I know I haven't been around as long as some, but I've seen this play out a few times both on radio and TV. Stations see the "writing on the wall" or try to artificially revive themselves by giving themselves a new "edgier" identity in an attempt to survive. I remember Audacy alternative stations have done this and I remember TBS (cable TV) trying to take on an edgier persona with their original series in the late 2010s, with none of it sticking. Was this a thing back in the 70s-90s as well? Has any station actually pulled this off, or do all of these attempts not work? I'm not talking about stations that just evolve or stay relevant, most do that.
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Low rated or declining stations "edgy"/youthful rebrand
- Thread starter tall_guy1
- Start date
That last quote captures the idea. It's like a format change while still being the same format.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Sometimes stations will make a formatic change which is subtle enough that the audience wouldn't notice it unless they did some kind of positioning statement. Often, it's the old slogan with some kind of additional line like "more of the 80's, 90's and today".
It works sometimes, it doesn't work other times. There's no way to predict the result.
It works sometimes, it doesn't work other times. There's no way to predict the result.
A potential example are all the EZ branded stations that morphed into AC. The old "EZ" formats had all the energy of Walt Disney's cryogenicly frozen head, and AC formats were still pretty mild, but certainly more youthful.
You could argue the same for a lot of the old line news/talk stations, like WABC and KMOX in the 80s and 90s, as they embraced a more brash sound with Rush Limbaugh and his merry band of talkers.
I can't think of any good examples from the last 20 years off-hand. Maybe the "Jack" brand?
You could argue the same for a lot of the old line news/talk stations, like WABC and KMOX in the 80s and 90s, as they embraced a more brash sound with Rush Limbaugh and his merry band of talkers.
I can't think of any good examples from the last 20 years off-hand. Maybe the "Jack" brand?
The Jack brand was always a little edgy. The EZ/AC stations is more evolution I think.
But if you want to shock the Establishment today, play B/EZ.
That reminds me of the old KZON 101.5 in Phoenix. From 1995 until about 1999, they ran an "Adult Alternative" format which wasn't brash like straight-ahead "Alternative" but more focused and tighter than AAA. Then, once Jacor/Clear Channel flipped 104.7 KZZP from Modern AC to CHR, KZON decided to go after the old KZZP listening audience and made the switch to Modern AC. Ratings dropped, then Clear Channel/AMFM had to divest some stations with the merger. KZON went to Infinity, and decided to flip it to Alternative/Modern Rock with a CHR-like sound and bringing back a the old "Zone" logo. Ratings went back up. They kept it going until Howard Stern moved to satellite radio and then-CBS flipped to "Free FM."
So, I'd say it was kind of a success by going harder.
So, I'd say it was kind of a success by going harder.
In the 70's, the biggest cause for format changes and adjustments was the rapid growth of FM and the creation of sharper format distinctions.
For example, in market after market MOR stations ""modernized" to become Adult Contemporary. Or in the 80's, the aging Beautiful Music stations often became what we'd call "soft AC" today. Urban split into Churban, Urban and Urban AC.
A market that might have had 5, 6, maybe 7 full AM signals in the 60's suddenly found a dozen full FMs chopping away at the former strong positions of the heritage AMs
Most of those format adjustments were due to changes in the competitive environment, not "revivals" of a tired format. In the mid-70's we started finding stations with callout research and in the early 80's full Auditorium Music Tests of entire libraries became very much used; those tests redefined the library for many stations that had not tested before.
89X in Windsor is pretty good since relaunching. And KEXP fits the definition well, although its noncomm. Quite the rare examples, though.
Suicide. Yeah, I guess you could call that edgy.
KEXP isn't "edgy" the way I'd refer to it. Thats cutting edge in an indie setting. I don't even know if what I'm referring to happens much anymore, but it did more in the past.
An example which I think will be close to hand for you is the old KYYS(FM) in Kansas City. Around 1990 or so, it started airing liners such as “KY-102. We suck less.” and “KY-102. Why would you listen to a station called ‘KY’?”
That kept them gong for a few years, though weaknesses and outright fecklessness in competitors helped. It wasn’t until KQRC “The Rock” came along (1993, I think) that KYYS finally had a competitor that stuck around…and that, in fact, outlasted it.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Sounds like they had Howard Cogan's attitude, a decade before the "Jack" format.
Nobody's talked about the country format yet, so I'll weigh in on that: In the late 90s, the commercial country format had an overabundance of great music, and the audience was very broad. So there was a movement to create a "sub-format" that was called "hot new country." That would probably qualify for your new "edgier" format. It was aimed at the younger part of the country audience. In fact, it led to several stations that called themselves "Young Country," including KYNG Dallas, KYCY San Francisco, and a few others I can't remember. I think KBEQ became the Young Country station in Kansas City. They played some of the edgier, rockier country songs, led by Shania and McGraw. This opened the door for the mainstream country stations to focus on the more traditional artists such as Alan Jackson or John Michael Montgomery. This format held on into the early 2000s. By then, the Young Country stations were losing out to the mainstream stations, and a lot of them flipped to other formats.
I really feel we're at that point again now, where there's a lot more music than room on existing country stations. If you look at Billboard's Hot Country chart and compare it to the Airplay chart, there's a huge disparity. It might be time to relaunch Young Country. This week, country programmers will meet for the annual Country Radio Seminar, and it'll be interesting to see if that subject comes up.
In KC, KZPT a few years ago changed from Todays best Music to Hits from the 90s to Now. It stayed Hot AC, but plays more rhythmic/hip hop than they did. I can only tell by their 6+ numbers, but it looked like they were a lot stronger a few years ago, though the demos might tell a different story (their last book was 2.8 and their most direct competitor CHR KMXV has a 5.9.) But demos might tell a different story, I've been on here long enough to know. It is owned by Audacy.
I really enjoyed KYNG’s Young Country format, which ran from 1992-99. Prior to that I had generally disliked Country, outside of widely popular crossover hits. But the 1990s saw a lot of innovation and energy in the format at a time CHR was descending into Rap and Hip-Hop, and Rock was being subsumed by Grunge. Formats like Young Country were refreshing and exciting.
KIKK in Houston tried the Young Country approach in the late 1990s, but it failed to save the station which had been in a ratings decline in a market that was undergoing massive demographic change from the station’s heyday era in the 1970s and 80s.
I would definitely sample that, though I’m long gone from the target demographic.🤣
That was when CBS was running country on both KIKK and KILT.
And both of those were battling Cox’s 93Q KKBQ. No longer room in the market for three stations playing then current Country, though when KIKK died Cox partially filled the gap with the launch of the Country Legends format on KTHT, which had a 20 year run.