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Post by seattlefollower on Nov 11, 2022 11:53:52 GMT -6
Out of market, but iHeart flipped KKCW-FM (K103) in Portland, Ore. on Thursday. Earliest I've ever heard it. rrconline.org/schedules/nelsen-release-dates/Did Nielsen Audio adjust how surveys are done? These dates are very confusing. The weeks are still Thursday - Wednesday though, no?
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Post by seattlefollower on Oct 20, 2022 13:10:03 GMT -6
1600 AM is silent.
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Post by seattlefollower on Sept 13, 2022 16:57:32 GMT -6
What if somebody bought KKEX, KQMB, and its translator and put the same station on all of them? You'd have quite a signal from Levan and Utah County, all the way into the Cache Valley in Idaho. The fact that I don't ever remember anyone doing that makes me wonder if someone trying to do this would be breaking laws. If one company owned all the stations in the area on that frequency, it wouldn't matter if they "protected" each other. Of course they'd have to protect stations in other cities on that frequency but as far as their own, CRANK UP THE POWER BABY! If all parties were agreeable, and I know that's a big IF, would there be any legal rammifications to prevent something like that from happening? So. Interesting idea. I will say that if you look north of Utah to eastern Idaho, this is already being done by a few owners (one of whom lives or did live in Salt Lake City).
Two country properties have been under this set up for some time as "The Wolf" - 96.1 FM, which is on East Butte in the Arco desert and covers all of the area comfortably (more or less), simulcasts with 102.1 FM which is located on a mountaintop between the Idaho side of the Tetons and the Snake River plain. I don't know if radio locator is up to date, but due to geographic terrain this station may also be on translators in Wyoming's Teton Valley as well. 96.1 used to have a translator in Pocatello due to terrain at 107.1 FM but that has adjusted to 96.9 FM after being impacted by KQEO-FM 107.1.
Another property owned by this same group "Star 98" took over 98.1 in the upper Snake River Valley and then was always a hot AC on 98.5 near Pocatello. The 98.5 signal in the Pocatello area is kind of weak and does not extend very far north, and 98.1 is on the Iona Hill to the northeast of Idaho Falls so it does not get into the deep Portneuf River Valley where a lot of Pocatello is located (it is "ok" on the areas near Chubbuck and going northward).
Finally, this group has one more station that is in a similar situation with the "98" grouping, they play classic rock. 94.9 FM is on Howard Mountain, which covers Pocatello and areas to the north, west, and south pretty well but is fairly weak north of Idaho Falls. So, they've comboed this up with 104.5 FM which is located on Iona Butte.
Before this was allowed, all of these had separate programming - 94.9, 96.1, 98.1, 98.5, 102.1, and 104.5. I believe 104.5 may have moved frequencies or been allocated as part of shuffling in eastern Idaho, southern Idaho, and northern Utah. That did not exist when I lived in the area.
Another group did a similar thing and has rebranded their country property "KUPI 99" because 99.1, which had the format and calls for years, is simulcast on a southern coverage improver at 99.9 FM. At one point there were 3 Kew-pies, 99.1, 99.5 and 99.9. I believe 99.5 was shuffled to a new frequency and assumed new programming.
A lot of what has facilitated all of this was the FCC studio changes - it is not required to have a studio located within a certain tighter distance of the originating tower, so now most of these stations can operate out of one centralized space instead of 2 to 3 others that are just costing the operator cash. The other change has to do with formats. For example, in Utah 94.9 is relaying 101.9's format now, yes? That was previously not allowed under FCC guidelines but has changed.
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Post by seattlefollower on Aug 18, 2022 8:52:15 GMT -6
This one is pretty subtle so far - "X96" is playing some more music during 'radio from h--l' (not sure if this board censures that word). It used to be quite a 'benchmark' to hear both the sign on song that usually was related to some sort of music-related reason for the day, birthday or recent passing of a musician, etc. and then the secondary 'benchmark' at 9 am Mountain time for the "9 o'clock potty break."
Today I heard a 'throwback/classic alternative' mainstream cut with an introductory line about "remember when X96 sounded like this..." or something like that, in the 8 am hour.
The station is also running promos ahead of commercial breaks claiming they are now playing a deeper library with more 'library' cuts of artists and older music. "Alternative" has been in an odd position for some time, similar to "hip hop" in that there are now deep 1990s libraries available and not as many new artists with a clear 'non conforming' vibe from what is considered mainstream/charting music.
The company I work for has done something similar with its Triple A (one of the few remaining commercial ones nationwide), first starting out with playing more and more new music, including some 'pop' from artists like Billie Eilish or Harry Styles but have since now pivoted older and are spinning a few golds from bands like America or Simon & Garfunkel, etc. instead.
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Post by seattlefollower on Jul 19, 2022 16:35:10 GMT -6
Read this today:
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Post by seattlefollower on Jul 8, 2022 11:16:50 GMT -6
Wow! I am not a big fan of hip hop but have recently found myself listening to more R&B "throwback" stations, in my local market that is "Jam'n" 107.5 which changed first in 2014. I do find WMJM Louisville more interesting, though - more R&B, less hip hop. However, after seeing this post, I thought I'd give KUUU a try. I never listened to KUUU when I lived in Utah, but it's sounding good to me right now. I did find it interesting they used an imaging sting to highlight a Ja Rule throwback after already playing several songs that are 15-20 years old at this point surrounding it. I suppose what hit me about that was that I probably haven't heard a Ja Rule song on a non-hip hop/urban focused station in years, whereas crossovers from Eminem or P. Diddy or Nelly might crack into a Bob/Jack/variety FM or a specialty format on a Hot AC/CHR. Travis Scott didn't seem to fit as well to me with the older tunes, but I see why he's there. The other "new" song I heard so far in the past hour or so is 'young, wild, and free' by Wiz Kalifia, which I don't even think is that new. My personal favorite throwback station for many years was "Groove 99.3" in Bakersfield, though they do not add any newer music. It seems like U92 is going to pull in that "female, 36 year old" demo... which might work for advertisers, kinda right in the center of 25-54 and 18-49. These midday commercial breaks remind me of X96 though, so clearly their sales team is still doing cross-selling when they can.
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KZNS
Jun 27, 2022 15:19:13 GMT -6
Post by seattlefollower on Jun 27, 2022 15:19:13 GMT -6
On the Spanish side, (Is it 107.1 that is the FM for the Spanish Jazz games?), those were in stereo. The crowd noise was in stereo. I don't know if they were real crowd sounds or fake since I don't know if the Spanish announcers were in the arena or broadcasting from a studio due to Covid. Since I'm not a Spanish speaker I didn't listen for any real length of time. "Juan" 1600 KTUB is the Spanish-language home of the Utah Jazz, sometimes also airing on KBMG-FM "Latino." (Yes, Aerostar took it one year away from Alpha) and is sports-oriented a majority of the broadcast day/year.
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Post by seattlefollower on Mar 2, 2022 13:49:08 GMT -6
This reminds me a bit of the threads above about AM stations in the Salt Lake area, this station used to be non-commercial and held by a church, but it seems it was sold. Idaho AM Station Faces FCC Hearing
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Post by seattlefollower on Feb 17, 2022 15:38:07 GMT -6
Thanks admin, good stuff from Ross on Radio. I didn't realize that we were so dependent on self-reporting for so long, really brings some questions/insights into chart toppers. (post-payola, pre-soundscan)
Trying out iHeart 90s today and it's pretty decent, actually. The main problem I have is that they seem to have gone with a 1960s style singing jingle package, which sounds really out of place in the format in my humble opinion.
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Post by seattlefollower on Feb 14, 2022 17:09:30 GMT -6
Y'all are welcome to challenge me on this... but I've been listening to some old air checks today and am just left scratching my head. Where did music that was popular with more 'adult' and 'female' formats from the mid 90s - early 00s go, exactly? I mean yes, you may still hear a track from Christina Aguilera or Britney Spears since they inserted themselves into popular culture/discussion again, but many others have just disappeared. I can't think of the last time I've heard artists like: Hootie and the Blowfish Des'ree Seal Paula Cole Sarah McLachlan Phil Collins (except a few 80s hits) Celine Dion (except maybe "My Heart Will Go On") Enya Michelle Branch Vanessa Carleton Marc Anthony Enrique Iglesias Janet Jackson
I acknowledge the years I have mentioned were a transition period when popular music was borrowing more and more from 1980s R&B and rap breaking into popular culture. This is part of what prompted my curiosity, seeing the Super Bowl Halftime Show, which didn't present new music, but instead threw back to popular hip hop artists and songs from the same era.
In our community we have a pretty solid 'adult contemporary' that is using the claim they play music from the 80s to present, but we all know how narrow iHeart playlists tend to be. I never felt like "Jack" or its clones fully captured this same time period very well either, sticking stronger in the 1980s. Here the variety hits station even flips back to all 1980s cuts for the Saturday and Sunday playlists.
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Post by seattlefollower on Feb 10, 2022 9:55:44 GMT -6
Apparently the drivers can at least adjust the volume of their console so if they want silence, that is possible. My question after reading both KUOW-FM's explanation and the Seattle Times article on the matter is "why can't the FCC step in and ask them to turn off their HD transmitter?" I'm not an engineer, but I believe the Xperi HDRadio portion of a station's hybrid-digital signal is optional and can be turned off, right? I'm sure in Utah, one of the pub-casters would "die" for such a ratings/signal boost. KUOW: We Didn't Mean To Ruin Your Mazda's Stereo
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Post by seattlefollower on Dec 28, 2021 13:55:47 GMT -6
I will be curious to hear what they do in my home market as she appears to be a licensed voice for the Bob/Jack clone and it is not owned by iHeart. I'm sure iHeart would like to clear her midday program on the classic hits station they own in this market.
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Post by seattlefollower on Dec 28, 2021 13:53:34 GMT -6
Thanks KEnglish. Yes, there were issues and things got back on track. The company was observing the Christmas holiday on Friday 12/24.
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Post by seattlefollower on Aug 25, 2021 10:57:24 GMT -6
As someone who works with some of these stations, we were not informed of any off-air periods so this is interesting. Glad things are back to normal.
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Post by seattlefollower on Aug 25, 2021 10:56:42 GMT -6
I listened for awhile to the stream today. There seemed to be pop and crackle at times, almost as if a physical scratched record was playing. I quit listening because the extraneous noise was irritating. I'm hearing it right now on Natasha Beddingfield after the commercial break at :20 after the hour (10:20 Utah time). It sounds like it is going in a little "hot" to the streaming box so it is overloading. Frank, you have a really nice commercial voice and that message about the storage place is persuasive... better than a lot of radio ads the stations I work for are forced to run these days hoping for those remnant ad $$$.
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