KMET is back !!??????

[ChannelFlipper]

As I've mentioned in other posts, I think they are very much trying to pick up the KMET mantle. Whether or not they are successful (I've already posted my doubts) is a different story, but make no mistake, the playlist has definitely become much harder with more hard rock acts and even a heavy metal track here and there. Just about fell off my chair a few weeks back when they played Judas Priest. While Judas Priest is not in the regular rotation like U2 and the Police are, the fact that they would even play the song once during afternoon drive speaks volumes. I think they received a lot of feedback from the KMET day and are trying to capitalize on it. Recent Arbitrons shows that it is working in the short term. Of course what you may be referring to more is the absolute boring presentation of the music by the talent. The talent seem to be nice folks individually but as a group have zero personality, and say what you will about KMET, the jocks both as individuals and a as a motley collection all had personality.

I don't agree with VOR that the lack of the other key folks ruined the day. I took the day off from work to listen to almost all of it and enjoyed it immensely - it absolutely captured the KMET that I knew from about 77-to the mid eighties before it burned itself out. I do wish those others were represented and have posted several times to that fact and I absolutely agree with your comment that the missing KMET folks are just as "vital" as legends such as the Real Don Steele and Robert W. Radio does such a poor job of honoring or even remembering its own, so I am glad you said it that way.

 

[scooty430]

I think the boring jocks are a big part of the problem.....but so is the boring playlist.

War - Low Rider
Don Henley - Dirty Laundry
Steely Dan - Rikki Don't Lose That Number
ZZ Top - La Grange
Neil Young - Old Man
Men At Work - Down Under
Styx - Fooling Yourself
Stephen Stills - Love The One You're With
Smashing Pumpkins - 1979

Even with great jocks, it's hard to "sell" such tired music.

 

[SuperRadioFan]

We call that playlist "boring" at the risk of being labeled as "Elitists" but what does The Sound's recent rise in listenership say about the General Population of Listeners out there in RadioLand? Is much of the programming in large metro areas designed to appeal to morons? Why are people even listening? Maybe the smarter music fans/listeners have totally abandoned terrestrial radio. The rest are mostly ..... morons?

 

[scooty430]

I think the number of PPMs out there is so small that, simply, one new PPM carrier came on board who happened to dial up 100.3. I don't think the tiny bump they had in the ratings means much. Now if they were suddenly beating KIIS FM or even JACK, I'd say that has statistical merit. But going from .9 percent of the audience to 1.2 (or whatever it was) is pretty much a non-event, IMO.

Anyhow, if playing the same old boring songs appealed to "the masses," then KLOS would have stellar ratings. It doesn't. So while you can't go crazy-obscure like Indie103 did toward the end, being boring will not work.

Especially when you're promoting yourself as the "deep tracks" station.

 

[SuperRadioFan]

Are they still trumpeting "Deep Tracks" over there?? I have no idea. They did go from a 0.7 (6+) [early on maybe in November] to a 1.6 (most recent for July) and I don't know if they doubled their cume or not. As far as "the masses" are concerned, we should restrict this discussion to the rock end of the music spectrum... JACK is a better comparison than KIIS-FM but JACK also is not that far from being a classic hits format. Your comment about the PPMs is telling given what we all know. Now each PPM device has --- what? -- 10 times the impact of a single diary? LA/OC still needs a decent AAA station for the thin slice of us who would appreciate it.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

Scooty needs to learn how to read an Arbitron report. With a 1.6 rating and over 1,000,000 cume in the last ratings period, they are far exceeding the expectations of most on this board including this flipping one. Of course they did it by going classic rock and not with the AAA format they started with.

All things being equal, this is about as high as I think they would be able to go, however with KLOS giving itself self-inflicted wounds, who knows what the future may hold?

 

[scooty430]

I know in radio land the bump in the Sound's ratings means something. But IMO given the well-documented problems with PPM, it is probably not that meaningful in terms of actual listeners. God help them if the one guy who likes the Sound drops out of the PPM program or moves!

