I picked it up in the car in Georgetown but the signal switched over to another station at Florence. Nice station, I really hope they get the word out in Austin so it can be relatively successful.
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Urban AC comes to Austin's FM dial
- Thread starter marioj
- Start date
longhorn2004 said:I picked it up in the car in Georgetown but the signal switched over to another station at Florence. Nice station, I really hope they get the word out in Austin so it can be relatively successful.
Come to think about it, the only time I picked up 96.3 was in a car.
Harvey doesn't really belong on KIIZ just like some of the other CC hip hop stations that carry him.longhorn2004 said:fredcantu said:Syndicated Steve Harvey will do mornings on 96.3 and former simulcast partner KJCE 1370 is dumping Walton & Johnson, too, in favor of whatever it was running before.
Smart move using Steve Harvey, he has an entertaining show in the morning. 92.3 The Z in Killeen broadcasts Steve Harvey too.
fredcantu said:The Beat targets the larger Hispanic population. Perhaps 96.3 is targeting those who grew up on The Beat.
If that's the case, Entercom would've been better off going with some derivative of jammin' oldies. Granted, jammin' oldies has its share of problems, especially high burn potential, but it has a better track record of getting Hispanics than urban AC, which has almost no Hispanic appeal at all.
I suspect Entercom will try to make money off of 96.3 RnB through forcing buyers of KKMJ and/or KAMX to buy 96.3, too, either to get on at all or to get the most favorable placement. It may be enough for the station to make money, but I doubt you'll see it make a lot. I'd argue changing the format of 96.3 says a lot more about the lack of viability of 1370's format than anything else. Entercom had a talk format with roughly twice the avails of a music format and still couldn't make any money off of it with the help of an FM. Why they're keeping it around at all is baffling in that context!
Kent said:fredcantu said:The Beat targets the larger Hispanic population. Perhaps 96.3 is targeting those who grew up on The Beat.
If that's the case, Entercom would've been better off going with some derivative of jammin' oldies. Granted, jammin' oldies has its share of problems, especially high burn potential, but it has a better track record of getting Hispanics than urban AC, which has almost no Hispanic appeal at all.
I suspect Entercom will try to make money off of 96.3 RnB through forcing buyers of KKMJ and/or KAMX to buy 96.3, too, either to get on at all or to get the most favorable placement. It may be enough for the station to make money, but I doubt you'll see it make a lot. I'd argue changing the format of 96.3 says a lot more about the lack of viability of 1370's format than anything else. Entercom had a talk format with roughly twice the avails of a music format and still couldn't make any money off of it with the help of an FM. Why they're keeping it around at all is baffling in that context!
I like the station, and I like the playlist, but I fear the demo is not large enough to support this station. Who would of thought that the African American population is larger in the Central Texas than Austin. Its a shame one could not combine the market. A RnB station with a clear signal in Cental Texas and Austin coverage. That would guarantee success.
longhorn2004 said:I like the station, and I like the playlist, but I fear the demo is not large enough to support this station.
If 96.3 gets a 2.5 share, they should break out the champagne. A 3 might be attainable (though I'm skeptical), but getting even that 2.5 would be quite an achievement. While doing urban AC would be suicide on a full-power stick, it may have staying power on 96.3 because a translator will probably be doomed to poor ratings no matter what. There's just nothing Entercom could put there that would do very well, and urban AC won't likely get run over by a full-power stick anytime soon. If they can force advertisers with Majic and Mix to also buy 96.3, they might be able to make money, though they'll still have to be mindful of price since overpricing could send those advertisers to Kiss, Bob or even KGSR.
Who would of thought that the African American population is larger in the Central Texas than Austin.
It goes against the common wisdom, but Killeen/Temple has among the largest African American populations per capita in the entire state of Texas.
Its a shame one could not combine the market. A RnB station with a clear signal in Cental Texas and Austin coverage. That would guarantee success.
True. Of course, you'd have to actually have a signal that covered both areas. While you can get most Austin stations in the car in Killeen/Temple, not even one puts a 60 dBu signal into the area. So, unless you use smartphone streaming, they're not options on most portable devices or clock radios. Some home stereos and seek functions will have trouble with them, too. KNCT is as close as it gets to covering both, and it still doesn't cover half of Austin proper in its 60 dBu signal contour. When I spent a month in Austin in training in '09, I could get 91.3 in the car but pretty much nowhere else.
Kent said:While you can get most Austin stations in the car in Killeen/Temple, not even one puts a 60 dBu signal into the area.
Are we forgetting KGSR?
Beleive it or not, I acutally was able to listen to 96.3 this afternoon all the way to Leander. Love the station, great music. Heard Doug E. Fresh "The Show" haven't heard that since the KSJL days in San Antonio on the FM. I wish they would dig deeper on the Old School.
