Okay...a 'KTU thread!

[TonySantiago]

Since I think we've inundated this board with all Pulse 87 talk (positive AND negative), let's change gears for a second and talk about something that, well....hasn't been talked about in quite a while! It's that station on 103.5.

I'm curious to know.....has 'KTU been a "non-issue" since Pulse's launch (or before that?) And if so, why? And for those who find 'KTU relevant, why?

No wrong answers here. Just curious to see where the buzz has gone.

 

[musik187]

To be honest, I haven't been listening at all to KTU since about 5 or 6 years ago. They just never caught my interest too much. Instead I was listening to Z100 for the music I wanted to hear. As for a dance music outlet I was thrilled to get XM a few years ago since that had/has bmp which I always loved and always wondered why NY didn't have it's own station like that aka a current day version of the old HOT 103/97. However it seems NY finally has it again and for the most part I'm thrilled. I just want them to last and somehow/ someway over time work out a slightly better situation for the signal issue (whether that means one day going to another frequency, which I don't think will happen any time soon)...(or somehow improving on their existing one a bit more, not sure how that would happen)...KTU is great for a crowd that loves Rhythmic AC and disco, but that's not me and never was.

 

[PSA_Man]

I lost interest in KTU as of approx. 5 to 6 years ago as well... even at that point they weren't what they once were but it was tolerable. The transformation that station went through in the last few years is disgusting. Not that they changed but that they try to insult us listeners by still calling themselves a "dance" station let alone "the beat of NY". unless they've gone away from that (I wouldn't know since I don't listen).
I too have switched to Z100 which is probably what CC wanted (everyone to switch to z100 since it would be the only current station). It's likely that , that was the purpose of killing KTU.

I also I agree that I too have been waiting and waiting for a current version of the old HOT103/97 to re-emerge. Which is what Pulse is apparently setting out to do. (funny how pulse keeps coming up even when you try to stray from it). But to summarize, I could careless about KTU for the last few years, it might as well be another WFME (wasted frequency).

 

[neo11]

Add me in to the 5-6 years ago camp as far as KTU goes. When KTU first came on in 1996, there was a new and exciting buzz to the station, even though they did play a lot of old disco even then. They did play a lot more new music than KTU does today, and the station's jocks, presentation, etc. was very energetic.

At some point a few years ago, that energy seems to have been sapped away from the station. Most new music disappeared, the rotation of older disco increased, as well as other older music that can barely be considered rhythmic anymore. The on-air presentation, liners, sweepers, etc. changed as well and now sound more Hot ACish than anything else.

You can thank deregulation for at least part of this. Clear Channel is boxed in as far as KTU goes. They don't want to lean too new because they're going to eat away at Z100. They don't want to lean too urban, because they're going to eat away at Power 105. They also overlap a lot with Lite FM so they have to be careful which old disco/80s tunes each station plays.

That leaves us with a station that plays lots of Donna Summer, Gloria Gaynor, ABBA (all also played on Lite FM but in lighter rotation), as well as squeezing in 80s stuff that the other CC stations don't play and that are rhythmic only in the broadest definition of the term (Duran Duran, Eurythmics, OMD).

The interesting thing about KTU is that for all the talk about ratings going down with the new music they were playing, they don't seem to have improved much since. They also received almost no bump from Mix 102.7 going away even though the two stations were similar. KTU's numbers, if anything, have been amazingly consistent for the past couple of years, which leads me to believe that they are just hanging on to a core group of listeners but not attracting any new listeners.

 

[JustinCase]

I listen still... I like DIVERSITY... I hate hearing the same beats or sounds over and over... I know many of you make fun of the disco artists, but if you're listening in an office for the whole day... trust me having a wide genre and decades of dance to draw from is a breather... disco, new wave, freestyle, 90's and pop remixes... keeps it changing. I don't dance at work, and I wouldn't want to live a night out all day... I think thats why I like KTU... its generally upbeat and has me tapping my foot, but I don't get a headache. It sure as beats the Classic Rock, Classic Hits, Oldies, and Variety stations I'm voice tracking daily in several cities.

I someties wish it had a bit more energy in the delivery, but I like the people on... been a Cubby fan since his start on Z100, I know Diane Prior personally and think she just smoothly lets the music be the lead and connects with people working during the day... I like that H&G are together... I always liked Hollywood's delivery, even back in the OLD DAYS, before the whole contest fiasco... Jagar is a nice guy in person, when I listen to him, I always get the mental picture of a 25 y/o on a mountain dew rush *shrug* kinda kwirky hyper.

I do listen to Pulse or mp3s on my laptop sometimes in the evening while getting ready to go out, but its just too hard to get... I don't get it in my apt, the signal is blocked (by the Time Warner Center I think), I can't get it when commutting to other markets I work in, I lose it in the tunnels and then it gets interupted by buildings and by bridges in Jersey... but I can carry KTU to at least Hope, NJ and on some days into the Poconos, so thats another reason I stick with KTU...

I see KTU like I see NY dance nightlife... when I came into the city as a teen the dance scene was huge, clubs all over... BIG CLUBS... then the music transitioned into hip hop and most of them closed up... the music scene not the radio station changed the game... if the scene is changing again, let's see if they change with it...

