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KFMK continues to drop

U

ufrustrated2

Can anybody speak to this? It seems they have begun a free-fall pretty early in the game and at a rapid pace since the change from The River to The Spirit in less than one year. Is this format dead, not right for Austin, or just being done poorly?

STATION SHR CUME SHR CUME SHR CUME
KFMK-FM 2.9 181,300 2.4 169,100 1.1 122,800 Christian AC Crista Ministries

I'd be really nervous if I were them especially after paying $6.5 million for the signal... :eek:

Maybe they'll sell it again and we'll get another format?
 
ufrustrated2 said:
Can anybody speak to this? It seems they have begun a free-fall pretty early in the game and at a rapid pace since the change from The River to The Spirit in less than one year. Is this format dead, not right for Austin, or just being done poorly?

STATION SHR CUME SHR CUME SHR CUME
KFMK-FM 2.9 181,300 2.4 169,100 1.1 122,800 Christian AC Crista Ministries

I'd be really nervous if I were them especially after paying $6.5 million for the signal... :eek:

Maybe they'll sell it again and we'll get another format?
Click to expand...

I see a lot of advertisements for The Spirit on KTBC, so a format change is probally not in the works as of now. It used to be the only advertisment that The Spirit did was a billboard on I-35 and 8th Street (The billboard housed on APD HQ)
 
ufrustrated2 said:
Can anybody speak to this? It seems they have begun a free-fall pretty early in the game and at a rapid pace since the change from The River to The Spirit in less than one year. Is this format dead, not right for Austin, or just being done poorly?

STATION SHR CUME SHR CUME SHR CUME
KFMK-FM 2.9 181,300 2.4 169,100 1.1 122,800 Christian AC Crista Ministries

I'd be really nervous if I were them especially after paying $6.5 million for the signal... :eek:

Maybe they'll sell it again and we'll get another format?
Click to expand...

How is Houston's KSBJ and KHCB 105.7 doing in the ratings both Christian station have been around for decades. Is Christa a Non Profit?
 
KFMK seems to have a lot of spots. Apparently they are able to sell the audience they have. And that's what keeps a station in business.
 
fredcantu said:
KFMK seems to have a lot of spots. Apparently they are able to sell the audience they have. And that's what keeps a station in business.
Click to expand...

But how long can they sustain decent rates with a 1.1 share, Fred? There's a lot of overhead there. They really need to get it turned around to stop the bleeding.
 
I don't think its a good fit IMO. I don't consider Austin a hard core religious city at all I myself am not religious but that being said, I think this station is aiming more toward the heavily conservative areas like Williamson County where there are large Mega churches as well as a few in the western suburbs.
 
This is precisely why CC tweaked The River. It started out as mostly Christian music and, by the end, was playing almost none of that stuff. Ticked off the uber-religious folks who'd been with the station since the beginning, but it juiced the numbers. Now Christa has gone back in that direction. I agree with JDawg ... I don't think this particular format is a good fit in a city like Austin. Not enough Bible thumpers here. Their expenses can't be much tho. The only local show they have is in the mornings. Afternoons are voicetracked by a guy from their Seattle cluster and the rest of the day is jockless.
 
Crista's Contemporary Christian Seattle FM (KCMS) does very well -- it ranked # 3 out of 40 stations (Mon-Sun 6 am to midnight) in the recent Holiday PPMs with a 4.5 and a cume of 506,000.

Normally it does around a 3.5, which is pretty good in the 13th largest market. Of course, whether that can happen in Austin is open to debate.
 
As was mentioned at the top of this thread, Crista Ministries paid $6.5 million for 105.9. That's not really a lot of money, even with the values of radio stations dropping like a rock. Something else to keep in mind is that Crista is a non-profit organization, even if it operates KFMK commercially. In other words, it's trying to live its mission. I doubt it cares much about ratings.
 
