Kansas City Radio

[kansasguy]

I'm a newbie to this board. I'm wondering what you guys thought of Kansas City radio.

My office has Jack FM on. I enjoy Jack. I also listen to KYYS and the Fox. Sometimes I'll listen to KCMO.

So, what are your thoughts on Kansas City radio?

 

[TheRob]

I'm glad you raised the question here, instead of a place like gatewaycityradio.com, which is a bounty of childish behavior.

I probably listen to 90.9/KTBG in Warrensburg the most, although I wish they would expand their gold library beyond the occasional Eric Clapton, Peter Gabriel and Jackson Browne tunes. Since NPR takes up a huge chunk of the day, I imagine they don't need to. I also listen to the Retro Red Eye Express on 90.1 KKFI, if I'm near a radio at the time.

93.3 KMXV: Admittedly, I don't listen to CHR stations anymore, but KMXV had traditionally been conservative with the playlist, and sharp on production. I presume CBS Radio is still looking to sell the cluster.

94.1 KFKF; 104.3 KBEQ; 106.5 WDAF: Well, I never listen to country music, so I can't provide any valid opinions here. At one point, all three stations were in the top 7 of the 12+ ratings, and I think all three have been #1 at some point.

94.9 KCMO-FM: Eventually, they'll just have to label themselves as "the greatest Top 40 hits of all-time." Now that people who graduated high school in the 1980s are 35-44 years old, KCMO is sliding into that era of music (albeit, very slowly).

95.7 KCHZ: In the time this frequency has tried to serve Kansas City, I had never seen an advertisement of any kind -- until "The Vibe" hit the air late last year. At least they're trying.

96.5 KRBZ: I end up listening to this station quite a bit now, since The Buzz decided the Kid Rock/Limpbizkit crowd wasn't the audience they wanted. I loved the anti-KMXV production too. However, I can't stand Afentra's voice, even if she is on an ISDN line in Seattle now.

97.3 KCXM: I listened quite a bit when this was AAA-formatted KZPL; I don't listen so much anymore now that it is hard rock-formatted "MAX FM". I do like the voice-overs. Their ratings are better than the Planet's, but it is still far short of helping Union Broadcasting.

98.1 KUDL: As with most Soft Adult Contemporary stations, they are trying to sound younger and more upbeat.

98.9 KQRC: I used to listen to The Rock quite a bit around 1994-1997 (Johnny Dare & Murphy, Wes Jeffries, Valorie Knight, Traci Wilde) - not so much anymore. When MAX-FM signed on, KQRC re-added a lot of their gold titles.

99.7 KYYS: Again, I listened to the old KY-102 a lot. Today's KYYS won't ever be the same (unless they decide Pete Droge or Crowded House are part of "everything that rocks" all of a sudden). I like hearing Traci Wilde on the air again. Again, like most gold-formatted stations, the selection is sliding heavily into the 1980s. I wonder if they'll ever start playing Pearl Jam or Soundgarden?

101.1 KCFX: When Cumulus took over, they decided KCFX should sound like every other rock station in town: as loud as possible. Out with "Strawberry Fields Forever" and in with "Dr. Feelgood." I still enjoy listening to Skid Roadie, if I can. Ken Snyder sounds voice-tracked now; I don't hear any audience interaction anymore.

102.1 KCKC: Star 102 is quite the pendulum. Are they a Soft AC station, a Hot AC station, or what? If CBS sells, I imagine this station is due for another tweak.

103.3 KPRS: I haven't listened in quite some time. Their "old school" lunch is alarmingly repetitive. Fans of the format generally think KPRS is quite conservative.

105.1 KCJK: When I worked overnight, I would usually listen to "Jack" on my way home, since they play music during morning drive, and most every other station seems to have a syndicated show now. When Cumulus took over, they added a lot more AOR/1970s titles, and lessened the 1980s pop. I almost thought Cumulus wanted to transform "Jack" into more traditional classic hits format, while taking KCFX in a hard rock direction.

107.3 KMJK: Again, I haven't listened in quite some time. Over the years, they've gone from R&B oldies to more current adult R&B, and the ratings have steadily risen.

 

[DougD]

94.9 KCMO-FM: Eventually, they'll just have to label themselves as "the greatest Top 40 hits of all-time." Now that people who graduated high school in the 1980s are 35-44 years old, KCMO is sliding into that era of music (albeit, very slowly).

.

I have no quibble with your points here. You've obviously spent some time listening to the stations.

However, I don't think 94-9 could call itself "the greatest hits of all time" since they omit a big part of the Top 40 era - 1055-1968. The songs they DO play from the late 60s are only the tired old ones played ad nauseum such as "I Can't Help Myself" and "Dock of the Bay."

KC needs a REAL oldies station that plays 1955-1979 with a focus on 1958-1972. Play the "newer" oldies, of course, but don't throw out the great older rock songs such as JERRY LEE LEWIS.

Also, KCMO's imaging is too modern. NINETEEE-FOUR-NINE, sounds like a CHR format, not a gold format.

Too bad the dunces running that place don't know their listeners.

