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Posted on Mon, Aug. 29, 2005
Ain't no sunshine at 97.1 anymore
By Robert Philpot
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Y'know, I'm beginning to wish I'd paid more attention in my Spanish classes.
Just in case you haven't heard, KEGL/97.1 FM changed formats again last week, switching from soft-oldies "Sunny" to Spanish oldies "La Preciosa" (to clarify, "oldies" means stuff from the '70s, '80s and '90s). This happened only 15 months after KEGL flipped from its heritage hard-rock "Eagle" format to Sunny.
It's easy to explain the shift to Spanish. When a Spanish-language station is No. 1 in the market, another Spanish station is in the top 10, and two other stations have changed to the flavor-of-the-year "Hurban" format within the past 12 months, a radio megalith like KEGL parent Clear Channel isn't going to ignore the Latino audience. Especially when that audience makes up 23 percent of the Dallas-Fort Worth market.
But Sunny -- Sunny was only 15 months old. Clear Channel has other, much older stations that have lost their ratings fizz. Why'd a relative pup like Sunny, where the last song aired was the Beatles' appropriately titled Hello Goodbye, get the boot?
"The truth of the matter is, most radio stations, you're gonna know within six to eight months whether or not they're going to be successful," says J.D. Freeman, Clear Channel's Dallas market manager. "The only success we were seeing [with Sunny] was when we played Christmas music. And I don't think anybody wants us to play Christmas music 12 months out of the year. . . . It was a niche market, but it wasn't a niche large enough to have a real business market."
That niche was, in radio-speak, 25- to 54-year-olds, who must be feeling a little burned at having two nostalgia-oriented soft-rock stations vanish in the past few years (the other being Memories 96.7, which was even softer than Sunny). Actually, La Preciosa aims at the same age group -- it just happens to aim at people who speak Spanish, or at least have a taste for Spanish-language music from the likes of Juan Gabriel, Gerardo Reyes and Yolanda Del Rio.
With La Preciosa's arrival, Fort Worth-Dallas has a dozen stations that are playing full- or part-time Spanish-language formats, which has led to some complaints that we have a glut of Spanish stations around here. But Freeman points out that there's more to the glut than meets the eye.
"People need to remember that Spanish is a language, not a format," Freeman says. "And within the Spanish language, there are a number of different types of musical styles, different genres. We need to look at it that way. . . . How many English-speaking types of formats are there? I think the same thing is true when you start talking about Spanish-language."
This isn't Freeman's first turn at 97.1: He was Dallas market manager from 1996 to 1999. If you're reading this column and you were around then, you probably remember that Howard Stern was pulled from "The Eagle" during that period, even though he was the highest-rated jock in the market. Now, as then, Freeman says that despite Stern's ratings, the Eagle couldn't attract enough advertisers to support his show.
Freeman oversaw the transition from Stern to Russ Martin, whom Clear Channel let slip away after Freeman's departure. Now Martin's one of the hottest jocks in town over at KLLI/105.3 FM, where Martin rules afternoons and Stern is on in the morning. No wonder the Eagle never recovered.
But something's left from the Eagle era: the KEGL call letters, which La Preciosa will keep. The John Tesh Radio Show, which aired nights on Sunny, has moved to sister station KDMX/102.9 FM "Mix 102.9." (Tesh's show is designed to be dropped into any format. . . . with the possible exception of a Spanish one.) Anna de Haro, who moved from Mix to Sunny early this year, sticks around to give local news and traffic. Morning jock and longtime Dallas-Fort Worth radio vet "Fast" Eddie Coyle got the ax, as did Stacey James, Steve Knoll and Rachel Everson.
"That's one of the sad parts of this business, is when change happens," Freeman says. "It really had nothing to do with their ability to be good personalities. . . . There was nothing they did to hurt the radio station. They did the best they could."
Behind the scenes: In more Clear Channel moves, Radio and Records reports that Mix program director Pat McMahon has been named operations manager for all of Clear Channel's Dallas stations. Duane Doherty, program director of CC's modern-rocker KDGE/102.1 FM "The Edge" has added PD duties at KZPS/92.5 FM, where program director Christie Banks has left the building after less than 14 months at the station. . . .
Mary Anne Alhadeff has been named president and chief executive officer of North Texas Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit that operates KERA/Channel 13 and KERA/90.1 FM. She'll start Oct. 3. Alhadeff comes from Maine Public Broadcasting, where she has served as president and CEO since 2002.
Where they are now: According to AllAccess.com, Big Gay Steven, one of Cory "Fitz" Fitzner's sidekicks on now-defunct KRBV/100.3 FM "Wild 100," is now at Long Island top 40 station WBLI . . . as Big Gay Randy. Hey, what's in a name?