Something else to consider is the large number of religious broadcasters in Austin:

English language stations
KFIT 1060
KFMK 105.9
KIXL 970
KLGO 98.5/99.3
"K-Love" Network 91.9/92.1/106.3
KNLE 88.1
KXPW (LPFM) 106.7 Georgetown
Calvary translator 89.1 Austin

Spanish language:
KELG 1440
KFON 1490
"Keilah" translator 106.5
 
Kent said:
As was mentioned at the top of this thread, Crista Ministries paid $6.5 million for 105.9. That's not really a lot of money, even with the values of radio stations dropping like a rock. Something else to keep in mind is that Crista is a non-profit organization, even if it operates KFMK commercially. In other words, it's trying to live its mission. I doubt it cares much about ratings.
Click to expand...

Just like Houston's KHCB 105.7 with OCT 10 0.7 NOV 10 0.9 DEC 10 0.6 HOL 10 0.9 Religious Houston Christian Broadcasters. They been around forever, and KROI-FM OCT 10 2.6 NOV 10 2.7 DEC 10 2.5 HOL 10 2.4 Gospel Radio One Inc. been around since 2005. KSBJ has a better cume OCT 10 4.4 NOV 10 3.6 DEC 10 3.2 HOL 10 4.9 Christian CHR Elite Broadcasting Co. which is a Christian CHR (includes Christian Rap like DC Talk)

If the Spirit wanted to increase ratings they would move towards a Christian CHR or Hyrbid AC and CHR Christian. I know there is a hip hop church in Austin that could do a live feed sorta like when KSJL San Antonio had Gospel Sunday. Plus don't forget in Houston there's Lakewood Church which has a bigger following than Austin's Shoreline.
 
intx said:
This is precisely why CC tweaked The River. It started out as mostly Christian music and, by the end, was playing almost none of that stuff. Ticked off the uber-religious folks who'd been with the station since the beginning, but it juiced the numbers. Now Christa has gone back in that direction. I agree with JDawg ... I don't think this particular format is a good fit in a city like Austin. Not enough Bible thumpers here. Their expenses can't be much tho. The only local show they have is in the mornings. Afternoons are voicetracked by a guy from their Seattle cluster and the rest of the day is jockless.
Click to expand...

It seems that KFMK's air staff is made up of a "partially local" morning show where the guy is local and the girl is piped in from South Carolina, middays is VT'd out of Seattle and they have debuted a local girl in PM drive. Even with all the "competitors" in the market Fred you are talking about MAYBE a 3.5 share if KFMK took all those listeners. Magic 95.5 has made some nice adjustments to its music by playing songs that were popular on the River and have also taken up the "Family Friendly" slogan for its morning show and from what it looks like, the adjustments have made a difference for them as their share has grown and the Spirits share has dropped. Could there be a correlation there? Who knows.
 
The female sidekick on the morning show is indeed in SC now ... because she just had a baby. She is relocating to Austin tho.
 
Also ... hadn't noticed that they'd added an evening team. They, like the afternoon guy, originate from Spirit 105.3 in Seattle. Disappointing considering they had promised to be live and local all day.
 
people and music who are piped in from other area's, sometimes they don't have the local flavor. how long have crista been on the air and did they hire any staff member's from 102.3 ?
 
I've noticed KFMK's got some audio problems. Someone's got the stereo effect too high, all the outer sounds are much louder than the center. It's hard to understand the lyrics sometimes.
Maybe KFMK would go up if they fixed it.
 
captex said:
people and music who are piped in from other area's, sometimes they don't have the local flavor. how long have crista been on the air and did they hire any staff member's from 102.3 ?
Click to expand...
No, they really didn't hire anybody, although I believe that a lady named Suzy who contributed to the River Morning show also contributes to the Spirit morning show. I believe she is the wife of a local pastor and probably wouldn't have been long for the River if they had stayed around so she fits in better on Spirit.
 
intx said:
January numbers just came out and they bounced up to a 1.8
Click to expand...

KFMK is mediocre Religious radio at its best playing out in Austin. They were beaten once again in the latest ratings (KYLR/KMLR 3.1 / KFMK 1.7) by a fully syndicated radio station from Rocklin California. Pretty pathetic! :eek:
 
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