FIRST LISTEN: SEATTLE'S Q104.5

[Jack Griffin]

Yesterday I had some significant listening time with the "new" KMCQ. My thoughts:

1. Music –The playlist has been well tightened – core is clearly late ‘70s pop with well-chosen ‘60s and ‘80s titles. Artist separation needs to be better controlled along with tempo and sound coding (heard a “music that makes you feel good” liner into “Dust In The Wind”. Oops…). The album versions need to be weeded out – one (“Rikki Don’t Lose That Number”) started off so quietly that it sounded like dead air.
Grade: B

2. Production – Nothing earth shattering here, just the typical “makes you feel good” liners and oldies format jingles. That’s OK for now but the production needs constant refreshing so it doesn’t sound as old as some of the songs. Clocks need to be corrected as transition elements sometimes run after each song, sometimes three songs segue back to back.
Grade: C+

3. Other stuff: The station sounds “sleepy” – loose segues in the automation system and weak processing. Also, they segued directly from a song into a spot break, and the first spot (Shuttle Express) started off sounding like a station promo. It’s a toss-up on whether that is a good programming idea – probably good for PPM, I guess.
Grade: Incomplete

In total the station is sounding a LOT better than it did. Whether this is still a placeholder or a shot at a real format, only time will tell – but so far Ohana has done a good job of getting the station on the right track.
Overall grade: B-

Here's what needs to be addressed next:
1. Fix the darn processing and tighten those segues.
2. Play the hit versions. Leave the album cuts to the classic rock stations.
3. Get the listener comment line open and get them on the air
4. There’s a lot of great Seattle radio talent who are currently unemployed – get them on the air! (even if they’re VT’d)

 

[carolinaradio]

I think it sounds good. More than it did with its more niche oldies format, to me. I've reviewed the playlist and find it to be solid for classic hits. Safe, but solid. Listening on TuneIn, and it sounds good. Not getting the hate here. Better music than KJR.
They also have a Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Q-1045/207750542686579

One thing I keep reading is that they are a KJR clone - while not classic rock, KJR has eliminated most of the pop and is focusing on 70s rock and pop/rock. As I've said, I know most of the large market classic hits stations pretty well and feel that KJR left the most to be desired of the top 20 market classic hits stations. KJR has no KC and The Sunshine Band, Michael Jackson, Donna Summer, Earth Wind and Fire, etc. This station sounds more mainstream, so I think they are filling a nice void.

EDIT: KMCQ is now on yes.com if anyone is interested. They are playing PLENTY of stuff KJR wouldn't touch. "Let's Stay Together", "I Will Survive", "Right Back Where We Started From", "Uptight", "Then Came You", "Rescue Me", etc.

 

[curiousg]

Jack Griffin - remind to never listen to a station you program. "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" is an album cut? It peaked at #4 and was Steely Dan's highest charting single.

 

[placebo1969]

Jack Griffin - remind to never listen to a station you program. "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" is an album cut? It peaked at #4 and was Steely Dan's highest charting single.

The full version has a long intro that normally isn't played on the radio, even on the classic rock stations.

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

Much of this will become even more obvious in the days ahead.
Consider who is programming the station and then you can determine what the next moves will be.

 

[radioguy123]

Music seems MUCH better and changed over a month ago. New imaging and jingles seems better too. Someone who knows what they are doing is programming. Proof is in the ratings. Though not a subscriber, so ratings are not printedand can't be quoted, KMCQ has been jumping up every week and has gone up about 50% in the last three weeks. I wonder if they will buy the PPM so we can all see the growth. If the idea is to grow ratings the tighter playlist seems to be working.

 

[notalent]

Sounds to me like they upgraded from an iPod to a Lenovo PC with a Sound Blaster card.

 

[carolinaradio]

Music seems MUCH better and changed over a month ago. New imaging and jingles seems better too. Someone who knows what they are doing is programming. Proof is in the ratings. Though not a subscriber, so ratings are not printedand can't be quoted, KMCQ has been jumping up every week and has gone up about 50% in the last three weeks. I wonder if they will buy the PPM so we can all see the growth. If the idea is to grow ratings the tighter playlist seems to be working.

There has been a discussion on the South Carolina board about broad playlists. The tighter and more focused the playlist, the more mass appeal the station is going to be. IMO, what they did is a no brainer if they want to be successful and make money, which I'm sure they do.

