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560

House of Prime Rib? I'd pegged her as a Tad's Steakhouse kind of gal.
I'm pretty sure Tad's has been gone for several years, around 2018 or so? I used to walk by there on Powell when going home from my French classes on Sutter. I ate there once. It wouldn't kill you, but you could do a lot better elsewhere. I think it existed largely as a tourist trap.

Tad's would have been appropriate for KABL, I think.
 
Then 106.9 wouldn't have gone to CBS and it would still have been a bypassable spot on the *FM* "dial" for the vast majority of listeners. Instead we got what I felt were two bypassable stations, one per band, until CBS gave up on "Free FM" and repurposed the KFRC brand for classic hits.

The point was whether anyone in this group actually listens to 610. Would their listening habits be different if it weren't there?

Same point with 560.

And those of us who live long enough will be able to ask ourselves that question of every AM sooner or later.
 
I'm pretty sure Tad's has been gone for several years, around 2018 or so? I used to walk by there on Powell when going home from my French classes on Sutter. I ate there once. It wouldn't kill you, but you could do a lot better elsewhere. I think it existed largely as a tourist trap.

They lost their lease for the original (since 1955) on Powell and moved around the corner to Ellis Street in 2020:


It's nobody's idea of a great restaurant, with Forbes once having described it as "a step up from fast food."
 
They lost their lease for the original (since 1955) on Powell and moved around the corner to Ellis Street in 2020:


It's nobody's idea of a great restaurant, with Forbes once having described it as "a step up from fast food."
And comparing fast food of today with even 20 years ago isn't saying much. If they're a step up, they must be struggling to get up the roadside gutter.
 
They lost their lease for the original (since 1955) on Powell and moved around the corner to Ellis Street in 2020:
Thanks for the update. Two-thousand-twenty was when everything went online, including my French class. The proprietor shut down her longtime location on Sutter and now works out of her house. So, at that point, I wasn't on Powell every week as I had been.

It's nobody's idea of a great restaurant, with Forbes once having described it as "a step up from fast food."
Most food-related things around Union Square are like that, in my experience.
 
The point was whether anyone in this group actually listens to 610. Would their listening habits be different if it weren't there?

Same point with 560.
Well, sure, I got the point. I think a more focused way of asking the question is: what's the probability that KFRC lost any listener when the AM signal was turned over to Family Radio? Leave aside the Oakland A's broadcasts that continued to the end of the 2005 season.

Let me introduce you to Slim and his brother None.
 
Well, sure, I got the point. I think a more focused way of asking the question is: what's the probability that KFRC lost any listener when the AM signal was turned over to Family Radio? Leave aside the Oakland A's broadcasts that continued to the end of the 2005 season.

Let me introduce you to Slim and his brother None.

And I disagree that that's a more focused question. 610 didn't have zero listeners. I'm sure there were oldies fans in parts of the Bay Area where 99.7's signal was iffy or not receivable who listened to it on AM.

My point---made the way I wanted to make it---was to ask the people who are on pins and needles over 560's fate---people on this board, who can answer if they choose---whether their lives and listening habits would have been any different had 610 gone dark, and suggested that's the answer for 560 as well.
 
Well, I listened to 610 quite a bit until I moved to LC in 2004 (610's signal was kind of weak).

I didn't even know it had found religion until maybe a year or two after the fact.

So, I suppose it didn't really affect my listening habits, but that's only because I moved away.

c
 
Or regional Mexican music format, if there’s an audience for that in the Bay Area.
Further comment...

"Regional Mexican" is not a format, any more than "contemporary" is a format. It is a gringo-created name for a wide variety of music native to or adapted to Mexico. Among the kinds of music that can be either combined or programmed separately are ranchera, norteña, banda, and grupera as well as each kind from different eras, going back to the 50's and still playable as most is multi-generational. Add in the Mexican adaptation of the cumbia and there are still more possiblec formats within that broad title.
 
Further comment...

"Regional Mexican" is not a format, any more than "contemporary" is a format. It is a gringo-created name for a wide variety of music native to or adapted to Mexico. Among the kinds of music that can be either combined or programmed separately are ranchera, norteña, banda, and grupera as well as each kind from different eras, going back to the 50's and still playable as most is multi-generational. Add in the Mexican adaptation of the cumbia and there are still more possiblec formats within that broad title.
I'm sorry, that's like saying that Top 40 isn't a format. The format is the collective umbrella under which all the elements exist. You wouldn't say that a Top 40 station is a Rock, Pop, Hip-hop, Country, News, Weather and Traffic station!
 
I'm sorry, but David is correct. Regional Mexican was invented by the ad agencies to describe Spanish language formatted stations with any combination of the music genres he referenced.

