Allow me to pose some questions/observances here. I am neither one way or the other about K-Rock or any other format.
1. I find it quite odd that the majority in this thread wants to get rid of the competition for rock music (WXDX and WDVE are hardly competitors, head-to-head, as K-Rock and DVE are), but this same majority is willing to provide head-to-head competition for CHR (Top 40).
Think carefully: you are condoning, in fact, surrendering the rock championship to DVE by doing that. There will be no competition to WDVE--no Channel 97, no K-Rock, no anything. DVE will be the undisputed king.
As a result, if any of the majority has the nerve to bemoan the lack of competition, I'd be willing to open the first salvo of "well, it was YOUR idea".
2. Kiss had a bad book. Fine, it happens. Remember, its format is based in part on the musical offerings at present--it is CONTEMPORARY HIT radio. Its playlist is tempered by what is being released, what is popular. It also has to have a good presentation--jocks, imaging, etc.
That latter fortune is evident when you have a downturn in adequate musical offering--there has to be something to draw in the listeners (as well as a tweaked playlist).
But Kiss is also tempered by new music being added by other stations with shared core artists--most notably, Star, WXDX, and to a lesser extent, even Y108. Kiss has comeptition--directly from Star. They target the same group--young females (Kiss is slightly younger, but it is NOT a teen station, despite how hard it tries).
Is it really necessary for CBS to add another station in its cluster to target a station that is falling now, but is really subject more to the whims of the music public than to anything else? Does CBS really need two stations to target a CHR?
A CHR that is in a less-desirable demo than AC/Hot AC or Rock?
3. Free FM is always bandied about. But with the problems at KDKA, why would CBS want to try another talk format until they get their other house in order? KD can't young up its audience as it is, and even in a Free FM scenario, talk audiences are older, not younger. 25 year old guys are not listening to talk radio en masse.
4. JACK FM is not going to be a Pittsburgh format. Bob is here, and it's operated by another company. But It competes in the already full AC sector (Bob targets a 38 year-old married female): Star is a direct competitor (see a pattern here), as is Wish, 3WS, DVE, even K-Rock.
Why on earth would CBS wade into a demo battle where it already has two worthy competitors? It makes no sense for CBS to look around, see "what's missing" in Pittsburgh radio (which is what a programmer does when a format change is on the horizon), and go head-first straight into the biggest pack in the forest, AC formats/demos.
5. This talk on these K-Rock threads is all based on a reading of 12+ overall numbers--numbers in which K-Rock has stayed level. There has been no drop off, as there would be in a demo decline. So, something is going right.
But that doesn't mean that K-Rock doesn't need to alter a bit or change slightly. That always happens, and a good programmer will re-invent without anyone knowing.
But I can assure you that changing K-Rock based on a 12+ trend, or heading into the lost cause of CHR competition will be an insane proposition. It will never happen.
