Radio Waves Podcast #207

Radio: February 9, 2018

For years we have been told that radio consolidation has been a good thing. Allowing a few companies to own the majority of the stations would lead to cost savings, more creativity, and more formats.

Those not wearing tin foil hats knew the consolidation promises were lies, intended only for early investors to build a portfolio and cash out, leaving investors, employees and even listeners holding the bag as the pyramid scheme could not sustain itself.

Prior to consolidation, radio was worth a lot. Competing creative formats brought in listeners, ad revenues were strong, and radio looked solid. In the consolidation years, listeners got tired of bland repetitive formats and found alternatives, ad revenue dropped, and radio is worth so little that even CBS got out.

Recently Cumulus Radio entered bankruptcy after failing to make an interest payment on the $2 billion in debt it owes. It hopes to restructure into a leaner company more able to compete. Hard to say it it will work, but the odds are long with the news that came out this week.

iHeart Radio, once known as Clear Channel and one of the largest radio company in the world -- including ownership of KFI (640 AM), KEIB (1150 AM), KLAC (570 AM), KBIG (104.3 FM), KOST (103.5 FM), KIIS-FM (102.7) KRRL (92.3), and KYSR (98.7 FM) locally -- seems to be playing the same card as Cumulus by withholding an interest payment of $106 million, a partial amount of the interest owed on a debt that totals roughly $20 billion.

iHeart told industry website AllAccess.Com that it actually has the money but is withholding the payment to "proactively and comprehensively address iHEART's capital structure."

The Wall Street Journal is unconvinced, reporting that they expect iHeart to declare bankruptcy by the end of March. According to the Journal, such a move follows “a decade of ballooning debt and faltering growth, drawing the curtain on one of the biggest leveraged buyouts before the 2008 financial crisis.”

The problem of course is that most restructuring in radio leaves the people who created the problem in charge after all is said and done. What really needs to happen is the return of local control so that radio serves local communities better and returns listeners to the bands. If it isn’t too late.

Changes

Mike Kaplan, former programmer of Alt 98.7, did leave the station on his own terms. He’s moved to New York to program a new alternative station owned by Entercom.

Mike Catherwood is gone from the Dr. Drew Midday Live show on KABC. No word on the reason, but replacing him as co-host with Dr. Drew Pinsky is KTTV Channel 11 news anchor Lauren Sivan, who also is a fill-in news anchor at KABC itself. The show is heard in San Francisco on KGO as well as in Los Angeles; that part is likely a cost-cutting move. 

Seriously, Sirius

To the management of SiriusXM Satellite Radio: Please drop the really bad segments that either recreate old movies or songs (etc.) working “‘70s on 7” into the script or lyrics. They are almost cringeworthy when they come on; the DJ or a jingle would be a vastly superior alternative.

Speaking of SiriusXM: The Billy Joel channel has returned and will be heard on Channel 30 through March 3rd. Love Billy Joel? This is where you want to be.

Radio: February 2, 2018

People love Christmas music. Even more this past season than last year.

As expected, KOST (103.5 FM) clobbered everyone with its annual holiday music format it runs for just over a month. For the “Holiday 2017” ratings period that covered most of December, KOST earned an 11.7 share in the Nielsen ratings, a point more than last year and more than double second place KBIG’s (104.3 FM) 5.7.

In case you’re wondering why the “Holiday” ratings period covers much of December while the “December” ratings are mostly in November, blame it on our calendar. Nielsen breaks ratings into 13 four-week periods, so the “monthly” ratings don’t align with the months themselves, except for the first of the year.

Christmas competitor Go Country (105.1 FM) is a way behind KOST but still does well with the holiday music -- almost a full point jump from December’s 2.1 to Holiday’s 2.9.

KROQ (106.7 FM) beat Alt (98.7 FM), mostly by not dropping as much as Alt. While the two were tied in December at 2.6, for the Holiday period KROQ earned a 2.4 while Alt earned 2.2.

KFI (640 AM) was solidly in the middle of the top-10, with a 3.9 share and 6th place. KNX was close behind in 9th place, but a full point behind at 1.9. The next AM station isn’t found until 29th place where KEIB (1150 AM) and KRLA (870 AM) tie at 1.0. Former talk leader KABC (790 AM) has dropped so low (0.4 ... I believe the lowest rating in the history of the station) that it is seriously time to consider alternative formats. I personally favor full service music, news and sports such as heard on the original KMPC (now KSPN 710 AM) years ago. 

How to kill a station in one fell swoop? start playing satellite-fed music that is already done better by others. The Sound (100.3 FM) changed to satellite-delivered (translation: cheap) contemporary Christian music in mid November. Ratings have since plummeted, from 2.8 in November as The Sound, 1.2 with just two weeks of the format in December, and a 0.5 in the Holiday period. The number of listeners dropped as well, from about 1.5 million plus as The Sound to just 372,000 as KKLQ.

Yes, it’s too early to truly judge, as the format is but two months old. But satellite is satellite: no satellite-delivered format, no matter the content, has ever succeeded on a station in Los Angeles. I see no reason to think that K-Love will do any better. The sister format to KKLQ, called Air 1, hasn’t made a showing in spite of being on KYLA (92.7 FM) as well as at least two major Los Angeles HD streams the company leases. Air 1 is satellite as well, with no connection to the local community.

