You'll love this one--Mariah Carey on with Hollywood Hamilton KRTH

[davideduardo]

Re: K.M. -- your thoughts on KRTH?

> Clearly they are not paying attention to the Arbiton
> books...

Oh, they are. They are interviewing programmers and know they have to pull out of the 60's thing fast, either by modification or by format switch.

My suspicion is that they will recognize a strong cume base and try to build on it. That means shedding the 55 plus folks.

 

[KMRichards]

Re: K.M. -- your thoughts on KRTH?

> Oh, they are. They are interviewing programmers and know
> they have to pull out of the 60's thing fast, either by
> modification or by format switch.

Note to Infinity: I can be reached c/o this board. <P ID="signature">______________


</P>

 

[davideduardo]

Re: Inside Radio says "new PD coming."

>
> Apparently there is a real process going on at KRTH. Bill
> Tanner was reported seen talking to the Infinity higher ups
> last week about the station. Fact or fiction, that is one
> more indication that they know they have to make changes in
> the demographic focus, both age and ethnicity being
> critical.

Inside Radio today reports on a non-oldies PD being courted by Infinity for KRTH. It sounds like a significant move is being examined, if not planned.
>

 

[collinsradio]

Re: K.M. -- your thoughts on KRTH?

David, maybe I'll start quoting you from the resume
you sent. Nice, 25, 30 pages of your philosophy.
You are misrepresenting what I stated. I stated
Classic Top 40, that relates to a certain demo
& psychographic in LA. I would not target certain
audience groups, who are quite frankly over-served.





> > the authority and autonomy to recycle KRTH into
> > a classic hits station for today. That by the
> > way doesn't mean playing Mister Mister & Sting.
> > It requires hand picked set by set blueprint of
> > unmistakable Southern California classic Top 40.
> > All the genuises who think its simply a matter of
> > saying "well the middle of the target was 16 when
> > that was a hit" are way too simplistic. That's only
> > part of it.
>
> In one way I dsagree. Trying to be to SoCal is a mistake
> that KRTH has made fo rhte last decade. Probably less than a
> third of the potential audience for the format or whatever
> it metamorphizes into was here in the era when the songs,
> actual or potential, were hits.
>
> And to say there is a SoCal lifestyle anymore is to say that
> the sidewalk at Santa Monica is the same as the corner of
> Pacific and Slausson.
>
> Apparently there is a real process going on at KRTH. Bill
> Tanner was reported seen talking to the Infinity higher ups
> last week about the station. Fact or fiction, that is one
> more indication that they know they have to make changes in
> the demographic focus, both age and ethnicity being
> critical.
>

 

[davideduardo]

Re: K.M. -- your thoughts on KRTH?

> David, maybe I'll start quoting you from the resume
> you sent. Nice, 25, 30 pages of your philosophy.
> You are misrepresenting what I stated. I stated
> Classic Top 40, that relates to a certain demo
> & psychographic in LA. I would not target certain
> audience groups, who are quite frankly over-served.

The problem is not targeting certain groups, but, rather, the very existence of them. The California of the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean is gone, as is the California of Ventura Highway. There are lots of terms, generally pseudo-racist, like "white flight" and such, but the fact is that the non-Hispanic white population of LA is declining and has been for 25 years. The KRTH audience has moved, and that explains the listenership erosion.

What we have is a population base that contains very few of the people who grew up here on oldies music of the 60's and 70's except for the Hispanic population, which liked much of it and is a far less mobile group.

Even in the 35-54 demos, Hispanics are now 40% of the population, and, adding in immigrants that are not Hispanic, Asians and Blacks, the market is only around 35% non-Hispanic white, the core for most oldies stations that do not compensate for the Hispanic factors. The English-leaning or English dominant Hispanic, on the other hand, is underserved woefull in this demo.

Most of the remaining group in LA does not know what a classic Top 40 sounds like, as they never heard one.

 

[lostangeles]

Re: K.M. -- your thoughts on KRTH?

> > David, maybe I'll start quoting you from the resume
> > you sent. Nice, 25, 30 pages of your philosophy.
> > You are misrepresenting what I stated. I stated
> > Classic Top 40, that relates to a certain demo
> > & psychographic in LA. I would not target certain
> > audience groups, who are quite frankly over-served.
>
> The problem is not targeting certain groups, but, rather,
> the very existence of them. The California of the Beach Boys
> and Jan & Dean is gone, as is the California of Ventura
> Highway. There are lots of terms, generally pseudo-racist,
> like "white flight" and such, but the fact is that the
> non-Hispanic white population of LA is declining and has
> been for 25 years. The KRTH audience has moved, and that
> explains the listenership erosion.
>
> What we have is a population base that contains very few of
> the people who grew up here on oldies music of the 60's and
> 70's except for the Hispanic population, which liked much of
> it and is a far less mobile group.
>
> Even in the 35-54 demos, Hispanics are now 40% of the
> population, and, adding in immigrants that are not Hispanic,
> Asians and Blacks, the market is only around 35%
> non-Hispanic white, the core for most oldies stations that
> do not compensate for the Hispanic factors. The
> English-leaning or English dominant Hispanic, on the other
> hand, is underserved woefull in this demo.
>
> Most of the remaining group in LA does not know what a
> classic Top 40 sounds like, as they never heard one.
>
As they say....everything old is new and if they never heard the Drake Boss Radio sound of the 60's that brought KFWB to it's knees in a matter of months, what do you think it would do the the lame country, rock, etc., etc. stations that are taking up space on a boring dial these days?? Sometimes, we over analyze, don't we? No one has created a station that could beat a Drake format, in 40 years. Not satellite, not terrestrial. No "consultant" has had as many #1 stations at one time, as Drake had and it's reality that no one ever will. From Abrams and Pollack, to you name 'em. It's amazing, the people who say "Drake called me to say.....", or "I worked for him when........." and they are responsible for failures like the "Jack" formats, among others. Anyone seen their ratings lately? Anyone seen the New York Jack ratings? Anyone seen the L.A. Jack ratings? Anyone listening anymore? When RKO gave Drake their radio stations and the autonomy to deal with what went over the air, SALES did NOT RUN PROGRAMMING. DRAKE DID. We had something to listen to then.