Rad10 said:
Thank you for trying to be positive and give your opinion. I don't disagree with what you are saying, but can you be more specific? You don't think that's what the programmers are trying to do? Give you something to listen to? What do you want to hear specifically? The only reason i ask is i really wish people would stop saying you guys suck, i don't like what you are doing, and give specific suggestions. Does that make any since?
Absolutely. Perfect sense. I believe you are making a mistake airing 2 different sports formats on the 2 stations. It's the same format, same scores being delivered, same topics being discussed on both stations, just from a different perspective. There are holes formatwise, in this city, that could be addressed. I can't understand the logic in having 5 different sports formatted stations in this city. It is overkill.
Personally, and I know you and others are probably tired of hearing this, I'd like to see KGOW play true oldies. There is a demand for 50-70's music on the airwaves in this market. I know the advertisers don't like the format anymore, but given that KGOW has been stagnant for awhile now in ratings and has 4 other stations (a couple with better signals in Houston proper) competing for the same listeners. As an oldies station, even on AM, KGOW would be the only player in town. There is money to be made in the format. KGBC attempted it, but the fast money from C.R.I. was too much for Siga to wait for KGBC to turn a profit under their leadership. KGBC was bringing on ads pretty fast when they went the C.R.I route in 2010. Quite a few refunds had to be given, if I was told the story correctly. Now, this is in Galveston. What is the potential for Houston, considering the market's listeners have been without since KLDE morphed into The Eagle a couple of years back.
To me, that seems like a pretty good investment in the station. The music comes from the bird, the employees on air @ KGOW would shift to KFNC, losing no one's job, and KGOW gains ratings by default as no one would be competing for your listeners as there is no competition. Why does a market like Austin, which is heavily populated by college age kids, have a fulltime Oldies station but not Houston? Or San Antonio? Or Dallas? Seems to me that some diversity on the dial would certainly slow down the constant negativity concerning our market and its 80 some odd stations.
Music on AM isn't dead. San Antonio proves it every day, as does Dallas and Austin. I hear plenty of music on the band even here in Houston. However, it is 99% Spanish. If it is profitable enough for Univision, Liberman, etc. to continue with those formats, how can it be justified that an English language music station can not survive in this market?
KGOW as a sports station in this market was never the initial idea, if I understand correctly. Was supposed to be a "guy talk" station with sports and other topics mixed in. That must not have worked, because KGOW moved all sports within a year or so of its initial launch. I hate to tell you, but from this listener's perspective, what KGOW is doing now is apparently not working either. I asked quite a few people I know this weekend what station they listened to for sports, and everytime the response was "610". KGOW has been on the air for what, 5 years now, and there are a significant amount of people that aren't even aware the station is there. I just don't believe KGOW can ever muster up enough listenership as a sports station, with 610 having such a huge advantage, and 3 other stations vying for the remainder of what KILT doesn't keep.
