MAYBE, in 2010

[Wildstyle K]

Something will happen. Something will change. There will be something to talk about, debate, wonder, or think about, because as of right now, nothing is happening. Nothing seems to be happening. We've settled. Everyone is pretty much content. Things seem to just be flowing along rather smoothly for now. We are getting relaxed and comfortable in our paradise. However, one thing we know is that all things must change. Question is: "when?" "who?" "where?" "why?" We know eventually it will happen again. BUT, when will something happen to shake up the Phoenix radio discussion boards again?

M A Y B E ,  i n  2 0 1 0 . . .

Will KVIB make it? Will KKFR do something shockingly stunning? Will KPKX drop the 70's? Will KMXP add in more pop content? Will KZZP bring about a long awaited & appropriate late night 2010 dance mix show? Will KOOL start touching on more 80's material? Could KMVA become Phoenix's 2nd CHR top 40? Will KZON end up adopting a morning show that puts everyone else to shame? Will KTAR get everything completely together? Will KFYI continue to top the charts or switch to FM? Will KPHX find themselves? Will KYOT hang in there? Could KEDJ suddenly flip up? Could KZON and KNRJ start a whole new trend of no morning shows and more music mornings? What might Camel Country do? Could something highly unusual happen like KESZ or KDKB deciding to flip? What if 90.3 Family Life randomly decides to sell? Might someone flip or cause new competition towards a format we already have? Could one of the rhythmic/chr sounding Phoenix stations flip cause another to take on a format even more similar to another that already exists?

Who knows... and who's year could 2010 be? Will it be good for Ruben S? Will Sugarbear become known as Az's hottest rhythmic on air talent? Could certain female personalities decide to swap stations? Will Strawberry and Nessa show up live on the phoenix airwaves again? Could it be the year for Lovely Lady Lauren's dreams to come true? Well who knows...

M A Y B E,  i n  2 0 1 0 . . . Who knows?

I don't know what is going to happen, but one thing I can guarantee is that
SOMETHING WILL HAPPEN.

 

[azenergyfan]

I love this thread, I will add my own

Will the Peak crumble to become Organic 98-7 ahhh i sure hope so love the sunday show organic tracks
Will Mix get a little life put into it, new personality, new presentation, something is just so ho hum bout them
Will The Coyote go HD and make way for FYI 95-5
Will FYI give us a new lineup for pm drive? I hear a mayor may be interested LOL
Will Jamz get blown up but if so what do they do?
Will Movin, MOVE into a more mainstream hit direction? hmmm think they are heading that way watch out LOL
Will Kiss add a Johnjay and Rich feature to pm drive in 2010, don't laugh I think it will happen

 

[Realist]

Will Mix get a little life put into it, new personality, new presentation, something is just so ho hum bout them

I thought Mix was solid in all relevant demos...

 

[Ford]

Will Mix get a little life put into it, new personality, new presentation, something is just so ho hum bout them

I have a bad feeling that some smart guy in a suit will take a look at Mix's numbers since PPM debuted and decide that "just so ho hum" is actually a pretty good idea.

 

[Wildstyle K]

How many stations in the Valley currently have no morning shows as of today?
What's next?

Are we finally in for changes and new look of things to come in Phoenix radio mornings for the "next generation" of radio?

 

[KOOL Listener Lauren]

Could it be the year for Lovely Lady Lauren's dreams to come true? Well who knows...

M A Y B E, i n 2 0 1 0 . . .

Hey, KDM... Thanks!

My dreams do come true in 2010. I can already answer that.

A few here who read this but very rarely or never post are a part of that. They know who they are.

 

[lasunsfan]

let me continue on this board:
kzon becomes kkmp- 1015 amp
carson daily mornings
melissa the midday mamacita
snake on the drive home
pistol pete closing

emmis gets controling stake of riviera
emmis gets kkfr, kedj, kvib, and bids on kmva

jj&r do mornings and drive home to go toe 2 toe with the new 1015 amp

 

[Wildstyle K]

I will admit I have no official proof, so I am judging based purely on feeling here, but something makes me feel as if KZON is already doing well enough as is. I don't feel that we really need and Amp, with KZZP already doing well enough, BUT, we do need a KZON as is... There's a difference between the two, and KKFR.

