CBS RADIO merges with Entercom: DFW Impact

The Classic Country format would have to do better that several current formats in the D/FW. Some of the numbers for existing formats are EMBARASING!!

DavidEduardo said:

Classic Country has a demographic problem where many if not most listeners will be out of the 25-54 or 18-49 sales demos.

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This is why I think it'd be a good idea to center the format on the 80s-90s "Hot Country" that was dominant at the time. That decade should gain listeners as young as their late 20s with the bulk being in their late 30s and 40s, as opposed to the traditional Classic Country format that attracts a significantly older audience.

LibertyNT said:

This is why I think it'd be a good idea to center the format on the 80s-90s "Hot Country" that was dominant at the time. That decade should gain listeners as young as their late 20s with the bulk being in their late 30s and 40s, as opposed to the traditional Classic Country format that attracts a significantly older audience.

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That's where iHeart seems to be heading with its classic country format that I hear on WWYZ-HD2 up here. More and more Clint Black, Alan Jackson, Wynonna, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Joe Diffie, Garth, etc. But we're talking 1988-94 for most of those songs, which makes the most recent of them 23 years old! I doubt there are enough listeners who developed a strong attachment to country music as very young kids to give the format any appeal to late 20s listeners today. Don't forget, a lot of the listeners who made "hot country" as hot as it was during those years were folks in the 35-45 range who couldn't deal with the sea change in popular music -- grunge and rap -- and turned to country for music that reminded them of the way music on Top 40 radio sounded in the '70s. Those people are in their 50s and 60s today, so I've got to believe David is right. The format may have to focus on the early Taylor Swift years before long!

CT: And the Nash Icon format already does focus on 90s-just before Taylor Swift, if we're looking for a template for this.

A more local example would be KFYN out of Bonham. CT makes a good point I had forgotten about.
There is also a huge split in country music at the moment, with listeners that like the new "pop/bro country" and the more traditional listeners that can't stand it. I'd suspect the split is large enough that a station that focuses on Country Music prior to the "popification" would have an appreciable audience.

Edit: Pulled the recently played list off the KFYN stream

Lee Roy Parnell - Tender Moment
Vince Gill - What The Cowgirls Do
Billy Ray Cyrus - In The Heart Of A Woman
Desert Rose Band - One Step Forward
George Straight - Ocean Front Property
Tracy Byrd - Holdin' Heaven
Lionel Cartwright - Give Me His Last Chance
Sammy Kershaw - Haunted Heart
Dwight Yoakam - Fast As You
Neal McCoy - No Doubt About It
Shenandoah - I Got You
Restless Heart - Familiar Pain
Tracy Lawrence - Alibis
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Fishin' In The Dark

I've said it before and I'll repeat it -- somebody would be smart to flip a full-power FM to the 80s-90s country with a few power gold 70s mixed in. I've thought Cumulus has missed the boat for not flipping either KSCS or KPLX to this format considering the strong duplication of the format on both frequencies. Wonder if Entercom/CBS will take note of this hole and fill it....

LibertyNT said:

A more local example would be KFYN out of Bonham. CT makes a good point I had forgotten about.
There is also a huge split in country music at the moment, with listeners that like the new "pop/bro country" and the more traditional listeners that can't stand it. I'd suspect the split is large enough that a station that focuses on Country Music prior to the "popification" would have an appreciable audience.

Edit: Pulled the recently played list off the KFYN stream

Lee Roy Parnell - Tender Moment
Vince Gill - What The Cowgirls Do
Billy Ray Cyrus - In The Heart Of A Woman
Desert Rose Band - One Step Forward
George Straight - Ocean Front Property
Tracy Byrd - Holdin' Heaven
Lionel Cartwright - Give Me His Last Chance
Sammy Kershaw - Haunted Heart
Dwight Yoakam - Fast As You
Neal McCoy - No Doubt About It
Shenandoah - I Got You
Restless Heart - Familiar Pain
Tracy Lawrence - Alibis
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Fishin' In The Dark

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Sounds like they're throwing everything from the time frame out there and hoping for the best! I don't know that going deep and playing lesser hits from acts like Cyrus and Shenandoah -- or anything at all from the largely forgotten Cartwright and the Desert Rose Band -- is going to get people to tune in and keep tuning in. But then, country music from this period is so rare on radio these days that, maybe, no one has a clear idea of what songs to dig up and what songs to leave buried.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joecornell/2017/02/08/cbs-cancels-radio-ipo/#16d7a18e4ef8

update.

