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Dallas-Ft. Worth Radio Ratings: January 2024
- Thread starter pjc1961
- Start date
how much longer will they keep trying to find that “niche” audience before they actually discuss sports topics consistently?
each time in Dallas those long spot blocks are primarily PSAs or spots for iheart podcasts
You can pick up when KVIL ditched the alternative pop for the more rock-based programming just by looking at this, because that's when KEGL started falling apart at the seams. This is also why KEGL going back to rock isn't an option without a real plan, because KVIL has no reason to budge from what they're doing. If KEGL just goes back to being The Eagle and doing the same thing The Eagle always did, they're just going to get their asses kicked again.
This was KVIL's 8 pm hour on 2/25. There are a lot of classic KEGL standbys being played here. Even a lot of the Alt-centric golds were common KEGL plays.
1. Incubus - "Pardon Me"
2. Sum 41 - "In Too Deep"
3. Bad Omens - "Just Pretend" (R)
4. Everclear - "Santa Monica"
5. The Neighbourhood - "Sweater Weather"
6. Weezer - "Say It Ain't So"
7. lovelytheband - "nice to know you" (C)
8. Trapt - "Headstrong"
9. Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Soul To Squeeze"
10. Cage The Elephant - "Neon Pill" (C)
11. Paramore - "Misery Business"
12. Papa Roach - "Leave A Light On" (C)
13. Third Eye Blind - "Semi-Charmed Life"
14. Seether - "Fine Again"
KVIL plays what KEGL used to, but mixes in classic and modern alternative instead of KEGL's penchant for classic rock, and they add currents faster than KEGL did too (not a high bar to clear, mind you). The station is doing very well for itself still and this makes abandoning The Freak and reviving The Eagle so daunting. KEGL listeners made it clear they'd rather hear The Neighbourhood or the latest lovelytheband single over more KEGL chatter or a Bryan Adams gold. Unless you have a plan to counter-program this, you can't go back.
The talk shows, the Mavs, inconsistencies in the music at KEGL and a more rock lean at KVIL all contributed to ending the Rock format on KEGL.
Listeners who wanted to hear music now had an acceptable alternative at KVIL. I Heart might have very well saw the numbers WMMS has with a Rock/Talk/ Sports format and thought that would fly in Dallas as well; however the Eagle didn’t soar.
I don’t know what type of numbers the Mavs games pull, but that could be the albatross that prevents any music format from returning.
Listeners who wanted to hear music now had an acceptable alternative at KVIL. I Heart might have very well saw the numbers WMMS has with a Rock/Talk/ Sports format and thought that would fly in Dallas as well; however the Eagle didn’t soar.
I don’t know what type of numbers the Mavs games pull, but that could be the albatross that prevents any music format from returning.
music stations air sports all of the time. I think airing rock music when local programming isn’t on would be a good band aid for 97.1 right now
It could have been before Christmas when I last checked.. don't recall when - but I did check with some consistency.
http://www.971theeagle.com/ used to redirect to www.971TheFreak.com which would redirect to the iheart web address. 97.1 The Freak - We Say What We Want!
but now www.971theeagle.com is gone scrubbed poof
seems like it could have just as easily redirected to the HD2.....or maybe it did and with ratings on hd1 where they are it would have been awkward to have the hd2 beat them.
🤷♂️
http://www.971theeagle.com/ used to redirect to www.971TheFreak.com which would redirect to the iheart web address. 97.1 The Freak - We Say What We Want!
but now www.971theeagle.com is gone scrubbed poof
seems like it could have just as easily redirected to the HD2.....or maybe it did and with ratings on hd1 where they are it would have been awkward to have the hd2 beat them.
🤷♂️
i could have sworn the Eagle's site was KEGL.com. not 971theeagle.com, iHeart must have bought that domain recently
It was kegl.com for umpteen years. I believe the change came after iHeart gave up on La Preciosa, stunted with Christmas, and then returned the station to rock.
Sade to see 94.1 HD3 The Zone left us again. I wish they’d leave it alone. They had great music on that station. Are they taking that to HD1?? Doubtful. They 86’d their website too. So I think we’ve lost a good thing.
They are back again. 😼
Someone wrote above:
There are a lot of classic KEGL standbys being played here. (ALT 103.7)
THAT was one of the main issues, THE EAGLE was playing OLDIES (Led Zepplin, The Who, etc.) PLUS alternative songs mixed in with music they SHOULD be playing like, Halestorm, Godsmack, Shinedown, etc. The music was awful, the talk shows were awful, and the decision to air the Mavs was awful.
The Eagle could have been fixed by:
• Putting a great, edgier morning show on.
• Fixing the music which I could have done in one week.
