Austin Radio

[whatever1]

Austin radio must really suck if all you guys are talking about are stupid translators.

 

[jras20]

Austin radio must really suck if all you guys are talking about are stupid translators.

Its not great, but its not bad either, I think Austin could really use a oldies outlet, I wonder if anyone will have the guts to put one up? My gues would be that a oldies outlet would go under HD 1-2.

 

[whatever1]

come on! You have to do better than that.

This is my point, no one is commenting about the CURRENT state of things in the market.

I mean, is anyone in this forum even listening to Austin radio?

 

[Tookiebird]

Austin radio has always sucked. It pays poorly. That is why you get the calibur of people like Dusty Hayes.

 

[julesism]

If ya ask me, at least Austin radio is better than DFW radio! ;D I have not been in Austin long enough to complain about anything.

 

[jras20]

One of the problems with Austin radio, I think mix 94.7 sounds to much like Majic now days, I only listen to either of those 2 stations for very short amount of time, the playlists are almost alike in a lot of ways. KLBJ is a decent classic rock station, they just talk a lot. KHFI is a pretty decent top 40 station, they just need to lay back on the hiphop, kvet is one of my favorite country stations around though, they seem to have a great playlist with very few repeats. Kase is ok for todays country but they do repeat. KROX is fair for alternitive, they play a lot of local talent. 102.3 the river I havnt really listened to them much, but I gues they must be doing fairly well with it still going. Bob is one of my favorites as well. 104.3 is pretty good, but they never should of changed from talk a while back. Jammin 105.9 is sounding good these days, they are playing a lot of music that I grew up listening to. KGSR is a great aaa station. KUT is fun to listen to when they do diffrent shows. Hot 93 would be better if they would add more Houston hiphop. Anyway thats my Austin review!

 

[dx7]

Austin radio is and has been hugely ignored on this board. I'm glad whatever1 brought this issue up.

My .02-cents on why Austin radio is so bad --

1. Austin radio is basically boring, tired, lacks innovation and shows no imagination.

2. NO coverage of local radio in the daily newspaper -- SA, Houston, DFW -- even Lubbock generate newspaper stories about local stations. But ever since radio columnist John Herndon left the Austin paper, maybe ten years ago, NOTHING about radio gets coverage. I blame the stations for their poor PR outreach and the local daily newspaper which generally doesn't "get it" about most things.

3. I blame Austin itself and its small-town business and media mentality. Salaries are kept way too low just because owners know that many jocks, radio execs, etc. will want to live in such a "cool" town (which is BS). Stations lure "talent" here and they face some of the lowest pay and some of highest housing and utility costs on the planet. The good ones leave. The "average" ones stay.

4. Fear of trying something new and different (a problem that cripples the entire radio industry.)

5. Commercial overload (and often poor audio processing) on virtually all of the FMs.

6. There are some missing formats in Austin that would make things more interesting: Oldies, Smooth Jazz, Adult Standards, Alternative Country, Southern Gospel, Urban Gospel, soft AC and some local news competition for KLBJ-AM.

7. Local news-talk AMs don't even try to compete with KLBJ-AM. KOKE-AM has no local presence and can't seem to air a show without audio clipping and distortion. To my knowledge, KJCE-AM has no local programming (except for some local weekend infomercials).

There ARE some bright spots: music programming on KUT, adult-alternative KGSR, classical KMFA, Jeff Ward's show on KLBJ-AM and occaisionally non-com KOOP-FM. jras brings up some other good examples in his post about what's working and what's not in Austin.

I am purposely not commenting on Austin's religious, Spanish and sports stations, since I don't usually listen to them.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks for letting me rant.

 

[whatever1]

Austin radio has always sucked. It pays poorly.

I totally disagree. Austin radio has not always sucked. Austin has in the past been known for having some great radio stations especially for such a smaller market.

Austin is definitely a more talented market than San Antonio.

