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So...What Do YOU Think Is Wrong With Sacramento Radio?

B

BTSF

As a fairly new poster to this board, in reviewing recent & not-so-recent posts, I've seen a lot of complaints about the general state of Sacramento radio....many stemming from the ever-tightening vicegrip of a handful of corporate entities on the ownership/management of stations, formats, and on-air talent.

Of course, as someone who's spent time in both commercial & non-commercial Sacramento radio organizations, I'm certainly not amazed at hearing from radio pros who wish some things could revert to older ways of doing business {could you imagine pairing some of today's technology with some of the on-air talent of a couple of decades past?}....

So, let's open the floor to this: What is wrong here? Too few owners of too many clusters? Radio consultants and micro-micro-management? Lack of inspired on-air talents, or handcuffed personalities?

Dish the dirt....fling some mud....let it hit that proverbial fan!
 
The problem is- (wait for fanfair) - Stations unwilling to take a chance. Too much money and too many careers at stake to take the slightest chance on anything, and an unwillingness to stick with anything long enough to get results, and a lack of willingness to invest in anything.

I see some stations doing neat things with their HD2 channels (KSFM's Freestyle format comes to mind), but why doesn't anyone try this on a flamethrower? Because they're afraid of the unknown.

No PD would keep their job if the station lost ratings or revenue because of their decisions, right? So why do something that the precious research says might not work?

Some of the BEST movies I have ever seen were hated by the movie critics. Also, some of the WORST crap for movies were ones the critics just gushed over (the movies 'Chicago' and 'Million Dollar Baby' come to mind). So, the 'experts' are not always right. Nobody is willing to buck the trends or dispute the 'experts' and do something so unusual and awesome that it would win.
 
I think that it is in the nature of comment boards that they impel complaints from the otherwise complacent. I wouldn't take anything on these boards as a trend in any satisfaction index.

I started in radio in '75, and have been complaining since! The essential complaints throughout the years (since far before I started) have centered around the going notion of management and corporate connection. As soon as radio began broadcasting advertisements, it has been corporately funded in some respect or another, and in that sense, controlled. Shows themselves were owned and controlled by corporate advertisers until well into mid century. Rarely did a station owner not own other stations and media.

And beef just keeps on comin...Here are some of the hits:

1: Sales people are satan's minions.
2: Programing has no sense of the audience.
3: Too many commercials.
4: Management runs the place but knows squat about radio.
5: Cool stations don't play popular music.
6: Corporate is taking over radio.
7: Station is too hard.
8: Station is too pop.
9: DJs talk too much.
10: DJs don't backsell enough.
11: DJs don't talk enough, sounds automated.
12: DJs seem over excited.
13: DJs seem asleep.
14: Rotations are too high, same old stuff over and over. Boring.
15: Rotations are too low, nothing familiar. Boring.

And the topper: Radio doesn't pay, doesn't care, doesn't feel.

But what does it matter anyway since TV is taking the audience away? Since 8 tracks are taking the audience away. Since cassettes are taking the audience away. Since MTV, MP3, the internet, satellite, I-Pods, viral, Tivo, Wii, etc are taking the audience away.

Ever, ever thus.
 
Tube Shortwave.....

As a long-time radio guy, I agree....but when I broke in, you could actually find a major station willing to experiment...that trend has all but died. Station managers like to point out they are doing things differently on HD channels...but how many folks are even aware of HD Radio yet, much less are willing to invest $$$ to get a new receiver?

Dead Audicy.....

People have been telling me radio's audience left for about the same number of years as you've been hearing it...and I think I've heard every listed complaint, too. Ever, ever thus, indeed....

MRK.......

Sorry the topic didn't strike you as original enough...but since this is not a general board but a Sacramento radio board, it made sense to limit the scope.....so, MRK....what would YOU do differently?
 
Michael, my point is that radio is not going down hill. Complaints are louder and more obvious only because there is more of a forum for complaints. But radio remains vital overall, with dips in vitality corresponding with the introduction of competing media, as has always been the case, corporations and consultants notwithstanding.

Beyond that, it is a discussion...and irrelevant as it might seem, you just joined it.
 
I actually think Sacramento radio is in pretty good shape, as far as radio markets go. A lot of the stations are much more compelling than a lot of their major market counterparts... better music image, better production/imaging, better personalities. The Eagle is probably the best classic rock station I've heard anywhere, and KWOD, while it does have its issues, is a pretty good true alternative station. Those two stations also buck the "too-safe" trend... they both frequently offer programming features that are creative and well-presented, and seem to have much deeper libraries than most stations. The End has evolved and bounced back nicely. Sorry if I'm focusing on the Entercom properties, but they do seem to be head-and-shoulders above the rest of the market as far as programming goes, though as the last remaining/successful jammin oldies station, V-101 has done a really nice job. KNCI finally got the competition it's so long needed. The Zone is still entertaining from a trainwreck perspective. KFBK still has news content... a lot of those stations are phasing out news completely. And be thankful over the morning show choices you have... go online and check out what passes for a morning show in most other markets these days, even major markets... it's pretty brutal.