Anyhow, here we go again with the "AAA doesn't work in LA" line. The Sound is not, never was, and probably never will be, AAA. From almost the very outset it was classic rock with a few KROQ things thrown in, and maybe one new track an hour.

What doesn't work in LA is classic rock, at least those top 300 tracks we've heard since 1980. That's why neither the Sound nor KLOS have good ratings, and why both Arrow and KLSX bit the dust.

And yes, their billboards and on-air promotions still promote "deep tracks." Sounds great! Until you dial it up and they are playing "Take It Easy" by the Eagles. Oops.

 

[Dick Skinner]

Scooty needs to learn how to read an Arbitron report. With a 1.6 rating and over 1,000,000 cume in the last ratings period...

Don't mean to be a dick, but it's a share, not a rating. This a radio board. Can we try to use correct terms please?

Dick

 

[calguy]

Scooty needs to learn how to read an Arbitron report. With a 1.6 rating and over 1,000,000 cume in the last ratings period...

Don't mean to be a dick, but it's a share, not a rating. This a radio board. Can we try to use correct terms please?

Dick

I'm a stickler as well when it comes to correct terms, but saying it's a "rating" isn't really wrong. Yes it's a share, but in my 20 plus years in the business I've heard the term "rating" used in just the same way by so many people with even more experience than I that I don't think it's that big a deal. You could say that both cume and share are ratings, just of a different type.

 

[Dick Skinner]

Scooty needs to learn how to read an Arbitron report. With a 1.6 rating and over 1,000,000 cume in the last ratings period...

Don't mean to be a dick, but it's a share, not a rating. This a radio board. Can we try to use correct terms please?

Dick

I'm a stickler as well when it comes to correct terms, but saying it's a "rating" isn't really wrong. Yes it's a share, but in my 20 plus years in the business I've heard the term "rating" used in just the same way by so many people with even more experience than I that I don't think it's that big a deal. You could say that both cume and share are ratings, just of a different type.

In my over 35 years in the business, I've never heard a knowledgeable broadcaster call a share a rating. I've heard it said they "had a 1.6 in the ratings," but if I were to take that 1.6 rating figure and pitch it on a sales call, when I meant 1.6 share, I'd be shown the door. And yes, cume and share are components of a ratings report, but if I said KSWD had a "1,016,400 rating" or "a 1,016,400 share," I'd be wrong.

Dick

 

[Bryan Simmons]

Scooty needs to learn how to read an Arbitron report. With a 1.6 rating and over 1,000,000 cume in the last ratings period...

Don't mean to be a dick, but it's a share, not a rating. This a radio board. Can we try to use correct terms please?

Dick

I'm a stickler as well when it comes to correct terms, but saying it's a "rating" isn't really wrong. Yes it's a share, but in my 20 plus years in the business I've heard the term "rating" used in just the same way by so many people with even more experience than I that I don't think it's that big a deal. You could say that both cume and share are ratings, just of a different type.

In my over 35 years in the business, I've never heard a knowledgeable broadcaster call a share a rating. I've heard it said they "had a 1.6 in the ratings," but if I were to take that 1.6 rating figure and pitch it on a sales call, when I meant 1.6 share, I'd be shown the door. And yes, cume and share are components of a ratings report, but if I said KSWD had a "1,016,400 rating" or "a 1,016,400 share," I'd be wrong.

Dick

Well, you are right to be totally precise. However, share and cume are components of the Arbitron rating system so it’s really a matter of how exacting you want to be. For those not in the business calling it a rating is less confusing. Those of us in the industry can be more accurate and call it what it is. As for what might happen on a sales call, I kind of wonder if the client would even know the difference. I mean it’s getting harder to find people in the business who know the difference. It’s obvious that this cal guy knows but I think he’s trying to make the point that each one, cume and share are a rating, as in “they had a 1.6 rating in the book” thereby making it a little less confusing for Joe’s Plumbing Supply. Of course if an AE is on a call with an agency he would sound stupid just calling it a rating. This is my 33rd year in commercial radio and I understand what you’re saying, but I can see his side of it too. Perhaps he’ll post again and explain his thinking on the subject.

