What happened to country radio??

[Eye]

Seems like just a year or two ago our country station KSCS and KPLX-The Wolf were battling it out at the top of the ratings pack. The latest Arbitrends are now showing them #9 and #12.
I'm not a country listener, but I thought country music was very popular in DFW. What happened? Where did those listeners go?

 

[charles123]

Maybe the new P/D at the Wolf would cahnge that next week.

 

[KPLEXCOMPLEX]

Like anything,they wore out. The Music ( let's face it) doesn't resemble "country" all that much. Its tired and wore out,and "balladed" to death. The on air announcers either have the forced accents,the tired presentation or just liner card read -a- thons. The short playlists seem to have gotten shorter,leading to song burnout and that affects an announcer's presentation all the same as well. Country Music has peaked,and the next new flavor( if there is one) should be happening anytime.

 

[TheLaffer]

Like anything,they wore out. The Music ( let's face it) doesn't resemble "country" all that much. Its tired and wore out,and "balladed" to death. The on air announcers either have the forced accents,the tired presentation or just liner card read -a- thons. The short playlists seem to have gotten shorter,leading to song burnout and that affects an announcer's presentation all the same as well. Country Music has peaked,and the next new flavor( if there is one) should be happening anytime.

I disagree with you Kplex. Country music is alive and well especially with Wolf type formats. IE: Uptempo music, fun jocks, big promotions, creative imaging. Both KSCS and The Wolf USED to be all those things. Maybe sebastian can do something with the Wolf. The Wolf still has potential while KSCS is just plain boring!

I hope Sebastian will do something with my favorite station the bone. Please get Walton and Johnson off the air. Tired of hearing their Right Wing Hate Speeches every morning!!!!!!

 

[KPLEXCOMPLEX]

I agree with your last paragraph Laffer,but I'll stick to my previous statement about the Country scene. It needs help.

 

[Jay F]

Country is pretty healthy nationally. DFW is one of the only markets where the country share has had a recent significant decline. While some would blame the quality of the stations, I would say that rapidly changing demographics/increased ethnicity is a major factor. A similar Country decline has taken place in Houston.

 

[davideduardo]

Texas fought so hard to win our independence from them. Heck,
we might as well be giving it back to them. I don't mind ethinicity,
but at the same time, we need to tighten our immigration controls
so the US doesn't change into Mexico City everywhere I go, and
on the radio. It's very rapidly becoming that, especially in the
southern states. They need to be learning f**ing English. It shouldn't
be me trying to learn Spanish.

Dallas Fort Worth radio sucks as a result. Everywhere you turn, there's
a freakin' Mexican station. And don't give me a line " I need to adapt".
BS! THEY need to adapt to us!. Just look at the ratio of English speaking
to foreign speaking stations in DFW. It's pathetic.

Your point is dulled by the fact that a significant percentage of Hispanics in the market are English domininat, bilingual or know at least functional English.

Radio listening and music taste do not change when someone learns English. Music taste is formed in early adolescence, and is not based at all on learning a second langauge. Most Hispanics, no matter how bilingual they are, will still want to hear the music they like; they don't suddenly become U2 or Keith Urban or Kelly Clarkson fans just because they can understand the lyrics.

And... commercial radio is about making money. As long as there is an audience for something, there will be a radio station to fill that particular need.

 

[TheLaffer]

I agree with your last paragraph Laffer,but I'll stick to my previous statement about the Country scene. It needs help.

Then we agree, Country IS in need of some help. Better programming is needed. For the most part i think the music holds up. People like Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, Dixie Chicks, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Carrie Underwood are selling out concerts and selling mucho records.

I would agree about shiffting demographics but i still think The Wolf or KSCS for that manner can regain the 25-54 demos with better programming and jocks who make a connection.

 

[TheLaffer]

I would say that rapidly changing demographics/increased ethnicity is a major factor.

One word....Mexicans.

