Dallas-Ft. Worth Radio Ratings: January 2024

[macattack]

The endless purity testing is what killed this station. Endless threads about songs they shouldn't play. At one time, people listened to rock radio stations, and the music those stations played set the agenda for the great rock music of the day. Now, people come in with their favorites, and demand radio play only their favorites, and anything outside of that is bad programming. So KEGL gives up, and KVIL wins by basically filling a hole and playing songs that KEGL had been playing. But it’s OK now, because it's not being done by KEGL. We see the same thing with KITS in San Francisco.

If what you’re getting out of this is “purity testing” you’re completely misreading my post. TBH, I probably could have been clearer about it.

You can’t have your cake and eat it. Rock is a diverse genre with many scenes new and old, but even Triple A can’t play them all. If you want to play Third Eye Blind and Weezer golds you probably can’t play Whitesnake and Bryan Adams. If 80’s oldies are on the table you can play U2, The Clash, Jane’s Addiction, and The Cult with 3EB and Weezer, but KEGL didn’t do that.

An Alt lean is perfectly acceptable for an Active Rock station but it needs to be committed to. KEGL didn’t commit to anything, the music felt like an afterthought to all of the talk, talk, talk. It was a tonal mess. Instead of fixing the music they opted to flip and here we are.

 

[TheBigA]

If you want to play Third Eye Blind and Weezer golds you probably can’t play Whitesnake and Bryan Adams. If 80’s oldies are on the table you can play U2, The Clash, Jane’s Addiction, and The Cult with 3EB and Weezer, but KEGL didn’t do that.

That may bee why the rock format has become so stagnant. To me, the diversity should be the strength rather than a hinderance.

In any case, I would be very surprised to see iHeart bring back rock on this frequency. They're not like Audacy, where they admit they made a mistake and bring something back, as they did with KITS. I'm not expecting that in Dallas.

My brain is about to explode thinking about this, when in the past Alternative used to be a bit relaxing for me…

My advice is to go with the flow. Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream.

 

[macattack]

That may bee why the rock format has become so stagnant. To me, the diversity should be the strength rather than a hinderance.

In any case, I would be very surprised to see iHeart bring back rock on this frequency. They're not like Audacy, where they admit they made a mistake and bring something back, as they did with KITS. I'm not expecting that in Dallas.

Every genre has this happen. There's country fans complaining about the new wave of outlaw/alt-country. Hip-hop fans have been complaining about the trap for years. Pop fans complaining about some new TikTok upstart. It's nothing new. I'm not saying it's right but it's definitely not confined to rock.

I don't see iHeart going back to rock unless they exhaust all other options either. I think you're right about that.

 

[TheBigA]

Every genre has this happen. There's country fans complaining about the new wave of outlaw/alt-country. Hip-hop fans have been complaining about the trap for years.

The thing about the country radio format is it's still very diverse, even though all the music is relatively new. So they don't play 80s with 2020s, but the 2020s they play runs the gamut from traditional to outlaw to pop. It's a long way from Cody Johnson and Justin Moore to Carrie Underwood and Russell Dickerson to Jelly Roll and Hardy. They still manage to work in heritage artists like Tim McGraw or Kenny Chesney. So stylistically it's very diverse. That's how they keep it fresh. Then you have someone like Luke Combs reach back and do a cover of a 35 year old song like Fast Car. It's all played back to back.

 

[macattack]

And now it seems like KVIL is missing out on some great alternative tracks, because they’re still trying to fill the hole left by KEGL and trying to compete with Star 102.1 by playing these lite rock pop “alternative” tracks that you would hear on Star next to Madonna or Celine Dion. My brain is about to explode thinking about this, when in the past Alternative used to be a bit relaxing for me…

I took a look at their top 25 most-played and honestly they're not playing anything that would blend in seamlessly on Star 102.1 other than AJR and maybe Cannons. They could be slightly more aggressive and make some room for fresher artists (purely IMO, the "sweet spot" is 30-35 currents), but they're not as conservative as a typical iHeart. They seem to be primarily focusing on veterans and artists being serviced to both Active and Alternative with a smattering of newer voices for variety.

