Spokane Spring Book/Radio War

[Spokane Radio DJ]

Wow... looks like KZZU lost about a .10 share for every billboard the put up for KEZE. KZZU goes 7.0 to 4.7 overall, its gonna be a long day on Wednesday looking at those breakdowns.


KEZE goes 2.0 to 1.6... Not so Hot after all. But somebodys in Hot water for sure. See how great having a consultant is! I'm sure the finger pointing is starting already.. you guys are stabbing your flagship station.. while KZBD and KGZG are slapping High Fives!

 

[only1moore]

I wouldn't read into this yet, but given that this is KEZE's first book as a Rhythmic, don't stab knives into Hot 96.9 yet.

 

[Spokane Radio DJ]

Hot launched in May.. so they missed April no doubt.. but spent a load of cash on billboards while running a tight 25 song current playlist to build cume. 2.0 to 1.6 is not what was expected for sure! A new station has 6 months to really dig in..

They blew up the river and gained another casualty KZZU.. further fragmenting its listener.

its going to be a long road to October Summer book release date. A even longer road to the next trend release. They are playing with fire for sure.

Clear channel and Mapleton have the opp to close the door and turn the lights off for them. The time is now!

 

[Bongwater]

Part of the problem is KEZE is perceived by most Spokane radio listeners as a "format of the week" station. Too many format changes in roughly 10 years can make anyone give up on 96.9 MHz. They know what they're hearing now probably won't be here very long and whatever format they try doesn't fly because there isn't a whole lot they put into it. And as long as that's how Morgan Murphy plays it, it will STAY a problem for years to come......

 

[Dick Skinner]

Can someone help me with these company names? Is it Queen Bee, Morgan Murphy or Spokane Television that owns the cluster with KXLY and KEZE?

 

[Bongwater]

I believe Queen Bee and Spokane Television are local subsidiaries (on paper) of the same company. Morgan Murphy is the mothership......

 

[chokesman-review]

Correct, you get a doughnut. J/k

I just call it all Morgan Murphy regardless of what the FCC license states as the ownership group. Most folks in the region know about KXLY group's subsidiaries and also understand it's all Morgan Murphy in the end.

I believe Queen Bee and Spokane Television are local subsidiaries (on paper) of the same company. Morgan Murphy is the mothership......

 

[chokesman-review]

Yes, I agree. Trumpeting failure on the first book is way premature. Give it a few books or a year with no traction, then a discussion about what's happening is appropriate.

On a side note, the fact that there is a 3 way (and 4 way if you include KZZU's adult CHR) race involving unique CHRs. The important question to ask, can Spokane support all these? KEZE's HOT has a hill to climb being the last one in the fray. The next year will be interesting to see who cuts it and who appears to be getting cut.

I wouldn't read into this yet, but given that this is KEZE's first book as a Rhythmic, don't stab knives into Hot 96.9 yet.

 

[LookingForJob]

Hot launched in May.. so they missed April no doubt.. but spent a load of cash on billboards while running a tight 25 song current playlist to build cume. 2.0 to 1.6 is not what was expected for sure! A new station has 6 months to really dig in..

They blew up the river and gained another casualty KZZU.. further fragmenting its listener.

its going to be a long road to October Summer book release date. A even longer road to the next trend release. They are playing with fire for sure.

Clear channel and Mapleton have the opp to close the door and turn the lights off for them. The time is now!

Couldn't agree more. What a bunch of dummies. Anyone smell fear coming out of 500 W. Boone?

 

[LookingForJob]

Oh BTW, did anyone hear this? DJ Mayhem is hired at HOT 96-9 while DJ Coax is hired at NOW 1057? I love the fact that NOW 1057 moved Ryan Seacrest to 10a-2p (something they should have done from the beginning). Mapleton doesn't seem to be acting like Mapleton anymore. Did they suddenly fall into some money? New OM?

 

[Spokane Radio DJ]

Mayhem should of stayed at movin in Seattle.

Hiring him as a APD in a radio war shows how stupid that cluster is. notice he hasn't started on air yet...

I'm sure it will be nights.

105.7 is just as stupid. after a successful 3 books you move Ryan to the mid day slot.. lol.. now you have back to back syndication.. Elvis into Ryan. When its not broke... etc etc.

 

[LookingForJob]

I agree about Mayhem, he'll most likely end up at night against Bemega. I also agree about moving Ryan Seacrest. I didn't know Coax was going to be the afternoon driver, I thought he was going to fill the empty mid-day slot.

This CHR war is too funny to me. Morgan-Murphy is obviously trying to protect KZZU from the popularity of NOW 1057. But they do it by putting on a rap station? The advertising community must see right through that!

 

[chokesman-review]

My hunch would be that the folks at Mapleton decided they might just KEEP the cluster.

It's no secret they only bought the Spokane cluster from Citadel to get to KGA so they could downgrade it and pump up the now defunct KPIG programming on 1510 in San Francisco.

They treaded water longer than I expected. With KGA's downgrade finalized, I expected them to toss aside the cluster. With the recent run NOW 105.7 is making, it's obvious someone gives a damn and is actually trying to bring the stations in that cluster out of the ratings dark ages.

Mapleton doesn't seem to be acting like Mapleton anymore. Did they suddenly fall into some money? New OM?

 

[Spokane Radio DJ]

I guess I was wrong. Mayhem debuted yesterday afternoon. I guess the strategy was to put hin against Seacrest and leave nights naked. Well atleast they put 1 jock on... They should of staffed up or atleast put jackie brown on at night. Live or vtracked. One DJ, atleast it gives them the advantage over 104.5 Jamz! Good luck! Lol

I agree about Mayhem, he'll most likely end up at night against Bemega. I also agree about moving Ryan Seacrest. I didn't know Coax was going to be the afternoon driver, I thought he was going to fill the empty mid-day slot.

This CHR war is too funny to me. Morgan-Murphy is obviously trying to protect KZZU from the popularity of NOW 1057. But they do it by putting on a rap station? The advertising community must see right through that!

I

 

[justanotherdj]

I think it's funny anyone even speaks of KGZG...

 

[jockeyjohn]

and at Mapleton... afternooner Big Cat Daddy was shown the door last week over at KDRK. BCD had been at the station since about 1992 replacing Dan Dan the morning man.

 

[LookingForJob]

and at Mapleton... afternooner Big Cat Daddy was shown the door last week over at KDRK. BCD had been at the station since about 1992 replacing Dan Dan the morning man.

I hear that 93.7 is going Classic Rock. Their new PD sibl was brought in to clean house then shut down the Cat.

 

[chokesman-review]

KDRK 93.7 classic rock? That would be a shocker. That outlet as a country has historically performed pretty well for the cluster.

I just looked at The Cat's ratings. Sure, they've been sliding for about a year. My hunch is it's not anything that couldn't be fixed though. Tossing aside long standing brands and letting newcomers take over (KXLY/Coyote) never makes much sense to me. The newcomer has the hill to climb. Letting a long standing brand rot on the vine goes against my intuition. Fixing it would surely be cheaper than a full flip and establishing a new brand and advertising base - not to mention doing it in a distressed economy.

If this classic rock flip indeed happens, this will be the 3rd frequency to go against KKZX in the last decade. I wonder if they'd run slightly different demos than KKZX. At times, The Buzzard tried to go a bit younger then aging side of the Classic Rock demo. More Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd or a different take on things? I'm interested.

Either way, all who've challenged KKZX have fallen. That says something right there.