Yes, the market is now over 50% ethnic, including Asian, Hispanic and Black. All of those groups use country radio much less, if at all.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Bay Area Country Radio Station
- Thread starter Cityguy76
- Start date
A significant station needs a cume in the half-million range. A show needs 10,000. big difference.
KATM has decent reception across portions of the East Bay. Years ago, picked 'em up quite well in a rental vehicle in the Pleasanton area.
Too bad KRTY hasn't upgraded to a stronger signal after all these years. That station seems to consistently earn good numbers in the South Bay.
Cumulus' effort on KSJO-FM was pitiful; they gave area listeners zero reason to switch from KRTY. Sure, there were a few area that could pick up 92.3 well but not 95.3. However, north of the Bay Bridge, 92.3's signal was and is useless.
Too bad KRTY hasn't upgraded to a stronger signal after all these years. That station seems to consistently earn good numbers in the South Bay.
Cumulus' effort on KSJO-FM was pitiful; they gave area listeners zero reason to switch from KRTY. Sure, there were a few area that could pick up 92.3 well but not 95.3. However, north of the Bay Bridge, 92.3's signal was and is useless.
What music indexes best among second-generation or later assimilated Asians? I have a sister-in-law in the Bay Area who is of Japanese ancestry -- mother is first-generation, arriving in the 1960s -- and she listens to rock, AAA and classical, no interest in J-pop or any other Japanese music. Her mother still enjoys the traditional tunes of her youth, though.
But country is about the last choice for second generation folks. By third generation, it is a bit fuzzier.
In San Antonio, county is very popular with Hispanics. But many SA Hispanics are tenth or twelfth generation or beyond!
FMs in the Bay Area are and have been locked in for many decades. Changes are very minor and don’t affect overall coverage much.
I know in San Jose KRTY air country for Santa Clara County, KNCI-FM Sacramento, KNTY-FM Sacramento will reach portions of Solano County.
KNTY - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
KFGY - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
There is another one called KFGY-FM in Santa Rosa its a country outlet for Wine Country and Sonoma County. Its a case of there is a demand for country but the format is not touching San Francisco/Oakland Proper because its not viable in the core parts of the Bay Area. It is doing well in the submarkets like Santa Rosa and San Jose yes some of this is due to the southern half of Santa Clara County as being rural such as Gilroy. I agree on the idea that San Francisco city proper is not a country market.
Marty, Chase Center seats 18,000 people. You need a helluva lot more than that for a listener base. Selling out Levi's Stadium (capacity 68,500) for three nights straight wouldn't get you there.
And people drive long distances to see concretas. We drove 140 miles to LA for a Garth Brooks concert, and even more for a Carlos Vives one!
The problem is that not all gays like the same music. And the SF radio market extends from Campbell to Santa Rosa and a format has to have broad appeal.
You do realize there's another 95.3 called KUIC in Vacaville
Yes Alpha Media has 95.3FM for Solano County and it's signal reaches parts of Yolo county.
I'm responding to MarkW
Wait 92.7 FM was a dance station prior to Ed Stolz under a court order to sell his stations to VCY America after being named in a label royalties dispute. I don't know if EDM is viable for radio but it was trending at one point online radio.
And it was getting between a 0.2 and 0.5 in the SF book, not enough to get any decent accounts.
Tell that to iHeart. Pride Radio has always played to that stereotype and it's been an HD-2 fixture for years.
If we were talking about putting Country on an HD-2, there'd be no argument. This is about a full-market FM in San Francisco---and iHeart hasn't done that with Pride.
I spent 7 years on KSAN. During that time (and based only on where people were calling from, sending bounce back form and attending the station's major events) it was clear that we were big in the east bay (think Hayward, Fremont, Diablo Valley) and in the South Bay. San Francisco was our city of license but the ears were elsewhere.
There's still a lot of country enthusiasm in the market but once the "Urban Cowboy" thing faded, so did country radio 'round these parts.
Just my two cents, I could be dead wrong ; - o
Hmm. Urban Cowboy was 1980. That's when KSAN went country. The thing that killed Urban Cowboy was Garth Brooks and the new traditionalists in 1989. Seems to me KSAN was Top 10 or better with Garth and company, until KYCY Young Country came on the scene in 1994. Three years later KSAN flipped.
Last edited:
I've heard the arguments that the Bay Area audience is too ethnically-diverse and/or politically liberal to support a country Station. Yet KRTY is doing quite well in ultra-liberal, ethnically-diverse Santa Clara County. And... they're only a Class A signal.
- Status