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Los Angeles: Sixth Best Market For Radio Listeners

If You speak spanish, then yes, that statement is accurate.

If you don't speak spanish, then no, his statements are flawed and without reason.
 
Sean Ross has a good analytical eye on the pulse of this media...and he shows it again at his look at our market, which echoes many of the recent threads here:
<QUOTE> So what's missing? There's no denying the mass-appeal of KIIS-FM, but there's room as wellfor something more mainstream pop along the lines of WHTZ (Z100) New York or WHYI (Y100) Miami, and if you think L.A. isn't that kind of market, well, they said that about New York and Miami not so long ago. There's no Active Rock, and with the evolution of Modern Rock, it's a little tougher for KROQ to be both to the market. There's no older-leaning Triple-A, and while KCRW and KDLE have the cachet of Triple-A, a lot of the music L.A. made famous could use a home.
*So true about KIIS. WHTZ is much more a CHR in a true sense of the word, and it just reclaimed the top ARB spot in NYC, so their formula for CHR definitely works.
* AAA in LA - a common thread on this board, and Sean pegs KDLD and KCRW correctly. It would be nice to have a full market signal dedicated to AAA, ala KFOG and WXRT, and yes David E., we know that such a formula would struggle to even get to a 2% share of the market.

<QUOTE> There's a lot of All-News and Talk radio, but there's only one (KFI) with big numbers, and while fragmentation and the signal challenges of a sprawling metropolis explain a lot, one can't help but think that there's still a way to do either Talk or All-News in a way that would galvanize a diverse market.
* This could be lifted straight from our KGIL conversations. It also deals with part of the handicaps that KRLA, KABC, KTLK each have.

<QUOTE> Urban too has been challenged in recent years, but it's hard to accept that there's not room for a KMEL San Francisco or WPGC D.C. here.
* Urban has cross-ethnic appeal, especially with Latinos, so its curious that KHHT and the former KKBT could not gel here. KJLH has attempted this too in past decades but is much too mellow now to compare to KMEL or WPGC.

<QUOTE> And for all this radio, and all these heavyweights, it sometimes feels like there ought to be more depth within the categories. It wouldn't be hard to assign all 18 car radio buttons in L.A., but in the city of Nip/Tuck, there are surprisingly few format battles that are nip-and-tuck.
* News, Talk, Regional Mexican, are some of the few that have direct format competitors (sometimes co-owned in fact).
 
David at USC said:
* AAA in LA - a common thread on this board, and Sean pegs KDLD and KCRW correctly. It would be nice to have a full market signal dedicated to AAA, ala KFOG and WXRT, and yes David E., we know that such a formula would struggle to even get to a 2% share of the market.

It struggled to get a 1 share 10 years ago; today it would struggle to get a 0.8 on a decent signal due to the ethnic percentage changes in the market.

* Urban has cross-ethnic appeal, especially with Latinos, so its curious that KHHT and the former KKBT could not gel here. KJLH has attempted this too in past decades but is much too mellow now to compare to KMEL or WPGC.

Let's look at New York, where WBLS is the truest urban, and it gets only 5% of its listening from Hispanics. WRKS is a bit less lighter, and it gets only 10% of its listening from Hispanics. If that is NY, where many Caribbean Hispanics have a common ethnic heritage with Blacks, the crossover potential in LA where there is no element of common heritage, a strong Black targeted station is going to have very minimal Hispanic appeal.

* News, Talk, Regional Mexican, are some of the few that have direct format competitors (sometimes co-owned in fact).

Remember that each of these formats has subdivisions, just like AC or CHR or rock do. The New York example of WINS for "the City" and WCBS for "the suburbs" shows even news has several "types." Talk comes in Sports, Liberal, Conservative and even Christian varieties without even discussing the options in Spanish in LA. And "regional Mexican" has a half dozen varieties... KLYY with Monterrey cumbia and sonidera, KHJ with ranchera and norteña oldies along with the harder core KBUE and the more mainstream KLAX. We don't even have an all norteña format, nor do we have an all grupera one... all elements of regional Mexican.
 
For an amazing balance of great radio stations, San Francisco/Bay Area listeners have it good! Every English speaking format seems to be covered and covered well:

Energy 92.7.....Dance and a lot of fun
KBAY 94.5.......A good sounding A/C with a great mix of music
KAT 95.3.........Another good sounding Country station
The Wolf.........New and still finding it's way, pretty decent sounding
KOIT 96.5........A/C with a good mix of music
ALICE 97.3.......Kind of ahead of it's time when it debuted and good sounding Modern A/C
KISS 98.1........Old School R&B with some currents mixed in
KUFX 98.5.......An excellent Classic Rocker
Movin 99.7......Slowly making in roads in the ratings and fun to listen to mix of current pop and older R&B
STAR 101.3......Another softer tinged Modern A/C similar to ALICE
KKIQ 101.7.......Hot A/C out of Pleasanton with signal coverage mostly in the East Bay over the mountains......okay for what it does
KDON 102.5......Latin tinged Rhythmic/CHR out of Monterey with signal penetration in San Jose..Better sounding then the Bay Area Rythmics
KBLX 102.9......Long standing Soul, Neo-soul, R&B, Old-school station that is uniquely Bay Area, but others should copy
KKSF 103.7......Great sounding Smooth Jazz station
KFOG 104.5......Triple A before most Triple A's were in existence....and a good,funky, kind of unpredictable playlist
CHANNEL 1049..Out of S.J. Had a strong following w/Active Rock, went Spanish, then came back and will have to work to get it back
LIVE 105.3........A long-standing Active Rock station that has a relatively small, but strong following
KMEL 106.........A long time Hip-Hop and R&B station with a strong Bay Area heritage and following and copied a lot.
KEZR 106.5......A Hot A/C with a lot of 80's thrown in and does quite well in the South Bay
KFRC 106.9......A comeback kid again! A good sounding Bay Area flavored Classic Hits station with heritage and history behind it.
The Bone 107...Mostly Classic Rock with some currents and 90's stuff in the mix. A very good rock station

