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KFOG

adradio said:
Does anyone have examples of stations that have stayed true to their original purpose and remained successful long after the audience has aged past the targeted demo? I'm aware of WMMR in Philadelphia, KLOS and KROQ (although teetering like KFOG) in LA and also 91X in San Diego. Would those be examples of stations KFOG should have emulated...staying true to what they were, but still being relevant and viable?
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Sure. KIIS-FM in Los Angeles. They're still playing the hits for 18-34 year olds. Have been since 1981. The only things that change are the 18-34 year olds, the hits and the jocks playing them. But the mission is exactly the same.
 
adradio said:
Does anyone have examples of stations that have stayed true to their original purpose and remained successful long after the audience has aged past the targeted demo? I'm aware of WMMR in Philadelphia, KLOS and KROQ (although teetering like KFOG) in LA and also 91X in San Diego. Would those be examples of stations KFOG should have emulated...staying true to what they were, but still being relevant and viable?
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It's a fine line to walk. "staying true to what they were, but still being relevant and viable" was what KFOG did for quite some time; they were one of the older-skewing Triple-A's in the country. When Dennis Constantine came in as PD and tweaked the music mix, they were still KFOG-y enuf to please a wide range of folks, and 10@10 was covering 5 decades at that point. But Cumulus wanted us old folks gone and that was that.
 
radiojomo said:
Seems like a shift to alternative is inevitable for KFOG. Playlist seems incredibly tight for a Triple-A station.
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I think their playlist has already shifted to a more alternative playlist.... Take a look at their playlist between 3:20 and 4:40 today!

Ahead of Myself
X Ambassadors
4:36 PM
The Distance
Cake
4:33 PM
Little Talks
Of Monsters and Men
4:29 PM
Four out of Five
Arctic Monkeys
4:25 PM
Ironic
Alanis Morissette
4:21 PM
Up All Night
Beck
4:18 PM
Can't Stop
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4:14 PM
Dreams
The Cranberries
4:09 PM
You Worry Me
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats
4:05 PM
Madness
Muse
4:01 PM
Come As You Are
Nirvana
3:57 PM
Two High
Moon Taxi
3:50 PM
Stressed Out
twenty one pilots
3:47 PM
The Kids Aren't Alright
The Offspring
3:44 PM
Live in the Moment
Portugal. The Man
3:41 PM
Viva La Vida
Coldplay
3:31 PM
Can't Deny Me
Pearl Jam
3:29 PM
Enjoy the Silence
Depeche Mode
3:25 PM
Lonely Boy
The Black Keys
3:21 PM
Saturday Sun
Vance Joy
3:18 PM
Wrong Way
Sublime
3:15
 
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Len Bias said:
They played Offspring's Self-Esteem last night, I've never heard a AAA play that.
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Triple A is typically an older skewing format. Shifting to Alternative or Indie Rock will bring down the demos, and should bring up the ratings.

IF the audience for this music turns on the radio.
 
TheBigA said:
Triple A is typically an older skewing format. Shifting to Alternative or Indie Rock will bring down the demos, and should bring up the ratings.

IF the audience for this music turns on the radio.
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Pipe Dream. The younger demos they crave aren't tuning in. Ratings are worse now. The loyal passionate KFOG listeners are gone. In this case, Cumulus drove away 35-60 year olds who had passion for the product. Any competent sales department should be able to those demos...
 
tbolt909 said:
Pipe Dream. The younger demos they crave aren't tuning in. Ratings are worse now. The loyal passionate KFOG listeners are gone. In this case, Cumulus drove away 35-60 year olds who had passion for the product. Any competent sales department should be able to those demos...
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They averaged 24th in 25-54 in the first three books of this year. They are 21st in 35-64.

The demos are heavily over 65, and overall the station is 25th in 12+.

No sales department, in a transactional market, can sell that kind of rank, particularly if much of the audience is over 55 where there is simple no radio money.

And 90% of 18-34's use radio. The TSL is lower than it was 30 years ago, but radio is definitely part of users' media mix.
 
The real problem isn't that "younger demos aren't tuning in." But that KITS is already playing a lot of that music. Thus, the decision to carry The Woody Show helps give them something other than music to reach that audience.

This station is similar to the problem they have with KGO, that the station was basically allowed to age out of the demo.
 
DavidEduardo said:


They averaged 24th in 25-54 in the first three books of this year. They are 21st in 35-64.

The demos are heavily over 65, and overall the station is 25th in 12+.

No sales department, in a transactional market, can sell that kind of rank, particularly if much of the audience is over 55 where there is simple no radio money.

