Honestly, it doesn't matter what the population makeup is anymore. Just like the growing Hispanic population, nobody needs to be content with listening-to inferior sounding programming, especially music. With all the free to inexpensive choices on FM and streaming, AM radio is continuing to be a non-factor for anything other than older white males who like 'conservative' talk. That's why the larger Spanish language music and talk stations are moving to FM. The point being; just like anywhere else, if nobody under 50 listens to AM, then it's going to be difficult to sell enough advertising to support such a station when that same market is already over-served by much higher quality FM stations.
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KKDZ 1250 at new transmitter site
- Thread starter xmtrland
- Start date
If you’re talking about very weak stations that are past their prime, then I would definitely agree with you. However, I think there are some examples of AM stations that still are serving their community. KKMO comes to mind. The reception is surprisingly good, and they are still offering local programming. I’m sure that if someone wants to hear Spanish programming, they would tune in.
You are wrong about my commute. I travel from the center of Vashon to close to the U-district for work. The Vashon and Fauntleroy ferry docks are great places to do an AM band scan. When driving to various places on Vashon (where I live) I do travel along the water facing Burien and Federal way.
I have access to field intensity meters for the AM band, I can make measurements to see if my car antenna is working properly, or if it needs help. My car radio antenna is functioning properly.
If I do consider taking Punjabi Language lessons it would be from a language course not listening to a station that I'm now on the fringe of.
I truly hope the move to the new site meets the goal to reach target listeners for KKDZ. I just find it interesting it's that site. More of a convenience because the towers were there and the property was available with ground radials installed. Versus it being the perfect site to reach the population of the Kent/Auburn Valley which is north/south. It's difficult to find the perfect site for an AM when taking cost of construction, site rental/purchase and such into consideration. Could they have found a better site? Yes, but the costs would have been greater. KKDZ needed to do something to retain night time operation and running different day and night sites is expensive.
I hope they have an internet/app presence they are trying to push listeners to because that's the direction people are moving for content. If the 1250 KKDZ signal facilitates new listener discovery, letting the new listener know there is a better way to get the content, then 1250 is doing it's job. There is also the argument they get a break in music royalty cost for streaming with a terrestrial radio signal. With all that's been said and discussed this is most likely a win win for KKDZ and their target audience.
Hispanics in markets without a music FM that appeals to their taste will generally use their smartphone to listen. In fact, AM is deader in most of Latin America than it is in the US.
Of course, there are as many different kinds of music and formats that could be done in Spanish (actually, quite a few more due to national differences) than in English. But my point is that a music based Spanish language AM is not going to work today.
Something not mentioned here is the Southern valley south of Seattle. It is multi ethnic but also a main Hispanic area. I think any opinions on this area must take this into effect.
But, as David and I already mentioned; areas of multi-ethnic or Hispanic clusters in particular, doesn't mean theses folks would put up with a crappy AM station for music given there's so many higher quality choices available right on their phone.
I don’t think I implied that. But yes there is a general Hispanic population in the south sound. Demographics don’t lie. Their radio choices are different from most in the general metro.
Really, how are their choices different from other consumers of media? Are you saying they're wiling to put up with inferior quality?
As David mentioned, they no longer need to. Most have smartphones.
No just different demographics in south sound. Might not be politically correct, but there are racial differences between Seattle proper and south King Co. (Kelly I am sure you aware of this)
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Seattle residents don’t live in Federal Way or Puyallup.
What's the timeline for the various switches to the KKDZ transmitter? Radio Locator today shows two station entries, one for the Seattle site, one for the Kent site related to the CP, which the FCC granted in June 2021.
Where I live in East King, the KKDZ daytime signal was listenable through mid-2022. For the past 6-9 months, it's been silent - figured the engineers had taken the transmitter down and/or relocated it to South King. (Nighttime has never been listenable no matter what.)
Where I live in East King, the KKDZ daytime signal was listenable through mid-2022. For the past 6-9 months, it's been silent - figured the engineers had taken the transmitter down and/or relocated it to South King. (Nighttime has never been listenable no matter what.)
Nielsen does not rate cities. Metro Survey Areas are based on counties, and Pierce County is part of the Seattle Metro Area. Federal Way is in King County.
It doesn't matter. The days of dedicated Tacoma radio stations, or Auburn radio stations-whatever ended back in the 90's. Seattle/Tacoma is one big market ending in Snohomish County to the North, and Thurston County to the South. Mom and Pop stations trying to work inside the larger market tent would be climbing a potentially un-climbable hill because of the various changes to the business/advertising environment already mentioned many times here on this very site. Younger people use their smartphones for media and entertainment, doesn't matter what race or gender they are. Even smaller community businesses want their hard fought ad dollars to go where consumers live, not because of some nostalgic notion of a bygone era that included AM radio.
Seatown has an arguement here though. If I were targeting Hispanics with a terrible signal, I'd want that terrible signal to have a bullseye right on the Hispanic population. Sure it doesn't cover the entire market, but does it really need to hit Lynnwood if there aren't many Hispanics living there?
A lot of Hispanic people apparently listen to KKMO out of Tacoma. It's still on the air, and still has advertisers. If your argument that AM's audience primarily consists of older, conservative white men, how does KKMO stay in business?
And where on FM is any Punjabi broadcasting, especially in Seattle? KKDZ is not available on TuneIn (its page is presently 404 on my computer), and they don't seem to have their own stream.
If you want to hear a certain type of media, you go to where that media is available. Or you find alternatives. Both are factors that all radio stations, of every format, increasingly face.
Do all ethnic broadcasters subscribe to Nielsen, though? Does KKMO in Tacoma? Does KKDZ or many other ethnic broadcasters?
I think the point being made by some people here is that if you're going to target your radio station to an ethnic audience, you want the station audible where that audience lives. This would apply to FM as well as AM (especially in the case of an FM translator).
I don't know, but all ad agencies do subscribe. And AMs in Spanish are pretty much limited to neighborhood shops, loan agents, used car dealers and the like.
But one has to realize that there are viable streaming services available for some ethnic groups, particularly Hispanics. The Hispanic population nationally has a median age that is nearly 12 years younger than non-Hispanic whites, and that group does not like AM and does know how to use streaming. Hispanics, also, have a higher percentage of smartphone usage so they have access to those streaming services.
There might be some rare exceptions of AM Spanish language programming still around that manage to stay afloat from existing business relationships, but just like everywhere else, being on AM is a liability for any chance of a future. AM has zero growth potential, because nobody under 50 is going to put up with the poor quality when there are so many other options. Anyone who comes along these days and tries to serve a community doing music with an AM station, is doomed to fail.
Tell me what the revenue and expense numbers over the past two years have been like at that station, and that will reveal whether it's actually doing okay. Just because a station is on the air, doesn't mean it isn't struggling from a business perspective.
If a rich Punjabian business person wanting to reach that audience, and willing to dump money into it, then that's their money to spend. I would question whether there are enough Indian businesses in Kent or Auburn to sustain a stand alone station. Restaurants are notoriously poor collections anyway, and one can't sustain a radio station on a couple convenience stores or restaurants.
Portland has a Business station that's basically a daytimer. It's probably been on format for over 40 years! I seriously doubt if anyone has ever listened.
But what if, like the rest of society, Hispanics have moved to consuming entertainment and media from their smartphones/streaming, rather than some inferior-sounding form of old media like AM radio? How successful do you think you would be?
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