Is Top 40 still in the cards for Cox-SA?

[saradio1]

I noticed Magic 105.3 has been introducing more Top 40 tracks such as Justin Timberlake-Sexy Back, David Guetta- Titanium, Britney Spears- I Wanna Go and Jay Sean ft. Lil Wayne- Down. Could be others but these were the ones I found on their playlist.

Three possible senarios-
1. Cox moves Magic to 106.7 and 105.3 becomes Top 40.
2. Cox continues Magic's transition from Hot AC to Top 40.
3. Magic and X106.7 remain as is. IMO, unlikely.

David Guetta-Titanium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRfuAukYTKg
Britney Spears- I Wanna Go(HOT)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-sxSd1uwoU
Justin Timberlake- Sexy Back
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz1BXF7bVpM
Jay Sean- Down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUbpGmR1-QM

 

[Anonymouse]

I noticed Magic 105.3 has been introducing more Top 40 tracks such as Justin Timberlake-Sexy Back, David Guetta- Titanium, Britney Spears- I Wanna Go and Jay Sean ft. Lil Wayne- Down. Could be others but these were the ones I found on their playlist.

Three possible senarios-
1. Cox moves Magic to 106.7 and 105.3 becomes Top 40.
2. Cox continues Magic's transition from Hot AC to Top 40.
3. Magic and X106.7 remain as is. IMO, unlikely.

David Guetta-Titanium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRfuAukYTKg
Britney Spears- I Wanna Go(HOT)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-sxSd1uwoU
Justin Timberlake- Sexy Back
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz1BXF7bVpM
Jay Sean- Down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUbpGmR1-QM

Justin Timberlake's track I can imagine on Magic. The others, not so much.


I honestly don't see us in San Antonio getting 5 top 40 signals. That's too many,
I'll bet Cox jumps on it the minute one of the other stations switches formats.

 

[willdav713]

I would say a Spanish Language format might be in the works for 106.7 It would be Cox's first in San Antonio.

Or they could bring back KKYX-FM (Cox owns Country Legends 97.1 in Houston)

Magic could just morph it into Top 40 on it's current frequency. But usually every major city has 1 AC, 1 Hot AC, and 2 Top 40 stations. (except Austin) I don't see Magic dropping Hot AC, from what you described Hot AC is evolving.

I could see them moving KONO to 105.3 (It's a strong signal can be picked up for miles) Moving KISS to 101.1 as Rock 101 KISS with a more AOR lean, and place Magic down the dial to 99.5. Remember 106.7 used to be an AC station when it wasn't run by Cox. It didn't do so well after 105.3 took off in the ratings lead. Many Houstonians would love to hear KONO on 105.3 and it is Cox's best performers next to KCYY.

 

[saradio1]

I noticed Magic 105.3 has been introducing more Top 40 tracks such as Justin Timberlake-Sexy Back, David Guetta- Titanium, Britney Spears- I Wanna Go and Jay Sean ft. Lil Wayne- Down. Could be others but these were the ones I found on their playlist.

Three possible senarios-
1. Cox moves Magic to 106.7 and 105.3 becomes Top 40.
2. Cox continues Magic's transition from Hot AC to Top 40.
3. Magic and X106.7 remain as is. IMO, unlikely.

David Guetta-Titanium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRfuAukYTKg
Britney Spears- I Wanna Go(HOT)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-sxSd1uwoU
Justin Timberlake- Sexy Back
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz1BXF7bVpM
Jay Sean- Down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUbpGmR1-QM

Justin Timberlake's track I can imagine on Magic. The others, not so much.


I honestly don't see us in San Antonio getting 5 top 40 signals. That's too many,
I'll bet Cox jumps on it the minute one of the other stations switches formats.

I would almost agree with you but the fact that Wild's cume has exceeded 100,000 in a short time span has to be eye opening for Cox. And this is on 145 watts signal.

Posted by: willdav713-I could see them moving KONO to 105.3 (It's a strong signal can be picked up for miles) Moving KISS to 101.1 as Rock 101 KISS with a more AOR lean, and place Magic down the dial to 99.5. Remember 106.7 used to be an AC station when it wasn't run by Cox. It didn't do so well after 105.3 took off in the ratings lead. Many Houstonians would love to hear KONO on 105.3 and it is Cox's best performers next to KCYY.

This makes absolutely no sense. Cox isn't going to move their entire cluster to serve surrounding markets from SA...

 

[willdav713]

I noticed Magic 105.3 has been introducing more Top 40 tracks such as Justin Timberlake-Sexy Back, David Guetta- Titanium, Britney Spears- I Wanna Go and Jay Sean ft. Lil Wayne- Down. Could be others but these were the ones I found on their playlist.

Three possible senarios-
1. Cox moves Magic to 106.7 and 105.3 becomes Top 40.
2. Cox continues Magic's transition from Hot AC to Top 40.
3. Magic and X106.7 remain as is. IMO, unlikely.

