Radio: March 24, 2023
It
is time to admit: executives of the major radio corporations - Audacy, iHeart,
and Cumulus, primarily - have no faith in the future of the industry they
control.
There
is no fighting from them against automakers who are removing AM from the dashboard
of new cars, and the potential future removal of FM. There is no marketing plan
to attract listeners to their stations, and hasn’t been for years. And they
don’t even pretend to try to attract younger listeners, the lifeblood of the
future.
You
need proof? Remember KROQ (106.7 FM)? You know, the station that knocked KMET
(now KTWV, 94.7 FM) totally out of the album rock format by beating it to the
punch playing new bands and new artists, just as KMET had done years before …
before they got too successful and, one might argue, lazy.
KROQ
became the “Roq of the ‘80s,” and earned a reputation of being the place to go
for new music. That was a long time ago, though. Now KROQ is basically an
oldies outlet playing music primarily from decades back.
Need
proof? Here are two sample hours taken from the 3-5 p.m. shift on a random day
about a week ago. Now remember, this is afternoon drive, which is one of the
dayparts that would in the past have been programmed to young people just
getting out of high school or college classes for the day, not the mid-day
hours where more oldies might be found:
3-4
p.m.: Toxicity (System of a Down), from 2001; Bad Dreams
(Cannons), 2001; Basket Case (Green Day), 1994; Somebody Told Me (Killers),
2004; Time to Pretend (MGMT), 2007; Welcome to the Black Parade (My Chemical
Romance), 2006; Landslide (Smashing Pumpkins); 2001; Bones (Imagine Dragons),
2022; Kryptonite (3 Doors Down), 2000; Africa (Weezer), 2018
4-5
p.m.: Tighten Up (Black Keys), 2010; Personal Jesus (Depeche
Mode), 1989; Uprising (Muse), 2009; Clint Eastwood (Gorillaz), 2001; The Boys
of Summer (The Ataris), 2022; Black Summer (Red Hot Chili Peppers), 2022;
Friday I’m in Love (The Cure), 1992; Sex, Drugs, Etc. (Beach Weather),
re-released but originally from 2016; In Bloom (Nirvana ); 1992, Jumper (Third
Eye Blind), 1997
There
was a time that KROQ would not even go back more than a year or two, all music
being new and current. In fact, most stations popular with young adults did so,
including KHJ (930 AM) when they played top-40, KIIS-FM (102.7) of the 1980s,
and even, yes, KMET. That in two hours, KROQ only played five songs released or
re-released in the past two-three years is, frankly, surprising even to me. But
there it is.
There’s
hope, though, right? LA’s New Alternative (using that slogan for the past
decade at least) Alt 98.7 must be playing new music, right? Think again.
Another recent afternoon:
3-4
p.m.: Fat Lip (Sum 41), 2001; Dissolve (Absofacto), 2017; Wake
Me Up When September Ends (Green Day), 2004; Lovefool (The Cardigans), 1996;
Just Like Heaven (The Cure), 1987; The Kill (Thirty Seconds to Mars), 2005
4-5
p.m. Lost (Linkin Park), re-released but originally from 2003;
Doin’ Time (Lana Del Rey), 2019; Dreams (The Cranberries), 1993; I write Sins
Not Tragedies (Panic! At the Disco), 2005; Friday I’m in Love (The Cure), 1992;
Bad Dreams (Cannons), 2021; Come as You Are (Nirvana), 1991.
That’s
two songs from the past three years or so. Any wonder why young people use
Spotify for “radio” and in fact call it “radio?” That’s where they find new
music.
Now
keep in mind that I am most definitely not commenting on the music itself, most
of which I personally like. That’s not my point. My point is that if you can’t
rely on KROQ or Alt to play new music, what station can you count on?
KRTH (101.1 FM)? I didn’t check, but I’d bet they aren’t that much different
year-wise … and at least they admit it! What to do?
Legend
has it that FM progressive rock radio got its start when Tom Donahue made
telephone calls to local stations. Those that had disconnected phones due to
non-payment — remember that everyone listened to AM at the time, and few people
even owned FM radios — got pitched his new format. As the new format caught on
and spread, people started buying FM radios. Eventually the band took over to
the point that roughly 75% of radio listening is on FM.
Which
brings me back to my broken-record point: if you want to attract young
listeners back to radio - real radio - you have to play what they want to hear.