• Hiring some staple personalities for the rest of the day, Cindy, Robert, Chaz, Me - anyone who is buried in the music and minds of the audience.
• And knock it off with 16 minute commercial breaks.
Those 4 things HAD TO BE DONE in order for the station to survive. If one is missing, it fails. All 4 missing means now there's a shi**y talk station being done poorly that will inevitably go down as one of the biggest disasters in Dallas radio HISTORY.
There are a lot of classic KEGL standbys being played here. (ALT 103.7)
THAT was one of the main issues, THE EAGLE was playing OLDIES (Led Zepplin, The Who, etc.) PLUS alternative songs mixed in with music they SHOULD be playing like, Halestorm, Godsmack, Shinedown, etc. The music was awful, the talk shows were awful, and the decision to air the Mavs was awful.
The Eagle could have been fixed by:
• Putting a great, edgier morning show on.
• Fixing the music which I could have done in one week.
• Hiring some staple personalities for the rest of the day, Cindy, Robert, Chaz, Me - anyone who is buried in the music and minds of the audience.
• And knock it off with 16 minute commercial breaks.
Those 4 things HAD TO BE DONE in order for the station to survive. If one is missing, it fails. All 4 missing means now there's a shi**y talk station being done poorly that will inevitably go down as one of the biggest disasters in Dallas radio HISTORY.
The sad part is they have a PD who apparently knows sports talk radio, and they’re doing the same things that have resulted in their horrible low listenership. I still find it funny how demographics changed and would no longer support KEGL. But, the changing demographics are supporting this? The only solution would be to revert back to the Eagle. It’s the easiest format that could gain traction and take a stab at audacy/103.7. flipping 97.1 to country to clear Bobby bones in Dallas would be an awful move
The songs mentioned above. The ones highlighted fit The Eagle and were rock hits. The others absolutely do NOT.
Having said that - ALL of these songs charted on Alternative, so we can't blame KVIL for playing them. (Even the songs highlighted charted on ALT except for the song by loveleytheband. I don't think that song charted anywhere.)
Not exactly true. The PD came from a news/talk station, and has experience in classic rock and rock formats.
Dominic “Zakk” Zaccagnini
Dominic “Zakk” Zaccagnini transfers from iHeartMedia Rochester/Syracuse to hot talk “97.1 The Freak” KEGL as PD. Zaccagnini joined the company in March 2022 overseeing hot talk “Radio 95.1” WAIO, “NewsRadio
My point is that KEGL played songs like "Say It Ain't So" by Weezer and "Semi-Charmed Life" by Third Eye Blind too. Whether they shouldn't have or not (the correct answer is that they shouldn't have) is another discussion. KVIL didn't need to do much other than take the standard Audacy Alt mix and put some hot sauce in it to kill KEGL because KEGL had done some of the work for them by bafflingly playing Alt hits with the aging classic rock and what little modern active rock they picked up. It's yet another example, which you helpfully explained above, of how KEGL was badly programmed and managed for years and opened the door for a struggling Audacy station once they had a competent PD and MD.
The lovelytheband song is a current (I put "C" next to the currents and an "R" next to the lone recurrent, "Just Pretend" by Bad Omens, which was an Active Rock #1 that crossed to Alternative and became a #1 there too). It's in the top 15 on the Mediabase Alternative chart right now. The other currents, "Neon Pill" by Cage The Elephant and "Leave A Light On" by Papa Roach, are Active/Alternative crossovers; CTE's song is Alternative-to-Active and PR's song is Active-to-Alternative (there is a difference between the two, the bands and their singles have different core formats/audiences). KVIL manages their currents fairly intelligently, there is a rock undertone due to them having a decent amount of Active/Alternative crossovers (the majority are Alternative-to-Active but they have a few that are the other way around), and then they have a few currents like the lovelytheband song that are pure ALT so their station's core audience is also satisfied.
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The endless purity testing is what killed this station. Endless threads about songs they shouldn't play. At one time, people listened to rock radio stations, and the music those stations played set the agenda for the great rock music of the day. Now, people come in with their favorites, and demand radio play only their favorites, and anything outside of that is bad programming. So KEGL gives up, and KVIL wins by basically filling a hole and playing songs that KEGL had been playing. But its OK now, because it's not being done by KEGL. We see the same thing with KITS in San Francisco.
And now it seems like KVIL is missing out on some great alternative tracks, because they’re still trying to fill the hole left by KEGL and trying to compete with Star 102.1 by playing these lite rock pop “alternative” tracks that you would hear on Star next to Madonna or Celine Dion. My brain is about to explode thinking about this, when in the past Alternative used to be a bit relaxing for me…