I heard the change of YC to The Talk, and wondered why the first ever "Young Country" station in America went away? Was it because of the tower collapse?
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Young Country's demise
- Thread starter ksradiogeek
- Start date
ratings sucked and it is Country Music.
I was in the building during and after Young Country....
There were several reasons for the format change. The tower collapse was part of it But one of major reasons was the purchase of Young Country by Infinity Broadcasting who really wanted to clear the Howard Stern Show in Dallas. The sale also occurred at the same time the "Hot Talk" format was trending up nationally.
Dallas at that time had three strong county formatted stations, Young Country, KSCS, and K-PLEX, all full power class C facilities.
While Young Country was laboring to be heard from a temporary aux site located at the old WFAA Hill Tower which was less than 65% of the height as the old Channel 39 Tower, the ERP was reduced to almost half from 100kw to around 55kw. Basically Young Country was running at half the power and half the height of the former Channel 39 site causing primary coverage and building penetration in the northern suburbs to suffer dramatically.
Many other changes happened after the sale to Infinity, including management and programming staff changes. Another important factor was the promotional budget cuts at Young Country to zero, while at the same time KPLX, who Young Country had beat soundly over several ratings periods, re-imaged as The Wolf. KPLX took a page from the Young Country playbook and dumped tons of money into TV for their re-launch at the same time all promotional funding for Young County had dried up.
All BS aside, these are the primary reasons the format was changed from Top-40 Country to "Hot Talk".
There were several reasons for the format change. The tower collapse was part of it But one of major reasons was the purchase of Young Country by Infinity Broadcasting who really wanted to clear the Howard Stern Show in Dallas. The sale also occurred at the same time the "Hot Talk" format was trending up nationally.
Dallas at that time had three strong county formatted stations, Young Country, KSCS, and K-PLEX, all full power class C facilities.
While Young Country was laboring to be heard from a temporary aux site located at the old WFAA Hill Tower which was less than 65% of the height as the old Channel 39 Tower, the ERP was reduced to almost half from 100kw to around 55kw. Basically Young Country was running at half the power and half the height of the former Channel 39 site causing primary coverage and building penetration in the northern suburbs to suffer dramatically.
Many other changes happened after the sale to Infinity, including management and programming staff changes. Another important factor was the promotional budget cuts at Young Country to zero, while at the same time KPLX, who Young Country had beat soundly over several ratings periods, re-imaged as The Wolf. KPLX took a page from the Young Country playbook and dumped tons of money into TV for their re-launch at the same time all promotional funding for Young County had dried up.
All BS aside, these are the primary reasons the format was changed from Top-40 Country to "Hot Talk".
I seem to remember that when it started, country was at its peak with Garthmania, so to focus on all the new country artists was its own format. But by 1997, the explosion was over, and Young Country was really not much different musically from the other two stations. As the previous poster noted, when KPLX launched The Wolf, it was marketed as being different, playing mainly "Texas music," at a time when the other two stations were more mainstream, and the new image revived KPLX.
TheBigA said:I seem to remember that when it started, country was at its peak with Garthmania, so to focus on all the new country artists was its own format. But by 1997, the explosion was over, and Young Country was really not much different musically from the other two stations. As the previous poster noted, when KPLX launched The Wolf, it was marketed as being different, playing mainly "Texas music," at a time when the other two stations were more mainstream, and the new image revived KPLX.
Actually the "Texas Music" moniker was smoke and mirrors. The "current" playlist between all three country stations at the time were pretty much the same plus or minus three or four songs. Presentation, and promotion were the primary differences between each.
KPLX pre-Wolf was perceived as the "old" country station, as the "Keep on Flexing Your Plex" positioning statement was pretty shelf-worn, while KSCS with the addition of Dorsey and the Gang from K-PLEX, provided a fresh coat of paint so to speak personality wise at KSCS. Young Country's presentation was a power personality presentation that used winning Top-40 elements and conceptually was based on "morning shows" every daypart.
