• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

How's KKDV doing?

J

Joey Riggs

I saw one of their vans the other day and apparently they are now calling themselves "Diablo Valley 92.1" instead of KKDV. Other than that, identical logo as the last one. If they got the vans rewrapped for a change that inconsequential, I have really gotta wonder what's going on. Hope they didn't order all new merch/stationary just for that because it's the definition of a waste of money.

Heard Don Potter working mornings there now though, always liked him. I liked Jeff Perry as well, anybody know what happened to him? I still think they were stupid for getting rid of Trish Bell on all 3 Coast stations.
 
Jeff Perry is working part time on weekends at the Wolf.

Management wanted to put him on a different shift at KKDV and he didn't react very well, and well...now he's not there anymore. Don Potter is awesome, and he was a great choice for the morning show.

Long story short with Trish Bell, the Coast folks pay LOTS of money to a consultant to tell them what to do, it's easier than actually thinking. They gave some song and dance about people being confused about For Lovers Only, even though it was really popular with listeners. They told her they were "figuring out what to do with" her, and just left her hanging with that. How dumb is it to remove a listener-intense show and put the station on auto-pilot from 7-midnight? People were still calling as of the end of April wondering what they did with her. They wanted to save money, and paying a board op $9 an hour is cheaper than paying talent fees. Whatever they were making up for in a salary they weren't paying anymore was probably lost on ad revenue.

Trish is doing a weekend shift on KBAY and is keeping busy with voiceover work.
 
VelvetMcIntyre said:
...the Coast folks pay LOTS of money to a consultant to tell them what to do, it's easier than actually thinking.
Click to expand...

You're joking, right?

They actually had to hire a consultant for a local station based in *WALNUT CREEK*?!

Who the hell is their PD and why does he or she still have a job?

And why the hell are they called "Diablo Valley" now? That's a market, not the name of a radio station.

VelvetMcIntyre said:
They gave some song and dance about people being confused about For Lovers Only, even though it was really popular with listeners. They told her they were "figuring out what to do with" her, and just left her hanging with that. How dumb is it to remove a listener-intense show and put the station on auto-pilot from 7-midnight? People were still calling as of the end of April wondering what they did with her. They wanted to save money, and paying a board op $9 an hour is cheaper than paying talent fees.
Click to expand...

That show was the only program actually worth listening to, on all three Coast stations, for the actual *MUSIC*. Now it's just the same crap on all three stations. You know you're listening to a Coast station if you've heard Kelly Clarkson or Chris Daugherty more than twice in one hour. ;D

I stopped listening to KKIQ when I realized they only introduce a new song to the playlist twice a year, and then they play it so goddamn much you hate the song.
 
Joey Riggs said:
You're joking, right?

They actually had to hire a consultant for a local station based in *WALNUT CREEK*?!

Who the hell is their PD and why does he or she still have a job?
Click to expand...


Because, even at small stations, tweaking a station's programming can make the difference between being profitable and being a money sink hole. Remember that 92.1 has had to struggle much of its existence. Those smaller Class A stations have a tough go of it in markets where there are 75 signals.

As to automating after 7pm instead of having a live DJ, at most stations, the audience drops off a cliff at 7pm. A typical station can have 1/10th the listeners at 7pm as they do at 7am. Seriously. Today nearly all stations are automated after 7pm.
 
I think you may have heard the same thing I did...consolidating everything into one SMALL office...not a good sign.
 
VelvetMcIntyre said:
I think you may have heard the same thing I did...consolidating everything into one SMALL office...not a good sign.
Click to expand...

Yup. And I'm hearing about a lot of layoffs. Also not a good sign.

Somewhere, Jeff Perry is laughing.
 
Its own made-up market, the "Far East Bay." That was their sales pitch. After the consultants gave their recommendations, they dropped the whole "far east bay" thing.

I did some digging:

"However, since KKIQ and KKDV radio are located in suburbs outside of San Francisco proper, but still in the 9 counties that make up the Bay Area, these station are technically in the #4 market."

source: http://www.haleisner.com/small_market/market.htm
 
They are in the SF market, and at various times have showed up with some numbers in the book...not enough to get much traction in SF, but to get some agency money for clients that have a presence in the 'burbs...which is a lot of clients, frankly. The selling point for 92.1 was that they are the only FM licensed to Contra Costa County, and many of the merchants liked to buy local, instead of in Big Bad SF. Combination of thriftiness and provincial attitude.
 
KABL was moved from the AM frequency to that 92.1 before it was put to sleep. As I remember we had some numbers during our time there.
 
I happened to run into a friend today and got a bit more of a scoop. KKDV is closing their Walnut Creek office within the next month or so. The few employees that remain will then be moved to the KKIQ office, where KKDV will continue to broadcast. For now. From what I heard it doesn't look good. Assuming the station does die within the next year (which is my prediction), I will be curious to see whose head the ax falls on. Jim Hampton is my guess.
 
The current owners should sell it to First Broadcasting and First could simulcast their Oldies format on KCCL 92.1 Placerville to the Walnut Creek, Concord, Pittsburg, Brentwood, Oakly and Antioch markets. If that doesn't work theres always Amador Bustos to sell it to!
 
The situation at the Pleasanton office is already pretty bad. I heard that they've moved desks into the KKIQ air studio - so when the jocks come in for show prep, they're in the studio while someone's on-air. And the sales office isn't very big, so EVERYONE will be cramped up in that place. All weekend airstaff has been fired, and full timers will be voicetracking weekend shifts now. Hampton will never be fired.
 
Hampton will be around as long as the Coast Radio stations are still on the air...under the ownership of the Levitts. If they were to sell the place, I don't know if the new owners would keep him around. So maybe I'll revise my "never" statement to, "Hampton will never be fired as long as the Levitts are in charge."
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom