Beat, River trading frequencies in Austin

[prodigy3]

the same reason that some top 40s lean rock. and some lean rhythmic. and some lean dance.

is the same reason that the Beat isnt ghetto. There isnt enough "ghetto" in austin to support it.

The Beat is a real Rhythmic station.

your other arguments are asinine.

Wooowwww lol asinine...

hahaha funny well I don't understand what "ghetto" has to do with anything.. If you want to compare professionalism on a hip hop radio station The Beat of Austin would be the last one on that list... You obliviously haven't listened to good radio if you consider The Beat of Austin a 'real' hip hop station.. Because the fact that they eve had Ryan Seacrest on that station in itself contradicts the format anyways... Ignorance is bliss.. And you know nothing about hip hop...

kbye haha

 

[93-3TheSurge]

Hey Prodigy where were you about 2 weeks ago? I was fighting your battle on the "What if" thread (which is on page 2) that you started.

As far as the "ghetto" argument is concerned, maybe Dallasboyz should find another word or phrase, because ghetto is a very broad term to use to describe a group of people. Also, keep in mind that the biggest demographic that support most hip hop stations are white females aged 12-34. There are plenty of white girls aged 12-34 in Austin, so by that rationale, the city can definitely support a hip-hopper. If you wanna call white girls that listen to hip-hop "ghetto," be my guest, but I'm guessing that wasn't exactly what you had in mind when you used that term.

 

[DominiqueRadio]

I wanna go on record saying if a station... any station dubbed themselves "ghetto" it would be gone within a year. Sure would be hard to sell commercials on a "ghetto" station.

Just because the music isn't someone from the outside looking in's taste, doesn't make it "ghetto"

Just saying....

 

[dallasboyz]

you guys classifying a station as "not a hip hop" because it doesn't suit your needs, is, yes, asinine.

and seacrest was only on that station temporarily because it was forced to be on. if youve noticed, it no longer runs.

obviously you guys are the type of guy that knows everything about radio, but does nothing in.

 

[93-3TheSurge]

you guys classifying a station as "not a hip hop" because it doesn't suit your needs, is, yes, asinine.

I don't have a problem with 105-9 The Beat (102-3 as of tomorrow), I just wish they weren't jockless. Also, I wish they wouldn't play "Nothin' On You" after every station ID.

I do have a problem with you saying Austin "isn't ghetto enough" to support a hip-hopper, because, what type of people are you defining as, "ghetto?" It's too broad a term. If you are labeling people ghetto in the closed-minded sense, does this mean only Oakland and Atlanta can support a hip-hop station? Remember, it is white females aged 12-34 that are the leading demographic when it comes to hip-hop stations.

 

[prodigy3]

Hey Prodigy where were you about 2 weeks ago? I was fighting your battle on the "What if" thread (which is on page 2) that you started.

you guys classifying a station as "not a hip hop" because it doesn't suit your needs, is, yes, asinine.

and seacrest was only on that station temporarily because it was forced to be on. if youve noticed, it no longer runs.

obviously you guys are the type of guy that knows everything about radio, but does nothing in.

@ 933 I actually hadn't gotten on there in a while. But I just went and read past where I had last posted and I got upset, because people are so closed minded... I'm a senior in high school for one more week and we just ended the year with poetry and one of the main things that the unit focussed on was the use of imagination which people do not have.. Yea you have to be logical but without the thought of something different (just the the thought, not acting) you can't have a real debate.... Oh and one more thing I haven't lived here for to long but my teacher was telling me that Austin tried to team with San Antonio to build a International airport between both cities which yea it didn't happen but if they would've projected thr growth correctly it would'nt have been a bad idea, but people from San Antonio are constantly in Austin and viceversa, this summer when I go with my friend to Cali we are flying out of Austin because it's cheaper... On the weekends when you want to get away from these "ghetto" lol hahahah clibs in San Antonio you go to Austin! People would respond and it would help out so much to musicians because they'd be able to knock out Austin, Killeen, SA, all at once with tours! And it would benefit us because we'd have more people performing here with it being a bigger market! And just like in the Bay the concerts woul vary, some in SA some in Austin! We'd get use to it especially if we had a rail line! But IMAGINATION is horrible so let me stop before I get beheaded for communism or something!