Key: C = Current, R = recurrent

Adds:

Twenty-One Pilots - "Overcompensate" (pure ALT)
Fall Out Boy - "So Much (For Stardust)" (pure ALT)

1. Cannons - "Loving You" (C, pure ALT, a former #1 on ALT as well)
2. Linkin Park - "Friendly Fire" (C, Alternative-to-Active)
3. Sum 41 - "Landmines" (C, Alternative-to-Active, also the current ALT #1)
4. Bad Omens - "Just Pretend" (R, Active-to-Alternative, a former #1 on both formats)
5. Cage The Elephant - "Neon Pill" (C, Alternative-to-Active)
6. Papa Roach - "Leave A Light On" (C, Active-to-Alternative, the current Active #1)
7. Royel Otis - "Murder On The Dancefloor" (C, pure ALT)
8. Shinedown - "A Symptom of Being Human" (C, Active-to-Alternative, a former Active #1)
9. Blue October - "Down Here Waiting" (R, pure ALT)
10. The Black Keys - "Beautiful People (Stay High)" (C, Alternative-to-Active)
11. Bad Omens - "The Death of Peace of Mind" (C, Active-to-Alternative, a former Active #1)
12. lovelytheband - "nice to know you" (C, pure ALT)
13. Cold War Kids - "Run Away With Me" (C, pure ALT)
14. Kings of Leon - "Mustang" (C, Alternative-to-Active)
15. AJR - "Yes, I'm A Mess" (C, Alternative-to-Pop)
16. Fall Out Boy - "We Didn't Start The Fire" (R, pure ALT)
17. Foo Fighters - "The Glass" (C, Active-to-Alternative)
18. Green Day - "Dilemma" (C, Alternative-to-Active)
19. Lovejoy - "Normal People Things" (C, pure ALT)
20. Pearl Jam - "Dark Matter" (C, Active-to-Alternative)
21. The Beaches - "Blame Brett" (C, pure ALT)
22. blink-182 - "One More Time" (C, Alternative-to-Active, a long-running Alt #1)
23. Foo Fighters - "Under You" (R, Active-to-Alternative, #1 on both formats)
24. Mumford & Sons - "Good People" (C, pure ALT)
25. Linkin Park - "Lost" (R, Alternative-to-Active, #1 on both formats)

 

[Deleted member 76036]

I took a look at their top 25 most-played and honestly they're not playing anything that would blend in seamlessly on Star 102.1 other than AJR and maybe Cannons. They could be slightly more aggressive and make some room for fresher artists (purely IMO, the "sweet spot" is 30-35 currents), but they're not as conservative as a typical iHeart. They seem to be primarily focusing on veterans and artists being serviced to both Active and Alternative with a smattering of newer voices for variety.

I keep hearing the following. They might not be in the top 25, but they are definitely playing them a lot:

Nine Days - Absolutely (Story of a Girl)
Goo Goo Dolls - Iris
Goo Goo Dolls - Slide

I also don’t care for Incubus - Drive and The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony. I just think these songs have lightened up as they’ve aged. Heck, Star is playing Linkin Park - In The End nowadays.

 

[Bob LaBlah]

The thing about the country radio format is it's still very diverse, even though all the music is relatively new. So they don't play 80s with 2020s, but the 2020s they play runs the gamut from traditional to outlaw to pop. It's a long way from Cody Johnson and Justin Moore to Carrie Underwood and Russell Dickerson to Jelly Roll and Hardy. They still manage to work in heritage artists like Tim McGraw or Kenny Chesney. So stylistically it's very diverse. That's how they keep it fresh. Then you have someone like Luke Combs reach back and do a cover of a 35 year old song like Fast Car. It's all played back to back.

Strategically - does it have a bigger benefit for the entire cluster?

If KEGL were to come on all Red White and Blue in an election year, in Texas, waving that Flag, back as an Eagle no less, and do a mediocre job - like 0 live and local talent and a lot of music - what is the minimum pull they would need 25-54 or 18-49 to rid the Top 10 of KSCS and KPLX and elevate the rest of the IHM stations' rank ? Half a point? One full share?

