No Joke. Star 101.5 Flipping Today Too

[Gregg.]

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

Well, I mentioned WSM-FM and KVET-FM. In each case, one company owns two country stations so one leans classic....

Nashville: Cumulus owns WKDF (contemporary) and WSM-FM (classic)
Austin: iHeart owns KASE (contemporary) and KVET-FM (classic)
Dallas: Cumulus owns KSCS (contemporary) and KPLX (classic)
Oklahoma City: iHeart owns KTST (contemporary) and KXXY (classic)
Tulsa: Griffin owns KVOO (contemporary) and KXBL (classic)

But as I said, all of these are in Southern/Western markets where PLENTY of people live the Country lifestyle. The only almost-Classic Country station you listed that's not in a Southern/Western market is WYGY Cincinnati. It's co-owned with Cincinnati's top Country station, WUBE. So WUBE is contemporary and WYGY leans classic. And in the latest ratings, WYGY is tied for #17.

So I don't think we can find any successful Classic or Near-Classic Country stations that have good ratings in a non-Southern or Western market. Especially if they are not co-owned with a Contemporary Country station. (Yes, I know Seattle is in the West but I wouldn't call it a Southern/Western market like Denver or Tucson.)

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

i think some people are missing the point of a company owning contemporary country station and some flavor of a classic country station in the same market.. in many cases its to protect the bigger station from any competiton/lock up the country format in that market.. i mean look at greenville, sc

iheart owns both country stations there.. who would dare go up against them? no one. now, if it all clear channel had was one hot/contemporary country stration, someone might try classic country.. but its not worth it.

IHM even owns the copuntry station in the next adjacent market, Kiss

 

[CarAgencyGuy]

At the end of the day it's about ad sales not format nuances. And kind of decent numbers on The Bull gives Hubbard back 3 strong stations that can sell individually or as a cluster. Country and News can work IF one of the products is strong enough to get you into the tent if you're the #2 news station and #3 country then I think you miss out.

 

[speer360]

 

[speer360]

https://www.facebook.com/941thesoundseattle/posts/pfbid0c9dYAxG6j1bnjRx6nB3HjzWcc7JQpWfSKKXY5hTgXgkkGJjdjgMXHW7csD1vBDEBl

 

[Kent]

At the end of the day it's about ad sales not format nuances. And kind of decent numbers on The Bull gives Hubbard back 3 strong stations that can sell individually or as a cluster. Country and News can work IF one of the products is strong enough to get you into the tent if you're the #2 news station and #3 country then I think you miss out.

I've worked at a few clusters that had news and country stations. I don't know how much they sold the two in combination with each other, but they did share some of the news staff. In general, both were successful.

Full service country stations were still fairly common 25 years ago. I don't know how common they are today, but a few of the ones I knew of are either gone now or have gone all music.

 

[fordranger797]

I actually really like what I've heard from 101.5 so far. It's country, but a different approach that we've seen so far. I'm in my twenties, but really like that they're playing a lot of the country that I grew up listening to. No, I don't think a radio station that plays nothing but 90's country will work in Seattle, but I definitely see a lane for a station like this to coexist (and succeed at the same time). They're playing a good mix of gold and more recent songs that are well liked by those who have a specific preference for modern songs that are more country than pop.

I also see a lane for 98.9 by reviving "The Bull." Bringing back Fitz could really pay off, and perhaps they're more dedicated this time. Not to mention, 98.9 could make some serious gains by trying a focus that is more localized than their direct competitors at 100.7. Although 100.7 has a local morning show, the rest of the station feels pretty "cold" at times. The afternoon show features the "Star Power Hour," where the a national voice tracked host is joined by some of the big stars of country music. It's a well done show, but it's basically just a cut and paste approach used on many Audacy stations. It's worked out perfectly fine up until now, but time will tell if this approach continues to work now that there is more competition.

100.7 has been dominant for a while just because they stood alone as the only game in town for country music. I think that they did a pretty good job overall at Audacy. With that being said, the station was forced to be many different things at the same time. As someone who really doesn't want to listen only to the latest songs and doesn't really care for Taylor Swift, I'm happy there are other options.

