KVVF mentioned in interesting blog on CHR stations

Mea culpa time...

I was dead wrong regarding the viability of this station. I said at the time a CHR format laced with a few Spanish language songs an hour would not work. The failed Radio H20 in Dallas was the main reason for my opinion. Clearly, I was wrong. Hot's format shift has proven successful, at least ratings wise.

MarkW said:

Mea culpa time...

I was dead wrong regarding the viability of this station. I said at the time a CHR format laced with a few Spanish language songs an hour would not work. The failed Radio H20 in Dallas was the main reason for my opinion. Clearly, I was wrong. Hot's format shift has proven successful, at least ratings wise.

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You have re-inforced what's wrong with radio these days. Radio used to have "local" PD's, responsponsible for programming "for the market". More and more broadcasters try to program drawing from the experience in other markets. What works in San Jose doesn't always work in Dallas and vice versa. KSOL, Wild and even KHQT (Hott 97.7) did this back in the day and found sucess. Albeit, there wasn't PPM back in the day...

stewie said:

You have re-inforced what's wrong with radio these days. Radio used to have "local" PD's, responsponsible for programming "for the market". More and more broadcasters try to program drawing from the experience in other markets. What works in San Jose doesn't always work in Dallas and vice versa. KSOL, Wild and even KHQT (Hott 97.7) did this back in the day and found sucess. Albeit, there wasn't PPM back in the day...

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I'm in total agreement with you.

25 years ago, a broadcaster trying to save some money was caught in a 5 way AC race. They had a pretty good sounding Hot AC, but they didn't have the budget to do a proper research project. So they took a format finder study from another market (for a station that they opted not to change a few years before) and tried to apply its results there. The station tanked and they sold it in a fire sale.

There are far more cookie-cutter format failures than successes in this business. Either you program for the local market or you flip formats every couple of years. You either spend the money now or later, but sooner or later it costs you money.

johndavis said:

There are far more cookie-cutter format failures than successes in this business. Either you program for the local market or you flip formats every couple of years. You either spend the money now or later, but sooner or later it costs you money.

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Exactly!