KONO 101 - What happened to the "oldies"?

[Don62]

Oldies or classic hits stations play songs that pass their own local research, and national charts are irrelevant. The song likely does not test among those under 55 in SA.

That song was a local favorite that the station long played.
Goes to show you how much you know about KONO.

Keyword: was.

The song, as I said, probably no longer passes in a music test on persons under 55 in San Antonio.

And that of course is the only thing that's important: testing.

Nothing else, anything that made the once-great station great, etc.

Just like wall-to-wall syndicated conservative talk programming on NT stations. All cookie cutter with little listener invovlement.

Thus the station sounds like any other in nearly any other market.

Sounds like great radio to me.

 

[Alamoboy]

Calm down Beavis. Music testing/research has been around since the Gordon McLendon days. Also, there is a huge difference in the sound and execution of Heritage stations like KOOL, KFRC, KONO, KLUV and a handful of other stations. The reason they don't sound like other stations in their respective markets is a combination of accurate programming and marketing.

Don't get me wrong, I love Artists like Sunny Ozuna and Roy Orbison, but playing "Talk to me", "Put me in jail",
"Smile now cry later", "Pretty woman" or "Love hurts" will not help you win the war.

Even The Real Oldies Channel is playing late 70's records.

 

[Alamoboy]

Sorry, I meant True Oldies Channel.

 

[davideduardo]

And that of course is the only thing that's important: testing.

No, testing is a tool, to make sure a station plays the songs the listeners want to hear, and does not play the ones they hate. Research is just one piece of putting a station together. The mechanics have to be right, such as rotations, flow, horiontal and vertical rotation, artist separation, etc. The liners and imaging have to fit the demo and lifestyle. And the jocks are the glue that puts it all together. Beyond that is promotion, marketing, commerical load, etc., etc.

But one thing is certain and that is that if the music is wrong, none of the other things can fix the staiton.

Nothing else, anything that made the once-great station great, etc.

The listeners of the 80's and 90's are not even in demo any more. The new listeners to classic hits don't care that KONO was or wasn't a good station 25 or 30 years ago.

Just like wall-to-wall syndicated conservative talk programming on NT stations. All cookie cutter with little listener invovlement.

The question is whether they get listeners or not. If they didn't they would not be on 300 to 600 stations.

Thus the station sounds like any other in nearly any other market.

The listeners in San Antonio don't care what is on in Bismark. Most only listen to SA stations, and don't know or care about whether the hosts are on in other markets any more than they care if Oprah or Leno are on in multiple markets. Remeber, the model for radio up to the time of TV was nearly all networked show, not local programming, in the peak hours.

Sounds like great radio to me.

Yes, generally talent that breaks the 300 station barrier is truly great.

 

[Willis1000]

> generally talent that breaks the 300 station barrier is truly great.

Dr Laura peaked at 471 according to Wikipedia.
She's below 300 now.
I guess truly greatness comes and goes, too.

 

[docsitto]

Three things that amaze me about David Edwardo

1. How much he says
2. How much he knows
3. How much he gets under the skin of those who say a lot but don't know as much

 

[Don62]

Yes, generally talent that breaks the 300 station barrier is truly great.

So these radio hosts, because they don't/ or didn't have anything near 300 stations, aren't or weren't great?

-Gill Gross
-Michael Jackson (the LA radio host)
-Dennis Praegar
-Barry Farber
-Alan Colmes
-Tom Snyder

Madonna and Roseanne likely outsold a lot of other great acts and actors, likely including the Byrds, Dylan, Mamas and Papas, Herb Alpert, Nat King Cole, Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, etc.

That doesn't mean the more vulgar acts produced anything of near or superior quality.

More people likely buy Doritos or Coca Cola than mangoes or bananas (in the US), but that in no way means junk food is superior to great food. Dittos for McDonald's outselling a great steak house like Ruth Chris.

Numbers don't tell the whole story.

Three things that amaze me about David Edwardo

1. How much he says
2. How much he knows
3. How much he gets under the skin of those who say a lot but don't know as much

That's his persona. There are many in this part of the Internet that disagree with him.
Check out the many other posts where he often picks arguments and comes off as a know it all.

 

[davideduardo]

So these radio hosts, because they don't/ or didn't have anything near 300 stations, aren't or weren't great?

