• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

KTWN Radio

At least their flagship switch to FM will be better received than when they tried to create their own cable channel. Anyone remember Victory Sports One? :D
 
K-Twin = EPIC FAIL.

Moving from Modern AC to a quasi-Rock AC is going to do very little to improve ratings. Whomever is calling the music programming shots is a fool.
They could've (and perhaps should've) picked up 102.9's old format.

I wonder what type of market research these clowns did before making the call to dump the CHR/Pop format (not sure why the station is described as rap/hip-hop in the article; the B96 brand was scrapped a few years ago in favor of CHR/Pop) ?

I also like how the station's manager misled the MinnPost about just how poor the station's ratings are:
http://www.minnpost.com/braublog/2012/05/new-buzn-k-twin-formats-shake-twin-cities-radio-ratings

Funny how Buz'n is fairly successful while K-Twin is an absolute abortion of a station. Did these guys' research not show the same opening for a second country station that CBS's research showed?
As for successfully recycling the Twins baseball audience into the music dayparts, good luck with that one!!! Doesn't seem to be working too well for Rock 100.5 in Atlanta.
 
I would like to see it flip to a format similar to what Rock 96 ( 95.7 KDAL-FM) in Duluth is doing except without so much voice tracking, more local on air personalities, and more promotion. Both St. Cloud and Duluth have 3 rock stations of which one is a classic rock, one is active rock, and another is more of a mix featuring a lot of what I call " Retro rock" from the 80's along with some of the active rock as well as the harder classic rock of the 70's. Even with little local personalities and being run out of green bay mostly, and lots of voice tracking with little to no outside promotion. Rock 96 has been beating 94X ( The active rock station similar to 93 X here) consistently. In St. Cloud 101.7 WHMH fills this void and has been on the air rocking for 30 years.

If these smaller markets can support these 3 different kinds of rock stations, It should also fare well in the Twin Cities.
 
I think the Rock 100.3 lesson might be a little too fresh in minds. Dave Hamilton can easily maneuver KQ and 93X to smother any challenge.

(Just because there may be a hole NOW, doesn't mean the hole couldn't quickly be filled.)

And I hate to say it, but Rock 96 is being slaughtered in Duluth.
 
pbf1 said:
I think the Rock 100.3 lesson might be a little too fresh in minds. Dave Hamilton can easily maneuver KQ and 93X to smother any challenge.
Click to expand...
You think so, with Cumulus in charge? The biggest pet peeve with KTwin is that everyone thinks of it as an out of town station that thinks it's relevant, just because it moved into town.

(Full disclosure: My biggest Peeve is that the station sounds too much like JACK to even be trying(even if KTwin does have On-Air talent, and will have the Twins soon.))
 
djc said:
rock from the 80's along with some of the active rock as well as the harder classic rock of the 70's.
Click to expand...

This is the Mainstream Rock format which is found in various markets around the country. Another rock format that is missing from the MSP market and has been for over 15 years is alternative rock. 89.3 is a Noncommercial AAA and bears no resemblance whatsoever to the alt. format.
 
When is this garbage station finally going to change its music format?

Can't believe these goofballs let Love 105 fill the AdCon void by default with zero challenge... These guys should've claimed that space when they had the chance.

Now, they seem to be going after Cities 97. Good luck with that! :D
 
Not a good enough signal to own AC.

BT and Jason Nagel are on, from Cities. Considering how mainstream Modern AC Cities has gotten, there is room for something with a deeper list.

Twins baseball will be a good cume builder soon, too.
 
Not a good enough signal to own AC.

BT and Jason Nagel are on, from Cities. Considering how mainstream Modern AC Cities has gotten, there is room for something with a deeper list.

Twins baseball will be a good cume builder soon, too.
Click to expand...

So let me get this straight...

The signal isn't good enough to strip a format opportunity from the 105's (which are pulling a steady 3 share these days), yet you think it might be able to compete effectively with Cities 97?

Keep dreamin'. K-Twin hit an all-time low in the holiday book. Yes, I realize the numbers are skewed in favor of the Christmas music stations, but failure to even crack a 1 share is pitiful anyway you slice it. Cities 97 beat them by a 6:1 margin!
 
Keep dreaming? I'm not playing the role of advocate here.

