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The Sound 94.1 now in top 10 6+ per March Ratings

iamarussianpirate said:
You forgot to mention that Entercom also had the luxury of knowing for months what they were going to do formatically which helps. Whoever their research co was that found that hole in the market knew what they were doing. I definitely didn't think this was a viable format, and so far it looks like it might be. I say might, because while the 6+ numbers look good for KSWD they ignore some potential long-term issues...namely that 48% of their AQH persons are age 55+. When half of your audience is older than most avail demos, that's a bad thing. They're sitting at #11t Women 25-54 in prime in March behind such female powerhouses as KISW and KIRO-FM. My point here is that 6+ numbers mean nothing (if I say it enough, maybe it will sink in), and it's way too early to judge whether or not the flip was a success or mistake.

On the Hubbard angle, they saw minor growth in March and still have a LOT of wood to chop with KNUC. That said, I don't understand why people on this board think they impulsively jumped into a format-of-the-week situation. Everyone knew that if/when KMPS left country someone was going to fill that hole. iHeart had plans to take a station country but Hubbard flipped the switch before iHeart even had control of KJAQ and KZOK. They rightfully saw that the rock format wasn't working on 98.9 and that country was a good compliment to their group, and they got it done quickly. Of course it's going to take KNUC longer to ramp up because Entercom had a 6-month head start in planning. Point being, it's still too early to judge either of these stations. Give it another year and then we'll know.
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Those observations are valid, and the numbers are correct.

My point was a simple comparison of the respective station launches. Entercom's launch was indeed a more a calculated move that was well thought-out. Whereas Marc Kaye opted to make secrecy more paramount than getting it right from the start.

By the numbers it will probably take longer than a year for most to judge whether the moves were right. In my opinion, which is based on more than just the ratings, be it 6+, 18-49 or 25-54, both moves made were right.
 
AQH said:
As I asked, how do you know there will be a marketing campaign when the morning show arrives?
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As was pointed out, they've already begun running a rather generic TV ad. There's a version of that ad that can be customized with the morning show once they're in town.

But the other thing I know about Tim Leary is he does a lot of public appearances and community activities. People will get to know him very soon.

Also, in addition to the station social media pages, there will be specific social media for the morning show. Not unusual, but it's just another way Tim & crew will interact directly with the audience.
 
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crainbebo said:
How many of those KSWD listeners are below age 40? Just asking. I'm guessing most of the Sound's listeners are in the 45-55 age bracket, leaning older. .
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40-54 is a perfectly salable demo. It does not matter if there is spillage into 55+, as long as the 35-54 or 40-54 numbers are strong. Advertisers looking for the full spectrum of 25-54 ("The" sales demo) will buy stations on the young side, the high side and the middle to optimize campaign reach.
 
What I would like to know, and I doubt anyone on this board can give me an answer on this, is why KSWD hasn't rounded out the airstaff yet. There's no staff on the weekends with the exception of Delilah's syndicated show, and no airstaff after 3 on weekdays, while KNUC has a full airstaff in place, even though the morning show hasn't debuted yet.
 
TheBigA said:
As was pointed out, they've already begun running a rather generic TV ad. There's a version of that ad that can be customized with the morning show once they're in town.

But the other thing I know about Tim Leary is he does a lot of public appearances and community activities. People will get to know him very soon.

Also, in addition to the station social media pages, there will be specific social media for the morning show. Not unusual, but it's just another way Tim & crew will interact directly with the audience.
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Blue cheese, thousand island or vinaigrette?

Checking what kind of dressing you want for your word salad answer.

It's okay to say you didn't know, the cover-up is worse.
 
bobdavcav said:
What I would like to know, and I doubt anyone on this board can give me an answer on this, is why KSWD hasn't rounded out the airstaff yet. There's no staff on the weekends with the exception of Delilah's syndicated show, and no airstaff after 3 on weekdays, while KNUC has a full airstaff in place, even though the morning show hasn't debuted yet.
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Entercom is looking for someone to be the program director and do the afternoon shift. An experienced programmer of a Soft or Mainstream AC from back in the day will likely sound really old and probably doesn't want to be on the air. Not to mention, maybe they're negotiating with someone already. If you want a direct answer, call Dave Richards.

Comparing those two stations is anything but apples to apples. Lisa Adams has never programmed a Country station before, and it's her fourth or fifth position at Hubbard Seattle. If Marc Kaye did an honest search for an experienced Country PD, he would likely still be interviewing people.
 
AQH said:
Entercom is looking for someone to be the program director and do the afternoon shift. An experienced programmer of a Soft or Mainstream AC from back in the day will likely sound really old and probably doesn't want to be on the air....
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"Relaxing favorites at work, the New 94.1 The Sound...Playing an even better mix of your favorite lite hits of yesterday and today with less chatter. For your workday. Now with the most music and biggest variety. With less talk to get you through your workday. 10 in a row. With fewer interruptions. From artists like Phil Collins. Fleetwood Mac, Adele and Billy Ocean. Soft continuous hits for your workday. With no meaningless chatter. And an even better mix. The most music and less....What the hell am I doing this again for?....Yes, I did program K-Whatever 30 years ago. But that was 30 years ago! I can't just come back like Robin and Maynard! And until just very recently, I was living a great life. Minding my own business. And then you people showed up to my face. With your big corporate orders. And then you put me in a room with all these strange computers...Look, I am very cross. Very upset and I may walk out at ANY MINUTE...."
 