 

[SuperRadioFan]

"I kind of wonder if the client would even know the difference. "

Absolutely, I'm glad you said it, Bryan!!

BTW nice article in LARadio.com .. I enjoyed seeing that old pic of you haha!!

You are a true gentleman!

 

[Bryan Simmons]

"I kind of wonder if the client would even know the difference. "

Absolutely, I'm glad you said it, Bryan!!

BTW nice article in LARadio.com .. I enjoyed seeing that old pic of you haha!!

You are a true gentleman!

Thank you, that's very kind of you!

B~

 

[calguy]

Scooty needs to learn how to read an Arbitron report. With a 1.6 rating and over 1,000,000 cume in the last ratings period...

Don't mean to be a dick, but it's a share, not a rating. This a radio board. Can we try to use correct terms please?

Dick

I'm a stickler as well when it comes to correct terms, but saying it's a "rating" isn't really wrong. Yes it's a share, but in my 20 plus years in the business I've heard the term "rating" used in just the same way by so many people with even more experience than I that I don't think it's that big a deal. You could say that both cume and share are ratings, just of a different type.

In my over 35 years in the business, I've never heard a knowledgeable broadcaster call a share a rating. I've heard it said they "had a 1.6 in the ratings," but if I were to take that 1.6 rating figure and pitch it on a sales call, when I meant 1.6 share, I'd be shown the door. And yes, cume and share are components of a ratings report, but if I said KSWD had a "1,016,400 rating" or "a 1,016,400 share," I'd be wrong.

Dick

Well, you are right to be totally precise. However, share and cume are components of the Arbitron rating system so it’s really a matter of how exacting you want to be. For those not in the business calling it a rating is less confusing. Those of us in the industry can be more accurate and call it what it is. As for what might happen on a sales call, I kind of wonder if the client would even know the difference. I mean it’s getting harder to find people in the business who know the difference. It’s obvious that this cal guy knows but I think he’s trying to make the point that each one, cume and share are a rating, as in “they had a 1.6 rating in the book” thereby making it a little less confusing for Joe’s Plumbing Supply. Of course if an AE is on a call with an agency he would sound stupid just calling it a rating. This is my 33rd year in commercial radio and I understand what you’re saying, but I can see his side of it too. Perhaps he’ll post again and explain his thinking on the subject.

That's pretty much my take on it. I meant no disrespect to Mr. Skinner, but I guess I look at this whole thing a little more casually...

 

[Dick Skinner]

Scooty needs to learn how to read an Arbitron report. With a 1.6 rating and over 1,000,000 cume in the last ratings period...

Don't mean to be a dick, but it's a share, not a rating. This a radio board. Can we try to use correct terms please?

Dick

Good points all around.

I'm a stickler as well when it comes to correct terms, but saying it's a "rating" isn't really wrong. Yes it's a share, but in my 20 plus years in the business I've heard the term "rating" used in just the same way by so many people with even more experience than I that I don't think it's that big a deal. You could say that both cume and share are ratings, just of a different type.

In my over 35 years in the business, I've never heard a knowledgeable broadcaster call a share a rating. I've heard it said they "had a 1.6 in the ratings," but if I were to take that 1.6 rating figure and pitch it on a sales call, when I meant 1.6 share, I'd be shown the door. And yes, cume and share are components of a ratings report, but if I said KSWD had a "1,016,400 rating" or "a 1,016,400 share," I'd be wrong.

