The ever-evolving KMCQ

[toonces2u]

I've listened to KMCQ online. It has a nice sound and a good selection of oldies. I also noticed they have extremely low ratings, not even visible in March. Can it successfully compete in the Seattle market? Is KMCQ in its current format sustainable? How's their ad revenue?

Queen Cities deserves credit for trying to make this format work. It seem they're facing an uphill battle.

Don't kid yourself. I think they didn't show up on the March numbers because they aren't subscribers to Arbitron. Their numbers were respectable prior considering they did next to zero station promotion.

 

[jupiter2]

MOST stations have little or no promotion.

104.5 is consistently 23rd place and in the mid 1 share range adults 25-54. Still there, still encoding. They should be higher IMHO, given their lack of spot load and musical freedom.

One wonders if that's all it can ever be, given the weak signal to the north? Also wonder if Oldies days as a 25-54 player are declining.

 

[radioguy39nj]

I'm aware 104.5 was a move-in and the reshuffling of KAFE Bellingham to 104.1 and CHHR Vancouver BC to 104.3. Would 104.5 be eligible to build out to better cover the Puget Sound area?

Queen Cities probably doesn't have the resources of CC, CBS, Bonneville and others. Given what just happened in NY today, good ratings and demos are no guarantee. NY's #6 rated station, urban AC 98.7 KISS-FM was blown up and will flip to ESPN under a LMA deal next week. The station is owned by Emmis, which is having major financial issues.

 

[semoochie]

"Also wonder if Oldies days as a 25-54 player are declining." That won't happen. The format will just reposition by moving forward in time. As I pointed out elsewhere on this board, we're in the same demo position we were in in 2004, when everything before 1964 was pulled and replaced with 70s, only now, "the golden year" is 1972.

 

[toonces2u]

"Also wonder if Oldies days as a 25-54 player are declining." That won't happen. The format will just reposition by moving forward in time. As I pointed out elsewhere on this board, we're in the same demo position we were in in 2004, when everything before 1964 was pulled and replaced with 70s, only now, "the golden year" is 1972.

And that is exactly why oldies station like KJR FM suck so bad.

 

[crainbebo]

I'm aware 104.5 was a move-in and the reshuffling of KAFE Bellingham to 104.1 and CHHR Vancouver BC to 104.3. Would 104.5 be eligible to build out to better cover the Puget Sound area?

Queen Cities probably doesn't have the resources of CC, CBS, Bonneville and others. Given what just happened in NY today, good ratings and demos are no guarantee. NY's #6 rated station, urban AC 98.7 KISS-FM was blown up and will flip to ESPN under a LMA deal next week. The station is owned by Emmis, which is having major financial issues.

Yep, KMCQ was a move-in. Used to be Hot AC, in The Dalles, OR. Then it started testing some nights on KMIH's frequency, 104.5, with IIRC the same Hot AC format. In 2008 we had Oldies hitting the air.

-crainbebo

 

[Bongwater]

I'm aware 104.5 was a move-in and the reshuffling of KAFE Bellingham to 104.1 and CHHR Vancouver BC to 104.3. Would 104.5 be eligible to build out to better cover the Puget Sound area?

Queen Cities probably doesn't have the resources of CC, CBS, Bonneville and others. Given what just happened in NY today, good ratings and demos are no guarantee. NY's #6 rated station, urban AC 98.7 KISS-FM was blown up and will flip to ESPN under a LMA deal next week. The station is owned by Emmis, which is having major financial issues.

Yep, KMCQ was a move-in. Used to be Hot AC, in The Dalles, OR. Then it started testing some nights on KMIH's frequency, 104.5, with IIRC the same Hot AC format. In 2008 we had Oldies hitting the air.

-crainbebo

"The Sound of The Gorge is Q-104, KMCQ The Dalles - Hood River....."

Yes, KMCQ once had a BIG 100,000 watt signal that rivaled KPQ-FM and heard from parts of the Eastside to Cheney. It was not hard to tune them in, even on this side of the Cascades (I picked them up regularly in Lynnwood, albeit a ghosty, static filled signal during the '80s......) Sadly, as a Seattle (ahem, Covington) station, their signal is only marginally better. Could use a few thousand more watts really -especially towards the north end. I don't see why that would be any problem......

