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[crbigband]

And I post this with no editorial comment: It speaks for itself. Programming changes at my old Alma Mater, KAAM-AM (770). As of Monday, 1PM-2PM weekdays they've gone talk. Real Estate, Wellness & Financial planning shows done Live and you can even call in! We parted company on March 9th and less than a year later...

 

[woodyrr]

It's too bad that radio doesn't work both ways. At 1:00 yesterday, the people at KAAM would have heard an iPhone switched to the iPod mode and two AM radios very soundly switched off at my location. It was almost three, before I got around to turning the radios back on.

The basket case that is KAAM has been hashed and rehashed ad infinitum. If they keep doing stuff like hour long : weekday infomercials, it may not have to be rehashed much longer.

I cannot believe that a well run standards format station that broadcasts on the air as well as on the internet cannot support itself without resorting to insane programming.

Does anyone remember the "call letters" of the internet only standards station that originates somewhere here in Texas? I was thinking KQRX but that must not be it. The "owner" has posted on KAAM threads, but I cannot find one of the postings. I listened briefly, but back then, internet streaming to devices like the iPhone wasn't ready for prime time. To avoid an interminable hour of "Doctor drone rambles on about something I couldn't care less about", I'll put up with just about anything.

Today, I'll let Pandora on my iPhone select music - m-u-s-i-c - that I can listen to.

 

[woodyrr]

Disregard the streaming station query - it is KZQX

 

[crbigband]

Yes, it is KZQX (KZQX.com). BTW, I do a show for them on Saturday nights now (have been since September). It's called the Saturday Night Dance Party. I have complete music selection autonomy (owner/operator Chuck Conrad and I are of one musical taste) and the show's catching on - on the internet as well as locally on the 100.3 frequency for listeners in East Texas. Overall, the station plays Adult Standards music (including Big Band) 24/7 - NO infomercials, stop sets with 6-10 commercials, high school and college games or other garbage that pollutes the airwaves in Dallas - regardless of the format. KZQX actually cares about what their listeners think. Yet another totally foreign concept to most radio stations in Dallas.

As far as KAAM is concerned, they are doing something that I was repeatedly told they would never do - run infomercials during the weekdays. The only reason they're doing this is because they've lost so many sponsors and revenue because of years of "bonehead" programming decisions, they now have no choice. I'm just glad I'm no longer part of it.

One thing is certain: This definitely leaves an opening for an Adult Standards station done right in the DFW market. In my view, there has never been one that did it right in the entire time I've lived is Dallas.

Stay tuned...

 

[Chuck]

I find it amazing that nobody in the DFW area has taken one of the many rim shot FM stations and put a good sounding Standards station on it. It seems like a "no-brainer" to me. As I tune the DFW radio dial, there seem to be lots of stations that would qualify. Right now, many of them sound more-or-less the same, which means all they are doing is further fragmenting their target audience. Why not take a chance on something different?

And yeah, I know, they say nobody wants to buy ads on a Standards station. “It's the wrong demographics,” I’m told. Maybe so, but I've found that it isn't that hard, although you might have to actually help your client promote their business, rather than just take their money. It isn’t quite like being a ticket-taker at a hit movie. Even so, we regularly get people calling the station who want to advertise. It’s pretty easy from there.

Meanwhile, I'm happy to have disgruntled DFW listeners tune us in on line. www.kzqx.com

 

[little1]

Define rim-shot. Name a station that you think qualifies as a rim-shot, that could do better by flipping...

KESN? They're beating the 50,000 watt blowtorch of The Fan in the ratings on a regular basis.

The Ranch or the Range? Doubt that, we ARE in Texas after all, and the Wolf is one of the higher rated (and highest billing) stations in the market...Those owners obviously think they can do better being the 3rd, 4th or 5th Country station in this market than being the one standards station.

 

[woodyrr]

I received a call from home at lunch. It appears that I am getting an Arbitron diary. I scrupulously filled one out before and hope that the information was valuable to them.

It's really a shame that I will be back home in the Oklahoma City area when it arrives. It would have given me great satisfaction to log that I turn on the radio to KAAM at 8:00, listen until 1:00 PM and then turn it off until 2:00 PM where I turn it back on and listen until 4:30! As it is, the normal stations that I listen to will get the credit.

I listened to KZQX today during the "horror hour" on KAAM. The stream didn't drop out once on my iPhone despite my doing quite a bit of moving around.

Cary: My best on your program on KZQX.

 

[txchipk]

I find it amazing that nobody in the DFW area has taken one of the many rim shot FM stations and put a good sounding Standards station on it. It seems like a "no-brainer" to me. As I tune the DFW radio dial, there seem to be lots of stations that would qualify. Right now, many of them sound more-or-less the same, which means all they are doing is further fragmenting their target audience. Why not take a chance on something different?

And yeah, I know, they say nobody wants to buy ads on a Standards station. “It's the wrong demographics,” I’m told.

Musically, KPMZ and KAAM overlap a lot. Abba, Glen Campbell, Anne Murray, Herb Albert, Neil Diamond, Roberta Flack, Beach Boys, Barry Manilow, Tony Orlando, etc. all live on KPMZ and KAAM.

I would imagine that the economy, selling the over 55 audience, and being on AM while KPMZ on FM playing pretty much the same music are taking a bite out of whatever revenue KAAM generates. From the schedule on KAAM's website, the weekends seem to be nothing but infomercials (and Sunday night big band) that probably just run off more listeners to KPMZ.

 

[Chuck]

Define rim-shot. Name a station that you think qualifies as a rim-shot, that could do better by flipping...

Since I don't live in Dallas any more, I'll let someone else figure that out. You are more familiar with the market than I am.

Recently, I had occasion to see how many stations were receivable at my old Dallas zip code of 75220. Since the answer wasn't all that critical, I just went to Radio-locator.com It probably isn't all that accurate, but it is OK for "ball-park" figures. It came back with 84 receivable signals at my old house. That is a lot of radio stations. The law of averages tells me that some (maybe many) would be better off doing something unique.

 

[OHTBGH]

Boy jr has really screwed up the station! I sure hope that Dad is really laughing all the way to the bank.

I bought an HD radio for two reasons: KAAM and WBAP. Everytime I would try to show off my radio with KAAM there was no stereo music just infomercials for colon clensers!

Last month I had joseph's install my xmas present in my sebring: a JVC stereo with HD and XM. The kid had never heard HD AM and was curious. So... I took a chance and swung it over to KAAM. Low and behold big band was playing! The radio latched onto the hd signal and came in beautifully: except for a wicked HUM! He heard it and came unglued thinking he had messed up the install and wanted to the car back in the bay and correct it! After calming him down I switched fm and picked jacks hd 2 and showed him it was fine. It KAAM's issue!

Of course WBAP has turned off IBOC so I listen to KRLD now.

If I could get the funds together i'd turn that freq into a fully operational radio station!

-BGH

 

[little1]

I'd like to see a list of the 84.
Because I just checked out this list
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_radio_stations_in_Texas
And there's MAYBE 50 stations broadcasting from the metroplex. D-FW, Arl, the suburbs,outlying outposts, etc. There may be 84 signals, I wonder how many of them are receivable by non-DX'er lsitening on aboombox, standard car radio, etc.
So we've already dropped from 84 to maybe 50. Of that 50 how many are non-comms? Drop KNTU, KTCU, WRR, KXT, KNON, and we're dropping closer to 40. Drop a handful of religious stations and we're probably at 40. How many hispanic stations do we have in this market? Drops it to about 30-35 available stations.
Now look at who owns what. Clear channel owns half a dozen stations, same with CBS, Cumulus 4 main ones (although the Ticket has like 18 different frequencies they're on) Citadel/ABC has/had 4, Service has a couple, etc etc. Add up those major owners (who can either make more with a more sellable demo or wants that 25-54 demo so they can sell spots across a cluster/subgroup of stations) and we're dropping from the 30's to maybe 10 stations.
So who, KSKY? They're part of Salem, no? Why should they change? Yes, I probably know this market better than you. And I can't find a station that it would make sense to flip to standards.

And then the most important thing. So KAAM is "screwing up" standards. Whoring it out with infomercials, etc. If you just fracture the audience between KAAM and this new station, do you somehow think both will be successful? If there's not enough audience to support one station well, do you really think it'll support 2???

 

[Lancer]

I wish KJIM 1500 Sherman could boost their power beyond 1k.

That is a good station, a lot more enjoyable to listen to than most of the stuff on the DFW dial.

 

[kzewdude]

Just move The Ticket and WBAP to FM and shut off AM altogether. It's just a wasteland now.

 

[Chuck]

I'd like to see a list of the 84.

It is easy enough for you to see. Just go to radio-locator.com and enter your favorite zip code. I'm sure the number will vary from location to location. In my case, it was an even split of AM & FM stations. If you take away all of the AM's and figure all they are good for is colon cleansing infomercials, then it still leaves a lot of stations. I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the noncommercial FM stations though. Arbitron does not include them in the 12+ public ratings, but some of them can and do have significant audiences.

I have no idea what format most of the DFW stations are, but how many Country or AC stations do you really need? It is pretty fair to guess that only 20 or so of the stations in the area have really significant audiences, and that is including AM. The rest need to be specialty or niche stations with loyal audiences. One thing that can be said for Standards is the audience tends to be fairly loyal.

