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Post by oldiesfunhouse on Dec 12, 2018 9:36:21 GMT -6
I tuned into 1430 KLO's internet stream last night a little after 9 o'clock and they were playing Christmas music. At first I thought it might have been part of their old time radio they've done at night but the song sounded too new. I listened for a while and they're definitely calling themselves "Unforgettable AM 1430 KLO" I checked and the feed is the same that KRKK 1360 in Rock Springs is running. It's a satellite delivered feed with no DJs and, if they keep it after Christmas, it's a mixture of soft oldies and standards so this is kind of what we've been hoping for. Maybe the conclusion of Laura Ingraham's show had something to do with it or ... who knows but I hope it lasts and I hope they get a local personality or two like maybe Mark Van Wagoner and/or Danny Kramer in there. The top of the hour announcement said "the music of your life is back." They're not running the Music of your Life network but that's what the announcement said. They're kind of going back to where they were before they flipped to talk, I want to say over a decade ago. Thoughts ?
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KLO flips
Dec 12, 2018 14:20:11 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by David on Dec 12, 2018 14:20:11 GMT -6
I'm kind of surprised that a local AM station finally had the chutzpah to try a format other than talk, sports yak, or some Spanish language variant. According to the radio trade sites, soft A/C is presently the newest "hot" format, and most of the music I've heard on KLO so far fits into the soft A/C genre. I hope the station isn't just stunting and Capital's management will give the format a reasonable amount of time to succeed. There hasn't been a local station with a soft A/C or adult standards format since about 2010 when KDYL flipped to real oldies, so Capital needs to allow time to build an audience. I know that the format skews towards older demos, but so does the talk format KLO aired prior to their latest flip. FWIW, the female voice on the station's liners sounds like the voice from Westwood One's adult standards format. It's a format that's been reasonably successful since it launched in 1989, and it currently airs on about 200 affiliates in the U.S.
I wouldn't expect any live and local DJ's on KLO, at least not right now. I believe Mark Van Wagoner has retired from broadcasting, and Danny Kramer's Retro Media All Stars site appears to be fairly successful for an internet radio site. I'm glad that KLO is still airing CBS News at the TOH, and I hope they also continue to air the vintage radio programs overnights and on the weekends. IMHO, the old time radio programs fit in perfectly with KLO's new format. Thanks to Capital Broadcasting for trying something different on AM!
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Post by oldiesfunhouse on Dec 12, 2018 16:34:28 GMT -6
Based on last night, I'm sorry to say the vintage radio may be a casualty of the new format. I think I listened off and on into the 11 PM hour and they were playing music. I seem to remember that when KLO was standards before back in the early 2000s they ran vintage radio on Sunday afternoons. Maybe they'll go back to that. Let's hope. I hope maybe they'll pick up some of the syndicated shows of that format too like Sounds of Sinatra with Sid Mark, Dick Robinson's American Standards by the Sea, and Big Band Jump. Now we just need real oldies and an edgy shock jock type mostly nonpolitical talk station and this market will be awesome like it was in the mid 90s. One guy's opinion.
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KLO flips
Dec 12, 2018 18:31:14 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by David on Dec 12, 2018 18:31:14 GMT -6
I posted a message on KLO's Facebook page inquiring about their vintage radio programs. Their response was that they'd be airing a mix of the new format & some vintage radio, so we'll see what happens. From the looks of KLO's web site, it appears they will continue to broadcast Weber State sports and the Latter Day Radio program as well. I wonder if either KZNS or KALL will become the new affiliate for Jim Rome's show locally?
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Post by oldiesfunhouse on Dec 13, 2018 9:20:14 GMT -6
Would 860 be any kind of a possibility for the new affiliate of Jim Rome? I don't know what they run between 10 and 1 now. It would be a similar situation to what KLO had before, though--totally different set of audience for Rome than all their other shows. Could Jim Rome give KKAT more of a ... PULSE? Who knows? Thoughts?
