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WLTE

I'm confused. I thought in a large metro, Country stations underperform because advertisers think the format brings in only lower-income people from the far reaches of the market. OK, maybe that's not entirely true. But in a market like Minneapolis that only has a 13 commercial FM stations, should TWO of them be Country?

And why couldn't CBS make a go of Soft AC? It's a winner for them in San Diego, Baltimore and some other markets. Clear Channel makes it work in NYC, Los Angeles and other markets.

So what station do you tune to in the Twin Cities when you want some soft music in an office or when you want to relax? KS95 is very uptempo. Oddly, Minneapolis will have TWO Adult Rock stations (one non-commercial) but no real AC station.

This also has me trying to figure out younger demographics. Apparently they want NO soft music in their lives.


Gregg
[email protected]
 
Gregg said:
I'm confused. I thought in a large metro, Country stations underperform because advertisers think the format brings in only lower-income people from the far reaches of the market. OK, maybe that's not entirely true. But in a market like Minneapolis that only has a 13 commercial FM stations, should TWO of them be Country?

And why couldn't CBS make a go of Soft AC? It's a winner for them in San Diego, Baltimore and some other markets. Clear Channel makes it work in NYC, Los Angeles and other markets.

So what station do you tune to in the Twin Cities when you want some soft music in an office or when you want to relax? KS95 is very uptempo. Oddly, Minneapolis will have TWO Adult Rock stations (one non-commercial) but no real AC station.

This also has me trying to figure out younger demographics. Apparently they want NO soft music in their lives.


Gregg
[email protected]
Click to expand...

Same opinion with you Gregg. MSP is a big market, and it should ALWAYS have an AC station. Now former WLTE listeners have to get an HD Radio and TRY to tune to KZJK 104.1-HD2 to hear Soft Rock. And BUZ'N? What a god-awful name for a country station, even a name like 102.9 The Wolf would work for it!

-crainbebo
 
"So what station do you tune to in the Twin Cities when you want some soft music in an office or when you want to relax?"

KSJN - 99.5
 
Gregg said:
I'm confused. I thought in a large metro, Country stations underperform because advertisers think the format brings in only lower-income people from the far reaches of the market. OK, maybe that's not entirely true. But in a market like Minneapolis that only has a 13 commercial FM stations, should TWO of them be Country?
Click to expand...

That hasn't been the case for a long time, though it may still be the perception. In most areas, country actually cumes a fairly high-income audience as it's huge 25-54, and its audience composition is divided almost evenly among males and females. Country has been sounding more and more like pop for 20 years now, and most country stations don't play the old "cryin' in my beer" music, except maybe as part of a specialty weekend show here and there.

And why couldn't CBS make a go of Soft AC? It's a winner for them in San Diego, Baltimore and some other markets. Clear Channel makes it work in NYC, Los Angeles and other markets.
Click to expand...

The theory I've heard is that the AC audience is more fragmented in the Twin Cities than in many other areas. After all, you have Cities 97, KS-95, Love 105, KTIS-FM, Jack and The Current. You really don't see that many stations going after the same audience in most areas. Others, however, think it has more to do with a former K102 staffer working at CBS now and wanting a piece of his former employer.

crainbebo said:
And BUZ'N? What a god-awful name for a country station, even a name like 102.9 The Wolf would work for it!
Click to expand...

Time will tell how awful Buz'n is for a country station's name. Keep in mind that a lot of station names we hear today were stupid when they were first launched. People thought "Alice" was a terrible name for a station when Secret launched the first one in Denver in '94, but other stations adapted it quickly after they saw KALC's success. People on these very boards were criticizing Emmis for using such a stupid name as "Radio Now" for their CHR in Indy in 2000, but Clear Channel and others, including a Twin Cities broadcaster, are using it today (though the Twin Cities broadcaster will be dropping it tomorrow). When you use a new name that sounds a little quirky, you're either a genius or an idiot, and there's really not much difference between the two. They may look like they're far apart, but it's really a circle, not a line. So, they're actually right next to each other!
 
Earlyriser said:
I don't get it either. Some piece is missing here.
Click to expand...

