93.5 "The Outlaw"? When did this happen?

[jd]

KBHT Crockett is playing classic rock and Texas music. It's an odd mix from what I've heard so far, but it might have potential.

http://kbht.com/

Better this, perhaps, than being just another country station in an area that already had about a half dozen country signals.

 

[hayseed]

It will be gone in less than 2 years. This has been tried over and over. They will have a small group of listeners that are very vocal about the format. When they can't sell spots, they will disappear.

 

[DMcCloy]

False.

The format is beginning to work across the state. Take these as examples of successful Texas Country stations.

KFWR 95.9 The Ranch in Fort Worth, KJDL 105.3 The Red Dirt Rebel in Lubbock, and 94.9 The Outlaw in Witchita Falls, and KBSO Badlands in Corpus Christi.

 

[fredcantu]

KFWR ranks #50 in DFW. How is that successful?

 

[hayseed]

Thank you, Fred. This person is obviously one of the aforementioned highly vocal 'Texas music' fans. Not to mention that they listed, what, 4 stations out of the entire state, none of which are real powerhouses.

 

[purpledevil]

jd, KBHT may not be the only one. Cousin works for a small market station up that way, which plays a classic rock show on Saturday nights currently, but run country, local news and farm stuff at all other times. The idea to fuse the classic rock into their playlist full time has come up in recent months. Much like you said, there are a LOT of country stations up in Freestone, Leon, Madison, etc. counties and they are all competing for very few listeners. I would agree that KBHT will do ok with the classic rock infusion, as not everyone up in East Texas is a "hayseed". ;D

 

[musicsweep]

Some classic rock can be mingled into a country format. When I was at KYYK, I mingled Bob Seger, Marshall Tucker Band, The Eagles and even a little Skynyrd into the playlist. Overdone and it can kill the format. But a dash here or there will do nicely.

 

[DMcCloy]

KFWR can't be heard East of Arlington. They suffer in ratings because Arbitron chooses to lump DFW all together. And, as always, that birds eye view doesn't speak for demos. What matters is that the station, as well as the Outlaw and KBSO, has been around in its current format for longer than 2 years, which was listed as the "won't make it" length by hayspeed. Selling commercials is what matters. KVET in Austin is a similar format. Classic country during the day and their "Roadhouse," playing Texas Country at night. It's been one of the top country stations in the market for a long time.

Those four have been around, 105.3 in Lubbock has been around for just over a year, and another station just flipped to this format in Abilene, as well. While it may have been unsuccessful in the past, new stations with a young audience have been making it work.

I recognize I'm mentioning only a few markets. The #1 market in the state in KFWR, #3 with KVET in Austin, and the #11 market in KJDL Lubbock, are significant enough markets to warrant the thought that perhaps the format has more traction than you're giving it credit for.

With more and more country stations over saturating markets with nearly identical programming, I think it is possible that the "Texas Country" movement, so popular with the younger generation, could warrant more stations dedicated to it and higher ratings for those stations as the genre matures.

 

[fredcantu]

KVET in Austin is a similar format. Classic country during the day and their "Roadhouse," playing Texas Country at night. It's been one of the top country stations in the market for a long time.

You haven't read the recent threads about KVET's decline in a PPM world?

 

[txchipk]

KFWR can't be heard East of Arlington. They suffer in ratings because Arbitron chooses to lump DFW all together. And, as always, that birds eye view doesn't speak for demos. What matters is that the station, as well as the Outlaw and KBSO, has been around in its current format for longer than 2 years, which was listed as the "won't make it" length by hayspeed. Selling commercials is what matters. KVET in Austin is a similar format. Classic country during the day and their "Roadhouse," playing Texas Country at night. It's been one of the top country stations in the market for a long time.

Those four have been around, 105.3 in Lubbock has been around for just over a year, and another station just flipped to this format in Abilene, as well. While it may have been unsuccessful in the past, new stations with a young audience have been making it work.

Which station in Abilene has flipped to Texas country? KJTZ 106.9 apparently went silent several weeks ago. Is it back with a new format or one of the various construction permits (KBGT 93.3, KNOS 98.9) finally get built and put on?

 

[txchipk]

KFWR ranks #50 in DFW. How is that successful?

The problem with the Texas country/Americana performance in some places is the format is on really fringe signals. In the past, several folks have commented that if you study the ratings, almost all listeners for a station are inside its 60 dBU contour with a small percentage outside that.

The problem with KFWR is that's tower is 50 miles west of Fort Worth and 80 miles west of Dallas...and only a class C1 (and until recently blocked completely by a religious translator on 95.9 in Garland). KHYI 95.3's just a C2 and 45 miles north of downtown Dallas. In other words, they provide a strong signal to less than 20% of the market. KFWR will gain a little better coverage once its class C0 Jacksboro facility is built out...but still it will be at best a west side signal.

KNBT 92.1 is 30 miles northeast of San Antonio, but only a class A. The attempt on KRPT 92.5 Devine wasn't successful as it was a C2 50 miles southwest of San Antonio.