By the way, it is apparent you have not worked in San Antonio. It pays horribly compared to Austin wages.

I do agree with someone's point about not having local print coverage of the radio/tv market.

 

[saradio1]

Austin is definitely a more talented market than San Antonio.

In what respect?

By the way, it is apparent you have not worked in San Antonio. It pays horribly compared to Austin wages.

Depends on the position and how well your known in the market. But wages in San Antonio are higher than Austin.

 

[whatever1]

By the way, it is apparent you have not worked in San Antonio. It pays horribly compared to Austin wages.

Depends on the position and how well your known in the market. But wages in San Antonio are higher than Austin.
[/quote]

I disagree, check your facts

 

[saradio1]

I disagree, check your facts

LOL...Check my facts...LOL
Sounds like you need a lesson on how to negotiate.

In general, Austin does pay more than S.A. However, that's not the case in radio. Again it all depends how well you negotiate your contract.

 

[intx]

I don't get how The Jeff Ward Show does so well. It, IMHO, has weak production values. So much awkward silence and too much ripping and reading from the Statesman.

 

[whatever1]

I disagree, check your facts

LOL...Check my facts...LOL
Sounds like you need a lesson on how to negotiate.

In general, Austin does pay more than S.A. However, that's not the case in radio. Again it all depends how well you negotiate your contract.

No thanks, I do well.

No kidding negotiating your contract will yield a higher wage than without negotiating. But, not that many people have that opportunity therefore must leave San Antonio for a higher paying job in cities like Austin. There are several morning show personalities and managers in Austin making well into six figures while only a few in San Antonio can make that claim. Then again, Austin salaries do not at all compare to those in DFW, HOU or in metro areas of California.

While in radio, I have worked in both cities a few times and have always earned larger paychecks in Austin. Yet, as of lately it seems to get me less far with property values and other costs, but it's getting that way everywhere.

Hopefully Toyota and other business it may attract will help the economic situation in San Antonio and drive up wages, but at the same time so will costs of living.

Wages in the radio industry overall are down but are more of a problem for San Antonio in attracting and keeping good talent, not Austin. Austin still continues to be a more appealing place to live (except for the traffic) and entertain and serves as a steppingstone for good talent to go on to larger venues.

Anyway, this is not the direction I was hoping for when I started this topic.

 

[Blacknight]

I disagree, check your facts

LOL...Check my facts...LOL
Sounds like you need a lesson on how to negotiate.

In general, Austin does pay more than S.A. However, that's not the case in radio. Again it all depends how well you negotiate your contract.

No thanks, I do well.

No kidding negotiating your contract will yield a higher wage than without negotiating. But, not that many people have that opportunity therefore must leave San Antonio for a higher paying job in cities like Austin. There are several morning show personalities and managers in Austin making well into six figures while only a few in San Antonio can make that claim. Then again, Austin salaries do not at all compare to those in DFW, HOU or in metro areas of California.

While in radio, I have worked in both cities a few times and have always earned larger paychecks in Austin. Yet, as of lately it seems to get me less far with property values and other costs, but it's getting that way everywhere.

Hopefully Toyota and other business it may attract will help the economic situation in San Antonio and drive up wages, but at the same time so will costs of living.

Wages in the radio industry overall are down but are more of a problem for San Antonio in attracting and keeping good talent, not Austin. Austin still continues to be a more appealing place to live (except for the traffic) and entertain and serves as a steppingstone for good talent to go on to larger venues.

Anyway, this is not the direction I was hoping for when I started this topic.