 

[macattack]

I keep hearing the following. They might not be in the top 25, but they are definitely playing them a lot:

Nine Days - Absolutely (Story of a Girl)
Goo Goo Dolls - Iris
Goo Goo Dolls - Slide

I also don’t care for Incubus - Drive and The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony. I just think these songs have lightened up as they’ve aged. Heck, Star is playing Linkin Park - In The End nowadays.

They’ve been playing those three approximately 5-7 times a week. Not top 25 but definitely top 50.

 

[Deleted member 76036]

They’ve been playing those three approximately 5-7 times a week. Not top 25 but definitely top 50.

And I think I’ve somehow managed to hear each about the 5-7 times they’ve been played! 😆

 

[TheBigA]

If KEGL were to come on all Red White and Blue in an election year,

I think iHeart would love to have a country station in Dallas, but Dallas can't support 3 country stations. The last time there were 3 country stations in Dallas was 25 years ago. KYNG. Young Country.

 

[davideduardo]

It was kegl.com for umpteen years. I believe the change came after iHeart gave up on La Preciosa,

Yeah, they got beaten by Amalia González and my Recuerdo about two to one and could not generate sales.

 

[Huff]

I keep hearing the following. They might not be in the top 25, but they are definitely playing them a lot:

Nine Days - Absolutely (Story of a Girl)

It's played 13 times in the past 4 weeks.
You must listen a LOT to hear all those plays!

 

[macattack]

It's played 13 times in the past 4 weeks.
You must listen a LOT to hear all those plays!

View attachment 6705

I’m not. Chris is though!

 

[Huff]

I’m not. Chris is though!

Sorry, didn't mean to quote you... and couldn't undo without deleting the entire post.

 

[Kramer]

My point is that KEGL played songs like "Say It Ain't So" by Weezer and "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind too. Whether they shouldn't have or not (the correct answer is that they shouldn't have) is another discussion. KVIL didn't need to do much other than take the standard Audacy Alt mix and put some hot sauce in it to kill KEGL because KEGL had done some of the work for them by bafflingly playing Alt hits with the aging classic rock and what little modern active rock they picked up. It's yet another example, which you helpfully explained above, of how KEGL was badly programmed and managed for years and opened the door for a struggling Audacy station once they had a competent PD and MD.

The lovelytheband song is a current (I put "C" next to the currents and an "R" next to the lone recurrent, "Just Pretend" by Bad Omens, which was an Active Rock #1 that crossed to Alternative and became a #1 there too). It's in the top 15 on the Mediabase Alternative chart right now. The other currents, "Neon Pill" by Cage The Elephant and "Leave A Light On" by Papa Roach, are Active/Alternative crossovers; CTE's song is Alternative-to-Active and PR's song is Active-to-Alternative (there is a difference between the two, the bands and their singles have different core formats/audiences). KVIL manages their currents fairly intelligently, there is a rock undertone due to them having a decent amount of Active/Alternative crossovers (the majority are Alternative-to-Active but they have a few that are the other way around), and then they have a few currents like the lovelytheband song that are pure ALT so their station's core audience is also satisfied.

I'm totally on board with everything you said my friend. What's so infuriating is to people like you and I, the issue was so apparent. But so many people couldn't see it. Baffling.

 

[Kramer]

"An Alt lean is perfectly acceptable for an Active Rock station but it needs to be committed to."

THE BIG A said that above. The Eagle couldn't get away with an alt lean. I remember when we were there and played Limp Bizkit, people would call for an hour bitching about it. It can't be hip hop and it can't be alternative. ROCK. Just pure rock right down the middle. Also, no song before 1995, and when you DO play a 90's song, it should be 1 or 2 an hour. No 80s and no 70's. KZPS has that covered. The rock format relies too much on old sh*t. That's why it hasn't evolved.

 

[TheBigA]

THE BIG A said that above. The Eagle couldn't get away with an alt lean. I remember when we were there and played Limp Bizkit, people would call for an hour bitching about it.

