The Walrus 105.7 FM

[oldies76]

Visiting Southern California and discovered "The Walrus" for the first time...A nice sounding station, a great mix of 70's and some early 80's, with a few 60's songs. Kind of reminds me of the KOOL oldies stations San Diego used to have, before La Preciosa took over.

Great job! When visiting Socal,105.7 will be heard. A much better selection of music than L.A.'s KRTH 101.

KRTH...very boring, with the same music, the same 60's, the same 70's that has been played over and over for the last 10 years. How many times do we have to hear "Every Breath You Take", "Low Rider" and "Brown-Eyed Girl" ?? Geez...get with the times....

 

[Kent]

If you have an iPhone, you can listen to the Walrus over it. It has an app by either The Smyth Group or Stormy Productions. I'm not sure if it has any other mobile phone apps at this time or if it's available through Nobex Radio Companion, but you can probably directly access the stream on other mobile devices.

 

[davideduardo]

KRTH...very boring, with the same music, the same 60's, the same 70's that has been played over and over for the last 10 years. How many times do we have to hear "Every Breath You Take", "Low Rider" and "Brown-Eyed Girl" ?? Geez...get with the times....

Six of one, half dozen of the other. Both stations have approximately the same 25-54 rank in their markets... just barely scratching the top 10. Considering the total competition in LA, one could easily say that KRTH significantly outperforms XEPRS-FM.

Since KRTH is playing around 800 titles on any given week, what could be assumed is that XEPRS-FM may be playing too broad and deep a list (or just not as engaging a list or not just as connected a format) to get the kind of share you'd expect in a smaller market (keep in mind that KRTH's 12+ cume is almost exactly the same as the total market 12+ figure for the entire SD market!). In fact, KRTH's cume in SD is equal to about 20% of that of XEPRS-FM in its own market, while the SD station does not cume anyone in LA.

 

[Garrett]

I"m confused, I thought Walrus was the number 1 station now that people meters were being used. So which is it, number 1, or Barely scratching the top 10? ???

 

[davideduardo]

I"m confused, I thought Walrus was the number 1 station now that people meters were being used. So which is it, number 1, or Barely scratching the top 10? ???

Most of the trade reports are 6+ or 12+ numbers, which are given away by Arbitron because "nothing" is the true sales and programming value of either of those numbers.

The press is allowed to cite rank but not actual numbers on other demos, and that is where you will find the 25-54 numbers occasionally referenced (or, occasionally on one of the market or general radio boards). 25-54 is the most basic of the sales demos, although in the Southwest 18-49 is becoming increasingly used; 18-34 and various subsets of 18 up to 54 are also used, depoending on buy criteria from the advertiser.

Wherever XEPRS-FM ranks in 12+, the key is in sales demos, where they are at the low end of the top 10.... not bad, but nothing like "top of the heap."

 

[Big 121]

To Oldies76; Glad you liked the Walrus...your reference to the "Kool Oldies" 99.3 is not a coincidence,
as the Morning Jock at Walrus (posting at this forum, I believe, as "One Who Knows") has turned
Walrus into "KOOL - Greatest Hits".
Pilot's "Magic", heard 3 times in last 10 days: "Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" a staple of "The
Music Of Your Life" syndication, was something you missed.
Too bad you missed the Walrus back in March... a 5.7 share , #2 , and climbing. Then the changes
started. Most MoTown, and a lot of "60s hits were rotated out, slowly replaced by what you now hear.
Now in this market, MoTown + "60s is what a LOT of young Latinos LIKE. So that group has slipped
away to 92.5 , and Walrus has lost listeners- approx. a .15 share per Month. Now tied @ #8.
A lot of the tunes already are available mostly on KYXY, except for the Disco.
I wish Walrus well, but as you can see, I prefer the previous iteration of the Walrus...but at this down-
ward pace , it may eventually return to "La Pantera" programming......

