OMG...is KBZT Management Even Listening To Their Station?

[sdwulfdawg]

I turned on the station overnight and they were running commercials talking about the "Christmas season."

The on air guy (assuming it is voicetracked) sounded like he was on a gaming headset and not a real microphone. He was popping his Ps and other plosives and other breath noises. He sounded like a high school kid on his first on air job.

Then the whipped cream with a cherry on top on this on air mess was when the anonymous Mr. Voicetracker not referring to the station by its frequency/call letters/station identifier but announcing an artist "on this radio station."

Oyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy....

 

[TheBigA]

The on air guy (assuming it is voicetracked) sounded like he was on a gaming headset and not a real microphone. He was popping his Ps and other plosives and other breath noises. He sounded like a high school kid on his first on air job.

You realize people are still working from home. How many commercials mentioned "Christmas season?" One?

 

[radiojomo]

I turned on the station overnight and they were running commercials talking about the "Christmas season."

The on air guy (assuming it is voicetracked) sounded like he was on a gaming headset and not a real microphone. He was popping his Ps and other plosives and other breath noises. He sounded like a high school kid on his first on air job.

Then the whipped cream with a cherry on top on this on air mess was when the anonymous Mr. Voicetracker not referring to the station by its frequency/call letters/station identifier but announcing an artist "on this radio station."

Oyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy....

Must have been Bryce Segall - that's a nationally syndicated "Radio.com alternative" show. I believe they also announce "portions of this program were previously recorded" after every station ID.

 

[sdwulfdawg]

You realize people are still working from home. How many commercials mentioned "Christmas season?" One?

3 commercials.........

 

[sdwulfdawg]

Must have been Bryce Segall - that's a nationally syndicated "Radio.com alternative" show. I believe they also announce "portions of this program were previously recorded" after every station ID.

Actually, it was announced at the top of the hour, "this program has been previously recorded."

 

[MarkW]

Many of their alternative stations sound like absolute horse crap.

98.7 in Detroit cuts to commercial break in the middle of songs all the time.

I have no idea why anyone in San Diego County who is able to pick up good reception from both stations would listen to 94.9 over 91X. The latter is a far better product.

 

[macattack]

Kevin Kinney sounds like a reject from 90's MTV and Bryce sounds either bored or exhausted every time I've dared to give an Entercom Alternative my night listening. Not to mention that Entercom takes an ax to several of my favorite songs that they still play ("Best Of You" loses an entire verse and chorus to cut it down to less than three minutes, for example). The "Alt Select" hours just sound like a complete mess, it's clear that they want to pander to Gen Z but are afraid to go all-in, so they give X and Millennials a bit of lip service, creating a painfully disjointed mix. Not to mention that they drown you in aging recurrents like "Trampoline" and "3 Nights" instead of, you know, playing fresh songs.

And the insistence on blocking still-relevant staple acts new songs (new Kings of Leon, Weezer, and Foo Fighters remain blocked on Entercom outlets, though I believe KNDD is giving "Waiting On A War" token spins), while still playing their huge 2000's hits feels odd and disingenuous to say the least.

They're stretching Kevin and Bryce way too thin (they have to cover all fourteen Entercom Alternatives which is madness) and they all seem to be pulling from WNYL's pop-heavy playlist, which is why blackbear's "Hot Girl Bummer" has made a mystifying appearance on the Billboard Alternative chart the last two weeks.

And it seems like Entercom is going to repeat the failed Alternative and Country strategy to two more formats soon. God help radio.

(still nervously watches for the ax to fall on 93XRT)

 

[MarkW]

Completely agree regarding Kevin Kinney. Also cracks me up that they gave Kane (not to be confused with the CHR/Pop format's "Kane" who recently passed away) a multi-station A.M. Drive show, even though his #'s were lackluster in NYC during 92.3's K-Rock days (in afternoons), and his ratings were flat out horrendous in Minneapolis. He appeared on VH-1 for 15 minutes about two decades ago, so I guess that qualifies as "star power" in the radio biz.

I came across the new Kings of Leon single on SXM Alt Nation a couple days ago, and immediately wondered why Entercom's crappy Alt outpost in Detroit wasn't playing it.

Mike Kaplan and Michael Martin are both doing a terrible job.

 

[boombox4]

You realize people are still working from home. How many commercials mentioned "Christmas season?" One?

But don't they assign the at-home radio staff a decent mic? When the pandemic first hit, I heard some low-fi mics being used from at-home talk hosts, but that was a year ago. The last few months you can't really tell the difference between the at-homers and those who may be in an actual studio.