But back to this! Because Dallasboyz lol keeps addressing how stupid we are, and I must say yes I do not work at a radio station but I can say that the majority of the people that listen to hip hop radio stations are in my age group and the majority of them complain just as much as I do about the Beat in SA...

I remember when I lived in Killeen in middle school and we use to talk about the Ty Bentli's Neighborhood every morning in class, everybody use to listen to Hot933! And that radio station did by far the best as far as Rhythmic goes for both Austin and San Antonio...

KBBT yes does do everything they should as a Rhythmic station and yes they do it pretty well, I personally wish they had a better playlist, a new logo, a better imaged website (creativity, maybe Emmis Interactive) , and maybe The Mix Group handling their imaging... Oh and moving Heartbeats to Sunday evenings only, but i can't make those changes... A good thing about Killeen was having Hot933 and Z923 because Z would play the R&B that the Hot didn't in SA we don't have that all.. Regardless of if they don't have a lot of African Americans or not they are still here!!

The Beat of Austin is cool oooo but there are very passionate people out there that would do it right! Run a real station..

So let me go back to listening to Box while I'm still here in Houston and get the last of my ghetto radio station before I return to my jockless, 5 song repeated playlist station that I'll be able to get stronger tomorrow (after the frequency change) in SA from the beautiful non-ghetto city of Austin!!! =) =) =)

 

[wild949austin]

QUESTION...

I read the press release for the station frequency switch, but I am still confused...

Does 105.9 The River get the KFMK call letters, and 102.3 the Beat get the KPEZ call letters? Or do their current call letters switch also with the stations?

Any help would be great.

...

In relating to the hip hop argument, the ONLY true hip hop station out there that actually sounds good is 106 KMEL. Represent the bay!

 

[prodigy3]

QUESTION...

I read the press release for the station frequency switch, but I am still confused...

Does 105.9 The River get the KFMK call letters, and 102.3 the Beat get the KPEZ call letters? Or do their current call letters switch also with the stations?

Any help would be great.

...

In relating to the hip hop argument, the ONLY true hip hop station out there that actually sounds good is 106 KMEL. Represent the bay!

Going to The Bay (California for the first time) this summer and I already spoke with Sana G about a tour at CC there! KMEL is playing on my iPhone all the time love that station, true hip hop and they do well with representing Cali, no station around here represents for Texas besides the ghetto stations in Dallas and Houston because they have more ghetto people

 

[fredcantu]

KMEL is playing on my iPhone all the time love that station

That's the future of radio, my friends. The local broadcast stations no longer can count on us as listeners just because we live in their coverage area. We can now import the out-of-market stations of our choosing. If it's a particular music mix you're after, it's as close as your smart phone. Same thing with syndicated talk radio. The shows on your local station are on countless others that are streaming on your smart phone. Talk about divvying up your audience.

 

[willdav713]

QUESTION...

I read the press release for the station frequency switch, but I am still confused...

Does 105.9 The River get the KFMK call letters, and 102.3 the Beat get the KPEZ call letters? Or do their current call letters switch also with the stations?

Any help would be great.

...

In relating to the hip hop argument, the ONLY true hip hop station out there that actually sounds good is 106 KMEL. Represent the bay!

Sure The River will get the KFMK call letters and The Beat will get the KPEZ Calls. The River will be Aloha Trust and the Beat will be CC. Aloha might then spin off KFMK to Salem Media Corporation (which owns several Christain formatted stations) or to the KLOVE people.

