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New Triple A for Seattle

Kelly A said:
Sure, that's the way it's done. Advertisers want to reach an demographic, so stations do programming that (they hope) will attract that audience.

Again, that's the way it's done.

That's any business relationship. You earn your pay doing the best job possible. Do a bad job, and you don't do business.

That amounts to a wives tail. This whole fallacy that Seattle/Tacoma is some mystical-snowflake-media-wonderland, is completely bogus. Was Seattle different than say LA back in the 60's through 80's before there was as much audience research? Maybe, but having worked with TV and radio consultants all over the U.S., I can tell you that all listeners/viewers want is high quality programming. Sure, there are subtle nuances between formats/markets due to demo/geographic and socioeconomic reasons, but this whole 'Seattle is SO unique' that consultants don't know what they're doing, is bunk.

This is broadcasting. You're trying to reach a broad audience. Are there a smattering of people who don't like whichever station for whatever reason? Of course. One needs to just surf this very site to see outliers. Does that mean because a handful of people who laugh at whatever format are the majority? Nope.
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I never implied that Seattle is incredibly unique, although there was a former RD member here who once insisted that Seattle is a unique audience and consultants from other regions don't understand it and are destined to fail.

I don't share that guy's opinion.

That said, they could at least get it right. Some advertisers have, in the past. There was a long running sequence of radio spots by a company that included Seattle-typical characters like Latte lady and sandals and socks guy -- they were humorous, and caught the ear, because they were accurate caricatures and stereotypes. And they were commercials put out by an ad agency that obviously had done some research. They got it right. The "PNW" promos attempt to get it right, and fail.

Will it kill the station? I doubt it. Many listeners may not notice. Many of them are transplants, probably. Seattle is full of transplants, especially within the city limits.

But imaging, and how it is delivered, is important. If it weren't, stations wouldn't spend so much time and money on it. After all, the music is already available on Spotify, Pandora and YT. But a radio station offers a little more than background music of your favorite genre of format. Otherwise, the consultants and owners of KPNW wouldn't have bothered with imaging and format tweaks to reach a specific demographic. They'd just play the music and the millions of listeners would come.

But from everything I've read here on RD over the decade I've been here, that isn't how it works. Although the music mix hooks the listeners, the imaging and presentation still mean something.
 
I know the success of a radio station depends on its ability to connect with its listeners and provide engaging content that meets their needs and preferences. If a station is consistently "missing the mark," it may be an indication that it needs to re-evaluate its programming strategy and make changes accordingly. Another AAA station is "missing the mark" no matter how you try to sell it.
 
^^^^ I still hope they succeed. It's a brand new format on the station, and obviously some tweaking will occur. And it's an example of a station trying something different. Seattle, with one of its top stations being an alt/variety station like KEXP, is probably eclectic enough for a format like that to work. I wish them the best.
 
DavidEduardo said:
I never made negatives about the spot breaks... always emphasized the music. Why call further attention to something listeners don't like instead of what they came to hear?
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I remember doing a break once where I billboarded a song or two on the other side of the stopset....paused....and said "just to be clear, here ... it's not that we need the money from what you're about to hear.....we just can't bear the thought of playing six more songs without doing another music test first"
 
LITTLEBOYBLUE said:
I remember doing a break once where I billboarded a song or two on the other side of the stopset....paused....and said "just to be clear, here ... it's not that we need the money from what you're about to hear.....we just can't bear the thought of playing six more songs without doing another music test first"
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Uh...I don't get it.
 
boombox4 said:
I never implied that Seattle is incredibly unique, although there was a former RD member here who once insisted that Seattle is a unique audience and consultants from other regions don't understand it and are destined to fail.

I don't share that guy's opinion.

That said, they could at least get it right. Some advertisers have, in the past. There was a long running sequence of radio spots by a company that included Seattle-typical characters like Latte lady and sandals and socks guy -- they were humorous, and caught the ear, because they were accurate caricatures and stereotypes. And they were commercials put out by an ad agency that obviously had done some research. They got it right. The "PNW" promos attempt to get it right, and fail.

Will it kill the station? I doubt it. Many listeners may not notice. Many of them are transplants, probably. Seattle is full of transplants, especially within the city limits.

But imaging, and how it is delivered, is important. If it weren't, stations wouldn't spend so much time and money on it. After all, the music is already available on Spotify, Pandora and YT. But a radio station offers a little more than background music of your favorite genre of format. Otherwise, the consultants and owners of KPNW wouldn't have bothered with imaging and format tweaks to reach a specific demographic. They'd just play the music and the millions of listeners would come.

But from everything I've read here on RD over the decade I've been here, that isn't how it works. Although the music mix hooks the listeners, the imaging and presentation still mean something.
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Pemco Insurance. I was just thinking about those spots recently. One of the few that I miss. Those were really good commercials.
 
To keep this thread completely off track, I had Pemco insurance. They only took on drivers with zero tickets and offered great discounts because of that. At one point it was for public employees only but I believe they opened it up for all. Kind of a high end insurance company that worked for certain folks.

Now back to our regular programming!
 
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seatownmedia said:
To keep this thread completely off track, I had Pemco insurance. They only took on drivers with zero tickets and offered great discounts because of that. At one point it was for public employees only but I believe they opened it up for all. Kind of a high end insurance company that worked for certain folks.

Now back to our regular programming!
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Right, Kokomo.
 
Kelly A said:
Let's check the scoring: New AAA format launched>jock nostalgia flashbacks>Insurance company TV spots>Kokomo. The only things missing now are: KIXI, pirate radio of some sort, LPFM, and AM stereo.
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The feds formed LPFM to drive the pirates off commercial FM. So now they have no choice but to migrate to AM, and darned if one of them has just popped up, in C-QUAM stereo no less, on 910 AM in Bellevue. Which, of course you remember, is the former frequency of KIXI, hence the call letters. Does anybody remember the KIXI Whistle?

Thread complete. /s
 
Kelly mentioned KIXI. Ok, anyone remember the great Wally Nelskog? He was tough but also a great guy. Had the entire staff to his north Seattle home every summer for a bbq.
 
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Congrats John! Nice decision by 98.9 to add him to the lineup. Many remember him from The Mountain.
94.1 no longer has a morning show listed on the schedule. I wonder if they will keep it that way?
 
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