 

[radiojomo]

Completely agree regarding Kevin Kinney. Also cracks me up that they gave Kane (not to be confused with the CHR/Pop format's "Kane" who recently passed away) a multi-station A.M. Drive show, even though his #'s were lackluster in NYC during 92.3's K-Rock days (in afternoons), and his ratings were flat out horrendous in Minneapolis. He appeared on VH-1 for 15 minutes about two decades ago, so I guess that qualifies as "star power" in the radio biz.

I came across the new Kings of Leon single on SXM Alt Nation a couple days ago, and immediately wondered why Entercom's crappy Alt outpost in Detroit wasn't playing it.

Mike Kaplan and Michael Martin are both doing a terrible job.

Entercom alternative stations have also largely ignored new tracks from the Foo Fighters, one of the bands that have served as a core artist of the format since the '90s.

The biggest failure for Mike Kaplan and his alternative rock team has been developing a solid morning show, good enough to be syndicated nationally like The Woody Show (which he brought on during his time at iHeart).

The reason why Woody hit in LA was because it resonated well with Latino and POC listeners. It seems like neither Stryker & Klein or Cane & Corey are doing that in either LA or NY.

 

[MarkW]

I think multiple aspects of the stations under his command sound terrible. Mornings are definitely an issue. You might be giving the Woody Show too much credit. It's been a ratings flop in many markets where it airs or once aired in syndication (Atlanta, St. Louis, San Francisco, Detroit to name several).

San Diego is very lucky to have 91X as an option!

 

[macattack]

Entercom alternative stations have also largely ignored new tracks from the Foo Fighters, one of the bands that have served as a core artist of the format since the '90s.

The biggest failure for Mike Kaplan and his alternative rock team has been developing a solid morning show, good enough to be syndicated nationally like The Woody Show (which he brought on during his time at iHeart).

The reason why Woody hit in LA was because it resonated well with Latino and POC listeners. It seems like neither Stryker & Klein or Cane & Corey are doing that in either LA or NY.

Don't give Mike "The Show Killer" Kaplan more credit than he deserves. Woody has made it emphatically clear that he and Mike had a fraught relationship, and much of the success came from directly ignoring Mike's directions.

A meeting between Woody and Mike Kaplan

Woody drags Mike onto the air specifically to fight with him over how much music to play.

And lastly, Woody's "sentimental" farewell to Mike when he left for WNYL.

 

[MarkW]

Mike Kaplan has the most annoying speech pattern on the planet. ("uh, uh, uh, again...")

He is Exhibit A of everything that is wrong with terrestrial radio.

 

[chrocket87]

San Diego is very lucky to have 91X as an option!

I was visiting in San Diego last year and sampled both stations. I must say, 91X sounds GREAT. While I’m too young to appreciate a lot of the new wave gold that they play, I like the majority of their 90s-present material. They go very light on the overly pop material, while Alt is virtually a pop station that plays 90s/aughts Alt-rock gold. It only took me a handful of songs to stop sampling and leave the dial on 91x.

It’s hard to believe that the two stations are actually considered to be in the same format.

 

[macattack]

I was visiting in San Diego last year and sampled both stations. I must say, 91X sounds GREAT. While I’m too young to appreciate a lot of the new wave gold that they play, I like the majority of their 90s-present material. They go very light on the overly pop material, while Alt is virtually a pop station that plays 90s/aughts Alt-rock gold. It only took me a handful of songs to stop sampling and leave the dial on 91x.

It’s hard to believe that the two stations are actually considered to be in the same format.

I've always liked how they do their online listening. The images are casually cool - selling the idea of "click and be happy" very easily - but the desktop listening is surprisingly intuitive. The stream picks up on the general idea where you live; in my case instead of selling me San Diego-based advertisements I receive ads for Illinois organizations and businesses. They also will play an extra song (usually a gold of some kind) instead of making you listen to the Mexican government stuff that they're mandated to play because of where their tower is.

91X is a class act in the business and even as their spiritual older sister KROQ goes through the radio version of a midlife crisis they just keep doing what they're doing, aging as gracefully as possible.

 

[chrocket87]

I was just streaming during errand running and they ran a sweeper saying, “What happens in Vegas needs to stay in Vegas. Especially morning shows”. I about laughed my ass off at that shot at Fault 94.9

 

[MarkW]

That's some great stuff!

 

[Hoxie]

91X is a class act in the business and even as their spiritual older sister KROQ goes through the radio version of a midlife crisis they just keep doing what they're doing, aging as gracefully as possible.

I wonder how 91X's ratings in recent years compare to the station's 1980s glory days?

 

[macattack]

I wonder how 91X's ratings in recent years compare to the station's 1980s glory days?

Not as good, but they're decent. It helped a lot that KBZT shot themselves in the foot because 91X spent the better part of the last two years behind them.