If you have the data and are willing/allowed to share, how did Live 105 do? I know in 2024, it was still relatively newly revived, but curious if it had gained any revenue traction.
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K-Love Adds Third South Bay Signal With KBAY Purchase
- Thread starter lanceventa
- Start date
It's public information. The application was filed under KMVQ, and the document with the information is the one called "Local Radio Waiver Rule."
Let's remember, Country stations don't do well in two large American markets, SF and NYC. Moving K-Bay from 94.5 to 102.9 with its tower on San Bruno Mountain in Daly City gets you back to the same problem. You don't want Country music on a signal centered in San Francisco. There just aren't enough listeners.
Currently, KBAY has its tower about 10 miles SE of San Jose. So the new K-Bay should also be around San Jose. You'd think that maybe the K-Love people would let Connoisseur have one of the other stations owned by K-Love around San Jose, either 97.7 or 95.3. They're both lower power while adequately covering San Jose and its suburbs. K-Love doesn't need THREE stations in San Jose. But I guess that's not part of the deal.
San Jose has an underutilized FM station, 92.3 KSJO, aimed at the South Asian community. While that has a good signal, Connoisseur probably isn't looking to buy a replacement signal for KBAY. They want to flip something they already own.
So does Country bump Classic Rock off KUFX 98.5, another South Bay frequency owned by Connoisseur? Or Hot AC gets bumped off 106.5 KEZR, Connoisseur's other South Bay signal?
KSJO is the station Cumulus leased in 2014 for it's NashFM country music service. It only lasted two years. It got killed by KRTY.
What makes KSJO underutilized? The Bay Area, in particular the South Bay has the second largest South Asian population in the country, and that station is loaded with local advertising. An advertiser base that any regular broadcast group in the country would dream of having at this point. Here in Central Jersey we have multiple translators serving that audience all thriving with local advertising. The South Bay has KSJO and a few AMs.
Just because they don't carry mainstream programming or subscribe to traditional metrics such as Nielsen, means that KSJO is underutilized.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Keep in mind that these numbers are estimates for the San Francisco market by Nielsen definition, so some embedded stations in Santa Rosa appear, but some San Jose stations such as KBAY and KEZR do not.
This seems to be a theme with certain people, where they define "underutilized" as "format I don't personally like" or "language/culture I don't understand."
The first time t heard Bolly 92.3 was while dining at the India Palace restaurant in San Diego some years ago The owner was obviously streaming it. As someone who's not South Asian, I found the Bollywood music they played to be very upbeat, fun, and energetic to listen to. Most surprising was that KSJO has an English language presentation. It is a great sounding station overall. As morning host Shreeja and the listeners who call in like to say.."It's the beautiful music for the beautiful people".
94.5 has a strong signal to Gilroy, as it should, being it's their COL. 98.5 doesn't, being my point. Also a correction, I meant S/SE of San Jose...oops. In light of someone's comment that Bay Country is getting a bigger signal, it'll probably be 102.9, anyways.
98.5 has a little bit of a better signal. Gilroy is small.
In this political climate, I see flipping a Berkeley licensed station with a large African American following potentially causing a stir if they flip it to of all things, Country. But radio is not the same.
Of course COL doesn’t mean much, but every little thing related to Berkeley is at least interesting, lol
In this political climate, I see flipping a Berkeley licensed station with a large African American following potentially causing a stir if they flip it to of all things, Country. But radio is not the same.
Of course COL doesn’t mean much, but every little thing related to Berkeley is at least interesting, lol
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
OTOH, the BIA information Lance posted shows that KUFX has almost exactly half the revenue as KBLX, and there is still the KKDV simulcast to the east of San Francisco/Oakland which would likely remain in the Country format.
98.5 also has much better building penetration in San Jose proper. It's really close to a very large population. So although everything is "green" on the coverage map, 98.5 still cuts through the PC and LED noise better than the current KBAY.
Dave B.
Thank you very much for this! My jaw nearly hit the ground when I saw how much KNBR has crashed since adding the FM- I thought that would’ve kept them in the top tier!
It likely will be. It has a very impressive signal, coming in to the Peninsula and southern East Bay among the best of the South Bay stations. Much better than the current KBAY, for exactly the reason that @KilowattKat stated:
The best signals out of San Jose going towards San Francisco are 98.5 and 101.3, then in the second tier are 92.3, 105.7 and 106.5. 94.5 is weaker in this direction because it has to put a city-grade signal into its city of license. I doubt the sacrificial lamb will be 102.9 though, for the reason I mentioned above and @Michael Rivers Kramer reiterated:
Connoisseur would be foolish to minimize the potential damage of committing that particular goodwill faux pas.
Yes, the low KNBR revenue was the most shocking to see. I thought Sports was a high billing format, especially one like KNBR which has both the Giants and 49'ers. I noticed as a cluster, Cumulus overall bills lower than the other groups. So, I think the problem lies with having a lousy owner.
Did you see the paltry 325K for KSFO? 😂
They let go of several very popular hosts around that time, and it seems those changes have hurt ratings and consequently revenues.
Especially when they make the same money as KKIQ and KUIC, two only local signals.
I don’t think politics will have much to do with it. KBLX, in my opinion, is not the better signal to flip to country. The country audience is mostly in the South Bay, and the signal isn’t as good there. Lance is correct, though, when he says what will ultimately be the deciding factor will be how much money Connoisseur can get with each signal.
I hate to say it because KUFX is one of my favorite classic rock stations to stream at work, but that makes the most sense to me.
KNBR was less a low biller than a low power ratio. The market has about $7 million in sports dollars, and KNBR and 95.7 The Game split them practically right down the middle. Poor ownership might be the difference, though. KNBR got higher numbers that year.
Those are 2024 numbers. The $325,000 was for KGO. Look at KZAC for the numbers KSFO got. You can clearly see why Cumulus promoted KSFO to the better stick. It hasn’t worked, but it billed a lot more than KGO billed.