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104.9 KiSS Radio - Possible format change?

hghdfntn

hghdfntn

broadcastdialogue.com

KiSS Vancouver parts ways with Kevin Lim & Sonia Sidhu - Broadcast Dialogue

KiSS Radio (CKKS-FM) Vancouver has parted ways with morning show co-hosts and KiSS network personalities Kevin Lim and Sonia Sidhu.
broadcastdialogue.com broadcastdialogue.com

My tip is Country. I assume 93.7 JR is billing well, maybe Rogers could get a share from their revenue. Probably it would also be a better fit for the demands and demographics of smaller cities in the Fraser Valley, than Hot AC.
 
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It seems like 104.9 has always been a bit of a problematic frequency in the lower mainland, though I could never figure out why. Fun-FM was arguably one of the best formats to land on on 104.9, but that didn’t last very long in the grand scheme of things. The CHR format lasted quite a while, but it never performed that well compared to Z and Virgin Radio. It seems like country might be a tough sell, but maybe it could work. In the outlying areas toward the east, listeners already have the option of turning into 107.1 instead for country music.
 
hghdfntn said:
broadcastdialogue.com

KiSS Vancouver parts ways with Kevin Lim & Sonia Sidhu - Broadcast Dialogue

KiSS Radio (CKKS-FM) Vancouver has parted ways with morning show co-hosts and KiSS network personalities Kevin Lim and Sonia Sidhu.
broadcastdialogue.com broadcastdialogue.com

My tip is Country. I assume 93.7 JR is billing well, maybe Rogers could get a share from their revenue. Probably it would also be a better fit for the demands and demographics of smaller cities in the Fraser Valley, than Hot AC.
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Judging by the song that’s being looped, it will more than likely be some flavour of rock.
 
I got a bit of a kick out of reading this article. While it's definitely worth noting that a radio station "stunt" makes a news headline, it's a bit amusing that the commentary references the possibility of live hosts being in the station to be playing Rage Against the Machine as a protest against the layoffs. We all know that a computer is playing this track on repeat, which will continue until the new format drops.

dailyhive.com

Why is a Vancouver radio station playing Rage Against the Machine on repeat? | News

Kiss Radio in Vancouver played the same song on repeat Wednesday morning, the day after it laid off its morning show hosts.
dailyhive.com dailyhive.com
 
It seems like the KISS website answered all of our questions for us. If you go to the station website, it reads:

"If you'd like to try something new, you could listen to SONiC - The New Alternative. You'll find SONiC on the radio at SONiC 104.9 (Vancouver), SONiC 107.5 (Chilliwack), and SONiC 92.5 (Abbotsford) or listen on its website at sonicradio.ca, or on your smart speaker with the command 'Play SONiC RADIO'."

Ironically, "SONiC" is the name of the CHR format that replaced Fun-FM back in 2011 or so.

I suspect that this shift will not lead to any changes over at CFOX, but could very well impact 102.7 The Peak. It looks like Angela Valiant moved from The Peak to SONiC to round out their new lineup of hosts.

Here is the playlist:
 
You are right about it impacting 102.7- sure seems like a carbon copy after listening this afternoon. Can't see it making much inroads into CFOX at all.

They probably were still holding onto the IP from their old SONiC days; perhaps ownership still holds this IP as active elsewhere in the country?

Also, that playlist is the old one from the previous format- they haven't updated it yet.

EDIT: Rogers are indeed using the same SONiC IP in Edmonton, so it was already handy and available.
 
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Do Canadian stations still have to submit proposed format changes to the CRTC for approval? And is stunting generally unheard of in Canadian radio, which may account for some of the naive coverage on display up there?

And "JR Country," as in J.R. Ewing ("Dallas")? Really? Imaging a contemporary country station after a 45-year-old TV stereotype of a Texas tycoon?
 
CTListener said:
Do Canadian stations still have to submit proposed format changes to the CRTC for approval? And is stunting generally unheard of in Canadian radio, which may account for some of the naive coverage on display up there?

And "JR Country," as in J.R. Ewing ("Dallas")? Really? Imaging a contemporary country station after a 45-year-old TV stereotype of a Texas tycoon?
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You have to be a little more creative N of the border- not nearly as many call combinations as the second letter is assigned to a province. CJJR has not to my knowledge ever tied themselves to "Dallas" or Mr. Ewing. They have had a very successful 36 year run on the same format. Kudos to them.

As far as the coverage of the stunt, I wonder if someone did a fairly masterful job of planting stories in all of the media. Sure seemed coordinated.
 
CTListener said:
Do Canadian stations still have to submit proposed format changes to the CRTC for approval? And is stunting generally unheard of in Canadian radio, which may account for some of the naive coverage on display up there?

And "JR Country," as in J.R. Ewing ("Dallas")? Really? Imaging a contemporary country station after a 45-year-old TV stereotype of a Texas tycoon?
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JR country has nothing to do with J.R. Ewing. The call letters have been CJJR for a long time, and the branding was “JRFM” for as long as the station has been around. It recently had a refresh as “JR country”
 
Thanks for the explanation of "JR Country." I only saw the call CHWK, not knowing that the format originated on another station.
 
