Bye bye, KFRC-FM

[DavidKaye]

Seriously though, KFRC could have been a profit center for CBS, just given a little marketing whether direct mail, TV and Billboards.

KFRC had billboards, ads on the backs of buses, newspaper ads, and some TV, as well as being heavily cross-promoted on KCBS, a station with a lot of listeners. You'll just have to face it: nobody wants to listen to KFRC in any incarnation. CBS gave it two more shots and it failed both times.

 

[DavidKaye]

another GREAT oldies (ok, classic hits) radio station goes by the wayside in the name of dollars - and who gets hurt? EVERYBODY - listeners, DJs, behind-the-scenes people, the city of San Francisco....it's a LOSE-LOSE....

No, it's a WIN-WIN. KCBS wins more listeners and I win more money as CBS continues to be profitable. If you were a CBS stockholder you would laugh at anyone trying to prop up a loser like KFRC. CBS gave it several tries, and the only time it made them money was when they sold off the AM station (and the ratings didn't even dip!)

 

[kenrayc]

Does simucasting the news on FM make since ,seemlike a waist of a station when 740's signal can be heard through out California.One thing Harry Pappas tried all news on FM in Fresno and it failed badly, then tried adding talk to the station still never got more that a 1 share of the ratings.I know Pappas station KTRB isn't doing well either. They should have at least tried a different music format.

 

[kenrayc]

If it was a cost cuting deal I''m surprised CBS didn't make KFRC a JACK-FM format like KCBS FM in Los Angeles.

 

[RadioStarOne]

Poor old Kenny in Concord, you who knock him need to go fly a kite in an electricial storm. You'll sure get a better charge doing that than anything you can or could derive from radio in its current state. The radio stocks are losing their shirts and it most likely is never coming back. Have you seen the stock prices of these companies? Warren Buffet could buy them all with his chump change. Westwood One is down to .10 in after
hours trading. Citadel is down to .25 the exits are overflowing.

 

[sloux]

Perhaps David Jackson or someone else should record for history the last 15 minutes of the old format and the first 15 minutes of the all-news format next week. It will be interesting to hear the new TOH ID too.

 

[mikecroaro]

"Guys ... please back off the great Kenny from Concord. He's what radio needs more of: passionate listeners who are vocal about what they love."

I TOO used to be like Kenny. No more. My love for radio has completely diminished. Better to listen to radio on the computer. I listen to KXFM-LP out of Lancaster, CA. True 50's & 60's oldies.

Mike Croaro
Millbrae, CA

 

[EastBay]

"Guys ... please back off the great Kenny from Concord. He's what radio needs more of: passionate listeners who are vocal about what they love."

I TOO used to be like Kenny. No more. My love for radio has completely diminished. Better to listen to radio on the computer. I listen to KXFM-LP out of Lancaster, CA. True 50's & 60's oldies.

Mike Croaro
Millbrae, CA

That's cool, but you must not spend much time in your car. Hard to listen to internet radio there.

BossRadio, thank you very much for your open-minded and positive attiude towards Kenny and radio fans in general. I too am a radio fan (lifelong) and its refreshing to see that there are passionite fans like us that don't feel that this is a 'dying medium' in the sightest- and industry professionals that recognize that.

 

[davideduardo]

Does simucasting the news on FM make since ,seemlike a waist of a station when 740's signal can be heard through out California.

It makes enormous sense, since the intent is to get more 35-54 year old listeners into the cume. That group as a rule is a very light user of AM, if they use it at all.

 

[BossRadioDJ]

No one equated radio with curing cancer...don't know where that came from.

NH,

You wrote:

> To use my favorite analogy, watching doctors operate doesn't make you qualified to do it.

You were comparing being a surgeon to working in radio. I said "curing cancer."

How were you comparing "doctors operate" to cracking a mike? Open-heart surgery? Repairing an obstructed bowel? Reconstructing a knee?

At what point is saying "Five past the hour, and we're headed for a high of 79 degrees today, now here's Britney Spears" the same as going through four years of pre-med, eight years of medical school, and three or four years of residency?

I understand your point (I used the line "Just because I own a Louisville Slugger doesn't make me Willie Mays" in another thread about two different stations using the same automation equipment), but it's a pretty weak analogy.

> I have opinions on the NFL too, but I don't pretend to know what I'm talking about and post on football message boards about them. I admire Kenny's passion but I suggest he and others learn about how the radio business works before throwing uninformed statements around.

