KAAM flipping to Christian Talk

In a post on their Facebook page (see here: https://www.facebook.com/kaamradio/posts/10158763850895077?pnref=story) station owner Don Crawford, Jr. announced they'll flip to Christian talk on June 5th. The Legends format will remain online at KAAMradio.com.

Needless to say, there are a lot of upset listeners posting replies. I'm only surprised that the music format on this AM signal has lasted as long as it has.

I expect that long ago. Sadly the station struggled to get any revenue and frequently had to resort to informercials and 'sold' talk shows to pay for the operation. At least Crawford has expertise in the Christian radio realm and has been successful with it.

Wow, this is shocking. I loved their format of Nostalgia. KAAM seemed to be the nationwide leader in terms of Nostalgia format. I think if they flip, it will have repercussions.

Especially since a Nostalgia format would sound good on FM stereo, especially as a bottom-feeder. I hope this change does not destroy the Nostalgia format. Losing KAAM in this league seems like it might be a big blow.

The only surprise is that the format lasted this long. The demographics that listen to KAAM are very, very old. Most of the target audience that listened to the format is now in cemeteries around DFW. And it's AM radio, not a place for music these days, regardless of "what you grew up with."

David Eduardo probably has better insight, but I think we can predict what he will say.

Mediafrog+ said:

The only surprise is that the format lasted this long. The demographics that listen to KAAM are very, very old. Most of the target audience that listened to the format is now in cemeteries around DFW. And it's AM radio, not a place for music these days, regardless of "what you grew up with."

David Eduardo probably has better insight, but I think we can predict what he will say.

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Well, I don't see anything good. For me, it is a sign that Radio is failing. If you see it my way, Nostalgia is an interesting format; and for younger audiences it could be beneficial for those who want to explore music from a much older generation. I genuinely see this change for the worse and as a small tell-tale sign that Radio is dying and losing it's variety/flavor.

I know lots of kids, and you'd be surprised how much they would like and be impressed by a musician like Frank Sinatra; over the new modern "noise" passed off as "music" that they play on CHR.

Here's the problem in a nutshell: I'm sure there are some younger folks who would listen to this music from time to time, but they won't be P1s of this station. The audience for this station was pretty much people 65 and older. They tried to shift the format to keep it younger than that, but that proved an impossible task. It's one thing if the ONLY place you hear these songs is on this AM radio station. It's another if a bunch of the songs on the AM station are also heard on FM "oldies" stations in town. That's what happened to KAAM. The audience for the kind of music that made KAAM fairly popular just simply does not exist anymore. Worse, a lot of the people you would have to try to win over just do not listen to AM radio. This talk format will probably make more money and cost less (or nothing) to produce. If they can keep some of their KAAM advertisers on the Legends stream - at even a fraction of the billing, that will also be fairly lucrative. They swear they've built a good following there. If so, great. But I suspect they'll have a hard time making that profitable after a while. I just don't think many of the people they could attract to the AM band will be finding an internet device to listen in.

DavidEduardo said:

I detest Sinatra and love Wiz Kalifa, Pittbull, Drake, and many, many of the current artists. I won't take a split second out of my life to listen to things I do not enjoy. I feel that the vast majority of radio listeners feel the same.

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Would you find anyone on Radio Discussions who would share the same opinion on those artists? It would be interesting; but I think you are probably one of the few on here. no offense

I used to hate big band and easy listening as a teenager and young adult... "old fart music". But as I got into my 40's and 50's and grew tired of overplayed classic rock and oldies I started listening to that kind of music more often, and I appreciate it now.

At least the Crawfords are keeping the KAAM format as a webstream. They were one of the biggest nostalgia streaming stations on the net.

BTW I wonder how KJIM and KPYK stay afloat?

CosmicMagician said:

For me, it is a sign that Radio is failing.

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Of course you do. But what it really says is how difficult it is for a small owner to run a small AM in a major market with music as a format. That's a generalization you can apply to a lot of stations and places. But I don't think you can simply say "radio is failing." This owner is doing the best he can to stay on the air.

Looking at its list of DJs, they once had a lot of legendary announcers, but most have died in the last few years. Even if Crawford was having trouble attracting revenue, he was also having trouble keeping the station staffed, because his announcers kept dying on him.

Everybody's different... I loved the B/EZ format before I even reached my teen years. I'm approaching 50 and still enjoy it on occasion even though I realize it wouldn't make money on the radio today.

R

And another crappy, irrelevant station is created. The death march of radio continues.

I'm surprised KAAM lasted as long as it did, I figured they'd eventually go 60s/70s Oldies if they decided to keep music. Christian talk, while already in the market on various outlets, will very likely do much better sales wise than the Standards format. Listeners in the eastern portion of the market should be lucky enough to get KJIM and KPYK.

KJIM and KPYK are unique cases, in that they will likely never change formats unless they get different owners.

billyg said:

I used to hate big band and easy listening as a teenager and young adult... "old fart music". But as I got into my 40's and 50's and grew tired of overplayed classic rock and oldies I started listening to that kind of music more often, and I appreciate it now.

At least the Crawfords are keeping the KAAM format as a webstream. They were one of the biggest nostalgia streaming stations on the net.

BTW I wonder how KJIM and KPYK stay afloat?

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Eh, money isn't that important to the owners of those stations. Bob Allan at KJIM is a retired DJ and KJIM is his retirement/hobby/passion. KPYK is more or less the same, owned by the Radio Shack/Electronics dealer in Terrell.

That is correct. Stations like KPYK have virtually no billing except for time they sell on the weekends to Churches and people doing a music based show. For quite a few, if they can sell $1,000 a weekend they're happy.

Everyone seems to forget radio, in almost every instance, is opportunist in it's approach. If there's enough people that will listen, the station will provide that programming because they can monetize those listeners and earn income to pay the bills. When there are very few listeners, it goes away because you can't make enough money to pay the bills. Radio works just like any other business in this respect. The death of this format does not mean radio is going further down the tubes but rather that radio is becoming viable for more people through this station's format change. It might not be to your liking but then you not are paying their billing and trying to meet payroll for the station.

At least we can be happy the station existed for as long as it has. It was done well with DJs and jingles versus a computer in a closet playing jukebox.

As for KPYK, it was once KTER and for a couple of years was owned by Dick Zimmer (Bill Pirtle to Dick and back to Pirtle). I worked there about 6 months. You could count the commercials each day using both hands without running out of fingers, but the weekends, as in Noon Saturday through Sunday, it was almost wall to wall paid programming back in 1980. Then again, Zimmer didn't sell cheap commercials. As I recall, even when Pirtle had the station it was automated much of the time.

stan said:

And another crappy, irrelevant station is created. The death march of radio continues.

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But at least when they die, someone will pray for them.

Stations like KJIM and KPYK will last along as the owners are still alive. Do they run any high school sports? And KPYK could use a translator with 5 watts at night. And I wonder if Terrell's Radio Shack is still in business.