KSUR Goes All-Christmas

[fybush]

When you've had 60 years of success under your belt and you have all the money you or your kids are ever going to need, you can make moves that do nothing but amuse yourself. I assume that's what Saul is doing now.

For what it's worth, my guess (and it's only a guess) is that the plan is to use 1260 as an all-digital MA3 test bed. It's not going to make Saul loads of money, but I can see why he might be interested in trying it. Classical is the sort of niche format that its listeners will seek out (though there's KUSC serving their needs, too.) It attracts the sort of upscale audience that's likely to be driving newer vehicles with HD radios in the dashboard. Going to the MA3 all-digital mode will give 1260 useful daytime coverage of nearly the entire market, give or take some bits of southern Orange County, at least if the results I've heard on WWFD's testing turn out similarly. And if WWFD is any indication, the audio for a classical format on 1260 ought to sound pretty decent, too.

I'm willing to accept that not everything someone like Saul does is motivated purely by next-quarter profits. There's a benefit to the entire industry in keeping traditional radio front and center in auto dashboards. The Xperi folks have told me that they have reason to be concerned that automakers won't just drop AM but also FM in a few years - and they believe that if both AM and FM can deliver added features like title/artist display and album art, automakers will be more willing to keep radio in their "radios." If MA3 digital helps to make that happen, I'm good with that.

 

[TheBigA]

I'm willing to accept that not everything someone like Saul does is motivated purely by next-quarter profits.

A lot of boomers were hoping someone would be willing to continue to play 60s oldies for them.

 

[fybush]

A lot of boomers were hoping someone would be willing to continue to play 60s oldies for them.

And Saul still is, as long as you have an HD radio and you're within range of KKGO.

 

[davideduardo]

When you've had 60 years of success under your belt and you have all the money you or your kids are ever going to need, you can make moves that do nothing but amuse yourself. I assume that's what Saul is doing now.

I understand that perfectly; in the later 60's I ran classical on my "leftover" FM in Quito and had a lot of fun picking the works that would be featured each day; we operated at the "everybody goes home" lunch break from Noon to 2:30 PM and from 6 PM to Midnight daily. I did this for several years until the growing interest in rock demanded what later would be called an AOR station.

For what it's worth, my guess (and it's only a guess) is that the plan is to use 1260 as an all-digital MA3 test bed. It's not going to make Saul loads of money, but I can see why he might be interested in trying it. Classical is the sort of niche format that its listeners will seek out (though there's KUSC serving their needs, too.) It attracts the sort of upscale audience that's likely to be driving newer vehicles with HD radios in the dashboard. Going to the MA3 all-digital mode will give 1260 useful daytime coverage of nearly the entire market, give or take some bits of southern Orange County, at least if the results I've heard on WWFD's testing turn out similarly. And if WWFD is any indication, the audio for a classical format on 1260 ought to sound pretty decent, too.

On that subject, this sounds exactly like something he would do... it will get ample press coverage, support from the arts community and Saul certainly know how to sell classical... probably better than anyone in the country. I used to think that Bob Conrad at WCLV in Cleveland was the best classical operator ever, but Saul inherited that title. If anyone can do it, it is Saul as he is not a quarter-by-quarter finance person.

I am, though, skeptical of the concept that more affluent people will have more MA3 capable vehicles. While a portion of the higher income group is also among classical partisans, those partisans tend to be older. And there are plenty of statistics that older people keep vehicles longer... much longer... than they did when younger. So it will take quite a while for the classical core to have cars with an MA3 capable receiver.

What I am most concerned about is the fact that AM in Europe is all but dead, and FM being phased out in some nations. This will cause manufacturers from Fiat to BMW to have an "attitude" towards terrestrial radio that does not reflect the rest of the world. Unfortunately, the Fiat policies will affect GM... at which point it becomes a contagion.

I'm willing to accept that not everything someone like Saul does is motivated purely by next-quarter profits. There's a benefit to the entire industry in keeping traditional radio front and center in auto dashboards. The Xperi folks have told me that they have reason to be concerned that automakers won't just drop AM but also FM in a few years - and they believe that if both AM and FM can deliver added features like title/artist display and album art, automakers will be more willing to keep radio in their "radios." If MA3 digital helps to make that happen, I'm good with that.

The NAB, which has its own huge financial problems between the loss of convention revenue and the new building expense, should be at the forefront of this and emphasizing the immense value of direct radio-frequency broadcasts, highlighting the sustainability of radio during emergencies when all other services prove fragile by comparison. I worry that the NAB, which derives so much revenue from TV, tends to forget radio in some important areas.

But an effort, perhaps backed by the new President who could be shown that free terrestrial radio is the most economically accessible medium for all Americans, to keep radio present and prominent is important. But we've been through several NAB "top guns" who don't seem to pay much attention to radio.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

The voice thing works for me---I'm the 64-year-old anchor in a Sacramento newsroom full of brilliant 20-something reporters. I sound like I always have. That's shocked a couple of listeners. We're a regional station, with a signal that covers Reno/Tahoe---where I was on the radio 43 years ago. I've been asked if I was "Mike Hagerty's son".

