The Great Bend Market

Well, I'm headed to Great Bend, taking my stations with me.
I've done a little market research (stations and their formats)

I noticed the only competition Id have would be KBGL.
Great Bend is somewhat small, so I shouldn't have any coverage issues.

Regarding KBGL, I noticed they have an online presence, but no streaming so I'm ahead of the game there.

Is there anything you guys could tell me about the Great Bend Radio arena?
Things the area likes, what they lack, ect.

You'll probably hear a LOT of satellite formats out there. Lots of Geico and Progressive ads too!

There's KHOK 100.7 [Country], KVGB 104.3 [Classic Rock], KVGB 1590 [News/Talk] and KZRS 107.9 [Hot AC] among others in the area. Plus KSNC-TV2 [NBC, part of the KSN network]

-crainbebo

On the left end, you'll have a few religious translators: K-Love, AFR and Air1. NPR affiliate KHCC in Hutchinson has a full-powered repeater.

96.7 KSOB carries Dial Global's Jack FM service. KSOB used to be Bob FM.

100.7 KHOK is country "Eagle 101." I think it's a mixture of local and satellite programming.

104.3 KVGB is classic rock. It's called B104-3 the Point. Syndicated morning, local sports, KC Chiefs football affiliate

106.9 KBGL "The Beagle" carries Dial Global's good time oldies.

107.9 KZRS "Star 107.9" (formerly KZLS) is Hot A/C. I thought it carried the "Best Hits, Best Variety" feed, but I'm not so sure anymore.

1510 KNNS is Spanish-language programming

1590 KVGB is talk

Thanks For The info guys!

Looks like there is indeed a ton of sat fed programming there.

I'd say the key to win there would to try to be as local as possible.

What seems to be ignored here is the fact that Great Bend is home to a cluster of Eagle stations - a very good local broadcaster. Seems a little misguided to talk about the competitive lay-of-the-land without mentioning the guys in the #1 car.

It Looks Like the Eagle Communications stations are mentioned,
It seems they own KVGB AM and FM, KAYS, KHOK, and some places point to them owning KBGL, but it could be Hull Broadcasting is a subsidiary of Eagle Communications (which appears to be the case).

That being said, there still seems to be a ton of sat fed programming on those stations. Of course, that's not to say they couldn't have everything local covered.

It shall prove to be a fun challenge!

Star 107.9 KZRS doesn't carry Today's Best Hits anymore. It switched to Dial Global. Some of these Great Bend stations are streaming live:

http://www.greatbendradio.com/

From My Brief Time here I've come to the conclusion

104.3 isn't that good of a classic rocker, 100.3 out of Hutch is way better. (104.3's Morning show is terrible)
106.9 is actually a good Classic Hits station.
107.9 isn't that bad, high repetition, but thats to be expected from a Top 40.
They do seem to go far back on gold though.

107.9 isn't a Top 40. They're satellite-fed Hot AC with Bob & Sheri in mornings. 104.7 is a Top 40.

And welcome to Kansas, man. Home of religious borers, too many damn country and fogey-rock stations, and no diversity.

The reason why C&W takes up the Kansas dial is because most of KS is farmland and nowheresland. Most farmers love C&W and the Ag report.

-crainbebo

crainbebo said:

The reason why C&W takes up the Kansas dial is because most of KS is farmland and nowheresland. Most farmers love C&W and the Ag report.

-crainbebo

Click to expand...

Regardless of whether most of the stations are country, I think it's still interesting to hear what they sound like in comparison to other parts of the US. But I would not want to live in the middle of nowhere myself so it's nice to hear some of them online from home.

ksradiogeek said:

107.9 isn't a Top 40. They're satellite-fed Hot AC with Bob & Sheri in mornings. 104.7 is a Top 40.

And welcome to Kansas, man. Home of religious borers, too many damn country and fogey-rock stations, and no diversity.

Click to expand...

What Central Kansas really needs is a CHR/Rhythmic station modeled after KYLD(WiLD 94-9) in San Francisco. You can check out their website by clicking here: http://www.wild949.com and YES, they broadcast on IHeart radio too.

Well now there is Hits 106.9 in Great Bend so that makes things a little different. But no online stream.

online stream at http://socialstreamingplayer.crystalmedianetworks.com/radio/kbgl

Henry Ochs said:

ksradiogeek said:

107.9 isn't a Top 40. They're satellite-fed Hot AC with Bob & Sheri in mornings. 104.7 is a Top 40.

And welcome to Kansas, man. Home of religious borers, too many damn country and fogey-rock stations, and no diversity.

Click to expand...

What Central Kansas really needs is a CHR/Rhythmic station modeled after KYLD(WiLD 94-9) in San Francisco. You can check out their website by clicking here: http://www.wild949.com and YES, they broadcast on IHeart radio too.

Click to expand...

Hmmm...unfortunately, this isn't San Francisco or the "Yay" (thank you for introducing me to that terminology, E-40) Area, so I doubt that will ever happen. However, there is KXNC on 104.7, which is HEAVILY Rhythmic.

A lot has changed in the Great Bend Radio Market since 2015:

96.7 KSOB is now Kansas Country 96.7

100.7 KHOK has 'rebranded themselves' as 100.7 Eagle Country

105.7 The Patriot is a new Talk station

107.9 KZRS has flipped to Classic Hits and rebranded themselves as Old School 107.9.

and 1590 KVGB has added an FM frequency. You can find them at 97.7 FM!

Here is an update on KZRS. They flipped from Classic Hits to a Talk radio format known as 107-9 The Patriot. This leaves the Great Bend market without a Classic Hits/Oldies station. Do you guys think a station there will flip to Classic Hits? Maybe Eagle Communications should flip one of their stations to the Oldies format. I remember 106-9 was an oldies station known as The Beagle in the mid 2000's but it changed formats to CHR.