 

[DMK]

The shortness of AAA on 98.9 is like when you start watching a new television show and really get into it only to find out its being cancelled. Then it's replacement is awful and you wonder why the network gave up so soon. I'm not implying that Country music is awful (in fact KXXA is programmed on my car radio along with 92.9, 93.3, 94.1, 95.3, 95.7, 96.5, 102.5, 104.1, 106.9, 710, 950, 1000, and 1380), just trying to empathize with people who feel frustrated by the format change.

 

[fordranger797]

The shortness of AAA on 98.9 is like when you start watching a new television show and really get into it only to find out its being cancelled. Then it's replacement is awful and you wonder why the network gave up so soon. I'm not implying that Country music is awful (in fact KXXA is programmed on my car radio along with 92.9, 93.3, 94.1, 95.3, 95.7, 96.5, 102.5, 104.1, 106.9, 710, 950, 1000, and 1380), just trying to empathize with people who feel frustrated by the format change.

It always sucks to lose a radio station that’s offering something different and unique. It’s really too bad that it never caught on, because it really wasn’t a bad idea. Not to mention, 107.7 was a little weak at the time when it flipped. I guess there was only room for one commercial station playing alternative music. I hoped the one playing a mixture of current and classic would have outlasted the other.

 

[crainbebo]

The shortness of AAA on 98.9 is like when you start watching a new television show and really get into it only to find out its being cancelled. Then it's replacement is awful and you wonder why the network gave up so soon. I'm not implying that Country music is awful (in fact KXXA is programmed on my car radio along with 92.9, 93.3, 94.1, 95.3, 95.7, 96.5, 102.5, 104.1, 106.9, 710, 950, 1000, and 1380), just trying to empathize with people who feel frustrated by the format change.

Sounds like the TV show 'Freaks and Geeks.' TV Guide, Rolling Stone and Time call it one of the greatest TV shows ever, yet NBC yanked it after only 12 episodes.

 

[davideduardo]

The shortness of AAA on 98.9 is like when you start watching a new television show and really get into it only to find out its being cancelled. Then it's replacement is awful and you wonder why the network gave up so soon.

It's not a network, it is a group owner. And if a format does not work in a full year, it ain't gonna' work ever.

Seattle is a PPM market, and stations get new ratings every week so they can track growth... or lack of it... quickly.

I'm not implying that Country music is awful (in fact KXXA is programmed on my car radio along with 92.9, 93.3, 94.1, 95.3, 95.7, 96.5, 102.5, 104.1, 106.9, 710, 950, 1000, and 1380), just trying to empathize with people who feel frustrated by the format change.

There are always a few disappointed people when a station changes, but in this case the station had very, very low ratings and not many listeners to disappoint.

 

[davideduardo]

Sounds like the TV show 'Freaks and Geeks.' TV Guide, Rolling Stone and Time call it one of the greatest TV shows ever, yet NBC yanked it after only 12 episodes.

Because of low ratings. Low ratings, no revenue.

 

[crainbebo]

Which is why KPNW 98.9 flipping should have been of no surprise to us. They may have had "listeners" but 0.8? In the world of radio that's six feet in the grave. They did a nice job competing with Christian Talk, Conservative Talk and and an HD2 feed

 

[chrocket87]

There are always a few disappointed people when a station changes, but in this case the station had very, very low ratings and not many listeners to disappoint.

Right!?!
The FM News experiment was a huge failure in NYC and Chicago, perhaps the biggest failure ever for those two markets, but I still saw people posting comments on their Facebook pages expressing disappointment in the changes when they flipped.

 

[fordranger797]

I don’t think that Lotus felt compelled to move news to 101.5 since Northwest News is not in a dire position where it absolutely needs a full market FM. 1000 is one of the best AM stations in the market. You can hear it crystal clear in virtually every part of western Washington. And 97.7 is also far from being a “bad” frequency. South Mountain may not be a be the ideal location for their transmitter (nor is sharing their frequency with a Canadian station), but it works decently well.

