U92 stunting

[henry]

I'm not happy. But I can't say I didn't see this coming.

U92 is running a loop of a British-American journalist set to a rap beat. It's a fun piece of music I've never heard before and, learned tonight, that it's a huge hit on TikTok among people half my age.

The station is promoting three main points:

• The stunt ends Monday at 3 PM
• They're giving away gas for 92 cents next week
• Time to say goodbye to the "U" but not "92"
• The station is still running spots

I'm guessing my old-school gravy train has hit the end of the track. Guessing the station is going to double down on Gen Z/Alpha and re-brand as "92.5 The Beat." But that's just a guess; we'll see.

-----

An editorial:

Some of us, U92 is a significant part of our upbringing in Utah. U92 was a rebellious place in the late 1990s, alongside X96. They were places the edgier kids tuned into or -- heaven forbid, put a sticker on their car! As a devout LDS teen at the time, it felt to satisfying to sneakily dip into the alternative and hip-hop scenes. Everywhere else (ZHT, KISN, Star) was "safe." But you never knew what fun you'd hear on U92 (or X96). Nothing lasts forever. Most legacy radio stations don't end in a bang like Musicradio 77 WABC or WNBC or even recently with WPLJ. They disappear with a whimper. KUBE 93 vanished in Seattle, in a whimper, for instance.

X96 is legacy at 30 years old. U92 is 23. (For comparison, KISN 97 was around for 24 years).

I know few on this board are young enough to mourn the loss of U92. Perhaps that's the station's problem. Perhaps that's the INDUSTRY'S problem. Oh well.

[David]

Radio Insight mentioned the stunting on U92 in an article published on Friday.
radioinsight.com/headlines/236541/u92-salt-lake-city-jiggle-jiggles-into-stunt-mode/

[amanuensis]

Henry, it is funny how what was once "rebellious" eventually becomes mainstream. It happened with the Rat Pack. It happened in my generation with songs like "Hot Blooded" and groups like AC/DC -- which are now in regular rotation on LDS-owned KRSP.

[Timmy]

Why wouldn't we guess that KOOL is coming? Doesn't that seem more obvious given what's been going on?

[CAwasinNJ]

This is just my guess but maybe some are misreading one of those points. I think it's "goodbye to you" not "goodbye to U." The usual trick there is a vacation giveaway, but it could be 92.5 saying goodbye to the U92 format when it moves to 92.1 as I suggested in the  I think I may have figured out where KOOL is going thread.

The really astonishing thing in all this is that something like Jiggle Jiggle is a viral hit.  Seriously?

[U92]

U has been branded as "U92.5" all week.

I really doubt Broadway is dumping it's strong signal to indulge Boomers (an unsaleable demo) with oldies. They are going to make 92.5 win a young demo they can sell.

I feel confident asking KOOL is NOT going to 92.5. That's would be insane.

[David]

Aug 6, 2022 21:39:45 GMT -6 U92 said:

U has been branded as "U92.5" all week.

I really doubt Broadway is dumping it's strong signal to indulge Boomers (an unsaleable demo) with oldies. They are going to make 92.5 win a young demo they can sell.

I feel confident asking KOOL is NOT going to 92.5. That's would be insane.

Boomers are an "unsaleable demo"? OK, whatever. If that's the case, why was KOOL FM 105.5 pulling better ratings than U92 before Broadway Media abruptly relegated the format to an HD subchannel? Take a look at some of the most recent comments about local radio on U92's Facebook page. Most of the 18-34 demographic has long since moved on to streaming their music from Pandora, Spotify, iTunes, etc., and downloading music from the internet. That's probably one of the reasons why KUUU's ratings have been circling the drain for years now. If Broadway is planning on making 92.5 appeal to a young demo they can sell, good luck--they're going to need it. IMO, radio is dying because they've mostly given up on trying to appeal to any listeners over the age of 45, when boomers and the Gen X'ers would gladly spend more time listening to the radio if there were more stations that catered to them.

