radiodog2 said:
Just an opinion, but RGV radio is boring and needs ALOT of improvement.
News mode: off. Opinion mode: on.
My work in the Valley leads me to believe that the dial is very out-of-touch with what younger listeners want. There is an extreme over-saturation of regional Mexican outlets for this audience. Norteno-type music remains popular with the younger crowd and is a strong P2 choice in the car, but with the younger crowd, I see a lot more attachment to the music in the family gathering/party setting than on the radio. Regional Mexican still does extremely well in the ratings, but it doesn't seem to be adding shares - shares just seem to move from station to station.
The station that is on fire, to me, is KVLY. Take your run-of-the-mill CHR, add the Mumford and Sons/Of Monsters and Men tracks that don't appear on Wild, and the top Spanish CHR hits from XHAVO. The morning show sounds like it could benefit from a little show prep, but most of the other dayparts really sound on-the-ball. This is the station that I hear people talking about. The McAllen-Brownsville market is unlike any other in the U.S., and this station is being programmed accordingly.
KNVO's ratings should be an embarrassment - regardless of what coverage maps indicate, the 101.1 signal puts a decent signal from McAllen to Brownsville, and could be doing much better in an English niche (classic rock? classic hits? AC? gold-heavy country?) rather than trying to battle it out with KBTQ and XHCAO.
Likewise, KHKZ plummeted last book. In contrast to KVLY, KHKZ sounds like a generic hot AC dropped anywhere in the U.S. - which doesn't cut here. I don't believe the station has a single local air shift at this point, and automation mishaps seem to happen over-the-air all the time. A few of my friends who were fans of the formerly-local "Jay and Amanda" morning show stuck it out during Valentine's tenure, but the party boy-atmosphere of JohnJay and Rich has them searching for the seek button. The station lacks personality and sounds lost; if they want to phone it in, going jockless would sound a lot better.