There will be a handful of former diehard listeners that will dislike the change, but it will be better received within the overall target demographic. Currently streaming Q-104.5 and they are playing Louis Armstrong. Would KJR play that? No. Despite the changes, the station still has a very good variety of well-selected classic hits, quite a few that would not get airplay on many mainstream classic hits stations today.

 

[LITTLEBOYBLUE]

We may need to clarify WHICH KJR we're comparing to...
There was a KJR that debuted with 70's pop...then modified to 70's Classic Rock-leaning gold...then 60's and 70's gold...then a "mix"....then back to 70's pop...then back to 70's classic rock-leaning gold...then classic hits...then Oldies...then Greatest Hits...then Classic Hits.

People who are pregnant, suffer from heart palpatations, inclined to strokes, have back injuries, suffer from motion sickness should NOT be on that ride.

 

[scott salvatori]

There has been a discussion on the South Carolina board about broad playlists. The tighter and more focused the playlist, the more mass appeal the station is going to be. IMO, what they did is a no brainer if they want to be successful and make money, which I'm sure they do.

There will be a handful of former diehard listeners that will dislike the change, but it will be better received within the overall target demographic. Currently streaming Q-104.5 and they are playing Louis Armstrong. Would KJR play that? No. Despite the changes, the station still has a very good variety of well-selected classic hits, quite a few that would not get airplay on many mainstream classic hits stations today.

solution: "its dayparting" play that tight top100 burnt hits during the key morning and afternoon rating drive times for that jargonesque, average quarter hour listener commuter that want to hear the commercially force fed beach boy farcicle, "kokomo". come evenings, and all nighter, dig a little deeper and play "God only knows". yep, there are ways to do this, and it takes programming talent and risk, but we all know they will do what radio always does. run the same ol centralized oldies playlist until extreme burnout kills ratings, and then change format and burn out another consultants researched centralized playlist. round and round it goes. until the competing major market models beat this old baked formula, looks like thats all ya gonna get folks. pat o'day via KJR, took a chance and beat the old radio formula back in the 60's, and scored big. them days of risk are...well its easier to just follow the leader, and copy cat em. the term cookie cutter comes to mind.

 

[crainbebo]

Maybe that would work-having the most burnt to a crisp hits from 7AM-6PM, then switching over to deep cuts all night, including some "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". I miss the old KMCQ!

-crainbebo

 

[toonces2u]

Maybe that would work-having the most burnt to a crisp hits from 7AM-6PM, then switching over to deep cuts all night, including some "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". I miss the old KMCQ!

-crainbebo

Ditto that!

 

[Mookie]

I miss the old KMCQ. But ask yourself this, when has KJR EVER played the following:

- Any solo Michael Jackson song.
- Elvis songs that aren't Suspicious Minds.
- Show and Tell by Al Wilson.
- No Reply at All by Genesis.
- Easy Lover by Phil Collins and Phillip Bailey.
- Reasons by Earth, Wind, and Fire
- Back in Love Again by LTD

There's more that's escaping me now, but KMCQ's playlist has been drastically reduced and still remarkably more varied than KJR's um ... list of classic rock songs and the same 5 Motown songs over and over.

 

[carolinaradio]

... or any disco other than an occasional song like "Stayin' Alive?"

KJR has become "one-sided" classic hits, basically light classic rock. KMCQ has a pretty good variety and is true classic hits - Sister Sledge, Dire Straits, Gladys Knight, Bob Seger, Beach Boys (would KJR play "Fun Fun Fun?"), Foreigner, and Kool & The Gang all on the same station. The music is very safe and well researched, as I said, but they are still throwing in some occasional 60s songs most classic hits stations have forgotten. Classics IV, The Searchers, Dion, etc. The playlist isn't incredibly tight, either.

I guess I am not as picky as the market I live in does not have a classic hits station, so I have to stick to streaming large market classic hits stations. KMCQ is one of my favorites to stream at the moment and I feel they are doing a good job.

 

[swhyde1980]

I think to level things out with the current KMCQ, they should bring in the Art Laboe Connection show. Some rarely played classic R&B gets played on his show, and is carried on a couple oldies/classic hits stations in Southern California, that mainly have a playlist like KMCQ's during normal programming (KDES in Palm Springs for example). Should also bring back Ted Alexander as well on the weekends.

 

[crainbebo]

Beach Boys (would KJR play "Fun Fun Fun?")

That answer is yes. I stumbled on KJR a few days ago and they were playing Fun Fun Fun by the Beach Boys. But still, the deep cuts are GONE from KMCQ, that's what I miss.

