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Fort Smith changes

BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

To REBEL 95.3!!!!!!!

BRING BACK ROCK!!!!!!!!!
 
DIZ Guy said:
Hey Rebel....I hate to upset you, but I am familiar with the Fort Smith market. I just think that it was a bad move to kill what was a good station.....

However, I still find it funny as hell that people would think "X-rated" when they thought of the X.....


HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!



You're not upsetting me. I don't feel the need to defend our move other than to say it's our station, our business and our row to hoe. If you like what we're doing, listen, If not, don't.

When's the last time you heard a Smith Auto group ad on "The X"? Like, never? Hmmmmmmmmm....We must be doing something right.

Personally, if MY clients think "The X" meant "x-rated" and didn't want to buy the station for that reason, I'm thrilled to death to offer them an alternative. I love our listeners, just as I loved "The X" listeners. We carried the format for five years and did everything we could to support it. The advertisers are the ones who made the decision for us. To continue to pour good money after bad just doesn't make sense.

When we give away trips to concerts over a four month period and it's the same fifteen or twenty people winning the tickets and getting on the bus, then you have a limited audience. I thibnk part of the problem was that what listeners we had were either too lazy or too anti-establishment to take time to fill out a diary.

Boo us all you want. I'll cry all the way to the bank.
 
[/quote]

"Ok, I'm finding it harder and harder to take this person seriously. It's obvious he is hiding behind an internet screenname, and will not reveal his real name and position in the company. He's probably low on the food chain and makes little decisions, nothing more than a glorified fanboy."

Whatever...............

"First of all, there was someone who told me the company was doing well, and he had no reason to lie to me. It is someone who is likely much higher up on the chain than you are."

Whatever again................

"Second, where on my page did I say anything about you selling out? I just said it was a horrible move."

I'll give you that. It was that eleven or twelve other disgruntled listeners that called us 'greedy bastards'. My bad.

"Get your facts straight, Mr. Internet toughguy. Considering how nothing you say really means anything, and that you're not really a man of power at 95.3, I am highly considering taking your comments off of the page. I have no desire to post the rantings of a fanboy."

"Where did I say I was a tough guy? You don't know me or who I am or what I do. Please do take my comments off your page. I never agreed to allow you to use this from this forum on your myspace page in the first place. Every heard of copyright infringement? Plagarism? Stupidity?. ......

Slacker...............................

[/quote]

"What does this say? Management at 95.3 doesn't care about its listeners, at all. According to them, rock is a dying format. Tell that to Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace, who is packing venues all over the country. Tell that to Saliva, who had a packed house in HARRISON! HARRISON ARKANSAS!"

Management at 95.3 cares about having more listeners whose demographic profile includes a viable income and will come to a remote for something more than a free t-shirt or a free Hardee's burger. Is that too much to ask?

"Rock is not a dying format, it is alive and well, you just didn't know how to do it right. I spoke to a member of X 95.3 management once via email, and he told me the station was turning a profit. I can post this if I get enough requests, but want to respect his privacy as an individual."

"Rock" will never be a dying format. That stuff we were trying to prop up in this market is a dead format in this market. Has been for a while. Post whatever you want from whoever you want. You are painfully unaware of what you speak. You said him, so it's got to be one of seven employees, not counting the part-timer. They all say you're lying out your ass. So post the name and let's see if "your guy" will own up to talking to you.

"Another thing, they think they're going to own the listeners. Yes, own. They think the current country stations are too pop, so they'll be able to swoop right in and take the market. Management is obviously incompetent and naive to believe this."

Incompetent? Naive? You got to be kidding me. Incompetent and naive would be to continue to play the music we were playing while the place fell down around our ears. This move is the most competent and most positive move in this market in a decade.

"Do not support 95.3 the rebel, in any way shape or form. When they create a myspace, tell them frequently your displeasure for the station. Do not stop emailing management. It's only a matter of time, until this station flops."

Stop. You're embarrasing yourself. You can email all you want. We are what we are going to be. WE've already seen to many positives to take a step back now.

"I'm not naive, I know that when, not if, when, "rebel" flops, that they're not going back to the x, because they wouldn't give us the satisfaction of being right. But by god, I want to see this flop, and I want everyone in Fort Smith to show that rock is alive and well.

That's the only thing in your whole post that even close to being right.
 
[/quote]





... I thibnk part of the problem was that what listeners we had were either too lazy or too anti-establishment to take time to fill out a diary...


