2012 Bay Area Radio Predictions

[DavidKaye]

OK, I'll buy that. So we can expect the top of the hour ID to be: "KQED-FM and AM, San Francisco, 88.5 and the Big 610..."

The Drake-era jingles could be adapted just fine (the 93KHJ arrangement, that is), as could the old KCBS-FM jingles circa 1972.

When I was involved with KALW I suggested that it might be possible to get a jingle house such as JAM/PAMS to re-sing the KCBS-FM jingle perhaps at a reduced price since KALW is a non-profit. I always wanted to hear them ID with a jingle. It didn't go over very well with them.

 

[LKellerIII]

OK, I'll buy that. So we can expect the top of the hour ID to be: "KQED-FM and AM, San Francisco, 88.5 and the Big 610..."

The Drake-era jingles could be adapted just fine (the 93KHJ arrangement, that is), as could the old KCBS-FM jingles circa 1972.

When I was involved with KALW I suggested that it might be possible to get a jingle house such as JAM/PAMS to re-sing the KCBS-FM jingle perhaps at a reduced price since KALW is a non-profit. I always wanted to hear them ID with a jingle. It didn't go over very well with them.

I can hear them in my head:

"Mi-chel Krazz-nee - Six-Ten KQED"

Maybe you could get NPR to go along. For example, a jingle for one of those Fresh Air repeats:

"Enn- Pee-Arr...Golden"

Maybe NPR could time-shift things a bit. A new opening:

"It's 20 minutes before 3:00. This is Ray Suarez, NPR 20-20 News Hour..."

News Hour closing:

"Just ahead of MUCH more Marketplace, and Kai Rysdahl.."

 

[RadioStarOne]

Boy are you guys funny! Family Radio Paid $35 Million for JUST the 610 stick and transmitter! The powers that be at KQED couldn't afford the station! Even in this depressed market!

 

[Macker]

8. WiLD 94.9 Morning Man JV will get a channel on satellite radio and will bring back the
entire Doghouse cast!!!!!!!!!

I wish! Him and Elvis would be great on satellite. I first heard them in NY - FreeFM 0 and fell in love with their show. KYLD has great ratings with him on there, so I doubt they'd change.. he has a big following in SF and has been there for over 15 years. Right after they got fired, I emailed Sirius and Howard Stern's staff and reccommended that they hire JV & Elvis

 

[DavidKaye]

Boy are you guys funny! Family Radio Paid $35 Million for JUST the 610 stick and transmitter! The powers that be at KQED couldn't afford the station! Even in this depressed market!

I don't recall that being the case. So far you seem to be the only person reporting that Family spent $35 million to acquire KFRC 610. What I've read repeatedly was that Family swapped 106.9 to CBS for 610 for no money. Why would Family do such a thing? Because 610 penetrates both the SF and Sacramento markets, and Family's coverage of Sacto is lacking.

Since you said that he FCC has reported this sales figure, then please point us all to a reference on the FCC website saying this.

 

[SFStatic]

My information is different that either of the above. CBS actually dropped about 80 million on the transaction including the value of 610. From the way things are working now, with the simulcast of KCBS, it looks like it was a sound deal.

 

[RadioStarOne]

In 2005 Infinity Broadcasting split the KFRC AM/FM combo and sold the legendary 610 AM station to Family Broadcasting for $35 million. One has to wonder who got the better deal, as KFRC AM covered most of Northern California and beyond, whereas the FM only covers the Bay. The new owners flipped the format to Family Radio Religion as a simulcast of KEAR (106.9 FM), which later in the year became Free FM, the market's first all talk commercial station on FM, under CBS Radio.

Talk to Alex Cosper ( SF Bay Area Radio History) Mr. Kaye he'll tell the story to you. Perhaps David E would like to chime in on this also, I'm sure he can enlighten us all. Perhaps even I didn't hear the real story but I wouldn't bet against myself as I'm pretty sure I'm right on this. I'm usually correct when it comes to 610 KFRC history. Remember CBS had to sell 610 KFRC in order to buy KOVR TV in Sacramento. I guess the CBS and Family Radio Station bean counter's are the only one's to know what really happened along with the IRS and I bet they do know the story.