 

[Kent]

That's the future of radio, my friends. The local broadcast stations no longer can count on us as listeners just because we live in their coverage area. We can now import the out-of-market stations of our choosing. If it's a particular music mix you're after, it's as close as your smart phone. Same thing with syndicated talk radio. The shows on your local station are on countless others that are streaming on your smart phone. Talk about divvying up your audience.

Agreed. I haven't listened to my local stations at all in almost a year. Sometimes, I just choose internet only stations as opposed to out of market stations. We've rapidly evolved into a culture of wanting what we want exactly when we want it. If broadcasters will start seeing themselves more as content providers than people with transmitters, they'll continue to be successful. The GM of the local public radio station is one of my beer drinking buddies, and we've talked about this several times. He's also mentioned he's done extremely well at selling his podcasts. He can tell exactly who's listening, and he can mention the "action items" that the FCC prohibits him from mentioning on the air in his podcast.

 

[nuff_said]

That's the future of radio, my friends. The local broadcast stations no longer can count on us as listeners just because we live in their coverage area. We can now import the out-of-market stations of our choosing. If it's a particular music mix you're after, it's as close as your smart phone. Same thing with syndicated talk radio. The shows on your local station are on countless others that are streaming on your smart phone. Talk about divvying up your audience.

I agree with Fred, the streaming revolution is here! I've been really disappointed with the stations in both Austin and San Antonio, as I prefer urban stations over rhythmic stations so I don't have to dodge the top 40/pop songs mixed in the playlist. I also like to hear more R&B variety along with the hip-hop music. So, for the past year, I've made my Blackberry my new "car radio". I stream out of market urban radio stations on my phone and pipe them through my car speakers via my car stereo. The streaming works great on the Verizon network and I can hear the music I want to hear... "real" hip-hop and R&B stations as people have called it. I tried getting into The Beat in Austin, but the lack of R&B variety and too much top 40 music just gets to me. I understand the demo in Austin, so if that's how Clear Channel wants to program the station to make it easier to sell ads, more power to them. I'll just continue listening to out of market stations, that's all!

 

[dallasboyz]

in the next 10 years, streaming/podcasting will have far greater impact. just like satellite does (trys to) now.

But now, research shows its less than 3% of total listening. and the latest cohn survey shows that most people that listen to online stations, listen to online stations locally.

 

[MisterRadio]

Okay, so you had a problem with my assertion that 105.9 is a strong signal North all the way to Dallas. I was exaggerating a bit, but only a bit. Back in the days when it was Jammin 105.9 I drove to Dallas listening to it most of the way and even picked it up in downtown Dallas. Yes, it was probably skip, but the point is that 105.9 is stronger heading north and 102.3 is stronger in Austin Metro. Plus, I believe that with 102.3 there is more room to work with if they want to up the power or move the transmitter. Correct me if I am wrong, but 102.3 was 50,000 watts in the past? My guess is that if you put it down on paper and way the pros and cons of both frequencies, 102.3 makes more since for the Austin market.

As for this argument about the Beat being a "real" hip hop station....what, is there a governing board that has to certify a station as real hip hop before it can use the name, like they do with cheese? I think they are doing just what they have to do to get the rating they want. The format was orginally started to help boost KHFI. If you will remember, there was another hip hop station in the market that taking away some of KFHI's audience (93.3). Jay Shannon, KHFI and KFMK PD, started putting hip hop on at night on the 105.9 signal to see if they could pull some of 93.3's audience away. Since it seemed like they were doing that, they decided to flip 105.9 to full time "hip hop" to see if they could divide that audience some more. The surprise was that 93.3 went away from hip hop and left 105.9 as the only game in town. The second surprise was that they, perhaps because of the new hip hop void, started getting some good ratings. Now, since the decision had been made sometime before to sell 105.9 (FCC mandated they sell off a frequency) and it was technically owned by the Aloha Trust and had the potential of being sold to someone else, Clear Channel decided to move the more successful ratings-wise Beat format to 102.3 and send the less succesful River format to 105.9 so when the frequency was sold they would be losing the River and not the Beat.

