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Power 106 faltering against 92.3?
- Thread starter victorres43
- Start date
Just want to add a little context, since many readers are likely not old enough to remember the competitive situation back in the stone age: In "the early 60's", the FCC had a 7-7-7 rule. A company could not own more than one single AM station, and/or one FM, and/or one TV station in any particular market. They could not own any more than a maximum of 7 AM's and 7 FM's and 7 TV's (only 5 of which could be on the VHF band, i.e. channels 2-13) anywhere in the country. So no owner owned more than an AM and an FM in the same market.
And back then, FM was in its early stages, and garnered a fraction of the ratings that AM did, if for no other reason than the penetration of FM radios (especially in cars) was a small fraction of what was available with AM radios. Also, there was no Sirius, no XM, no HD, no smart phones or tablets, no streaming, no internet, no home computers, no portable computers. (Computers in that era were mainframes and filled rooms in government, large corporations and universities, and you had to belong to the "priesthood" to have access to one. Computer time was very expensive.) Phone lines were all wired, and provided by a monopoly phone company, i.e. no competition. It was a very different environment.
So unless your internship happened in another country, it had to be a co-owned AM-FM situation, and the FM was of necessity very hobbled vis. the co-owned AM, regardless of the AM's class, directionality or signal strength.
It was in the Hemisphere's largest market. And the group owned 5 AMs and 5 FM simulcasts in that market.
And FM in some places was doing fine even by the mid-60's. I owned one in 1965 that was profitable in its first year on the air and billed as much as any of my 3 AMs by its second year.
Just 1am and 1fm seems crazy especially in a large markets, and the other nations practicing a more Capitalist approach to media is actually funny.
I totally understand the....well facade, let's be honest, of politicians in 'Marekuh saying we need diversity of ownership for a free press, but with Fm clearly integrating into the lives of all our media users, allowing 2 of each, then 3 after observing 2, kept diversity but also would give the people a better variety of options too with the new mindset of ownership with pieces to formulate combinations.
Instead, we try to make up for antiquated rules and the consequences with a way overdue, but over-correction that creates it's own problems.
I totally understand the....well facade, let's be honest, of politicians in 'Marekuh saying we need diversity of ownership for a free press, but with Fm clearly integrating into the lives of all our media users, allowing 2 of each, then 3 after observing 2, kept diversity but also would give the people a better variety of options too with the new mindset of ownership with pieces to formulate combinations.
Instead, we try to make up for antiquated rules and the consequences with a way overdue, but over-correction that creates it's own problems.
Was this in the US?
Answer your own question: where is the largest radio market in North and South America'?
Are we talking "Western Hemisphere" or "Northern Hemisphere?" Your initial response only said "Hemisphere." From the follow-up, it's obviously "Western", and there it could be Mexico City or Buenos Aires, each of which currently have about 13 million. (Though the populations have undoubted grown in 60 years.)
But if you had been referencing "Northern", that includes China. And there, we have five cities which are bigger: Shanghai (22.3M), Beijing (18.96M), Shenzhen (17.5M), Guangzhou (16.1M) and Chengdu (13.6M). And then there's India, which also has some very large populations in its largest cities (which I'm too lazy to look up).
Gotsta be careful playing gotcha.
I said "North and South America" because the Western Hemisphere is the half of the world west of the Greenwich Meridian and includes a bunch of Western Europe.
Metro Mexico City is 23 million. Metro Bs. As. is 21 million. Both of those figure are per the definition of the radio market by the local ratings company(ies)
Metro NYC (per Nielsen) is nearly 19 million as of 2022.
People let’s stay on topic this thread is about the ongoing hip hop radio competition.
I still find it fascinating that KPWR is failing so badly, while KRRL is doing so well.
KPWR is in the same death spiral that killed KUBE and KUUU. They are mixing in heavy throwbacks, just like KUUU did last summer. But it hasn't pulled KUUU out of its nosedive.
I want to just shrug and say, "Well, hip-hop is going through a rough time. Maybe it's dying like Active Rock did." But then I see KRRL do so well. I doubt that many people stick around just for Big Boy, right?
KPWR is in the same death spiral that killed KUBE and KUUU. They are mixing in heavy throwbacks, just like KUUU did last summer. But it hasn't pulled KUUU out of its nosedive.
I want to just shrug and say, "Well, hip-hop is going through a rough time. Maybe it's dying like Active Rock did." But then I see KRRL do so well. I doubt that many people stick around just for Big Boy, right?
Yes, and my point is that there is ample historical evidence that co-owned stations can have considerable overlap and I cited incidents in my own career where there was over 50% library overlap.
And domestically, there is a CHR and a rhythmic Hot AC in New York City with lots of overlap. Or a CHR, Hot AC and AC in LA that overlap at each age transition point.
The point is to share listeners with your own stations and not competitive group stations. Nobody except a few religious station listeners uses just one station, so most of us want those listeners to always use one of our stations without leaving the company!
How was it back then? I only started listening a few years ago.
It was much more fun back in 90’s. Now a days they play the same song every hour.
Oh man I'd love to hear it back then. I'd keep it on all day, lol.
As soon as I moved here I spent few months listening to Kiss FM only but got tired of the repetition too so I now mix it with other stations.
You would’ve enjoyed Power back in the 90’s and 2000’s.
I bet! I'd love to hear recordings from back then. I bet I'd have it on all day. As a teen I loved to keep the radio on all day. When I first came to LA Kiss FM was my company all day since the moment I woke up. But Power 106 still has a special place in my heart. It's the first station that played in the stereowhen I bought my first car.
George McFly on Power 106 in 1992 is amazing:
Those air checks sound good and Power 106 did sound better in the 80’s and Early 90’s even though I was born in ‘93 when Power 106 became hip hop. I wish I was a teenager in the 90’s so I can remember those times.
Today I noticed that KPWR's wikipedia page lists the station as "Rhythmic Hot AC" now that they've been playing a lot more throwbacks in the last year or so.
en.m.wikipedia.org
Is this true? Is Power 106 no longer "Rhythmic" and is now "Rhythmic Hot AC"?
KPWR - Wikipedia
Is this true? Is Power 106 no longer "Rhythmic" and is now "Rhythmic Hot AC"?
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