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New Format for KEZK St. Louis? Slightly Softer and Not "Fresh"

G

Gregg.

The website says "Fresh 102.5 Becomes 102.5 KEZK." The station is described on the website as "Today's Hits, Yesterday's Favorites." The DJ is saying "The New Sound of 102.5 KEZK." But it's not a new sound. It stays Adult Contemporary. Artists played in the 11am hour include Michael Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Magic!, Billy Joel, Carly Rae Jepsen and Maroon 5. Has the station moved slightly softer? Is that the new sound? Would anyone even notice such a subtle change?

I wonder why CBS felt the need to drop the "Fresh" handle? It's still being used in NYC. I thought CBS was trying to get away from the call sign, left over from the Easy Listening days, including the letters E and Z. The station had called itself "Easy Rock" till it adopted the "Fresh" slogan. Unless CBS thinks enough time has passed that few people in the target audience even remember the Easy Listening format?
 
Agreed entirely:
- The playlist sounds completely unchanged from Fresh.
- "Today's Hits and Yesterday's Favorites" was a great slogan... in 1995.
- While the personalities seem to be arguing "I'm so excited to be on the legendary KEZK"... I'm just getting the old vibe from the EZ letters too. I'd agree that KEZK has been around a while, but would native St. Louisians consider KEZK a "legendary" call sign?

The only difference I can spot is the addition of the all-80's lunch hour, and perhaps a broader collection of 80's hits -- but not more. I was briefly excited this morning that it seemed like currents were gone (and left to 96.3/98.1/106.5/107.7), but when Taylor Swift's Style came on in the first set, that hope was lost too. KLOU should be popping the champagne this afternoon.
 
I think the rebranding and slight format tweak was a good move. They sound good and for a AC in 2015 you have to play some currents.
 
Perhaps we need CBS to bring 80s music back to 103.7 KVIL here in Dallas like it's sister 102.5 KEZK in St. Louis! We don't have any AC in Dallas. At least one that plays 80s, 90s, 2k, and present music and that also reports traffic and weather since JACK FM don't. Not to mention the harsh traffic and weather we have here in North Texas. I wish we have an AC like KMGL in Oklahoma City, WLTW in New York, or WLYF in Miami or a soft AC like WFEZ in Miami or WDUV. All the stations in OKC, NY, and Miami are definitely better than the stations in Dallas. CBS' KVIL is pretty much a clone of CC's hot AC KDMX now. We have two hot ACs, three rhythmic CHRs, two new country, and no AC, no classic country in the DFW market. How much worse can DFW radio get? If it weren't for KVIL to bring back an AC format with 80s, 90s, 2k, and present music, perhaps Cumulus could give up their rhythmic CHR on KLIF for another AC format anytime soon? I do understand the AC format is not a very successful format these days.
 
andrewduong77 said:
Perhaps we need CBS to bring 80s music back to 103.7 KVIL here in Dallas like it's sister 102.5 KEZK in St. Louis! We don't have any AC in Dallas. At least one that plays 80s, 90s, 2k, and present music and that also reports traffic and weather since JACK FM don't. Not to mention the harsh traffic and weather we have here in North Texas. I wish we have an AC like KMGL in Oklahoma City, WLTW in New York, or WLYF in Miami or a soft AC like WFEZ in Miami or WDUV. All the stations in OKC, NY, and Miami are definitely better than the stations in Dallas. CBS' KVIL is pretty much a clone of CC's hot AC KDMX now. We have two hot ACs, three rhythmic CHRs, two new country, and no AC, no classic country in the DFW market. How much worse can DFW radio get? If it weren't for KVIL to bring back an AC format with 80s, 90s, 2k, and present music, perhaps Cumulus could give up their rhythmic CHR on KLIF for another AC format anytime soon? I do understand the AC format is not a very successful format these days.
Click to expand...

Since Christmas, Portland's K103 has failed to fall below a nine share and a month ago, nearly hit a ten! I don't think you can say that they are unsuccessful.
 
Well, it looks like many ACs are doing a lot better now! Time for KVIL to give another shot at its 47 year old heritage AC format again! They should also hang onto the "103.7 KVIL" branding that they went back to in 2013 if they take another shot at the AC format.

The start of this decade was another difficult era for ACs to evolve like when most ACs evolved from MOR/Easy Listening/Adult Standards in the early 80s. Most ACs now have made it through the evolving process.

KMGL is holding 4th place with a 5.5 share as of spring phase 1.
WLTW had been holding 1st place while it went back up from 7.0 in February, 7.6 in March, to a 7.9 share as of last month.
WBEB/Philly is holding 1st place with a 6.5 share as of last month.
WLYF is holding 2nd place with a 6.8 share as of last month, it was at a 7.0 share in both February and March.
WMGF/Orlando is holding 3rd place with a 6.2 share as of last month.
WEJZ/Jacksonville has failed to fall below eleven shares since February.
KBAY/San Jose is holding 1st place with a 7.2 share as of last month.

You're right. I can't really say they are unsuccessful :)
Some of the ACs like WBEB and WMGF struggled a lot back in 2010-2014 era where they swing out and in of the top 10 a lot.
 
Gregg. said:
The station had called itself "Easy Rock" till it adopted the "Fresh" slogan.
Click to expand...

Actually, before they went "Fresh," KEZK called themselves "Soft Rock 102.5" going back into the 1990s. They were "EZ 102" in the '70s and '80s, though.

encarta95 said:
I'd agree that KEZK has been around a while, but would native St. Louisians consider KEZK a "legendary" call sign?
Click to expand...

I don't know about "legendary," exactly, but it's certainly as well known in town as, say, KMOX, WIL, and KSHE. Probably better known by younger/casual radio listeners at this point in time than KSD or KXOK.
 
When will CBS's radio.com app decide to remove the Fresh 102.5 text and put 102.5 kezk. They changed the logo since the rebranding but not the text and its over a month.
 
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