 

[Mookie]

"Also wonder if Oldies days as a 25-54 player are declining." That won't happen. The format will just reposition by moving forward in time. As I pointed out elsewhere on this board, we're in the same demo position we were in in 2004, when everything before 1964 was pulled and replaced with 70s, only now, "the golden year" is 1972.

And that is exactly why oldies station like KJR FM suck so bad.

That's not the problem, the problem is the playlist. The one Al Green song or Otis Redding song does not represent the whole of their musical careers or biggest hits. Their Motown playlist is terrible. Nothing from The Impressions, only two songs from The Spinners, but god damn can they play "Listen to the Music" every day. They don't play legitimate Oldies and they don't play enough classic rock. Hell they don't play a single song from The Who and I've never heard them play Grateful Dead!

Time isn't the issue if song selection sucks.

 

[1954]

[Mookie said)"That's not the problem, the problem is the playlist. The one Al Green song or Otis Redding song does not represent the whole of their musical careers or biggest hits. Their Motown playlist is terrible. Nothing from The Impressions, only two songs from The Spinners, but god damn can they play "Listen to the Music" every day. They don't play legitimate Oldies and they don't play enough classic rock. Hell they don't play a single song from The Who and I've never heard them play Grateful Dead!"

What Top Rated Oldies station plays The Greatful Dead , The Who or The Impressions? Otis Redding had only one Top 20 hit "Dock Of The Bay"
What else should they play by him? What are legitmate Oldies?

 

[Scoobyfan1]

[Mookie said)"That's not the problem, the problem is the playlist. The one Al Green song or Otis Redding song does not represent the whole of their musical careers or biggest hits. Their Motown playlist is terrible. Nothing from The Impressions, only two songs from The Spinners, but god damn can they play "Listen to the Music" every day. They don't play legitimate Oldies and they don't play enough classic rock. Hell they don't play a single song from The Who and I've never heard them play Grateful Dead!"

What Top Rated Oldies station plays The Greatful Dead , The Who or The Impressions? Otis Redding had only one Top 20 hit "Dock Of The Bay"
What else should they play by him? What are legitmate Oldies?

The Who had quite a few songs that would be considered Oldies staples. The Greatful Dead, i'm not sure about.

 

[Mookie]

[Mookie said)"That's not the problem, the problem is the playlist. The one Al Green song or Otis Redding song does not represent the whole of their musical careers or biggest hits. Their Motown playlist is terrible. Nothing from The Impressions, only two songs from The Spinners, but god damn can they play "Listen to the Music" every day. They don't play legitimate Oldies and they don't play enough classic rock. Hell they don't play a single song from The Who and I've never heard them play Grateful Dead!"

What Top Rated Oldies station plays The Greatful Dead , The Who or The Impressions? Otis Redding had only one Top 20 hit "Dock Of The Bay"
What else should they play by him? What are legitmate Oldies?

The Who had quite a few songs that would be considered Oldies staples. The Greatful Dead, i'm not sure about.

Absolutely. And I'm far from a fan of The Who.

Fine, I'll give a list of #1 songs in the Billboard Hot 100 from a 1973-1976 that I've never or rarely heard KJR play since they got rid of AT40 reruns:

Killing Me Softly - Roberta Flack
Tie a Yellow Ribbon - Tony Orlando and Dawn
My Love - Wings
Brother Louie - Stories
Half-Breed - Cher
Top of the World - The Carpenters
Touch Me in the Morning - Diana Ross
Will it Go 'Round in Circles - Billy Preston
You're Sixteen - Ringo Starr
I Shot the Sheriff - Eric Clapton
I Can Help - Billy Swan
Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks
Can't Get Enough of Your Love Babe - Barry White
Angie Baby - Helen Reddy
Fire - Ohio Players
Laughter in the Rain - Neil Sedaka
He Don't Love You - Tony Orlando
My Eyes Adored You - Frankie Valli
Love Will Keep Us Together - Captain and Tenille
Rhinestone Cowboy - Glen Campbell
Bad Blood - Neil Sedaka
Island Girl - Elton John
Let's Do It Again - The Staples Singers
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon
Disco Lady - Johnnie Taylor (spent the whole of April as the #1 song!)
Kiss and Say Goodbye - The Manhattans


And for a bonus, here's 1980:

Please Don't Go - KC and the Sunshine Band
Another Brick in the Wall - Pink Floyd
Funkytown - Lipps Inc
Magic - Olivia Newton-John (spent almost all of August as #1)
Upside Down - Diana Ross (#1 for all of September)
Lady - Kenny Rogers (stayed as #1 for 6 weeks)


They don't play the Greatest Hits of the 60s, 70s, and 80s when I've just listed 31 songs from a five year span of three decades of music that they never play or rarely play.