[/quote]

I don't have dog in this hunt. You 2 can continue your pi$&ing match if you want, but if you truly believe that the lack of success for 95.3 was the fault of your listeners you've just explained why you didn't succeed.
 
Ok rebel, you think I'm lying out my ass?

This is an excerpt from an email from Ray Miller. I won't post the entire email here, if you want it, contact me at [email protected]. I'll even let you see what I originally said.

We are an Alternative Rock Station...So...The Sick Puppies and Mayer, Matthews, et al are in that format...We played Heavy Rock (Active Rock) for awhile on this station before I got here, and the sales people could NOT sell it...so the owner and CEO and the Manager brought me here to make it an Alternative Rock station...to make it sellable, and to get more female listeners for ratings...because we have to have that to make money...right now, the station is doing great in sales...for the first time in it's history.

I never claimed anyone said they were doing well recently, just said they said that at some point.

You're right, I don't know you, but it's hard to take anyone serious behind an internet screenname.
 
TheRebel 95.3 said:
Incompetent? Naive? You got to be kidding me. Incompetent and naive would be to continue to play the music we were playing while the place fell down around our ears. This move is the most competent and most positive move in this market in a decade.

I think several people here agree with me, that it is naive to believe you are going to get more listeners than KTCS and KMAG. Country listeners around here are stubborn. I've seen people who won't even listen to KMAG when KTCS is out. You're not going to get many current country listeners at all, you're only hope is to find young blood who hasn't discovered their favorite stations yet, and those people either like rock or rap first most of the time, so I think you're only going to be able to reach a vast minority.

I don't claim to know anything about the radio industry. Sure, rebel will make money and all that, but it doesn't take a radio expert to know they'll never be a major player in the country market. It'll always be 1. KTCS; 2. KMAG; 3. Whoever is giving away the best free crap that month.
 
fortsmithrock said:
TheRebel 95.3 said:
Incompetent? Naive? You got to be kidding me. Incompetent and naive would be to continue to play the music we were playing while the place fell down around our ears. This move is the most competent and most positive move in this market in a decade.

I think several people here agree with me, that it is naive to believe you are going to get more listeners than KTCS and KMAG. Country listeners around here are stubborn. I've seen people who won't even listen to KMAG when KTCS is out. You're not going to get many current country listeners at all, you're only hope is to find young blood who hasn't discovered their favorite stations yet, and those people either like rock or rap first most of the time, so I think you're only going to be able to reach a vast minority.

I don't claim to know anything about the radio industry. Sure, rebel will make money and all that, but it doesn't take a radio expert to know they'll never be a major player in the country market. It'll always be 1. KTCS; 2. KMAG; 3. Whoever is giving away the best free crap that month.

But you're missing the point. If you are listening to the station at all, you would know we're not a country station. Don't claim to be. don't want to be. We play country, southern rock, classic rock, blues, bluegreass AND if we find an uptempo polka song with a familiar artist and with attitude, we may play that as well.

By God, man. The two country bigs you speak of have both been beaten in the ratings by KISR and Big Country within the past four years. Our station is the first new concept in radio in this market in decades. Let them fight over their "loyal" listeners. Our goal is to take 5% of the audience from six select stations with a viable music mix, great community interaction and a committment to our listeners and our sponsors.

We didn't rob a bank or kill a baby. We just changed a format to put us in the black.

Time will tell is we're successful. But we were never going to be successful maintaining the staus quo.
 
the sales people could NOT sell it...so the owner and CEO and the Manager brought me here to make it an Alternative Rock station...to make it sellable, and to get more female listeners for ratings...because we have to have that to make money...right now, the station is doing great in sales...for the first time in it's history.

Don't know when you and Ray had your exchange. Do know that sales did get a little better after we quit the heavy stuff and went alternative, but I think "great" is a relative term. Great compared to what? Not having any money on the books?

Email Ray Miller today and ask him what he thinks about the new format. When he said what he said, it may have been the truth of the moment. I've been in radio long enough to know the best station and best format in town is the one your trying to sell right now. So does Ray.

Things change. For the better. Boycott away. For everyone we lose, there are 100 potential new listeners.
 

... I think part of the problem was that what listeners we had were either too lazy or too anti-establishment to take time to fill out a diary...


