Just Waiting....for KIOL

[-juan-]

So any updates on wether KIOL is changing (same for KFNC) or not. I know many rock fans will be disappointed if it ever does. I like rock but we all know that cumulus and clear channel did not hold on to that format for a reason. So when can we expect a change from Cumulus. (As seen in Dallas and Houston, I just know that their new format will also be improperly runned. Let's just hope it is not)

 

[purpledevil]

Just tweaked the format to classic rock, not exactly sure why though. It puts them in to direct competition with the Arrow. Not the smartest move they could've made with the limited Houston coverage, IMO. A niche format of some type, such as Triple A, may have been more suited for KIOL.

Mike O said he gave it until the Fall book came out for KIOL to be dismissed. I'm a little more optimistic. I'll go with after the first of the year. Supertalk is more baffling. I can't imagine what you could do with that signal, besides give it back to Beaumont. It will never be a major player in the Houston metro.

 

[Emarti]

Music in the morning would be better than the w&j show, certainly couldn't do worse in the ratings, unless they start showing negative numbers.

 

[-juan-]

Only Cumulus might be aable to pull that off!!!!!!

 

[HD2]

Boy, I sure am! With as many rap, R&B, and Spanish stations Houston has, I can't wait for another one!

 

[Mike O]

Just tweaked the format to classic rock, not exactly sure why though. It puts them in to direct competition with the Arrow. Not the smartest move they could've made with the limited Houston coverage, IMO. A niche format of some type, such as Triple A, may have been more suited for KIOL.

Mike O said he gave it until the Fall book came out for KIOL to be dismissed. I'm a little more optimistic. I'll go with after the first of the year. Supertalk is more baffling. I can't imagine what you could do with that signal, besides give it back to Beaumont. It will never be a major player in the Houston metro.

Purpledevil you may be right and Cumulus may give KIOL until the beginning of the year, mainly because they are totally clueless at programming a station in Houston. KIOL should have been history months ago, but like its counterpart do nothing company Cox they just let hopeless stations limp along at the bottom of the ratings pile. I will give Cox credit for the reimaging of KLDE 1075. K-Hits did go back up in the ratings to break a two the last trend. The Point still is still in the ones with a format that should have been killed years ago. Cumulus probably doesn't know what to program on 103.7 so they just let KIOL run mainly on autopilot. Houston is missing so many formats that Cumulus has many options with 103.7, but could they program the format and attract any listeners? You are also correct about 97.5 what do you do with a signal that is so limited? Personally I don't know what to program on 97.5 that would ever make a dent in the Houston ratings. The best thing to do with 97.5 might be to broker the time out to Asian broadcasters that want to get the audience along the Gulf and maybe the signal would penetrate the near east side. I realize that the largerst concentration of Asians in the Bellaire Blvd area would not get much of a signal, but it would be better than some of the AM stations that are selling time to Asian broadcasters.

I did listen to Rock 1037 this morning for a while and NO traffic! W&J have to go, all traffic from 5:30 to 10am would bring in more listeners than W&J likely are now. W&J are so full of themselves the show is hard to take after about 30 minutes and they just aren't that good. I have the feeling that everyone at Rock 1037 know their days are numbered, you can hear it in their voices. Just go through the paces and get another day done with until the format flip happens.

If I owned KIOL most likely I would go All News live and local 24/7. Straight forward news reporting with no talk shows or sports teams where you have to carry games, just news and a large street presence. Would be a hard sell at first after the KFNC f'up and their joke of a news station. KFNC was a parody of a news station, the WKRP of news stations. Once people in Houston and the suburbs realized that the new News station on 103.7 was for real I believe that you could build a respectable audience and start pulling some decent ratings and sell enough time to make the station profitable, even with the high overhead. It would not be easy this time though, KFNC really soiled the water for a News station. It would have to be 24/7 with plenty of traffic, excellent anchors around the clock fillled with up to the second news that was not overly repetitious. One of the many complaints I heard about FNC was that everytime a person tuned the station in a Talk show was on.

Now a reasonable or sane person would program a format where you had a morning show and automated the rest of the 24 hours, which is why I have had Internet Radio on since 2pm and count the years AM/FM radio have left.

KFNC would have a mysterious fire and tower explosion that would level it and hope the insurance company paid off with asking any questions. Failing that I would try and broker the time.