As for our Classical station, a great example of our appeal is Jennifer Reason, who joined for middays a year and a half ago:

https://www.capradio.org/news/insig...avy-metal-loving-midday-classical-music-host/

Wow, that is right around the time (early 80's) I lived in Kings Beach (North Lake Tahoe, California side) and met one of the jocks on the local CHR station that had its studios right there in town (I forget the call letters now) who gave me a tour of the place. Between that day and WKRP, I almost decided to make a career in radio. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed! (sorry!)

 

[chrocket87]

A lot of boomers were hoping someone would be willing to continue to play 60s oldies for them.

Those oldies are just being replaced by the oldest of Oldies music. So they can’t really say that 1260 took away their Oldies.

 

[CTListener]

Those oldies are just being replaced by the oldest of Oldies music. So they can’t really say that 1260 took away their Oldies.

When XM was still independent, its classical music channel, XM Classics, used the slogan "The greatest hits of the past thousand years."

 

[michael hagerty]

Wow, that is right around the time (early 80's) I lived in Kings Beach (North Lake Tahoe, California side) and met one of the jocks on the local CHR station that had its studios right there in town (I forget the call letters now) who gave me a tour of the place. Between that day and WKRP, I almost decided to make a career in radio. Fortunately cooler heads prevailed! (sorry!)

Pretty sure I know the station, Flip. Was KSML in the mid-70s, then KEZC----I think it was KHTX in its CHR incarnation. Right across the street from the lake in kind of a triangle-shaped building?

I was at KOLO-AM in Reno beginning November of 1977, then on to TV (KTVN, Channel 2) from 1981-84---so it's as much a shock to me when someone from Reno/Tahoe remembers my name and/or voice as it must be to them that I'm still on the air.

 

[ChannelFlipper]

Pretty sure I know the station, Flip. Was KSML in the mid-70s, then KEZC----I think it was KHTX in its CHR incarnation. Right across the street from the lake in kind of a triangle-shaped building?

I was at KOLO-AM in Reno beginning November of 1977, then on to TV (KTVN, Channel 2) from 1981-84---so it's as much a shock to me when someone from Reno/Tahoe remembers my name and/or voice as it must be to them that I'm still on the air.

Yep, you got the building and location absolutely right and I am sure the call letters too.

Kinda funny how I got the tour. Being a young teenager with nothing but time on my hands, I was playing pinball in a local laundry mat. I had figured out that the coin intake had a weakness that allowed me to access as many credits as I wanted without putting in any coins, thus all afternoon I was playing pinball for free. Not as much fun as actual video games, but the price was right. In any case, one day a guy walks in to do his laundry and he is driving the station's promo car, so I struck up a conversation with him. He is actually a DJ at the station. The station was running a bumper sticker contest (we see our bumper sticker on your car around town and if we announce your license plate on the air, call in 15 minutes to win a dopey prize). So I told him my parents DID have the bumper sticker on their car (which was true) and he said to give him the license plate and he would read it on the air on his next shift in a couple of days and I can call in and win the prize. This actually happened, but even better, we got to talking and he offered me a tour of the station. So Awesome!

I wish I remembered the guy's name who was so cool to a young kid, but alas not, but wherever he is, THANKS Mr. DJ!

 

[Kent]

Pretty sure I know the station, Flip. Was KSML in the mid-70s, then KEZC----I think it was KHTX in its CHR incarnation. Right across the street from the lake in kind of a triangle-shaped building?

Can’t tell you about the location, but you have the right station. It was also KHTZ at the end of its CHR days and is today's KODS.

 

[Mediafrog+]

How popular was 1260 during the KGIL days? I recall Dick Whittington made a bit of a splash there in the late 1960's...even had an article about him and the station in Newsweek.

 

[davideduardo]

The NAB, which has its own huge financial problems between the loss of convention revenue and the new building expense, should be at the forefront of this and emphasizing the immense value of direct radio-frequency broadcasts, highlighting the sustainability of radio during emergencies when all other services prove fragile by comparison. I worry that the NAB, which derives so much revenue from TV, tends to forget radio in some important areas.

A sure sign of senility or insanity is responding to one's own messages...

Anyway, here goes:

Inside Radio has an article about broadcast groups in other nations working to insure traditional radio's place in future dashboards:

http://www.insideradio.com/free/rad...cle_ea72ae22-2ef2-11eb-b667-4b17c46edc1c.html

Here is the first paragraph:

Ensuring radio has a prominent place in the car dashboard remains a key mission for the industry, and some broadcasters are looking to London where the broadcaster-backed, auto-focused radio platform Radioplayer is based. This week it expanded into three new countries, inking partnerships in France, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Radioplayer is already in Canada and while it isn’t in the U.S., it is an option some companies are considering.

