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No Joke. Star 101.5 Flipping Today Too
- Thread starter lanceventa
- Start date
Like one commenter under the RadioInk article said, "was all that research wrong?"
Research, being wrong? Impossible.
All that said, there was no real promotion. Aside from the putting together of the format, not enough thinking out of the box.Of course, in this economy, maybe money was too limited for that.
But that's all immaterial now, the Bull is back and here to stay.
I haven't checked out the 101.5 classic country, but I doubt they'll eat into KKXA's audience much, as KKXA plays a pretty good mix and their FM translator on 101.1 coverage map makes it look as if they cover Everett, Marysville, Lake Stevens, and Snohomish reasonably well.
Research, being wrong? Impossible.
All that said, there was no real promotion. Aside from the putting together of the format, not enough thinking out of the box.Of course, in this economy, maybe money was too limited for that.
But that's all immaterial now, the Bull is back and here to stay.
I haven't checked out the 101.5 classic country, but I doubt they'll eat into KKXA's audience much, as KKXA plays a pretty good mix and their FM translator on 101.1 coverage map makes it look as if they cover Everett, Marysville, Lake Stevens, and Snohomish reasonably well.
Whoever that poster on RadioInk was, it sounds like they were tracking some of the convos here about the processing and the music sources.
KellyA had mentioned the processing (which -- when I started listening to KPNW again after our interchange over it, he was spot on about it, and I said so here), and I mentioned that there were tracks that sounded like 4:1 compressed MP2's (alluded to by "Jason") and many, cleaner mono tracks being used. I sincerely doubt "Jason" is either of us, I can tell you it ain't me -- but maybe whoever they are, they read RD, or maybe they know someone at the operation. After all, no one here mentioned the PPM encoder malfunctioning.
And still, the guy had a couple fairly astute observations -- especially this one: "Most people I spoke to had no idea it even existed, and when they found it they loved it. This is the common theme, when people found the station, they loved it." I experienced the same thing on a radio thread on social media. People were lamenting the passing of the Mountain years ago and when I brought up KPNW-FM, the answer was "what's that?"
Now it's the Bull, and the tech bros here in Seatown have three cowboy stations to choose from (four if you include KXA in the north part of the market, a couple more if you're south of Tacoma). Yee haw.
How much promotion was done for ANY format flip? I bet the country fans will find this station without any promotion.
I would think that with the younger demos -- Millennials and Zoomers -- it's not "Wow! There's this cool radio station!" but "check out my Spotify playlist!" or something similar. It's one reason why I thought that advertising the existence of the station would have helped. Word of mouth can only do so much in an internet steraming-centered world.
Country is the biggest radio format in the country, according to a post you made a year or two ago. I'm sure that stat still is fairly accurate. If the format is that popular, maybe less promotion is needed.
However, if you want visibility and your product is a niche product, maybe actual promotion would have helped.
That's the way it works in the internet content world. Visibility is everything, and you have to advertise to get it if you're not one of the big names already. Yeah, I realize that radio is different from the internet content world -- even if it's headed in that direction already.
If you want to reach a niche market, you don't do mass advertising. You go directly to that niche in places where they go, such as concert venues or other social areas. The station was doing that. They tied in with all of the concert venues, and had regular ticket give-aways, and all the things you do to reach that niche. You hope that will garner some word of mouth, with music fans talking to other music fans. That didn't happen.
People got their free tickets, saw their free concert, and if they talked about anything, they talked about the music, not where they got the tickets. That's where the loyalty is: To the music and the artists, not to where they heard it.
Meanwhile, the people who were listening to the station weren't coming back. That's what the ratings showed. Every month, the numbers went down another tenth of a point. A business is built on return business and word of mouth. That didn't happen here.
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‘Julian On The Radio’ Available Following KPLZ Flip - RadioInsight
Following Monday’s flip of Lotus Communications AC “Star 101.5” KPLZ-FM Seattle to Country, afternoon host ‘Julian On The Radio’ Nieh has exited the station and is on the hunt for a new position. Nieh had been with KPLZ since Lotus took over the station in December 2021. He previously has had...
radioinsight.com
I can't see 101.5 staying long term. Classic Country works usually in Southern states or rural areas not in major cities.
Lance, that's interesting that there had been rumors of a flip at 101.5 for months. I figured it would be 98.9 to flip first, though it wouldn't have surprised me if 101.5 wasn't far behind. It does make sense that 101.5 would flip now though, Lotus probably got a package deal with Kroeger for the Hank format, and they just flipped 100.1 Reno last week. Given that Fitz was let go from the daily lineup at 98.9 well before they went AAA, I still can't see 98.9 sticking with country long term. Hank is quite a bit different from the two current-based country stations, and classic country is having a moment right now, so I think it's 98.9 we'll be talking about a flip at by the end of 2025.
The "Beyonce going country" may gain some urban listeners, however. But Morgan Wallen's controversies will probably push Seattle listeners away from his music. Seattle is bluer than a blue sky politically.
We'll have to see the PPMs this summer and watch for any change at 101.5, 98.9, and 100.7. I'd also look out for any post-flip spikes with KRWM or KSWD. Star listeners probably divided between those two stations now.
We'll have to see the PPMs this summer and watch for any change at 101.5, 98.9, and 100.7. I'd also look out for any post-flip spikes with KRWM or KSWD. Star listeners probably divided between those two stations now.