Then on the AM side, you've got KGO, KNBR, KCBS, KSFO, KNEW etc.

If that isn't a great FM radio dial, I don't know what is? Chicago can't touch it and neither can New York or L.A. Can anyone tell me where you'll find better radio overall?
 
DavidEduardo said:
David at USC said:
* AAA in LA - a common thread on this board, and Sean pegs KDLD and KCRW correctly. It would be nice to have a full market signal dedicated to AAA, ala KFOG and WXRT, and yes David E., we know that such a formula would struggle to even get to a 2% share of the market.

It struggled to get a 1 share 10 years ago; today it would struggle to get a 0.8 on a decent signal due to the ethnic percentage changes in the market.
Not to take this thread too off course, but if you had the chance to listen to KSCA in its AAA days, and if you have had the chance to listen to AAA stations that do typically score above a 2.0 (like WXRT, KFOG, KGSR) you'll find that the listenability (creative, production, music choices) for the latter set is quite superior. Good radio will find an audience large enough for its survival. The key is good radio, which is why LA scored as #6 - you've got to be good to survive here.
 
David at USC said:
Not to take this thread too off course, but if you had the chance to listen to KSCA in its AAA days, and if you have had the chance to listen to AAA stations that do typically score above a 2.0 (like WXRT, KFOG, KGSR) you'll find that the listenability (creative, production, music choices) for the latter set is quite superior. Good radio will find an audience large enough for its survival. The key is good radio, which is why LA scored as #6 - you've got to be good to survive here.

Good radio is not good unless there is someone listening. KSCA did a quite intentional blend for the LA lifestyle of that format's partisans... in the same manner that Sean Ross commends Jack in LA for doing a custom version of that format concept that could only work in LA. LA is not Denver, and KBCO would not play here, to use one of the most successful AAA stations ever as an example.

The real issue is that LA is even more ethnic than when KSCA came to an end... and the format, executed in any variety of manners, would not work even as well now as it did then.
 
Good Posts from both Davids in this thread.
AAA in the LA market can only be ... what did they like to call it? .. a botique format (sp?).

I would think it could do OK and actually get SOME numbers (ala Indie) on a frequency like 92.7 which is totally wasted with the train wreck aka JILL-FM. That station has zero #s in LA, small numbers in Ventura and small #s in Victorville. IF Amaturo cared at all, they'd switch it to a AAA format and AT LEAST get something for their investment! IMHO ;)
 
With a nationally-respected AC powerhouse like KOST celebrating it's 25th birthday yesterday, and being acknowledged as such in a superb multi-page spread in this week's issue of R&R, I have to agree about JILL-FM not going anywhere ratings-wise, especially with what is the most prestigious AC station in America as competition.
 
LIVE 105.3........A long-standing Active Rock station that has a relatively small, but strong following

Live 105.3 is MODERN Rock, not Active Rock. Until very recently, the station had steered clear of songs that were Active Rock-compatible for several years, with only a few exceptions.

The previous PD, Sean Demery, wanted the station to have as little in common as possible with an Active Rock sound.

Every English speaking format seems to be covered and covered well:

Not only does the area lack an Active Rock station, it doesn't even have a CHR/Pop station, so I have to respectfully disagree.

CHANNEL 1049..Out of S.J. Had a strong following w/Active Rock, went Spanish, then came back and will have to work to get it back

Channel 104-9 was NEVER Active Rock.

92KSJO was certainly Active Rock for a time -- at least that was the case when I first heard the station online and several years thereafter. The station seemed to veer into Mainstream Rock territory in its last 12 to 18 months on the air, and it was a very poorly programmed one at that. The station got sucked dry of its stationality during those miserable final months, too.

By the way, I would categorize Star 101.3 as Hot AC, not Modern AC.
 
In terms of variety and programming, San Fran and the Bay Area has to be in the Top 5, if not Number 1.

NY, LA or Chicago don't match up overall to the stations in the Bay...on both the AM and FM side.

Anyone know where one might find a better overall radio dial?
 
Ask the people in the bay... they might have a different take on it.

Actually... I'm sure there's a few threads on it.

Nobody's ever happy with what they have.

Move to the bay, you'll be missing KIIS in no time.
 
I would put San Diego near the top in terms of variety, however, they get points off for not offering a rock-based Oldies format on FM.

I suspect they'll be in the Top 5 on the countdown.
 
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