Whatever happens, I hope it doesn't affect the current format sound, or format ideas of KKFR, and I have my reasons for saying this at the moment. There is only one thing that would make me want one of either of those two stations to change.. but even then, I'd prefer that one thing to be an addition to their format sound, not so much a complete take over of the format.

KOOL FM sounds very solid. Not only do they sound good, but they have the numbers to back it up. I now have my mom hooked on that station, which she was completely unaware of it because she's not a radio freak who searches the dial. Half of the time, she doesn't even know what she's listening to. I had her on Te Peak once and she heard them say "98.7 The Peak" and said "what the heck is this?" Not only did K-Lite die over 5 years ago, but she's also heard "The Peak" many times before. I guess it's situations like these that make station identification's being very clear an important thing, because I know most people are like my mom. They have no idea what they are listening to, for all they know, they are just hearing the music they like on a position of the dial they've grown used to.

96.9 is great for quick, on the spur of the moment tuning, while 98.7 is more of your all day or long period listening station. I guess 99.9 can also be considered an alternative.

What I'd really like to know is what is going to happen to Az mornings? It looks like after a few years of a certain "Arizona morning sound" over a majority of the dial, a "morning makeover" is coming to the Valley in 2010, and it would be VERY interesting to see which stations get what! Hopefully, no one disappoints...

 

[KOOL Listener Lauren]

Pretty interesting observations, KDM. I can vouch for station identification of average listeners.

In my experience with radio research and interviewing several hundreds of average, everyday listeners, it can be a real eye-opener to somebody into radio (like you and I here). You'd be surprised how many people forget the dial position of their favorite radio station. Often times they're in the ballpark. Others can't identify a favorite station, but rather the music format they enjoy most. It gets very interesting.

Call it the luxury of radio presets. Set it and forget it.

 

[IreneCaraFan]

Talk about the average listener not listening as we do... two quick funny stories.

One time I was with three friends in a car, at a point when no one was talking. We were all listening to a song pretty loud on the radio. Song ends, jock talks over the intro of the next song. Pretty basic break saying the next band was going to be in Concert on X date, at X venue, with concert info on the website.

After no comment, I ask... "What did he say?" None of the three had any idea. Couldn't even mention that the band was going to be in concert.

Another time with a friend, we're listening, the voice comes on, and I ask my friend, "Did you hear that?" The response I get was, "Kinda... what do you mean?" The ironic part was... it was me Voicetracked. Never knew. Never really listened...

 

[michael hagerty]

emmis gets controling stake of riviera
emmis gets kkfr, kedj, kvib, and bids on kmva

So...Emmis, which owned 3 of the best signals in the market (620, 92.3 and 98.7...and one of the worst...860) and sold them... is going to come back in and buy 4 signal-challenged less than city grade FMs?

Why?

 

[DrAkbar]

So...Emmis, which owned 3 of the best signals in the market (620, 92.3 and 98.7...and one of the worst...860) and sold them... is going to come back in and buy 4 signal-challenged less than city grade FMs?

plus they're rumored to buy 15~Eighty and go all news! Who says Ancient Modulation is dead?

 

[Wildstyle K]

Talk about the average listener not listening as we do... two quick funny stories.

One time I was with three friends in a car, at a point when no one was talking. We were all listening to a song pretty loud on the radio. Song ends, jock talks over the intro of the next song. Pretty basic break saying the next band was going to be in Concert on X date, at X venue, with concert info on the website.

After no comment, I ask... "What did he say?" None of the three had any idea. Couldn't even mention that the band was going to be in concert.

Another time with a friend, we're listening, the voice comes on, and I ask my friend, "Did you hear that?" The response I get was, "Kinda... what do you mean?" The ironic part was... it was me Voicetracked. Never knew. Never really listened...

Today, as we were passing the Majik 107 studios on 7th street, the station was on KZON as I was taking my mom to the endoscopy center. Justin Bieber started to play, and as that was happening, she says "can you put it back on whatever that station was that plays the oldies and all kinds of stuff?" So I pressed the buttons necessary to do so and she says "what did you press to do that?" After telling her, she replies "oh so YOU programmed it?" I also remember when I did market research and part of the surveys I conducted consisted of asking people what stations they listened to, asking for call letters, numbers, and name. I was instructed to take the info precisely as it was given, and personally told by the manager after the group meeting not to correct them if I knew they were off. I'll just say that the results have proven that a majority of the people who listen to radio pay absolutely no attention o station ID's or call letters, or even the particular format theme of the station. I still remember mentioning 104.7 Kiss FM to people during a conversation and they'd say "isn't that the station that plays hip hop?" It was also odd that on the way home, KOOL FM used a slogan between two songs saying "...the latest hits...". It made me think Fergie might come on or something..