Mike O

 

[purpledevil]

Mike O, Cumulus wouldn't know what to do with the news if they were wrapped from head to toe in the Houston Chronicle. This was all too apparent with the poorly produced KFNC, as you stated. All news on 103.7 is probably out of the question. However, a format that might make sense is an all sports station. Cumulus acquired one from Susquehanna in the buyout up in Dallas, so it is a format that they have a record with. Might be an option, considering that neither AM sports station is all that hot in the market. It forseeably would give them some sort of rating and billing numbers higher than that of the rock station.

 

[Fo-Fo-Fo-Hye]

KFNC will be all sports soon enough. No local personalities.. all syndicated. One down one to go I figure.

 

[Mediafrog+]

However, a format that might make sense is an all sports station. Cumulus acquired one from Susquehanna in the buyout up in Dallas, so it is a format that they have a record with. Might be an option, considering that neither AM sports station is all that hot in the market.

A "Ticket" style format in Houston would sure be a radical change from the established sports formats here. I don't really care for KTCK and its "Guy Talk" personality, but given the ratings it pulls in DFW it's obvious there's an audience for that approach.

Sports stations in Houston are more caller driven than their DFW counterparts as well. In DFW there's a lot more talent chatter and interviews--surprisingly few calls.

 

[Mike O]

Mike O, Cumulus wouldn't know what to do with the news if they were wrapped from head to toe in the Houston Chronicle. This was all too apparent with the poorly produced KFNC, as you stated. All news on 103.7 is probably out of the question. However, a format that might make sense is an all sports station. Cumulus acquired one from Susquehanna in the buyout up in Dallas, so it is a format that they have a record with. Might be an option, considering that neither AM sports station is all that hot in the market. It forseeably would give them some sort of rating and billing

Purpledevil I think you might have misunderstood my post. If I owned 103.7 I would go all News, but Cumulus lacks the ability to do such a format as you stated. Actually a straight feed from All Sporting News 24/7 with no local content might be the best and most cost effective programming for 97.5. I hadn't thought of that, but it may be a good idea.

The signal from 103.7 is pretty good over metro Houston, the Technicians did a great job on that install and all the tweaking they did to the transmitter is very good. I think that 103.7 could still bring in decent numbers with a format that was properly done. Rock ala KROQ LA, Rhythmic AC, Adult Alternative, Adult Standards like the old KQUE, Urban Oldies are few formats missing in Houston and done correctly could bring in better than a three rating. Even the Adult Standards, it is very popular with the 18 to 35 age group on Internet Radio because they have never been exposed to the music on regular radio. There are other formats that I'm not thinking of at the moment, like Dance {iffy though}.

Mike O

 

[adguy]

Have you guys forgotten that there are already 2 all sports stations in town! Both are local and one is still on life support. Both are good and both have local and national sydication and feeds. Prediction for the signal: Raffled off to the highest Asian programming bidder. They (Cumulus) know it's dead and there is no physical way to boost the signal, thus the pitiful listenership. No format on the planet will resusitate that station in the Houston market.

 

[purpledevil]

I did misunderstand you. Sorry about that. You are right about 103.7 being a potentially good spot for an all news format, as the signal is very good in all of east Texas and adequate throughout the Houston area. Cumulus has basically shot themselves in the foot yet again with the all classic rock format on KIOL. Not a good choice to compete with The Arrow and it's superior signal. If Cumulus was not ready to give up on the rock format for KIOL a switch to Active Rock or AAA would have been a better investment, as there is no one else in the market with the format. It would allow them to attract listeners that don't necessarily want to hear either all classic rock, or all alternative rock.

 

[purpledevil]

Have you guys forgotten that there are already 2 all sports stations in town! Both are local and one is still on life support. Both are good and both have local and national sydication and feeds. Prediction for the signal: Raffled off to the highest Asian programming bidder. They (Cumulus) know it's dead and there is no physical way to boost the signal, thus the pitiful listenership. No format on the planet will resusitate that station in the Houston market.

You're right. KILT and KBME are both all sports. KILT with average success and KBME seemingly struggling to stay afloat. With Cumulus now broadcasting Dallas Cowboy games, it is obviously an interest of theirs to establish themselves into the sports market. An FM sports station is something that I don't believe has been given an opportunity in the market, and I think you will agree, would be better than what either KFNC or KIOL are currently pulling in way of numbers or billing. You know, another format that might be successful on KIOL would be a Business News Station. KIKK used to have some success with the format on their 250 watt daytimer, and one would suspect that with a full time 95kw signal such as KIOL would be a good draw for those, like yourself, that crave the Business format. Even KXYZ reverts to Vietnamese programming after 6pm, giving a potential FM'er a leg up in that aspect.