Dick

Well, you are right to be totally precise. However, share and cume are components of the Arbitron rating system so it’s really a matter of how exacting you want to be. For those not in the business calling it a rating is less confusing. Those of us in the industry can be more accurate and call it what it is. As for what might happen on a sales call, I kind of wonder if the client would even know the difference. I mean it’s getting harder to find people in the business who know the difference. It’s obvious that this cal guy knows but I think he’s trying to make the point that each one, cume and share are a rating, as in “they had a 1.6 rating in the book” thereby making it a little less confusing for Joe’s Plumbing Supply. Of course if an AE is on a call with an agency he would sound stupid just calling it a rating. This is my 33rd year in commercial radio and I understand what you’re saying, but I can see his side of it too. Perhaps he’ll post again and explain his thinking on the subject.

That's pretty much my take on it. I meant no disrespect to Mr. Skinner, but I guess I look at this whole thing a little more casually...

 

[Leopold]

2 Things regarding the reunion. It was absolutely Gonzer's show from start to finish. The Shadoe & Bellamy regimes hate each other (bad blood thru the years.) Attempts were made to bring in both camps and I wasn't privvy to those discussions, but suffice to say we see which camp "won." No offense to Jeff, but the fact he worked with Sam had MUCH to do with it. I was also a bit dismayed that after contacting a few people who worked under Sam, they were surprised to hear about te reunion and obviously hadn't been invited. I'm not naming names but there were THREE people who live in town who would have loved to have been a part.
The other thing-- and this is dicier and makes my blood boil. 'Quat did the "Legends Of Rock Radio" the weekend before at K-LOST with their management knowing full well he was slated for the Sound event. It is MY UNDERSTANDING that he was offered a position of future employment with Citadel, and to show good faith, "maybe you should just blow off that little stunt at 100.3 next weekend..." He never showed up and a lot of people were disappointed. I left a message on Buchmann's machine at 3 am basically calling him, his GM (Bob Moore) and his corporate honchos a bunch of deadbeats to deprive So. Calif. with a proper reunion. Not only were Ladd, Fox and the others banned from appearing on the air, they were told in no uncertain terms to not attend the PRIVATE dinner off-the-air scheduled for Thursday evening. It's kind of unnerving how much control a corporation has over what you do in your spare time. I guess that's the downside of contracts.
And then Ladd got on his soapbox after 8 minutes of spots around 9pm that Monday and proceeded to drone on for another 8 minutes about how it was his decision all along to not show and nobody made him do anything... I'll leave it to your imagination whow folks are feeling aboutall of this...

 

[scooty430]

I'm curious. In his soliloquy, what did Ladd say was the reason he decided, on his own, not to attend?

 

[ChannelFlipper]

2 Things regarding the reunion. It was absolutely Gonzer's show from start to finish. The Shadoe & Bellamy regimes hate each other (bad blood thru the years.) Attempts were made to bring in both camps and I wasn't privvy to those discussions, but suffice to say we see which camp "won." No offense to Jeff, but the fact he worked with Sam had MUCH to do with it. I was also a bit dismayed that after contacting a few people who worked under Sam, they were surprised to hear about te reunion and obviously hadn't been invited. I'm not naming names but there were THREE people who live in town who would have loved to have been a part.
The other thing-- and this is dicier and makes my blood boil. 'Quat did the "Legends Of Rock Radio" the weekend before at K-LOST with their management knowing full well he was slated for the Sound event. It is MY UNDERSTANDING that he was offered a position of future employment with Citadel, and to show good faith, "maybe you should just blow off that little stunt at 100.3 next weekend..." He never showed up and a lot of people were disappointed. I left a message on Buchmann's machine at 3 am basically calling him, his GM (Bob Moore) and his corporate honchos a bunch of deadbeats to deprive So. Calif. with a proper reunion. Not only were Ladd, Fox and the others banned from appearing on the air, they were told in no uncertain terms to not attend the PRIVATE dinner off-the-air scheduled for Thursday evening. It's kind of unnerving how much control a corporation has over what you do in your spare time. I guess that's the downside of contracts.
And then Ladd got on his soapbox after 8 minutes of spots around 9pm that Monday and proceeded to drone on for another 8 minutes about how it was his decision all along to not show and nobody made him do anything... I'll leave it to your imagination whow folks are feeling aboutall of this...

