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What is AAA?

I realize this is an older thread, but let me add these comments.

One of the better AAA type stations I have run across is KPIG FM in California. I have only accessed them via the Internet. One of the other responders to this thread said that each station interpreted the format differently due to area of country and other things.

I have always thought AAA in it's full potential should have a vast play list, play deeper cuts from Cd's and artists, include artists that made progressive radio. Dylan, Hot Tuna, Moby Grape, Jeff Airplane etc, but also include the newer Indie artists and artists outside the mainstream box.

I read where the powers that be at KPIG screwed around with that station. Hopefully that station will still have a good edge to it.
 
I just joined this board to check it out. Very interesting. I had someone tell me once that a good AAA format is like having a close friend with immense musical knowledge. You go over to their home and he/she starts pulling out their favorite recordings and turning you on to great music you've never heard before. Before you know it you've spent an entire evening going "wow - that's a great band". If a AAA radio station can do that for their audience then they have succeeded. I have about 10 favorites, including KPIG mentioned here. If you like that, you should try http://www.fatmusicradio.com or http://www.wncw.org. KHUM and KRSH in Northern CA are also worth checking out, with KHUM exhibiting a nice lean towards Jazz, World music, and some of the newer "jam bands". KGSR, KBCO, WXRT, and WXPN are also definitely worth investigating. To me, KFOG and KMTT play too much of the "same old lame old" - stuff I've heard before. Some real gems, but you have to wade through the Classic Rock stuff. As stated earlier, AAA is a unique format for every station, generally geared to the market. I wish more would try it.

Dave B.
 
AAA as a designated format came of age in 90/91. At the time, R&R only had one "rock" format listed - AOR. AOR was a singles oriented format in 89/90. Neither New Rock (alternative) nor AAA existed as reporting formats.

In 90/91, R&R dropped KBCO Boulder from its AOR reporting list because they wouldn't report singles, only albums. KBCO is recognized as the first official AAA reporter, and the flagship station of the format. About the same time, the John Hayes pioneered KTCL (Fort Collins, CO) was identified as being New Rock (alternative). John Hayes and station manager Stu Haskell spent the better part of the 80s developing the format. I was programming an AOR/AAA/New Rock (w/ some hard country) hybrid back in those days in the same market area.

Musically, AAA evolved out of the Horde Tour demo of the early nineties, as New Rock/alternative evolved in tune with the Warped Tour and grunge-rock. Bonnie Raitt, John Hiatt, REM, Bodeans, Pretenders, etc became core AAA artists. The split and overlap with alternative stations comes with acts like the Talking Heads and REM, and separates with edgey rock and punk.
 
I'm in a market we have two AAAs.

KXLY 99.9 "The River"

KPND 95.3 "Progressive Radio"

I love KPND dearly. The variety is much nicer. You can tell the DJ's have input on their playlists, because the music is slightly different. KXLY on the other hand has the "listerner advisory committee" - two words focus group.

KXLY is interesting to discuss though. Bailing on the "classy" soft rock format. They went triple A 2 years ago. Their just came out of thier worst book yet. Makes me wonder if they'll bail on the format or stay the course. KXLY isn't very quirky or interesting compared to KPND.
 
Stephanie Sandlin said:
I'm in a market we have two AAAs.

KXLY 99.9 "The River"

KPND 95.3 "Progressive Radio"

I love KPND dearly. The variety is much nicer. You can tell the DJ's have input on their playlists, because the music is slightly different. KXLY on the other hand has the "listerner advisory committee" - two words focus group.

KXLY is interesting to discuss though. Bailing on the "classy" soft rock format. They went triple A 2 years ago. Their just came out of thier worst book yet. Makes me wonder if they'll bail on the format or stay the course. KXLY isn't very quirky or interesting compared to KPND.
Click to expand...

Stephanie, thanks for the info and I'll take your recommenadtion of KPND.... Can't wait for their stream to go live. Looked at their playlist via Yes.com and they seem to have the right balance of a good AAA station in 2008. I had sampled KXLY in the past and was not impressed for the reasons you mentioned. How'd KPND do vs KXLY in the ratings? Here in Orange County, CA the LA area got back a AAA in April, 100.3 The Sound KSWD after an absence of AAA radio for 7+ years. BTW you live in Idaho or Washington? Cheers!! 8)
 
I'm in Spokane proper. :)

Regarding ratings and KPND, only Arbitron knows. By all appearances KPND doesn't subscribe so their ratings aren't made public. KXLY FM on the other hand is coming off their best book in awhile. Whether its a fluke or a trend time will tell for the gang at 99.9.

I will say this I know KPND has a passionate dedicated base of listeners. More and more Spokane ads have been popping up too on air. And I do love their liners about "not being watered down." They know their listeners sniff at the superficialness of KXLY.

LA? nice. I will confess I've been listening to Indie 103.1's stream. I like my mellow but I also like that old school edge once in awhile.

Regards.
 