And I argue that it doesn’t matter if it’s on AM or FM, weak signal or
strong.
I
see kids listening to music on their phones or via cheap bluetooth speakers all
the time … hardly the epitome of high fidelity. AM stations playing modern
rock/pop/progressive/whatever would compete just fine. … certainly better than
with political talk or sports. And they have less to lose … it is likely the
stations are already losing money, just like the stations contacted by Donahue
over fifty years ago.
It
is long past the time to do this. It can be done. It will take effort, time,
and marketing, but the rewards will be great … I have faith in radio. But if
the industry wants to let Spotify take over as the “radio”of choice, it won’t
happen … unless a small company wants to take a chance.
What are your thoughts?
Richard
Wagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist. Email rwagoner@socalradiowaves.com
Radio: March 17
KLOS
(95.5 FM) broke a fundraising record - its own - by raising more than $1.27
million in just 26 broadcast hours last month during the 6th annual KLOS St.
Jude Rocks radiothon. That beat the stations previous recored of $1.24 million
earned in a previous year.
During
the event, listeners making donations became eligible to go on adventures with
station personalities in addition to receiving specially-designed attire …
mainly t-shirts commemorating the drive: The T-Shirt that Saves Lives.
KLOS
programmer Keith Cunningham was ecstatic over the results off the drive,
telling me how proud he is of both his staff and loyal listeners and humbly
stating that “it is very rewarding to be able to help.”
“For
many of us, it is the most rewarding two days of the year,” he said.
The
money raised benefited St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, and will help
kids at St. Jude to fight cancer. Also supporting the drive were station
sponsors and artists. In a press release, KLOS owner Meruelo Media’s Otto
Padron said “(this) is a fierce reminder that live and local radio compels, and
deeply connects with the community to make a positive difference.”
Emmis
Podcast
My
podcast partner Michael Stark and I recently sat down and spoke with Emmis
Chairman/CEO Jeff Smulyan and President of Radio Programming Rick Cummings for
an open discussion of Emmis, radio in general, marketing, and more. It was
supposed to last about a half hour but ended up going almost 60 minutes … and
in reality, there is so much more to talk about we hope to have them back at a
future date.
Emmis
is the former owner of Power 106, which was known as Magic 106 at the timethey
bought it; later creating Power and for a time dominating local radio. The
company is what I consider one of the “good ones” in radio, running their
stations like they actually like radio. In fact, the love of radio oozes out
from both Smulyan and Cummings as they speak.
I
realized in speaking with them that my own ideas on how to save radio -
especially AM - evolved form my time interning at Magic and Power. Apparently
their corporate structure stuck in my head without me realizing it.
Hear
the interview and subscribe to the podcast at https://apple.co/3T8g1ny.
New
Morning Show
Speaking
of Power 106 - now owned by Meruelo Media and thus a sister to KLOS, by the way
- the station has a new morning show.
Called
the Brown Bag Morning Show, it airs from 6 to 10 a.m. and is a former
podcast of a similar name hosted by Letty Paniche with co-hosts Rosecrans Vic
and DoKnow.
You
may remember Paniche as “Rikki Martinez” when she worked with Big Boy on Power
mornings from 2011 to 2014; she left to work at KRRL and returned to Power in
2021.
The Brown Bag Podcast also debuted in 2021; the show moved to the Power airwaves on February 16. I’ll have a full review in a future column; in the meantime if you have heard it, let me know your thoughts
.
Top-10
In
the past I covered ratings quarterly, primarily because that is when the full
“books” were released. But it’s been years since Nielsen (formerly Arbitron)
moved to a new system allowing monthly results to be released, perhaps it is
time to update may thinking.
I’ll
still do a more in-depth look quarterly, but give the top-10 monthly. This way
we are all current without getting too predictable. Here’s the first top-10 of
the year for the month of January, recognizing listeners aged 6 and over tuned
to a station between 6 a.m. and 12 midnight:
1.
KOST (6.8) 2. KRTH (4.9) 3. KTWV (4.7) 4. KBIG (4.6) 5. KLVE (4.3) 6. KFI (4.1)
7. KIIS-FM (3.6) 8. KCBS Jack-FM (2.9) 9. KLAX, KLOS, KNX, KRRL (2.8)
I’m
a little late covering the January ratings, released by Nielsen at the end of
February; the February ratings will be out in just a couple weeks.
///
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