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DFW format flip...Houston impact?

From what I've read and heard, Lone Star is quite different from any other format right now but will it work? I don't think that it has enough mass appeal to get big ratings. It may take away a little from the country stations in Dallas, very little, and hardly any from the Classis rockers. If you like Classc Rock, you don't want to hear Tammy Wynette singing D-I-V-O-R-C-E! Here's the real issue though. Does anyone really believe that Lone Star will continue with the sponsorship thing and not allow other advertisers. Clear Channel will never alllow that. Before long they will go back to breaks just like all other stations and maybe have a sponsor for the hour. Clear Channel is in it for the money and you can't make any money not playing spots other than a sponsorship. The advertiser would have to rake out at least $3000.00 a hour to be the exclusive advertiser for the hour and not many will be willing to do that on a station that maybe will get a 2 share. This is the honeymoon before the D-I-V-O-R-C-E!
 
The answer to "is there any audience for this format in Houston?" is "yes." But the question that hasn't been asked -- would these people tune in to terrestrial radio for it?

My thoughts: While radio conglomerates have been working at dumbing down every format, they've chased music lovers away -- whether you are an avid listener of classic rock, alternative, country, rap ... whatever. If you are a true music fan, traditional radio started turning away from you years ago. Now, they're just going after "mass appeal."

I've said this before, and I hate saying it since radio is (or was) my first love and livelihood for a while: traditional radio, as it is now, is close to death. One glimmer of hope they have is if satellite radio fails. However, people still have their iPods, and that's what's winning. When I got to Memorial Park, I don't see anyone under 50 years old listening to radio out there -- it's all MP3 plays, with a few CD players thrown in there (except for the man jogging with his record player ... kidding...).

I'm seeing more and more people with satellite radio or iPods in their cars. At work, the people I know that listen to music while working do so online through internet streams -- and they're rarely streams of traditional radio.

As for sponsorships, I'm sure the reason CC is trying it is because people can access music without commercials so easily now -- they have to find an alternative to the old "stop blocks" (is that what we called them? can't remember). It's similar to what Detroit is going through -- if you're on top and stop reinventing yourself, others will pass you. It's happening to Detroit's car manufacturers, and it's happening to radio. It's time to "move with the cheese."

OK, enough business motivation talk. Have a good weekend!
 
Sidebar re KILT/KIKK

Was supporting the CBS group as a vendor a few years ago. I visited with several people (group meeting) and one key question I asked was "how do you differentiate KILT/KIKK?". I got about 5 sentences to explain how I should perceive one station differently from the other ... and I remember at the time thinking it kind of odd that it took that much effort to describe how their two properties, essentially in direct competition, should be perceived. I remember being taken aback (but not saying anything about it) because I figured "if it's this difficult for someone IN the biz to get it ... how do they get listeners to make a selection". A few years later I think stations did a great job by introducing "classic country" ... two words that described clearly what made that country product different than the "mainstream" one. Still...hated to see the calls fade away as a mainstream player after all the impact they had in HOU.
 
I drove up to Dallas over the weekend for a wedding, I was able to check out lonestar 92.5, it sounds diffrent. It would be nice to have a format in Houston like that. It kind of sounds like Rockin country on KVET HD-2. It'll be nice to have a change of music in Houston.
 
gitch said:
Perhaps this might persuade Cox to try something different on the 106.9 frequency.

This is how KIKK should have been handled. I think the biggest problem KIKK faced was the "Nashville" style country music they played along with the "Nashville sucks" music Texas music fans liked. I'm convinced they could have made it with a some format tweaks.

KIKK didn't have monster number compared to the kind of numbers they had in the past, but they were certainly higher than anything "The Point" has ever put up. Heck, KHJZ isn't putting up numbers much better than KIKK did when it was flipped.

The early indication from management concerning the final KIKK format was that it would be something similar. We all on the inside argued with management about everyday that the Nashville mainstream stuff was not a good fit and the non-country selections were even worse (I love kd lang but pul-lease!). It needed more Skynard and less Dave Mason. It was a huge disappointment to see something so promising be hijacked and ruined.
 
ericspin said:
The answer to "is there any audience for this format in Houston?" is "yes." But the question that hasn't been asked -- would these people tune in to terrestrial radio for it?

My thoughts: While radio conglomerates have been working at dumbing down every format, they've chased music lovers away -- whether you are an avid listener of classic rock, alternative, country, rap ... whatever. If you are a true music fan, traditional radio started turning away from you years ago. Now, they're just going after "mass appeal."

I've said this before, and I hate saying it since radio is (or was) my first love and livelihood for a while: traditional radio, as it is now, is close to death. One glimmer of hope they have is if satellite radio fails. However, people still have their iPods, and that's what's winning. When I got to Memorial Park, I don't see anyone under 50 years old listening to radio out there -- it's all MP3 plays, with a few CD players thrown in there (except for the man jogging with his record player ... kidding...).

I'm seeing more and more people with satellite radio or iPods in their cars. At work, the people I know that listen to music while working do so online through internet streams -- and they're rarely streams of traditional radio.

As for sponsorships, I'm sure the reason CC is trying it is because people can access music without commercials so easily now -- they have to find an alternative to the old "stop blocks" (is that what we called them? can't remember). It's similar to what Detroit is going through -- if you're on top and stop reinventing yourself, others will pass you. It's happening to Detroit's car manufacturers, and it's happening to radio. It's time to "move with the cheese."

OK, enough business motivation talk. Have a good weekend!

It doesn't matter what any of these radio corps do. They are all flatlining in revenue and that's why they are all selling out. You'll see the same thing with the TV station owners as well as digital cable and sat tv expands. Sat radio is here to stay and that is what is killing FM. I've posted many times that it's been 2 years since I listened to FM anywhere. I have XM in my office and Sirius in the car. I believe I'm a bit atypical now, but how long will it be before the majority of music listeners convert over to Sat radio and/or IPOD? Back in '98 and '99 Internet useage was less than 10% of the population, but wise pundits predicted that the expansion of broadband would cause an explosion by 2002. By 2003 wide Internet usage was over 20% and today it's approaching 60% of the US population. Sat radio and IPOD and IPOD-like devices WILL kill terrestrial radio as we know it, so who cares about any format changes or additions. For me and lots of others like me, every conceiveable format is at our fingertips with Sat radio and our IPODS.
 
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