 

[oldies76]

Big 121...too bad on the downward trend, maybe they should have left it alone...as they say..never mess with what you've got. If "Pantera" takes over..that would be a big shame, sort of what Preciosa did to Kool.

Hey there's always...WCBS 101.1 out of NYC.

Maybe David Eduardo can shed light as to why oldies and classic hits stations are being replaced by spanish language stations of late?? Seems somewhat alarming.

 

[davideduardo]

Now in this market, MoTown + "60s is what a LOT of young Latinos LIKE.

Yeah, all 11 of the "young latinos" you know. There is very little interest among anyone under 35 in any classic hits station.

So that group has slipped away to 92.5 ,

Huh? The published 12+ and 6+ numbers are about the same as they were in the first PPM book of April.

March was actually Jan-Feb-Mar and a diary book, and you can't compare the PPM numbers with the diary numbers... two different methodologies.

it may eventually return to "La Pantera" programming......

No, it won't. PPM is not as kind to Spanish lanuage formats as the diary, and SD has been a PPM market for 8 full PPM books already.

 

[hipman2]

Walrus was off the air most of yesterday. For a while at 7pm, it simulcasted another Mexican language station. XEPE 1700 and X??? 620 was also off the air too.

 

[Big 121]

Hipman2- Severe weather on Cerro Bolla caused power problems. In T.J., 1310 and 1420 went down. 1420 back on shortly
after . 107.7 lost audio link and still not back as I write.

D.E.- Regarding young Latinos/oldies; obviously you don't live anywhere near So. Cal.. Otherwise you would be able to tune
in Mexicali radio, and find Classic Hits (oldies) there. Try 940, 990, and my favorite-98.3 . Didn't include 1230 KXO El
Centro. And Ensenada's 92.9 also(just flipped
to "Love Radio"). And 92.5 T.J. has the "Romantic" oldies (Angel Baby, I Do Love You, etc) Young Latinos love. Art LaBoe's
Sunday night show reels 'em in.
As far as diary vs PPM #'s , your point doesn't deny the fact that Walrus probably shot up as fast in this market as Boss
Radio did in '63 .
You totally missed the point on "La Pantera". If Walrus can't make revenue with this "Mix" of music, it may , in the future,
revert back to the Mexican owner, J Bonilla.
As far as PPM's go , probably few, if any, of the maybe 20 PPM Walrus respondents in this county are "Young Latinos".
If the earlier, '60's - no disco Walrus was hard to sell to clients, imagine trying to sell this New Walrus-
May as well knock KRTH also, for it's 9 in-a-row- commercials. Throw in KGB FM also.
BIG121

 

[davideduardo]

D.E.- Regarding young Latinos/oldies; obviously you don't live anywhere near So. Cal..

I was PD of an SD station and have been involved with SD stations for over a decade. And a few others, too.

Otherwise you would be able to tune in Mexicali radio, and find Classic Hits (oldies) there. Try 940, 990, and my favorite-98.3 . Didn't include 1230 KXO El
Centro. And Ensenada's 92.9 also(just flipped to "Love Radio"). And 92.5 T.J. has the "Romantic" oldies (Angel Baby, I Do Love You, etc) Young Latinos love. Art LaBoe's Sunday night show reels 'em in.

Sunday night has the worst PUR of any daypart save overnights... so looking at results there is atypical.

All over Latin America there are stations that play lots of English language pop and AC and rock songs. At one point, Lima, Peru, had 17 out of 22 FMs doing formats based on one of these genres. The appeal is to upper and upper middle class... the group that does not emigrate because life is soo much better back in Guadalajara or Quito or Bogotá than what could be had here. Oh, and those stations' listeners are, in their vast majority, not English speakers.

So looking at stations in Mexico that play songs in English is irrevant as that audience does not emigrate. The Hispanic appeal of any all English langauge music station would be to Hispanics who grew up here and are quite assimilated, meaning some second generation and mostly third generation and on... otherwise, how would the know the music on a classic hits station?