-crainbebo

 

[Lonely Summer]

There has been a discussion on the South Carolina board about broad playlists. The tighter and more focused the playlist, the more mass appeal the station is going to be. IMO, what they did is a no brainer if they want to be successful and make money, which I'm sure they do.

There will be a handful of former diehard listeners that will dislike the change, but it will be better received within the overall target demographic. Currently streaming Q-104.5 and they are playing Louis Armstrong. Would KJR play that? No. Despite the changes, the station still has a very good variety of well-selected classic hits, quite a few that would not get airplay on many mainstream classic hits stations today.

solution: "its dayparting" play that tight top100 burnt hits during the key morning and afternoon rating drive times for that jargonesque, average quarter hour listener commuter that want to hear the commercially force fed beach boy farcicle, "kokomo". come evenings, and all nighter, dig a little deeper and play "God only knows". yep, there are ways to do this, and it takes programming talent and risk, but we all know they will do what radio always does. run the same ol centralized oldies playlist until extreme burnout kills ratings, and then change format and burn out another consultants researched centralized playlist. round and round it goes. until the competing major market models beat this old baked formula, looks like thats all ya gonna get folks. pat o'day via KJR, took a chance and beat the old radio formula back in the 60's, and scored big. them days of risk are...well its easier to just follow the leader, and copy cat em. the term cookie cutter comes to mind.

So true. Up until recently, KMCQ had something unique, and that brought in a few listeners, but it was always just a placeholder, I knew it wouldn't last....so I guess it's time to say thank you to the folks at KMCQ for a couple years of enjoyable placeholder music...and now back to business as usual.

 

[Goldilocks94941]

One of the things that made the "deeper" playlist fun for many of us who also participated in those "golden days' of pop radio in the 1960-70s -- as daily listeners or as DJs -- was hearing songs that we haven't heard or thought of in decades on KMCQ. And the feelings and memories of where we were and who we were when those songs were part of the pop and top 40 playlists on our local stations came back with them!

They're not all material that I'd plop down $15 for a compilation CD at Silver Platters, just to hear two "good ones" on a CD of 20 other songs I might not expect to care about. (That's still the beauty of CDs and albums - you might find something you like that you didn't already know!) Some of these songs have slipped thru the digital cracks and don't show up on download music sites, so radio stations that might still have inventory from back then should consider it all worth something and not throw it all away.

For instance, the silly song "Brandy" by Looking Glass was going thru my head last night as I made dinner. And I wouldn't have thought of it, if I hadn't heard it played a few times on KMCQ. (I don't know if it's in the current rotation, since I'm not inclined to listen much anymore, since the burn out stuff I don't like turns me away.) If that had been a song that was played every day on a "classic hits" station, with a playlist restricted to a closed universe of material, I would have tired of it long ago and wouldn't think of that music memory as a positive thing that brought a smile to my face in reliving some of my high school soundtrack. (That's not a bad exercise for ageing brains, either.)

I'd like to know who had put together KMCQ's playlist in the pre-Q or "placeholder" days, as some of you like to put it. Whoever did it had a real touch for the art of mixing music on the radio that the current approach toward "product" completely overlooks. Some insider tips on your music sources and music set selections would be appreciated by at least a few in this crowd.

 

[WDAE-FM101]

Not only did they play "Brandy" but they also played their follow-up hit "Jimmy Loves Maryanne"

 

[Jack Griffin]

I'd like to know who had put together KMCQ's playlist in the pre-Q or "placeholder" days, as some of you like to put it. Whoever did it had a real touch for the art of mixing music on the radio that the current approach toward "product" completely overlooks. Some insider tips on your music sources and music set selections would be appreciated by at least a few in this crowd.

I wasn't the one who put together the library but I CAN tell you how to do it. It's really not that hard.

1. First, get a book from Joel Whitburn called "Pop Annual". The latest version is $50, but older versions are available for $15 (and since you're doing an oldies format the older version is fine".

2. Take the Whitburn book and pick out all the songs on the lists from 1962 through 1977.

3. Source the songs (iTunes, Amazon, CDs, other "underground" sources...)

4. Split the songs into at least 6 different playlists. For a basic setup, go with years: Early '60s, mid '60s, 'late 60s. early '70s, mid '70s, late '70s

5. Send the playlists to whatever app you want to use to play the songs. Have it take one song from each list, then play another song from another list, etc.

6. If you really want to get fancy you can sub-divide the 6 playlists into sub-lists (by genre, tempo, etc).

While KMCQ probably followed a different procedure using resources available only to radio stations, the procedure I listen is what's followed to get a format like the "placeholder" on the air.