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Is KROQ back to being it's old self?

Glad to see them doing better. I always liked Kroq better except for there morning show. I will choose alt 98.7 woody show over Klein Allie show on Kroq.

Can you imagine what the numbers might look like if Mike Kaplan was still steering the ship?

Wonder why the upsurge at Kroq? I like the 90s at noon and the fact they have Tami Heidi hosting Sunday morning classic alt show
 
I know a lot of younger people can't afford to keep their music subscriptions going - it necessitates a return back to radio, which is still free. Perhaps Allie and Klein, who are younger than the Woody crew (or at least seem that way from my brief impressions of them), resonate with them more.
 
macattack said:
I know a lot of younger people can't afford to keep their music subscriptions going - it necessitates a return back to radio, which is still free. Perhaps Allie and Klein, who are younger than the Woody crew (or at least seem that way from my brief impressions of them), resonate with them more.
Click to expand...
Interestingly, that point was made at an NAB conference and in one of the industry newsletters this week... the cost of all the various subscriptions is putting pressure on many people and families.

And one thing that is not as obvious is that radio is simple to use. No log-ins, no fees, no usernames. For people with an active or busy life, it is an alternative.Me not all the time, but it's on the list.

If radio figures out how to use the techniques that FMs used when they "urged" in the early 70's, there is a definite part for it in the future. That means lighter commercial loads; the earli8er Bartell CHRs and many imitators stood at 8 minutes. Shulke wanted 6 to 8 minutes. did 8 minutes on my 70's AM and FM in San Juan, and was #1 and 22 in the market.

And good, personality driven talent in national networks with a new approach to the traditional "friend on the radio" concept will differentiate from non-stop music streams.

Heavily curated playlists with hours spent editing logs is important. There is a reason why Tiësto, Guetta, SHM and Aoki make over $100 million a year and the guy who spins for wedding receptions at the Elk's Club make 500 a night.
 
DavidEduardo said:
That means lighter commercial loads; the earli8er Bartell CHRs and many imitators stood at 8 minutes. Shulke wanted 6 to 8 minutes. did 8 minutes on my 70's AM and FM in San Juan, and was #1 and 22 in the market.
Click to expand...

There's the trick, though, David. Stations in the 70s were using grid ratecards---what we now call "demand pricing". The prices got higher with every sellout. They were bold enough to tell advertisers they had to wait for an opening. And then, there were clients willing to pay big to be one of those advertisers.

I remember the business being stunned when Dr. Don Rose's morning show on KFRC in San Francisco commanded $500 a spot. That's $3,100 adjusted. Can radio get that kind of money today?

And if not, what pays the bills?
 
DavidEduardo said:
Interestingly, that point was made at an NAB conference and in one of the industry newsletters this week... the cost of all the various subscriptions is putting pressure on many people and families.

And one thing that is not as obvious is that radio is simple to use. No log-ins, no fees, no usernames. For people with an active or busy life, it is an alternative.Me not all the time, but it's on the list.
Click to expand...
Privacy concerns might also drive some streaming customers back to radio. Knowing that every song you stream/time & location you log in is being noted by "the cloud" (or watched by the government, for those wearing tinfoil hats) creeps out more than a few people I know. Yes, those friends are all over 55, and you can argue younger demos don't worry as much much about on-line privacy. But the growing number of big data breaches may change that-- and quickly. We could be just one ginormous breach away from driving a chunk of listeners back to old-school over-the-air listening.
 
hotpatrick2004 said:
Glad to see them doing better. I always liked Kroq better except for there morning show. I will choose alt 98.7 woody show over Klein Allie show on Kroq.

Can you imagine what the numbers might look like if Mike Kaplan was still steering the ship?

Wonder why the upsurge at Kroq? I like the 90s at noon and the fact they have Tami Heidi hosting Sunday morning classic alt show
Click to expand...

If Mike Kaplan was steering the ship, the numbers would likely still be low. Mike Kaplan decided to make some fairly major tweaks to the format that was not well received by the audience as indicated by the ratings. One could argue, that this format tweak needed some time to gel, but I honesty don't know which is why i'm not making the big bucks as a radio consultant.