It makes me wonder; with the future technologies and distractions that radio will soon be faced to compete with, what will radio do to strengthen their ways of keeping the listener's attention, especially when people are already unaware of what they are really listening to all the time? I also wonder what many of these future technologies will offer, other than music, and how they'll schedule their programming? Will they go off into exploring completely new territory and formatting, or follow many elements of terrestrial radio, such as the same ol' same ol' morning show in the morning, mid day personality, afternoon guy, and nighttime person, with a mixshow or two during the weekends? So far Satellite Radio has proven to follow a terrestrial radio type format. Will the next wave of radio change the game? And someday, will a morning show lose importance, the same way soap opera's are declining in pertinence towards television?

1580 going all news... As of now, we currently don't have an all news station on radio. Could an all news format work on terrestrial radio in 2010? I'm not exactly sure how well this will work if tried, but I guess only time will tell. Not sure how many people will be keen on hearing an all news station in their cars, especially during this moment in time - unless it's current events done in a "new", different, exciting and interesting way, delivering more than just depressing / boring news stories.

 

[michael hagerty]

Talk about the average listener not listening as we do... two quick funny stories.

One time I was with three friends in a car, at a point when no one was talking. We were all listening to a song pretty loud on the radio. Song ends, jock talks over the intro of the next song. Pretty basic break saying the next band was going to be in Concert on X date, at X venue, with concert info on the website.

After no comment, I ask... "What did he say?" None of the three had any idea. Couldn't even mention that the band was going to be in concert.

Another time with a friend, we're listening, the voice comes on, and I ask my friend, "Did you hear that?" The response I get was, "Kinda... what do you mean?" The ironic part was... it was me Voicetracked. Never knew. Never really listened...

Today, as we were passing the Majik 107 studios on 7th street, the station was on KZON as I was taking my mom to the endoscopy center. Justin Bieber started to play, and as that was happening, she says "can you put it back on whatever that station was that plays the oldies and all kinds of stuff?" So I pressed the buttons necessary to do so and she says "what did you press to do that?" After telling her, she replies "oh so YOU programmed it?" I also remember when I did market research and part of the surveys I conducted consisted of asking people what stations they listened to, asking for call letters, numbers, and name. I was instructed to take the info precisely as it was given, and personally told by the manager after the group meeting not to correct them if I knew they were off. I'll just say that the results have proven that a majority of the people who listen to radio pay absolutely no attention o station ID's or call letters, or even the particular format theme of the station. I still remember mentioning 104.7 Kiss FM to people during a conversation and they'd say "isn't that the station that plays hip hop?" It was also odd that on the way home, KOOL FM used a slogan between two songs saying "...the latest hits...". It made me think Fergie might come on or something..

It makes me wonder; with the future technologies and distractions that radio will soon be faced to compete with, what will radio do to strengthen their ways of keeping the listener's attention, especially when people are already unaware of what they are really listening to all the time? I also wonder what many of these future technologies will offer, other than music, and how they'll schedule their programming? Will they go off into exploring completely new territory and formatting, or follow many elements of terrestrial radio, such as the same ol' same ol' morning show in the morning, mid day personality, afternoon guy, and nighttime person, with a mixshow or two during the weekends? So far Satellite Radio has proven to follow a terrestrial radio type format. Will the next wave of radio change the game? And someday, will a morning show lose importance, the same way soap opera's are declining in pertinence towards television?

1580 going all news... As of now, we currently don't have an all news station on radio. Could an all news format work on terrestrial radio in 2010? I'm not exactly sure how well this will work if tried, but I guess only time will tell. Not sure how many people will be keen on hearing an all news station in their cars, especially during this moment in time - unless it's current events done in a "new", different, exciting and interesting way, delivering more than just depressing / boring news stories.

As long as PPM rewards mainstream program with minimal interruptions, there's no benefit to exploration. Shut up, play the hits and let the PPM record the station and TSL.

