloom" (current)
The Killers - "Mr. Brightside"
Green Day - "Brain Stew/Jaded"
Stone Temple Pilots - "Big Empty"
System of a Down - "Aerials"
Sum 41 - "Landmines" (recurrent)
Default - "Wasting My Time"
It's not hard to see why KEGL listeners went back to KVIL. It's the same crap on a different day, and they'd rather deal with KVIL sneaking in hipster indie here and there than nonstop yapping. Plus Nicole Alvarez (who's on right now), while not local, has a nice voice and a decent entertainer, and she's genuinely good at faking sounding local.
What's the solution for KEGL? They need to ditch Ben & Skin for starters, but that's something that's been batted about for years on this forum and it's clearly not going to happen until their contract runs out. Barring that, KEGL needs to freshen their playlist. KEGL only plays three currents, all of them by veterans of the Active Rock format - Papa Roach, Disturbed, and Shinedown. And KVIL is playing Shinedown themselves. KEGL has also let KVIL have sole ownership over Linkin Park's new material as well, and KVIL's got Linkin Park's "Heavy Is The Crown" on power rotation, complete with Emily Armstrong's lengthy scream untouched. There's some rising stars on Active Rock that could do KEGL some good, plus ditching the 1970's grandpa rock once and for all probably couldn't hurt. Kramer's said that KEGL needs to go heavy, which is where the Active Rock format in general is going with more metal and even some of the "butt rock" is getting more downtuned. And play the new Linkin Park - letting the
alternative station have the band's new material lock, stock, and barrel is
exceptionally dumb.
Either that or keep doing the same dumb crap and monotony that got KEGL killed in the first go-around.