The problem with alternative right now is fragmentation where the older listeners who grew up on RHCP, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, etc. are just not digging the new more pop oriented "tik-tok" alternative and vice-versa. And you also have a market like Los Angeles with evolving demographics that are less likley to embrace the music.

Kevin Weatherly is truly a remarkable programmer, and i'm impressed by KROQ's recent resurgence, but I do NOT think there's enough room for two commercial alternative stations in this market.

KROQ no longer appears to be a distressed property, but when you factor in all of these obstacles and shortcomings, I explained above, not to mention other variables like loss of cume to streaming apps, I don't see KROQ getting anywhere close to their glory days of the 90's and early 2000's.

My prediction in about 5 years time, is that Los Angeles will only have one commerical alternative station, and I honestly don't know if the losing station will be ALT 98.7 or KROQ. However, 93.1 "Jack-FM" could even further evolve to predominantly embrace classic alternative as a possible wild card which further argues why there's not enough room for two commercial alternative stations in this market.

I'm very curious to hear everyone else's thoughts on this.
 
bsr92336 said:
If Mike Kaplan was steering the ship, the numbers would likely still be low. Mike Kaplan decided to make some fairly major tweaks to the format that was not well received by the audience as indicated by the ratings. One could argue, that this format tweak needed some time to gel, but I honesty don't know which is why i'm not making the big bucks as a radio consultant.

The problem with alternative right now is fragmentation where the older listeners who grew up on RHCP, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, etc. are just not digging the new more pop oriented "tik-tok" alternative and vice-versa. And you also have a market like Los Angeles with evolving demographics that are less likley to embrace the music.

Kevin Weatherly is truly a remarkable programmer, and i'm impressed by KROQ's recent resurgence, but I do NOT think there's enough room for two commercial alternative stations in this market.

KROQ no longer appears to be a distressed property, but when you factor in all of these obstacles and shortcomings, I explained above, not to mention other variables like loss of cume to streaming apps, I don't see KROQ getting anywhere close to their glory days of the 90's and early 2000's.

My prediction in about 5 years time, is that Los Angeles will only have one commerical alternative station, and I honestly don't know if the losing station will be ALT 98.7 or KROQ. However, 93.1 "Jack-FM" could even further evolve to predominantly embrace classic alternative as a possible wild card which further argues why there's not enough room for two commercial alternative stations in this market.

I'm very curious to hear everyone else's thoughts on this.
Click to expand...

Solid reasoning. It seems like too small a piece of pie to divide, and unlikely to grow to make it big enough.
 
bsr92336 said:
If Mike Kaplan was steering the ship, the numbers would likely still be low. Mike Kaplan decided to make some fairly major tweaks to the format that was not well received by the audience as indicated by the ratings. One could argue, that this format tweak needed some time to gel, but I honesty don't know which is why i'm not making the big bucks as a radio consultant.

The problem with alternative right now is fragmentation where the older listeners who grew up on RHCP, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, etc. are just not digging the new more pop oriented "tik-tok" alternative and vice-versa. And you also have a market like Los Angeles with evolving demographics that are less likley to embrace the music.

Kevin Weatherly is truly a remarkable programmer, and i'm impressed by KROQ's recent resurgence, but I do NOT think there's enough room for two commercial alternative stations in this market.

KROQ no longer appears to be a distressed property, but when you factor in all of these obstacles and shortcomings, I explained above, not to mention other variables like loss of cume to streaming apps, I don't see KROQ getting anywhere close to their glory days of the 90's and early 2000's.

My prediction in about 5 years time, is that Los Angeles will only have one commerical alternative station, and I honestly don't know if the losing station will be ALT 98.7 or KROQ. However, 93.1 "Jack-FM" could even further evolve to predominantly embrace classic alternative as a possible wild card which further argues why there's not enough room for two commercial alternative stations in this market.

I'm very curious to hear everyone else's thoughts on this.
Click to expand...
I bet money both Kroq and alt 98.7 will be around in a decade
 
bsr92336 said:
The problem with alternative right now is fragmentation where the older listeners who grew up on RHCP, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, etc. are just not digging the new more pop oriented "tik-tok" alternative and vice-versa. And you also have a market like Los Angeles with evolving demographics that are less likley to embrace the music.
Click to expand...