Bongwater said:
"Relaxing favorites at work, the New 94.1 The Sound...Playing an even better mix of your favorite lite hits of yesterday and today with less chatter. For your workday. Now with the most music and biggest variety. With less talk to get you through your workday. 10 in a row. With fewer interruptions. From artists like Phil Collins. Fleetwood Mac, Adele and Billy Ocean. Soft continuous hits for your workday. With no meaningless chatter. And an even better mix. The most music and less....What the hell am I doing this again for?....Yes, I did program K-Whatever 30 years ago. But that was 30 years ago! I can't just come back like Robin and Maynard! And until just very recently, I was living a great life. Minding my own business. And then you people showed up to my face. With your big corporate orders. And then you put me in a room with all these strange computers...Look, I am very cross. Very upset and I may walk out at ANY MINUTE...."
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It's funny.... but in fairness to the older radio programmers out there, I knew a few in the 90's and 00's, and they were well aware of computers and what computer technology can do in radio. They were very astute about technology and open to it. I would think the tech side of it would be less of a hurdle than the other things.

Otherwise, great satire. The idea that an old format is actually rating is curious at the very least. Maybe it tells us something of the breadth of KMPS's listenership when it flipped.
 
boombox4 said:
It's funny.... but in fairness to the older radio programmers out there, I knew a few in the 90's and 00's, and they were well aware of computers and what computer technology can do in radio. They were very astute about technology and open to it. I would think the tech side of it would be less of a hurdle than the other things.

Otherwise, great satire. The idea that an old format is actually rating is curious at the very least. Maybe it tells us something of the breadth of KMPS's listenership when it flipped.
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I know. Computers were just starting to make their presence known as a studio necessity in the early '90s. I think K-Lite 95.7 was still on carts and KSEA 100.7 (which entered the Soft AC pillow fight in February 1989. KLSY and KMGI about this time were going more upbeat) was on CD cart. Both board op-ed by analog meatbag units overnight. I'll never forget KSEA's sound processing at that time. It literally deadened the sound of anything that came through it, akin to a standard Dolby cassette tape in Dolby C. It was especially noticeable on fade-outs. I don't know if that was new equipment or just some adjustment in the rack to compensate for the sonic difference between Percy Faith and Paula Abdul. Or nothing at all. But man, it sounded weird. And they kept it all the way to the first KIRO-FM News/Talk format in October 1992.
 
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Bongwater said:
I'll never forget KSEA's sound processing at that time. It literally deadened the sound of anything that came through it, akin to a standard Dolby cassette tape in Dolby C. It was especially noticeable on fade-outs. I don't know if that was new equipment or just some adjustment in the rack to compensate for the sonic difference between Percy Faith and Paula Abdul. Or nothing at all. But man, it sounded weird. And they kept it all the way to the first KIRO-FM News/Talk format in October 1992.
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I'm pretty sure that was the classic CBS Labs stereo Audimax and Volumax combination. They had the 3RU white stereo audimax with the two gain meters at the studio, and a 1RU stereo Volumax at the Queen Anne Hill TX site. I recall KSEA ran that combination for many years.
 
Bongwater said:
I know. Computers were just starting to make their presence known as a studio necessity in the early '90s. I think K-Lite 95.7 was still on carts and KSEA 100.7 (which entered the Soft AC pillow fight in February 1989. KLSY and KMGI about this time were going more upbeat) was on CD cart. Both board op-ed by analog meatbag units overnight. I'll never forget KSEA's sound processing at that time. It literally deadened the sound of anything that came through it, akin to a standard Dolby cassette tape in Dolby C. It was especially noticeable on fade-outs. I don't know if that was new equipment or just some adjustment in the rack to compensate for the sonic difference between Percy Faith and Paula Abdul. Or nothing at all. But man, it sounded weird. And they kept it all the way to the first KIRO-FM News/Talk format in October 1992.
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We were setting up for live operation by computer in 1997 and thought it was brand new then.
 
I am curious as to where Will Johnson and Tom McCarthy are these days? Last I heard, he was doing traffic reports for Metro, but haven't heard him on any local stations in a few years. He was on KOMO Sunday mornings for a brief period, but that was two or three traffic reporters ago for that timeslot. Last I heard, Will Johnson was filling in weekends at KKWF, but that was also several years ago, and I think I only heard him on one weekend.
 
bobdavcav said:
I am curious as to where Will Johnson and Tom McCarthy are these days? Last I heard, he was doing traffic reports for Metro, but haven't heard him on any local stations in a few years. He was on KOMO Sunday mornings for a brief period, but that was two or three traffic reporters ago for that timeslot. Last I heard, Will Johnson was filling in weekends at KKWF, but that was also several years ago, and I think I only heard him on one weekend.
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Will Johnson moved to the Idaho Falls/Pocatello, ID market in 2014 and worked for Sandhill's Hot AC KSNA, and Country KUPI. He is now retired living on the west coast of Florida.
 
Rob Piotrowski said:
Seattle stations beat that date by two years. The market was using DOS-based and UNIX-based systems.
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There were a few DOS based systems that were used nationwide, I think. I know the Format Sentry was a popular CD automation (and tape automation, too, if memory serves) control box, which used DOS based computers to run it. I think it was on the market as early as the early '90's.
 
Really are you getting excited because of 6+ numbers for a sleepy at work station that cracked the top 10 and just signed on. Seriously this isn't news. Maybe when they are #1 Adults 25-54 or W 25-54 ( in ANY day part for that matter ) then they will have something to talk about - and do it consistently YOY - then and only then should you be breaking out the cake and patting yourself on the back until then it's a big nothing burger.
 
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