There are plenty of music formats KANY can persue that aren't direct copies of what's already on the dial in Seattle-Tacoma. A bit of marketing, maybe billboards, maybe direct mail, maybe social media, and a little time can tell what works best, and what "tweeks" are needed. And being rooted in a smaller market may give you the freedom to be the kidn fo radio that doesn't sound like a "national" format service, but is an actual part of the Northwest.
I think too many of the usual players are only looking at age and gender demographics, and don't get to the other factors that make people really connect with a radio station, and keep listening, even thru the potential "tune out" factors. Sociographics, like the old "Cluster Plus" and Media Audit data, certainly wouldn't hurt getting at the boundaries you should consider for the kinds of people you want to listen. It's not just songs you select, but how the whole audio package comes together in the ears of the listeners.
I'm one of the folks who's just about to drop into a new age demographic, which is on the cusp of getting outside the "golden ones" for the bulk media buyers. And, as a media insider for most of my life (despite what some pundits on this board suppose), I recognize that my own personal tastes are not what it's all about when it comes to programming a radio station.
Yet, the most common complaint we hear from listeners (or would-be listeners) - particularly in the "younger" age groups, is the lack of depth and predictability of most commercial music radio. A station can be a curator of music with great lyrics, talented singers, dazzling instrumentation, etc. But most sound like what someone does to avoid getting into trouble with their corporate superiors. But over-reliance on the same old stuff for, what, more than three decades now?, is what's making the medium of Radio little more than mediocre to a lot of people. Some will still listen, but might not care much for their local station beyond some noise to fill the car. I think this is stunting the growth and future of radio.
Like other commentators on this board, I've found myself listening to and enjoying KMCQ - not an easy accomplishment for one who had given up on "commerical" radio for music long ago (I know, they don't actually have any commercials yet!). They play nearly all-familiar songs, but those that we haven't heard for a long time on the customary playlists. And there's a sensitivity to songs that segue together well. A lot of what I've hearing at 104.5, since I only hear them once in a blue moon, bring a smile to my soul. Versus hearing the same stuff I've always heard on 95.7. Hell, even Captain and Tennille and the Bee Gees can sound cool, even if "ironic" without a smarmy Dj pointing it out, when aired in the right context, and when not overdone.
Besides a KMCQ style "deep" oldies format (the best of the late 20th century!!), KANY could also try an alt country format that targets the album rock crowd where it overlaps with the rural outlaws and public radio singer songwriter aficianados. If you need examples from other markets, instead of inventing it yourself, try KPIG in Monterey Calif. or that one in the Texas hill country whose call letters escape me. But make it your own format.
Or, with the loss of "Smooth Jazz," try a refined version of that format, instead of the Kenny-G lame sax version that Broadcast Architecture developed. Much like what KKSF in San Francisco had done to invent a version of the format, before Clear Channel got ahold of it and lamed it down. Avoid the overly melodic "fuzak" stuff for some good mid-tempo instrumentals, and vocals that harken to the "New Adult Contempoary" moniker that lasted for a time, to highlight some of the cool meloncolic stuff in a minor key, and artists like Kate Bush, Joan Armatrading, Jackson Browne, etc.
Remember what the people you're trying to attract to your station are turning the dial on to find. KWJZ listeners probably wanted an oasis from the office noice, back up beeps outside, and other chaos that the adreline-packed rock and country stations just added to. Alt country listeners like to be nonconformists, but not in the typical way (!). And they all still probably wouldn't mind hearing a real human being tell them something more worthwhile than slogans and call letters once in a while, and not just try to sell them products or politics they don't really need.
Good luck, KANY, at finding a distinctive niche with your enhanced signal. Waiting to see what else we'll get on our dials in 2011. . .
