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The Fall Book

KXLW isnt having much success with the "everything that rocks" format. It had better ratings when it was classic rock, and Bob is taking a downward spin, just as Jack and Bob formats have been doing in the the lower 48. I can see either or both of those stations making a flip.
 
One bad book don't make for a format change...if that's the indicator...why is KBear still in Country? It lost a great deal last book only to gain it back this time...in fact enough to push them to #1. I doubt Bob will be going anywhere...
 
I'd have to agree KP. Bob isn't going anywhere for awhile, as a matter of fact other stations in the market have and will continue to react to Bob. Plus, I don't think NNB will pull the plug on Bob when it bills the way it does. X-Rock is an interesting story - it makes little sense to me that that station pulls absolutely no weight in this town. When I listen to it I don't hear a 'dead last' station, perhaps that's reflective of what I know! For Christian CHR to beat you, that's pretty bad. I know they've had signal issues, but how much of an affect can that REALLY have? They just brought up a new PD/morning guy, so maybe some fresh ideas will get that station moving in the right direction. All the chips are stacked in their favor except for ratings, might be a wait and see kind of thing. Or, I'm wrong and they flip, hopefully not because I like the format - but how many rockers does this town REALLY need?
 
It isnt just one bad book that KXLW has had, Bob may last, but it does need to be fine tuned, and the playlist expanded. The fact remains Bob/Ted/Jack or whatever you want to call it, stations, nationwide are not performing as well as they once did, many have dumped the format. There are other formats that havent been tried in Anchorage, everyone wants to be "rock" ,and the slice of that "pie" isnt too big when you have so many in the game. I'd rather go for a different audience, and try for a different slice.
 
One week later - XRock has changed dramatically, not 'flipped', but definitely toughened up their music quite a bit. It sounds so much better, night and day, I hope this works for them because a rock station like this would definitely get my attention. Anyone else have thoughts?
 
Yeah I'd agree that XRock does sound better, at least overnight when I listen to them. Whether it helps with overall numbers is another story. Time will tell.

I have a bigger issue with Anchorage radio. Last night I was listening to from about 1am to around 5am, just flipping around the dial while reading a book and net-surfing. During that 4-hour block that inane and way overplayed song "Hey There Delilah" by the Plain White T's aired on 92.1, 98.9, 101.3, 102.1 and 103.1. Daughtry's "Home" aired on 4 of those 5 stations (at least I didn't hear them on 92.1 last night). Many other songs air on 3, 4, or 5 of the area's stations sometimes within a few hours of each other. This shouldn't be happening. When listeners get the same music on as many as 5 stations in the same market, there's never a reason to settle on a favorite station, and the stations themselves lose all their identity. I realize there are some songs that must get more airtime than others, and stations are going to play the hits and not the lesser known tracks. But here we have 5 stations with different formats playing a lot of the same thing. This may explain why Bob is doing as well as it is - the competition is airing the same thing they are, so no one is leaving them for a better station. There just aren't any better stations (and that's most definitely not a compliment to Bob).

XRock, to their credit, is breaking away from that and, I think, they are really building an identity for themselves. They were sorta drifting there for a while, playing stuff I could hear elsewhere, but in recent weeks they've really improved.

Sat radio does very well because they offer narrow-themed stations, giving listeners specific choices among over 100 different formats. You tune to the 80s channel and you know you're not gonna hear Britany Spears. You tune to modern rock and you know you're not gonna get John Denver. I had XM until I got to AK (the freekin mountains block my signal too much to continue paying for it), and I tuned in to maybe 5 of the 100 or so stations on a regular basis. Some said I was wasting money on just 5 channels, but I say I was getting exactly what I wanted and nothing more (or less). I think there's a good lesson to be learned there for terrestrial radio.
 
Sirius comes in much better up here. XM is at about 10 degrees above the horizon, while Sirius is at about 40 degrees- I have both. One of the reasons certain songs get so much airplay on different formated stations (the case you bring up about hearing the same song on 5 stations) is that many songs don't fit one format, and they can cross over into others, thus they will get multiple station airplay. An urban hit on KFAT might also qualify as a hit on a contemporary station and so forth. When a song is recorded/released, it is the hope of the artist and label that it will have wide appeal and acceptance, and playing on more than one format is exactly achieving this.
 
Sure, I understand why a recording artist or record label would want their songs played on as many stations as possible. But I'm speaking about the stations themselves. I've lived in big markets (Boston MA) and small markets (York PA) and I haven't heard as much cross-air-play as I do here. I think the stations themselves need to distinguish themselves better if they want listeners to identify with them. Otherwise, there's no listener loyalty. Contests and morning talk and mall appearances only go so far, but people tune in for the music. If it's often the same on so many different stations, what reason is there to keep one station on the radio?

Thanks for the sat radio info. I was curious about Sirius' reception here. It's funny - I picked up XM for much of the drive from PA to AK, but once I got past the Palmer area, I started losing the signal more often. Once i Anchorage, it was non-existant east of New Seward and sporatic west of the highway. I'll have to look into Sirius. I love regular radio but I miss my XM!
 
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