The station sounds more of an upbeat Urban AC compared to when KSJL first launced in San Antonio. But from what I hear it sounds more like an Urban Contemporary station vs. an Urban Adult Contemporary station.
Was it CBS or Entercom that sold the 104.3 The Beat?
The station sounds more of an upbeat Urban AC compared to when KSJL first launced in San Antonio. But from what I hear it sounds more like an Urban Contemporary station vs. an Urban Adult Contemporary station.
Was it CBS or Entercom that sold the 104.3 The Beat?
willdav713 said:Was it CBS or Entercom that sold the 104.3 The Beat?
Both. CBS sold it to Entercom, and Entercom sold it to Univision.
Kent said:willdav713 said:Was it CBS or Entercom that sold the 104.3 The Beat?
Both. CBS sold it to Entercom, and Entercom sold it to Univision.
Makes me wonder what would have happen if they decided to flip 104.3 to RNB and kept it as an Entercom station, instead of putting it on a mariginal signal such as 96.3
But then again, the advertising bust happened 1 1/2-2 years later.
I wonder how KAMX is doing ratings and sales wise.
But some of the posters are right concerning the bundling of advertisers, heard Centex Foundation Repair on 96.3 just like I would hear on KKMJ.
I was always under the impression that Entercom dumped 104.3 The Beat because they couldn't sell it in combination with Majic and Mix. If you look at the signal map, it should have done fine hitting most of the hip-hop friendly audience. About the only areas where the signal's deficient are on the west side of Austin. Even when CBS owned it, 104.3 The Beat was nearly impossible to sell. I seem to remember it getting 10 shares when it first signed on and forcing mass chaos on KHFI only to never make money itself. When CBS flipped it to the disastrous talk format in an effort to keep Howard Stern, it was because they couldn't sell the urban format. After it came back on, it could never get the ratings it used to have, and, still, nobody could sell it.
As for how 104.3 would've done running urban AC instead, I can't imagine it would have done much better than the translator at 96.3 will do. As we've discussed before, the demographics of Austin just don't indicate an urban AC can do very well. The audience composition of your average urban AC is mostly female, 80-90 percent African American, and mostly above 25. African American females only make up about 3.5% of the market's population, and not all of that is over 25. I'm thinking in one of our previous threads on urban AC in Austin, the predicted share for an urban AC would be in the 1.5-2.0 range.
As for how 104.3 would've done running urban AC instead, I can't imagine it would have done much better than the translator at 96.3 will do. As we've discussed before, the demographics of Austin just don't indicate an urban AC can do very well. The audience composition of your average urban AC is mostly female, 80-90 percent African American, and mostly above 25. African American females only make up about 3.5% of the market's population, and not all of that is over 25. I'm thinking in one of our previous threads on urban AC in Austin, the predicted share for an urban AC would be in the 1.5-2.0 range.
IIRC 104.3 was an urban for a short time in 2005 when it flipped back, then returned to rhythmic. Even in its original incarnation as KQBT it sprinkled an urban title or two but only in rare occassions, plus it complemented KJCE at the time. It even embraced Houston hip hop but they only played much of it during certain mixshows. Early on KQBT carried the Hollywood Hamilton Countdown RT30 version which matched the format. It later on switched to the urban friendly Live in the Den w/Big Tigger which also was carried on some rhythmics as well, given that CC and CBS/Infinity were distributing partners for it.Kent said:I was always under the impression that Entercom dumped 104.3 The Beat because they couldn't sell it in combination with Majic and Mix. If you look at the signal map, it should have done fine hitting most of the hip-hop friendly audience. About the only areas where the signal's deficient are on the west side of Austin. Even when CBS owned it, 104.3 The Beat was nearly impossible to sell. I seem to remember it getting 10 shares when it first signed on and forcing mass chaos on KHFI only to never make money itself. When CBS flipped it to the disastrous talk format in an effort to keep Howard Stern, it was because they couldn't sell the urban format. After it came back on, it could never get the ratings it used to have, and, still, nobody could sell it.
As for how 104.3 would've done running urban AC instead, I can't imagine it would have done much better than the translator at 96.3 will do. As we've discussed before, the demographics of Austin just don't indicate an urban AC can do very well. The audience composition of your average urban AC is mostly female, 80-90 percent African American, and mostly above 25. African American females only make up about 3.5% of the market's population, and not all of that is over 25. I'm thinking in one of our previous threads on urban AC in Austin, the predicted share for an urban AC would be in the 1.5-2.0 range.
But besides that, trying to having a long lasting rhythmic in Austin has always been difficult, and this includes rhythmic ac/oldies.
1) The Beat has switched frequencies and changed callsigns four times each, with two "hiatuses" in the past 15 years.
2) Emmis shut down Hot 93.3 after six years.
