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What a surprise...Warm flips to all-Christmas

Rob, that wasn't the point. I think My as a branding for 101.5 would totally make sense, probably tell the 25-54 female audience this is for sure their station. A 6+ bump in this case would just be a bonus. David, if 18-34 has more listeners than 55+, then why do new Christmas songs have such a hard time breaking through, yet the rest of the year stations can't get away from 1964 fast enough? A classic example happened a couple years ago, KKCW played a new song from Streight No Chaser, Text Me Merry Christmas as a preview a couple weeks before the actual flip. After the flip, it was nowhere to be found on the playlist, and I didn't hear it on the radio at all the rest of the season.
 
That song aired several times last year on KARY-100.9 in Yakima. Cannot stand that stupid song.
 
bobdavcav said:
Rob, that wasn't the point. I think My as a branding for 101.5 would totally make sense, probably tell the 25-54 female audience this is for sure their station. A 6+ bump in this case would just be a bonus.
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No Bob, you're missing THE point. You keep talking about 6+ numbers when they don't matter AT ALL. It's just a number Nielsen puts out to give newspaper columnists something to write about. So a 6+ bonus is like a nickle's worth of free advice. Meaningless.
 
bobdavcav said:
I've got a gut feeling this is a simple rebranding from Star 101.5 to My 101.5. I'm not sure where I'm getting this, but given that they win the target demo of women 25-54 but don't do well 6+, it would make some sense. One thing's for sure, I didn't see this coming. Sure I thought Star would be worried several months ago when Kiss was beating them 3 or 4 books in a row, but never thought they'd throw in the towel this soon if that is indeed what's happening.
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Why is there a conspiracy theory born when something happens outside of someone's comfort zone? Star is breadwinner in that building, changing anything makes no sense. It's probably Star simply wanting some of those huge Christmas numbers Warm gets all to themselves.
 
fordranger797 said:
What I am curious about is to whether or not KPLZ is alienating female listeners on the younger end of the demographic (particularly during the afternoon drive) due to the Christmas format being a dramatic shift from upbeat "Hot" AC.
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Every station that flips to all Christmas loses some audience, but they gain more people coming from other stations and get longer listening. Advertisers and agencies know this, they do not buy more during the summer because of Christmas numbers. The reasoning and purpose of going wall to wall Christmas has changed over the years.
 
bobdavcav said:
David, if 18-34 has more listeners than 55+, then why do new Christmas songs have such a hard time breaking through, yet the rest of the year stations can't get away from 1964 fast enough?
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I think the issue is the nature of the season: tradition. And "tradition" in radio language is "predictability".

Over the years I have been to many Christmas music shows, ranging from Steamroller to various choral groups. They generally stick to the well known songs, and you (and they!) can tell when a song has less emotional appeal by the audience response. The big songs are at least a half century old... or much more.
 
AQH said:
Why is there a conspiracy theory born when something happens outside of someone's comfort zone? Star is breadwinner in that building, changing anything makes no sense. It's probably Star simply wanting some of those huge Christmas numbers Warm gets all to themselves.
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AQH, if something wasn't up, they likely would have kept the Star branding
 
If they were really keeping the Star name around and all they wanted was a piece of the Chrismas pie, they would probably still be using the slogan they're currently be using, but would still be called Star 101.5. As for where I come up with this stuff, you obviously don't follow radio outside of this market, so allow me to explain. The market is Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The station is WZTI, which had been branding as Martini Radio. The station got an fm translator and flipped to Christmas as 100.3 the Elf. As is the case here, all indications were that the station was to return to the Standards format after Christmas. On Christmas day however, the station went Urban Oldies. I can't think of any other examples off the top of my head, but I'm sure they're out there.
 
Hey Bob, since you're so sure Star (KPLZ) is stunting with Xmas music in advance of flipping formar, I suggest you put your money where your mouth is. Why not bet those of us in the business who are pretty sure Star will be back after the holidays, let's see...$100. If we're right, you pay us each $100. How bout it?
 
Kelly A said:
Hey Bob, since you're so sure Star (KPLZ) is stunting with Xmas music in advance of flipping formar, I suggest you put your money where your mouth is. Why not bet those of us in the business who are pretty sure Star will be back after the holidays, let's see...$100. If we're right, you pay us each $100. How bout it?
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I'll join you in that bet, Kelly! But hey, Bobby could be right as he's the radio expert here because we don't look at stations outside of Seattle. Or so he says.
 
DavidEduardo said:


I looked at the LA station that does all-Christmas, and last year a full 20% of the audience was 18-34, with 35-44 being 20% and 45-54 being 17%. So two-thirds of the adult (18+) audience was under 55.

Christmas music has a definite appeal irrespective of the age; 18-34 listens more than 55-64 in fact.

Of course, about 2/3 of the quarter hours come from women.
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Thank you, David. That definitely clears it up.
 
It's just another radio station doing what a zillion other radio stations do this time of year anyway.

Every now and then, a second station in the same market gets into the Christmas spirit. KJR-FM did this in 2010. No big deal. Advertisers love it. In fact, I'm surprised with all the nervousness with people lately the last few weeks, more stations haven't already done it.
 
bossbill said:
What, no respect in South Sound??? North Pole Radio 98.5 launched before anyone else... August or September...
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There was a signal running North Pole Radio I believe all of 2016. I didn't note the frequency, but picked it up in the Spring while driving on US 12 east of Centralia/Chehalis. Stood out like a sore thumb, that is the only reason I remember it!
 
Yes, it launched a year ago May and then went silent while moving to new improved digs high atop a peak near the capitol. 98.5 returned with a vengeance this fall. How do they do it?
 
bobdavcav said:
If they were really keeping the Star name around and all they wanted was a piece of the Chrismas pie, they would probably still be using the slogan they're currently be using, but would still be called Star 101.5. As for where I come up with this stuff, you obviously don't follow radio outside of this market, so allow me to explain. The market is Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The station is WZTI, which had been branding as Martini Radio. The station got an fm translator and flipped to Christmas as 100.3 the Elf. As is the case here, all indications were that the station was to return to the Standards format after Christmas. On Christmas day however, the station went Urban Oldies. I can't think of any other examples off the top of my head, but I'm sure they're out there.
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Appreciate the telling me of what I do and don't know.

You are correct in how there are other examples of other stations coming out of the Christmas music with another format. However, just because you have knowledge of a station in Milwaukee that did this is hardly a solid foundation for a station in Seattle to change names and possibly format.

Your scenario does not make sense because of other factors. Star, while not looked upon on this board as an elite station, makes quite a bit of money. They're not the top biller in the market, but Sinclair definitely does not want to lose the revenue. Another hint: lack of sales community buzz. If you want tangible proof, go back and look on this board about the advance notice that leaked about NWCN's demise and 98.9 changing format. That news leaks out, both by design and accident. Have you heard such chatter about Star?

Think about this from a sales perspective: does a station that has an owner that is publicly traded that also has a healthy billing with advertisers that target women, and is also a station that keeps its AM sister stations afloat would risk a shock to its sales system going into Q1 2017?

If I were you, I would find out if that $100 bet is tax deductible.
 
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