Texas fought so hard to win our independence from them. Heck,
we might as well be giving it back to them. I don't mind ethinicity,
but at the same time, we need to tighten our immigration controls
so the US doesn't change into Mexico City everywhere I go, and
on the radio. It's very rapidly becoming that, especially in the
southern states. They need to be learning f**ing English. It shouldn't
be me trying to learn Spanish.

Dallas Fort Worth radio sucks as a result. Everywhere you turn, there's
a freakin' Mexican station. And don't give me a line " I need to adapt".
BS! THEY need to adapt to us!. Just look at the ratio of English speaking
to foreign speaking stations in DFW. It's pathetic.

<soapbox off>

You are so right my Amigo. But the cold hard truth is the Mexicans are taking back the southwest. White people are too stupid or complacent or so afraid of being called a racist to do anything about it.

Yes my Amigo, This here United States will be a completely different nation AND BROKE in 20 years.

 

[KPLEXCOMPLEX]

So you are suggesting the new swimming routes on the Rio Grande will be a north to south direction in 20 years? The shadow does have a point.THEY should adapt here,language specifically,not the other way around.
Imagine if the Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary moved to Tel Aviv, and Paige Patterson told the natives there they had to adapt to their ways. Meanwhile Country is pop not country and country music fans want"country".

 

[Robert Bass]

Robert pauses from his Enchilada lunch to comment…

So the Mexicans are taking back the south? Let ‘em… and I hope they bring us more Mexican food. Yuummmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 ;D

Robert goes back to his lunch.

R

 

[TheLaffer]

So you are suggesting the new swimming routes on the Rio Grande will be a north to south direction in 20 years? The shadow does have a point.THEY should adapt here,language specifically,not the other way around.
Imagine if the Southwest Baptist Theological Seminary moved to Tel Aviv, and Paige Patterson told the natives there they had to adapt to their ways. Meanwhile Country is pop not country and country music fans want"country".

True Kplex, There' a lot of Pop Country but there is still good traditional "Country" songs too. I think Pop Country is good for country. Many White Women 35-55 left chr for country radio artist like Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Shania Twain, Etc.

Before the Dixie Chicks went pop they're music was traditional Country. Same with Garth Brooks (his early stuff)

Country needs another Garth, Vince, Shania (Superstars) . Thank God George Strait is still singing. I think Country sounded best in the early to mid 90's. A little of pop, traditional, and rock flavored. THAT is mainstream.

 

[VERITAS DE VOCE]

Ah, hell, fellas!

David brought up a valid point to Shadow's poke and this became a stereotype contest. Full disclosure, I am not Hispanic but can smell the dirt as we digress off of the trail anywhere. So, we have what is wrong with Country music stations? In a word, MUCH! And most of these points have been introduced all ready:

> read-a-thon liners
> incessant sappy music
> crossover artists
> in short, to use a phrase from my brothas'... they do not keep it real!

They are bringing in better jocks, BUT, those jocks are not country-centric (as Dorsey was back in the day). These are nomandic voices looking for a place to perch. They are creating insightful promotions, but without a true connection with your audience, promotions are as effective as dead air. If Country music wants to take back its rightful heir in this town, they need to reach out to the demographic (Sebastian, you out there?)

It's not too late. Tejano has a specialized audience, Country is a universal audience. Superstars (aforementioned company and the new kids) are good for any format, but damn, Country has one thing it specializes in... classics. Bring it back and you get your ratings back. Don't... and you won't.

Peace... and Yee-haw!

 

[davideduardo]

It's not too late. Tejano has a specialized audience, Country is a universal audience.

That's why there are several country stations in the Dallas market, and no Tejano stations.

 

[Jake Daniels]

You people are forgetting that this market unlike any other in America has 10 times more country stations.

Wolf
KSCS
Twister
Range
Ranch
1160
(I probably forgot one.)
+
Satellite
CD's
Ipods
and
Internet radio.

Go find another market like this one. You all remember the battle between Wolf and KSCS from a few years ago...Sure. But the radio landscape has changed. I figured that yall would have been smart enough to figure out why numbers drop off... There are more options!

