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Will someone ride in and rescue KGSR?

D

Dick Skinner

Guest
This station, that had been part of the fabric of Austin's character for 20 some years, has degenerated into a generic AAA that's virtually irrelevant to the market. Will Emmis bring someone on board who knows what to do there? Or will they throw up their hands and let this once proud entity go the way of a format change? Does anyone else think that would be a tragic loss to the city?
 
If CC let one of the other Austin original's like KVET die, I kind of doubt that Emmis would treat KGSR any differently. It's all about national cookie cutter radio, managed and produced by computer and answering to the accountants and stockholders, and there is little if any concern for the listeners, because they know that no matter what a segment of people will listen and if enough people stop listening they'll simply flip the format to something even more generic.
 
If you can figure a way to attract local listeners and advertisers/underwriters with local music the stations would jump on it.

But live music and local radio are two very different animals. Since the 80s I have seen at least four different Austin radio stations that had built a reputation for playing Austin music see their ratings rise when they eased up or eliminated local music. The music that live music fans want to hear in the clubs is not the music the general population wants to hear on the radio.

Coincidentally-- The top country station in Nashville only ranks #9. Soft AC is #1 and Top 40 and urban rank higher than the sound Nashville is famous for.
 
fredcantu said:
If you can figure a way to attract local listeners and advertisers/underwriters with local music the stations would jump on it.

But live music and local radio are two very different animals. Since the 80s I have seen at least four different Austin radio stations that had built a reputation for playing Austin music see their ratings rise when they eased up or eliminated local music. The music that live music fans want to hear in the clubs is not the music the general population wants to hear on the radio.

Coincidentally-- The top country station in Nashville only ranks #9. Soft AC is #1 and Top 40 and urban rank higher than the sound Nashville is famous for.
Click to expand...

In the 80s wasn't local bands and indie music heard on 94.7 and 103.5 in Austin?
 
fredcantu said:
Coincidentally-- The top country station in Nashville only ranks #9. Soft AC is #1 and Top 40 and urban rank higher than the sound Nashville is famous for.
Click to expand...

Note, however, that there are three major country stations splitting the pie here. WSM-FM may be only #9, but #10 and #11 are also 100,000-watt country stations. (WSIX and WKDF) WSM (AM) and a suburban station also split off some of that audience. If you sum up all the stations in a format, country beats sports 16.6 to 9.5.

Is that necessarily a fair comparison though? Country music may be associated with Nashville, but if you live here you can't (usually!) just go to a club on Friday night & see one of the artists you've been hearing on WSM-FM all week. The artists may live here but most Nashville residents don't see them as "local" acts.
 
I think one problem is that KGSR was never a market leader by any stretch of the imagination. They were always kind of middle of the pack even in their heyday. They were groundbreakers (AAA was practically based on them), they were associated with cool stuff (SXSW, ACL, etc) and they were the station that everybody liked to point to as being very Austin. I always liked the idea of KGSR, but honestly whenever I would tune in, I would get bored rather quickly and turn to something else and I don't think I was alone in that.

For KGSR to survive, they need to get back to their original format and keep that "Austin Cool" vibe that will attract a certain type of advertiser who wants that association and just be happy to be in the middle of the pack ratings wise.
 
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