And 90% of 18-34's use radio. The TSL is lower than it was 30 years ago, but radio is definitely part of users' media mix.
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Not to get too far off topic but is KINK in a similar situation?
 
semoochie said:
Not to get too far off topic but is KINK in a similar situation?
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Yep. 14th in 25-54, but 7th in 35-64. Very old leaning.

But it still has good revenue, and, while it has about a 4.6 "commercial share" (percentage of listening to commercial stations only) on average, it has almost 7% of market revenues.
 
DavidEduardo said:
But it still has good revenue, and, while it has about a 4.6 "commercial share" (percentage of listening to commercial stations only) on average, it has almost 7% of market revenues.
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The music at KINK was more commercial than what they had played at KFOG. KINK's music has a lot of classic alt in it. That seems to be where KFOG is going.
 
DavidEduardo said:


Yep. 14th in 25-54, but 7th in 35-64. Very old leaning.

But it still has good revenue, and, while it has about a 4.6 "commercial share" (percentage of listening to commercial stations only) on average, it has almost 7% of market revenues.
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Thank you, David. I had been wondering for awhile. Dennis Constantine was at KINK either just before or just after KFOG. By the way, Christmas day will mark 50 years.
 
https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/177549/kfog-san-francisco-pd-mat-bates-exits

Mathew Bates out at KFOG. I feel like KFOG and Live105 are floundering and constantly re-tweaking these last few years, I wonder if they'll ever find a formula that sticks. They seem caught between people (like me) who want new music and variety, and those who want to hear the alternative hits from the last 25 years or so - and the two audiences seem mutually exclusive, and neither one seems big enough to be sustainable. Either way, I hope they stick around, but wondering how much longer they will hang on.
 
Len Bias said:
https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/177549/kfog-san-francisco-pd-mat-bates-exits

Mathew Bates out at KFOG. I feel like KFOG and Live105 are floundering and constantly re-tweaking these last few years, I wonder if they'll ever find a formula that sticks. They seem caught between people (like me) who want new music and variety, and those who want to hear the alternative hits from the last 25 years or so - and the two audiences seem mutually exclusive, and neither one seems big enough to be sustainable. Either way, I hope they stick around, but wondering how much longer they will hang on.
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Whoops, I called it Live105.
 
Len Bias said:
They seem caught between people (like me) who want new music and variety, and those who want to hear the alternative hits from the last 25 years or so - and the two audiences seem mutually exclusive, and neither one seems big enough to be sustainable.
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I agree...and it seems to be a similar situation in lots of other cities. I suspect the PD's days were numbered when they decided to go with the syndicated Woody Show for mornings. They're probably counting on that show to bring more of an audience than the music.
 
TheBigA said:
I agree...and it seems to be a similar situation in lots of other cities. I suspect the PD's days were numbered when they decided to go with the syndicated Woody Show for mornings. They're probably counting on that show to bring more of an audience than the music.
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So, the PD didn't pick the morning show? Isn't that his job? This guy didn't even last a year. Cumulus has destroyed KFOG with their incompetence...
 
tbolt909 said:
So, the PD didn't pick the morning show? Isn't that his job? This guy didn't even last a year. Cumulus has destroyed KFOG with their incompetence...
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Going with a syndicated morning show piped in from out of market sounds like something dictated by corporate as a cost-cutting measure, not left up to the local PD.
 
tbolt909 said:
So, the PD didn't pick the morning show? Isn't that his job? This guy didn't even last a year. Cumulus has destroyed KFOG with their incompetence...
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Typically a major hiring decision is made by the GM, with input from the format captain and corporate head of programming.

Cumulus has owned this station for 13 years. I wouldn't blame the current situation on ownership. It's more like shifting audience demographics. The heritage audience has aged out of the demo, so it's time to reimagine the station into something that will work now. As I said earlier, this seems to be a common problem with stations in this format. We're also at a down cycle for quality new music. Can't blame that on station ownership either.
 
tbolt909 said:
So, the PD didn't pick the morning show? Isn't that his job? This guy didn't even last a year. Cumulus has destroyed KFOG with their incompetence...
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Most AAA stations (the few that are left) are aging out of viability for ad sales. KFOG has long been eroding out of relevance... and while Cumulus certainly did not help, the format is the main issue.

Picking a morning show in a corporate environment is a function of the local PD, the General Manager, and the corporate heads of programming. It's seldom a one-person decision as even in the long ago past at least the General Manager would have the final decision making authority.
 
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