You can all sit around and make fun of the Wolf and how awful all of our jocks are and speculate whats gonna happen when John takes the reigns but I gotta admit, I think its kind of sad that all of you bitch and moan and complain about CUME-less and Cheap Channel and talk about how much
EVERYONE on the air now sucks! You bag and trash people that you dont even know. What kind of crap is that? PLEASE... If you think we are all retarded for working where we do and doing what we do, PLEASE come see any of the jocks that are on the air in Dallas at one of our appearances and tell us to our faces instead of being a keyboard badass and hiding. Show some character. Better yet, here's an idea; How about you go look in the mirror and ask yourself, "What have I done for someone lately? Have I helped? Did I give? Did I make a difference in anyones life today?"

You can all talk about the problems but how many of you are willing to offer up the solutions? You want your stations to be good? What are you doing to make that happen.

See ya around!

 

[TheLaffer]

You people are forgetting that this market unlike any other in America has 10 times more country stations.

Wolf
KSCS
Twister
Range
Ranch
1160
(I probably forgot one.)
+
Satellite
CD's
Ipods
and
Internet radio.

Go find another market like this one. You all remember the battle between Wolf and KSCS from a few years ago...Sure. But the radio landscape has changed. I figured that yall would have been smart enough to figure out why numbers drop off... There are more options!

You can all sit around and make fun of the Wolf and how awful all of our jocks are and speculate whats gonna happen when John takes the reigns but I gotta admit, I think its kind of sad that all of you bitch and moan and complain about CUME-less and Cheap Channel and talk about how much
EVERYONE on the air now sucks! You bag and trash people that you dont even know. What kind of crap is that? PLEASE... If you think we are all retarded for working where we do and doing what we do, PLEASE come see any of the jocks that are on the air in Dallas at one of our appearances and tell us to our faces instead of being a keyboard badass and hiding. Show some character. Better yet, here's an idea; How about you go look in the mirror and ask yourself, "What have I done for someone lately? Have I helped? Did I give? Did I make a difference in anyones life today?"

You can all talk about the problems but how many of you are willing to offer up the solutions? You want your stations to be good? What are you doing to make that happen.

See ya around!

Oh please...spare us the usual were all a bunch of complainers bitching. Many on here constructively criticize and yes it can get nasty at times but Jake, you're in the big time now! You're the BIG DOG! Criticism comes with the territory and jokes do too.

For the record The Wolf and KSCS was trending down several years ago. Yes the market has changed and so should your SHARE not you POSISTION. (unless you suck)

Nice post to try and convince Sebastian your a CUMULUS BOY

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I'm not a country listener, but I thought country music was very popular in DFW. What happened? Where did those listeners go?

Too many stations trying to share too small of an audience.

 

[txchipk]

You people are forgetting that this market unlike any other in America has 10 times more country stations.

Wolf
KSCS
Twister
Range
Ranch
1160
(I probably forgot one.)
+
Satellite
CD's
Ipods
and
Internet radio.

Go find another market like this one. You all remember the battle between Wolf and KSCS from a few years ago...Sure. But the radio landscape has changed. I figured that yall would have been smart enough to figure out why numbers drop off... There are more options!

The problem is that KPLX has lost 45% of its audience from its peak just a couple of years ago vs. the trends that came out yesterday. KFWR 95.9, KSCS 96.3, KTYS 96.7, and KHYI 95.3 all existed back then, so they aren't new competitors.. KSCS and KTYS's ratings are about where they were a couple of years ago. KSCS has spent most of the 2000s in the low 3's 12+. KPLX had been in the 4s and spiking into the low 5's and for a long time was regularly in the top 3. So, considering the competitors are roughly flat (and the market is a growing one), the fall-off is largely isolated to KPLX.

Personally, I think KPLX has run off listeners (me included). It started about 2 years ago (even before Cumulus took over and the DJs were all changed), when the music was changed. We live in Texas. People in Texas want a country music station that sounds like it is from Texas. For the last 2 years, the music has been changed to a generic country station playlist that is indistinguishable from a country music station in Miami, Portland, Boston, or Des Moines. If KPLX listeners wanted to hear a Yankee country music station, they could listen to KSCS. I don't think the a lot of Wolf listeners wanted a KSCS clone; if they liked KSCS, they would be listening to it already.