I am very familiar with One Step Forward by the DRB because I played it on KEOM back in the 80s. Familiar with many, many other country hits from the 80s as well.

R

Robert Bass said:

I am very familiar with One Step Forward by the DRB because I played it on KEOM back in the 80s. Familiar with many, many other country hits from the 80s as well.

R

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I know them all, too. It's just that I haven't heard some of them since the '80s. Several don't even make the cut on the SiriusXM channel covering that period, Prime Country. That's why I was surprised to see them on an FM, where playlists are usually smaller. There just doesn't seem to be any clear idea what songs and artists from that diverse, creative time in country music should be played today, when the genre has changed so much. Listen to the crickets chirping at country radio as Garth Brooks tries a comeback. He sells out arenas on nostalgia but can't crack a playlist. His stylistic nods to Billy Joel and Dan Fogelberg worked well on 30- and 40-somethings in the early '90s, but to reach today's 30/40 listener, he'd have to reinvent himself in the style of '90s/'00s artists -- most of whom he spent that period of his career providing an alternative to!

CTListener said:

I know them all, too. It's just that I haven't heard some of them since the '80s. Several don't even make the cut on the SiriusXM channel covering that period, Prime Country. That's why I was surprised to see them on an FM, where playlists are usually smaller. There just doesn't seem to be any clear idea what songs and artists from that diverse, creative time in country music should be played today, when the genre has changed so much. Listen to the crickets chirping at country radio as Garth Brooks tries a comeback. He sells out arenas on nostalgia but can't crack a playlist. His stylistic nods to Billy Joel and Dan Fogelberg worked well on 30- and 40-somethings in the early '90s, but to reach today's 30/40 listener, he'd have to reinvent himself in the style of '90s/'00s artists -- most of whom he spent that period of his career providing an alternative to!

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Anyone familiar with the music of that time frame can easily come up with a clear set of songs to test.

R

I found this video on YouTube where a user named HobbyManZxc has thoughts about possible format changes in Dallas-Fort Worth that Entercom would make when they close the merger with CBS Radio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dVoo_r513Y

Here's a summary on what HobbyManZxc wants Entercom to do with their Dallas-Fort Worth cluster post-merger:

1. Move AMP Radio to 100.3 and Jack FM to 103.7.
2. Blow up Sports 105.3 The Fan and flip it to Soft AC.
3. Blow up Regional Mexican La Grande 107.5 and flip it to either Smooth Jazz (its format from 1992-2006), Classic hip hop, or Urban AC.


My thoughts on these changes:

I agree that Entercom should move AMP Radio to 100.3, considering 100.3's history as a CHR station during its 100.3 Jamz/Hot 100.3/Wild 100.3 era and a slightly better signal than 103.7.

105.3 The Fan will not get blown up, because Entercom wants a Sports station on the FM dial, and I don't see a point in Entercom bringing another AC station to Dallas-Fort Worth, considering iHeartMedia blew up long-time Alternative 102.1 The Edge last November and flipped it to Mainstream AC after stunting with Christmas music during the holiday season. Also, those who prefer songs typically played on Soft AC stations can easily go to 98.7 KLUV (and its HD2 sub-channel, which plays songs from the 50s and the 60s) to hear those songs.

The Oasis can be heard on 103.7's HD2 subchannel, so there's no point in putting Smooth Jazz back on 107.5. Classic hip-hop or Urban AC may be possible formats if Entercom wants to compete against Radio One's Classic hip-hop Boom 94.5 or Service Broadcasting's Urban AC Smooth R&B 105.7.

I would predict none of the above will happen. Jack is one of the highest billers of the CBS cluster. Why move it, especially when 100.3 was last a CHR 13 years ago? I can't see that heritage as being beneficial.

KRLD-FM also bills a fortune. Pretty sure both it and Jack outbill KLUV despite lower ratings.

La Grande seems most likely to flip (though that's far from a given), but it's highly unlikely it would go back to smooth jazz. That format is so PPM unfriendly and doesn't have a ton of new product.

Kent said:

I would predict none of the above will happen. Jack is one of the highest billers of the CBS cluster. Why move it, especially when 100.3 was last a CHR 13 years ago? I can't see that heritage as being beneficial.