SuperDav20000 said:
> What is the AAA format?
>
AAA = Adult Album Alternative. That's all I know.
Anyone got anything else?<P ID="signature">______________
<a href="http://SuperDav20000.tripod.com/">Tidewater MediaZone</a> TV/Radio Audio Clips and ScreenCaps</P>
Click to expand...

Some wag responded that nobody knows what it is. But since I've been involved with AAA in one form or another for more than 30 years, I feel like I have a pretty good idea what it is.

AAA grew out of the old Progressive Rock format, which was itself an evolution from Free Form FM in the late 60s.

These formats were a reaction against Top 40 with it's tight playlists and total lack of album cuts.

As time went by, consultants such as Burkhart-Abrams tightened Progressive Rock up, focusing on superstars and eliminating much of the diversity of the Progressive format.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Album-oriented_rock

Then came Classic Rock, which tightened things up even more, eliminating all new music and cutting the library down to 300 to 500 songs endlessly repeated.

AAA retains the core values of the old Progressive stations, specifically

  • A primary focus on the music content of the station, rather than the personalities
  • A commitment to include more than one narrow style of music in the stations' purview
  • A commitment to new music
  • A commitment to non-single album tracks

Now, since each AAA station approaches these values in different ways for their different markets and competitive situations, some radio programmers and listeners who only have had experience with modern "narrowcasting" formats struggle to understand what the hell is going on.

But it's not that hard for actual music lovers to understand, as the stellar ratings (particularly for the 25 to 54 demo) of format leaders KBCO Boulder/Denver, KFOG San Francisco, and KINK Portland OR attest.

Zeb "Get The Hell Off That Soapbox!" Norris
 
NO, stay on that soapbox, Zeb! Thanks for your responses on the few threads in this forum. It's nice to see KINK-FM achieve really decent ratings in the Summer book (over 4) placing it in the Top 5 12+. I wonder how they did 25-54? And continued success to The Point! :)
 
This thread has been here since this board began. If it hasn't been figured out by now, is it anything? Reminds me of the old Firesign Theatre album..."How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All?"

Seriously now, Zeb, I was there during the Burkhart-Abrams days in Worcester at WAAF and in New Orleans at WNOE-FM. It wasn't that tight, just structured. There were plenty of deep tracks to make that format palatable to real music fans.

Now Classic Rock, THAT was tight. Way TOO tight, way too "marketed", just like the majority of over-researched, under-programmed formats of the 80s that have brought the industry to the unenviable position it enjoys today.

Gary Guthrie's alternative to that format, which he dubbed "Classic Hits" on KSLX Phoenix, WKLX Rochester and WZLX Boston among others (not the rehash of 70s and 60s music for former oldies stations that the term connotes today), was much wider and had some real surprises (you wouldn't find Al Green on a Classic Rock station, but you would on WZLX in 1986). Nobody hears much about it anymore because Gary left radio to pursue other interests.

You leave out a very important truth about the format in your description. AAA can only work in markets that have at least two of the following three elements as a major part of its makeup:

1) A large population of major university alumni in control of many aspects of the business community.
2) A large university infrastructure.
3) A large population of left-leaning or alternative-lifestyle folks.

Without a critical mass of those groups, AAA can't get enough lift under its wings to be a business. Even in markets that have the potential, operators still have to do the right things to build trust and make good relationships. KBCO has done this over thirty years, as has KINK. I haven't been in Vermont for a long time, but I understand you guys are doing it well. But it can't be done everywhere.
 
Well, I certainly agree that AAA doesn't work everywhere. I was fool enough to try it in Salt Lake City.

We would have been better off playing Mormon Tabernacle Choir records 24/7.

I have a simpler formulation of what is required for AAA to work; it's what I call the Volvo theory.

Where Volvo's sell well the format has a chance.

Salt Lake City is a Jeep town.

But I disagree with about the impact of Burkhart-Abrams on the old Progressive stations. I too worked at a couple of their client stations. The first thing they did was lose any music that wasn't rock. So there goes your Al Green, or Joan Baez for that matter. It wasn't just about losing Soul music, it was losing the variety of styles that Progressive embraced.

Not that I mean to sound like I'm pissing and moaning. They were very successful, or their version of the format wouldn't have caught on.

I'm just saying, that's not the ONLY way to generate a sale-able audience.
 
I'm with you on that. One thing I've learned is that there are lots of ways to make this medium work well.

But I always thought that, before they got caught up in the "modal" devolution of 1980 , the Superstars stations were pretty tasty for what they were. When you could hear deep Steely Dan, "Up From The Skies" by Hendrix and Wishbone Ash spinkled in with the usual suspects, it wasn't bad.

As for SLC, doesn't FM 100 have that Tabernacle market cornered? :)
 
Dont bag on SLC. Mormons make great neighbors. No crime. No late night trailer bs. never come home to some drunk chick passed out on the sidewalk in her own vomit. Polite. Clean. Nice.

They have a damn good alternative in X96 with a morning show ironically called 'the morning show from hell'.

Sure there are always a few apples in every bunch. overall Id take a mormon to be my neighbor everyday.
 
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