My biggest complaint would be too few owners... I think if Entercom and CBS were to both spin off half their properties to 2 other owners the overall landscape of the market would improve greatly if for no other reason than actual competition, but we all know that's not gonna happen anytime soon. In terms of format holes, with the resurgence of rock stations in the PPM world, I wouldn't be surprised to see someone go after KRXQ in the next year or so, maybe a hybrid active/alternative. That station is a ripe target... aside from the still-successful morning show, the music is all over the place, the imaging is kinda generic, and the jocks ramble for 5 minutes just for the sake of talking without really having a payoff. And I'd still like to see a well-executed AAA, like KBCO/Boulder or WXRT/Chicago (but not KFOG, something about that station just doesn't do it for me).
 
For the small amount of time I listen to TR....I have to say the Zone is the most improve. I use to work with a girl who would put the Zone on in the office...I couldn't believe how narrow it sounded. Nothing but Coldplay, Nickelback, Creed, etc. It was depressing. Now it's opened up and not afraid to break new music. And sound like a Hot AC/Top 40 suppose to. Or going in that direction.
 
Okay, I'll play...

No Tripple A station. Probably a hard format for Sacramento, but again maybe not.

If they could get enough 25-54 year old men that aren't part of the KNCI/KNTY and KSEG partisan crowd it might fly. I though the KQPT (pre-Zone) was more esoteric than KFOG/SF.
 
I think AAA would work just fine in Sac, historically a country rockish market. 45-60 yr old locals will remember the power Earthradio KSFM had over the place in the 70s, basically a country/southern rock based station, with Eagles, Marshall Tucker, Skynyrd, Allmans, Jackson Browne, Charlie Daniels, New Riders, Quicksilver, Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, CSNY and solos, all priority groups during the station's prime, and, along with newer artists innovating on that root, similarly AAA priority today. Throw in some bluegrass, fine blues performances, and maybe a little 90s swing (Squirrel Nuts, Setzer, Daddies Cherry Poppin' and Big Bad Voodoo, etc) for that eclectic edge, and jazzy ballads for the Nora set, and upper demos will flock. Flock I say.

But then, be on the lookout for a KPIG near you, as Mapleton syndicates the swine throughout this land of Rs.
They make traditional TripA look like KROY on an all Lobo weekend.
 
The problem with KPIG is it's just a little TOO liberal for Sacramento. They need to narrow it slightly in order for it to work here. Just my opinion, which is normally incorrect!
 
Liberal? KPIG is not political.

Sometimes musically esoteric, maybe---but only into an area that a Sac audience would appreciate: deeper country, outlaw, blues, and bluegrass. Sacramento, at its heart, is a hicktown...midmarket as may be, and while more traditional formats do well...there's a hole in that heart that could be filled by something less contemporary and pop.

Anyway, my point wasn't that KPIG would capture the town, but that a well presented Triple A would catch fire...albeit not so much if there was already a Pig in town.
 
I no longer live in Sacramento, but have fond yet frustrating memories living there.

These comments about Sacramento being a hicktown are funny.

People underate everything in Sacramento. It's almost like people here suffer from low self esteem. It's what I resent about the community. No matter how big Sacramento gets, people are out there selling it short.

Comments in the 80's like "Nobody will use light-rail". or "Sacramento is too small for pro-sports" or "Don't build the airport out there, nobody will use it" look kind of funny now.

Look at the article in the Bee the other day about NPR being 4th in the market 25-54... Not bad, for a "hicktown".

Smooth Jazz KSSJ gets great numbers in this "Hicktown". I remember people saying it would never work.

As far as being Sacramento being conservative...unless you're talking to South Placer County or Elk Grove, Sacramento in my view is far more liberal than Butte County, home of the latest KPIG sign-on.

The thing is...It may work, but I think it would take a while to establish.

Michael
Los Angeles 2005-Present
San Francisco 2000-2005
Sacramento 1983-2000
San Francisco 1964-1983
 
I am truly amazed how misinterpreted comments can be. I'll leave it at that.
 
Tube Shortwave..........

"Liberal" seems to do better here than in a lot of markets, if NPR is a true measure {I worked for those affiliates, and heard thousands of hours of NPR news...it's spun left far more than NPR chooses to acknowledge, mostly by omitting or minimizing anything remotely conservative in thought}.

DeadAudicy......Esoteric! If there was more real competition in radio, I think that's what we'd get more of!
and, yes......posts do get misinterpreted....often......

Kramer.......Your "selling short" argument is true enough, but I do believe Sacramento has a hard core of "Cowtown" left in it, and I don't believe that is a negative at all...just a different perspective...and, yes...it could work here.

Thanks for your insights, Gang...and Merry Christmas!
 
Don't you folks have the most dangerous morning show's in the country? I swear I heard about something bad happening with one of the shows out there.

Honestly. What ever happened to the people who were on that station and were cut loose after the water drinking contest? What stations did they land at?

How did that station's listeners respond to the station moving forward?

I know that we here in Pennsylvania sent you guys the new morning show. Are they too Pennsylvania hillbilly for Sacramento's bright lights?
 
I did NOT mean 'liberal' in the political sense!! I'm not a political type of person. I meant that the playlist was too liberal for Sacramento, again just my opinion. I am frequently incorrect!
 
I loved living in Sacramento. I also thought the radio was well done at the time.

People have this tendency to rip their market. It happens everywhere. But, more often than not, the market's every bit as good as those we all aspire toward.

Sacramento radio is no worse than anywhere else. And better than a lot of larger markets.

I regret leaving.
 
More things are wrong with Vegas and Milwaukee radio. Here on these boards what's wrong is that no one has any damn airchecks! Is this not a radio message board?
 
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