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KRTH has finally added more 90's
- Thread starter 34james
- Start date
Uptown Funk is in regular rotation on KRTH? I took a look at the playlist. Some songs seem to fit pretty well (Alanis Morisette seems to be a regular). With that being said, you’ve also got the Backstreet Boys in there as well. Still not seeing how a classic hits listener wants to hear this amalgamation of songs. Hard pass.
While I agree with your taste, my guess is that "Uptown Funk" tests extremely well among KRTH listeners. I am not sure what made a song so recent, however, stand out to programmers.
JMO. Uptown Funk sounds like Michael Jackson classics from the 80’s with the same percussion section. It sounds very “old school “ , and Bruno Mars has the same voice tonality and phrasing as Michael. Maybe that’s why it tests well with listeners. Just my opinion. - Daryl
Yes and also a shift in median demos made KRTH change the playlists to make way for more 90's songs. It's a good move on them to do so. I understand there's a certain portion of KRTH fans who liked when Elvis and the Beatles were on the playlists but that audience is fading away and it has to adapt to where we are today.
It's not about demographic changes in the market. The music shifts in KRTH are entirely based on the station having a 35-54 basic age target and the fact that people get a year older every year. So, as time goes by, some of their listeners age out of what they want, while others enter the category of possible listeners.
The other thing that has changed is the ethnic composition of the market, which is now about 75% Hispanic, Black, Asian and first generation immigrants of other origins. The tastes in music of those groups is not the same as non-Hispanic whites, even if they like English language contemporary music gold.
Those Elvis and Beatles fans are in their 70's now... and have not interested KRTH for about two decades.
Their mix is for LA. You don't live in LA. Problem solved.
I’ll use myself as an example. I’m in the early part of their key demo. All of the songs K-Earth’s playing now were from the core part of my youth (‘Uptown Funk’, with its 80s funk influenced beat, came out as I had already graduated from high school and junior college); therefore, someone like myself would likely be listening.
I’m technically below their key demo (27), and this sounds like the early stages of a format train wreck to me. Not saying that “Uptown Funk” is a bad song, but I don’t see how it logically fits next to Madonna, Phil Collins, and other staples of the format. In fact, it seems like a complete departure from the entire format. Again, not a bad song, but it fits on KOST not KRTH.
I’m sure that the song tests decently, but the context of sitting in your car and hearing it come on KRTH is a different story. I’ll give KRTH some credit for playing a decent variety of songs, but think this one is the wrong move.
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Let me guess...they’re playing “Mr. Brightside”? Arguably their biggest U.S. hit from the mid 2000s. They’ve released a few albums since then, but their first one (‘Hot Fuss’) is the most well known.
Yes that and another song. Now in reg rotation
The Killers get 7 spins a week, mostly in evenings and overnights.
From what I can see, the morning show talked about last night's Grammy awards.
Well it's a different era and KRTH has to grow with the current audience. Sure some of this is to attract everyone to the Audacy app. But most likely the current median audience in the Los Angeles radio market.
No, they are not staples of the format in extremely white Seattle. But they definitely are, and proven by research, in LA. The market is less than 25% non-Hispanic white born-in-the-USA residents. In 25-54, it is near 70% Hispanic, Asian and and Black, and about 10% first generation immigrants that don't fit any of the "big 3" ethnicities (they are Persian, Armenian, Russian, etc.)
What KRTH is playing is the music that a significant portion of the 35-54's in the ethnic / recent immigrant groups will also like. So it's right for LA, but not for Seattle or Fargo or Birmingham or Little Rock.
Again, you are using a Seattle standard for an LA station.
They have been inching in this direction for years, each time with adequate testing here in LA.
When they add more 70s, I’ll start listening again 😁
They will slowly be removing the ones that are left.
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