When KPLX re-imaged as the Wolf, they adopted the same power presentation and simply powered over the competition...for a while.
Jay Walker said:Actually the "Texas Music" moniker was smoke and mirrors.
I agree. That's why I put it in quotes.
However, the one difference I distinctly remember was with certain pop country songs. They didn't play the Alabama duet with N'Sync, and several similar syrupy ballads. And they did play Jack Ingram, Pat Green, and Cory Morrow to a small degree. But that was part of the "smoke & mirrors" thing.
As big of a country lifestyle market as DFW is, I would think a younger leaning, Top 40 style country station would be a decent move again. (Especially as country has really became much more mainstream, pop culture influenced, & young leaning lately). Granted, KSCS is pretty much focused on the younger end of country, but honestly, they could be tweaked to be a little hotter sounding (productionwise). I'd think a more in your face, hyped up presentation (more like the old 96.7 The Texas Twister, would do well on KSCS or another full power signal in today's country landscape). If I was Cumulus, I would keep The Wolf focused on 90s to Now with an older approach & liven up KSCS even more and make it sound more CHR like in presentation. Just a thought.
The tower collapse certainly didn't help KYNG. However, the big problem was that country had simply begun to decline, and that was also true in DFW. As Jay mentions, KPLX managed to re-image itself and become a better competitor to Young Country than it had previously been. When there are too many stations doing the same thing, the market tends to sort itself out, and this was the perfect example. Not enough listeners and advertisers for three country stations meant one had to go away.
Hey, I need to ask y'all since I don't know Jack about country-
1) Was 105.3 still located in Reunion Tower when the Young format debuted?
2) What was the moniker and calls for 94.9 as "Old Country" - I remember the Boot billboards but not much else. Seems like the 94.9 was the ol' country format round the same time, yes?
1) Was 105.3 still located in Reunion Tower when the Young format debuted?
2) What was the moniker and calls for 94.9 as "Old Country" - I remember the Boot billboards but not much else. Seems like the 94.9 was the ol' country format round the same time, yes?
94.9 was Sunny 95 at the time, but had flipped to KEWS before the tower collapse. By the time of the collapse, KEWS had already been pegged for another format change.
R
R
JRZFM100 said:1) Was 105.3 still located in Reunion Tower when the Young format debuted?
Occasional poster to these boards, Bob Nelson, did the last show on 105.3 from Reunion Tower. Don't remember if that was when it was KQZY or KRSR Star 105.3. Bob could fill you in on more details if he reads this thread.
2) What was the moniker and calls for 94.9 as "Old Country" - I remember the Boot billboards but not much else. Seems like the 94.9 was the ol' country format round the same time, yes?
KSNN was "Sunny 95." It flipped to country after KYNG took it over from Evergreen in an LMA. I was actually surprised it lasted as long as it did, but it ran several versions of the same format. In the end, it was "Easy Country, Sunny 95."
Kent said:Occasional poster to these boards, Bob Nelson, did the last show on 105.3 from Reunion Tower. Don't remember if that was when it was KQZY or KRSR Star 105.3. Bob could fill you in on more details if he reads this thread.
Actually I believe it was Chuck Mohnkern who did the last show from Reunion Tower. From what I recall, the switch was made from downtown to the Merit Drive location in Park Central on Saturday night, 19 JAN 1991. The chief engineer, Bob Henke, and I talked about the change in the STL paths needed but I wasn't around for the actual change.
In any event, the calls had flipped from KQZY to KRSR by the time of the move.
In my years of radio, there were only two studio locations that never grew old and always were fun. One was WKDA in Nashville on the 12th floor of the Stalhman Building, seen on the back cover of Bob Dylan's "Nashville Skyline" album. On Second Avenue, it was just a few block north of the Ryman Auditorium and Tootsie's Orchid Lounge. And taking that 52 floor trip on the elevator to the KQZY/KRSR studios in Reunion Tower was a thrill every day I worked there. It was also great to chat with the visitors there on the observation deck. And, needless to say, the view was awesome. On really clear evenings, the skyline of Ft. Worth could be seen. Best of all, since I did PM drive, just before I left at 7 PM, I could look down to the Mixmaster to find out how to reroute my commute home to avoid the traffic snarls.
taking that 52 floor trip on the elevator to the KQZY/KRSR studios in Reunion Tower was a thrill every day I worked there
Hi Bob-
I visited those studios several times (during Group W days). The jocks I talked with seemed to say that the tower, and thus the studio, swayed noticeably during high winds and sever wx.
