No, it's not a comparison as much as it is a trip down memory lane...
Recently, a number of posts have appeared discussing the ratings success of KMCQ. It’s impressive that a station that has no marketing, no airstaff, and is essentially a placeholder has managed to earn greater than two shares in the Seattle/Tacoma market.
But it’s not unprecedented. It actually has happened before. In fact, something very similar happened almost exactly 30 years ago in the Seattle/Tacoma market, with the launch of Seattle’s “New 93” (Now KUBE-FM).
It was early 1981, and top 40 radio in the Pacific Northwest was somewhat moribund, just as was the case in most of the country. On the AM side, KJR continued as the legacy Top 40 station for Seattle and KTAC as the legacy station for Tacoma, but KING (“Musicradio 11”) had recently shifted to adult contemporary (“You grew up with us, now we’ve grown up for you.”). On the FM side, Tacoma’s KNBQ (“Q-97 FM”) hadn’t yet upgraded its transmitter, so their signal fizzled not far north of the Pierce/King County line. Until recently, Seattle had had two FM top 40 stations – KPLZ (“K-Plus 101”) and KYYX. But KPLZ had recently shifted in more of an adult contemporary direction (perhaps Hot AC by today’s definition) and KYYX was trying to position themselves as being first on new music, which resulted in a relatively high level of unfamiliar music on the station.
In this environment, First Media (no relationship to KMCQ owner First Broadcasting) decided to enter the market, buying KBLE (93.3) and promptly flipping it to a sort of adult Top 40 format. KBLE had been part of a religious combo, and only the FM was sold to First Media. Since the studio stayed with the AM station, First Media had a transmitter but no studio to go with it. So while they built a studio for their new station, they ran an automated format – non-stop music, no advertising, and an occasional announcement about “sawdust on the floors” as they were “building a new radio station”.
And they earned a 2 share with their automated, commercial-free jukebox that was “The New 93”. Other stations dismissed the significance of this by noting that the absence of commercials would be expected to draw listeners, indicating that they felt those early ratings were a fluke.
In fact, “The New 93” did launch from new studios with a full airstaff in the summer of 1981, at which point commercials soon began running. The format was an adult-friendly Top 40 format targeting 18 to 34 year olds with a mix of current music and some oldies (an aircheck that I have from shortly after they added airstaff in the summer of 1981 has them seguing from “Summer in the City” to “Love Hangover”). Commercials were kept down to 8 minutes per hour, which was far less than either KYYX or KJR ran. And the station quickly shot up in the ratings, marking the launch of a station that has now been some form of Top 40 for over 30 years.
There are differences between the KMCQ of today and “The New 93” of 30 years ago – notably, KMCQ has been running for a couple years whereas the commercial free jukebox version of what is now KUBE only ran for six months. But it’s interesting to note that throwing a bunch of songs on the air without any promotion or outside support can generate the same sort of ratings today that it did in 1981. And it’s impressive, considering how many more choices listeners have today than they did when “The New 93” first lit up in Seattle.
Recently, a number of posts have appeared discussing the ratings success of KMCQ. It’s impressive that a station that has no marketing, no airstaff, and is essentially a placeholder has managed to earn greater than two shares in the Seattle/Tacoma market.
But it’s not unprecedented. It actually has happened before. In fact, something very similar happened almost exactly 30 years ago in the Seattle/Tacoma market, with the launch of Seattle’s “New 93” (Now KUBE-FM).
It was early 1981, and top 40 radio in the Pacific Northwest was somewhat moribund, just as was the case in most of the country. On the AM side, KJR continued as the legacy Top 40 station for Seattle and KTAC as the legacy station for Tacoma, but KING (“Musicradio 11”) had recently shifted to adult contemporary (“You grew up with us, now we’ve grown up for you.”). On the FM side, Tacoma’s KNBQ (“Q-97 FM”) hadn’t yet upgraded its transmitter, so their signal fizzled not far north of the Pierce/King County line. Until recently, Seattle had had two FM top 40 stations – KPLZ (“K-Plus 101”) and KYYX. But KPLZ had recently shifted in more of an adult contemporary direction (perhaps Hot AC by today’s definition) and KYYX was trying to position themselves as being first on new music, which resulted in a relatively high level of unfamiliar music on the station.
In this environment, First Media (no relationship to KMCQ owner First Broadcasting) decided to enter the market, buying KBLE (93.3) and promptly flipping it to a sort of adult Top 40 format. KBLE had been part of a religious combo, and only the FM was sold to First Media. Since the studio stayed with the AM station, First Media had a transmitter but no studio to go with it. So while they built a studio for their new station, they ran an automated format – non-stop music, no advertising, and an occasional announcement about “sawdust on the floors” as they were “building a new radio station”.
And they earned a 2 share with their automated, commercial-free jukebox that was “The New 93”. Other stations dismissed the significance of this by noting that the absence of commercials would be expected to draw listeners, indicating that they felt those early ratings were a fluke.
In fact, “The New 93” did launch from new studios with a full airstaff in the summer of 1981, at which point commercials soon began running. The format was an adult-friendly Top 40 format targeting 18 to 34 year olds with a mix of current music and some oldies (an aircheck that I have from shortly after they added airstaff in the summer of 1981 has them seguing from “Summer in the City” to “Love Hangover”). Commercials were kept down to 8 minutes per hour, which was far less than either KYYX or KJR ran. And the station quickly shot up in the ratings, marking the launch of a station that has now been some form of Top 40 for over 30 years.
There are differences between the KMCQ of today and “The New 93” of 30 years ago – notably, KMCQ has been running for a couple years whereas the commercial free jukebox version of what is now KUBE only ran for six months. But it’s interesting to note that throwing a bunch of songs on the air without any promotion or outside support can generate the same sort of ratings today that it did in 1981. And it’s impressive, considering how many more choices listeners have today than they did when “The New 93” first lit up in Seattle.