And I'm not picking obscure novelty hits like Disco Duck (well Funkytown is the closest), these are almost all established artists/bands with extensive lists of top 40 hits.

KJR needs to make up their mind as to what radio station they want to be, because they're leaving a TON of top songs out.

 

[Scoobyfan1]

[Mookie said)"That's not the problem, the problem is the playlist. The one Al Green song or Otis Redding song does not represent the whole of their musical careers or biggest hits. Their Motown playlist is terrible. Nothing from The Impressions, only two songs from The Spinners, but god damn can they play "Listen to the Music" every day. They don't play legitimate Oldies and they don't play enough classic rock. Hell they don't play a single song from The Who and I've never heard them play Grateful Dead!"

What Top Rated Oldies station plays The Greatful Dead , The Who or The Impressions? Otis Redding had only one Top 20 hit "Dock Of The Bay"
What else should they play by him? What are legitmate Oldies?

The Who had quite a few songs that would be considered Oldies staples. The Greatful Dead, i'm not sure about.

Absolutely. And I'm far from a fan of The Who.

Fine, I'll give a list of #1 songs in the Billboard Hot 100 from a 1973-1976 that I've never or rarely heard KJR play since they got rid of AT40 reruns:

Killing Me Softly - Roberta Flack
Tie a Yellow Ribbon - Tony Orlando and Dawn
My Love - Wings
Brother Louie - Stories
Half-Breed - Cher
Top of the World - The Carpenters
Touch Me in the Morning - Diana Ross
Will it Go 'Round in Circles - Billy Preston
You're Sixteen - Ringo Starr
I Shot the Sheriff - Eric Clapton
I Can Help - Billy Swan
Seasons in the Sun - Terry Jacks
Can't Get Enough of Your Love Babe - Barry White
Angie Baby - Helen Reddy
Fire - Ohio Players
Laughter in the Rain - Neil Sedaka
He Don't Love You - Tony Orlando
My Eyes Adored You - Frankie Valli
Love Will Keep Us Together - Captain and Tenille
Rhinestone Cowboy - Glen Campbell
Bad Blood - Neil Sedaka
Island Girl - Elton John
Let's Do It Again - The Staples Singers
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover - Paul Simon
Disco Lady - Johnnie Taylor (spent the whole of April as the #1 song!)
Kiss and Say Goodbye - The Manhattans


And for a bonus, here's 1980:

Please Don't Go - KC and the Sunshine Band
Another Brick in the Wall - Pink Floyd
Funkytown - Lipps Inc
Magic - Olivia Newton-John (spent almost all of August as #1)
Upside Down - Diana Ross (#1 for all of September)
Lady - Kenny Rogers (stayed as #1 for 6 weeks)


They don't play the Greatest Hits of the 60s, 70s, and 80s when I've just listed 31 songs from a five year span of three decades of music that they never play or rarely play.

And I'm not picking obscure novelty hits like Disco Duck (well Funkytown is the closest), these are almost all established artists/bands with extensive lists of top 40 hits.

KJR needs to make up their mind as to what radio station they want to be, because they're leaving a TON of top songs out.

Which is exactly the reason why KMCQ is so good. Because i've heard several of those 1980 number 1's there, and a large number of the 70s number 1's listed.

For example, except for maybe 1 or 2 or 3 of those, i've heard KMCQ play all of those songs listed. Not to mention, if you request any of those 70s or 80s songs through KMCQ's website, they will definitely play them, unlike KJR FM.

 

[Lonely Summer]

[Mookie said)"That's not the problem, the problem is the playlist. The one Al Green song or Otis Redding song does not represent the whole of their musical careers or biggest hits. Their Motown playlist is terrible. Nothing from The Impressions, only two songs from The Spinners, but god damn can they play "Listen to the Music" every day. They don't play legitimate Oldies and they don't play enough classic rock. Hell they don't play a single song from The Who and I've never heard them play Grateful Dead!"