David Guetta-Titanium
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRfuAukYTKg
Britney Spears- I Wanna Go(HOT)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-sxSd1uwoU
Justin Timberlake- Sexy Back
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz1BXF7bVpM
Jay Sean- Down
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUbpGmR1-QM

Justin Timberlake's track I can imagine on Magic. The others, not so much.


I honestly don't see us in San Antonio getting 5 top 40 signals. That's too many,
I'll bet Cox jumps on it the minute one of the other stations switches formats.

I would almost agree with you but the fact that Wild's cume has exceeded 100,000 in a short time span has to be eye opening for Cox. And this is on 145 watts signal.

Posted by: willdav713-I could see them moving KONO to 105.3 (It's a strong signal can be picked up for miles) Moving KISS to 101.1 as Rock 101 KISS with a more AOR lean, and place Magic down the dial to 99.5. Remember 106.7 used to be an AC station when it wasn't run by Cox. It didn't do so well after 105.3 took off in the ratings lead. Many Houstonians would love to hear KONO on 105.3 and it is Cox's best performers next to KCYY.

This makes absolutely no sense. Cox isn't going to move their entire cluster to serve surrounding markets from SA...

A larger market can bring larger cume. When True Oldies was on KXXS in Elgin it was BMP's top performing radio station, and KXBT Leander was dead last. they moved it to 98.9 which had a more superior signal, and the ratings and cume increased. Cox does serve surrounding markets, and I was not talking about them moving their entire cluster. Let's see we are dealing with a broadcaster with 2 top preforming stations out of their 6. Moving stations around would help Cox both ratings and cume. After all, they have 106.9 simulcasting 107.5 in Houston which brings up another scenario, Cox could simulcast 101.1 on 105.3 and move Magic to 106.7

 

[fredcantu]

106.9 & 107.5 are rimshots in Houston. 106.9 has its tower east of Conroe and 107.5 is almost all the way to the Gulf. Neither covers the metro adequately so I can see a simulcast.

101.1 and 105.3 both have excellent coverage of San Antonio. A simulcast would not give them any additional ears to sell.

 

[Kent]

After all, they have 106.9 simulcasting 107.5 in Houston which brings up another scenario, Cox could simulcast 101.1 on 105.3 and move Magic to 106.7

No, they couldn't. FCC rules prohibit same band simulcasts when too much of the coverage overlaps. It's FCC rules 73.3556, and here's it's text: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2009-title47-vol4/xml/CFR-2009-title47-vol4-sec73-3556.xml.

Cox could, theoretically, apply for a waiver of this rule, but the FCC usually only grants such a waiver for 30 days or less unless the stations' coverage areas don't overlap as well in the real world as they do on paper. That, however, isn't the case with 101.1 and 105.3.

 

[Anonymouse]

I would almost agree with you but the fact that Wild's cume has exceeded 100,000 in a short time span has to be eye opening for Cox. And this is on 145 watts signal.

So, do you think Cox might just ignore the fact so many top 40 stations exist, and go ahead with Hot 106.7 or something like what you just mentioned with 105.3 / 106.7?

When WiLD 92.5 / 105.7 first started up, I had the idea that Cox might just ignore their sign on and go with Hot 106 anyway, but that didn't happen.

 

[fredcantu]

A cume of 100,000 looks like a lot with all those zeros. But it's only 5.5% of the market.

 

[saradio1]

A cume of 100,000 looks like a lot with all those zeros. But it's only 5.5% of the market.

The eye opening part is that you have a 145 watts low power station reaching 100k in as little as 4 months with a format that's covered by 3 other station is impressive.

Kevan, yes I do believe Cox feels they have nothing to loose by bringing a new Top 40 station to the market. But it wouldn't surprise if they go Top 40 Dance which is different from the other 3 stations. Btw, Magic 105.3 current playlist has several dance artists and the tracks they added recently are Pop dance/Dance.

Heres something to think about. Isn't this similar to how 106.7 Jamz was created when Cox went Top 40 Dance? Hmmm....

 

[davideduardo]

I would say a Spanish Language format might be in the works for 106.7 It would be Cox's first in San Antonio.

OK, remind me where Cox has a Spanish language station and who is on their staff who has Spanish language market expertise.

San Antonio is only 10% Spanish dominant. I don't think that a company that is selling its smaller and medium market assets is going to make a big move into Spanish.

And I certainly do not see Cox disrupting the audience and revenue flows of its big billers by moving them from one frequency to another.

 

[willdav713]

I would say a Spanish Language format might be in the works for 106.7 It would be Cox's first in San Antonio.

OK, remind me where Cox has a Spanish language station and who is on their staff who has Spanish language market expertise.

San Antonio is only 10% Spanish dominant. I don't think that a company that is selling its smaller and medium market assets is going to make a big move into Spanish.

And I certainly do not see Cox disrupting the audience and revenue flows of its big billers by moving them from one frequency to another.

Or they could spin the station off to Trinity University similar to what Border did with UT. KTRU could go News/Talk and KTKX can go Jazz. I think that would happen vs. the other ideas mentioned. I don't see San Antonio having 5 Top 40 stations or even CHR varients, it's not LA or NYC.