You totally missed the point on "La Pantera". If Walrus can't make revenue with this "Mix" of music, it may , in the future, revert back to the Mexican owner, J Bonilla.

I did not miss the point as you didn't make that point. If the format does not work, I would suspect Mr. Lynch would find another option. But, well done, classic hits is a major PPM performer everywhere. The issue then is whether the execution at The Walrus is right.

As far as PPM's go , probably few, if any, of the maybe 20 PPM Walrus respondents in this county are "Young Latinos".

The weekly in-tab for SD 12+ is just under 1000 meters. So, Walrus which should have a cume rating of about 14 to 17 (typical) would have been detected by around 150 meters, not 20.

If the earlier, '60's - no disco Walrus was hard to sell to clients, imagine trying to sell this New Walrus-

The earlier Walrus, if a hard sell, was hurt by a very 55+ demo profile. There are essentially no 55+ buys in SD.

 

[mj]

Although not directly related to this line of the discussion....but relevant ...the La Pantera Regional Mexican format was not done by the Mexican owner J. Bonilla but was done by BCA the US Company that licensed the sales and programming rights to begin with. After simulcasting their sports station for a while, they then launched the Walrus.

 

[oldies76]

Regarding young Latinos/oldies; obviously you don't live anywhere near So. Cal.. Otherwise you would be able to tune in Mexicali radio, and find Classic Hits (oldies) there. Throw in KGB FM also.
BIG121

Big 121 is correct on the fact that many young latinos DO listen to english oldies or classic hits..just drop into a well-known record shop known as "Norwalk Records" just south of L.A. and their draw is young Latino types purchasing everything from classic 12" singles or the re-issue "Old School series" cd's. Their specialty is oldies and classic hits, with currents.

They probably don't know as much as we know when it comes to in-depth oldies and hits, but they do account for good music sales there. Besides spanish language stations, it wouldn't surprise me that they tuned to KRTH or classic R&B stations to get their knowledge of past hits. KRTH will spin "Angel Baby" every so often, or the classic "Low Rider". Latinos like those older hits.

 

[davideduardo]

Big 121 is correct on the fact that many young latinos DO listen to english oldies or classic hits..

If you said "a few" instead of "many" you would be closer to being correct. There are 5 million LA Hispanics. The average age is around 23, so about 60% of all Hispanics are under 25, and would be classified as "young."

Very few listen to KRTH, and, when you do the "PPM discount" for forced listening, you have "a few."

just drop into a well-known record shop known as "Norwalk Records" just south of L.A. and their draw is young Latino types purchasing everything from classic 12" singles or the re-issue "Old School series" cd's. Their specialty is oldies and classic hits, with currents.

So a single, small and unrepresentative record store (who goes to a record store today, anyway?) is your sample?

They probably don't know as much as we know when it comes to in-depth oldies and hits, but they do account for good music sales there. Besides spanish language stations, it wouldn't surprise me that they tuned to KRTH or classic R&B stations to get their knowledge of past hits.

It wouldn't suprise me that young Hispanics 18-24 listen mostly to KIIS, Amp, Power, KXOL and even stations like KROQ, KYSR and KHHT. And of course, KLVE, KLAX, KBUE, KRCD, KSCA, and even KDLD. Stations like KBIG and Jack have more Hispanic 18-24 listening than KRTH.

Similarly, there are "a few" younger persons who listen to and buy classical recordings. However, the primary appeal of classical is among persons over 60, and anyone thinking that classical can be, today, made attractive to 18-24's on a grand scale is nuts.

KRTH will spin "Angel Baby" every so often, or the classic "Low Rider". Latinos like those older hits.

There is a Spanish saying that "A single sparrow does not mean it's summer." That a few younger pesons of any cultural group likes "oldies" is really no indication that there is any wide appeal. And in the PPM, which measures hearing and not listening, most of those that do appear to be listening are doing so not of their own choice.