I feel that the audience wasn't taken along for the journey to Alernative (music's) current state. It comes back to something I have said for years, the format hasn't truly evolved. To me at 51y/o, most Alternative stations are Gen X classic hits stations that occasionally play a current or a recurrent. So the question is, will either one stick their neck out to re-focus on currents, if or when the streaming bubble bursts?
 
leethalweapon said:
I noticed it was trending up, and is now in front of Alt 98.7 (6+)...

2.22.11.92.22.82.8KROQ-FM106.7 K-RoqAlternativeAudacy1,004,800
3.02.42.73.02.92.5KYSR-FMAlt 98.7AlternativeiHeartMedia1,011,800
Click to expand...
I now listen to KROQ 7-10a daily. Longer than I ever used to listen to k&b. My prediction is that will be a number 1 show in LA and probably put on all Audacy alt formats and do well (over time).
 
macattack said:
I know a lot of younger people can't afford to keep their music subscriptions going - it necessitates a return back to radio, which is still free. Perhaps Allie and Klein, who are younger than the Woody crew (or at least seem that way from my brief impressions of them), resonate with them more.
Click to expand...
Doubt that for Klein was paired up with Stryker at first and Stryker is around 50 ish so I bet Klein is the same which would make the woody show and Klein around the same age ish. Allie I bet is a bit younger.
 
DavidEduardo said:
Interestingly, that point was made at an NAB conference and in one of the industry newsletters this week... the cost of all the various subscriptions is putting pressure on many people and families.

And one thing that is not as obvious is that radio is simple to use. No log-ins, no fees, no usernames. For people with an active or busy life, it is an alternative.Me not all the time, but it's on the list.

If radio figures out how to use the techniques that FMs used when they "urged" in the early 70's, there is a definite part for it in the future. That means lighter commercial loads; the earli8er Bartell CHRs and many imitators stood at 8 minutes. Shulke wanted 6 to 8 minutes. did 8 minutes on my 70's AM and FM in San Juan, and was #1 and 22 in the market.

And good, personality driven talent in national networks with a new approach to the traditional "friend on the radio" concept will differentiate from non-stop music streams.

Heavily curated playlists with hours spent editing logs is important. There is a reason why Tiësto, Guetta, SHM and Aoki make over $100 million a year and the guy who spins for wedding receptions at the Elk's Club make 500 a night.
Click to expand...
Best and shortest summary I've read on how to make radio stations succeed. Radio is effective with strong personalities and limited commercials. As a radio fan, and former part-time, small town DJ, I'd add making the commercials fun. The old coke commercials in the 1960s featured the 4 Seasons and The New Seekers singing commercials that were as enjoyable as the regular songs. Nowadays I get a headache when some guy yells at me on the radio to buy his product with no music or entertainment in the commercial. Why are most commercials on commercial radio so lousy today? They are a a big tune out.
 
Never thought we would see KROQ outperforming KYSR again. Bravo to Kevin Weatherly, who must have the magic touch. It is interesting to see the shift they have taken with their playlist. They focus on their legacy core artists (i.e. System of a Down, Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Pearl Jam) and peppering in new music, some from legacy artists (like Sum 41), more up-and-coming artists, and other viral trends. KYSR seems to be more picky when adding new tracks to its playlist, and that may be drawing away younger listeners. The station is beginning to sound stale with Woody in market now for 10 years. Stryker & Klein added a little bit of life back to the station a few years back.

In response, iHeart launched an ad campaign to promote The Woody Show on billboards throughout Los Angeles. It's funny. I don't remember Kevin and Bean ever having to launch an ad campaign when they were #1 in market. I think they finally got one toward the end of their tenure, which was a part of a bit.

I think Woody has relied on the same formula for a while, I wouldn't be surprised if some listeners would want to re-evaluate their options after a decade. Regardless, he still delivers strong audience and has great ad partners sponsoring the show. Also to add to this, Kevin Klein and Woody have beef.
 
I've found KROQ's morning show to be very boring the times I've sampled it.

KYSR features the same watered down sort of playlist that many (albeit not all) past and present iHM alternative stations feature. By that, I mean the station is designed to sound more like a modern AC station than a rock station.

It does appear some of KROQ's recent ratings gains have come at the expense of its sister station, Jack FM.
 
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