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And the most debated radio format is...
- Thread starter DMK
- Start date
Rob Piotrowski
Star Participant
They mean *on this board*, David. Apparently your sarcasm detector needs a refresh.
I don't see there is much debate ON THIS BOARD or anywhere else. I see occasional lamentations from those who liked the format, criticisms of advertisers that don't want geezer demos and such.
It's been about a decade since we had debates about whether the Jones satellite offering was better than the Broadcast Architecture one, but that has not come up for ages.
And there are discussions of whether the music itself died or whether the PPM nudged it over the cliff, but nothing I would raise to the level of being called a "debate".
The folks who created the format purposely wanted to avoid any confusion between Beautiful Music and The Wave. The initial playlist was so new age heavy because they did not want to play anything that sounded like a cover of a pop song or anything adult-contemporary sounding. Part of the target core was intentionally African American, in fact.
When R&R called the format NAC, or New Adult Contemporary, the Broadcast Architecture folks hated it.
seattlesarchiebunker
Leading Participant
That being said, no format has risen to such popularity to virtually nothing in as short of a time. They said big band as a format was dead in the 70’s, yet there were still numerous stations running the format into the early 2000’s.
Heck, even adult hits has found a fairly good and stable position after being considered the greatest thing since sliced bread by the industry about 10 years ago.
For smooth jazz, it seemed to have reached its peak by the mid-late 90’s and was pretty much gone from everywhere within a few years (with a few exceptions, of course)
The fact that there is still a satellite-delivered format available to radio stations for smooth jazz is kinda shocking to me. There cannot be more than a half dozen clients (including our 102.9, I believe)
Anyway...on to more pressing radio issues, like KRKO not playing Kokomo. I’m disappointed...
Nope. Try disco in the late '78 to '79 period.
"The Wave" in LA created the new age format in 1987 to replace an ailing KMET. It took several years for the format to catch on nationally, generally being after the core new age stuff was replaced with what came to be called "smooth jazz" (a term originated by one of the creators of the KTWV format) and the target refocused on a mix including African Americas as the core audience.
In fact, a MediaAudit report in 2008 showed the format almost equally reaching Blacks and non-Hispanic whites, with Hispanics and Asians making up the rest.
The format lasted quite a bit after the mid-late 90's... not just a few years.
In 2007, KTWV was still top 10 25-54, in Chicago WNUA was 6th overall, KKSF was in the top 15 in SF, WJZW was 7th 25-54 in DC, and so on.
It's probably playing on an HD2 near you. I know we still have one.
Bongwater
Walk of Fame Participant
We had KBTB "95.7 The Beat". Great station, probably wrong area.
Or the Hip Hop throwback format, which pretty uniformly died after 18 months to two years.
And 103.7 is itself a translator for KOAZ 1510 AM.
seattlesarchiebunker
Leading Participant
Throwback Hip Hop did not feel as if it had as good of a launch as the “format de jour” as say Adult Hits 8 years prior had...or even Jammin’ Oldies 8 years before that! That being said, classic hip hop as a format has proven itself as a good niche format in select large markets...that’s about it.
That being said, I think David’s answer of Disco may be a contender as the whole thing went from start, to peak, to finish in about 30 months. And I don’t think anybody was running an all-disco format after, let’s say, 1983...so Smooth Jazz has far more staying power!
That being said, I think David’s answer of Disco may be a contender as the whole thing went from start, to peak, to finish in about 30 months. And I don’t think anybody was running an all-disco format after, let’s say, 1983...so Smooth Jazz has far more staying power!
But new age, later smooth jazz, took half a decade to roll out. The first station, KTWV took a full year to break into the top 10... in Spring of 1988, a over a year from the February, 1987 debut of the format it was 19th!
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Disco was likely the shortest. I only heard one station that opted for that format, KDNT FM in Denton, Texas with their 100 kw signal reaching Dallas/Fort Worth. It was automated and seemed to opt for the album length versions. I wasn't a fan but I'd listen for a while when in the area. I understand they showed up in the ratings for the first time with that format. I'm sure the playlist was a short one and very few tunes that weren't currents.I doubt the format lasted long. I'm curious what a playlist looked like.
I found an October 1978 WKTU playlist, right after the launch and when they got about an 11 share.
http://www.las-solanas.com/arsa/surveys_item.php?sv=42310&ix=5&it=6&ic=30&s1=-1&q=wktu
(So many forgettable songs)
That is a cool site with thousands of music charts and lists.
I only recognize two songs!
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