KFRC FLIP!

[radiotrends]

"I do not understand the meaning of this. There was a bumper that Sue Hall had recorded, "99 (______), KFRC 99.7" I didn't know why they would run that. Now I am hearing 'Brad' saying, "Movin' 99.....Movin' 99.7"

I have the answer to this very good question. The 99 KFRC 99.7 bumper reminds the DJ who is on the air that their last spot is about to air, and they need to get off the phone and prepare for their next talk break, into the music. Often the DJs may get lost while reading the paper, and the spots will end, and they'll be late on their :20 ramp. Or they wont have the song cued up properly. So it's like a "2 minute warning" of sorts to the DJs.

The secondary purpose of this bumper, and the 99 vs. 100 is I believe if it's written in arbitron as 99 or 99.7 then KFRC gets credit for the listener. If the listener writes in 100, they won't get credit. Am I incorrect here? The bumper seems to play before the last full spot....so I think it's one of those "more music in 60 seconds" type things from the late 90s. Just reminds the listener that the commercials are almost over, and one more chance to throw in the call letters. And if the listener happens to only listen to 6 minutes of spots, KFRC can still get credit for that quarter hour if the listener hears that they are hearing the commercials on "99 KFRC 99.7".

I can think of numerous stations that still use a solid number, like Power 106. However many have switched to the exact frequency. I think if the station is good enough, it doesn't matter what the frequency is. People know where to find Z 100 in New York. I still feel its better to have a good name, than to give a specific frequency when you don't need to. If people can find Z 100 and not X 100, it's X 100's fault..it's not the frequencies fault.

99X - Atlanta
K-Bull 93 - Salt Lake City
Jammin Z 90 - San Diego
Power 106 - LA
Kost 103 - LA (now using 103.5)
Z 100 - NYC
106 KMEL - SF
Wild 107 - SF (all the way up at 107.7).
KUBE 93 FM - Seattle
KBIG 104 - Los Angeles

All of these were powerhouse stations in their day....none gave the exact frequency, and none needed to. Problem is now the names are all the same, so you almost need to give exact frequencies so that someone can discern Star 101.3 from Star 98.7 from star 100 as they travel through california.

 

[1069_KIFR]

Thank you very much for your insight and thoughts. But there are other ways to cue the on-air people when spots are ending. Those cues aren't supposed to be aired for everyone to hear.

I do remember that KXXX, X-100 was trying very hard to emulate WHTZ, Z-100 of New York. Scott Shannon also consulted X-100. At that time, Scott Shannon had left Z-100 for Pirate RAdio in L.A. But was responsible for putting WHTZ on the map. Emmis Broadcasting hoped that they could use Scott Shannon's expertise on help X-100 become a viable power house. But we all know the outcome.

If you remember WiLD 107's ad's and bumper stickers, they all showed the station as WiLD 107.7. But yet called themselves WiLD 107. 106 KMEL is located at 106.1. As for the others that you listed I do not know their exact frequency. But to call a station X-100 and not even be on a 100. _ frequency, sort of makes the promotions deptment's job a little tougher. If they were 99.9, 100.1, 100.3 or even 100.5 it could have worked.

 

[LKellerIII]

A lot of top Bay Area stations in the Bay Area rounded-up in the 60s and 70s - before most people had digital radios - KSFX 104 (103.7), then KGO-FM 104, KSAN (94.9) was "95" in both their album rock and country formats. KJAZ (92.7) used 93. When KBLX (102.9) was KRE, they used 103. But that generally stopped in the late 70s and early 80s as radios with digital read-outs became the norm. At that point, most stations started using their exact frequencies. But X-100 came around almost a decade later in the late 80s, and followed KYUU which used 99.7 - so people may have been confused, and thought they should look above 100.1. The only current station in the Bay Area that rounds-off is KMEL, but all they do is skip the "point 1" - quite easy for people to figure out, since there has been no commercial station on "106" until recently, with KIFR at 106.9. And I believe the DJs sometimes say "106.1."

