Bob Hamilton, one time program director at KRTH 101 in the 80s has launched a new station out of palm springs. 107.3 mod fm features standards from the past along with contemporary hits by some of todays new artists, It is an interesting mix of music both old and new. Bobby Ocean is the voice of mod fm doing the liners and such. Will be interesting to see how these station fares in the coming months and what the appeal may be to the younger demographic.
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107.3 mod fm
- Thread starter krth101
- Start date
This is K297BO owned by Redwood Empire Stereocasters from Santa Rosa.
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K.M. Richards
Guest
It's actually originating via KDES-HD2, replacing the Standards format that was there.
(Sorry I didn't post that originally; my computer was in the shop for the past four days and I am playing "catch up" on everything today, including industry news.)
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mod fm
This station is very reminiscent of magic 61 KFRC San Francisco from the late 80s and early 90s. During the later days of the format, and in an attempt to draw younger listeners, they updated the sound with contemporary artists and pop songs from the 50s and early 60s steering away from much of the big band selections that defined the station in its initial years. If I recall Magic 61 had great ratings success overall, but not in the younger demo. Once Ron Unkefer of Good Guys fame purchased the station in 1986, he immediately flipped the station to oldies and simulcast on 99.7.
Interestingly enough, Bob Hamilton was the program director at KFRCs direct competition. KSFO/KYA here in San Francisco at the time. Bob eventually left KSFO/KYA once those 2 stations split - KSFO going to a talk format while KYA became "Young Country". And in rather circular fashion, when that occured, Bob, along with much of his staff at KYA moved down the dial to KFRC. As I recall, was a very interesting time in Bay Area radio.
This station is very reminiscent of magic 61 KFRC San Francisco from the late 80s and early 90s. During the later days of the format, and in an attempt to draw younger listeners, they updated the sound with contemporary artists and pop songs from the 50s and early 60s steering away from much of the big band selections that defined the station in its initial years. If I recall Magic 61 had great ratings success overall, but not in the younger demo. Once Ron Unkefer of Good Guys fame purchased the station in 1986, he immediately flipped the station to oldies and simulcast on 99.7.
Interestingly enough, Bob Hamilton was the program director at KFRCs direct competition. KSFO/KYA here in San Francisco at the time. Bob eventually left KSFO/KYA once those 2 stations split - KSFO going to a talk format while KYA became "Young Country". And in rather circular fashion, when that occured, Bob, along with much of his staff at KYA moved down the dial to KFRC. As I recall, was a very interesting time in Bay Area radio.
107.3 Mod-FM is a relaunch by Alpha Media. It had been “Legend 107.3”. Legend 107.3 was a hybrid of standards and instrumentals. Dating to its origin, KWXY-AM was an instrumentals station, one of the last remaining terrestrial stations still committed, albeit marginally in recent years, to programming instrumentals. This once dominant format on American FM radio has now lost one of the last remaining vestiges and is essentially wiped out.
107.3 Mod-FM has now fully broken away from 1340 KWXY Cathedral City. KWXY-AM remains owned by RR Broadcasting and has flipped to talk. The new “Mod-FM” is positioning as “Great Standards From Yesterday To Today” and is devoid of any remaining instrumentals from their playlist. Gold based stations in the market now consist of Mod-FM and sister Classic Hits “The Eagle 106.9” KDGL.
107.3 Mod-FM has now fully broken away from 1340 KWXY Cathedral City. KWXY-AM remains owned by RR Broadcasting and has flipped to talk. The new “Mod-FM” is positioning as “Great Standards From Yesterday To Today” and is devoid of any remaining instrumentals from their playlist. Gold based stations in the market now consist of Mod-FM and sister Classic Hits “The Eagle 106.9” KDGL.
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K.M. Richards
Guest
Let the whining begin from the remaining aficionados of Beautiful Music.
Realistically, KWXY only lasted this long because of the high over-65 population in the Coachella Valley; there was still a lot of local advertisers who wanted to reach them because of their size. But as their audience quite literally has died off, the next set of older listeners are the ones that Mod is designed for. And Hamilton is a damned good programmer, so I think we can expect this to work for at least a decade, possibly close to two, before the audience dwindles and the ad sales decline again.
I had a chance to listen to Mod today. Where I live in the Coachella Valley, in La Quinta, the signal does not reach. But I had to go in to Palm Desert for some shopping and I listened once the signal was better.
I was born 5 days into the Boomer generation. I found the station nicely executed for this smaller market, but the music was definitely too old sounding for me. Indeed, it was difficult to keep it on for long.
Granted, there is a big senior population here. The state average for 60 plus is 17%, while in the Coachella Valley it is 25%. But advertiser interest seems to be focusing on under-60 residents. And there is a lot of growth in the younger demos and the market is nearing 55% Hispanic.
Today's "spending" senior is more likely to listen to AC, classic rock and country than standards... particularly an older sounding station like Mod.
I also wonder who came up with the name. Can promotion staffers called "The Mod Squad" be next? It does not sound like a catchy name for the 55-64 crowd, at least.
I'm curious as to how music that only arouses passion(in any numbers)in people, who are at least 75 now, can work until these same people are close to at least 95. I used to work for a man who thought that 55+ was a perfectly reasonable target but even he didn't think 75 was!
I'd expect a mid/late '60s-centered oldies format, heavy on British Invasion pop, from a station with that name. I"m 60, was a couple of months short of 9 years old when the Beatles did the Ed Sullivan Show. The lower end of 55-64 wouldn't remember much of this era of Top 40 music. But all this is academic, since the association I make with "Mod" apparently doesn't relate to the music this station is playing. So the "Mod" positioner is just a head-scratcher to me.
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Groove1670
Guest
I agree. I listened on line and it was too old for me (I'm 50). I would of moved everything up to 1970's/80's (with a few selected 60's) soft rock ' MOR hits. Very similar to what Easy 97 in Birmingham Alabama is doing. I think Bill Tanner is programming it.
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