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Country Music in San Francisco
- Thread starter e-dawg
- Start date
It's hard to sell a 1.1 rating, regardless of the format.
That being said, you won't see country stations among the top earners in radio. Even in markets where country gets great numbers. These days you don't program a station to make money by itself, but to make money when combined with the rest of the cluster. Perhaps country didn't fit the overall sales goals of the cluster. That's for others to say.
Looking at your list, what I'm struck by is how long these stations stayed with country. For KNEW, it was 26 years! Most of that was as a classic country station. But KSAN had 17 years, most of which was spent in the Top 10. KYCY was one of the first Young Country stations, and it outlasted the fad. So there's a reason stations stay with a format for a long time. Usually it's because it's successful.
I'd suggest that the format wasn't the problem. But rather, as other have pointed out, it was the execution. Entercom made a good decision to flip the station to sports, mainly because they killed it as a country station. When you own a restaurant that is shut down for health code violations, it's hard to bring the customers back. You're better off demolishing the building. That's what they did. It's keeping with similar Entercom moves in Kansas City and Buffalo. That doesn't mean the format is dead. It means the next country station has to learn from The Wolf's mistakes. San Francisco is not Detroit, but that's a major market where country rules. Not only because of the working class population. But because the station there is aggressive promoting itself in the community. Same with Philadelphia. Same with Chicago. Will the wine & cheese population start drinking Bud? Probably not. But no format is going to capture more than 7% of the audience. I venture to say there are enough country lovers in San Francisco to get a 4 share. If it's done right.
That being said, you won't see country stations among the top earners in radio. Even in markets where country gets great numbers. These days you don't program a station to make money by itself, but to make money when combined with the rest of the cluster. Perhaps country didn't fit the overall sales goals of the cluster. That's for others to say.
Looking at your list, what I'm struck by is how long these stations stayed with country. For KNEW, it was 26 years! Most of that was as a classic country station. But KSAN had 17 years, most of which was spent in the Top 10. KYCY was one of the first Young Country stations, and it outlasted the fad. So there's a reason stations stay with a format for a long time. Usually it's because it's successful.
I'd suggest that the format wasn't the problem. But rather, as other have pointed out, it was the execution. Entercom made a good decision to flip the station to sports, mainly because they killed it as a country station. When you own a restaurant that is shut down for health code violations, it's hard to bring the customers back. You're better off demolishing the building. That's what they did. It's keeping with similar Entercom moves in Kansas City and Buffalo. That doesn't mean the format is dead. It means the next country station has to learn from The Wolf's mistakes. San Francisco is not Detroit, but that's a major market where country rules. Not only because of the working class population. But because the station there is aggressive promoting itself in the community. Same with Philadelphia. Same with Chicago. Will the wine & cheese population start drinking Bud? Probably not. But no format is going to capture more than 7% of the audience. I venture to say there are enough country lovers in San Francisco to get a 4 share. If it's done right.
That list is hardly a losing country music track record. Come on get real! Just on different stations but still a 39 year run on the radio! How many other stations have had a list of music formats that would have a track record that looks the same? Come on now be honest!
e-dawg said:
When KNEW went full-on Classic Country the last few years of its existence, and actually spent some money on promotion, it really started to catch on and tripled its audience in 18 months, an unheard-of feat for an AM station playing music. They had good jocks, a large playlist, a country version of "10@10" every morning and Sully Roddy's wonderful alt-country show on Sat & Sun nites. Then, inexplicably, the owners pulled the plug, fired all the local talent and substituted a satellite-delivered "country gold" format (from ABC, I think)... and instantly sank into obscurity. Sad. A country version of '60s/'70s/'80s could work here, I think.
Mike said:
tripled its listeners, had good jocks, a large playlist, and even a twice a week alt country show? sounds like a radio consultant then got his foot in the door, and brainwashed the ownership to press the reset button, and go with standard radio protocol, with a promise of $$$ and increased ratings. so we see where that went. nothing left but a tombstone and memories....
Traditionally, outside of the south, listeners have discovered Country at about age 35. Consequently, by the time a song is really Classic, the listener is too old to attract advertisers' interest. That isn't as true as it used to be but it pretty much knocks out everything before about 1990, unless it crossed over to Pop and even that is pretty iffy.
RadioStarOne said:
Uh....I'd say any kind of rock music. Pop, Top 40, CHR, Album Rock, AOR, or whatever other labels you can think of, The many variations on rock and pop have a much better track record than country.
Rap and Hip Hop are a more recent phenomenon, but give it a few more years, and I believe it may also show real staying power.
Don't forget KRTY. Certainly not a full-market signal, but they've been plugging along with country since the late '80s, IIRC. They seem to be doing fine, thank you.
Dave B.
Dave B.
recto101 said:
Our posts hit at the same time, recto. KRTY at 95.3 generally hits the low 3's. That's with something like 800 watts. Not too bad.
Dave B.
radio dx said:
Indeed, KEEN was popular for a lot of years. KEEN was the first station I ever visited as a 9 year old kid. It was in the middle of an apricot orchard on Old Oakland Road. Cottonseed Clark was the DJ at the moment, but when my parents and I arrived to have a look-see at the place, we discovered that Cottonseed was on tape -- big 12-inch reels of tape. And there was a scrawny board op who played the records and read some of the spots. Ol' Cottonseed was touring somewhere with his band and had voicetracked the show.
The Southbay has always been a popular country music region. The Saddle Rack in Fremont is reputed to be California's largest country nightclub. It is indeed huge.
e-dawg said:
There was an AM in San Francisco at 1010 KSAY which played country as well as an AM in Santa Clara, KEGL, the Eagle.
The Southbay has always been a popular country music region. The Saddle Rack in Fremont is reputed to be California's largest country nightclub. It is indeed huge.
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For the months of Jan and Feb, KRTY with a small signal have the same rating KBWF at 1.1. Why is that? South Bay and the entire Bay Area demographics is the same. KBWF needs to capture some magic.
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For the months of Jan and Feb, KRTY with a small signal have the same rating KBWF at 1.1. Why is that? South Bay and the entire Bay Area demographics is the same. KBWF needs to capture some magic.
I think that any of the Coast stations (KKDV,KUIC, and KKIQ) could succeed as country stations, since most of the country listeners in The Bay Area are in the East Bay suburbs.
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