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Self (aka Station) Inflicted Wounds

I already answered that. The market has grown immensely, but all the growth is from ethnic groups and non-Hispanic whites are down to about 40% and shrinking in 18-49 age groups.

I've spoken in the past with two friends who programmed rock stations in Dallas, and both agree that the rock segment is much smaller today than it was 20, 30 and 40 years ago. There are fewer non-Hispanic white men in the younger demos who listen to rock at all, and in the full 18-49 range the group of non-Hispanic whites has not grown and is now about half the percentage of the market it was 20 years ago.
I moved to Louisiana from L.A. 13 years ago. I always found it interesting that our state’s Hispanic population has remained low with Texas next door. I’m 4 hours away from Dallas
 
I moved to Louisiana from L.A. 13 years ago. I always found it interesting that our state’s Hispanic population has remained low with Texas next door. I’m 4 hours away from Dallas

Culture. The culture is so different between Texas and Louisianna. Same thing with Houston. Old Houstonians bemoan the loss of rock radio there. But the reason is because the cities of Texas have changed so much.
 
I moved to Louisiana from L.A. 13 years ago. I always found it interesting that our state’s Hispanic population has remained low with Texas next door. I’m 4 hours away from Dallas
Same goes for Arkansas, at least when I lived there many years back. Hard to find many Hispanics other than in the Northwest, where the poultry processing operations are. The minority population in cities like Little Rock, Pine Bluff and Jonesboro is African American -- Pine Bluff must be "majority minority" by now. Arkansas is much more like Mississippi than it is either Texas or Louisiana. You can find similar cultural/social differences between just about all states that border one another.
 
"The "self inflicted woulds" are, in both cases, caused by not getting out of the format soon enough."

The self inflicted wounds were:

*) Wrongfully thinking there was another talk show that could get away with talking on Eagle other than Russ.
*) Playing 50 year old classic oldies mixed with alternative music
*) Letting Scull go
*) Putting the Mavs on
*) Not having a morning show

Getting out of the format is an option only to people who don't know the format and can't tell what the problem is.

WIOT - Toledo
WCHI - Chicago
WMMS - Cleveland
KISW - Seattle
KISS - San Antonio
WJRR - Orlando
WXTB - Tampa
WRKZ - Columbus
WRIF - Detroit
WRXK - Ft. Myers

These are Active Rock stations who are getting it done.

*) Hire a morning show
*) Drop the alt and classic rock
*) Apologize for the past awful music
*) Drop the talk shows
*) Play only music that were top 5 hits in the format from the past 20 years
*) Hire jocks with attitude
Funny that you mention WMMS. As someone who lives in the Cleveland market, I can tell you that it is more talk-based than the current KEGL. AM drive is virtually entirely talk, sans some song clips during bits about artists in the news (and most are NOT rock). Afternoons is almost 100% talk. Nights are dominated by the Cleveland Guardians or Cavaliers PBP. So, they play rock music from 11AM-2PM and overnights during the week and during weekends when not airing PBP. And the music is about as “stale” as the music you complain about on KEGL, as it is loaded with classic Metallica, GnR, AC/DC, Ozzy, etc.

And I used to live in Toledo and still visit family there often and sample WIOT often. They don’t play too much from the last twenty years and almost ZERO currents.
 
Post Rusk KLOL could have skewed older and capitalized on their heritage (Classic Rock)
They couldn't. Clear Channel owned classic rock station 93.7 The Arrow at the time.
or skewed younger and been cutting edge (legitimately Active/Alternative hybrid);
They couldn't. Clear Channel owned alternative rock station 94.5 The Buzz.
instead the many owners went right down the middle (which turned out to be the wrong rock path in Houston).
The middle is all they had. Like David said, the shifting demographics are too big to ignore. Clear Channel had the right idea (but the wrong execution) when they dumped KLOL.

The demographic shift inside Houston's inner core is part of the reason why Classic Rock worked better on two semi-rimshots than the local Senior Rd 93.7. The 106.9/107.5 combo cover the extreme suburbs a whole lot better than 93.7 ever did.
 
KISS - San Antonio

It still bugs me to this day how that station is high up on ratings in San Antonio by playing the same 20 songs (between 1990-2002) over and over for the past decade. I can't even listen or acknowledge the station anymore. There is a facebook page called "99.5 Kiss Sucks" that has been created since the station blocked listeners on twitter who try to recommend new music or requests (and ironically continued to post messages like "Which song from (insert band name) would you like to hear next?")

I do miss 103.3 The App (their former alternative station) after the flip to classic hip hop and later a rhythmic station.

99.5 Kiss Sucks
 
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It still bugs me to this day how that station is high up on ratings in San Antonio by playing the same 20 songs (between 1990-2002) over and over for the past decade.

I see comments like this a lot, and it makes me want to see their playlist on Mediabase and find out if it's true. Here's what I found out.

The playlist at KISS consists of about 325 songs. Every week, they cycle out 20 or so songs, and replace them with a different group of 20 songs. The goal of course is to prevent song burnout.

They have about 25 songs in their group of most-frequently played. Those songs get played 13 times a week. That's not out of line. Do the math and that might be twice a day. Unless you listen 24/7, you shouldn't notice this. And every week, they move songs in and out of their most-played list. Yes, the list has a lot of very familiar songs and groups. But that's what the word "format" means. You take a group of songs and play them a lot. Bottom line is they don't play the same songs, because they change the playlist every week. But do they play some very popular songs? Yes. That's how radio works.

But if you want to know why KISS is so high in the ratings, I'll give you two words: Billy Madison. It has nothing to do with the music. The music is the environment in which Billy Madison sits and rules.
 
I don’t have access to music tests anymore, but do currents score so poorly, that many rock stations will not play them? Using 99.5 KISS as an example, 5 of the Top 15 artists on this mornings Active Rock chart are core artists (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Disturbed, Papa Roach, Ozzy Osbourne, Bush), yet KISS does not play the currents only the library material. Certainly “Hey You” by Disturbed would do better than their cover of “Shout” by Tears for Fears? Can’t argue with the ratings, but that approach has always puzzled me.
 
I don’t have access to music tests anymore, but do currents score so poorly, that many rock stations will not play them?

Looking at the KISS playlist, I see only one song from 2022: Master Of Puppets. It got one spin.

Almost all songs played on KISS are 90s and 2000s. Just a handful of songs newer than 2009.
 
Looking at the KISS playlist, I see only one song from 2022: Master Of Puppets. It got one spin.
I don't count that song (yes, because of Stranger Things and the radio industry pretending it's new just like "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush). The song came out in 1986 and KISS has been playing it way before Stranger Things was even thought of.
 
But, after all of the discussion we‘ve all had about changing demographics in Dallas, how is 97.1 getting away with having a very “white guy” (not meant to be offensive. for the record I am mixed) line up
There is still plenty of room for non-Hispanic white targeted stations. But as a percentage of the total market, that group is decreasing relative to others.
 
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