 

[sfradio]

I listen still... I like DIVERSITY... I hate hearing the same beats or sounds over and over... I know many of you make fun of the disco artists, but if you're listening in an office for the whole day... trust me having a wide genre and decades of dance to draw from is a breather... disco, new wave, freestyle, 90's and pop remixes... keeps it changing. I don't dance at work, and I wouldn't want to live a night out all day... I think thats why I like KTU... its generally upbeat and has me tapping my foot, but I don't get a headache. It sure as beats the Classic Rock, Classic Hits, Oldies, and Variety stations I'm voice tracking daily in several cities.

I someties wish it had a bit more energy in the delivery, but I like the people on... been a Cubby fan since his start on Z100, I know Diane Prior personally and think she just smoothly lets the music be the lead and connects with people working during the day... I like that H&G are together... I always liked Hollywood's delivery, even back in the OLD DAYS, before the whole contest fiasco... Jagar is a nice guy in person, when I listen to him, I always get the mental picture of a 25 y/o on a mountain dew rush *shrug* kinda kwirky hyper.

I do listen to Pulse or mp3s on my laptop sometimes in the evening while getting ready to go out, but its just too hard to get... I don't get it in my apt, the signal is blocked (by the Time Warner Center I think), I can't get it when commutting to other markets I work in, I lose it in the tunnels and then it gets interupted by buildings and by bridges in Jersey... but I can carry KTU to at least Hope, NJ and on some days into the Poconos, so thats another reason I stick with KTU...

I see KTU like I see NY dance nightlife... when I came into the city as a teen the dance scene was huge, clubs all over... BIG CLUBS... then the music transitioned into hip hop and most of them closed up... the music scene not the radio station changed the game... if the scene is changing again, let's see if they change with it...

AMEN I am wit you man

 

[neo11]

Fair point....KTU currently does draw upon many different genres, so there is some diversity, even if it's the same diversity every day. Overall the playlist is still limited and fairly predictable. I shop at a supermarket that has KTU (!) playing on the speakers (switched from Lite FM a few months ago), and I typically go in the late afternoon/evenings. I swear that I hear the same songs playing during that hour each time I go. I've heard Hungry Like a Wolf at least three different times in the past month or so, always around 7 PM or so on weekday evenings...keeping in mind I only go 1-2x a week.

 

[lalumia]

the music scene not the radio station changed the game...
BINGO!

 

[BJSteigner]

Does anyone know what happened and why the music scene changed? Thanks to AM/FM/Clear Channel for ignoring the real dance music fans Evergreen Media put back on then when the "Real" KTU came back.

It was the programming of the station that changed the music scene.

Prove me wrong.

 

[JustinCase]

Does anyone know what happened and why the music scene changed? Thanks to AM/FM/Clear Channel for ignoring the real dance music fans Evergreen Media put back on then when the "Real" KTU came back.

It was the programming of the station that changed the music scene.

Prove me wrong.

Hip Hop became the new hot young sound replacing pop and dance in the late 90's... it changed in clubs first, as dance got a stay of execution on radio, because radio execs at first were affraid the sound wouldn't sell to suburban audiences and the soccer mom types. As the dj's, remixers and eventually audiences flocked to hip hop, it buried the new dance sound, where its been with very few exceptions, non-existant in the US.

Which is why the dance stations played out one of three ways... 1) added more classic dance to off set the loses and shore up listenership (like KTU); 2) flipped formats, many to a hip hop sound; 3) either slipped in the ratings to non-existant status, or never were a huge player and stayed that way (like LI's Party 105, San Fran's Energy 92 or Energy Arizona all of whom hardly show up on ratings anymore).

 

[lalumia]

in some of my rather, expressive' posts from years ago, I pointed out that hip hop presented an entire mindset that appealed to the young taste makers; dance did not;
hip hop had an array of loud, bigger than life stars that appealed to that crowd,who they could dress like, act like,talk like,for better or worse, as rock music once did; dance does not offer this option;
in fact,dance began listing the producers/djs as the artist on the label, not the actual vocalist, which I said at the time was the instant kiss of death where the mainstream audience was concerned
....in the 70s and 80s, everything about dance was celebratory; in more recent years, dance became more snooty,insular, nose in the air exclusionary,with non vocal trance and mind numbing wallpaper house tracks which I said would NEVER appeal to the mainstream;
.....I said to refer back to my predictions in five years, when 'dance' is up the creek without a paddle due to the snooty exclusionary mindset which no one budged from,and from which no one is continuing to budge from....so knock yourselves out, cos things won't get better in America, they will continue to get worse....write it down

 

[Dancerev889]

Things are getting better. BPM's are going up and the hip-hop is sounding more like dance than they do hip-hop. You have two dance songs making an impact on Top 40 with Enur and Cascada. Listen to the music coming out its dance friendly. Dance hurt itself a few years back with getting away from the vocals. Plus dance doesnt do a great job of promoting itself to the general public

 

[TonySantiago]

Plus dance doesnt do a great job of promoting itself to the general public

VERY TRUE.

Aside from Ultra Records promoting their latest albums on subway platforms, I don't see much promotions regarding dance music. I do realize there are limited budgets (in comparison to the "Big Four" labels) as the main reason why you don't see much publicity. Which is why we have to get more dance music onto the radio...at least the music can "push itself" that way somehow.