Of the stations listed by the previous poster, at least 2 now use their exact frequencies - Jammin Z90" in San Diego uses "Z90.5" in their online logo, and KBIG has been using 104.3 for awhile.

 

[HenryOchs]

This is just another example of what idiots the Brass At CBS Radio are and always be! And by the way anything that has been broadcast under the KFRC brand since August 1986 was just "The Great Pretender."
KFRC died in that year and you all know it too!!! They did a very respectable job with it (Bradford Broadcasting, Alliance Broadcastiing then Infinity under Uncle Mel he let the station be) but it was never the same because you had to be there the first time, and who really wants sloppy seconds anyway!!! KFRC RIP forever this time! It has now been FUBAR this time!!!! Great Job Dougie pooo!!!! This new format will never last much past December 2007 at the latest!

I think this new MOVIN' format SUCKS!!!!! It's just an example why and how Bay Area radio has gotten WORSE!!!!!! It's the WORST thing to ever happen to KFRC!
I'm more likely to renew my XM Subcription because they have exactly what Bay Area radio is missing!!!!! Oh, by the way, WiLD 94.9 is STILL THE BEST and I give Jazzy Jim my props for trying to make it better!!!!!

 

[oldbossjock]

Radiotrends is correct, and I'm guessing the lack of knowledge in this area is because there are very few programmers reading here. Arbitron does not credit whole numbers to stations, unless the station registers them with Arbitron and uses them on air. For example, KMEL is on 106.1, KIFR is on 106.9 and KEZR is 106.5 If someone only writes 106 down, credit is not automatically given to any of the stations, a complicated process called ascryption is done But if a station registers the whole number, 106, with their station identifier, it would automatically be given the credit for an entry with just "106". (Unless more than one station registers the whole number, in which case, the complicated process takes over)

Given that there are other 99's in the market, most notably the KSQL piece of the Estereosol simulcast, as well as fringe signals from Monterey County, Stockton, Napa, KFRC is probably just trying to insure it gets the credit.

 

[hitliner]

I can't tell you how wonderful it is to hear people still talking about X-100 after all these years! As one of the original employees, I can tell you it was an unbelieveable experience. I will never see the amount of money Emmis spent on X-100 ever again for one radio station!

The posters are correct about the dispute over using X-100 on air when we were really located at 99.7. It was confusing to the listeners and VERY confusing to the staff. Bill Stairs (PD) and Jim Smith (GM) explained that using "X-100" would be cleaner to say then 99.7. Was it worth it. No. Was that the reason for the failure of X-100? No. Stairs wasn't the right man for the job. Smith was an excellent GM (I also worked with him at KFRC) and I wonder where he is (anyone know?). X-100 started out as a true CHR, playing dance, R&B and rock. It was a hard mix. Later in 1989, the switch was made to learn more dance (but not like Hot 977). Snake and Dancin' Mark Hansen loved it and if we had continued in that direction, X-100 could have made a nitch (the trends showed a growth but we switched to Hot AC shortly after those trends).

I do disagree with the poster who complimented Alliance Broadcasting and the used car saleman who bought X-100. They were pure trash and acted like it. They changed the locks four hours before they were to take over the station and stoped our farwell party and kicked everyone out. Glad to see they got what trhey deserved.

Sorry to take this off the KFRC track. I've listened to them and it's fine. Certainly not anything like the Cagle era.

 

[radioradiokid]

Hammer'in Hank you dont even own a XM radio.

 

[HenryOchs]

Hammer'in Hank you dont even own a XM radio.

Actually, my dad got it for me last Chrstmas and I'm very likely going to
renew my XM subscription again this Holiday Season! I LOVE IT!