Today's KFWR actually resembles the old Wolf musically. For a station whose signal provides a city grade signal to less than a 1/4th of the population in the market, it's not really a viable alternative for most people though.

You can all sit around and make fun of the Wolf and how awful all of our jocks are and speculate whats gonna happen when John takes the reigns but I gotta admit, I think its kind of sad that all of you bitch and moan and complain about CUME-less and Cheap Channel and talk about how much
EVERYONE on the air now sucks! You bag and trash people that you dont even know. What kind of crap is that? PLEASE... If you think we are all retarded for working where we do and doing what we do, PLEASE come see any of the jocks that are on the air in Dallas at one of our appearances and tell us to our faces instead of being a keyboard badass and hiding. Show some character. Better yet, here's an idea; How about you go look in the mirror and ask yourself, "What have I done for someone lately? Have I helped? Did I give? Did I make a difference in anyones life today?"

Welcome to this board. I'm not sure why these posts ("why do you think country is down?") often end up with name calling as opposed to a discussion on the topic. There seems to be a few folks that have axes to grind and their hatred is black and white -- i.e. got fired from a Clear Channel outlet, so therefore CC (or every corporate owner) is evil, every station they own is bad, every PD or MD at those stations is bad, etc. These folks can't seem to figure out there is some good and some bad in every field.

You can all talk about the problems but how many of you are willing to offer up the solutions? You want your stations to be good? What are you doing to make that happen.

See ya around!

My suggestion is above...let's fix the music. It was a great station; no reason it can't be again.

I would love to see Amy B's numbers -- has moving that show to PM drive helped or hurt. Working a regular 8-5 job, I never heard her show in middays. That was kind of the last straw with me when it appeared in PM drive. She strikes me as being Hillary Clinton-ish or George Bush-like --- i.e. massively polarizing; you have to either love her "Hee Haw"/trailor park/hillbilly routine or hate it with a passion. It's so over the top, I can't believe there is any middle ground. Being polarizing works on talk stations and for shock jocks, but does that really work here?

 

[KPLEXCOMPLEX]

Oh good lord. Its not proper to criticize here? "Complainers? Not everyone and I am sure not a majority of the "COMPLAINERS" are out of work.but have jobs in the industry. They are like anyone else,they hate seeing their industry go to hell as it has. "TX" is complaining that the WOLF has forgotten its Texas Listeners and she is correct,but hey she is also working. Those who have passion about broadcasting are going to criticize heavily, thats is the way it is and has been long before there was a radio-info.com. I find it amusing that. those who "criticize" the "criticizers" for using anonymous names, also subscribe to the same. Oh Jake. I have had conversations like you suggested with some on air folks i nthe last couple of years about their on air performance. Surprisingly SOME agreed and blamed the PD for "liner reading philosophy" and for the "COMPANY PLAYLIST". The others said "Hey man ,so what I get paid the bucks " ( was one answer ), another said " its just a Job &%$#@!" So there ya go. The passion is in limited supply as far as talent is concerened .Cest la vie'.

 

[TheLaffer]

You people are forgetting that this market unlike any other in America has 10 times more country stations.

Wolf
KSCS
Twister
Range
Ranch
1160
(I probably forgot one.)
+
Satellite
CD's
Ipods
and
Internet radio.

Go find another market like this one. You all remember the battle between Wolf and KSCS from a few years ago...Sure. But the radio landscape has changed. I figured that yall would have been smart enough to figure out why numbers drop off... There are more options!

The problem is that KPLX has lost 45% of its audience from its peak just a couple of years ago vs. the trends that came out yesterday. KFWR 95.9, KSCS 96.3, KTYS 96.7, and KHYI 95.3 all existed back then, so they aren't new competitors.. KSCS and KTYS's ratings are about where they were a couple of years ago. KSCS has spent most of the 2000s in the low 3's 12+. KPLX had been in the 4s and spiking into the low 5's and for a long time was regularly in the top 3. So, considering the competitors are roughly flat (and the market is a growing one), the fall-off is largely isolated to KPLX.