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Dec 13, 2018 18:15:12 GMT -6
I thought somebody would hop on the soft AC bandwagon, but I didn't see this coming at all, especially this far into the Christmas season. It's almost too late to get anybody interested in the Christmas stuff. It seems like the programmers at KLO saw what was happening around the country and just jumped in with little preparation. The lack of a website seems to support that theory. After KLO had been in the talk genre for so long and with such low numbers I figured they'd just stick with it. It's going to be tough without an FM signal, but as I think I said elsewhere and David also mentioned, if there's a music format that would work on AM it would be one with higher demos and soft-AC fits. I'm a little confused though. The Radio Locator page for KRKK calls them a nostalgia station but the liners I've been hearing on KLO would indicate soft-AC. I'm guessing that RL is wrong which wouldn't surprise me at all. If it is soft-AC (as I suspect) then the syndicated shows mentioned wouldn't be a good fit at all and I wouldn't expect to hear them. I wouldn't mind hearing Sid Mark again though. I listened to him way back when he was doing a local Sinatra show in Philly and New York back in the 80's. I still clearly remember the live reads for Benzel Busch Mercedes Benz in every show, but that's another story.
It's also interesting that news is airing each hour. I don't know of many music stations that have done that any time in the last few decades outside of maybe morning drive. I wonder if they have a contract with CBS that they need to fulfill and it will be dropped when that expires. It's interesting that the feed they use is timed to allow that drop in, though the switching from the music feed to local or CBS could use a little work. Does anyone know whose satellite feed the music is?
Is it just me or is the spot load a bit high? I'm not an expert on spot loads, but listening yesterday it seemed like it was a lot.
As for Jim Rome, the show is owned by Entercom and is broadcast by CBS Sports Radio which is distributed by Westwood One which is owned by Cumulus. (Confused yet? Join the club.) Cumulus owns KKAT so that seems like a reasonable bet. According to their website, they're currently airing Armstrong and Getty and The Dana Show in that slot. I haven't heard of either. That move wouldn't surprise me.
The biggest thing KLO needs to do right now is A-D-V-E-R-T-I-S-E. Twitter feeds and Facebook pages and all that are nice, but they need to reach the potential new audience. That was one thing I've noticed for years on the old talk KLO. The last ad I saw for them was a billboard for Ingraham's show and that was about 9 years ago. They simply have little chance of succeeding by relying on their social media (which judging by their ratings is not going to be a huge following) and word of mouth. Only radio geeks search the AM dial looking for something interesting. FM can succeed somewhat by having listeners bump into it by pushing the channel or seek buttons and just landing on it by accident. That won't work on AM, both because seek is almost useless and there's just too much room between stations to make going channel by channel worthwhile for the average listener. I'm not sure I would blow a lot of advertising money right now, since it's a week and a half before Christmas and most Christmas listeners have probably settled on FM 100.3 by now. I'd probably launch an all out blitz at the beginning of the year. That's an advantage also because there's very low demand for advertising right after the holiday season and KLO can probably get pretty good rates on TV/billboards and such. That will let them stretch the budget they have even further which they will need. We'll just have to see how they play it. I wish them well.
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Post by David on Dec 13, 2018 19:46:25 GMT -6
I've noticed that several of the spots which air on KLO are ones that I've also heard on KSQN, so it could be that Capital is selling advertising as a package deal for all three of its stations. Of course, the national ads which are airing on KLO are coming from the Westwood One satellite feed, but there's some local spots that air during Weber State sports which are specific to KLO. The nostalgia/music of your life tags seem to be a catch-all for any station that airs a music format with songs squarely aimed at 50+ demos. I see it used all the time to describe any station that carries the Westwood One standards/soft a/c format. Also, I seem to recall seeing a few ads for KLO on UTA buses in the not too distant past, so maybe that's where they'll start advertising the new format. Better than nothing, I suppose.
