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Washington Latest in Tri/Walla Walla

seatownmedia

seatownmedia

To get this section back on track to non-Seattle happenings:

KZIU's translator at 94.5 (Walla Walla) has a strong signal into the Tri, and is running Fox Sports programming, a nice option to KJOX 1340, which runs ESPN and simulcasts KIRO-AM out of Seattle daytime.

The Oasis at 106.9 still covers most of the Tri, but continues to be weak in some protected areas. The format either shines or fails based on 15 minutes of listening by this user. They can be great or god-awful in any particular 15 minute segment. Just my opinion.

97 Rock continues to have moments of good music, but then grind into head-banging noise that this listener can't tolerate. Perhaps they do well with those younger than myself?

And what is with The Quake at 102.1? My gawd, they sound like a local in Tri-Cities with that killer signal, even though it is coming out of Wenatchee! (Weird to hear Wenatchee commercials in the Tri...maybe they should try and sell down here?)
 
102.1 KPQ's transmitter is near Mission Ridge Ski Area, 2,654 feet HAAT. They have an astonishing signal, can be heard almost anywhere in eastern WA and shows up on a car radio's seek in about 75% of our side of the Cascades. I hear Ellensburg ads often on The Quake, but never Yakima or further south, even though their LOCAL pattern covers Yakima proper.
I used to hear them in parts of Seattle as well, in north Bothell they were quite strong in the right spot (knife-edge), but 3 miles away they were gone. I believe decades ago, they were as high as 100KW and were audible in most parts of the Puget Sound.

K233CJ 94.5 does quite well throughout SE WA, I've heard them all the way to the Silver Dollar Cafe at 24/241 north of Sunnyside.
 
Mix 105.3 (KONA-FM Tri-Cities) has apparently blown up the morning show with Michael McDonnal and Patty Banner replaced by "AJ and Raleigh". Not sure of the why's here, but Michael is still on the website as OM, but Banner is nowhere to be found. Too bad, they were a good team.
 
Here ya go-

Michael McDonnal is hosting middays, as Midday Mike on Mix 105.3. Patti Banner moved over to the Newsroom at News Radio 610-KONA.
 
Adult Alternative 106.9 The Oasis is gone. Alexandra sold it and now running a Spanish format. Too bad as it was the only station running the format in the area.
 
seatownmedia said:
Adult Alternative 106.9 The Oasis is gone. Alexandra sold it and now running a Spanish format. Too bad as it was the only station running the format in the area.
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Probably not producing revenue. I liked the station, but their commercial breaks were almost non-existent, and even then were very short. At the end of the day if you have no revenue then you are toast. But they did offer a nice alternative format that now is not available in SE Washington. There isn't even an alternative rock station here. 97Rock is too hard, they are successful but don't offer an adult alternative sound whatsoever. Give me a KINK-Portland, or RIVER-Boise. I wonder if someone can fill the niche, but my instinct tells me in this size market, no.
 
seatownmedia said:
Adult Alternative 106.9 The Oasis is gone. Alexandra sold it and now running a Spanish format. Too bad as it was the only station running the format in the area.
Click to expand...

Alexandria still owns K295AV 106.9
 
Sheesh, more Spanish? Yet Tri-Cities doesn't have a classic hits station (since KOLW flipped from Cool FM years ago...not counting rimshots) or adult hits station (after the loss of BOB). Wow this market is laughable as hell. It's either country, CHR, religion, rock, or Spanish! And they aren't just a few stations each...there's 7 or 8 Spanish stations + the Spanish religious translators and LPFMs, including the one that now wipes out 105.7 the Hawk down that way. KONA 105.3, which used to be the at-work station, now sounds like 98.3 or even 99.1 more than anything. Where are the '80s that hail the soft rock format? Sad!
I guess the only good thing is that Hank FM is still alive and well. They are now the best station in the Tri-Cities, thanks to 102.3 flipping from smooth jazz.
 
crainbebo said:
Sheesh, more Spanish? Yet Tri-Cities doesn't have a classic hits station (since KOLW flipped from Cool FM years ago...not counting rimshots) or adult hits station (after the loss of BOB). Wow this market is laughable as hell. It's either country, CHR, religion, rock, or Spanish! And they aren't just a few stations each...there's 7 or 8 Spanish stations + the Spanish religious translators and LPFMs, including the one that now wipes out 105.7 the Hawk down that way. KONA 105.3, which used to be the at-work station, now sounds like 98.3 or even 99.1 more than anything. Where are the '80s that hail the soft rock format? Sad!
I guess the only good thing is that Hank FM is still alive and well. They are now the best station in the Tri-Cities, thanks to 102.3 flipping from smooth jazz.
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How about you run a radio station with the format you think will work? Im sure someone will ;lease you a translator and HD sub channel or a full power signal. Have you ever even worked in radio? Because you sure seem to be an expert.