Good info Leopold. This does resolve a few of the unanswered questions.

Ladd has always been the corporate guy he says he is not. That is because he knows that if this gig lets him go, there is no other that will let him do what he wants with the amount of freedom he currently enjoys. If he was the rebel he says he is, he would have shown up at both the private party and the on-air gig and then fought the suits (in a very public manner) later. His cred would go sky high. Like the rest of us though, his job and ability to put food on the table outweighs the benefits of being the true rebel. There is nothing wrong with being the corporate guy, everyone else likes their job and needs to be one too. But don't be Mr. Rebel on the air and Mr. Corporate Man when it comes time to cash the checks.

Very disappointing about Paraquat if this is true. He didn't show for an event in which he was heavily promoted because he thought he was going to get a carrot from Citadel? 5 cent Citadel? Has he been paying attention to what is going on? Bad play Pat. You cheated the fans and for what, a suckers mirage? Really bad play.

Of course the worst play was by KLOS, who had to (try to) copy the Sound's event before it came off (I posted on this early on in this thread). This didn't increase KLOS' cred, it validated the presence, if not the actual threat, of an upstart competitor. Just plain stupid on KLOS' part. How many folks do they think heard the KLOS event and didn't talk about the upcoming Sound event? Listeners may not know all the inner goings-on, but they are not stupid either. If anything, the KLOS event just added to the build up to the Sound event.

 

[voice of reason]

Leopold thanks for the scoop. Yes, you could say that Sam Bellamy won. And so what did we win? We won a KMET tribute comprised mostly of D-list warm bodies who happened to be there when the station was limping into extinction. No Shadoe, no Flo & Eddie, no Stephen Clean, no Jimmy Rabbit and no Mary Turner. We got to hear tapes of Pat Kelly's weak fish report. YIPPPEEEEE!!!!!
I asked a number of professionals what was the right thing for KLOS to do about letting their jocks participate in this. What I got back was that if the KLOS PD knew what was up, he would have let them all do it, but make sure they promo'd the heck out of KLOS once the mike was turned on at 100.3. What a rare opportunity. This free radio would have helped KLOS and it would not have made the PD look so intimidated. But nooo. He had to get pissy and petty.
And now this guy just took Little Steven's Underground Garage off the air on Sunday. It is easily the best syndicated show out there. It is place he has Jim Ladd playing Rush and John Mellencamp records. How weak!

 

[Leopold]

I appreciate the comments from Voice Of Reason & Channel Flipper. What I left out in my post is where I personally stood on the "lil' war" between the 2 camps. I used to listen to Flo & Eddie when they were on KROQ before the station went dark for a year or two. Mark Volman lives in town (don't know about Howard.) Jimmy Rabbitt and I chat on Twitter EVERY DAY and he would have loved to have made the trip from Colorado where he does work at a community station and also is live here on KOCI 101.5 in the O.C. on Saturday afternoons. Their 50 watt signal is totally overpowered by KGB so it's best to listen to the stream (which is down frequently I'm afraid.) And then there's SHADOE. Years ahead of his time on creative services and imaging. I still have tapes of his Legal I.D.s from both KROQ & KMET which are brilliant. Remember "Fred-Rated?" The rap on Terry was he had a kind of "holier-than-thou" delivery in his airwork but contrasted against his amazing production, it was something I could live with. Not sure if he still lives in that firetrap in Topanga, but he IS in L.A. Noone knows where Steven is. Or Doyle for that matter. But I think you now know where my allegiances lie.
Kind of harsh on Jimmy aren't we? Look, I worked with the guy for 3 years at KLSX and he's nice enough. Never had the kind of freedom there that he has at KLOS. Your points are well taken about a paycheck making the moral decisions for the current crop of employed. KSWD isn't worried about him. To paraphrase our General Manager "He flaps gum between 10 and 2 and has an 0.1. Not a threat." This is a great board and I appreciate the opportunity to share a few things that I really can't do in other spheres. Peace On You.