Do you recall this to be true?
Also, do you recall how they had square pieces of Sonofex tile or similar (anechoic) sound absorbing material just hanging down from the ceiling, as opposed to affixed to the walls as it usually is used. Weirdest thing I've ever seen.
JRZFM100 said:I visited those studios several times (during Group W days). The jocks I talked with seemed to say that the tower, and thus the studio, swayed noticeably during high winds and sever wx.
Do you recall this to be true?
Also, do you recall how they had square pieces of Sonofex tile or similar (anechoic) sound absorbing material just hanging down from the ceiling, as opposed to affixed to the walls as it usually is used. Weirdest thing I've ever seen.
I vividly recall the impact of straight line winds back in 1988 and a discernible movement of the room. I mentioned to one of my co-workers that if we were still using turntables, the tone arm would have skated. It wasn't at all scary just an oddity since I presumed Reunion Tower had faced rougher stuff in its history.
I don't have a single picture of the studios and, I hate to say it, my recollection of how it was equipped is fading. I remember we had a Ward-Beck board and 4 ITC Delta cart machines. I don't even remember what kind of mic was up there -- an RE-20 or an SM-7 or something else? The only other thing that stands out after more than 20 years has passed is the slow-moving logger in the rack behind us that ran 24/7. I believe it was a Group W mandate that all of their stations logged every minute of every day. I could understand that for WINS, KFWB, KDKA, WBZ and the others but the soft music format on the Westinghouse FMs of that era hardly seemed worth logging. To the best of my knowledge, although the tapes were changed regularly, not a soul ever listened to them.
On the other hand, for some reason, much of the equipment at WKDA is still top-of-mind because of the homebrew console built by Everett Lawson (longtime of WLAC and WSM) and the classic RCA 77-DX microphone. Unlike the well-appointed, well-maintained KQZY facility in Reunion, WKDA was something of a dump but it was comfortably dumpy and rather homey in its unique way.
I'll add that most of the airstaff regretted leaving Reunion. We had gotten to know a lot of the people in adjoining Union Station, the Hyatt and the "ball" itself. Plus, we all had parking passes in the lot behind Union Station. That came in handy for Mavs games, UT-OU weekend, walks over the West End and access to other places downtown.
Bob E. Nelson said:To the best of my knowledge, although the tapes were changed regularly, not a soul ever listened to them.
It's known as C-Y-A. I just responded to a post about this on the LA board. When the FCC sends a notice of violation for missing an ID, you can check the logger and present as evidence. Plus there are all kinds of possible on-air mistakes where having a tape is the only way to be sure it either happened or didn't. Every station I worked at had loggers, and they were only checked when necessary. Today with digital memory, it's a very cheap and easy form of insurance.
Regarding Reunion Tower, I imagine the rent was EXPENSIVE!!
You could also use it if an advertiser claims you didn't air their scheduled spot.
R
R
I vividly recall the impact of straight line winds back in 1988 and a discernible movement of the room. I mentioned to one of my co-workers that if we were still using turntables, the tone arm would have skated. It wasn't at all scary just an oddity since I presumed Reunion Tower had faced rougher stuff in its history.
Bob, thank you for the detail. And you answered the exact thought that motivated my question, although I didn't even ask it explicitly.... did Group W use turntables and how would they have performed during winds and building sway!
Amazing! Thank you again!
On the subject of loggers, when 105.3 switched to the "Hot Talk" format the UN-offical mandate was removal of all loggers. The primary reason being the fact that if they existed, the tapes could be subpoenaed in legal actions. If the logger tapes did not "exist" and the complainant had no audio exhibit, it would be a case of "He said/She said" in court...