You can dream all you want about K-Twin becoming AC, but with BT, Jason Nagel, and Cain....ain't happening.

As for going head-to-head with Cities 97, they're not. One's deeper than the other.

And for that 1 share, that was prior to the aforementioned talent joining.
 
MarkW said:
When is this garbage station finally going to change its music format?

Can't believe these goofballs let Love 105 fill the AdCon void by default with zero challenge... These guys should've claimed that space when they had the chance.

Now, they seem to be going after Cities 97. Good luck with that! :D
Click to expand...

OK, tough guy.
 
K-Twin and its format exist for one purpose - the Minnesota Twins, which share common ownership by the Pohlad family.

Sure, their current mish-mash modern AC format isn't doing too hot so far, but they would have been killed by Clear Channel if they went sports, or Cumulus if they went rock. Granted, there is a hole for alt-rock, which is where it seems to be slowly heading. Which also explains why you can hear the White Stripes, Bon Jovi and Bruno Mars all on one station. I get the feeling they are in a slow transition.

Overall, it's not a bad station, though the presentation and imaging are pretty dull. And the processing is way over the top. But with the heritage station CIties 97 slowly going in a hipster Lite FM direction, perhaps a real AAA station could have some sort of impact. But again, the station exists as filler around Twins games.
 
Sure, their current mish-mash modern AC format isn't doing too hot so far, but they would have been killed by Clear Channel if they went sports, or Cumulus if they went rock. Granted, there is a hole for alt-rock, which is where it seems to be slowly heading. Which also explains why you can hear the White Stripes, Bon Jovi and Bruno Mars all on one station. I get the feeling they are in a slow transition.
Click to expand...

A true Modern Rock format -- similar to WLUM in Milwaukee -- would certainly be a wiser direction for the station than the current one.

As for going head-to-head with Cities 97, they're not. One's deeper than the other.
Click to expand...

We'll have to agree to disagree. It seems to me they are pretty much going for the same life group likely to have Cities 97 as its P1 station. The station is positioned somewhere between Cities and KS95, but of those two stations, I'd say there is a lot more commonality with Cities.
 
I'm agreeing with Mark on both of his previous points. I think Alt-rock would be a great move for this station as 1) There is no alt-rock outlet in the Twin Cities and 2) It would pick off some of the listeners of Cities who are tired of the almost hourly Pink and Bruno Mars while maintaining a good part of their current audience (though dumping some of the older demos as the 80s music would have to go for the most part).
And I will also agree with you on the two stations going for the same audience, though K-Twin seems to be going for an older crowd, especially since Cities seems to be moving from it's AAA/Modern AC hybrid to a more pure Modern AC station.
 
MarkW said:
We'll have to agree to disagree. It seems to me they are pretty much going for the same life group likely to have Cities 97 as its P1 station. The station is positioned somewhere between Cities and KS95, but of those two stations, I'd say there is a lot more commonality with Cities.
Click to expand...

KS95 is almost Top 40 these days.

KTWN has 490+ titles in the last 7 days. KTCZ has 220.

If anything, Cities is between KS and K-Twin.
 
Re: KTWN Radio, the Twin Cities Voice of Classical Music

I have additional information on my stint at KTWN, the Twin Cities Voice of Classical Music. I'll mention names I Ieft out the first time during my time there. Engineer Hal Schardin, who was with KANO and KTWN long before my time there, departed for WCCO-AM shortly after I worked there. Engineer Tim Elftmann was also associated with KANO and KTWN. I recall him coming in to help with the engineering in the last days of classical music programming. As far as fellow announcers, I want to mention Dave Madsen, who had been with WLOL-FM and was an operations director at KTWN. I already mentioned manager Ray Ose. I recalled the other announcer on the syndicated Parkway classical music programming taped service. He was Terry Hourigan, who was a mainstay in the DC area. At the time of Parkway, he was also affiliated with Voice of America and later with Mutual Radio's Larry King all night show as a newsman and with Mutual's Theater Five. Keeping us all entertained on the KANO-AM side were morning DJ Mike Klotz, a highly creative person, and "June Bug," the lady who kept the books for both stations. She would have been great on the air with her dark sense of humor. More later, as I recall.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom