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Lafayette Planet Radio 106.7 changing call letters?

Most likely reason is a pending format change.

It looks like the current format didn't do as well long-term as they hoped three years ago. Their ratings are not spectacular and have been pretty much flat for two of those years, other than a slight bump in 12+ in last Spring's book which was largely within the margin of error and then disappeared the following book.

Let's face it: Hovering around a 1.0 share 12+ in a market where the top two stations are in the 6's and the #3 and #4 pulled up into the 5's last book isn't a success.
 
K.M. Richards said:
Most likely reason is a pending format change.

It looks like the current format didn't do as well long-term as they hoped three years ago. Their ratings are not spectacular and have been pretty much flat for two of those years, other than a slight bump in 12+ in last Spring's book which was largely within the margin of error and then disappeared the following book.

Let's face it: Hovering around a 1.0 share 12+ in a market where the top two stations are in the 6's and the #3 and #4 pulled up into the 5's last book isn't a success.
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The big problem for KPCZ at 106.7 mHz licensed to Rayne, is that it's never going to catch up with the market leaders no matter what it does. There are adjacent channels at 106.3 and 107.1 in the market that appear to cover Lafayette better than it does because they are located closer to the city. More importantly, 106.7's 4500 kW is puny when you realize that the commercial outlets at 94.5, 99.1, and 99.9 (as well as the NPR outlet at 88.7) are all operating with 100kW and the commercial station at 95.5 is running 50 kW. So, I'm guessing that getting a 1.0 in the Lafayette market is probably the best hope that frequency actually has, other than simulcasting a co-owned station (FM or AM) from the other side of the market that might be doing better.
 
The last station to have the KWLL calls was in the Tyler/Longview market -- went by "the Well" with a religious format.
 
txchipk said:
The last station to have the KWLL calls was in the Tyler/Longview market -- went by "the Well" with a religious format.
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Which is totally irrelevant to this discussion. The two markets are about 300 miles apart.
 
K.M. Richards said:
Which is totally irrelevant to this discussion. The two markets are about 300 miles apart.
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Only pointing to one possible branding for calls of KWLL.
 
txchipk said:
Only pointing to one possible branding for calls of KWLL.
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Maybe I am more of a realist, but I do not remember ever seeing unrelated stations pick up an old call sign and then duplicate the previous station's format and name, in a completely different market.
 
K.M. Richards said:
Maybe I am more of a realist, but I do not remember ever seeing unrelated stations pick up an old call sign and then duplicate the previous station's format and name, in a completely different market.
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Yet, given the station's signal coverage issues, a non-commercial religious format may be its only means for survival...
 
ted chittenden said:
Yet, given the station's signal coverage issues, a non-commercial religious format may be its only means for survival...
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And that is purely speculative, going on nothing more than a call letter change request.
 
K.M. Richards said:
And that is purely speculative, going on nothing more than a call letter change request.
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While the possible format may be speculative, the signal coverage limitations, as I understand it (and someone who lives in the area please correct me if I'm wrong) are quite real. Again, many of the station's competitors are running with 50kW and above while this station's total power output by FCC regulation is 4.5kW, and the station's transmitter is 20-something miles from the center of Lafayette with no way to increase power or move in closer to the city. If, given these limitations, KPCZ wasn't able to get by with ratings at or just above 1.0, I can't imagine any commercial format being viable for it.
 
That 4.5kW wouldn't be as bad if the transmitter was essentially at ground level.

It appears to be in the middle of a field a few miles northeast of the COL.

I don't even think your speculative format would get enough listenership to matter. No wonder it can't managed more than an average 1.0 share.
 
Correction to my last post:

That 4.5kW wouldn't be as bad if the transmitter wasn't essentially at ground level.
 
stevenNOLA said:
But aren't they at or near max height for a Class A at 4.5kW?
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That's what I meant to say and why I posted the correction.

A Class A rimshot at or near maximum ERP for their height is never going to be a real factor in the market because of an inability to cover the metro from their rimshot COL.

Going higher and taking the accompanying reduction in ERP is almost always better, if you can still put a city-grade signal over the COL. The first station I worked for was so high in the mountains that it was a 130-watt Class A ... but the mountain overlooked the COL and also had a straight shot through gaps in the mountains to the south to be able to cover about 90% of the rated market. The programming wasn't mainstream enough to gather enough of an audience to be a contender ratings-wise (so they instead centered around a few niche programs which they then sold to sponsors -- at a premium -- who wanted to reach those listeners; I spent much of my four years there as the producer and backup host for a nightly four-hour Classical music program which was completely sold out the entire time).

A second station was at even higher elevation with 87 watts but was to the east of the primary communities in the market and put it a decent enough signal that a mass appeal AC format (which I programmed) was good enough to be #5 in 12+.

A 250-watt translator on Sandia Peak covers Albuquerque proper as well as the full-power FMs in the market.

So KPCZ is cutting off their nose to spite their face, so to speak. I don't know if there's anywhere feasible to locate their facilities closer to Lafayette at a higher elevation and still cover Rayne with a city-grade signal, but if they haven't at least explored that possibility they are essentially fools.
 
You cannot compare a translator in the mountains of New Mexico to something in the swamps of Louisiana for coverage.

Looking at the data. The last format that appears to have been part of an LMA started on April 1, 2023 and now a call letter change is filed to start three years to the day. That makes it appear a new LMA will start then (and no nothing is filed in the public file, but there are plenty of stations that don't properly maintain their online public files that will not even get noticed at renewal time.
 


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