[/quote]

I don't have dog in this hunt. You 2 can continue your pi$&ing match if you want, but if you truly believe that the lack of success for 95.3 was the fault of your listeners you've just explained why you didn't succeed.
[/quote]

I'm not blaming the listeners. What I'm saying is that the culture of that type of music is such that a number of people would see it as counterproductive to fill out a diary and help us be successful in the ratings. Hell, even a number of the artist we played would rail at the thought of being labeled as sell outs oif they signed a contract with a major label.

The listeners wanted us to play the music, and for the most part, they didn't give a tinkers damn if we lost money hand over fist as long as we played the music they wanted to hear. Thet could have saved the station by being more active in the rating process and more active in supporting the sponsors we had and letting the,m know they did so because of the music. Believe me, if we could have grown revenue and stayed with alternative rock or that course had been something that was going to make us money in the future, we would have stayed the course.

So you're saying we didn't succeed because we didn't know our listeners? Au contriaire. I think we knew our listeners well. WE also knew the limitations we had placed on ourselves as a business, and we acted accordingly.

Our former listeners aren't bad people. I met one at a remote yesterday and he seemed like a nice guy. I felt his pain. And our listener base was more varied than I think even we sometime realized.

But good intentions, love of our listeners and the cache of being the only "anti-establishment" station in the market didn't pay the bills. We did what we did in order to rectify that situation.

Also, take it under advisement that I'm not speaking for management. I'm speaking for one guy who works there and has tried to sell a format to sponsors they didn't want to buy. So in an abstact kind of way, maybe it's me that's the "greedy bastard" in all of this. Or maybe I just want to (and am glad to) be part of something new and exciting that can give those "Big Two" listeners an option.

I'm of the opinion there is an audience out there that can get behind our music mix. Too me, KT and KMAG plays too much "pop' music disquised as country. The rock stations have a limited catalog of what they are willing to play and each defines "rock" in their own image. No body is playing the blues selections we are playing. WE represent diversity. We're like your Ipod on the radio. We're your favorite cassette mix tape (dating myself). We're like a jukebox on the free airwaves.

Waylon Jennings, Kid Rock, Three Doors Down, Stevie Ray, Toby Keith, Grand Funk Railroad, B,B. King, The Fabulous Thunderbirds and Eric Clapton, all in the same stop set?

What;s not to love?
 
...and the God given name your momma slapped on you at Sparks Hospital is "fortsmithrocks"?

So like "fortsmith" is your first name and "rocks" is your last name?

But, I digress.
 
Well, considering you obviously looked at the myspace page, I figured you would have seen my name is James W. Parks.

My email address listed is [email protected]

My personal myspace is myspace.com/jameswparks

In case you didn't get it, my name is James W. Parks
 
fortsmithrock said:
Well, considering you obviously looked at the myspace page, I figured you would have seen my name is James W. Parks.

My email address listed is [email protected]

My personal myspace is myspace.com/jameswparks

In case you didn't get it, my name is James W. Parks

First name Dennis. Last name McCaslin.

Email is [email protected]. Cell phone number is 479-806-1753.

I ain't hiding behind nothing. Standing right here.
 
Ok, you said earlier KISR and Big Country were beating KTCS in the ratings at one point, but I'm not seeing it in any recent ratings. KTCS has a 2 point lead over Big Country, and a huge, huge lead over KISR.

You also said KTTG, your sports station, was pulling in 80% of the weight, yet KERX 95.3 had the exact same numbers in Spring in of 07, and actually had a .5 point lead over KTTG in fall of 07.

95.3 was getting better, and with a little work, could have gotten much better.

Hell, KBBQ (100.7) was pulling in a 5.7, and they suck. 95.3 could have dominated that market.

Now I really don't know much about arbitron ratings and their accuracy, but I imagine it is a standard used by radio stations and advertisers.

There is no direct way to link to arbitron ratings, so to see them, go to http://www.arbitron.com/radio_stations/home.htm, click on topline ratings on the right, and then choose "Ft. Smith, AR" from the list (it is listed as "Ft" instead of "fort").
 
TheRebel 95.3 said:
"Please do take my comments off your page. I never agreed to allow you to use this from this forum on your myspace page in the first place. Every heard of copyright infringement? Plagarism? Stupidity?. ......

I'm pretty sure considering radio-info.com message boards are a public place, you would have no case... Also, until recently, there was no name attached to these comments. Public + no name = fair game.

