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KPNW played “Bad Habits” by Ed Sheeran.

If I'm listening to music on the radio, it's usually C-89 or KEXP. I wrote off 107.7 when they started playing twentyone pilots all the time, alternating with early 2000s Red Hot Chili Peppers. In other words, I'm sort of the audience KPNW is looking for. But both times I was in the car within the past week and turned on 98.9, they were playing Billy Idol's cover of "Mony Mony," which I find grating. Looking online at their playlist, I find things to admire about it, but they're playing an awful lot of music that's at least 30 years old, and I'm easily bored by too much older music. I might as well turn on my Tidal app and listen to the older music I like at that point.

By the way, another thing I noticed about the online playlist: The website builder hasn't updated the web address from the days of The Bull: live.989bull.com/listen/
 
When I hear the newer stuff on KPNW-FM it's pretty cool. When I hear the older stuff, like Jackson Browne, it reminds me of the Mountain, a station I never listened to. I tilt more rock / metal / alternative / 2010's pop in music tastes I guess (along with blues, which isn't much of a radio format), and the relaxed-fit jeans music and yacht rock just doesn't make it well with me personally.

But I still give KPNW credit for trying.

And yeah, last night I heard a cool song by Mayer Hawthorne (an artist I hadn't heard of) called "The Pool", followed by Jackson Browne's "Stay" (Uggh). Then again, that's just my own tastes kicking in, obviously, and like many here I personally am an "outlier".
 
Ironically, I think something that disappoints a different sector of the people sampling KPNW is that it isn't more "Mountain" esque.

It's parts KZOK, KMTT, KJBB and KNDD - and a dash of KEXP. Which goes to why this format (as much as I love it) is incredibly difficult to program and satisfy a marketable share of audience.
 
That is really the tough part. Forget about pleasing all the people all the time. The best hope is most (some?) of the people most of the time, but even that's a challenge in today's world of highly fragmented musical tastes. As an armchair PD, I'd have to agree that Mony Mony doesn't fit (though I love Billy Idol, and selections like Catch My Fall and Eyes Without a Face would make more sense IMHO).
 
After listening again this weekend, my impression of the format is that it resembles what one would hear on a listener-supported AAA station. Hubbard is the one company that is not afraid to try something like this on commercial radio, but I don't have a lot of faith that it will attract large numbers of the proper demographics or that advertisers will ever flock to it. I have to give it a rest after I hear casino ads repeated numerous times.
 
After listening again this weekend, my impression of the format is that it resembles what one would hear on a listener-supported AAA station. Hubbard is the one company that is not afraid to try something like this on commercial radio, but I don't have a lot of faith that it will attract large numbers of the proper demographics or that advertisers will ever flock to it.
Which has been the case for AAA stations since the beginning of the format.
 
KPNW at times feels more like of an alternative Jack FM than a non-comm Triple A. The successful ones in that realm like WXPN and others have more of a flow to their music and less of the "pop alternative" component that KPNW seems to draw from the heritage of KNDD. In some ways, apart from the new music, it's actually a mile wide and an inch deep.
 
Detached from "The Load-Out"? I remember hearing that on classic hits stations before they started weeding out '70s titles, but when the tune was on the charts, the CHRs I listened to all played the whole thing.
No, it was the complete live track, the one with "Stay" thrown onto the end of it. I'm not a Jackson Browne fan, so I didn't recall the title of the first part, which was one of his own songs.

Where I worked we had to list the track as two songs combined. The announcers sounded a little clunky back announcing it that way. There was another popular song at that time (1990 / 1991 or so?) that had a little bit of the Beatle's "Rain" tacked onto the end of it, and it was back announced the same way -- as two songs combined, even though there was just one line of Rain recited (if memory serves).
 
On the side topic of KNDD, I’ve found that their programming has actually improved a bit. I also gave up on 107.7 after the playlist started to incorporate music that was popular on TikTok. Obviously, Audacy realized this was a mistake and gave up on the experiment.

I really do like KPNW, but I agree, I’m not sure that this new direction will ultimately be successful. For new music, 107.7 is once again a pretty attractive option. There would arguably be more room for KPNW to gain some traction if 107.7 was still caught up with playing Kid Laori.
 
There was another popular song at that time (1990 / 1991 or so?) that had a little bit of the Beatle's "Rain" tacked onto the end of it, and it was back announced the same way -- as two songs combined, even though there was just one line of Rain recited (if memory serves).
Likely this lost selection:

 
KPNW at times feels more like of an alternative Jack FM than a non-comm Triple A. The successful ones in that realm like WXPN and others have more of a flow to their music and less of the "pop alternative" component that KPNW seems to draw from the heritage of KNDD. In some ways, apart from the new music, it's actually a mile wide and an inch deep.
Depends on what they're playing. They are definitely less current than most AAA stations. It is a commercial AAA not non-Commercial. They do play some artists that Jack FM doesn't play like Beach Weather and Panic At The Disco.
 
On the side topic of KNDD, I’ve found that their programming has actually improved a bit. I also gave up on 107.7 after the playlist started to incorporate music that was popular on TikTok. Obviously, Audacy realized this was a mistake and gave up on the experiment.

I really do like KPNW, but I agree, I’m not sure that this new direction will ultimately be successful. For new music, 107.7 is once again a pretty attractive option. There would arguably be more room for KPNW to gain some traction if 107.7 was still caught up with playing Kid Laori.
I think they realized it wasn't successful so they gave up on that and went more Alternative. After KPNW went into town though they seemed to be adding a lot of older songs from the 80s sometimes one or two per hour.
 
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