There are examples of other news and talk stations using an FM translator to try and reach a large area of listeners (with varying rates of success). 97.7 can be heard pretty well throughout the market. It’s not perfect, but I don’t see it to be a major problem since most listeners who want to listen to KNWN can hear 97.7 if they want to.

I’d leave it alone for now and try something else with 101.5.

 

[boombox4]

I would give the three country station situation a year and a half at best. Then it will be whittled down to two.

The Seattle of today is not the Seattle of the 1990's, or even the 2000s. Anyone who lives here knows that. And then you've got the internet streaming becoming more dominant to the average music consumer, including the older 'good' demos (older Millennials / younger GenXers).

 

[CTListener]

What kind of market was Seattle for country music 20 to 30 years ago? Several non-traditional country markets have two contemporary country stations -- one that sprinkles in gold, the other that concentrates on the latest hits and recent recurrents -- and both do well enough to make money. But for classic country, 2020s-style, to work, the market has to have been a strong country market in the '90s and '00s. Classic country won't work in Boston because country music didn't get significant ratings until the past decade, and nobody's tried it there yet. How does Seattle stack up?

 

[boombox4]

What kind of market was Seattle for country music 20 to 30 years ago? Several non-traditional country markets have two contemporary country stations -- one that sprinkles in gold, the other that concentrates on the latest hits and recent recurrents -- and both do well enough to make money. But for classic country, 2020s-style, to work, the market has to have been a strong country market in the '90s and '00s. Classic country won't work in Boston because country music didn't get significant ratings until the past decade, and nobody's tried it there yet. How does Seattle stack up?

If you're talking the modern day version of "classic country", i.e. late 80's - 1990's- early 2000's country, Seattle still would obviously have an audience, obviously, because during that era (the 1990's especially) KMPS was popular, and KRPM was a viable competitor.

And, of course, the 1990's big Country acts were big acts, period. Most rockers even knew who Garth Brooks or Clint Black were, and even Alan Jackson and Travis Tritt were probably listened to from time to time. Shania was massive here, as a crossover artist. So that goes without saying.

But the demographics of the city have changed since that era. For one thing, King County (the most populous county in WA) alone has grown by about 30% since 1990. 40% of King County residents are between 18-44, probably thanks to the tech boom that kept the region growing even during the Great Recession. The tech bros may be open to classic country, but they're probably listening to KEXP. We already know they didn't really go for KPNW's AAA phase.

The point being that the folks who loved hearing Garth and Clint on KMPS in 1993 probably will be tuning in 101.5, but compared to the rest of the population, they're probably fairly small in numbers comparatively, and many may have moved to other areas, as the older GenXers are getting near retirement age, the oldest Xers being 60 this year or next year. And if you were 25 in 1993 you're already out of the money demos. So there's that.

 

[TheBigA]

What kind of market was Seattle for country music 20 to 30 years ago?

KMPS, KRPM, and KYCY. All three pretty much doing the same thing (although KYCY called itself Young Country.)

What else are they going to do? Sure, 101 can do an AM simulcast. But there aren't a lot of formats that have a built-in fan base. Hubbard already has AC and CHR. That's what we learned from the AAA flip. People today don't search the radio dial looking for music. Those days are over.

 

[boombox4]

KMPS, KRPM, and KYCY. All three pretty much doing the same thing (although KYCY called itself Young Country.)

What else are they going to do? Sure, 101 can do an AM simulcast. But there aren't a lot of formats that have a built-in fan base. Hubbard already has AC and CHR. That's what we learned from the AAA flip. People today don't search the radio dial looking for music. Those days are over.

It makes perfect sense. Maybe it can get enough listeners to bring in some revenue. It's definitely a format hole. We have a classic rock station that does well (KZOK), so maybe a classic Country one can work the same way. And no one can fault the appeal of some of the classic country acts from the 90's. The music had wide appeal.

I wish the new 101.5 station well.