And time won't tell because 1580 isn't going all-news and neither is anybody else in Phoenix.

 

[buster2]

It sounds like KEZ does well in part because they're the "Beth and Bill" station. No one cares about their call letters or dial position. I bet a lot of people find "that beth and Bill station" and leave it at that. Maybe more stations need to position in a similar way. Of course, it helps to have someone as well known as Bev and Phil... er, Beth and Bill..

 

[Wildstyle K]

It sounds like KEZ does well in part because they're the "Beth and Bill" station. No one cares about their call letters or dial position. I bet a lot of people find "that beth and Bill station" and leave it at that. Maybe more stations need to position in a similar way. Of course, it helps to have someone as well known as Bev and Phil... er, Beth and Bill..

Perfect example of how a great, consistent morning show (that also fits the format and theme of the station) helps drastically! "KEZ" is also catchy, as well as their specific position on the dial to some degree.

 

[johndavis]

It sounds like KEZ does well in part because they're the "Beth and Bill" station. No one cares about their call letters or dial position. I bet a lot of people find "that beth and Bill station" and leave it at that. Maybe more stations need to position in a similar way. Of course, it helps to have someone as well known as Bev and Phil... er, Beth and Bill..

Personalities do matter. Long after KZZP had flipped to KVRY, perceptual research showed that 104.7 was still known as "the station that fired Bruce Kelly."

I still think of W. Steven Martin when I think of KNIX, and he's been gone for years.

I don't think PPM is evil, and I don't think the way people use radio has changed since PPM came about. The only thing that changed is all the games we played to influence the diary no longer work, and now when you do something that makes millions of dials tune out at once the meter is going to catch it while the diary would be more forgiving.

But you still have to give people a reason to listen.

A couple of us were chatting about this over the weekend now that our new "shut the hell up" clock has been put into place. Yes, we're talking less often where I work, and yes we're doing shorter breaks. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, and these things ebb and flow anyway. As soon as management notices that one thing or another isn't getting the attention that it used to because we stopped talking about it on air, things will open back up.

 

[insidethenumbers]

Exactly, the latest research my company did for Phoenix backs up your point. Although I am no longer in the Valley, I continue to have interest in the market.

W. Steven Martin and Tim and Willy are still the most referred-to personalities on KNIX.

Believe it not, Al McCoy and Preston Westmoreland still show heavily for KTAR.

Dave Pratt is by far still the most recognized and loved personality on KUPD. Howard Stern is #2 for KUPD and he has never even been on KUPD! Pratt also still researches as #1 for KMLE, followed by Stu Evans and H.G. Listiak. Two first two have not been on KMLE in over a year and the other died 5 years ago!

And here is the kicker. Tom Leykis still shows in the top 5 for KFYI. How many years has it been?


This is a great example of what a strong personality can do for a station

 

[michael hagerty]

Exactly, the latest research my company did for Phoenix backs up your point. Although I am no longer in the Valley, I continue to have interest in the market.

W. Steven Martin and Tim and Willy are still the most referred-to personalities on KNIX.

Believe it not, Al McCoy and Preston Westmoreland still show heavily for KTAR.

Dave Pratt is by far still the most recognized and loved personality on KUPD. Howard Stern is #2 for KUPD and he has never even been on KUPD! Pratt also still researches as #1 for KMLE, followed by Stu Evans and H.G. Listiak. Two first two have not been on KMLE in over a year and the other died 5 years ago!

And here is the kicker. Tom Leykis still shows in the top 5 for KFYI. How many years has it been?

At least 21..I heard him on KFI, Los Angeles in the summer of '88.

The length of the memories and some of ther personalities mentioned suggests an upper demo, though. Does it hold true in 18-49 and 18-34?

 

[insidethenumbers]

Not so much for Leykis and Martin, but definitely for the others mentioned. And as for Pratt and Stern, they are still the two most recognizable and recalled personalities in the market regardless of age or format. They are also the “most loved” and the “most hated” at the same time. Whatever those boys have done, they certainly have created passion votes one way or another. I expected this level of recall for Pratt who is still easily the most recognized personality in the market, but I was surprised by Stern. I never think of him as having an “Arizona” presence, but his national fame certainly parlays into success everywhere.