 

[XM RADIO]

PERSONALLY I GAVE UP ON KFRC LAST YEAR WHEN YOU CANT HEAR ELVIS IN THIS BAY AREA RADIO MARKET ITS TIME FOR XM !! IT AMAZES ME THAT BIG MAN ON CAMPUS DOUG HARVIL WOULD BE IN RADIO !!! KFRC HAD COMMERCIAL OVERDOSE DISEASE AND MOVIN IS A JOKE!! I HOPE 1260 BECOMES KYA AGAIN AND GENE NELSON CELESTE PERRY AND JOHN MAC FLANIGAN ARE RE UNITED!! KOITS LITE ROCK LESS TALK ON AM HAS BEEN NEGLECTED SINCE 1983 WHEN BONNEVILLE TOOK OVER!! CHRIS EDWARDS HAS KYA ON THE INTERNET NOW HOW CAN A GUY LIKE CHRIS HAVE SO MANY LISTENERS BUT YET THERE WAS NO NEED FOR A OLDIES STATION IN THE BAY AREA? GIVE IT UP HARVIL YOU AND PRESTON COULDNT GET A TRAFFIC REPORT RIGHT!! I HOPE YOUR FORMAT FAILS WHATS YOUR NEXT MOVE TO GO TO LOS ANGELES AND CHANGE KRTH FM WOW CBS OWNS THAT TOO GIVE GARY BRYAN A BREAK CBS AND INFINITY TOOK AWAY HIS JOB HERE IN 1996!! IM GLAD THE BAY AREA HAS KYA 1260 BACK AND XM RADIO NOT EVERYONE LIKES DESTINYS CHILD ! I WOULD NEVER LISTEN TO THAT ONE MORE THING BACK IN 1976 THERE WAS KFRC FM 106.1 THEY HAD OLDIES AND SOLD OUT TO KMEL REMEMBER THAT DOUG OH WAIT A MINUTE YOU WERE STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL THEN !! SO KFRC IS A OLD PRO AT SELLING OUT THE LISTENING AUDIENCE!!! KENNY IN CONCORD A BIG FAN OF KYA AND XM !!

 

[1069_KIFR]

Anyone have an idea when we will hear the on-air personalities?

I cannot imagine they will run this like the jockless MAX-FM. If they do maybe we will hear "George Constanza" as their voice-over person!!!!

Is it possible Rick Dees will be syndicated to the MOViN stations?

 

[Brian_1055]

YES!! YES!!! YES!!!!!!!

I've listened a little, and despite my undying love for KFRC, Movin' isn't all bad. Do any of these Alan Burns outlets play George Lamond, Stevie B, Linear (and/or other Hot 97.7 SJ type tunes)? If so, I haven't caught them yet...

They definately should be playing stuff like this. One thing they should do is take a history lesson on Hot 97.7, Wild 107.7, old KMEL, early Wild 94.9 stuff.

It would be smart for movin stations in markets where they had innovative top 40 stations that played real dance music in the 80's to play all of these great songs. These station will sink if they stick to the boring played out vanilla stuff that you have to play in other markets.

I agree, this has to be done. Just like Party 92.7/Energy 92.7 really didn't play much of anything that Hot 97.7/old KMEL/Wild 107.7/early 94.9 did when it came to dance music. Instead they put tons of totally unfamiliar music on the air when they could have swooped up some listeners. The San Francisco market is extremely unique. These national playlists are garbage.

Linear was a top 10 hit, I just picked that one since I remember hearing it on kmel back then.

If you noticed, Movin ignores freestyle hits and many of them were huge in the 80's on the popular stations listened to the women that movin is now trying to target.

It is not just freestyle, but you cannot ignore that genre in San Fran, Miami, Phoenix and other markets that embraced that music. I'm talking about playing the best of the best, not a radio geek dance station.

So true!!!

Huge mistake for any movin to ignore the huge 80's dance hits that were big in some markets. Think of how freash this music is, most people haven't heard it since it was played on stations that were often #1 back in the 80's. California is one place but Miami and Phoenix would be perfect too. Think about it, the #1 stations back then played a whole bunch of songs that no one on the radio has been playing since they were currents. These songs will bring an oh wow factor to the most juicy demos on the planet that has never before been witnessed in radio.