I'll be removing them shortly, when the time is right, not because of a copyright infringement threat (good luck with that), but a new direction for the page.

This will be my last post here. Long story short, I think you prematurely ended the X. You had a large following, and maybe if you would have warned everyone, like on the myspace or something, that some things needed to change, we could have rallied up a bunch of support. I could be rallying to save the x instead of bringing it back.

I am 100% aware that any form of rock station is never going to be in the top 5 of the ratings in town. But I still believe there is a market for advertisers looking for something different outside the crowded country market.

And yes, I know you do some other stuff besides country, and for you to say you want to take 5% from each genre, means only one thing to me: You're just another station on the preset list, that people will flip around to see if you're playing what they want to hear.

Maybe a listener only likes classic rock, they'll rarely be listening to Rebel because they can likely find what they're looking for on 95.9 or 100.7.

If a listener wants to hear country, they'll listen to 95.3, whenever KTCS or KMAG or Big Country is on commercial. And if 95.3 plays a classic rock song, or goes to commercial, they'll flip to one of the several country stations available, find what they want, and may not come back for quite some time.

Having two different formats in one station, you're going to find it hard to find the loyal listener who will even stay in during the commercials.

Good luck at 95.3, I have built some friendships there that will last much longer than any label of a radio station. New rock will be back, it's only a matter of time. I now know I need to be a little more vocal with my support of the station, or they may up and leave without warning.

This is James Parks saying,
Good day (Cheesy?)
 
"Ok, you said earlier KISR and Big Country were beating KTCS in the ratings at one point, but I'm not seeing it in any recent ratings. KTCS has a 2 point lead over Big Country, and a huge, huge lead over KISR."

My point being is that neither of those stations are unbeatable. All kind of things affect the ratings, KISR can hide something during a book period and skew the ratings horribly. Personally, I think the whole rating system sucks and can be too easily manipulated, but it's all we have to work with.

"You also said KTTG, your sports station, was pulling in 80% of the weight, yet KERX 95.3 had the exact same numbers in Spring in of 07, and actually had a .5 point lead over KTTG in fall of 07."

The problem with The X (and I believe I indicated this from the start) was never the amount of listeners we had. The problem was with the perception that potential sponsors and those who would nebver consider listening had about the station. Plus, you're comparing apples and oranges. KTTG is ageared towards men 25-54 or 25-plus. We have some female listeners, but we know going in that we are effectively marketing that station to half the listening population. That being said, KERX tied KTTG when KERX had double the potential audience of ESPN.

"95.3 was getting better, and with a little work, could have gotten much better."

It was getting better. But it could have been the best new rock station in the world and it wouldn't have mattered because the sponsors WEREN'T GOING TO SUPPORT IT! I give Ray all the credit in the world. He did about as much as he could with The X given what he was working with and against. But something had to change.

"Hell, KBBQ (100.7) was pulling in a 5.7, and they suck. 95.3 could have dominated that market."

There again, KBBQ doesn't suffer from the historical profile we were battling with THE X. Whether they suck or not is a matter of opinion. But I'm looking forward to converting enough of their market to add to what we're hoping to pull from four or five other stations.

"Now I really don't know much about arbitron ratings and their accuracy, but I imagine it is a standard used by radio stations and advertisers."

You imagine right. Personally, the actual arbitron ratings don't mean squat to me right now, because we are going to have to live or die on local direct buys for the station for the first book or two. We know that. But at least we can take this format in to just about any business in the region and have at least a chance of turning them into a paying client. That just wasn't the case with The X. I preaced for five years that people that listened to alternatoive and new rock bought cars, ate in restaurants, bought houses, needed medical care, etc. and we had the means to give businesses accessto those people.

The response? They didn't care. They didn't like what they thought The X was, whether they had ever listened or not. Perception is reality. You can't make orange juice out of kumquats.

My problem with you is this "crusade" to turn people against a company that did nothing but take it up the yazoo for five years trying to keep "your music" on the air. Not that I think you or your ilk will have much to do with the ultimate success or failure of The Rebel, but just the effort on your part has the potnetial to take food out of my families mouth.

What do you do for a living? Tell you what. You tell me and if I don't like what you do, I'll mount a smear campaign against you and your employer and see how you like it.

I guess the point I'm tying to make is that the format change has been made, and it's not going to change. If it did, it wouldn't go back to The X. So you're wasting your time and some serious bandwidth to think otherwise.
 