Austin Radio is alright. It has some good radio stations, there is some that are bad. My favorite radio stations out of Austin is Beat 104.3 and Jammin' 105.9. I know that they are taking away the ol' skool listeners from the beat to jammin since they have ol' skool there but the Beat is good anyways. The Beat would be better if there was a better program director. Other than that, the Beat has a good morning show, a good midday show, a good afternoon show, and a good night show. Also they brought back Heartbeats now from Mon. to Wed. 10pm to Midnight. The Beat plays new and exclusive music, ol' skool on Friday at 5 and Sunday from 5pm to 7pm. slow jamz Mon. thru Wed. night, reggaeton on Thursday and Sunday nights, live broadcasts Friday and Saturday nights, they also play screw and chopped music Friday and Saturday nights from 2 to 4am. and they play Houston Hip-Hop and some local artists too. So thats what is going on the Beat. Also they have a better looking website. check it out at www.beat1043.com

Hot 93.3 is a joke. Listen to them for at least an hour or two and you'll see what I'm talking about.

 

[jras20]

Hot 93 has better mixers than 98.5 the beat in San antonio, I think KBBT could use some good mixers.

 

[MisterRadio]

I would also like to send my gratitude out to the person that started this topic. I am frequently frustrated by the small amount of Austin talk on this board (I really wish they would separate Austin and San Antonio. They really are 2 separate and un-related markets). The one thing that can be gathered by the responses here is that radio is very subjective....eveybody on here has a different opinion of what is good or bad in Austin radio. In the spirit of this, I will give my 2 cents worth....ah maybe its worth a nickel. Just to qualify, I have only worked in radio in Austin and I do not listen to SA radio that often so I will not be making comparisons. So, company by company....

Clear Channel - In general, not too bad. Better in Austin than in some other places because of the history involved in the stations. Still too cheap and to much voice tracking. Corporatized web-sites are really awful.

KASE - Pretty much a formulaic new country station, but it works with the listeners (been in the top 2 for about 14 years). Was at its heyday in the late 80's-early 90's under Ron Rogers. Several of the talent have been there a long time so some good continuity.
KVET - One of the best in the country for many reasons. Ratings are good. Air Staff is good. Sam and Bob still entertaining (although Sammy is getting more and more annoying as he gets older). Good mix of new, old and Texas music. Wednesday night live music show is great and harkens back to some classic older radio. Very Austin.
KVET-AM - Good outlet for Longhorn Sports. I'm not a Jim Rome fan, but people seem to like him. Some of the local shows tend to be to fact and figure oriented and kind of boring, but the personalities could do better with guidence. Production values are not great. I do miss the days of News/talk on KVET but they weren't willing to make the needed investment so that was doomed to fail.
KHFI - Has its ups and downs. I think they sometimes play too much hip-hop. Over all a good top 40 stations. Likeable if juvenile morning show. PD does not have a good track record. This station has been at the top and the bottom of the ratings and has fired some good people and hired some bad ones over the years.
KFMK - A lot of people say they like the new direction adding in more modern stuff with the classic R&B. As long as they don't go too far, I will second that. Kidd Kraddock is worthless and doesn't belong on this station at all.
KPEZ - I really miss rock on this station and I think Clear Channel really screwed up a good thing. The River may do well and so far sounds pretty good (if you are into the Cont. Christian stuff). Not too many personalities there yet. Remains to be seen what will be done. This is a pet project of the higher ups so they will probably get some time to develop.

Whew, that was longer than I thought. I'll continue on the next post.

 

[whatever1]

I agree, KVET is a great sounding country station. SA folks in the forum are jealous of if.

KFMK is indeed sounding better these days. Only if they can now get rid of Kraddick and get a local adult sounding bobby bones type show in the morning to help. Wait a minute, isn't that what JB&Sandy are supposed to be. Maybe I mean a more 'ethnic' sounding bobby bones. When I say ethnic I don't me the most hispanic sounding guy, but a metrosexual with an accent.

Nothing else positive comes to mind right now...

 

[fmdude]

There are some pretty darn good stations in Austin. There are some morning shows that could be anywhere in the country and do well. Austin pays above its size for mornings.

 

[jras20]

There are some pretty darn good stations in Austin. There are some morning shows that could be anywhere in the country and do well. Austin pays above its size for mornings.

I agree with you 100%