Ain't no sunshine at 97.1 anymore
By Robert Philpot
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Y'know, I'm beginning to wish I'd paid more attention in my Spanish classes.
Just in case you haven't heard, KEGL/97.1 FM changed formats again last week, switching from soft-oldies "Sunny" to Spanish oldies "La Preciosa" (to clarify, "oldies" means stuff from the '70s, '80s and '90s). This happened only 15 months after KEGL flipped from its heritage hard-rock "Eagle" format to Sunny.
It's easy to explain the shift to Spanish. When a Spanish-language station is No. 1 in the market, another Spanish station is in the top 10, and two other stations have changed to the flavor-of-the-year "Hurban" format within the past 12 months, a radio megalith like KEGL parent Clear Channel isn't going to ignore the Latino audience. Especially when that audience makes up 23 percent of the Dallas-Fort Worth market.
But Sunny -- Sunny was only 15 months old. Clear Channel has other, much older stations that have lost their ratings fizz. Why'd a relative pup like Sunny, where the last song aired was the Beatles' appropriately titled Hello Goodbye, get the boot?
"The truth of the matter is, most radio stations, you're gonna know within six to eight months whether or not they're going to be successful," says J.D. Freeman, Clear Channel's Dallas market manager. "The only success we were seeing [with Sunny] was when we played Christmas music. And I don't think anybody wants us to play Christmas music 12 months out of the year. . . . It was a niche market, but it wasn't a niche large enough to have a real business market."
That niche was, in radio-speak, 25- to 54-year-olds, who must be feeling a little burned at having two nostalgia-oriented soft-rock stations vanish in the past few years (the other being Memories 96.7, which was even softer than Sunny). Actually, La Preciosa aims at the same age group -- it just happens to aim at people who speak Spanish, or at least have a taste for Spanish-language music from the likes of Juan Gabriel, Gerardo Reyes and Yolanda Del Rio.
With La Preciosa's arrival, Fort Worth-Dallas has a dozen stations that are playing full- or part-time Spanish-language formats, which has led to some complaints that we have a glut of Spanish stations around here. But Freeman points out that there's more to the glut than meets the eye.
"People need to remember that Spanish is a language, not a format," Freeman says. "And within the Spanish language, there are a number of different types of musical styles, different genres. We need to look at it that way. . . . How many English-speaking types of formats are there? I think the same thing is true when you start talking about Spanish-language."
This isn't Freeman's first turn at 97.1: He was Dallas market manager from 1996 to 1999. If you're reading this column and you were around then, you probably remember that Howard Stern was pulled from "The Eagle" during that period, even though he was the highest-rated jock in the market. Now, as then, Freeman says that despite Stern's ratings, the Eagle couldn't attract enough advertisers to support his show.
Freeman oversaw the transition from Stern to Russ Martin, whom Clear Channel let slip away after Freeman's departure. Now Martin's one of the hottest jocks in town over at KLLI/105.3 FM, where Martin rules afternoons and Stern is on in the morning. No wonder the Eagle never recovered.
But something's left from the Eagle era: the KEGL call letters, which La Preciosa will keep. The John Tesh Radio Show, which aired nights on Sunny, has moved to sister station KDMX/102.9 FM "Mix 102.9." (Tesh's show is designed to be dropped into any format. . . . with the possible exception of a Spanish one.) Anna de Haro, who moved from Mix to Sunny early this year, sticks around to give local news and traffic. Morning jock and longtime Dallas-Fort Worth radio vet "Fast" Eddie Coyle got the ax, as did Stacey James, Steve Knoll and Rachel Everson.
"That's one of the sad parts of this business, is when change happens," Freeman says. "It really had nothing to do with their ability to be good personalities. . . . There was nothing they did to hurt the radio station. They did the best they could."
Behind the scenes: In more Clear Channel moves, Radio and Records reports that Mix program director Pat McMahon has been named operations manager for all of Clear Channel's Dallas stations. Duane Doherty, program director of CC's modern-rocker KDGE/102.1 FM "The Edge" has added PD duties at KZPS/92.5 FM, where program director Christie Banks has left the building after less than 14 months at the station. . . .
Mary Anne Alhadeff has been named president and chief executive officer of North Texas Public Broadcasting, the nonprofit that operates KERA/Channel 13 and KERA/90.1 FM. She'll start Oct. 3. Alhadeff comes from Maine Public Broadcasting, where she has served as president and CEO since 2002.
Where they are now: According to AllAccess.com, Big Gay Steven, one of Cory "Fitz" Fitzner's sidekicks on now-defunct KRBV/100.3 FM "Wild 100," is now at Long Island top 40 station WBLI . . . as Big Gay Randy. Hey, what's in a name?