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Country Wars

CCMilesD

CCMilesD

Its been interesting to see the country wars flame up recently as competition gets more intense. I took my wife to the Tim McGraw/Faith Hill concert this last week and it was some of the most radio promotion I’ve ever seen. The WOLF & KMPS were fighting over telephone polls to put signs on, each having their own promo booth. Q Country 102.9 was also there, but not with the same magnitude. It seems to me that KMPS is, and will continue to be the local dominate player in country music. They’ve become a Seattle institution, outlasting other attacks by Young Country and everything else thrown at them.

I saw what I expected to see at the concert, a very strong show by KMPS, much more of a presence that the other two, and then Stubs even introduced the show and told the audience of a trip to vegas promo to listen for the next morning that only those in attendance would know about. KMPS had staffers on the floor in Red shirts, and even had signs for fans to write on with the KMPS logo on the other side. No big surprises here. As someone who doesn’t work in radio in Seattle right now, it leads me to believe that the place the WOLF is talked about the most right now is right here, on radio-info.

I know my wife, who has been listening to country in this town for almost 15 years tunes into the WOLF every so often, but can’t stand either morning show. Same with my sister-in-law who is in her mid-twenties. Are these stations playing the same music?
 
Yeah the wolf and KMPS play pretty much the exact same music, they are both reporting stations, so you can look up both their playlists in mediabase. They both sound exactly the same musically, just the wolf has come in with a 'younger' approach, having young & hip production, not to mention the jocks who are all young and full of energy. (Their ad looking for PT talent said something to the effect of "not wanting talent with traditional country experience, looking for someone with Hot AC experience")

Young country 96.5fm came in a while back with that young, hip, up-beat approach and they didn't last too long... not to say the wolf won't last long, because coming onto the scene with a million dollar TV ad campaign, money for about anything they want, not to mention production that blows everyone out of the water... Also numerous consultants coming in on a regular basis to evaluate the station, everything from rotations to talent. So they are doing what they can to make sure the wolf stays in Seattle.

A good example of the country wars, (and one that Becky Brenner over at KMPS has been watching extremely close) is the country war in Portland with KMPS and the wolf. It's pretty much the same battle that's going on right now in Seattle, KUPL to portland is just like KMPS is to Seattle. In that battle KUPL made some crucial mistakes, which Becky has learned from.. but the wolf has been in portland for a while now, and KUPL and the wolf are neck and neck at the top of the Portland ratings.

But to answer question, yeah pretty much the same music.
 
Except the country share is higher in Portland than Seattle. In fact Portland now has one of the highest country shares of any large market.
 
The Seattle country "wars" will probably have the same result as the wars in Portland where sometimes Entercom wins and sometimes Infinity does. They're both close ratings wise and I think we're heading toward that here with both KMPS and the Wolf ending up in the upper 4s for ratings.

Might add that KMPS didn't defeat Young Country in the last war, KMPS bought the competition and blew up the station. Guess that's one way to win.

I can't stand the KMPS morning show. Ichabod is okay, but he's surrounded himself with lame people. An arrogant side kick who when he has a chance to show his stuff filling in for Ichabod is b-o-r-i-n-g, an old news guy who thinks reporting birthdays of people over 60 is news, and a traffic girl who must be there because she's cheap and sucks up to Ichabod. She's worse than Yakima bad and can't get one sentence out without stumbling over herself.

Wolf morning show is more entertaining, but not quite there in my opinion. I think if they can keep building on what Fitz is doing with some memorable slogans and bits they'll get there as Ichabod's crew continues to fade.
 
I don't really think it's a fair comparison with the situation in Portland. KWJJ was a Country legend dating back to 1965 and they moved to FM in the early 80s. KUPL came on in 1984 and has won the race most of the time since then. KWJJ repositioned as the Wolf about 2 years ago and the whole thing just took off but both stations have been viable for a very long time.
 
CCMilesD said:
As someone who doesn’t work in radio in Seattle right now, it leads me to believe that the place the WOLF is talked about the most right now is right here, on radio-info.
Click to expand...

Indeed, it may seem that way, but after looking at the last ratings, The Wolf has trounced KMPS in the demos where it matters. 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54.

Because you're not in radio, I'll explain that last statement. The last demo I mentioned, 25-54, is called "the money demo". That's the demographic that agencies look at when they place a buy. The Wolf was #2 in that demo in the last book. Number 2. For a new station to be at that point so quickly is simply amazing and shows that after the younger listeners made the switch (18-34) the older end followed. (25-54)

The fact is, KMPS is running scared. The Wolf has placed another half million in TV to run before the end of the year, is planning on more cash contests and according to several industury insiders, is on track to beat KMPS in 12+ by Winter 2006.

