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99.7 OKC

I guess in a nutshell what I'm trying to say is at least half of the stations that were originally a reach, serving a niche, eventually became the establishment of formats, and were chased by many. Rarely these days will anyone even take a mild chance on something and therefore they all chase the same audience, splintering what audience there is for that format. It is counterproductive, especially in the $$$ part of the business as these "chase the other guy" deals rarely ever gain any traction in sales. KQSR, K-Bull, KOQL, KHBZ, whatever.... The copy-cats rarely amount to much ratings or revenue-wise.
 
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okcradioguy! said:
I sort of understand where you're going with the fact that very odd formats usually flame out and don't make money. However, let's look at KRXO and KATT, for example. KOMA when it first hit the air at 1520 was in that boat too. All of these stations, when they first went on the air, were pretty unique and radical formats for their times. Sports radio 640 WWLS was too. Then there's 1049 and their version of sports. All of these stations were stations that served a niche audience, but had a big enough and wealthy enough audience to win. That's what is wrong with today's radio. No on is even willing to try something a little "out there". I'm not talking Ferris O'brien type of "out there" but at least something that is a little further out than 4 formats would be handy, and most likely PROFITABLE.
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I agree with this. There are other formats that could be successful besides country, classic rock, and sports talk in this city.

Where is the good alternative rock station? KATT somewhat fills that niche but not very well. Ask most younger people what format they would like to see and alternative rock is what they will say. How about an urban station? KVSP is a rimshot signal that you can't pick up well in the metro unless the weather is right. OKC is the only major metro I am aware of that doesn't have a strong urban. How about a lite "at work" AC? KMGL somewhat fills that niche but they are evolving to become more Hot AC nowadays. KJ-103 is usually #1 or #2 in the market and CHR/Top 40 is very popular right now. Why not put Now 96.5 on a real signal and go head to head? These companies have the opportunity to be first in the market and go after large audiences currently not served in the OKC market, but instead they stick to the three "safe" formats and compete for just a tiny portion of an audience that has several other players competing for it.

Now there are other formats like smooth jazz, standards, and progressive talk that for obvious reasons will have problems in OKC.
 
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bchristi said:
I agree with this. There are other formats that could be successful besides country, classic rock, and sports talk in this city.

Where is the good alternative rock station? KATT somewhat fills that niche but not very well. Ask most younger people what format they would like to see and alternative rock is what they will say. How about an urban station? KVSP is a rimshot signal that you can't pick up well in the metro unless the weather is right. OKC is the only major metro I am aware of that doesn't have a strong urban. How about a lite "at work" AC? KMGL somewhat fills that niche but they are evolving to become more Hot AC nowadays. KJ-103 is usually #1 or #2 in the market and CHR/Top 40 is very popular right now. Why not put Now 96.5 on a real signal and go head to head? These companies have the opportunity to be first in the market and go after large audiences currently not served in the OKC market, but instead they stick to the three "safe" formats and compete for just a tiny portion of an audience that has several other players competing for it.

Now there are other formats like smooth jazz, standards, and progressive talk that for obvious reasons will have problems in OKC.
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Exactly. The funny thing is that smooth Jazz actually did work here back when it had a local owner that got the format and was able to sell it. I feel that even some of the "normal" formats aren't being tired around here because sales folks would rather wait for a call from an agency instead of going out and selling. They all want the cream off the top of the OKC barrel and don't want to work for the milk. The problem is there is only so much cream and that's already being divided a LOT.
 
okcradioguy! said:
Exactly. The funny thing is that smooth Jazz actually did work here back when it had a local owner that got the format and was able to sell it. I feel that even some of the "normal" formats aren't being tired around here because sales folks would rather wait for a call from an agency instead of going out and selling. They all want the cream off the top of the OKC barrel and don't want to work for the milk. The problem is there is only so much cream and that's already being divided a LOT.
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Yeah I remember Smooth Jazz 97.9, before Citadel launched KKWD. As for classic country, is there really a big enough audience for it to sustain two stations? Most classic country stations tend to be in rural, aging communities.

Does you think maybe the problem in OKC compared to other markets is too few corporations own all the stations? Tulsa for instance has much better stations and more variety. On top of that, the dominant corporations here are the ones that like to go cheap like Cumulus and Tyler. ClearChannel stations can be decent depending on the market. I think the beginning of the end for decent OKC radio was when Cumulus bought out Citadel.

My hope is that 96.1 eventually flips and that ClearChannel does something "outside the box" with it, and by outside the box, I simply mean something other than another form of country, classic rock, or sports talk. 94.7 could also use a flip. Classic rock isn't working out for them in the most recent ratings.
 
Yuck, are they playing 45s and carts? It sounded horrible the first two songs I heard, but it sounded a little more CD-ish when it got to a more-(relatively)-recent song, "Addicted To A Dollar". Now that I think about it, I think somebody said they were using KEBC's old library, right?
 
45's from the kebc days have been long gone for years. i can tell you what happened to most of the album and cart library when (unsaid broadcast company) bought them in the 1990's, but it would make some people cry to know of their fate. Although I did not oversee the removal of the music library, I can assure you that the library met a very unpleasant fate.
 
I was originally going to assume CD Warehouse, because I'd seen a number of Z99 CDs there, but when you said "unpleasant fate", apparently it may have involved gasoline and fire! Speaking of carts, I've been cleaning house and just ran across two old blank carts! Collectors items!
 
Hank. I don't like it. I thought I would, but my excitement was quickly diffused. The more I listen, the less interested I become.

I was asked recently if I thought I could do better. There is no doubt in my mind that I could, providing I had the funding. Hank has been a disappointment for me. I had high expectations that this station would give (unsaid broadcast company) some competition, but I now believe that will never happen.

Oklahoma City needs a good Arabic radio station. At least we'd have some variety. مساء الخير.
 
I've been listening to Hank for a few months and actually like it. I have also noticed that 96.1 has sure changed the play list and no longer play the "future classics" like they used to do.
 
OKC has way too many country stations. In addition, even in one of the biggest country markets in the nation, second probably only to Nashville, the city has never been able to support more than three country stations at one time. 99.7 will either flop or it will be a success and 96.1 will end up flipping.

I really wish Tyler would move Now 96.5 to 99.7. OKC can support more than one Top 40. Most other markets have 2-3 plus a rhythmic station. OKC has KJ 103 and that's it. Now 96.5 actually sounds good but it has a terrible signal.
 
bchristi said:
I really wish Tyler would move Now 96.5 to 99.7. OKC can support more than one Top 40. Most other markets have 2-3 plus a rhythmic station. OKC has KJ 103 and that's it. Now 96.5 actually sounds good but it has a terrible signal.
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Chisholm Trail has 99.7 and 1640 which was acquired from Champlain. I've always believed putting country on 99.7 and burying TOC to the low power 1640 was a HUGE mistake. Funny thing is...you can catch canned farm news from Griffith on 1640 during the day. Since the 1640 stick is just a few miles east of Hennessey, switch frequencies for the two formats and leave the farm news on 1640 for all the rural folks.

And Dave Martin is still there. He's doing off-mic work for Hank FM and I have heard some sounders on TOC.
 
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