KTCZ

I love what they do at Cities 97 in Minneapolis. Why are other AAA's so afraid to add Bruno Mars? I think they are providing a template that others should look to for a true mix of music. Sonic feel is key.

Any others like them?

butlerguy03 said:

Why are other AAA's so afraid to add Bruno Mars?

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Lol that would be a dealbreaker for me - the whole reason I listen to Radio 105.7 is so I don't have to sit through two Bruno Mars songs an hour on Hot AC

Cities 97 can do it because there's another, more traditional AAA in that market - and if they're really playing a significant amount of Bruno Mars and Pink, IMO they really should be reporting to the Hot AC panel, even if they use AAA currents - I think it's also probably true that AAA currents test well with the HAC demographic in Minneapolis

What's their tagline BTW? It can't be "World Class Rock" ;D

I really like this station but I'm not sure it's a "pure" AAA because of its occasional Hot AC songs. Wikipedia says it's a Modern AC. BTW, it's slogan is "Discover New Music." It's truly a new music station, if you ask me...virtually no Classic Rock.

I agree with the two posts above mine. I like Cities a lot, minus the Bruno, Pink, Anna Kendrick, etc., but I'd say it should rather be classified as Hot/Modern AC rather than AAA due to the amount of Hot AC product and lack of classic rock. Mind you, I have heard more actual AAA currents lately, though. Whatever works, right?

To add to atlantaboy's point, I think Cities carves out a niche for itself because IIRC, the Current is non-comm (read maybe too "weird" for some listeners), there's no Alternative in MSP, and the Hot AC has been on the border of CHR for several years now.

I guess what I was saying is that Modern AC is a good format in towns that have a AAA & a current-leaning CHR. You can mix the lighter side of HAC (Pink, Bruno) and the current pop-AAA (Lumineers, and the such) to form a great station.

butlerguy03 said:

I guess what I was saying is that Modern AC is a good format in towns that have a AAA & a current-leaning CHR. You can mix the lighter side of HAC (Pink, Bruno) and the current pop-AAA (Lumineers, and the such) to form a great station.

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It's gotta be an extremely liberal, or singer/songwriter-driven market, though, since you're talking about playing far-left AAA singer/songwriters on (essentially) a Hot AC station, and then having an additional pure AAA/Alternative station in the market as well

I tried to get into Cities 97's playlist on AllAccess, but the link is down for some reason?...

Try this link:

http://www.cities97.com/music/playlist/

^Lol I can't believe they're playing Blurred Lines and Rihanna - it definitely needs to be moved to the Hot AC panel...

Do they daypart all those acoustic AAA singer/songwriter tracks, and then put the pop stuff in at night? I don't see how you could possibly go from the Kopecky Family Band to Rihanna in the same hour

Don't forget to check out Radio 94.9 from Fort Collins (also a clear channel station) and iheartradio.

I personally don't listen much to KTCZ, for a couple reasons... 1) I hate the way their stopsets are programmed. And 2) when I want to listen to AAA, I'm generally not looking to hear the Pink, Bruno Mars, etc. stuff that I can hear so many other places. Usually for AAA, I prefer stations that balance the commercial with the slightly obscure (i.e. WXRV, WRLT, CHHR).

Of course, that's a matter of personal preference. I generally respect what KTCZ is doing & am happy to see a commercial AAA success story out there.

I have no problem with KTCZ being on the AAA panel, at least for now. For the most part, their playlist is wholly current/recurrent AAA, albeit a more commercial/Hot AC-leaning AAA. They've always programmed in the Pink/Bruno Mars stuff (at least since I've been following them), but they're somewhat selective in the songs they play by those artists (i.e. "Don't Let Me Get Me" flies, while "Get the Party Started" and "Most Girls" probably wouldn't. At least I hope they wouldn't. ) KTCZ also plays a decent amount of indies and non-singles. And like chrocket87 mentioned, there's an NPR AAA in the market, so I suppose KTCZ can go for the more commercial side of things. Certainly I've seen panel assignments that made less sense.

It's also worth noting that "Locked Out of Heaven" got quite a bit of airplay on a fair number of AAA stations--including some respected outlets like WXRV and KSGR. "Give Me Just One Reason" also got spins on a few stations, though I tend to think that was more because of the connection to Fun. than the song itself.

All that said... "Blurred Lines" and "Stay" stick out like a sore thumb on that playlist, at least on paper. To my knowledge, Thicke and Rihanna are pretty recent additions. Hopefully, their presence is short-lived. But, if that becomes the trend, I'll probably hop on the "move KTCZ to Hot AC" bandwagon.

grey_dan said:

All that said... "Blurred Lines" and "Stay" stick out like a sore thumb on that playlist, at least on paper. To my knowledge, Thicke and Rihanna are pretty recent additions. Hopefully, their presence is short-lived. But, if that becomes the trend, I'll probably hop on the "move KTCZ to Hot AC" bandwagon.

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Do you think they're testing the waters to see if they should move to Hot AC? There's just no way they can play Americana Folk and Rihanna on the same station...

This thread shows the lack of innovation in radio. How can you not say that the same people who listen to Rihanna won't like Amos Lee? What? I'm not allowed to go from Buffalo Springfield to Britney Spears on my ipod? Pshhh...radio. There is no such thing as genre rules in non-radio people.

Also, since when can an artist not crossover and have a hit somewhere they typically don't? The Rihanna song fits fine next to the Lumineers, et al. P!nk's "Just Give Me A Reason" includes Nate Ruess...so yeah, that song is a clear crossover.