Anybody want to take a bet on who loses their job first? Becky Brenner or Tony Thomas.

My money is on Tony.

Get ready to walk the plank Tony. You'll be the scapegoat to help "fix" an ailing KMPS.
 
The assumption that the battle is KMPS's to loose is unfair. KMPS has sounded much better than it's historic lack of competition dictated it should. They have been local, involved, and with hi-profile jocks, just the formula everyone on this board claims to adhere to.

It was just that the station was too big not to be vulnerable. I'd argue there is little KMPS can do to deflect the Wolf except stay focused on their core audience. The managment has the problem that no one at corporate understands that when you take a direct competitive hit, it cuts your revenue dramatically. It's not in the DNA to accept the reality and work around it. So there will be changes, tweaks and some desperate moves. When the dust settles in the next 18 months Seattle will have two major country stations slugging it out much like Portland.

It's a sign of how 'country adverse' some of these companies seem to be. Entercom wasted years with the Buzz, CBS had the chance to bracket KMPS with 96.5 and Sandusky has settled for what is essentially a niche format rather than go after KMPS.
 
CCMilesD said:
As someone who doesn’t work in radio in Seattle right now, it leads me to believe that the place the WOLF is talked about the most right now is right here, on radio-info.
Click to expand...

This board is far from a proper representation of what is hot in Seattle. There are several people here who still think Robin and Maynard are some kind of Greek Gods to radio. Also, the people who follow former KIRO staffers Lou Pate and Alan Prell like they're family.
 
WarpFactor said:
The fact is, KMPS is running scared. The Wolf has placed another half million in TV to run before the end of the year, is planning on more cash contests and according to several industury insiders, is on track to beat KMPS in 12+ by Winter 2006.

Anybody want to take a bet on who loses their job first? Becky Brenner or Tony Thomas.

My money is on Tony.

Get ready to walk the plank Tony. You'll be the scapegoat to help "fix" an ailing KMPS.
Click to expand...

I don't think KMPS is running scared. Yeah, they're likely using all their tools to counter The Wolf, but in the back of their mind, they're likely just waiting for all the dust to settle. Not saying KMPS is guaranteed to win, but if I put down $20 on who will be ahead at the end of 2007, it would be on KMPS.

That said, yes, Tony Thomas would likely be a scapegoat.
 
WarpFactor, ya make it too obvious that you want Thomas' job with all your negative comments about him. The facts are Thomas has been #1 in the afternoon for multiple books in a row, and just slipped in this last one. His music judgement is not what's giving KMPS a hit, it's the $$$$$ that the Wolf spends on TV.
 
I didn't say anything negative about Tony, I merely stated that my guess was he'll be the first body that gets thrown under the bus to try and "hip up" an old boring station. Second will be Stubbs. They'll hold on to Icky and Lia forever. However, you should watch for drastic changes with Ichabod's show as they try to add some young "flava" to counteract The Wolf.

Sadly, that's a recipe for disater.

The question is, should Becky be shown the door? Well, not yet folks. Let her lose in a few more books and then we'll see if the honchos at CBS are going to let someone else milk their cash cow.

It will be fun to watch.
 
WarpFactor said:
The question is, should Becky be shown the door? Well, not yet folks. Let her lose in a few more books and then we'll see if the honchos at CBS are going to let someone else milk their cash cow.

It will be fun to watch.
Click to expand...

What's most amazing is how she has been able to ride that gravy train for all it's worth over the last 10+ years. But that's what happens when you're the only game in town (KRPM and Young Country were barely impacting KMPS). Now that there's a TRUE competitor - things won't stay status quo for long.
 
I have friends who work in the building tho another station. They describe Brenner as a good officer manager, but a bury her head in the sand kind of leader. She's not the one who's gonna pull the station thru. New ideas, new pd needed there.
 
Didn't MIKE PRESTON run things anyway while he was there??

Then HE departs for better pastures....and Infinity is now a poorer place FOR IT....
 
Well I've been a loyal KMPS listener for years and they are still number one and always will be. I'm not even old...I'm in the "younger crowd" that the wolf tries to buy over...but I just find the wolf to be rude...btw why would Becky be "shown the door" KMPS has won awards because of her.
 
The only awards that matter are in terms of ratings and sales, any industry awards KMPS has received are a "who you know" kind of thing and the station is influential in the country world. Brenner's on a lot of influential boards.
 
Becky there may rule the roost...

..but again: WHO rules the rooster???
 
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