WORD IS OUT...KZEP SOLD BY LOTUS TO CC.

[Gumboots]

He said "local businesses", not major retailers.

You are correct, of course, that many local businesses are Hispanic-owned. However, a station is inviting problems if its business model relies too heavily on revenues from Mom and Pop stores that traditionally spend little in electronic media.

 

[davideduardo]

David, I take exception with your comment that the majority of local business are owned by Hispanics.

No, I said "small businesses" such as the kind that KEDA would pick up. Hispanics, today, in all the Southwest overindex on small business ownership.

Aside from a few high profile Hispanic clients and ad agencies, most of the local owners of banks, auto dealers, nightlcubs, and retailers are not Hispanic.

I think you need to check again in the area of smaller retail and service companies, ranging from car dealers to things like pool companies and A/C installers.

But it looks great on paper: Change a signal to Spanish Hits in a heavily Hispanic market and watch the ratings and revenues soar!

In the Southwest, CCU only has one Spanish hits station. Preciosa is classic hits, not CHR.

Strong and reliable ratings on a Spanish station are elusive.

Strong ratings for Spanish language stations are no more elusive than for English language stations.

It may sound nit-picky, but Spanish stations are all in Spain... we have Spanish language stations in the US.

And unlike general market, Spanish ratings do not equal revenue.

Yes, they do. The ratio is a little lower still in some markets, but Spanish language stations are now closing in on parity ratings / revenue shares all over... in some markets, they exceed them... like Houston and Miami.

Even when a local Spanish station is succeessful, local buyers avoid it, because rightly or wrongly they perceive the listeners as not affluent.

Then why are the #1 and #7 stations in billing, KXTN and KROM, doing so well?

While some national and regional accounts have Hispanic budgets, most local and agency accounts are planned and bought by Anglo men and women. In San Antonio, buyers with Hispanic surnames are usually English dominant and listen to stations like Y100 and KXXM. And General Market is where most of their money is spent.

San Antonio Hispanics are only around 25% Spanish dominant. And the Spanish language stations are the only way to reach them... although they are a smaller part of the market. Nearly all national accounts are using Spanish language stations now which is why there is double digit growth in Spanish language electronic media, and negative growth in all other

Bottom line: If you change a station like KZEP to La Preciosa you lose the brand equity that has been built for 20 years. And for what? Another Spansih station that may not register in ratings or revenue.

The old Recuerdo (now 95 X) and KROM and KXTN all outbilled KZEP last year. I do not get your point.

If they switch, I give them a 4.5 in 12+ and a 5.5 in 25-54. A panda could sell that.

 

[Gumboots]

The old Recuerdo (now 95 X) and KROM and KXTN all outbilled KZEP last year. I do not get your point.

San Antonio's Spanish language properties at Uni and BMP have been struggling for years have to make local budgets. It is the national, regional and NTR teams that keep those boats afloat.

KZEP under new management would easily grow it's billing and rank in Miller Kaplan. They should tweak it, not switch it.

If they switch, I give them a 4.5 in 12+ and a 5.5 in 25-54. A panda could sell that.

A wonderful challenge! I will alert you if I meet that panda. And you alert me when a Spanish language station maintains that kind of audience. We've seen ratings spike when 95.1 tried on different hats, from Amore to La Kalle, to Recuerdo... But what will replace 95X when ratings head in the direction of Recuerdo's after a few books? How many Spanish language formats are left? This market's been there, done that and is still wearing the La Ley T-Shirt to prove it.

 

[davideduardo]

We've seen ratings spike when 95.1 tried on different hats, from Amore to La Kalle, to Recuerdo...

I'm getting the imprssion now that you have very very little knowledge of Hispanic culture and the community in general. "Amore" is Italian. The word in Spanish is "Amor." I can, of course, empathize with a lack of knowledge of the culture... but there is a lack of knowledge of the signals and historic Arbitron issues as well.

And in whatever case, until last November, 95.1 was a rimshot. It had less than a 70 dbu in downtown, and was not really listenable in homes and workplaces anywhere except the NW part of the market. Sampling made the frequency, under any format, wobble crazily. Now, the signal is vastly better and the numbers should be more stable. Of course, SA is one of the worst Arbitron top 50 markets for wobble outside the top 5 or so stations, so anything can and will happen.

 

[Gumboots]

Please excuse my adding an "e" to Amor. 14 years in South Texas and I'm still learning to spell. But this does give me the opportunity to remind readers that prior to Amor, the format was Recuerdo. Or was that a "different" Recuerdo? When Recuerdo II came out of the shoot it was a big winner, signal issues notwithstanding. For a few books. Respect your replies, Dave, as long as your reasoning doesn't wobble crazily.