[henry]

Ratings =/= revenue

KOOL had fantastic ratings. Great. What ad agency wants to buy people over 60? Seriously. Show me one.

That's why KODJ is playing stuff into the 90s now. Oldies stations don't go to newer music because they hate oldies. They do it because the money is in F 18-39. That's the money demo. It's why B98.7 has had mediocre (at best) ratings for 20 years and still churns cash for Cumulus.

[David]

Sorry, I'm still not buying the tired old saw that radio listeners over 50 are an unsaleable demo. You're not going to convince me that everyone who listens to Arrow 103.5 or Bob FM is younger than 50. If that were the case, neither one of those stations would be playing any music recorded prior to 1990, because older music supposedly doesn't appeal to the so-called money demo. Why is Broadway Media keeping 3-4 DJ's on the payroll for an HD subchannel that barely shows in the ratings, and whose audience is an unsaleable demo?

There are plenty of successful radio stations in the U.S. with formats that cater to demos besides the coveted 18-39 age group. Just because there aren't any in this market doesn't mean they don't exist.

[henry]

Right, but what makes better sense in your agency buy? A strong youth-oriented station or people over **SIXTY**?

KOOL isn't your run-of-the-mill classic hits format running heavy late-70s and 80s music. It was playing oldie oldies from the 1960s. I think I even heard an occasional 50s track. And it hurts the Boomer demo to hear this, but KOOL is basically Music of Your Life. And 20 years ago, I heard the same tired argument from the Silent Generation crowd that MOYL was a saleable format -- advertisers will buy the over 60 crowd... And gradually pretty much every MOYL station disappeared, until the programming jumped away from big band music entirely.

KOOL is a cool station. I like(d) KOOL. Put it back on 105.5. Or on 92.1. But putting it on a full-Farnsworth signal is a waste of a signal. But it won't sell national buys, Pete.

To a large community of Utahns, it's yet another form of gentrification. The one cool station that Pacific Islanders, Blacks, and Hispanics had kind of been making their own gets replaced by the musical equivalent of a McMansion. Another way for old white people, who keep outbidding them when they try to buy their first house, once again over indulging themselves—— *another vacation home, another rental investment property... another oldies station after KODJ and KRSP...*

---

The good news is that this stunt really seems to target Gen Z/Alpha. They all know this TikTok meme (I didn't). U had been fooling around with its branding this past month, including having a voicetracker mess up and ID as "92.5 the Beat" all afternoon. It's not a stunt to target Boomers nor Xers/Millenials like me. Wisely, I think they are going to re-focus and try to do some youth-oriented format. May not be hip-hop. But something.

But I'm sticking to my guns -- KOOL would be a very short-sighted and geriatric decision for Broadway. Full stop.

There are plenty of successful radio stations in the U.S. with formats that cater to demos besides the coveted 18-39 age group. Just because there aren't any in this market doesn't mean they don't exist.

Show me ONE. Big signal. Big market (Nielsen market 50+). Full market. Old oldies (1960s). (I'll soften my opinion if you can find one).

[dspete]

Seems like a few flips happening around the country to Oldies most recent Oldies 107.9 in Santa Rosa www.oldies1079.com and if you look at Radio Insight you see it happening in there format change area not alot but some stations are changing.
I have nothing against hip hop but it was so much fun back in the day now it's all about women's anatomy, violence how much money they can throw around at strip clubs!
It's actually a red face turner when you have the kids in cars and half the song is blurred or bleeped out?
Not a religious person and not saying other music formats don't do the same but it's nice to hear music where it was played on instruments and not just programmed by drum machine on a Ipad.
I just don't see another use for a Top 40 station in this market and or another classic hits covered very well.
Hip Hop and EDM have there place and I hope it survives on a station in Utah and I'm thinking its just a rebrand but the question is will it be on 92.1? or 92.5?
And I was there when U92 started with it's loop of Oops I Did it Again before the sigh on!
I'm sorry but listening to oldies or even classic rock as in Pink Floyd or Beatles or even Classic Alternative seems a little more intelligent then hearing (WAP)?