Bob..
The Ward-Beck consoles were in use at Merritt Drive through almost all of the YC period. Shortly before the format change we installed new PR&E consoles in the Air Studio (BMX-III-22) and Production one (AMX III-22) that were originally ordered for the 94.9 KEWS studio project. Until the move to John Carpenter Ward-Backs were still used in "News" and Production Two" at 105.3.
After the move to John Carpenter, the facility was all PR&E. Frankly, I did not particularly like the Ward-Becks, I always thought they were more suited for Television since they lacked effects sends and mix-minus capability. Also the "Christmas Tree" wire-wrap wiring blocks were a major pain to deal with compared to PR&E's use of Molex connectors.
94.9 KEWS was a victim of the market cap rules more than anything else.
We were building new studios for KEWS on the 8th floor, in the process of cable pulls. We were well along in the construction, carpet on the floor and Sound Soak on the walls were installed, all the studio glass (multi-pane) was installed, cable TV, and computer CAT5 were all in place. We were probably less than 45 days from completion when the order came down to cancel the project...
With the consolidation in DFW of all the AM/FM/TV Infinity/CBS properties, divesting one of the FM's had to happen. This was during the time we ended up with 1190 in a cash/facilities swap. When the 94.9 KEWS studio project was canceled, equipment that could not be returned was used in the Young Country studios on the 9th floor.
As an aside, I never really understood getting rid of 94.9 a full class C, and keeping 107.5 a C-3. I assume it had to do with the service contour calculations involved in the market share formula? I'm sure David Eduardo will know better than I how the mechanics of consolidation worked at that time so hopefully he will chime in...
Bob..
The Ward-Beck consoles were in use at Merritt Drive through almost all of the YC period. Shortly before the format change we installed new PR&E consoles in the Air Studio (BMX-III-22) and Production one (AMX III-22) that were originally ordered for the 94.9 KEWS studio project. Until the move to John Carpenter Ward-Backs were still used in "News" and Production Two" at 105.3.
After the move to John Carpenter, the facility was all PR&E. Frankly, I did not particularly like the Ward-Becks, I always thought they were more suited for Television since they lacked effects sends and mix-minus capability. Also the "Christmas Tree" wire-wrap wiring blocks were a major pain to deal with compared to PR&E's use of Molex connectors.
94.9 KEWS was a victim of the market cap rules more than anything else.
We were building new studios for KEWS on the 8th floor, in the process of cable pulls. We were well along in the construction, carpet on the floor and Sound Soak on the walls were installed, all the studio glass (multi-pane) was installed, cable TV, and computer CAT5 were all in place. We were probably less than 45 days from completion when the order came down to cancel the project...
With the consolidation in DFW of all the AM/FM/TV Infinity/CBS properties, divesting one of the FM's had to happen. This was during the time we ended up with 1190 in a cash/facilities swap. When the 94.9 KEWS studio project was canceled, equipment that could not be returned was used in the Young Country studios on the 9th floor.
As an aside, I never really understood getting rid of 94.9 a full class C, and keeping 107.5 a C-3. I assume it had to do with the service contour calculations involved in the market share formula? I'm sure David Eduardo will know better than I how the mechanics of consolidation worked at that time so hopefully he will chime in...
Jay Walker said:As an aside, I never really understood getting rid of 94.9 a full class C, and keeping 107.5 a C-3. I assume it had to do with the service contour calculations involved in the market share formula? I'm sure David Eduardo will know better than I how the mechanics of consolidation worked at that time so hopefully he will chime in...
It was purely a business decision. Signal contours weren't a factor. The story I heard was that Salem wouldn't even buy 107.5, let alone swap 1190 for it. CBS was hellbent on making sure whatever station it spun off wasn't going to compete with it. That limited what they could do. The only potential buyers that fit that criteria and could afford any of their stations were Salem and HBC, which still hadn't officially been given the green-light from the FCC.
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