 

[purpledevil]

I have to question the poster that said that CC wouldn't abandon 20 years of brand equity for a Spanish formatted station. Might I remind you of the 34 year history of Houston's KLOL, and what has become of that? How about the 20 years that Dallas' KEGL spent as "The Eagle" before eventually becoming a La Preciosa station itself? KZEP flipping to "La Preciosa" doesn't seem far fetched at all.

 

[Gumboots]

Might I remind you of the 34 year history of Houston's KLOL...How about the 20 years that Dallas' KEGL spent as "The Eagle" before eventually becoming a La Preciosa station itself?

How successful were these changes? Did the experiments pan out or flame out? Can anyone speak about the results of CC changing formats in Houston and Dallas from English to Spanish language, in terms of revenues, ratings, and format longevity?

 

[davideduardo]

Please excuse my adding an "e" to Amor. 14 years in South Texas and I'm still learning to spell. But this does give me the opportunity to remind readers that prior to Amor, the format was Recuerdo. Or was that a "different" Recuerdo?

It was a horribly done format that only shared the name Recuerdo, and it was on a the same NW rimshot that everything else has been on. It was not until November, 2007 that the tower and transmitter site was moved much, much closer in to SA, and the signal became viable and vastly less at the whim of diary distribution.

When Recuerdo II came out of the shoot it was a big winner, signal issues notwithstanding. For a few books.

And thanks to diary distributuion that was as good as ever seen in the market with a significant amount of Hispanic diaries outside the HDHA's. Later, the Spanish dominant listening moved inside the HDHAs, which are outside the useful coverage of the pre-upgrade signal.

Respect your replies, Dave, as long as your reasoning doesn't wobble crazily.

I've never been a "dave" even to friends... of course, that may be because I don't have very many English speaking friends and acquantances.....

The reasoning on anything in radio in SA is subject to the huge variances in diary placement. And as Arbitron goes into PPM, it seems their eye is even less on the diary ball. For example, in the Winter Las Vegas actuals, February 25-54 Spanish station shares were (rounded) 17% and in March they were 8% in total. If that does not make you wonder about the numbers outside the top 10 markets, nothing will.

 

[davideduardo]

How successful were these changes?

KLOL is the #1 or #2 Spanish language station in the PPM in Houston over the last 8 months. It is also #2 or #3 in 18-34 and #1 or #2 in 25-54 with its Spanish language CHR format. It's also billing very nicely.

In Dallas, CCU switched KEGL, which was a rather luke warm AC, to Preciosa, and it debuted #1 Spanish but in a few months, a Recuerdo popped up against them and they were generally third and did not have the sales momentum of a fully Hispanic cluster. They switched back to the original Eagle rock format, and are a good performer now.

Did the experiments pan out or flame out? Can anyone speak about the results of CC changing formats in Houston and Dallas from English to Spanish language, in terms of revenues, ratings, and format longevity?

Houston is solid in ratings and revenue, but has to be sold per the DOJ. Dallas went under when the original Recuerdo came to the market and kicked them from first to a rather distant third. Today, Recuerdo and the Dallas regional Mexican station are virtually tied in 25-54, and are 1 and 2 in the market in that demo.

 

[daypart]

Jeanne Jakle's column today says KZEP employees are uneasy about their jobs. The GM is leaving the station for another position with Lotus.

 

[ON-AIR]

Un-easiness is the norm. I heard a while back from an ex-Lotus employee that the GM or OM was related to the top honchos at Lotus, which would explain if it is the GM why they are taking another position with Lotus. Then again this could all be hearsay and I am just throwing more coal into the fire.

ON-AIR

 

[cheese]

Read Jakle's article......entire KZEP air staff will go away.

 

[Throwdown]

Cheese...

Well I was going to agree with what you said, but wait a min. If the GM has family ties with LOTUS HE may feel safer with family than CC. I would go work with my relatives station over CC anyday, unless they were going to really pay big money.

Also...Phil Moon at CC's Outlaw, well let's just remember he has been in this biz a lot longer than most people in SA know.

I know that he loves Classic Rock and if he can sway CC management at all, I suspect he would vote Rock over Spanish language any day.

While it may be tempting to think that since KZEP's GM is jumping ship, the ship is going down....You have to decide for sure what the reason is for the jumping. I really think CC wants something to directly swipe at Kiss. I know 18-34....VS 25-54.
KISS has it's share of the 25-54 year olds.

 

[saradio1]

If CC does decide to compete with KISS. I would think BMP would flip either La Ley or Digital to Classic Rock. Both 95.7 and 104.1 have descent coverage in SA.