 

[Big 121]

Thanks for the "La Pantera" clarification, MJ. Unlike some posters here, I don't know everything...
Oldies76- There's still a record shop in SoCal? Great- I've been looking for the album version of
the '66 "Wade In The Water" by Ramsey Lewis . Hope they have a website..

"'Duardo"- uh, NORC*





*(no one really cares)

 

[SuperRadioFan]

Thanks for the "La Pantera" clarification, MJ. Unlike some posters here, I don't know everything...
Oldies76- There's still a record shop in SoCal? Great- I've been looking for the album version of
the '66 "Wade In The Water" by Ramsey Lewis . Hope they have a website..

"'Duardo"- uh, NORC*
*(no one really cares)

LOL @ NORC!! ;D

I know you're looking for the vinyl, but here's the digitalized feed of that great song from the "Grooveshark" website.

[It's a track on the list that appears when you click the link]

http://listen.grooveshark.com/#/search/songs/?query=ramsey lewis trio

 

[Big 121]

Thank you for your kindness.. Big121

 

[davideduardo]

"'Duardo"- uh, NORC*





*(no one really cares)

I'm soooooo glad you take pride in not knowing so many things, such as the number of meters that form the cume base for the station you allegedly work at to the audience composition of KRTH.

 

[hipman2]

There used to be plenty of stuff to listen to on Sunday nights. There was the King Biscuit Flower Hour, Dr. Demento, American Dance Tracks, Rock Over London, Casey Kasem's replay of AT40/CT40, The Comedy Hour, Off The Record, Soupy Sales oldies show, and more. Now all we have is Art Laboe, Ryan Seacrest on AT40, and Dan Aykroyd's blues hour show. I'm not passing judgment here. The competition is network television luring away most all of the ears from the radio. Sunday night football can be a huge lure for radio if you're not near a TV set; when you get home, you switch to TV to watch the rest of the game.

Sunday night has the worst PUR of any daypart save overnights... so looking at results there is atypical.

 

[justpassingthough]

Big 121 is correct on the fact that many young latinos DO listen to english oldies or classic hits..

If you said "a few" instead of "many" you would be closer to being correct. There are 5 million LA Hispanics. The average age is around 23, so about 60% of all Hispanics are under 25, and would be classified as "young."

Very few listen to KRTH, and, when you do the "PPM discount" for forced listening, you have "a few."

just drop into a well-known record shop known as "Norwalk Records" just south of L.A. and their draw is young Latino types purchasing everything from classic 12" singles or the re-issue "Old School series" cd's. Their specialty is oldies and classic hits, with currents.

So a single, small and unrepresentative record store (who goes to a record store today, anyway?) is your sample?

They probably don't know as much as we know when it comes to in-depth oldies and hits, but they do account for good music sales there. Besides spanish language stations, it wouldn't surprise me that they tuned to KRTH or classic R&B stations to get their knowledge of past hits.

It wouldn't suprise me that young Hispanics 18-24 listen mostly to KIIS, Amp, Power, KXOL and even stations like KROQ, KYSR and KHHT. And of course, KLVE, KLAX, KBUE, KRCD, KSCA, and even KDLD. Stations like KBIG and Jack have more Hispanic 18-24 listening than KRTH.

Similarly, there are "a few" younger persons who listen to and buy classical recordings. However, the primary appeal of classical is among persons over 60, and anyone thinking that classical can be, today, made attractive to 18-24's on a grand scale is nuts.

KRTH will spin "Angel Baby" every so often, or the classic "Low Rider". Latinos like those older hits.

There is a Spanish saying that "A single sparrow does not mean it's summer." That a few younger pesons of any cultural group likes "oldies" is really no indication that there is any wide appeal. And in the PPM, which measures hearing and not listening, most of those that do appear to be listening are doing so not of their own choice.

David, thank you for using facts to continue to prove your point. Its tedious to read these boards and keep seeing people equate "my friends" or "one record store in Norwalk" with a representative sample for anything.