 

[kansasguy]

I wish KCMO played the music they have stopped playing. There are so many great songs from the late 50s and well into the 60s that they don't play anymore!

but I guess the advertisers aren't interested in anyone 55 and older (read oldies board). it is absurd!

 

[DougD]

I wish KCMO played the music they have stopped playing. There are so many great songs from the late 50s and well into the 60s that they don't play anymore!

but I guess the advertisers aren't interested in anyone 55 and older (read oldies board). it is absurd!

I hear ya. Radio, once again, is behind the trend and may awake to regret ignoring a big part of its audience- AND ITS MOST LOYAL part of its audience.

While many young people aren't familiar with radio or don't listen, the older listeners, the ones who grew up with the medium, remain loyal, though the medium doens't really serve them much anymore.

I keep reading and hearing news articles about the growing power of Baby Boomers. But does raido have programming targeting them?

Also, think about the last time you put up an antenna and tried to pull-in a neighboring radio station (for its programming) - DXing excluded.

Few do that anymore. It's simple. Radio, thanks to over ownership and visioness management, doesn't have any magic left. It's all bland and blander.

BTW, I'm 44.

 

[surfdude]

It's the ADVERTISERS, not the radio stations or ad agencies that are ignoring the 50+
audience.

Check out KCMO's latest ratings. Whatever they're doing - it's working!

 

[marko83]

What they are doing is stealing sister station KCFX's format and making it harder. Does anyone else find it strange that KCMO, KCFX, and KCJK overlap a lot?

 

[Jay F]

KCMO doesn't seem like an especially hard oldies station to me. They certainly are very 70s based, , but they far more pop than classic rock. They play a lot of the "mellow rock" artists of that era like James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Carole King, Firefall, etc.

While oldies purists might not like them, KCMO sure is doing well. I have noticed that the Midwest is the stongest region for Oldies (or 60s/70s or whatever else you want to call the format),

 

[DougD]

I heard them the first night or week they went from Power-95 to Oldies 95 in 1989. It was great the variety of music they played.

I don't know why with all the stations in this market why we can have 3-4 "album" rock stations but no variety like real oldies, smooth jazz or standards on the AM band.

I recently email an oldies station programmer and requested the station play less 70s junk and more 50s-60s. He told me the ad men have the industry by the throat and that he was risking his operation by playing what he did from the 60s.

Soon it will be all over and there won't be many working for let alone listening to terrestrial radio, thanks to the corporate jerks.

 

[radioman1380]

Doug...you're right! It seems that those of us 'baby boomers' who still want the pop standards and early rock have been left out in the cold by most terrestrial broadcasters. Having worked at two Oldies stations in my time, I miss what is known as Oldies. As mentioned, the advertising 'experts' make stations skew into the late 60's and 70's now. Many stations have dropped the 'Oldies' of the 50's, 60's and early 70's to switch to 'The Greatest Hits of All Time' with music from the 60's and 70's.

Personally, I'm partial to the greatest decade in music...the 1960's. That's why I started my own Internet radio station called Simple 60s on Live 365, made up of the best Top 40 hits of that period. The same goes for the Country format. Another Live 365 Internet station I have is called 'The Cow' and is an 'easy listening' country station. And now, with the CRB's decision regarding royalty fees, even Internet radio stations may become extinct.

I thought that some of the new HD radio stations might provide formats not readily available on regular terrestrial radio these days, but it appears it's another case where they aren't concerned about reaching the 'forgotten listener'. Plus, HD radio doesn't seem to be catching on with many listeners. It appears those being target by today's terrestrial radio and HD stations are the ones that aren't listening, anyway, but are listening to their Ipods, MP3 players, etc.

For many of us today, the only way to get the music we want is from Sirius, XM or the Internet.

 

[Kent]

KCMO doesn't seem like an especially hard oldies station to me. They certainly are very 70s based, , but they far more pop than classic rock. They play a lot of the "mellow rock" artists of that era like James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Carole King, Firefall, etc.

While oldies purists might not like them, KCMO sure is doing well. I have noticed that the Midwest is the stongest region for Oldies (or 60s/70s or whatever else you want to call the format),

You're right that oldies seems to do best in the Midwest, though one of my former stations (KOQL 106.1) dumped the format right about the time I was arriving in the building. Actually, that format getting dumped was the reason I was brought into the building to begin with.

However, I digress. KCMO-FM is definitely more pop focused than KCFX and KCJK. However, their formula doesn't seem to be all that new. 70's actually did very well in Kansas City when it was tried before. In 1995, KCFX dumped all 60's and 80's from its playlist and saw the highest ratings the station has ever seen. Granted, it was only about a 20% playlist change, and the format was slightly more rock-based than 94.9 KCMO. However, while the songs themselves may have been different, the artists were pretty much the same. KCFX also managed to blow it eventually by bringing in talent that didn't work out, and, while running KY-102 out of the format was an initial success, the return of KY nearly destroyed The Fox. It scared the Fox enough that two former KY people were brought on board.

Also, I just saw a 94.9 KCMO TV commercial about 15-20 minutes ago (I can get KMBC 9 where I live now, but it's the only KC station I can get), and it's definitely making itself out to be an AC without currents with promos like the "At Work Perk." It almost seems like I remember hearing that very promo used at Star 102 when it first signed on.