Personally, I think KPLX has run off listeners (me included). It started about 2 years ago (even before Cumulus took over and the DJs were all changed), when the music was changed. We live in Texas. People in Texas want a country music station that sounds like it is from Texas. For the last 2 years, the music has been changed to a generic country station playlist that is indistinguishable from a country music station in Miami, Portland, Boston, or Des Moines. If KPLX listeners wanted to hear a Yankee country music station, they could listen to KSCS. I don't think the a lot of Wolf listeners wanted a KSCS clone; if they liked KSCS, they would be listening to it already.

Today's KFWR actually resembles the old Wolf musically. For a station whose signal provides a city grade signal to less than a 1/4th of the population in the market, it's not really a viable alternative for most people though.

You can all sit around and make fun of the Wolf and how awful all of our jocks are and speculate whats gonna happen when John takes the reigns but I gotta admit, I think its kind of sad that all of you bitch and moan and complain about CUME-less and Cheap Channel and talk about how much
EVERYONE on the air now sucks! You bag and trash people that you dont even know. What kind of crap is that? PLEASE... If you think we are all retarded for working where we do and doing what we do, PLEASE come see any of the jocks that are on the air in Dallas at one of our appearances and tell us to our faces instead of being a keyboard badass and hiding. Show some character. Better yet, here's an idea; How about you go look in the mirror and ask yourself, "What have I done for someone lately? Have I helped? Did I give? Did I make a difference in anyones life today?"

Welcome to this board. I'm not sure why these posts ("why do you think country is down?") often end up with name calling as opposed to a discussion on the topic. There seems to be a few folks that have axes to grind and their hatred is black and white -- i.e. got fired from a Clear Channel outlet, so therefore CC (or every corporate owner) is evil, every station they own is bad, every PD or MD at those stations is bad, etc. These folks can't seem to figure out there is some good and some bad in every field.

You can all talk about the problems but how many of you are willing to offer up the solutions? You want your stations to be good? What are you doing to make that happen.

See ya around!

My suggestion is above...let's fix the music. It was a great station; no reason it can't be again.

I would love to see Amy B's numbers -- has moving that show to PM drive helped or hurt. Working a regular 8-5 job, I never heard her show in middays. That was kind of the last straw with me when it appeared in PM drive. She strikes me as being Hillary Clinton-ish or George Bush-like --- i.e. massively polarizing; you have to either love her "Hee Haw"/trailor park/hillbilly routine or hate it with a passion. It's so over the top, I can't believe there is any middle ground. Being polarizing works on talk stations and for shock jocks, but does that really work here?

Today's KFWR actually resembles the old Wolf musically.


Not True. The Ranch plays 80% Texas Music

When The Wolf first signed on maybe 30% of the music was Texas but what Texas Music they DID play was Classic stuff like Willie Nelson and Asleep at the wheel. Carefully selected classics, mixed with a few Jack Ingrams, Pat Greens and Cross Canadian Ragweed. The rest was Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Garth, George, Martina, you're so called pop country and it was dayparted properly.

You had a good not great but good morning man in Bobby Mitchell. AMY B was perfect for Middays. Cody was ok in the afternoon. Hollywood at night and Jeremy having fun and doing contest all night long.

BIG CONTEST, BIG PROMOTIONS. BIG SOUND. That's been cut in half along with the jocks, thus HALF the ratings.

I rib Jake. He's not a "BAD JOCK". Some of the stuff he does is corny but he's not a bad jock. The all night girl named "MISSY" IS and she even subsitutes in the day!!!!! My 11 year old daughter is better than her! This is one of many reasons The Wolf has lost 45% of it's audience. It finally caught up.

I still say they'll come back. Their imaging is still superior to KSCS and if they get back to running Big Contest, Big Promotions and a tweak of the music they will be back in the hi 3s possibly 4's. Can't say that for KSCS. Those people are doomed for low to mid 3s at best.