-Gill Gross
-Michael Jackson (the LA radio host)
-Dennis Praegar
-Barry Farber
-Alan Colmes
-Tom Snyder

No, it just means they either were not successful in ratings (Jackson was good in LA for a time just as Ronn Owens is great in San Francisco. Some talents are, simply, destined for local greatness as they do not relate to a national audience.

[/quote]Madonna and Roseanne likely outsold a lot of other great acts and actors, likely including the Byrds, Dylan, Mamas and Papas, Herb Alpert, Nat King Cole, Steve Winwood, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, etc.[/quote]

And some would say that Madonna is better than any of those. It's a matter of taste that determines how we feel about them.

That doesn't mean the more vulgar acts produced anything of near or superior quality.

They are vulgar to you an dlow quality to you. That's your opinion.

More people likely buy Doritos or Coca Cola than mangoes or bananas (in the US), but that in no way means junk food is superior to great food. Dittos for McDonald's outselling a great steak house like Ruth Chris.

But the fact is that there is more money in Coke or Doritos. Just as there is more money in classic hits without most of the 60's and the 50's than there is in Oldies.

Numbers don't tell the whole story.

In the top 100 or so US markets, and excepting the bottom feeding brokered or religious stations, profitability requires a significant amount of agency business. That business is bought almost entirely on numbers. That's the WHOLE story.

That's his persona. There are many in this part of the Internet that disagree with him.
Check out the many other posts where he often picks arguments and comes off as a know it all.

Unfortunately, people like you who are emotionally bonded to a particular kind of music that is now only liked by seniors and do not want to face reality at many times. In this case, you seem unable to understand that KONO can't possibly play pre-64 music any more, and that no station will try to target you based on the simple fact that you are outside the demos advertisers ask for.

 

[Dave Dark]

David... hits the radio nail on the head.....demos drive formats/////////

 

[WillTX]

Sunny & The Sunglows (San Antionio-based "Talk to Me"). They didn't have a top 10 hit. Can't play 'em.

Oldies or classic hits stations play songs that pass their own local research, and national charts are irrelevant. The song likely does not test among those under 55 in SA.

That song was a local favorite that the station long played.
Goes to show you how much you know about KONO.

blame the FCC, the Republican controlled House in the 90s for some of this
A while back ago before Cox bought KONO, a company called New City Broadcasting owned it. New City Broadcasting owned 92.9 KSRR (before Techinor Media aka Univision), Y-100 and KONO 101 located off Datapoint Dr The play list on KONO was probally 50 percent Motown, Tempations, Tops, etc and the rest 50s, 60s and early 70s. KSMG Magic 105.3 which was owned by a different company played the same but with later 70s stuff they were a little more expansive with the 70s vs. KONO's 50s.

What I liked about the old Magic is they would play the LP versions of the Doors "Light my fire" Chicago "Begiinning" and Temptations "papa was a rolling stone" KONO and KISS would'nt.

99.5 was a 45 version of oldies kindof neat if you like shorter version of songs. KONO and KISS played the Strawberry Alarm Clock, Jim Croce, Beatles, Zaggar and Evans, Donavan "mellow yellow", Buddy Holly, and Devil with a Blue Dress by...

Anyone remember KOOL AM 930? They played 60s but threw in a lot of 50s and Do-woop. Salem Communications bought it from Cox Radio and I think 930 am was owned by Lotus Corp (the same people who own KZEP) back then they owned KISS, KOOL and KZEP and there offices were on Vantage Dr.

KSRR(KITY), KKYX, KCYY, KONO(KFAN), KMMX- New City Broadcasting
KSMG- owned by Cox?
KISS, KZEP(KEXL), KOOL Lotus

I might be wrong about ownership information here by all means correct me on that. I hadn't had the time to do the research on who the owners were, I would have to go down to the courthouse for that.

 

[davideduardo]

blame the FCC, the Republican controlled House in the 90s for some of this

Did the Republicans legislate ageing? Because all this is about is the fact that folks who like 50's and early 60's oldies are now too old to be a good advertising target, so stations make their playlists less old to attract a less old audience they can sell.

 

[Kent]

A while back ago before Cox bought KONO, a company called New City Broadcasting owned it. New City Broadcasting owned 92.9 KSRR (before Techinor Media aka Univision), Y-100 and KONO 101 located off Datapoint Dr The play list on KONO was probally 50 percent Motown, Tempations, Tops, etc and the rest 50s, 60s and early 70s. KSMG Magic 105.3 which was owned by a different company played the same but with later 70s stuff they were a little more expansive with the 70s vs. KONO's 50s.

