105.5 K288GY / 105.1 KUDD-HD2 flips to oldies as Kool-FM!

[CAwasinNJ]

In one way this wasn't a surprise. The previous simulcast of The Eagle on 105.5 made a little sense to me in that it gave the station coverage of the Tooele valley, but it was still too much of a duplication for my taste. In another way it is a surprise. Oldies on a Salt Lake station? I love oldies but I didn't think anyone would have the guts to do it on a station targeting the heart of the metro. (Of course we know what fmdj1 is doing down in Utah County, but that's going hyper-local which I would argue is a different ballgame.)

This is going to be really interesting to watch. I'll have to give Kool-FM a good listen to see what it's like. Also, this doesn't appear to be related to the possible change at Rewind, if you were wondering.

More from RadioInsight: radioinsight.com/headlines/202950/105-5-kool-fm-brings-60s-70s-back-to-salt-lake-city/

[jrny1]

Hmm, well Jumpin' JC - Jon Carter is teasing on Facebook that he's coming back to Salt Lake radio on Monday morning. He won't say where yet. I wonder if this is the place.

[David]

Dec 18, 2020 13:59:29 GMT -6 jrny1 said:

Hmm, well Jumpin' JC - Jon Carter is teasing on Facebook that he's coming back to Salt Lake radio on Monday morning. He won't say where yet. I wonder if this is the place.

The cat is out of the bag now: According to his Facebook page, Jon will be on 100.7 "Bob FM" beginning Monday, December 21st. Goodbye Rewind 100.7, hello Bob FM 100.7!

[CAwasinNJ]

Kool-FM is also saying that they're airing on 103.9 in Utah County. That would be K280GJ on Lake Mountain which greatly extends their range to the south and eliminates another (IMO) unnecessary duplicate since that translator was running Mix 105.1 last I checked.

But what does it sound like? I'm frankly disappointed. In the well over an hour that I listened I heard I think four 60's songs. Yes they're there. No, calling it a "60's and 70's station" is somewhat misleading. I'd put it closer to classic hits than oldies. Too bad.

[David]

I was thinking the same thing myself: Kool 105.5 sounds less like an oldies format and more like classic hits. I much prefer the music mix on KWLO "Utah's Goat". Too bad I can't hear 1580 up north, but at least Frank streams the station online.

[levoix]

I don't understand what's going on here. K288GY is a translator, which is now running its own format. KYMV has a very similar target audience (classic hits vs. 60s-70s) but is teasing a new brand Monday. Wouldn't it make more sense to tweak Rewind's playlist and rename it Kool FM? That way they don't have to do much marketing to get the audience to move over up the dial.

[CAwasinNJ]

To my thinking the 70's and 80's were very different, both musically and culturally. I don't see it.

[drpepper]

Broadway has nothing to lose at this point. x96 aside, their ratings are probably not where they want them to be. These similar stations together can chip away at the 800 pound Gorillas that are KRSP and KODJ. CoolFM is probably meant to be a flanker to 100.7.

[michaeljwyo]

Was in Salt Lake for the weekend and really enjoyed this. Reminds me kind of what KODJ used to be years ago. KODJ,like many Iheart stations, has a narrow playlist and is mostly 80s. Reminds me of Rewind, but much narrower. KOOL is a lot more broad which is refreshing.
Don't get me wrong I was a kid of the 80s but more into pop and less into rock so big hair bands like poison and Def Leppard and Bon Jovi (I will gag if I have to hear Livin On A Prayer again) don't appeal as much to me.
I wish the KOOL format would have taken over 101.5 instead and Eagle stayed on 105.5. Them I would be able to hear it in Evanston 🙂.
It is a translator and for a translator it does get out pretty well. But I can definitely see it being a little more difficult to pick up indoors, especially to the North. Kudos to Broadway for trying something a little different. I love the goat too, but really difficult to hear anywhere but Utah county...at least as far as I can tell. Also being of the engineering type, I think the AM processing is really hitting hard and squashy. Can get kind of tiring to listen to. Then again maybe that's the idea since a lot of stations back in the day did that.

Michael