Top-40 was a format because ... well, it was originally a format that played the top 40 hits of the day. Now, as the format descriptor Contemporary Hit Radio, there are different "flavors" ... Pop CHR, Rhythmic CHR, Rock CHR, etc. No such sub-descriptors are used to describe Regional Mexican.

I happily invite you to go argue with the agencies about it.

Your logic is faulty.
 
And I disagree that that's a more focused question. 610 didn't have zero listeners. I'm sure there were oldies fans in parts of the Bay Area where 99.7's signal was iffy or not receivable who listened to it on AM.

My point---made the way I wanted to make it---was to ask the people who are on pins and needles over 560's fate---people on this board, who can answer if they choose---whether their lives and listening habits would have been any different had 610 gone dark, and suggested that's the answer for 560 as well.
If in fact, there still is a market in the Bay Area for oldies on the AM band I would suggest a simulcast of KYNO-940 in Fresno. A pretty good sounding station for its type.
 
If in fact, there still is a market in the Bay Area for oldies on the AM band I would suggest a simulcast of KYNO-940 in Fresno. A pretty good sounding station for its type.
And if Audacy would be reasonable with respect to licensing of the KFRC brand (which they hold all the IP to), it could even be SF-specific with the historical "Big 610" imaging from when both were airing the Drake-Chenault Boss Radio format (and would be a nice fit, given that KYNO, like KFRC, was among the format's original flagship stations).

c
 
I don't understand why they can't diplex 560 with 1050 across the Bay in Hayward. AFAIK, Cumulus owns that site. (Or at least they used to, back when they acquired KOFY 1050 from Jim Gabbert.) Is there any technical or regulatory reason that signal couldn't originate from across the Bay?
1/4 wavelength on 560 is almost twice as high as it is on 1050. So the tower height and spacing between towers would be a factor. Plus, you need to put a city-grade signal into San Francisco right? The existing directional pattern looks like this:
1766178078454.png
Seems like it would cover the bay nicely (including The City) from Hayward. But from what I remember that site has a weird parallelogram tower array and it might not be so easy to make it work.

Dave B.
 
I'm sorry, but David is correct. Regional Mexican was invented by the ad agencies to describe Spanish language formatted stations with any combination of the music genres he referenced.
Actually the name Regional Mexican was created by Anglo owned record stores to cover kinds of music they did not understand themselves. The reason was to be able to create those dividers that record stores had between music types. They understood pop and salsa and even Spanish rock, but the variety and uniqueness of Mexican music was beyond their comprehension… so they made up a term.
Top-40 was a format because ... well, it was originally a format that played the top 40 hits of the day. Now, as the format descriptor Contemporary Hit Radio, there are different "flavors" ... Pop CHR, Rhythmic CHR, Rock CHR, etc. No such sub-descriptors are used to describe Regional Mexican.
That is because the term, Regional Mexican, if way too generalized, is broadly accurate.
I happily invite you to go argue with the agencies about it.
Indeed, agencies do use the term to distinguish between formats… even to determine which “creative” to use. There can be agency spots done in styles and with vocabulary specific to different Spanish language formats.
Your logic is faulty.
True.
 
I'd go for the rancheras. And I'm a white guy.

Dave B.
That is a very old leaning format… only works if there is a significant Mexican business community or general market businesses that have a long and deep understanding of the market. That is not really the case in the Báy Area.
 
I'm sorry, that's like saying that Top 40 isn't a format. The format is the collective umbrella under which all the elements exist.
But if you look at Top 40 it has a specific demographic appeal based on age. The variables based on how rhythmic the version is are based on ethnicity, but still targeting the same age.

The so-called “Regional Mexican” format is a construct made by non-Mexicans and non-Hispanics who simply did not understand anything about the music when more and more record buyers wanted some portion of that descriptor.
You wouldn't say that a Top 40 station is a Rock, Pop, Hip-hop, Country, News, Weather and Traffic station!
The different variants of Regional Mexican appeal to different ages, genders and even geographic origins of the listener. For example, Ranchera today appeals mostly those over 55. And among the more current intensive types of music, one can do a modified top hits or “regional Top 40”, an AC version, a classic hits version, and even an oldies version. And you can do versions or blends of several of the varieties, too.

And there is no Regional Mexican station that plays all the kind, ages and styles of this music… no more than there is an English language station that plays all kind of “pop” music.
 
As I said about seven posts back, @semoochie's logic in trying to compare the two is at fault. But unless you actually know the difference between the music types and their target demographic (or have David as an amigo to learn that from) it really is difficult to generalize Regional Mexican, just as difficult as it would be trying to explain the different "flavors" of CHR/Top-40 without knowing the difference between Taylor Swift and Dr. Dre.
 


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