CTListener said:
Thanks for the explanation of "JR Country." I only saw the call CHWK, not knowing that the format originated on another station.
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No problem at all! I can see why that would be an easy mistake to make. Due to terrain issues, CJJR can’t be heard in chilliwack, but it sounds like Pattinson Media is trying to expand the brand into Chilliwack (as it’s extremely recognizable by radio standards). For a long time there’s been a billboard just outside of Chilliwack from Pattinson Media for CJJR that reads “welcome back, we missed you!”. You never see that kind of advertising anymore.
 
The switch to Alternative Rock for CKKS is odd. First, Vancouver already has two Alternative stations, 99.3 CFOX and 102.7 CKPK. Second, in the U.S., Alternative has been struggling as a format.

In NYC, 92.3 WNYL is #20, one of that city's lowest rated FM outlets. In Los Angeles, where there are two Alternative stations, KYSR is tied for #16. And much of its limited success is based on its popular morning show, syndicated to other cities. The other station is KROQ, tied for #26. Despite it being a one-time leader in the format, it is also one of the lowest-rated FM stations in LA.

Alternative does well in a couple of U.S. markets. KTBZ is #2 in Houston. And KTCL is tied for #7 in Denver. But those are exceptions. WBOS, Boston's Alternative station, switched to Classic Rock in 2019. San Francisco's long-time Alternative station KITS switched to Adult Hits this past October. Those two cities, once thought to be friendly to Alternative Rock stations, with large college student populations, now have none.

Is Vancouver such a different market that CKKS wants to jump into a three-way Alternative battle?
 
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It does seem a bit odd, Gregg, that's for sure. CFOX has great numbers- #1M 25-54- and I am guessing they want to tear a piece of that off. But they are doing it by sounding more like the failed US "alternative" stations, and they sound pretty much like a clone of the Peak, not CFOX. CFOX is an interesting station. They play mainly alt rock, but mix in a fair dose of mainstream/active rock and even a bit of classic rock as well. They don't brand their music at all, just going off of "The World Famous CFOX." They have interesting contests, solid personalities (thought the afternoon show is, ummm...) There are no rock/active rock stations in the market.
 
CFOX is a very good radio station that mixes in a little bit of everything (classic rock, modern rock, and alternative rock) in one place. They also have a very solid history with this format and a strong listener base. It’s the kind of radio station that you actually hear people talking about out in public on occasion.

I personally like listening to The Peak, and think that they do a good job with the alternative format, though I think there will be trouble ahead with the new direction of CKKS. I personally don’t see how these two stations can coexist.

I was hoping we might see a format that would help solve the issue with classic rock and classic hits in Vancouver. You’ve got Rock 101 (which I like), which plays a mixture of classic rock and classic hits. You’ve also got Jack 96.9, which plays classic hits, but also plays music like Adele and Bruno Mars. I’d prefer a classic hits station like 95.7 in Seattle where the listener would get a very wide playlist of 80’s hits.

The best approach to classic hits in Vancouver is when Jack 96.9 was playing more modern music, leaving Rock 101 to play more classic rock and Stingray to have a very solid classic hits format on 104.3. Unfortunately, they (stingray) ultimately ended up flipping this station to a soft hits format.
 
I agree that the format choice at CKKS is a surprising one. Musically, the new station is very similar to 102.7 The Peak. As noted above, CFOX also plays much of this music (but dabbles in pure rock music, too). Plenty of overlap now in the alternative rock space.

For what it's worth, the stationality on Sonic sounds pretty darn good for a newly launched station. The irony of using a RATM song for stunting purposes is that I'm unsure that is an artist Sonic will even play, despite RATM once upon a time being a foundational artist for the format. Music I've heard based on sampling so far is rather pop & indie skewing; very little in the way of crunchy guitar chords to be found.

I'm not sure which stations Rogers owns in Vancouver, but it does seem a station similar to, say, Toronto's Q107 would've been a more obvious and perhaps more prudent route to take.

CFOX gets big male numbers in part because it is the de facto choice for active rock seekers in a market that lacks such a station.
 
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Scuttlebutt is that The Peak is going all talk here soon, so maybe that comes into play here. SONiC filling a future format hole; if so good on them being proactive.

Rogers owns Jack FM (Adult Hits), News 1130, 650 Sports, Mountain FM in Whistler, 107.1 Country in Abbotsford, Star 98.3 (AC) Chilliwack, along with the SONiC trimulcast.
 
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The New Chico said:
Scuttlebutt is that The Peak is going all talk here soon, so maybe that comes into play here. SONiC filling a future format hole; if so good on them being proactive.

Rogers owns Jack FM (Adult Hits), News 1130, 650 Sports, Mountain FM in Whistler, 107.1 Country in Abbotsford, Star 98.3 (AC) Chilliwack, along with the SONiC trimulcast.
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While I’m sad to say it, I don’t see how The Peak can continue with their current format unless they find a way to be dominant over CKKS. With that being said, I find it hard to believe that an entirely new talk station will be successful, as we’ve seen talk stations like CFUN 1410 fail, and even sports talk stations (like 1040) completely throw in the towel.

As I said before, one of the biggest format holes I see is that no station is really catering to the market of female listeners who might prefer a classic hits format that centres around the 1980’s (like either KOSF in San Francisco or the jet in Seattle). Rock 101 does a good job of blending classic rock and classic hits, but it doesn’t hit either format entirely. Jack is not bad, but it’s more of an adult hits radio station from my perspective.
 
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