KRLD-FM also bills a fortune. Pretty sure both it and Jack outbill KLUV despite lower ratings.

La Grande seems most likely to flip (though that's far from a given), but it's highly unlikely it would go back to smooth jazz. That format is so PPM unfriendly and doesn't have a ton of new product.

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Signal-wise, I thought AMP could do better on 100.3. I initially thought Entercom would tell Jack to hit the road, move AMP to 100.3, and flip 103.7 to something new, but I wouldn't mind if Entercom decides to simply swap frequencies for AMP and Jack.

105.3 The Fan is fine as it is, so I don't see a reason for Entercom to blow it up.

If Entercom decides to blow up La Grande 107.5, I'm not sure what they would put on 107.5, but like I said before, it's very unlikely that Entercom will bring another AC to Dallas-Fort Worth. People who want to listen to Smooth Jazz in Dallas-Fort Worth can tune over to 103.7's HD2 channel if they have an HD Radio receiver. Classic Hip-Hop or Urban AC may work on 107.5, but it's not given. That will all depend on where the format wheel will land if La Grande is blown up.

Thanks for the info, David. I could've sworn I'd heard Jack was either the top or second highest biller in that cluster, though that was a couple of years ago, and I've slept since then. Unfortunately, I don't have the access to the information I once did since I've been out of radio for over eight years now.

I still wouldn't look to see many, if any, format changes in that cluster. I doubt we'll see many at all among CBS and Entercom once the merger happens. Both operate well oiled machines and have been relatively steady for several years. I can only think of a few format changes at both over the last few years.

miketheradioguy said:

Signal-wise, I thought AMP could do better on 100.3. I initially thought Entercom would tell Jack to hit the road, move AMP to 100.3, and flip 103.7 to something new, but I wouldn't mind if Entercom decides to simply swap frequencies for AMP and Jack.

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Frequency swaps usually aren't painless. There are some times when they might be beneficial (like the one that brought KDGE to 102.1), but they cost a lot of money to promote and usually result in some confusion that takes time for listeners to adjust. After all, you can't just show up somewhere else and expect people to find you. In the case of Jack and AMP, the signals are pretty much identical. There's no reason to swap them. Both are performing fine, and there's no real benefit.

If Entercom decides to blow up La Grande 107.5, I'm not sure what they would put on 107.5, but like I said before, it's very unlikely that Entercom will bring another AC to Dallas-Fort Worth. People who want to listen to Smooth Jazz in Dallas-Fort Worth can tune over to 103.7's HD2 channel if they have an HD Radio receiver. Classic Hip-Hop or Urban AC may work on 107.5, but it's not given. That will all depend on where the format wheel will land if La Grande is blown up.

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If La Grande does get blown up, I suspect Entercom will go with some derivative of rock. I don't see an urban derived format as very likely. While I suppose you could make the case that urban AC is on rimshot signals that miss a lot of its target audience and would combo well with the female leaning stations of the CBS cluster, urban is well covered in DFW and not usually the easiest format to sell. Classic hip-hop has already been tried and already burned. Relaunching it won't excite anybody. Seems to me like Entercom is more likely to go after those unhappy with the changes at KEGL and at 102.1 unless the performance of The Shark in Miami has made it squeamish. Plus, rock should combo well with Jack and The Fan.

I'm not saying that any of these format changes will happen, but I'm ready for anything to happen when it comes to format changes that will take place when the merger closes.

https://www.bizjournals.com/philade...bs-radio-merer-executive-team-bala-cynwy.html

https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/...e-on-entercom-cbs-radio-merger-senior-corpora

Update!

Kent said:

Thanks for the info, David. I could've sworn I'd heard Jack was either the top or second highest biller in that cluster, though that was a couple of years ago, and I've slept since then. Unfortunately, I don't have the access to the information I once did since I've been out of radio for over eight years now.

I still wouldn't look to see many, if any, format changes in that cluster. I doubt we'll see many at all among CBS and Entercom once the merger happens. Both operate well oiled machines and have been relatively steady for several years. I can only think of a few format changes at both over the last few years.

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I can name a couple CBS Radio stations that may change formats under the Entercom ownership, and I'll expect these stations to flip within 6 months of closing if not immediately. I'm ready for impact when it comes to the CBS Radio-Entercom merger, as there are radio stations in my area that are owned by CBS Radio and will be a part of Entercom when the merger closes.