The interesting question is where former Sound listeners went. Looking at the ratings, it appears they left local radio completely, as I predicted. KRTH (101.1 FM) was flat at 4.8, KLOS (95.5 FM) was flat at 2.4, and KCBS-FM (Jack FM, 93.1) dropped a half point to 2.7 from December’s 3.2. That’s lower than The Sound’s last book, in case (former) owner Entercom CEO David Field is paying attention. Remember my column on station growth potential? Field apparently didn’t read it, seeing that he sold the wrong station.

The station of the month? Stevie Wonder’s KJLH (102.3 FM), which earned a solid 2.0 share, 0.5 higher than it has been in at least six months, and the highest share the station has seen in years, if memory serves right. Congratulations on a great job!

The full story: Each rating is an estimate of the percentage of listeners aged 6 and over tuned to a station between 6 a.m. and 12 midnight.

1. KOST 11.9 2. KBIG (5.7) 3. KRTH (4.8) 4. KIIS-FM (4.3) 5. KTWV (4.1) 6. KFI (3.9) 7. KLVE (3.1) 8. KKGO, KNX (2.9) 10. KAMP (2.8)

11. KCBS-FM Jack-FM (2.7) 12. KPWR Power 106 (2.6) 13. KLOS, KPCC, KROQ (2.4) 16. KRCD, KRRL Real 92.3, KSCA (2.3) 19. KXOL, KYSR Alt 98.7 (2.2)

21. KJLH (2.0) 22. KLAX (1.9) 23. KBUE (1.8) 24. KLYY, KUSC (1.7) 26. KXOS (1.4) 27. KCRW (1.3) 28. KDAY (1.1) 29. KEIB, KRLA, KSSE (1.0)

32. KSPN (0.9) 33. KWIZ (0.8) 34. KKJZ (0.7) 35. KSUR K-Surf (0.6) 36. KFSH The Fish, KFWB, KKLQ, KLAC (0.5) 40. KABC (0.4) 41. KTNQ, KWKW, KYLA (0.3) 44. KKLA, KLAA (0.1) 

© 2018 Nielsen. May not be quoted or reproduced without prior written permission from Nielsen.

Radio: January 26, 2018

Another alumnus of The Sound (now KKLQ, 100.3 FM) is joining The New 88.5 FM, at least temporarily.

From January 22nd through February 9th, Andy Chanley fills in for the vacationing Sky Daniels weekdays from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. as a Special Guest Host.

Chanley was the first and last voice heard on The Sound. Daniels did weekends on The Sound in the early days, which at the time was an adult album alternative (AAA) station as is 88.5 ...so there is something cosmic here. Former host of the Sound’s Peace, Love and Sunday Mornings, Mimi Chen, was permanently added to 88.5’s staff two weeks ago.

“I’ve been a fan of 88.5 FM for years,” Chanley wrote on the 88.5 website. “It reminds me so much of the great rock stations I’ve been fortunate to be a part of in Southern California. In fact, 88.5 FM sounds a lot like The Sound first set out to be.”

New Alternative PD

Mike Kaplan, who has been an instrumental part of making Alt 98.7 FM the success it is today, has left the alternative rock station as of last week. Replacing him is Lisa Worden, who joined Alt just last November to work with Kaplan as VP of programming for Alt as well as serving as owner iHeart Radio’s alternative format brand manager, a position in which she will continue.

It is unknown if Kaplan left of his own accord; my hunch is yes. No word on where he is going; no major changes are planned for Alt.

Shutdown

As this is being written the Federal Government is undergoing a shutdown. If it continues, the shutdown may affect the Federal Communications Commission, the governing body of radio and television stations, though the agency claims it will be open at least a week regardless of the general shutdown.

Of course, being that the FCC hasn’t actually done anything meaningful or positive in the past three decades, a total shutdown of the Commission would have no effect on the basic operations of broadcast stations ... or even the Do Not Call list that everyone ignores.

I’d put the FCC, its commissioners and staff in the “non-essential” category. Time to gut it, as it serves no purpose.

Real Radio

WKRP in Cincinnati may have been a fictional radio station, but as personalities, programmers, sales staff or anyone else connected with radio will tell you, it was the most realistic radio station ever to appear on television.

It is said that every character on WKRP came, in some way, from a real person known by show creator Hugh Wilson. And that the show, some characters, and many of the antics came from WQXI/Atlanta -- Quixie in Dixie. Wilson was close to WQXI through his work writing ad copy for an advertising agency that provided WQXI with material.

Wilson passed away on January 14th at the age of 74. But like so many in radio who believed he was showcasing their own colleagues in radio, his influence will live on.

Chicago Fun

If you haven’t had a chance to listen to Ken Levine’s “Hollywood and Levine” -- available as an iTunes podcast -- you are missing out. Levine’s experience in radio, television, movies and more  -- he wrote for M*A*S*H and was a DJ on Ten-Q as but two examples -- gives him an interesting perspective on all things entertainment.

One of the funnier segments is a story told of when he was given a chance to do a show on WLS/Chicago, a one-time powerful top-40 AM station. I’ll keep it brief, but the story is that, while he had many years of experience on radio, he convinced the DJ on duty just prior to his shift that he had no clue what to do, and that his only connection to radio was that his father (really) happened to be the WLS general manager. The DJ was sweating bullets before he revealed his experience by “hitting the post” of the song played at the top of the hour ... check it out in episode five. And then listen weekly; it is definitely well worth your time.