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KFOG

Len Bias said:
Wasn't KMET replaced with Beautiful Music? I imagine even the last months of KMET were still better than what it flipped to. KFOG and KITS are not nearly as interesting as they used to be, but are still good turn-to stations in my car and I have learned a lot of new bands from them even in the last year or so. I can't imagine if they flipped formats it would be to something better or even as good.
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KMET was replaced with "The Wave" - which morphed into Smooth Jazz. But speaking of Beautiful Music and KFOG:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vQ-XE5ffIc
 
Len Bias said:
Wasn't KMET replaced with Beautiful Music? I imagine even the last months of KMET were still better than what it flipped to.
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No. Beautiful Music was already dead by then.

KMET became The Wave, a New Age (later termed New Adult Contemporary) format which evolved into "Smooth Jazz" until that format aged out of existence. KTWV has since morphed into an Urban AC for the lack of a better term.

It was a pretty gutsy move at the time, and they ran jockless for awhile after the switch.

Anytime you change formats, you can count on revenue sucking for 6 - 12 months. You don't switch formats expecting to go from worst to first.

Evolving a station over time (as KTWV has done over its lifetime) is usually preferable to a straight up change because you don't drop your billing to zero. You generally change formats when there's nothing you can gradually morph the station into that's going to make money, when the perception is so broken you don't have a better option, or when the billing is already close to zero and you have nothing left to lose.
 
johndavis said:
No. Beautiful Music was already dead by then.

KMET became The Wave, a New Age (later termed New Adult Contemporary) format which evolved into "Smooth Jazz" until that format aged out of existence. KTWV has since morphed into an Urban AC for the lack of a better term.
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Lol, I stand corrected. At the time, New Age, Smooth Jazz and Beautiful Music all ran together for me - they were all not rock. My point still stands, as a fan of rock/alternative/indie, better to have inferior versions (to me) of KITS and KFOG then what they would probably flip to.
 
I thought this was interesting and relevant to this conversation. Today NARAS announced it was adding some categories and changing others in order to get more diversity in the Grammy Awards. So one of the categories they're changing is Alternative. Here's how the describe it:

It is now defined as “a less intense version of Rock or a more intense version of Pop,” which “may embrace a variety of subgenres or any hybrids thereof and may include recordings that don’t fit into other genre categories.”
 
Len Bias said:
Wasn't KMET replaced with Beautiful Music? I imagine even the last months of KMET were still better than what it flipped to.
Click to expand...

As mentioned, it became New Age. And it replaced a format that was billing, by then, very little. Ownership put together a team including Owen Leach, Frank Cody and John Sebastian plus others and they came up with "The Wave". It was outbilling the KMET format within a few months of launch, as the format was well accepted at West Coast ad agencies.
 
No, 104.5 needs the 97.7 repeater because 104.5 is at relatively low power on Sutro -- and 97.7 helps the signal in the South Bay. The other lower-power Sutro station, 98.9, also has a South Bay repeater (99.1) for the same reason. 107.7 doesn't need South Bay signal help, because they're on Mt. San Bruno.
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The signal strength difference between 104.5 and 107.7 in South Bay is truly *that* significant? I'll take your word for it, as I'm not terribly familiar with the region.

Predicted contours are virtually identical between 104.5 & 107.7 in South Bay. Of course, prediction and reality can often be two very different things.

Classic Rock has a track record of good - even great - ratings in South Bay. KFOG/KFFG has anemic ratings everywhere. Seems to me adding 97.7 to 107.7 would give the Bone more horsepower in the South Bay and would help it snag listeners away from KUFX. Why waste two signals (104.5 + 97.7) on a brand whose ratings and billings are terrible?
 
Len Bias said:
Lol, I stand corrected. At the time, New Age, Smooth Jazz and Beautiful Music all ran together for me - they were all not rock. My point still stands, as a fan of rock/alternative/indie, better to have inferior versions (to me) of KITS and KFOG then what they would probably flip to.
Click to expand...

Worth noting, though, that the initial format of KTWV was a blend of new age/Jazz instrumentals (think more Pat Metheny than Kenny G---he came later) along with album cuts from rock artists like Steely Dan, Rickie Lee Jones, Dire Straits, Joe Jackson and Paul Simon. It was actually a fairly adventurous approach. KMET loyalists hated it. I loved KMET, but by 1987, there wasn't an original thought left.
 
michael hagerty said:
Worth noting, though, that the initial format of KTWV was a blend of new age/Jazz instrumentals (think more Pat Metheny than Kenny G---he came later) along with album cuts from rock artists like Steely Dan, Rickie Lee Jones, Dire Straits, Joe Jackson and Paul Simon. It was actually a fairly adventurous approach. KMET loyalists hated it. I loved KMET, but by 1987, there wasn't an original thought left.
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This is very accurate. I ended up liking that first incarnation of KTWV "The Wave" a lot because of the different musical direction which was quite new and adventurous at the time, but would have warmed up to it much quicker if (1) it wasn't MY favorite station they had taken out and (2) all of their imaging made it clear they were targeting westside females. They even had a lame two-chick morning show that talked incessantly about the topics of the day from that westide female point of view. Any male with an ounce of testosterone would tune out in a heartbeat (and did - the show did not last long).
 
New PD, new playlist.....

KFOG now brands itself as "Today's KFOG" and has shifted to way more 90s and 2000s alternative hits. They continue to play new music, but way less. No more AAA standards like Petty or the Police. Instead, more 90s/00's artists like Linkin Park, Muse, etc. They are essentially an alternative rock station, there are almost no "pop" songs in their current playlist.
 
MarkW said:
The signal strength difference between 104.5 and 107.7 in South Bay is truly *that* significant? I'll take your word for it, as I'm not terribly familiar with the region.
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107.7 is on Mt. San Bruno. 104.5 is on Sutro Tower. Mt. San Bruno is closer to (and a clearer shot to) the major population/high-income areas of the penninsula and Silicon Valley. 103.7 even moved *off* Sutro Tower a few years ago, and went to San Bruno. There are good reasons why this is the site for the vast majority of San Francisco FM towers.
 
EricSF said:
New PD, new playlist.....

KFOG now brands itself as "Today's KFOG" and has shifted to way more 90s and 2000s alternative hits. They continue to play new music, but way less. No more AAA standards like Petty or the Police. Instead, more 90s/00's artists like Linkin Park, Muse, etc. They are essentially an alternative rock station, there are almost no "pop" songs in their current playlist.
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As a 37 year old this excites me greatly, I can't wait till of of these alternative stations drop new music all together.
 
brettbutlerisok said:
As a 37 year old this excites me greatly, I can't wait till of of these alternative stations drop new music all together.
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I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not. But, as a 40 year old, I've been tired of some of these songs for over 20 years now. The fact that KFOG has made it a priority to play LESS new music recently does not excite me. I get it, ratings and all, but man, hearing Closer by Nine Inch Nails again and again does not interest me.
 
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