[CAwasinNJ]

Saying 50+/oldies/Boomers/whatever is "an unsaleable demo" is certainly hyperbole. The fact remains that the numbers are undeniable. 50+ demos sell for less money. Period. We can debate the reasons why and whether those listeners are worth more than that and what can be done about it and so on until we're blue in the face, and MANY have. IT DOESN'T MATTER. I can't emphasize that enough. Until those ad rates change every broadcaster is stuck with them. If you have some way of convincing ad buyers to spend as much for 50+ as they do for 18-34 you will be rich beyond your wildest dreams. Seriously.

But getting back to the topic at hand. It doesn't make sense to me that U92 would be stunting with something that's at least similar to the existing format unless they planned to keep it in some form or another. The existing listener base will still listen and the non-listeners didn't care before and they still won't care. (This of course excludes radio geeks who are a tiny fraction of the population, present company excluded.)

[David]

I'm not disagreeing that 50+ demos sell for less money when it comes to advertising, but making a blanket statement that the demo is "unsaleable" is oversimplifying the issue. If it were true, then there wouldn't be ANY oldies stations at all. No radio broadcaster is going to put a format on the air that's not going to turn at least a small profit. I know that KRSP is considered a classic rock station, but a significant portion of their playlist is music that's 40-50 years old. It's not the type of music that appeals to most people in the 18-34 age group.

I work for a large government agency, and at least 50% of the employees in my team are in the 18-34 demo. I can definitely tell you that they're NOT listening to the radio when they have their headphones or ear buds on while they're working in their cubicles. They're listening to music from iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, and other online music services. In fact, I doubt most of them are barely aware of terrestrial radio at all. The ones that are listening to sports, news/talk, or music radio stations at my place of employment are all over 40.

[henry]

But do you want KOOL to turn into the Arrow? Part of what makes KOOL cool was the really old playlist of songs.

It's a novelty for a younger audience, but anyone under the age of 60 is going to bore of that really quickly. Which means KOOL would have to become an Arrow/Bob clone -- or never make money to justify a Farnsworth signal. However you slice it, KOOL on 92.5 makes no sense.

I work for a large government agency, and at least 50% of the employees in my team are in the 18-34 demo. I can definitely tell you that they're NOT listening to the radio when they have their headphones or ear buds on while they're working in their cubicles. They're listening to music from iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, and other online music services. In fact, I doubt most of them are barely aware of terrestrial radio at all. The ones that are listening to sports, news/talk, or music radio stations at my place of employment are all over 40.

You're absolutely correct. And a complaint I've made for years! When I would tell this to GMs/PDs, they just kept parroting the national line about how "radio reaches 90% of youth... blah blah blah."

Radio is a streaming platform. These Gen Z/alpha kids spend *disgustingly* long amounts of time on Twitch watching live streams and appointment viewing. But radio is still playing a 1960s-1990s game, which Spotify does a better job with now. Heck, even my 67-year-old mother now uses iHeartRadio to listen to her right-wing shows as podcasts instead of KNRS. Sit a young PD down, hand them the keys to 92.5, and say "Go all 'Twitch' on this place." The one advantage? Twitch can't play copyrighted music. Radio can! Livestream the crap out of the station like it's a Twitch stream and you'll win over a young audience and get them excited. But it can't be the old "songs, sweeper, stopset" game.

[amanuensis]

I just spent a half hour of my life that I will never get back listening to KUUU do their stunting. The fact that they are still running their advertising makes me think that it is more likely than not that 3 pm will come, they will announce where the gas is to be had, and then they will go back to playing music focused on their existing demo. If so, my fingers are crossed that 92.1 switches to KOOL.

BTW, if I was an advertiser on KUUU, I would be reaching out to my station contact and saying, "you won't be billing us for those spots, right?"