Radio is first and foremost a business... and these owners obviously think and probably are making more money doing what theyre doing then running a format a radio geek on a message board thinks is a better idea
 
Then tell me...how can little Pendleton OR get a Classic Hits station (92.1 Party FM) while a market of 182,000 doesn't even have its own? Isn't Classic Hits a popular format among radio owners?

Yakima County has 100.9 KARY, it's been Classic Hits for over 15 years. They are now leaning 1970s and 1980s. They have a long time personality middays with Lou Bartelli, a relatively new morning show with giveaways and trivia etc along with Tom Kent 6 nights a week (including Saturday's Ultimate Party). I hear it in many Yakima stores.

Other than the rimshot KUMA-92.1, I don't think ANY Tri-Cities FM plays '70s Elton John music, or Bee Gees, or Steve Miller Band (well maybe 106.5 to an extent). That makes no sense in any market especially one that is growing. 1980s? Heh, except for aforementioned 92.1 and the classic rock that plays on 106.5, and very few on 105.3...nobody. But boy can they get enough of country! 94.9, 102.7, 102.3, strong rimshot on 103.5...

Remember that the Yakima area is similar to Tri in their demographics.
 
crainbebo said:
Then tell me...how can little Pendleton OR get a Classic Hits station (92.1 Party FM) while a market of 182,000 doesn't even have its own? Isn't Classic Hits a popular format among radio owners?

Yakima County has 100.9 KARY, it's been Classic Hits for over 15 years. They are now leaning 1970s and 1980s. They have a long time personality middays with Lou Bartelli, a relatively new morning show with giveaways and trivia etc along with Tom Kent 6 nights a week (including Saturday's Ultimate Party). I hear it in many Yakima stores.

Other than the rimshot KUMA-92.1, I don't think ANY Tri-Cities FM plays '70s Elton John music, or Bee Gees, or Steve Miller Band (well maybe 106.5 to an extent). That makes no sense in any market especially one that is growing. 1980s? Heh, except for aforementioned 92.1 and the classic rock that plays on 106.5, and very few on 105.3...nobody. But boy can they get enough of country! 94.9, 102.7, 102.3, strong rimshot on 103.5...

Remember that the Yakima area is similar to Tri in their demographics.
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Not knowing anything about either market, why does one market have something and another doesnt.. or why do they have a glut of some format?

There's more money to be had in some formats..... and spanish is also picking up in popularity. Plus, many stations will put on, say a mainstream AC station to flank their Hot AC station or something
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
Not knowing anything about either market, why does one market have something and another doesnt.. or why do they have a glut of some format?

There's more money to be had in some formats..... and spanish is also picking up in popularity. Plus, many stations will put on, say a mainstream AC station to flank their Hot AC station or something
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It can be cyclical as well. When I moved to Tri-Cities in 2015 there were three stations playing classic hits. They probably all destroyed each other, resulting in none today. I'm sure someone will to try to revive the format at some point. Of course the format today is mostly 80's-90's, and a few big testing 70's.
 
This comes as no surprise. The revenue, you could tell was nearly non-existent. Hardly any spots and no life to drive it's connection back to the local area. That was evident even when it was on the 100.1 stick.

It's too bad, I still think AAA done right could work in the Tri-Cities. Alexandra's problem is Hodgins is a business guy first, a brilliant shoehorner of translators and great at making money. Radio, and radio for the long haul - not so much. He flips more than a pancake if the money is there. His stations have trouble getting traction in that environment. Then he leases them out or outright sells them.

With the availability of great regional AAA's like KPND, KIND or Boise's River, it's never too far away. Heck, if you want to be adventurous you can go for WTTS out of Indianapolis. Those are AAA's in it for the long haul. The Oasis was never fully 'in.' With all the long term award winning AAA's in that region, you'd have thought a go and a real go with lessons of what works would be applied in that market.

Not to be.

Nothing personal Tom if you are reading this. I was rooting for The Oasis. That area deserves a good AAA. :)






seatownmedia said:
Adult Alternative 106.9 The Oasis is gone. Alexandra sold it and now running a Spanish format. Too bad as it was the only station running the format in the area.
Click to expand...
 