We see this time & again. People form these hard views about what they want on a radio station. They can't accept change in music or direction. They just want their station to stay in that same box, regardless of changes taking place around it. The only thing you can do is blow it up completely. That's what happened to WNEW-FM in NYC in the 90s. It used to be Where Rock Lives. Then it died. My sense is that's what happened to KEGL. They're floundering around just as WNEW did after rock went away. They went Hot Talk for a while with Blink Radio. Now they're Hot AC. They never went back to rock. I expect the same to happen to KEGL.

 

[macattack]

We see this time & again. People form these hard views about what they want on a radio station. They can't accept change in music or direction. They just want their station to stay in that same box, regardless of changes taking place around it. The only thing you can do is blow it up completely. That's what happened to WNEW-FM in NYC in the 90s. It used to be Where Rock Lives. Then it died. My sense is that's what happened to KEGL. They're floundering around just as WNEW did after rock went away. They went Hot Talk for a while with Blink Radio. Now they're Hot AC. They never went back to rock. I expect the same to happen to KEGL.

Honestly I think this is what gives Alternative such longevity despite the intangibles working against it, much like how pop/CHR and Hot AC have stayed resilient through down periods. Alternative covers such a wide swath of ground. “Lose Yourself” by Eminem. “Safe And Sound” by Capital Cities. “Fly Away” by Lenny Kravitz. “Animal I Have Become” by Three Days Grace. “She’s Kerosene” by The Interrupters. “Love Brand New” by Bob Moses. All of these and much more are potentially viable gold plays for the format. Programmers just need to find the magic combination that makes their market happy. This is harder than it sounds, of course, but purity isn’t a factor with Alternative unless you let it be.

 

[Loverofradio]

We see this time & again. People form these hard views about what they want on a radio station. They can't accept change in music or direction. They just want their station to stay in that same box, regardless of changes taking place around it. The only thing you can do is blow it up completely. That's what happened to WNEW-FM in NYC in the 90s. It used to be Where Rock Lives. Then it died. My sense is that's what happened to KEGL. They're floundering around just as WNEW did after rock went away. They went Hot Talk for a while with Blink Radio. Now they're Hot AC. They never went back to rock. I expect the same to happen to KEGL.

Blink 97.1 😎

 

[macattack]

"An Alt lean is perfectly acceptable for an Active Rock station but it needs to be committed to."

THE BIG A said that above. The Eagle couldn't get away with an alt lean. I remember when we were there and played Limp Bizkit, people would call for an hour bitching about it. It can't be hip hop and it can't be alternative. ROCK. Just pure rock right down the middle. Also, no song before 1995, and when you DO play a 90's song, it should be 1 or 2 an hour. No 80s and no 70's. KZPS has that covered. The rock format relies too much on old sh*t. That's why it hasn't evolved.

Honestly, want to know why? Limp Bizkit was actually considered to be alternative. In their heyday they got better results on Alternative than they did on Rock. Their only #1 on any format is on Alternative.

A lot of nu-metal did better on Alternative than on Rock. Linkin Park’s five #1s from Meteora happened on Alternative not Rock as another example. This is the purity thing that Rock has struggled with that BigA is talking about. Nu-metal despite how heavy it was tended to be incredibly different from all other forms of heavy rock at the time. So Alternative got behind it and Rock struggled with it. When nu-metal got played out Alternative moved on and Rock was stuck with the leftovers.

This is why KVIL was able to adjust on a dime while KEGL struggled. KVIL could just plop seventy-odd KEGL standbys that did serious numbers on Alt in the 90’s, 00’s, and early 10’s into the playlist while downplaying or even removing the poppiest songs that Audacy Alts tend to feature. This extends to the currents; KVIL has played a number of heavier songs that never got picked up by Audacy nationwide. All of a sudden Dallas, a market historically hostile to Alternative, has a decently successful station from that format.

Alternative permits adjustments like that. It’s harder to sell such adjustments for an Active Rock, which is why good PDs and MDs are an absolute must for Active Rock. KEGL didn’t have one.