The River format was pretty much a Clear Channel PR move. The whole idea of Family Friendly radio made them look good in a time when they were not exactly tearing it up PR wise. I could be wrong, but I really don't think there was any anticipation of making big money or ratings. I think that most of the money they made was not ratings based sales, but association sales. Clients liked being associated with the Family station or at times the Christian station.

By the way, everything I have written is pure supposition based on my experience and some people I know. Take it however you wish.

 

[93-3TheSurge]

Okay, so you had a problem with my assertion that 105.9 is a strong signal North all the way to Dallas. I was exaggerating a bit, but only a bit.

I think you are exaggerating by a lot. In my experiences, going back to the Summer of 2002, 105-9 gets choppy in Salado, and by Temple, fuh-get about it. The only FM stations that will get you from North Austin to South Dallas without fading would be KWTX and WACO, respectively.

 

[MisterRadio]

Okay, so you had a problem with my assertion that 105.9 is a strong signal North all the way to Dallas. I was exaggerating a bit, but only a bit.

I think you are exaggerating by a lot. In my experiences, going back to the Summer of 2002, 105-9 gets choppy in Salado, and by Temple, fuh-get about it. The only FM stations that will get you from North Austin to South Dallas without fading would be KWTX and WACO, respectively.

Well, your experience is your experience. I heard what I heard. I never said the reception is great, but I could hear it and tell what I was listening to. I also had a similar experience with 93.3 back in the day. I was in Dallas and just happened to hear my friend who was the DJ on this particular Saturday morning and called him to tell him I was hearing him in Dallas. In any case, I still assert that 105.9 comes in better north of the Austin area and 102.3 comes in better in the Austin Metro area better.

 

[MisterRadio]

KMEL is playing on my iPhone all the time love that station

That's the future of radio, my friends. The local broadcast stations no longer can count on us as listeners just because we live in their coverage area. We can now import the out-of-market stations of our choosing. If it's a particular music mix you're after, it's as close as your smart phone. Same thing with syndicated talk radio. The shows on your local station are on countless others that are streaming on your smart phone. Talk about divvying up your audience.

Fred, you are essentially correct. With the increasing presence nearly every station has on the internet and with all the phone apps, etc., every station is becoming a truly BROADcaster covering the whole world. The problem with this is that nobody has really figured out a way to quantify this (or at least they don't seem to want to). Yes, an Austin station may have listeners all over the world, but Arbitron is only concerned with the listeners in the actual market. So when you show an advertiser the rating for the station that say they are reaching 100,000 men 25-54 in Austin, they might have another 10,000 listeners outside of Austin listening to the stream that aren't technically being counted. I am sure the station itself could present numbers showing who was listening to its stream, but how does the advertiser know they are on the up and up? I'm sure there are services that do that, but has radio really embraced that yet? And if not, when? The other problem is that many advertisers simply don't give a damn if you are reaching people outside of the Austin market. Would, say, Heart of Texas music really want to pay extra for their ads because KLBJ was reaching listeners in New York via stream? I doubt it.

I still think there will always be a place for the local radio station that targets the community they are in (whether they are streaming or not) and provides a place for local business to advertise locally.

Okay, go ahead and tear me up. I'm sure I got a lot of stuff wrong.....

 

[mmnassour]

I still think there will always be a place for the local radio station that targets the community they are in (whether they are streaming or not) and provides a place for local business to advertise locally.

Okay, go ahead and tear me up. I'm sure I got a lot of stuff wrong.....

Not at all, sir. IMHO you have nailed it completely.

After all, how is any local station going to compete with the big boys on the net? How do you compete with CNN? How do you compete with BBC1 and BBC2? The only thing you can do is talk about what's outside your own window. Localism...the very thing that the consolidators ignore...is what will save the individual radio station as they migrate to the net.