So, I don't think you can say the format couldn't be successful based on these facilities. On the other hand, I don't think the format would ever be huge ratings monster even on a full market signal. It could garner some audience and perform OK as a niche format (like AAA), but not likely to be more than that as the music is not familiar to most people. People flock to formats where the music is familiar...and don't want to listen to stations playing a lot of unfamiliar music.

 

[jd]

This is an interesting discussion but I think it got sidetracked. For what it's worth, KBHT isn't doing much of what you'd call Texas Country or Americana. In fact, I find it puzzling that their imaging includes the slogan "Outlaw Country." There is little connection between it and KFWR The Ranch, and virtually none with KHYI.

Take a listen and you'll see what I mean: http://kbht.com/kbht.asx

It's mostly classic rock and most of it is familiar. Also, the Texas music I mentioned in the original post doesn't necessarily refer to country. I'm figuring it's a ratio of at least 6:1 or maybe even 10:1 of familiar classic rock songs to something that's not. By that I mean a classic rock song that's somewhat unfamiliar, or something from another genre like Texas country or even a blues cut.

 

[bturner]

Interesting points thus far.

Every radio station cannot be #1 or show well in the ratings. If they have their group, are successful with that group, have enough revenue to pay the bills, then why not just be happy with the format.

The Americana/Texas Country format is one that takes a long time to develop. It will take a couple of years. Much of the playlist is unfamiliar to the listener and I suspect for quite a few stations, many of their core listeners did not come from Country radio.

Americana/Texas/Red Dirt etc. is really tough to describe. Some are basically country music stations that just play more regional artists while others are more rock based. Texas Rebel Radio KFAN in Fredericksburg began almost 20 years ago and is still going strong. They have such a loyal audience and the esteem the Progressive Rock format achieved back in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They're a freeform station. KFWR sounds more like a country station centering on a more of the hit music style. Others are somewhere in the middle. Still more mix conventional country hits or classic rock liberally.

I agree most are fringe signals. That has always hurt the format. Others have too small of a listener universe to make the numbers work. Still others simply have less than stellar sales staffs or lousy management. In these cases, success, no matter the format choice, will not come.

What really makes the format 'work' is the emotional connection with the audience. Most of the artists played are working the clubs, so sometimes several artists are in local and area clubs each weekend. It is really the only format where the artists can be seen, talked to and known on a personal basis. If the station is doing things right, the listener develops a somewhat personal relationship with the music and the station. The listener feels the 'belong' in much the same way KVIL listeners felt they belonged to KVIL during its heyday. These stations typically allow local artists and unsigned artists to reach the airwaves as well. In short, if you can get through a couple of years you will develop a loyal audience, maybe fairly small in number, but substantial enough to make a good living. Best of all, all the 'elements' of how such a format works play well for a long, sustained success.

The biggest problem with the format is consistency. No two stations are alike. There is no play book. No two music libraries are alike.

Music libraries are sometimes way too obscure or just so huge nobody gets to know the songs. Familiar material is really needed in the development stages. I'd say at least 50/50. Then, once on sold footing I'd eventually scale back to 25% familiar taking care to not overwhelm that 'familiar' group with songs exclusive to the format. I have heard stations in this format play Jimi Hendryx, Willie Nelson and Muddy Waters in the same hour. Sure, you want variety but I think care must be taken to not be so eclectic that the station suffers. I would suggest a large and varied library but 50% of what I would play would be, perhaps 300 songs of a more current/recurrent variety, 25% recognized titles (including classic rock) and 25% base library that would include the fringe tracks.

Here's an idea of this:

1) The River - Deadstring Brothers (vocalist sounds a bit like Mick...played in set with next track)
2) Tumbling Dice - Rolling Stones (Top 40/Classic Rock hit)
3) Orphan of the Storm - Mudcrutch (Tom Petty doing Country)
4) What Am I Living For - Mark-Almond Band (obscure but memorable hook)
5) Blue Canoe - Blue Mountain (Americana hit)
6) Chestnut Mare - Byrds (Untitled 2 LP set)
7) May Day - Wendy Colonna (performs in Austin)
8) Sure Feels Good - Elvin Bishop (from Greatest Hits)
9) Gravity's Gone - Drive By Truckers (played on Americana stations that were a bit edgy)
10) Must've Got Lost - J. Geils (Classic Rock/Top 40 hit)
11) St. Dymphna - Doc Marshalls (more like earlier Eagles material)
12) My Man - Eagles (from On The Border, one of the top selling Eagles releases)
13) Alright Guy - Jerry Jeff Walker (Jerry Jeff...need I explain?)
14) Heaven - Los Lonley Boys (was a hit)
15) White Boy Blues - Bottle Rockets (Rural Rock...the only way to describe it)
16) Back To Austin - Spur 503 (Red Dirt artist)
17) Amy's Back In Austin - Little Texas (was a country hit)
18) I'm Not That Drunk Yet - Chuck Allen Floyd (Ask me to dance? I'm just not that drunk yet) (Pure Country)
19) You Belong To Me - Taylor Swift (need I say anything?)
20) Cowboy Song - Great Divide (the Thin Lizzy remake)

As you can see, my idea is more of a cross of KFAN and KFWR. It centers on Texas artists. It's all over the road and the sidewalks too but the objective is play enough familiar music and introduce base library.