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Post by David on Dec 13, 2018 23:42:49 GMT -6
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Dec 14, 2018 0:52:05 GMT -6
I saw the Radio Insight article as well as the All Access one (https://www.allaccess.com/net-news/archive/story/182543/klo-a-salt-lake-city-preps-format-flip) but I question both of them. Both say that the flip will happen after the holidays and that the current format is a stunt. I'm not sure that's the case. It feels like they're posting what was in a press release. There's also the question of using the word "standards." What KLO is pushing on-air is not standards. At this point I'm just going to go by what's actually on air.
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Post by David on Dec 14, 2018 1:08:24 GMT -6
A message was posted on KLO's Facebook page (by KLO Radio) which states the new format will be Christmas music until January 1st, and standards after that. The Westwood One feed traditionally airs Christmas music from the day after Thanksgiving until January 1st. That's all I know. I wouldn't read too much into the "standards" format description. Lots of rock artists from the 1970's like Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt, and Barry Manilow have released albums with covers of standards from the 1940's and 1950's. There's also the "new wave" of standards artists like Michael Buble and Steve Tyrell, and both artists get extensive airplay on the Westwood One format.
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Post by oldiesfunhouse on Dec 14, 2018 10:04:32 GMT -6
They do mention "Ol' Blue Eyes" in one of their tags so I wouldn't say Sid Mark is totally out of the question. Probably not likely but I think he could fit on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Big Band Jump, probably not. I don't even know if Mr. Kennedy is still alive. (His first name escapes me at the moment.) I first heard Dick Robinson on a station in Rhode Island when I visited there, I want to say around 2006, and I carry him on Saturday mornings on the internet station that I run--a combination of oldies and standards. I've never heard his show in Salt Lake, though. He's out of Florida. It's too bad that Westwood One America's Best Music got rid of their DJs. They had some great personalities in their hayday. Jeff Rawlins, Chick Watkins, Ed Brandt, Rick Wagstaff, Mark Hayden (he was their big voice guy). They had a guy on the weekends I really liked called KC Hayes. The other network that ran standards that 1280 KDYL ran and that KLO picked up after KDYL switched to Westwood One was really good too. Joe Lacina, Eddy Hubbard, Jack Davis and a lady named Patty Pratt did a request show on the weekends. They had a guy named Dave Rafferdy in the evenings and a John Michaels overnights that I remember. Good times, those.
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KLO flips
Dec 14, 2018 11:19:15 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by David on Dec 14, 2018 11:19:15 GMT -6
At least one thing from KLO's previous format hasn't changed: Latter Day Radio is still airing on Friday mornings. I had to laugh when I heard one of the hosts use the "World Class Talk" slogan along with "KLO 1430" at the beginning of today's show, but it takes time to adjust to any change in format.
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Post by CAwasinNJ on Dec 15, 2018 2:53:39 GMT -6
I'll bet the Latter Day Radio program was recorded some time back and they weren't informed of the format change.
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Post by oldiesfunhouse on Dec 18, 2018 13:36:39 GMT -6
I tuned in for a couple minutes on Friday and the program didn't sound prerecorded. If it was, it wasn't edited before it went out. The guy had a guest on the phone and had trouble bringing her in. I didn't listen long enough to hear them say the name of the station. I guess it could have been a repeat of an earlier show.
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KLO flips
Dec 26, 2018 12:17:53 GMT -6
via mobile
Post by David on Dec 26, 2018 12:17:53 GMT -6
The Christmas music has ended on KLO and reverted to the regular Westwood One format. It's definitely more of a soft A/C format than a standards or nostalgia format. While there are some tunes from the mid to late 1960's in the mix, most of what I've heard thus far are late 1970's/early 1980's soft A/C hits; e.g. "Hearts" by Marty Balin and "After The Love Has Gone." I see this format as being targeted more towards a 45-65 audience than the typical 65+ standards/big band format, but YMMV.
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