Take a look at Philly's movin. They are ignoring hundreds of huge hits in that market that don't really play on any other station. They are too scared of taking away all of q 102's older females.

This isn't the case in San Fran, Movin 997 should WANT to steal all of the older listeners of wild, kmel, and kiss. By playing all of the huge hits of the 80's that are not played on the radio (besides maybe an occasional wild mix show), it would be top 5 12+ and 25-54 and most importaintly give the station staying power. Why would you not play a song like Linear Sending all my love?

YES!!!!!! All you guys above are right on. They need to hire you all for the programming/consulting team.

 

[XM RADIO]

WITH ALL THE HYPE OVER KFRC I THINK XM IS THE BEST VALUE IN RADIO AS OF NOW !! XM IS TAKING ALOT OF CBS/ KFRC"S FORMER LISTENERS AND THEIR$$ TO THE BANK! SIRUS DOESENT HOLD UP TO XM THEY HAVE LIVE DJ S AND WOLFMAN JACK! BETTER JINGLES CQ USA LIVE CALL IN AND TERRY MOTORMOUTH YOUNG!!AND PHLASH PHELPS!! KFRC NEEDED A MAJOR OVERHAUL THEY GOT IT !CBS DID THE SAME THING TO ITS NEW YORK STATION WCBS OLDIES GONE WOW YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD THE CALLERS WHO WENT OUT AND GOT XM!! 100 'S OF EX WCBS LISTENERS GOING TO SATELITE THEY JUST GAVE AWAY THE FARM XM HAS GOT TO LOVE IT TERESTRIAL RADIO GIVING THEM A BIG BOOST XM IS SO BUSY SIGNING UP NEW SUBS THEY DONT HAVE TIME TO THANK CBS FOR GIVING UP ON KFRC S FORMAT!! IM WONDERING HOW MUCH KFRC SOLD ALL 100 SONGS THEY HAD ? IT AMAZES ME THEIR NEW COMMERCIAL IS AIRING ON KGO 7 AND THEN IMMEDIATLY THEY RUN A XM COMMERCIAL STRANGE WAY TO DO BUSINESS!!BY GETTING RID OF EXPENSIVE RADIO TALENT KFRC CAN SPEND MORE MONEY ON COMMERCIALS!! REMEMBER THIS CBS "YOU PAY PEANUTS YOU GET MONKEYS" SO BY GETTING RID OF HIGH PRICED TALENT YOU SAVE MONEY BUT YOUR NOT AS SMART AS XM 5 DJ S ON THE 60 S CHANNEL FOR THE WHOLE BROADCAST AREA ! HUH WHOS SMARTER? YOU GUYS SHOULD RE THINK YOUR STRATEGY FOR NOW THE SCORE IS IN XM S FAVOR AND THE BEST THING XM WILL NEVER CHANGE FORMAT FOR 12.95 A MONTH ITS GOOD INSURANCE !! I COULDNT IMAGINE HAVING TO LISTEN TO A MOVIN FORMAT OR A 107.7 FORMAT OR A KIOI 101.3 OR A MAX FORMAT THEY HAVE COMMERCIAL OVERDOSE DISEASE AND ITS TERMINAL NO CURE FOR IT THATS MY STORY AND IM LOOKING FORWARD TO A NEW DAY OF COURSE WITH XM !!

 

[1069_KIFR]

Do you get a "referral fee" for everyone that signs up for XM?

Also, please stop using All Caps.

Thanks

 

[Herb999]

Good radio stations sound like the area they are broadcasting from. Kggi is a perfect example. XM and Sirius will forever be inferior to terestrial radio for that reason, As long as fm/am radio remains local and modifies its sound to its area, it will never go away. We need this to be rule of radio, not the exception.