 

[fredcantu]

It is really the only format where the artists can be seen, talked to and known on a personal basis. If the station is doing things right, the listener develops a somewhat personal relationship with the music and the station.

Tejano comes to mind, too.

 

[LibertyNT]

in DFW this kind of Format was tried on KZPS 92.5, which failed.
It really was a cool station while it lasted,
there were no commercials, just live DJ reads.
They ended up slowly reverting back to their previous classic rock format while keeping The "Lone Star" Name

KHYI 95.3, isn't what I'd call a good station, it just isn't good. It has potential though, it just kinda sucks.

 

[bturner]

I loved the Lone Star concept with the live commercials. It was amazingly fresh how the jocks wrapped the advertiser into the on-air patter. Some of those I got via airchecking are among my favorites as far as sneaking the advertiser in after hooking the listener.

Musically, I think Lone Star centered too much on base library tracks (what I call oldies...anything not a recurrent or new release or image song). That list of songs repeated too frequently and became too narrow in scope, in my opinion. I felt more variety was needed to make the Lone Star concept work.

The hardest part about this format is being familiar enough to attract the listener and 'unfamiliar' enough to make them want to come back. The biggest mistake I hear is stations that build an audience with liberal doses of familiar material eventually weed out the familiar over time with format exclusive songs that are familiar only to the core listeners. One has to remember a station is always adding new listeners.

This format is like introducing a new TV show. You have to let the audience get to know the personalities of all the actors before the show can become a hit, but new viewers should not be so 'in the dark' that they cannot 'get' the show. The format needs to be more like a soap opera where if you don't watch it for a year, you can still catch up.

 

[musicsweep]

KIKK-FM in Houston tried to mix in Red Dirt music with mainstream country, branding itself as the station that "Sounds Like Texas," and got its butt kicked in the ratings by sister station KILT, and cross-town rival KKBQ. The argument could be made that Infinity short-changed KIKK-FM while they focused their energies on heritage KILT... but the fact remains that the station flipped to smooth jazz and a lot of good people wound up looking for work as a result.

Red Dirt Music (Texas Country) is fine... but no more than one-cut per hour in a country format if you want to be a serious contender for cume and TSL. Trust me, I've experimented with this and worked this formula 100 different ways.

 

[hayseed]

There are exceptions to every rule. The fact is, this format has been tried and tried and it just doesn't generate any revenue. The main problem being, even though the fans of this format are quite vocal, there just aren't enough of them. The reason there are not enough of them is because the music lacks something. I find that about 80% of it wouldn't be of broadcast quality in any other format. Whether it be the actual songwriting, performance, or quality of recording, a vast majority of so-called 'Texas Music' or 'Americana' is simply an inferior product.

 

[johnqdoe]

There are exceptions to every rule. The fact is, this format has been tried and tried and it just doesn't generate any revenue. The main problem being, even though the fans of this format are quite vocal, there just aren't enough of them. The reason there are not enough of them is because the music lacks something. I find that about 80% of it wouldn't be of broadcast quality in any other format. Whether it be the actual songwriting, performance, or quality of recording, a vast majority of so-called 'Texas Music' or 'Americana' is simply an inferior product.

Programmers simply try to get TOO cool with it. "I'm so cool, I'm playin music only I know!!!!" You have a point about the product. Every guy with torn jeans singing about Lone Star Beer and Wolf Brand chili doesnt need to be on the radio. But there's aslo a reason acts like Ragweed can draw 15,000 fans. I think a more AAA station with GOOD Texas artists mixed in would work. Where, I dunno...KGSR is a bastardized version of it's cool former self, but the ratings are up. Lonestar in Dallas failed because they went too far off the deep end with that playlist in that market. (Thanks for your programming expertise John Hogan.) Dallas is way too much of a suburban living, strip mall shoppin, chain restaurant eating market to support anything BUT playin the hits. Some folks that try this have the passion and the knowhow,(Steve Coffmon) just not the checkbook to make a viable attempt...the folks that DO have the $$$, (CC), screw it up as bad as it can be screwed up.

 

[johnqdoe]

in DFW this kind of Format was tried on KZPS 92.5, which failed.
It really was a cool station while it lasted,
there were no commercials, just live DJ reads.
They ended up slowly reverting back to their previous classic rock format while keeping The "Lone Star" Name

KHYI 95.3, isn't what I'd call a good station, it just isn't good. It has potential though, it just kinda sucks.

I've thought the same thing about these guys for years...Even when Bruce was still there. It just lacks direction and sounds amateurish...they play some great music that nobody else will touch, Hayes Carll, Roseanne Cash, Ryan Bingham, Rodney Crowell, etc etc...but they also play tons of crap. The spots sound like a college station, there's tons of turnover, etc...it COULD be LOTTTTTTS better.