Stephanie_S said:
This comes as no surprise. The revenue, you could tell was nearly non-existent. Hardly any spots and no life to drive it's connection back to the local area. That was evident even when it was on the 100.1 stick.

It's too bad, I still think AAA done right could work in the Tri-Cities. Alexandra's problem is Hodgins is a business guy first, a brilliant shoehorner of translators and great at making money. Radio, and radio for the long haul - not so much. He flips more than a pancake if the money is there. His stations have trouble getting traction in that environment. Then he leases them out or outright sells them.

With the availability of great regional AAA's like KPND, KIND or Boise's River, it's never too far away. Heck, if you want to be adventurous you can go for WTTS out of Indianapolis. Those are AAA's in it for the long haul. The Oasis was never fully 'in.' With all the long term award winning AAA's in that region, you'd have thought a go and a real go with lessons of what works would be applied in that market.

Not to be.

Nothing personal Tom if you are reading this. I was rooting for The Oasis. That area deserves a good AAA. :)
Click to expand...

Agreed. There is an audience for a good TripleA in the Tri. I did not like everything the Oasis played, but they made up for it with they DID play! I miss them already. The only thing I could find to replace them on my pre-sets was NWPR. They are interesting at times, boring at times...kind of like The Oasis was. But I prefer The Oasis! Someone please bring this format back.
 
As close as you are going to get is KTCV 88.1.

As for Tom Hodgins at Alexandra who was operating The Oasis, let me put it on a finer point. As where the other clusters in the region create their brand and build the brand. Tom's game isn't nearly as much on brand, although he does do some of that with Hank for example. He's more interested in revenue. Thus, his stations and translators often operate more like placeholders until he gets someone to lease time or buy him out.

I'm not the biggest fan of that business model because it's not geared towards serving your community really. It treats a frequency as a raw commodity. All that said, he does open the door to people to come in put their formats on his sticks. It's almost as if he's a equity manager.

Anyhow, I'm no longer in that area so I hear second hand. I've got my hands full managing a FM these days.

seatownmedia said:
Agreed. There is an audience for a good TripleA in the Tri. I did not like everything the Oasis played, but they made up for it with they DID play! I miss them already. The only thing I could find to replace them on my pre-sets was NWPR. They are interesting at times, boring at times...kind of like The Oasis was. But I prefer The Oasis! Someone please bring this format back.
Click to expand...
 
Stephanie_S said:
As close as you are going to get is KTCV 88.1.

As for Tom Hodgins at Alexandra who was operating The Oasis, let me put it on a finer point. As where the other clusters in the region create their brand and build the brand. Tom's game isn't nearly as much on brand, although he does do some of that with Hank for example. He's more interested in revenue. Thus, his stations and translators often operate more like placeholders until he gets someone to lease time or buy him out.

I'm not the biggest fan of that business model because it's not geared towards serving your community really. It treats a frequency as a raw commodity. All that said, he does open the door to people to come in put their formats on his sticks. It's almost as if he's a equity manager.

Anyhow, I'm no longer in that area so I hear second hand. I've got my hands full managing a FM these days.
Click to expand...

I took your advice and listened to KTCV 88.1 for about two hours today. Interesting station. I like that they image it realistically, (paraphrasing),"we are the station that teaches high school students radio broadcasting". I like that directness. Musically, kind of all over the place with some adult alternative, some harder stuff, and today they played "The Monster Mash". And at one point they threw in a 70's hit, Rod Stewart's "You're In My Heart", which seemed way out of place compared to the rest of the titles. My best guess since this an educational program, they let the students program the music with some supervision of course. I knew this station existed, but rarely listened to it. I have locked it in as pre-set as of today!
 
Ed Dailey runs it and teaches the radio course a Tri-Tech Skills center across from the cable company in Kennewick. The students used to have more leeway. Today, he programs it with some quirks to make it an interesting listening experience.

Ed's a good guy. He's been nothing but supportive of me and especially so since I've been managing WDSW.

Cheers.


seatownmedia said:
I took your advice and listened to KTCV 88.1 for about two hours today. Interesting station. I like that they image it realistically, (paraphrasing),"we are the station that teaches high school students radio broadcasting". I like that directness. Musically, kind of all over the place with some adult alternative, some harder stuff, and today they played "The Monster Mash". And at one point they threw in a 70's hit, Rod Stewart's "You're In My Heart", which seemed way out of place compared to the rest of the titles. My best guess since this an educational program, they let the students program the music with some supervision of course. I knew this station existed, but rarely listened to it. I have locked it in as pre-set as of today!
Click to expand...
 


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