Let's see if I follow the logic: I think J.T. O'Sullivan is a mediocre quarterback, but before I say anything about him, I'm going to see if I can play a few games at QB for the 49ers before I express an opinion about it.

Have I got that right?

 

[NHRadio]

No one equated radio with curing cancer...don't know where that came from.

I understand your point (I used the line "Just because I own a Louisville Slugger doesn't make me Willie Mays" in another thread about two different stations using the same automation equipment), but it's a pretty weak analogy.

> I have opinions on the NFL too, but I don't pretend to know what I'm talking about and post on football message boards about them. I admire Kenny's passion but I suggest he and others learn about how the radio business works before throwing uninformed statements around.

Let's see if I follow the logic: I think J.T. O'Sullivan is a mediocre quarterback, but before I say anything about him, I'm going to see if I can play a few games at QB for the 49ers before I express an opinion about it.

Have I got that right?

BossRadio: you obviously know a few things about radio. You're smarter than this. You know (and I agree) that any idiot can (and does)crack a mic and say "it's 5 past headed for 78 degrees here's Britney". But even that idiot has SOME idea of how the radio game works since they're actually working in the business. Once again, I never compared being a doctor to being in radio. I used an analogy, much like your Louisville slugger one. That's all. Why you have trouble with this I don't understand.
A great talent though is as much a specialist in his/her field as any other occupation like lawyers, sports players, and yes, doctors. The really good ones are rare and have generally earned their good reputations.
You can have all the opinions you wish on Mr. X being a mediocre quarterback. However, even a lifetime of watching football doesn't qualify you to either play on or manage a sports team. You can disagree with their decisions on trades, player waivers, etc. but since you don't know how the business works whatever criticisms you have will be dismissed by people who DO know the football business as invalid blather. You have a right to them but it doesn't make them informed.
I don't know why you're so upset over this. All of us have been annoyed by people who don't know what they're talking about.

 

[radio dx]

Get rid of the air talent and run a simulcast and you just saved a bunch of money. CBS did promote KFRC but to put an ad on the back of a bus or run ads on a billboards is fine but let the air talent promote themselfs and develope a lisener following as well. The one thing that I often wondered was why the jocks were never allowed to show a little personality. Anyone can read a Hollywood gossip items out of the newspaper or off the wire (with an intro of a song under them) but they needed to be able to "connect" with the listeners. These few items were not the only problems that faced KFRC, the morning show in my personal view was lacking but I also feel all the talent really did do their best. Sometimes you need to give things a little more time to get the right mix and time was one thing KFRC didn't have.

 

[BossRadioDJ]

I don't know why you're so upset over this. All of us have been annoyed by people who don't know what they're talking about.

Not upset ... just expressing my opinion. No hard feelings, okay?

This just reminded me of a post a while back by someone who said "If you haven't worked in radio, then you don't know what it's like to not know if you'll have a job tomorrow, and how you'll make your house payment and put food on the table if someone decides you're out the door" (or words to that effect).

Sure, working in radio is different than, say, working at Mervyn's, where you're guaranteed a job for life.

(I'm sure that, right now on the Mervyns-Info.com board, some guy is posting "If you've never worked in retail, you should keep your opinion to yourself!")

I'm kidding, of course.

(...Or am I?) :

 

[NHRadio]

No hard feelings at all, but the post you refer to about not knowing if you're out the door made me laugh. Anyone with more than a 80 IQ (which must leave out the person who posted that) knows those feelings aren't confined to Radio. As to being guaranteed a job for life...Mervyns filed for bankruptcy on 7/29/2008.
Has anyone ever counted the number of jobs hacked out of the airlines, automakers, factories, bankrupt retail stores, radio/TV stations, etc. this year alone? I'll bet it's reached 50,000...probably more.

I don't know why you're so upset over this. All of us have been annoyed by people who don't know what they're talking about.

Not upset ... just expressing my opinion. No hard feelings, okay?

This just reminded me of a post a while back by someone who said "If you haven't worked in radio, then you don't know what it's like to not know if you'll have a job tomorrow, and how you'll make your house payment and put food on the table if someone decides you're out the door" (or words to that effect).

Sure, working in radio is different than, say, working at Mervyn's, where you're guaranteed a job for life.

(I'm sure that, right now on the Mervyns-Info.com board, some guy is posting "If you've never worked in retail, you should keep your opinion to yourself!")

I'm kidding, of course.