Something had to happen at these two stations and I don't think either one of them planned for there to be two new country stations on the same day. The Bull should have a pretty easy time of it, advertisers and listeners already know what it is, and likely what audience it will attract. Hank FM is a different story that one will need to prove itself in this market. When I look at it as a combo buy I wonder why Lotus didn't first move News to 101.5 and then put Hank on 1000 am and 97.7. Put the strongest brand with the highest power ratio on the best signal and then use the secondary station(s) as needed to bring in the buys. But hey, I'm just a media buyer not a programming expert.
It depends on what you consider 'classic country.' Seattle had three very unique country stations in the 90s. All very popular. So Seattle has a strong heritage with 90s country. People now in their 30s and 40s remember that time and that music.
How many Classic Country or 90s-2000s Country stations exist in non-Southern/Western markets? I can't think of any. Yes, in some Southern/Western markets where one company owns two Country stations, one leans contemporary and one leans a bit older. I'm thinking of Nashville where Cumulus has WKDF (Contemporary) and WSM-FM (slightly classic). Or Austin, where iHeart has KASE (contemporary) and KVET (slightly classic).
But I don't know of any stand-alone Classic Country station in a top 100 market. At least not full power and getting good ratings. Even in some larger Southern/Western markets, it's hard to find a successful Classic Country station. Cox just sold 97.1 KTHT Houston to K-Love. Nobody else has rushed in to assume KTHT's Classic Country format.
Even in large Southern/Western markets where you'd expect a Classic Country station, there is none. Atlanta has two Country stations, where WUBL and WKHK are both contemporary. Same for San Antonio, where KCYY and KAJA are both contemporary. I'm not sure why Classic Country doesn't work, while Classic Hits and Classic Rock do so well. Denver has two successful Classic Rock stations and two Contemporary Country stations. But nobody is playing Classic Country.
In Seattle, two different companies, Bonneville and Lotus, both saw an opening for a second country station and decided to flip, not realizing the other was doing the same thing. But what was Lotus thinking, that it would enter the market with a country station that only plays older country music in a Northern city?
But I don't know of any stand-alone Classic Country station in a top 100 market. At least not full power and getting good ratings. Even in some larger Southern/Western markets, it's hard to find a successful Classic Country station. Cox just sold 97.1 KTHT Houston to K-Love. Nobody else has rushed in to assume KTHT's Classic Country format.
Even in large Southern/Western markets where you'd expect a Classic Country station, there is none. Atlanta has two Country stations, where WUBL and WKHK are both contemporary. Same for San Antonio, where KCYY and KAJA are both contemporary. I'm not sure why Classic Country doesn't work, while Classic Hits and Classic Rock do so well. Denver has two successful Classic Rock stations and two Contemporary Country stations. But nobody is playing Classic Country.
In Seattle, two different companies, Bonneville and Lotus, both saw an opening for a second country station and decided to flip, not realizing the other was doing the same thing. But what was Lotus thinking, that it would enter the market with a country station that only plays older country music in a Northern city?
Dallas has the same with KSCS and KPLX.
There are plenty of successful Classic Country stations...
KPLX Dallas
WSM-FM Nashville (WNFN had one really strong book and 650 WSM doesn't subscribe)
KVET-FM Austin (Plays some recurrents but no currents)
KXXY Oklahoma City
KBQI-HD2 Albuquerque
KXBL Tulsa
San Antonio and Salt Lake City each now have two in the format splitting shares
The problem is you have many stations that could very well be Classic Country playing one or two currents per hour as well like KFKF Kansas City, KJJY Des Moines, and WYGY Cincinnati
Country was more popular in the 90's than it is today. Plus, once the law was changed, EZ bought the other two country stations and nuked one of them.
As Lance mentions, San Antonio has classic country on a couple stations, though one is an AM/translator while the other is a rimshot/HD2/translator. They split roughly a couple shares between them. Not sure why more markets don't have classic country, but, if you go back to when country was at its heyday in the early to mid 90's, I was graduating high school. I turn 50 in less than a year. Most markets had a successful country station 10 years later, but it has never matched the popularity it had in the first half of the 90's. If you're trying to ride Garth Brooks to prosperity, that ride might not last much longer. I'm about to leave the money demo, and others who were big fans of country in the 90's have already aged out.
I haven't really listened to either, though I've heard the Hank format and contemporary country stations recently. As The Big A has mentioned, the two (Hubbard, not Bonneville, and Lotus) aren't doing exactly the same thing. If Hank plays almost totally older songs and the Bull plays mostly currents, that's roughly the equivalent of 95.7 The Jet and Hits 106.1. No one would say they're the same, though both play pop hits. In the same breath, I will tell you I don't think Seattle will be able to support Wolf, Bull, and Hank for long, but that's not because they're the same.
So perhaps a radio station focusing on that music might actually do better than one focusing on currents.
Actually, in Denver, Audacy is programming "classic country": KQKS-HD2, rebroadcasting on a translator at 103.1, "Front Range Country 103.1", 250 watts from Lookout Mountain. As with so many other Lookout translators, the signal starts sputtering out east of downtown so it's not covering that much of the Front Range, but it does show up in the vanity numbers at sub-1.0 levels. And the imaging is quite good. Honestly, I'd rather have that on a full-market signal instead of yet another contemporary Christian station or sports-blather station, but them's the breaks.
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