Nope. New City owned KKYX and KCYY. I was an intern and did part-time at New City's stations in Tulsa in 1992-93. I can tell you their country stations in Tulsa, San Antonio, Birmingham, Orlando, and Atlanta (which was in the process of being divested) were run very much the same way. The "50 minute music hour" with only two breaks an hour and very little talking during the music sweep that pretty much all Cox stations do today was a result of their acquisition of New City.

KONO and KITY/KSRR were owned by Genesis Broadcasting, which was the western arm of Booth American Broadcasting. Booth American merged with Broadcast Alchemy, which owned stations in Pittsburgh and Indianapolis, to become Secret Communications and decided to focus mostly on their eastern operations. They kept the Genesis Sacramento stations but divested the other Genesis stations, which I believe were just San Antonio and Austin.

When Genesis divested, they sold KSRR-FM to Tichenor Media, which flipped Star 93 to a Spanish-language AC as KROM "La Romantica." KONO 860 was sold to Gillespie Broadcasting, which was the official owner of KONO-FM 101.1. Gillespie also owned KFAN-FM 107.9. Genesis/Secret's Austin station had already been LMA'ed to KHFI and ended up being sold to LBJ Broadcasting after Rusk decided to concentrate on just Houston and San Antonio. So, Rusk sold KHFI to Clear Channel, which also owned KPEZ and couldn't take on a third station at the time, rather than double up in Austin.

Gillespie quickly turned around and sold KONO AM/FM to John Barger, who owned KRIO-FM 94.1. Cox acquired New City in 1996 (I believe either April or May of that year was when the initial deal was struck) shortly after the Telecom Bill passed. A couple years later, Rusk decided it was a good time to cash out. So, they sold Houston to Chancellor Media, which later became AMFM and merged into Clear Channel, and KISS, Magic and KLUP were sold to Cox. About six months to a year later, Cox acquired Barger's stations but became one over the limit for FM's. So, they sold KRIO-FM to SBS and kept KONO AM/FM.

Anyone remember KOOL AM 930? They played 60s but threw in a lot of 50s and Do-woop. Salem Communications bought it from Cox Radio and I think 930 am was owned by Lotus Corp (the same people who own KZEP) back then they owned KISS, KOOL and KZEP and there offices were on Vantage Dr.

KOOL Gold 930 was KISS Terrell Hills/San Antonio. It was owned by Adams Radio, and it was not co-owned with KZEP, which was a Lotus station. Adams owned TV stations around the country as well as radio. Most of the AM stations Adams owned ran the KOOL Gold satellite format, which was out of KOOL 960 in Phoenix (also owned by Adams). However, they had a few that ran Z-Rock. Adams did not run radio stations very well and saw pretty much all of their stations get dismantled by their competition. The company went bankrupt in either 1991 or '92. KISS AM/FM were LMA'ed by Rusk around October of '91. Both KISS stations began simulcasting Magic. Around Christmastime, they flipped the AM to standards as KLUP and the FM went back to rock.

KSRR(KITY), KKYX, KCYY, KONO(KFAN), KMMX- New City Broadcasting
KSMG- owned by Cox?
KISS, KZEP(KEXL), KOOL Lotus

Here's the correct ownership chart:
KONO/KSRR-FM - Genesis Broadcasting (Gillespie actually owned KONO-FM 101.1 but LMA'ed it to Genesis in either late 1990 or early '91)
KKYX/KCYY - New City
KMMZ/KMMX - Vision Communications (went bankrupt in '92 and LMA'ed KMMX to New City, which promptly flipped K-Mix to KKYX-FM; eventually sold to New City)
KSMG - Rusk Communications
KISS AM/FM - Adams (LMA'ed and later sold to Rusk beginning in late '91)
KZEP - Lotus
KZVE/KXTN - TK Communications (owned stations in Miami as well as KLUV in Dallas; sold to Tichenor in '93)
KTSA/KTFM - Waterman Broadcasting (sold to Infinity in 2000 for $90 million)
KQXT - Westinghouse (sold to Clear Channel in '92 for $7 million)
WOAI/KAJA - Clear Channel
KSJL/KSAQ - Inner City Broadcasting

I think that just about covers it for the early 90's. By the way, prior to August 1992, a single company could only own one AM and one FM per market. They were allowed 2 AM/2 FM in August '92. The current rules that allow Cox to have 5 FM's in San Antonio went into effect in '96.