Three possibilities (from someone who lives here, if that matters):

1. Out of market country signals have been in the ratings books in MSP. There's a market.
2. WLTE went through some housekeeping--dumping their morning show and longtime midday host late in '08. Replacements never caught on.
3. It seems harder to define "lite AC". Is "F You" by Cee Lo Green? Is Taylor Swift? WLTE thought so.
 
Wright County Guy said:
3. It seems harder to define "lite AC". Is "F You" by Cee Lo Green? Is Taylor Swift? WLTE thought so.
Click to expand...

Since the top 11 on the BDS AC airplay chart this week are all Christmas songs, here's the Mediaguide Top 10--are all of these what you think are suitable "Lite FM" songs? But the AC format has gone through a lot of changes in the last decade:

1. "Someone Like You," Adele
2. "Just a Kiss," Lady Antebellum
3. "Moves Like Jagger," Maroon 5/Christina Aguilera
4. "Brighter Than the Sun," Colbie Calliat
5. "Mr. Know It All," Kelly Clarkson
6. "Good Life," One Republic
7. "Nothing," Script
8. "If I Die Young," Band Perry
9. "Not Over You," Gavin McGraw
10. "You and I," Lady Gaga (with "Edge of Glory" at number 11)

Right off the bat, if I was an AC programmer, I wouldn't be playing number 3 (too rhythmic) or number 5 (too rocky). And number 10 would be the first Gaga song I would ever play on my station.

And if number 8, the most traditional-sounding country song in a long time not by George Strait, can crossover to AC and CHR, I have no complaints about Taylor Swift on AC (and to a lot of AC listeners, that Cee-Lo song doesn't have the dirty title unless they hear the kids playing *that* version).
 
Every market where country is #1 should have a direct competitor. But I do agree there is now a big hole for an AC. No market in the world as big as the Twin Cities should not have a mainstream AC.

I remember when the AC in Milwaukee flipped formats. It had low ratings (due to hard music IMO).The market went quite some time without an AC. Some might have thought the market couldn't support an AC. Yet finally a station flipped to AC (WLDB) and it's doing pretty decent today...better than the markets former AC did.
 
Love 105 is a soft AC/oldies station that will fill the void left by 102.9. It's a trimulcast, and the combined coverage area isn't as good as 102.9's

Also, how could it change from a W callsign to a K callsign?
 
Nick said:
Love 105 is a soft AC/oldies station that will fill the void left by 102.9. It's a trimulcast, and the combined coverage area isn't as good as 102.9's

Also, how could it change from a W callsign to a K callsign?
Click to expand...

Markets along the Mississippi River (or close to there) can choose either or. The Twin Cities and St. Louis are examples of major markets that can do this. And the river flows right through Minneapolis and St. Paul.
 
FightingIrish said:
Nick said:
Love 105 is a soft AC/oldies station that will fill the void left by 102.9. It's a trimulcast, and the combined coverage area isn't as good as 102.9's

Also, how could it change from a W callsign to a K callsign?
Click to expand...

Markets along the Mississippi River (or close to there) can choose either or. The Twin Cities and St. Louis are examples of major markets that can do this. And the river flows right through Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Click to expand...
That said, the old callsign for their AC could work as KLTE instead of WLTE and the new callsign for their Country could work as WMNB instead of KMNB.
 
As far as I know, they simulcast WCCO AM, right? At least part of the time.

How about going to commercial classical music and take away listeners from precious sounding KSJN? T'would be nice! Practical?
 
Charlie Heinz said:
As far as I know, they simulcast WCCO AM, right? At least part of the time.

How about going to commercial classical music and take away listeners from precious sounding KSJN? T'would be nice! Practical?
Click to expand...

You forget that back when you had to go to Radio Research Consortium to get non-com ratings from the diaries, the former non-com competition to KSJN was getting its clock cleaned by KSJN.

And considering that commercial classical music stations in New York, Boston and Seattle have converted to non-com stations and the fact that the format's median age is over 65, you obviously do not have a grasp of the state of radio in 2012.
 
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