 

[willdav713]

After all, they have 106.9 simulcasting 107.5 in Houston which brings up another scenario, Cox could simulcast 101.1 on 105.3 and move Magic to 106.7

No, they couldn't. FCC rules prohibit same band simulcasts when too much of the coverage overlaps. It's FCC rules 73.3556, and here's it's text: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2009-title47-vol4/xml/CFR-2009-title47-vol4-sec73-3556.xml.

Cox could, theoretically, apply for a waiver of this rule, but the FCC usually only grants such a waiver for 30 days or less unless the stations' coverage areas don't overlap as well in the real world as they do on paper. That, however, isn't the case with 101.1 and 105.3.

Or they can move the tower of 101.1 back to Fredericksburg like during the KFAN days before the COL changed to Helotes if the FCC will grant such permit. I should have elaborated more on the previous post.

 

[Anonymouse]

The eye opening part is that you have a 145 watts low power station reaching 100k in as little as 4 months with a format that's covered by 3 other stations is impressive.

I looked at ******************, those results showed up for KRPT 92.5, not 105.7. KRPT is 50,000 watts, so it might make a little more sense seeing that this is a rimshot + a translator in downtown + an HD3 signal. I'll actually bet that most of the audience listens on 105.7. Maybe it's connected to 92.5 in some way with Arbetron.

 

[Kent]

Or they could spin the station off to Trinity University similar to what Border did with UT. KTRU could go News/Talk and KTKX can go Jazz. I think that would happen vs. the other ideas mentioned. I don't see San Antonio having 5 Top 40 stations or even CHR varients, it's not LA or NYC.

Why would they shrink the size of their cluster? That makes no sense. Border only unloaded KUTX to UT because it's been in the hands of its creditors for several years and decided to pay those creditors some of what they're owed by getting out of Austin. They also sold it for a fraction of what they paid for it.

 

[Kent]

Or they can move the tower of 101.1 back to Fredericksburg like during the KFAN days before the COL changed to Helotes if the FCC will grant such permit. I should have elaborated more on the previous post.

That might be technically feasible (though there could have been other changes since KONO-FM moved that could block such a change), but there's no logical business reason to move 101.1 further from town. You're going back to them shrinking their cluster, which makes zero business sense. If they moved KONO-FM further from town and simulcasted on a citygrade stick, they'd have one fewer station to sell. While I can't imagine 106.7 making them a ton, it's hard for me to imagine them losing money on it either. KTKX costs almost nothing to run. Besides, if Cox was losing money on 106.7, it would be more worth their while to sell it than to move a stick out of town and use it for a simulcast. Unless, maybe, that other station was moved into the Austin market (which wouldn't be easy if it were possible at all), it would be worth significantly less as a station that no longer covered San Antonio with a citygrade signal. There's no way Cox shrinks its San Antonio cluster without getting out of the market altogether, but a sale makes more sense than shrinking it by going rural or rimshot!

 

[radioresearcher]

Or they can move the tower of 101.1 back to Fredericksburg like during the KFAN days before the COL changed to Helotes if the FCC will grant such permit. I should have elaborated more on the previous post.

That might be technically feasible (though there could have been other changes since KONO-FM moved that could block such a change), but there's no logical business reason to move 101.1 further from town. You're going back to them shrinking their cluster, which makes zero business sense. If they moved KONO-FM further from town and simulcasted on a citygrade stick, they'd have one fewer station to sell. While I can't imagine 106.7 making them a ton, it's hard for me to imagine them losing money on it either. KTKX costs almost nothing to run. Besides, if Cox was losing money on 106.7, it would be more worth their while to sell it than to move a stick out of town and use it for a simulcast. Unless, maybe, that other station was moved into the Austin market (which wouldn't be easy if it were possible at all), it would be worth significantly less as a station that no longer covered San Antonio with a citygrade signal. There's no way Cox shrinks its San Antonio cluster without getting out of the market altogether, but a sale makes more sense than shrinking it by going rural or rimshot!

Why would Cox do anything? KTKX and KZEP are in a dead heat in key demos. When you combo that with KISS, it makes you the rock winner which is what Cox was looking to do. KRPT is still well under a 1.0 share in key demos. Walls of 25-54 work well and Cox has that. If KTKX goes away, KZEP pulls ahead of KISS again.

 

[Anonymouse]

I still say, either make KISS's playlist a bit more newer or just combine it with X 106, and flip one signal to either KKYX-FM or Top 40. We haven't had a full power city-grade station flip formats since 2010 when X flipped to classic rock.

 

[radioresearcher]

I still say, either make KISS's playlist a bit more newer or just combine it with X 106, and flip one signal to either KKYX-FM or Top 40. We haven't had a full power city-grade station flip formats since 2010 when X flipped to classic rock.

So if the existing stations are all making money, someone should blow up cash flow for entertainment value?

 

[Anonymouse]

Probably not. I was thinking about the fact that KTKX's ratings have been in the toilet.
But this talk might all just turn irrelevant when 104.9 signs on, assuming it does sign on.