If you are one of the few people who are out of place in a city like LA, NYC, or San Fran, then you need satelite radio for your country format. If you are too old to mater to advertisers and want to live in the past, focusing only on the past with no regards for the present, they you need it to get your high school good 'ol times oldies.

 

[XM RADIO]

Herb, you are incorrect on your comment about XM they are not inferior at all in fact the recent KFRC format change (KING of repetitive Radio) they gave satelite a big boost!! In THE Liberal Bay Area, theres no station to play Elvis, totally un acceptable in my book can you explain why XM has almost 8 million subs if the Terrestrialradio is so good?? It seems to me Stations are going to Spanish, Talk, or Religon as The Big 610 KFRC did last year and not everyone listens to that kind of radio! Iwould put money on it that at least 2 more terrestrials will go bye bye in less than 2 years here in the Bay Area!! The Max 95.7 is a looser and Bonneville better wake up and look at the ratings LAST PLACE !!! KFOG is lost in the FOG they probably have 104.5 listeners !!! XM and the DOGGY satelite will rule the airwaves soon!! Herb face it, Rotary phones,aluminum garbage cans, and the Milkman are a thing of the past ,Oh did I forget 8 tracks, and Terrestrial is going to shrink ,so listen for a while longer and then figure out an alternitive!! GM offers XM in many of their models , people enjoy them ,If terrestrial was so Exciting there would be no Sat. radio Kenny in Concord

 

[RadioStarOne]

XM has a little over 7.2 million subs! But their getting there maybe by the middle of next year they will hit 8 million subs.

 

[DougR]

!!! KFOG is lost in the FOG they probably have 104.5 listeners

How you pimp XM is interesting. And, in my opinion, I think that there will always be at least one satellite service around from now on.

But, to suggest that KFOG is a station that might flip is insane. Love them or hate them, it is a money printing machine. And, looking at the latest trends, they have a decent chance to be the #1 station 25-54 in the next book. They and KOIT are the most secure stations on the FM dial in this market.

 

[zumahans]

Good radio stations sound like the area they are broadcasting from. Kggi is a perfect example. XM and Sirius will forever be inferior to terestrial radio for that reason, As long as fm/am radio remains local and modifies its sound to its area, it will never go away. We need this to be rule of radio, not the exception.

If you are one of the few people who are out of place in a city like LA, NYC, or San Fran, then you need satelite radio for your country format. If you are too old to mater to advertisers and want to live in the past, focusing only on the past with no regards for the present, they you need it to get your high school good 'ol times oldies.

KGGI is crap. The IE deserves it.

 

[SFStatic]

One of the sat services will go away. One of the major broadcast groups owns 5% of them, and they even think so. They're both losing 3/4 of a BILLION a year, and even with 12-15 million subs between them, terra radio, with around 100 million listeners dwarfs them. One will buy the other (and I predict Mel will end up running whichever it is!) One of the major broadcasting groups has made enough money to buy back over 3 billion of their own stock...which one would you bet on? Terra radio is much more concerned with iPods and webstreams than with sat radio.

There will always be good, local music format radio, like KFRC has been a good deal of the time in it's history.

 

[OldGringo]

One of the sat services will go away. One of the major broadcast groups owns 5% of them, and they even think so. They're both losing 3/4 of a BILLION a year, and even with 12-15 million subs between them, terra radio, with around 100 million listeners dwarfs them. One will buy the other (and I predict Mel will end up running whichever it is!) One of the major broadcasting groups has made enough money to buy back over 3 billion of their own stock...which one would you bet on? Terra radio is much more concerned with iPods and webstreams than with sat radio.

Actually, the Clear Channel investment has been diluted by the stock offerings XM has made so that they only own around 1% at this time.

Satellite was expected not to make money yet... XM will have positive cash flow next year, and it looks like Sirius will as well.

Terrestrial radio is not concerned with satellite. You are right on that. The concern is with the plethora of alternative entertinment sources,.. one of the biggest being the over 100 million gaming consoles, not iPods.