3) The original Jammin 105.9 was shut down after eight years. So far 103.1 didn't last but ten months.
4) Only time will tell if CC will keep 102.3 The Beat given that it is a flanker for KHFI.
bringbackradio said:IIRC 104.3 was an urban for a short time in 2005 when it flipped back, then returned to rhythmic. Even in its original incarnation as KQBT it sprinkled an urban title or two but only in rare occassions, plus it complemented KJCE at the time. It even embraced Houston hip hop but they only played much of it during certain mixshows. Early on KQBT carried the Hollywood Hamilton Countdown RT30 version which matched the format. It later on switched to the urban friendly Live in the Den w/Big Tigger which also was carried on some rhythmics as well, given that CC and CBS/Infinity were distributing partners for it.Kent said:I was always under the impression that Entercom dumped 104.3 The Beat because they couldn't sell it in combination with Majic and Mix. If you look at the signal map, it should have done fine hitting most of the hip-hop friendly audience. About the only areas where the signal's deficient are on the west side of Austin. Even when CBS owned it, 104.3 The Beat was nearly impossible to sell. I seem to remember it getting 10 shares when it first signed on and forcing mass chaos on KHFI only to never make money itself. When CBS flipped it to the disastrous talk format in an effort to keep Howard Stern, it was because they couldn't sell the urban format. After it came back on, it could never get the ratings it used to have, and, still, nobody could sell it.
As for how 104.3 would've done running urban AC instead, I can't imagine it would have done much better than the translator at 96.3 will do. As we've discussed before, the demographics of Austin just don't indicate an urban AC can do very well. The audience composition of your average urban AC is mostly female, 80-90 percent African American, and mostly above 25. African American females only make up about 3.5% of the market's population, and not all of that is over 25. I'm thinking in one of our previous threads on urban AC in Austin, the predicted share for an urban AC would be in the 1.5-2.0 range.
But besides that, trying to having a long lasting rhythmic in Austin has always been difficult, and this includes rhythmic ac/oldies.
1) The Beat has switched frequencies and changed callsigns four times each, with two "hiatuses" in the past 15 years.
2) Emmis shut down Hot 93.3 after six years.
3) The original Jammin 105.9 was shut down after eight years. So far 103.1 didn't last but ten months.
4) Only time will tell if CC will keep 102.3 The Beat given that it is a flanker for KHFI.
Jammin 105.9 lasted from 1999-2009. Which makes it 10 years not 8.
Right now, I am listening to 96.3 online and so far, the station almost sounds like 103.1 Kiss FM in Killeen. To me, that is not good, because it sounds boring and plays the same music as 103.1. Its nice to actually hear Austin having a Urban AC station on the FM dial, but hopefully they will add some deep cuts from the '80s and '90s and play a lot more newer R&B. From what I read on Facebook, this Friday from 4pm to 7pm, they are suppose to have a R&B mixshow. If anybody gets a chance to hear it, let me know. Another thing too is I hope they will have mixshows like at noon and 5pm Monday through Fridays and mixshows on Friday and Saturday nights too. Lets see how this radio station will turn out to be in the near future.
Blacknight said:Right now, I am listening to 96.3 online and so far, the station almost sounds like 103.1 Kiss FM in Killeen. To me, that is not good, because it sounds boring and plays the same music as 103.1. Its nice to actually hear Austin having a Urban AC station on the FM dial, but hopefully they will add some deep cuts from the '80s and '90s and play a lot more newer R&B. From what I read on Facebook, this Friday from 4pm to 7pm, they are suppose to have a R&B mixshow. If anybody gets a chance to hear it, let me know. Another thing too is I hope they will have mixshows like at noon and 5pm Monday through Fridays and mixshows on Friday and Saturday nights too. Lets see how this radio station will turn out to be in the near future.
At one time KISS103.1 FM in Killeen was the #1 most listened too station in the Central Texas area, so that comparison is not so bad. Once one hits Georgetown heading south, you loose the Killeen signal anyway.
From what I have heard so far, 96.3 plays more modern RnB music than 103.1FM. I hope they get the word out, has anyone seen billboard signs along I-35 or east Austin?
fredcantu said:The only radio station billboards I can recall recently in Austin are Clear Channel's generic "KISS-FM" ads.
And the digital adverts at a local shop on US 183-A in Leander for KOKE-FM.
In San Antonio, the only billboards for radio stations I can recall recently are for Mix 96.1 (same generic KISS-FM but using the Mix logo instead) and Q 101.9 both from Clear Channel.
I like the station a lot and I am glad Austin is finally getting some good stations like 96.3, Latino 102.7 and 103.1 iHeartAustin even if they are low powered. All we need now is MEGA back on the FM dial and IMO Austin will have one of the top FM dials in the state. As the population continues to explode, our market will continue to diversify and we are beginning to see that now.
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