What the hell happened to KISS? Other S.A. notes from a Houstonian....

[purpledevil]

I'm visiting family in San Antonio this weekend (Soooo good to eat Bill Miller's again) and I flipped over to my ol' friend at 99.5 and Pink Floyd's "Time" was on. Pink Floyd?!? Thought I was listening to KZEP for a moment, so flipped over to 104.5 and what was on? You guessed it, Pink Floyd. Flipped back to KISS and then Tool's "Schism" was on.

What has happened to KISS's identity? I've heard Jimi, Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd mixed with Bush, STP, and Godsmack. Was here back in February and KISS had stopped playing currents and was seemingly focused on the 90's alternative and grunge. Certainly wasn't playing anything newer than 2005. Is KISS slowly morphing into an AOR, Classic Rock, or what? Can't imagine what S.A. needs with another Classic Rocker with KTKX and KZEP already in the market.

Gave a listen to KZLV-Lytle while I am here, since we just got EMF's "Air 1" in Houston. I must say, I like K-Love. Wish we had it in Houston to give KSBJ a little friendly competition.

93.3 translator is off...at least can't pick it up west of downtown off 10 and Probandt. Should be able to get that here, even weakly, I would think.

98.5 has dropped quite a bit of hip hop since I was here last. Sounded more like a top 40 now than "San Antonio's hip hop station". I was surprised. "Party 104.9" was a very good offering by Univision for hip hop here in Houston before it was yanked off the air.

I like X-1067..gotta say. A classic rocker with Queensryche and Temple of the Dog. Times I listened seemed as though they have a heavy emphasis on the 80's and the hairbands from that decade. Hate to hear that one's about to meet its demise.

What seems to be the problem with KZEP's audio? It is nowhere near as crisp sounding as KTKX or KISS. It's almost like CC has the treble turned down lower than its counterparts. Are they going for an AM sound on FM with KZEP? I didn't like the way it sounded, so the radio didn't stay on it for very long at all. Anyone else experiencing this?

All in all, it's been great to get over to San Antonio again. Such a wonderful city, with so many friendly people. Ate at a place I never had before. "Little Red Barn" on Hackberry, just south of I-10. Very, very good steak. I love the uniforms! Y'all need better freeway systems though. Can't believe you still have to exit one freeway to enter another without any connection ramps in this day and age, and God does I-10 need feeder roads west of downtown. Good grief! Well, back to Houston in a few minutes. Hate to leave, but bills must be paid so off to H-town I go.

 

[Kent]

What has happened to KISS's identity? I've heard Jimi, Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd mixed with Bush, STP, and Godsmack. Was here back in February and KISS had stopped playing currents and was seemingly focused on the 90's alternative and grunge. Certainly wasn't playing anything newer than 2005. Is KISS slowly morphing into an AOR, Classic Rock, or what? Can't imagine what S.A. needs with another Classic Rocker with KTKX and KZEP already in the market.

PPM is what happened to 99.5 KISS. Much like a typical rock station, in the diary world, it had incredibly high ratings in the morning and dived the rest of the day. PPM showed the morning ratings were, if anything, worse than the mediocre numbers it got the rest of the day. So, the station has been completely revamped. Lisle and Hahn were sacked, and a new morning show was brought it. Rock stations in the PPM world tend to do better with older cuts that have been tested half-to-death. So, the currents went bye-bye. If you liked KISS the way it was a few years ago, you're probably going to be disappointed for the foreseeable future. While it's not the powerhouse it was in the diary world, it's got the best PPM numbers it's ever had and, unless you count Jack as rock, it's the highest rated rocker in San Antonio once again.

98.5 has dropped quite a bit of hip hop since I was here last. Sounded more like a top 40 now than "San Antonio's hip hop station". I was surprised. "Party 104.9" was a very good offering by Univision for hip hop here in Houston before it was yanked off the air.

Hip hop isn't quite the powerhouse it was a few years ago either. It's not so much a result of PPM than that the product just isn't as mass appeal as it used to be.

 

[Anonymouse]

93.3 translator is off...at least can't pick it up west of downtown off 10 and Probandt. Should be able to get that here, even weakly, I would think.

93.3 is actually on, and it simulcasts 98.9. Their audio isn't too good, though. It sounds like a flat EQ, it clips a lot even though the audio itself isn't very loud, and it bounces to the left channel as the audio gets louder, then switches more to the right as it quiets down. Weird compression or something.

98.5 has dropped quite a bit of hip hop since I was here last. Sounded more like a top 40 now than "San Antonio's hip hop station". I was surprised. "Party 104.9" was a very good offering by Univision for hip hop here in Houston before it was yanked off the air.

Well at least we now have Wild 92.5 and 105.7 to compete with KBBT. They seem to play a lot more hip-hop, but they're jockless and speed up their songs. Still I like how there aren't commercials, at least not yet.

 

[purpledevil]

Hip hop isn't quite the powerhouse it was a few years ago either. It's not so much a result of PPM than that the product just isn't as mass appeal as it used to be.

This is surprising as well to me coming from a market that has a 100% hip hop station in KBXX that ranks in top 5 consistently. Given that, I'd have thought KBBT would have stayed the course. I listened to Wild as well, while I was there in S.A. Liked it ok, but it too reminded me more of a top 40 than hip hop. Only they were playing more gold from '00-09 than our Box usually does. 105.7's signal was a beast where I was near downtown. 92.5...not so much. Where is the translator for Wild located?

As for KISS, that's a shame. I knew they had quit playing currents on the last trip to S.A. but throwing in Classic Rock was a surprise for me, especially since Cox has a classic rocker @ KTKX. I would've thought KISS would've taken a route more along the lines of The Buzz's here in Houston. My own opinion would be that an Alternative would be successful in S.A. It certainly is here in Houston and the demos are similar between our two cities. Ahh, but as you said...the PPM world has certainly changed some things.

 

[saradio1]

Hip hop isn't quite the powerhouse it was a few years ago either. It's not so much a result of PPM than that the product just isn't as mass appeal as it used to be.

This is surprising as well to me coming from a market that has a 100% hip hop station in KBXX that ranks in top 5 consistently. Given that, I'd have thought KBBT would have stayed the course. I listened to Wild as well, while I was there in S.A. Liked it ok, but it too reminded me more of a top 40 than hip hop. Only they were playing more gold from '00-09 than our Box usually does. 105.7's signal was a beast where I was near downtown. 92.5...not so much. Where is the translator for Wild located?

Both The Beat and Wild are Rhythmic Top 40. Wild translator is located in the downtown S.A but the signal is great inside 410.

From radio-locator:
http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=K289BN&service=FX&status=L&hours=U