 

[radiodj22]

I know a few people on this board do not like rap. But, I feel it in my gut that if Cummulus was to try Classic Hiphop from the 80's & 90's on either one of the frequencies, it would pull decent numbers. I have done my own little unscientific poll and the overwhelming response is that it would be a heavy listened to station. Young Urban professionals in their late 30's, such as myself that grew up on classic hiphop without all of the degrading lyrics and violence, would love this station. We still often listen to our cassette mixtapes that we made in high school. When I was a club DJ and did mixes on the old KYOK in the 80's, we had fun.. If Cummulus were smart, they would try it...

 

[adguy]

A few months ago I would have agreed that another business format station would be viable, but the reality is BizRadio 1320 is now established as a business format in the market. Its covererage still remains mostly non-existent in terms of listenership, but another Business station to compete simply would not work. It's a numbers issue. Not nearly enough listeners. In NYC there was barely enough coverage for the format, but because of the sheer population and scope of coverage capabilities there, Bloomberg Radio worked very well and is profitable. I still believe a business format can work here if you can get the coverage through promotion and advertising. BizRadio is trying with programming, but their advertising and promotion is virtually non-existent. Reality, Cumulus should stay away from business or news because the dollars needed to run news and promote business is too much, thus too risky for the potential return. As posted above, their best bet is to sell the time, cut bait on KIOL/KFNC and concentrate on not running KRBE into the ground.

 

[Mediafrog+]

With rampant speculation about the "Movin" format, wonder if Cumulus would try that with 97.5 or 103.7? The format is aimed at Hispanic females, and the two signals are best over the heavily Hispanic eastern part of Houston metro. Probably can't do worse than what is currently programmed on either signal, most definitely 97.5.

They'd also beat CBS Radio to the punch should they have any thought of flipping KHJZ as they did in DFW with former format sibling KOAI (although if that is in the works CBS has probably already secured the rights to "Movin" here.)

 

[newschoolrocker]

The format is aimed at Hispanic females

MOViN is aimed at Hispanic Females?.... Since when? It's a Rythmic AC... nothing to do with Spanish.

 

[Mediafrog+]

MOViN is aimed at Hispanic Females?.... Since when? It's a Rythmic AC... nothing to do with Spanish.

Formats aimed at Hispanics do not have to be in Spanish. Second and third generation Hispanics are mostly English dominant. "Movin" can be part of a "Wall of Women" multistation concept.

 

[Mike O]

I wonder if Clear Channel is/would consider flipping KKRW 937 to the Movin format. Clear Channel would have Soft AC KODA 991, Hot AC KHMX 965 and Rhythmic AC 937. This gives Clear the wall of AC stations and could probably be sold in a package together to clients. CC would lose some listeners from both KODA and KHMX, but they would still have those people listening to one of their stations and not a competitors.

Cumulus and KIOL would pick up the Classic Rock audience from KKRW and might have a trend/book in the twos, if Cumulus can get their shitt together with KIOL. Cumulus does have some good stations in other markets, not sure why they haven't invested the time and money into KIOL and staffed the station fulltime? Cumulus has Lisa and Pam alternating on the 7pm to 11pm shift. Give one 7pm to midnight and the other midnight to 5:30am and find a new morning show that is more on the music intensive side. KIOL also has the GreaseMonkey on Saturday nights and he is pretty good and could take the all night shift and do a good job, then team up Pam or Lisa with another person for AM drive. I realize that is asking a lot of Cumulus from what they have shown Houston so far.


Mike O

 

[purpledevil]

I love that comment about concentrating on running KRBE into the ground. Nicely put! Adguy, I hadn't thought about it in that aspect. I believe what you say about the pie being to small to slice, with the regards to a business format. It is a very niche format. After all of this time, I would have suspected that KXYZ would have produced at least SOME numbers in the 12+, but has yet to crack into the rankings. It's unfortunate, because as you say, it is a quality format and their is a draw to it by many in the financial world.

Mediafrog is absolutely correct. The Movin' format is targeted towards the younger generation Hispanic female listener. It seems to be a growing trend in the industry now, and I would not be suprised to see more traditional Spanish language broadcasters turning to English language formats in the near future. Look at Border Media in San Antonio for a prime example.

Classic Hip-Hop, eh? Y'know, I don't really know if it would stand on it's own, but there sure are a lot of tunes from the 80's and 90's that remain popular today. I think it would be a great idea for an existing Rythymic such as The Box or Party to pick up for a weekly or even nightly set. Might have been good #2 choice for KROI had they not gone to Gospel. You never know, dj22, you may have just given a consultant or two an idea.