 

[Kent]

If CC does decide to compete with KISS. I would think BMP would flip either La Ley or Digital to Classic Rock. Both 95.7 and 104.1 have descent coverage in SA.

Not really. 95% of all listening occurs within the 64 dBu signal contour. 104.1's 64 dBu barely reaches into Bexar County and doesn't reach the San Antonio city limits. 95.7's reach into the market only slightly better. KZEP wouldn't be much, if any, more viable on those sticks than what's already there. In fact, it might be even less viable because most of classic rock listeners are on the north side of town, which is well outside of the 60 dBu contour, let alone the 64.

While you may think the signals of those two stations are decent, the average listener would disagree with you. As a radio person (whether by occupation or simply passion), your opinion on what's decent will be much more lenient than the average person's. The latest numbers, by the way, back up the 95% average quite well. In the last book, KRIO-FM, KLEY-FM, KRPT and KBPA, the only stations outside the 64 dBu that appeared, accounted for slightly less than 4% of listening.

The most logical new home for KZEP if Clear Channel were to blow it up (which I don't think it will) would be 106.7. Cox would get a station with great 25-54 numbers that would be positioned perfectly between KONO and KISS. It would practically be a license to print money.

 

[saradio1]

Posted by: Kent- While you may think the signals of those two stations are decent, the average listener would disagree with you. As a radio person (whether by occupation or simply passion), your opinion on what's decent will be much more lenient than the average person's. The latest numbers, by the way, back up the 95% average quite well. In the last book, KRIO-FM, KLEY-FM, KRPT and KBPA, the only stations outside the 64 dBu that appeared, accounted for slightly less than 4% of listening

Thanks for breaking down but I'm using the reception I have at work for 95.7 and 104.1. Both statioins come in clear. I don't use any special type of antenna for listening to any radio station in San Antonio. The office I work at is located in the I-10/410 interchange on the NW side. As for 92.5 KRPT and KBPA, not sure why you mentioned those two stations.

 

[Kent]

Thanks for breaking down but I'm using the reception I have at work for 95.7 and 104.1. Both statioins come in clear. I don't use any special type of antenna for listening to any radio station in San Antonio. The office I work at is located in the I-10/410 interchange on the NW side. As for 92.5 KRPT and KBPA, not sure why you mentioned those two stations.

The reason I included KRPT and KBPA was to illustrate that there were only 4 total stations that showed up in the last book that were likely to have listening outside the 64 dBu contour. The 4 stations ranked from a high of 1.6 (Digital 104.1) to a low of 0.5 (KBPA), and was slightly less than 4% of all reported listening.

Again, you may think 95.7 and 104.1 have a clear signal, but the average listener does not. The ratings back that up. As radio people, what we consider to be a clear signal is not what our neighbors consider clear. Being able to pick up a signal does not necessarily mean it's clear in the average listener's ear, and, if an average person has a radio that can't pick up a station, that person is not likely to listen to the station on any other radio for any significant amount of time. As radio people, we're more likely to flip the dial, and we don't notice defects in signal quality that other people find obnoxious.

 

[saradio1]

Posted by: Kent- Again, you may think 95.7 and 104.1 have a clear signal, but the average listener does not.

Okay, this is getting silly. This is the last post regarding the clearity of these two frequencies. By clear, I am saying NO STATIC. Whether I am in my vehicle or at work I have no problems picking up either frequency.

You can also argue the point that both of these stations are poorly programmed.

 

[Kent]

Okay, this is getting silly. This is the last post regarding the clearity of these two frequencies. By clear, I am saying NO STATIC. Whether I am in my vehicle or at work I have no problems picking up either frequency.

The fact remains that stations have very few listeners outside their 64 dBu signal contours, and the numbers prove it. San Antonio is no exception to this rule. There's a similar discussion on the Dallas board where a DX'er says he has no trouble, even with an old radio and a regular antenna, getting a rimshot well outside the 64 dBu signal contour. However, the station gets almost all of its listeners inside the 64 dBu. In other words, the average listener doesn't find the signal quality acceptable despite his experience that it's one of the strongest stations at his house.

Most car radios, by the way, can hold a station reliably to the 60 dBu contour. However, car listening replicates home listening almost exactly. In other words, if you can't pick up a station at home, you're not going to turn it on in the car. That's what I mean when I say someone who can't pick a station up on one radio isn't likely to listen to it on another. The poorest commonly used radio defines listening.

You can also argue the point that both of these stations are poorly programmed.

And I would agree with that point!

 

[Throwdown]

KZEP will most likely...

Stay Classic Rock

Fire at least half of it's staff

Automate as much as possible

Less Talk More Rock

Bill like bandits...LOTUS WILL WONDER WHAT THEY DID WRONG?