MEGA HD2 new Transmitter

[Kent]

I don't believe it's all about ratings. Perhaps, the EDM has been proven to be more profitable than the prior format. But whatever the case may be,

When you sell by the numbers, it IS all about ratings, just not necessarily the 6+ ratings. It's true they could make it a little less about ratings by making buyers of Kiss and Jammin' also buy Evolution 101.7. We saw Emmis do that with KGSR in Austin, and New City used to require buyers of Y-100 to also buy KKYX and 106.7 (as KDIL and Smooth Jazz). However, as competitive as CHR is in Boston, Clear Channel will have to either do well enough with Evolution to make it worth the advertisers' while or keep the rates down enough that buying a low-rated station won't upset their advertisers.

CC believes in it as they have expanded it to Miami and wouldn't be too surprise if they continue to add it to other markets.

Yes, because, when you believe in a format, you put it on an HD subchannel and a low-power translator that doesn't even cover 30% of the market! It's likely the same approach. Clear Channel is either testing the waters or, more likely, trying to use dance as a value-added buy with some of the other stations in their cluster. It could prove to be a successful strategy, but the numbers will have to get high enough for it to be self-sustaining before you see dance on stronger signals and in a lot more markets.

What about the stations here in SA and in Austin that continue to perform poorly such as KLEY, KTSA, KGSX and other that remain on the air? My guess is that the revenue is there from keeping them to flip to another format.

There probably is enough revenue to keep them on-air. KTSA has been cutting costs for years, and, though it still has more local programming than a lot of talk stations, it has fewer than it had a few years ago. Also, talk radio has been able to stretch out is lifespan by having more avails than music radio. Worried about lower cost of spots? You can sell twice as many! KLEY-FM 95.7 is pretty much a jukebox these days, isn't it? You can stretch out profits that way, too, though you can only stretch them so far.

As for KGSX, it's changed formats multiple times, though all have been Spanish-language, since it moved in from the Hill Country in 2000.

 

[JDawg512]

I find it interesting the iHeart Austin still has dance songs with drops that promote Evolution Radio all things Dance. I'm guessing they will continue to have some dance mixed in.