(...Or am I?) :

 

[NHRadio]

It seems too often when a jock tries to do that his/her PD slaps it down and says in effect "shut up and play the damn record".
All the "shut and play another record" years have come full circle. Many listeners are now conditioned to tune out whenever a jock says anything without a ramp under him believing a stopset is coming. Even with the best personality in the world most stations don't bother promoting them, thus setting themselves up to fail. Back to "shut and play another record". Lather, rinse, repeat.

The one thing that I often wondered was why the jocks were never allowed to show a little personality.

 

[BossRadioDJ]

...even a lifetime of watching football doesn't qualify you to either play on or manage a sports team.

One more thought on that:

Just because you've worked a lifetime in an industry (radio, football, retail, etc.), that doesn't instantly qualify you to run the company, either.

How many times have you seen somebody rewarded simply because they've been at a job forever, in radio or some other business? "Hey, John's been here for twenty years. He knows the business. Let's give him a shot."

And John falls flat on his face because experience and longevity doesn't always equate to talent or results.

If game-day experience counted, then the Detroit Lions would have won five Super Bowls under the great Matt Millen.

(Okay, I'll stop with the sports stuff.)

"Bob from Millbrae, you're on with Ralph & Tom on the Sports Leader..."

 

[Mediaace]

Anywhere north of the 580/680 connector; 106.9 becomes a worthless signal into Walnut Creek/Concord up 242 into route 4 east. I have to admit I'm not in favor of boosters. Despite their good intentions, they seemed to create more problems than they solve with on-channel noise and audio delay issues. Case and point, 96.5 traveling south on 680 in Walnut Creek in the shadow of KOIT's MT. Diablo booster. (A side note: even on route 4 in line of site of Mt. Diablo there seems to be no benefits to coverage. Seems strange to me.) Several channels have the same issues, only less severe in Pleasanton as you cross the Hacienda Business Park area. With the terrain challenges of the Bay Area it is no wonder why AM radio continues to thrive. Even a small 5,000 watt signal such as KSFO enjoys some decent numbers. Gotta make you wonder just how quick AM radio can be written off, especially in market #4. Thoughts?

The terrific S.F. Peninsula Press Club blog reports that the KFRC crew will return to wrap things up this week:

KFRC's Dave Sholin, Celeste Perry and Sue Hall have been let go, but they will return this week (we don't know when) to do a farewell show.

There's also an interesting snippet of conversation from the company meeting that is reprinted there:

http://sfppc.blogspot.com/2008/10/more-about-kcbss-new-fm-signal.html

CBS is also in the process of putting in a booster in Pleasanton to increase 106.9's coverage in the Tri-Valley area. Right now, when driving, the station's signal begins to decay as you head out on 580 past Hopyard and Hacienda.

Of course, KCBS' signal is loud, strong and clear all the way out into the Valley on 740 AM, so I'm not certain why this is an issue now.

DJ

 

[woody1394]

Anywhere north of the 580/680 connector; 106.9 becomes a worthless signal into Walnut Creek/Concord up 242 into route 4 east. I have to admit I'm not in favor of boosters. Despite their good intentions, they seemed to create more problems than they solve with on-channel noise and audio delay issues. Case and point, 96.5 traveling south on 680 in Walnut Creek in the shadow of KOIT's MT. Diablo booster. (A side note: even on route 4 in line of site of Mt. Diablo there seems to be no benefits to coverage. Seems strange to me.) Several channels have the same issues, only less severe in Pleasanton as you cross the Hacienda Business Park area. With the terrain challenges of the Bay Area it is no wonder why AM radio continues to thrive. Even a small 5,000 watt signal such as KSFO enjoys some decent numbers. Gotta make you wonder just how quick AM radio can be written off, especially in market #4. Thoughts?

I'm in Livermore, and I couldn't have said that any better. Your last statement is the same question I have: why is it so important to simulcast on FM when AM goes so much further? OK, I understand that some buildings have a lot of 'noise' and in some cases AM reception can be questionable indoors- but that's not the case most of the time. Is it just because people in the 20-30 demo seem to listen to FM more? And if that's the case, it would seem that they are on FM to listen to music, not to Stan Burford's traffic reports on the 8's (OK, that's KGO, but you get the point).

I'm just trying to understand the logic. I have no problem with the FM simulcast, I'm just not sure what the upside is.

 

[radio dx]

You have to use a little control with the talking. Some talk about nothing and just want to hear the sound of their voice and I have also heard some put out a one liner so quick and smooth it doesn't wipe out the music set almost like a "bridge" in music bringing it all together.

 

[SFStatic]

Done correctly, an air talent can use their voice as a sweeper, bridging from a fast to slow song, high intensity to low intensity song, etc. Why good air work is an art...