We should be celebrating a station that doesn't do it like everyone else, not trying to pigeon hole them into a category. No one cares about charts other than radio people anyway.

butlerguy03 said:

How can you not say that the same people who listen to Rihanna won't like Amos Lee?

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I think your approach to innovative radio is great, man, but I don't think it's true - you don't see Jake Bugg opening up for Rihanna, or Whiskeytown opening up for Robin Thicke - most casual radio listeners do have categorized musical tastes

Sure, there are many people who have multiple genres of music on their IPods - but the mix of music varies incredibly from person to person - the problem with combining genres like AAA and Dance/Pop is that many listeners that like one of those genres strongly dislike the other one

atlantaboy said:

butlerguy03 said:

I guess what I was saying is that Modern AC is a good format in towns that have a AAA & a current-leaning CHR. You can mix the lighter side of HAC (Pink, Bruno) and the current pop-AAA (Lumineers, and the such) to form a great station.

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It's gotta be an extremely liberal, or singer/songwriter-driven market, though, since you're talking about playing far-left AAA singer/songwriters on (essentially) a Hot AC station, and then having an additional pure AAA/Alternative station in the market as well

I tried to get into Cities 97's playlist on AllAccess, but the link is down for some reason?...

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Cities 97 can get away with doing this because they already have a 30 year heritage as a AAA. They helped define the format. Now, they're shifting heavily toward Modern AC, no doubt due to KS95 being so successful and WLTE switching to country. Hate to think it's because CC is afraid of KTWN and their almost nonexistent ratings.

After hearing so much about the "new" Cities 97 lately, I decided to listen yesterday. Granted, I do remember them from when they went on the air 30 years ago, and it was quite jarring to not only hear something like "Blurred Lines", but to hear the jock actually talk up the ramp of the song - something the old Cities would NEVER do.

In a way, it sounds like CC is bastardizing the heritage of KTCZ. On the other hand, this is probably the best Modern AC station I've ever heard.

atlantaboy said:

Sure, there are many people who have multiple genres of music on their IPods - but the mix of music varies incredibly from person to person - the problem with combining genres like AAA and Dance/Pop is that many listeners that like one of those genres strongly dislike the other one

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We're not talking Rihanna's SOS or We Found Love...the song in question would be a hit on AAA if it was sung by Sarah McLachlan et al. Why not Rihanna?

FightingIrish said:

In a way, it sounds like CC is bastardizing the heritage of KTCZ.

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IMO, Heritage is oversold in radio circles.

butlerguy03 said:

atlantaboy said:

Sure, there are many people who have multiple genres of music on their IPods - but the mix of music varies incredibly from person to person - the problem with combining genres like AAA and Dance/Pop is that many listeners that like one of those genres strongly dislike the other one

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We're not talking Rihanna's SOS or We Found Love...the song in question would be a hit on AAA if it was sung by Sarah McLachlan et al. Why not Rihanna?

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It's not the music that doesn't fit, it's the cliche lyrics, and the pop-like repetition IMO, as well as the glossiness of the whole production - Sarah McLachlan wouldn't be caught dead recording a song like that

Personally I feel like They have the right idea, the repeater cluster in Ft. Myers going by The Link are trying the same sound and it makes sense, seeing how much alternative is crossing over in to Hot AC right now. The station isn't for alternative listeners its for the hot ac listener who prefers the alternative sound at the moment, and I think will see fine results.

tjolsen said:

Personally I feel like They have the right idea, the repeater cluster in Ft. Myers going by The Link are trying the same sound and it makes sense, seeing how much alternative is crossing over in to Hot AC right now. The station isn't for alternative listeners its for the hot ac listener who prefers the alternative sound at the moment, and I think will see fine results.

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Modern AC. There is a place for that format in certain markets.

Many adults have become tired of the crossover CHR to HAC, especially the constant rhythmic sound. I know my wife, 30 white female suburban professional with kids, is ok with some crossover (typical P!nk, Maroon 5...) but is tired of Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown, Disney Acts (Lovato, Grande...), etc. She's all about The Neighbourhood "Sweater Weather," Airborne Toxic Event "Timeless" just to name a couple. I don't think she's in the minority. When did Hot AC become CHR/Mainstream? It's tiring to listen to some HAC with repetition and lack of diversity that marked that format for a long time.

^I don't think they'll have a problem with Modern AC - that's basically the hole that Radio 105.7, 102.1 The Edge, DC101, and 96X/Tampa are filling anyway, just from the straight Alternative side

They added Avicci this week, in addition to the other pop stuff, and most of their Top 40 on Mediabase now fits with Modern AC anyway - the more eclectic Americana tracks are in light rotation, and I would assume they're either phasing those songs out, or dayparting them

FightingIrish said:

Now, they're shifting heavily toward Modern AC, no doubt due to KS95 being so successful and WLTE switching to country. Hate to think it's because CC is afraid of KTWN and their almost nonexistent ratings.

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It's not because KS95 has been on fire and there's no Mainstream AC, it's because Cities had found their numbers, especially in the demos, were in the crapper. KCMP can get away with being a ratings disaster because it's a non-comm. KTWN exists at this point merely to broadcast the Twins and the Pohlad family could care less what happens the other 21 hours a day.

The programming staff at Cities are True Believers (tm). They're doing what they have to do to survive, not what they want to do.