What Top Rated Oldies station plays The Greatful Dead , The Who or The Impressions? Otis Redding had only one Top 20 hit "Dock Of The Bay"
What else should they play by him? What are legitmate Oldies?

Right. If Mookie had said Wilson Pickett or James Brown instead of Otis, I would've agreed with him. The Grateful Dead had very few "legitimate" hits - IIRC, Touch of Grey, from 1987 (uh-oh, that's the Kokomo era) was their only top 10 single.,

 

[DrJerry]

True story: several years back, I was in the car and had tuned to KJR-FM. Heidi May was on duty and I was searching for a parking space at Bellevue Square. Then, much to my surprise (and delight), Love Will Keep Us Together started to play. Wow! I wondered to myself if they were FINALLY going to start playing a better variety of music. But barely after Toni got started on her vocals, Heidi STOPPED the tune. Oops, that was the wrong record! Then we were quickly whisked back to ELO or The Eagles (I don't remember exactly, but the usual fare). That was a classic KJR moment. I liked Heidi... I assume she was just following the rules. Wonder if it was a true accident?

Love Will Keep Us Together was Billboard's #1 record for the year 1975.

 

[1954]

"Dominique" The Singing Nun, "Ringo" Lorne Greene, "Ballad Of The Green Berets" by S/Sgt Barry Sadler,"Winchester Cathedral" by The New Vaudeville Band, "Something Stupid" by Nancy & Frank Sinatra "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro, "Go Away Little Girl" by Donnie Osmond, "The Streak" by Ray Stevens ......All number #1 records on Billboard..would you really want to play those on your Oldies station today?

 

[DrJerry]

"Dominique" The Singing Nun, "Ringo" Lorne Greene, "Ballad Of The Green Berets" by S/Sgt Barry Sadler,"Winchester Cathedral" by The New Vaudeville Band, "Something Stupid" by Nancy & Frank Sinatra "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro, "Go Away Little Girl" by Donnie Osmond, "The Streak" by Ray Stevens ......All number #1 records on Billboard..would you really want to play those on your Oldies station today?

Probably not. But there's a difference between a record that hit number 1, and record that was ranked as the number one record of the year.

 

[Scoobyfan1]

"Dominique" The Singing Nun, "Ringo" Lorne Greene, "Ballad Of The Green Berets" by S/Sgt Barry Sadler,"Winchester Cathedral" by The New Vaudeville Band, "Something Stupid" by Nancy & Frank Sinatra "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro, "Go Away Little Girl" by Donnie Osmond, "The Streak" by Ray Stevens ......All number #1 records on Billboard..would you really want to play those on your Oldies station today?

If I had an Oldies station, yes. Granted, some of those songs may not be everybody's cup of tea, but still all of those are part of Top 40 and Pop music history, so they should get airplay, if only once every week or every other week.

 

[Mookie]

"Dominique" The Singing Nun, "Ringo" Lorne Greene, "Ballad Of The Green Berets" by S/Sgt Barry Sadler,"Winchester Cathedral" by The New Vaudeville Band, "Something Stupid" by Nancy & Frank Sinatra "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro, "Go Away Little Girl" by Donnie Osmond, "The Streak" by Ray Stevens ......All number #1 records on Billboard..would you really want to play those on your Oldies station today?

You completely ignored my final paragraph then. I did not pick obscure hits or obscure genres, Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross, Olivia Newton-John, Barry White, and Eric Clapton are all established singers with numerous hits in the 70s.

I never said play every single #1 song, you aren't making an in-line comparison. I said play other notable #1s from notable artists and bands instead of The Doobie Brothers, The Eagles, ELO, Linda Ronstadt, and Fleetwood Mac every other minute.

 

[toonces2u]

"Dominique" The Singing Nun, "Ringo" Lorne Greene, "Ballad Of The Green Berets" by S/Sgt Barry Sadler,"Winchester Cathedral" by The New Vaudeville Band, "Something Stupid" by Nancy & Frank Sinatra "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro, "Go Away Little Girl" by Donnie Osmond, "The Streak" by Ray Stevens ......All number #1 records on Billboard..would you really want to play those on your Oldies station today?

YES!

 

[gr229]

Ahh......... Do you remember these days?

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=154744.0

I'm just wondering how crow taste. ???