I have noticed that the HD-2 channel on the CBS 100.3 station is called "The Strip." http://www.thesoundofthestrip.com/ Their stream doesn’t seem to be working when I checked a few minutes ago, but assuming it is still on the air it is certainly a close first cousin of Standards.... Too bad it’s on HD.

 

[little1]

for my zip (75229) 82 stations are in 'distant listening range" . And some of them are pretty distant. Pretty sure the odds of me picking up stations from Greenville (90.5) or Austin (KLBJ, 189 miles) and actually being able to HEAR them is negligible.

Which means we're back to my estimate of 50 usable signals. Which really means a handful (10 or less) of stations that MIGHT, repeat MIGHT have any interest in switching to standards.

And I'm not knocking the non-comm FM's, but why should WRR switch to standards? Or KXT, etc. So they can get a miniscule audience that's dying off more each day?

And as for your middle paragraph- how many cola makers do we need? How many beer companies? How many car companies? We'll all selling a product. Obviously some of these companies feel that they can do better as the 4th country station then as the 1st standards station. I guess a beer company could decide "we're sick of getting our butts kicked by Miller and Bud, let's invent a weirdly flavored beer!!!" Maybe standards is the equivilant of that odd flavor beer. Maybe some people like it, but a lot more people like regular beer. And you can make more money being the 5th most popular brewery in town selling regular beer than the oddball flavored beer.

And I don't disgaree that stations ranked 20 or under are very 'nichey'. But why should Heaven 97 switch from gospel to standards? Why lose the audience they have to get teh same audience with adiferent format. If standards had some great track record of pulling numbers in this market, you mighthave a point.,but they don't. So you don't.

 

[crbigband]

Little1 -

I have read your posts here as well as other posts on radio-info and, more often than not, I get a sense of hostility.

Seemingly, it's not enough to make your point; you have to drive it home with a barb or insult at someone else who's posting their opinion or view. I don't get the need to be rude.

Perhaps it's the music that you listen to.

-CR

 

[Chuck]

And I don't disgaree that stations ranked 20 or under are very 'nichey'. But why should Heaven 97 switch from gospel to standards? Why lose the audience they have to get teh same audience with adiferent format. If standards had some great track record of pulling numbers in this market, you mighthave a point.,but they don't. So you don't.

Stations ranked below #20 NEED to be “nichey.” If they aren’t, they will most likely flip formats over and over until they finally end up running just brokered block programming.

I wasn't suggesting that anybody change formats, if whatever it is they do is working for them. I sincerely doubt that every station, however many there are, is working to its full potential. Do you really think so? I have a few bridges for sale...

The real point is if you are a small station, it is stupid to try to out-program some of the big broadcasters, in Dallas or anywhere else for that matter. CBS, Clear, etc. have lots deeper pockets than most small stations do, so it is futile to try to compete head on with something that they are doing. Instead, you need to do something the "other guys" would never do, and you need to do it well. Standards is one of those choices. There are many others.

If you will read my original post, I said, "I find it amazing that nobody in the DFW area has taken one of the many rim shot FM stations and put a good sounding Standards station on it." I stand by that statement. You can be less amazed than I am, and that is perfectly OK by me.

Obviously, you don't care for the format, and that too is fine. There are people who do like it, and by and large, they turn out to be loyal listeners.

 

[Jay Walker]

I have noticed that the HD-2 channel on the CBS 100.3 station is called "The Strip." http://www.thesoundofthestrip.com/ Their stream doesn’t seem to be working when I checked a few minutes ago, but assuming it is still on the air it is certainly a close first cousin of Standards.... Too bad it’s on HD.

The correct web access point for "The Sound of The Strip" is through the jackontheweb.com website.
Just click on "The Strip" in the left hand column "More Jack" and that will take you to the player. The old site you referenced is a dead site and may not redirect correctly. In my case all of the DFW HD radio services come in at my location in far northern Collin County with minimal issues including 107.5 HD-2. I do use an outdoor antenna (discone) and the receiver and I use the term loosely is the Boston Acoustics table top first issue. I'm 70+/- air miles from Cedar Hill.

I wish I had as good of luck receiving HD-TV as it is a no go at my location. My TV options are SAT only as no off-air makes it here.
Thank you
Jay Walker

 

[lomax]

I've been listening to KAAM since the late 80's....I'm just past retirement age so their music fills the bill..great selections especially nuggets from the 50's and 60's not to mention a sprinkle of the bands. On my bi weekly trips to Houston, with my consulting business, I take it with me down to Buffalo before the fade begins. While my teen years took place primarily in the 60's, I really enjoy their Sunday eve Sinatra and Big band shows...best I've heard in DFW and although he signal is a bit scratchy in the evening where we are in SW Ft. Worth, its fun to re-live the good ole days..and after all these years they're still there.

 

[Chuck]

I've been listening to KAAM since the late 80's....

Just wondering, do you think it is better, worse or about the same?