 

[DavidKaye]

My information is different that either of the above. CBS actually dropped about 80 million on the transaction including the value of 610. From the way things are working now, with the simulcast of KCBS, it looks like it was a sound deal.

If only they'd turn off the stereo pilot on the FM. Family is in negotiations to sell other stations to CBS. Of course, Family's relationship with CBS goes back a long way...

 

[DavidKaye]

Talk to Alex Cosper ( SF Bay Area Radio History) Mr. Kaye he'll tell the story to you.

No, YOU were the one who said Family paid $35 million to CBS and to go check the FCC. And I replied here asking you to please point out WHERE you saw this on the FCC website, which you HAVEN'T done. So, the ball is in YOUR court. I've plugged in "$35 million" and "KFRC" into Google and the only references I see always go back to you or Ben Fong-Torres. And BF-T couldn't even get KALW manager Matt Martin's name correct after doing a story on the station, so I'm not looking to him as any font of information.

 

[RadioStarOne]

Whatever!

 

[LKellerIII]

In 2005 Infinity Broadcasting split the KFRC AM/FM combo and sold the legendary 610 AM station to Family Broadcasting for $35 million. One has to wonder who got the better deal, as KFRC AM covered most of Northern California and beyond, whereas the FM only covers the Bay.

Talk to Alex Cosper ( SF Bay Area Radio History) Mr. Kaye he'll tell the story to you. Perhaps David E would like to chime in on this also, I'm sure he can enlighten us all. Perhaps even I didn't hear the real story but I wouldn't bet against myself as I'm pretty sure I'm right on this. I'm usually correct when it comes to 610 KFRC history.

Perhaps I shouldn't put words in David E's mouth...uh...keyboard...but if I've learned enough from his many prior posts, I think he might say that CBS sold an AM frequency with very little future value, except maybe for a religious broadcaster; that the fact that 610's signal covers most of Northern California means nothing if nobody is listening...and finally, that the vast majority of revenue comes from advertisers within the market, not outside the market. He's said much the same thing about stations like KFI, with monster signals...it's fun for radio hobbyists to talk about picking up 640 AM in Seattle or Boise, but it means almost nothing to KFI's bottom line, especially in an FM dominant world.

And if you're talking about the splitting of KFRC-AM and FM in 2005, you'd be talking about 99.7, which actually has a pretty decent signal in some places outside the Bay Area - at least for an FM.

 

[recto101]

OK, I'll buy that. So we can expect the top of the hour ID to be: "KQED-FM and AM, San Francisco, 88.5 and the Big 610..."

The Drake-era jingles could be adapted just fine (the 93KHJ arrangement, that is), as could the old KCBS-FM jingles circa 1972.

When I was involved with KALW I suggested that it might be possible to get a jingle house such as JAM/PAMS to re-sing the KCBS-FM jingle perhaps at a reduced price since KALW is a non-profit. I always wanted to hear them ID with a jingle. It didn't go over very well with them.

I can hear them in my head:

"Mi-chel Krazz-nee - Six-Ten KQED"

Maybe you could get NPR to go along. For example, a jingle for one of those Fresh Air repeats:

"Enn- Pee-Arr...Golden"

Maybe NPR could time-shift things a bit. A new opening:

"It's 20 minutes before 3:00. This is Ray Suarez, NPR 20-20 News Hour..."

News Hour closing:

"Just ahead of MUCH more Marketplace, and Kai Rysdahl.."

Does Bobby Ocean or Charlie Van Dyke have to appear in the jingle

 

[Madmansam]

Boy are you guys funny! Family Radio Paid $35 Million for JUST the 610 stick and transmitter! The powers that be at KQED couldn't afford the station! Even in this depressed market!

Why would Family do such a thing? Because 610 penetrates both the SF and Sacramento markets, and Family's coverage of Sacto is lacking.