What I fail to see in all these discussion is the highlighting of the need for a hardened and less vulnerable system in cars when there are emergencies. I look to cases like the recent California and western state wildfires, where terrestrial radio was viable when all other services were down or inaccessible. And today, with digital TV and an almost total lack of portable "pocket" TV receivers, radio is the only viable emergency medium that is highly resistant to failure.

 

[TheBigA]

Inside Radio has an article about broadcast groups in other nations working to insure traditional radio's place in future dashboards:

It's an important thing to consider because all of AM/FM's competitors are willing to PAY for space on the dashboard. Hard to turn down money.

 

[michael hagerty]

How popular was 1260 during the KGIL days? I recall Dick Whittington made a bit of a splash there in the late 1960's...even had an article about him and the station in Newsweek.

Mediafrog, in the late 60s KGIL was very hot for being a 5kw at 1260.

Their best L.A. book was fall 1968, where they tied for 12th (with Spanish-language KALI, beautiful music KOST, and KWIZ in Santa Ana) with a 3 share. But that was just a point behind KFI, whose 4 share tied it with KRLA, KGFJ and KFOX. So KGIL was absolutely in the game. KMPC, by the way, had an 8 share and was in third place. In mornings in that book, Whittington was only a point behind Lohman and Barkley at KFI, Dave Hull at KRLA, Dick Haynes at KFOX and The Magnificent Montague at KGFJ.

KGIL was focused on the San Fernando Valley, where the transmitter was (so, for that matter, was KMPC's, but they had 50,000 watts at 710) and had a serious local news presence and a traffic plane. More than a million people were living in the Valley by 1970, so anything extra from the parts of L.A. that could listen to KGIL was gravy. And back in those days before everything we had (lights, personal devices) interfered with AM, I could listen to KGIL in Long Beach without much static.

Still, in the late 60s and really, through most of the 1970s, both KGIL and the Valley News newspaper could make a very comfortable living treating the Valley as its own market and being the "local" station in what would have, if broken out separately, been a city the size of San Diego at the time.

 

[david]

Unfortunately, the Fiat policies will affect GM... at which point it becomes a contagion.

Actually, Fiat is part of FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) so the contagion would impact Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, and RAM.......not GM.

 

[michael hagerty]

Actually, Fiat is part of FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) so the contagion would impact Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, and RAM.......not GM.

And more automotive world minutia---Fiat Chrysler is being acquired by Groupe PSA of France. Groupe PSA is the current owner of Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Opel and Vauxhall. Once completed, the new company will be called Stellantis.

So Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep/RAM's Italian ownership would become French. They're calling it a merger of equals, but as Stef Schraeder's piece in The Drive reminds us, we've heard that about Chrysler before:

https://www.thedrive.com/news/37831...ars-after-their-last-one-with-mercedes-failed

 

[davideduardo]

Actually, Fiat is part of FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles) so the contagion would impact Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, and RAM.......not GM.

Of course... my error. In fact, in quite a few US locations, Fiat is sold at the Dodge dealer or at another Chrysler product location.

We went to see the FIAT when the current models came out around 5 or 6 years ago, thinking it might be a cute care for our weekend and vacation home. It was the most awful experience I've ever had looking at a car. They demanded to check my credit just to get a test drive; I said that I would only give my driver license and it took them over a half hour to "consult" if that could be done. They wanted to know if I would sign some papers to test the car; we left. There is no way I would consider a Chrysler of Fiat or associated brand ever, ever again. We were so upset we even sold the old Jeep that was the car we were considering replacing so as to not have anything to do with those company.

 

[CTListener]

Of course... my error. In fact, in quite a few US locations, Fiat is sold at the Dodge dealer or at another Chrysler product location.

We went to see the FIAT when the current models came out around 5 or 6 years ago, thinking it might be a cute care for our weekend and vacation home. It was the most awful experience I've ever had looking at a car. They demanded to check my credit just to get a test drive; I said that I would only give my driver license and it took them over a half hour to "consult" if that could be done. They wanted to know if I would sign some papers to test the car; we left. There is no way I would consider a Chrysler of Fiat or associated brand ever, ever again. We were so upset we even sold the old Jeep that was the car we were considering replacing so as to not have anything to do with those company.

True then, true now, true forever: FIAT = Fix It Again, Tony. Although with French ownership, that becomes Fix It Again, Antoine, so maybe not forever.

 

[ATSFGuy]

Both my sister's and my cars have touchscreens, hers is a 2021 Corolla , mine is a 2020 Corolla , I can still access AM/FM by clicking on audio and then going to my saved presets or stream a station of choice from my smartphone. My parents cars (Lexus SUV for mom, Toyota Highlander for dad) are also equipped with touchscreens as well, mom prefers to use her phone while dad still listens to KRLA 870 The Answer, KFI 640, and KNX 1070. I think my sister also has her own music. So you could say mom and sister use their phones, while dad and I jump back and forth between AM/FM and our smartphones.