I'm pretty sure considering radio-info.com message boards are a public place, you would have no case... Also, until recently, there was no name attached to these comments. Public + no name = fair game."

I'm pretty sure I was being sarcastic. It's just kind of crappy to take comments made on an industry related board and post them on your little myspace page in an effort to support your agenda and not give anyone a chance to respond. I tried to become one of your "friends" but I guess I got rejected. Surprise, surprise.

"I'll be removing them shortly, when the time is right, not because of a copyright infringement threat (good luck with that), but a new direction for the page."

Leave them up forever. I also work in the newspaper business and a wise man once told me "It doesn't matter if they love you or hate you, as long as they read you". Everytime someone Googles "The X" or "KERX" and reads your little blog, they might turn over to listen to what all the hub bub is about. Free publicity! That's the best kind.

"This will be my last post here. Long story short, I think you prematurely ended the X. You had a large following, and maybe if you would have warned everyone, like on the myspace or something, that some things needed to change, we could have rallied up a bunch of support. I could be rallying to save the x instead of bringing it back.

Aw...don't be like that. This was just getting fun. Short story long, I think we waited about two years too long to make the move. I hate to burst your bubble, but the perception problems we faced with THE X weren't going to to be fixed by us or an internet crusade by you. I appreciate your youthful enthusiasm, but the rest of us are kind of locked in to operating in the real world. Maybe we could have had a big "Electric Boog-a-Loo" rally to keep things going for another six months, but some sort of change was inevitable. I think what Ray, Tommy and the ownership decided on was probably our best bet. That doesn't make you wrong or me right. That's just the way it is.

"I am 100% aware that any form of rock station is never going to be in the top 5 of the ratings in town. But I still believe there is a market for advertisers looking for something different outside the crowded country market."

I looked for five years. I couldn't find them. And I'm pretty damn good at what I do.

"And yes, I know you do some other stuff besides country, and for you to say you want to take 5% from each genre, means only one thing to me: You're just another station on the preset list, that people will flip around to see if you're playing what they want to hear."

As opposed to not every even making it on the pre-set? I'll take the former. Personally, I think the Rebel eliminates the needfor pre-sets for about a half dozen stations. Plus, in the morning we're playing 95 minutes of uninterrupted music. No sponsors during a time in which the inventory could draw some decent dollars. I think that shows our committment to the listener.

"Maybe a listener only likes classic rock, they'll rarely be listening to Rebel because they can likely find what they're looking for on 95.9 or 100.7."

Good for them. But the listener we're looking for recognizes that the music they love all ready came from the same sources. Robert Johnson, Elvis, early coutry like Hank and Johnny Cash. The lines are so blurred between progressive country, southern rock and classic rock that anymore it's just all "music". Throw in some blues and other stuff, and we give the listeners what they are looking for. At least the listeners we're trying to attract.

"If a listener wants to hear country, they'll listen to 95.3, whenever KTCS or KMAG or Big Country is on commercial. And if 95.3 plays a classic rock song, or goes to commercial, they'll flip to one of the several country stations available, find what they want, and may not come back for quite some time."

We'll just have to agree to disagree. I listen all the time. I'm a typical fifty year old, straight-laced family man with a wife and three kids. In three weeks of constant listening, I have only encountered three or four songs that made me want to change stations, and that was because I just didn''t think they fit the format we're trying to promote. Once Ray explained his reasoning to me, I can buy into why they played.

Disclaimer: I am prejudiced. I have thought the "country" stations lost their edge a long time ago. When KMAG, KTCS, KISR and B-98 are all playing Carrie Underwood, what you really have are Top Forty stations. I admire what the other stations have done. The have built a strong brand loyalty and there must be an audience for what each of them do, because people keep listening. But the key is they can go out to the public and sell their stations with a straight face and say "we can deliver this segment of the listening audience" and have them listen. We had a segment of the audience, but they (the clients) wouldn't listen.

Therein lies the reason for the change.

"Good luck at 95.3, I have built some friendships there that will last much longer than any label of a radio station. New rock will be back, it's only a matter of time. I now know I need to be a little more vocal with my support of the station, or they may up and leave without warning."

I hope you're right. I hope someone is willing to take up the banner and give you the station that you and our other ex-X listeners deserve. It just isn't going to be us. Been there, done that and handed out the t-shirts.

Dennis

(in case your missed it!)
 
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