Family Radio's coverage of Sacramento is lacking? Doesn't Family Radio already have a radio station in Sacramento at 88.1 FM? That signal booms in bigtime south into Stockton. It is definately not a low power translator.

 

[diva chick]

Whatever, indeed! i thought the topic of this post was '2012 Bay Area Radio Predictions'? Why are you old men arguing over past things that don't matter anymore? Who sold what to whom in whatever year is irrelevant. Welcome to the future. 2012 awaits.

 

[RadioStarOne]

Because it's fun to look back on the past as to not make similar mistakes!

 

[diva chick]

The future holds a different note than the past; let it go and move forward. Make different mistakes, it's how we grow. I predict: a format change for Live 105 (don't want to- but don't see them surviving). KFOG MIGHT have a chance capturing some of what they left behind, except for their bad Cumulus juju. FM News and Sports will flourish. Country won't come back to downtown SF. KQED is on top to stay for the long term in 2012. If anyone was really smart, they'd use KPIG as a model and look at the success of the Bluegrass Festival, Mumford and Sons, Avett Brothers, Head and the Heart and Eddie Vedder with a ukulele and start a real Roots Rock/Alt. Country station. That would take more courage than most operators have in this day and age, but throw in some Patsy Cline and it would be loved by many.

 

[RadioStarOne]

At least we have Patsy Cline in common she was a great voice in country music!

 

[DavidKaye]

Family Radio's coverage of Sacramento is lacking? Doesn't Family Radio already have a radio station in Sacramento at 88.1 FM? That signal booms in bigtime south into Stockton. It is definately not a low power translator.
[/quote]

My mistake. I'm remembering KEBR in Roklin, which was a rimshot to Sacto. I can't remember when KEAR 88.1 went on or was bought. Do you know?

 

[DavidKaye]

The future holds a different note than the past; let it go and move forward. Make different mistakes, it's how we grow.

You don't understand either radio or business in general. Management does not want to make mistakes because it costs money. They want to repeat the successes of the past, even if they don't know why a particular idea was successful.

If anyone was really smart, they'd use KPIG as a model and look at the success of the Bluegrass Festival, Mumford and Sons, Avett Brothers, Head and the Heart and Eddie Vedder with a ukulele and start a real Roots Rock/Alt. Country station.

Uh, KPIG didn't make it in the Bay Area. Sure, it was an AM, but the format was unique enough that people would have sought it out had they been interested in the format, just as Cantonese speakers seek out programming in Cantonese. KPIG may be a success in Freedom, but it wasn't in SF or in Chico where it was also tried for an extended time.

There are actually TWO bluegrass festivals in SF, Hardly Strictly in October and the SF Bluegrass and Oldtime Festival in February. Hardly Strictly is successful because it's free and it's hardly strictly bluegrass (hardly any bluegrass, actually). If Warren Hellman charged money for the caliber of people he brings to that festival it would be about 1/10 the size. The SFBOT festival takes place in dozens of venues around SF, featuring about 60-70 bands. They trade on the fact that the venue already book bluegrass and oldtime and the festival is really an extension of this.

As someone who has put on about 400 live music shows over the years I'm as anxious as anyone to see more people exposed to interesting music. But it's HARD to do it. Heck, this past issue of the SF Weekly has a story about the coming demise of Porto Franco Records, a company owned by friends of mine who sought to sell interesting music via recordings and live shows. Here's a link to the story about what happened to them: http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2011/11/mission_label_porto_franco_pla.php

We can all wish for things, but the past has shown that nobody here has any track record for accurate predictions in Bay Area broadcasting, save one or two random hits.

 

[davideduardo]

My information is different that either of the above. CBS actually dropped about 80 million on the transaction including the value of 610. From the way things are working now, with the simulcast of KCBS, it looks like it was a sound deal.

There were two separate transactions: Infinity sold 610 AM for $35 million and bought the FM for $95 million, with the AM announced in March, 2004 and the FM in April. Net cost to them; $60 million, a reasonable price for a San Francisco FM in the pre-recession era.