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Post by seattlefollower on May 14, 2021 10:10:39 GMT -6
From the KCPW-FM newsletter:
For the last two weeks of April, depending on the day and time, you unfortunately heard a broadcast that was anywhere from a little staticky to downright unlistenable.
It turns out that one of the buildings currently going up in Salt Lake also began to block the microwave path from Library Square to the transmitter in the Oquirrhs. The solution? We contracted an engineer, ordered parts, and by end-of-day April 30th, a new studio transmitter link was in place! Please accept our apologies for the disruption.
Also...
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Post by seattlefollower on Nov 23, 2020 15:59:50 GMT -6
As seems to be the pattern, many western state public broadcasters have worked to replace translator networks with larger strength full signal stations (just look at "Oregon Public Broadcasting" radio reach sometime). KUER has acquired a station in the commercial band (I would assume the license has been converted to non-commercial) and is broadcasting KUQU-FM 93.9 to better cover southwestern Utah. They have also stationed one reporter in St. George - Washington, kind of similar to OPB, who has a reporter stationed in Bend, Ore.
I am not sure why Nv-P-R exited St. George, but I would assume that the support base of pledging was not there to justify the power bill, etc.
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Post by seattlefollower on Nov 23, 2020 15:53:47 GMT -6
I heard of some troubles on Ensign Peak earlier last week, but not late Sunday into Monday. Perhaps this was the time to repair the issue from last week.
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Post by seattlefollower on Nov 15, 2020 12:23:26 GMT -6
In regards to the musical changes mentioned, the audiences only continue to change over time. 1990 is now 30 years in the past. So if you're talking about finding an audience for (what was already niche) music from approx. 1978-1992, your audience is likely only a few of the meters in the Nielsen Audio sample. As X96 continues to play a few alternative hits from the 1990s (and one would assume K-Bear plays "rock" hits from the decade), KLO-FM's niche is probably in keeping the older end of that audience and maybe even an audience that feels forgotten by the 'Jack FMs' of the world, which mainly stick to pop.
Personally, I find the music mix really pleasant for a weekday "at work" listen, although I don't love Andrea's presentation. Outside of Utah, popular alternative / singer-songwriter music that was heavily spun from c. 1996 - 2002 on stations like KBEE or KQMB have largely been ignored by radio (except maybe some AAA stations). I suspect there's an audience for it.
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Post by seattlefollower on Nov 8, 2020 18:38:57 GMT -6
Apparently I cannot edit my last post.
I was going to add - As did the commercially licensed/operated Christian contemporary on 104.1 FM and "K-Love" has flipped their classics channel, which airs on a translator in the market at 103.7.
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Post by seattlefollower on Nov 8, 2020 11:18:47 GMT -6
iHeartRadio's KKCW-FM "K103" in Portland, Ore. has also flipped. Made one of the local TV news outlets.
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Post by seattlefollower on Nov 8, 2020 0:25:12 GMT -6
I had reason to pass through Idaho's Treasure Valley this past weekend and this. Last weekend, Cumulus' soft AC had already started on Halloween. This weekend it was joined by "107-9 Lite FM" (Townsquare?) and locally operated non-comm KTSY (which repeats into the Magic Valley).
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Post by seattlefollower on Sept 28, 2020 13:47:39 GMT -6
It's possible this is a fall / flexible option as well. CW announced earlier than "the big 4 networks" a shift to its debut off the traditional late September/early October fall start due to COVID-19 production related delays in British Columbia and elsewhere. Also, I believe a lion's share of the audience for their programs at this point is truly from their Netflix exclusive arrangement (not sure when that is ending).
Early this year, advertising on traditional media made a big shift and in most cases (including Nexstar), linear advertising is now being sold on impressions rather than traditional Nielsen ratings points. So, CW may not mind.
As early as a few seasons ago (back when CW had a few more 'adult' programs with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Jane the Virgin) shows were available on the CW app at midnight eastern, so that's 10 pm in Utah. I think the app may have changed now so that you can live stream your affiliate (not sure) or have almost instant access to shows as they air on regular television.
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Post by seattlefollower on Sept 28, 2020 13:41:47 GMT -6
While not an owner of any signals in Utah, Radio.com/Entercom Communications recently continued to "Riff" stations nationwide as they consolidate programming in country and alternative formats. iHeart has already done a lot of this around the country, probably even on formats in SLC that have air talent. Cumulus has been pointed to in the past as one of these.
So far Bonneville and Alpha Media continue to hold onto local personalities where possible, it seems.
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Post by seattlefollower on Jul 29, 2020 12:52:55 GMT -6
Who knows where the calls will end up. I can’t blame them for getting rid of that AM. The average person has no idea how much it costs to operate one especially since many people don’t even tune into the AM band anymore. And then with this pandemic, sales tanked everywhere. 1. I hope y'all are doing alright over there at the KSOP-AM/FM cluster. 2. I think this would be a good time to introduce my snapshot of things from another midsize market: (Personal aside, I wondered if we were headed for recession, March rapidly accelerated things...)2019 vs. 2020 January Local revenue 12.5% behind last year National revenue up 27.65 Total rev (incl. digital) down 2.8%
Feb - unavailable
March Local revenue down 34% National revenue down 16% Total rev (incl. digital) down 25%
Q1 for the market Total rev down 11% Local down 19% National up 2% (must have been that Jan lift)
April - unavailable
May Down 53.4% overall Local down 62.5% National down 55.1%
June Down 45.5% overall
Q2 for the market: Down 52%So, yeah, I'm glad I'm not a radio salesperson that works on commission and I'm really glad I don't own an AM radio station, especially as part of only a 3 station cluster.
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Post by seattlefollower on Jul 18, 2020 0:02:06 GMT -6
Radio listenership drops off substantially after PM Drive when commuters get home. Of course right now PM Drive doesn't exist for most people which is one of many things throwing the radio world into chaos. Local sports talk has enough passion behind it to sustain it in the early evening I think, but by 10PM radio is not only fighting TV, Netflix and all those other entertainment choices but it's also fighting people needing to go to sleep. A live show from 9-10 might be viable, but after 10 I don't think so. As someone that creates radio commercial logs for a living, I can tell you that almost all national clients now stop at 10 pm with the exception of "bonus" rotators that are usually available to be placed anywhere in a 7 day period from 5 or 6 am to midnight. Also starting this year, almost all media selling is moving away from 'ratings points' and to impression goals. We are starting to see underdelivery campaigns arrive with high amounts of "make good" commercials but they can run anywhere from 5 am to 2 am. As I previously worked for a time in TV traffic, many TV broadcast days are built 5 am to 2 am.
I think broadcast TV has tried to open up that 'morning news' time period for political buys so that's why some start with morning news now at 4:30 in mid-sized markets, 4 in top 10 markets like Los Angeles.In addition, many spots except on the highest rated stations in the evening are going for $15 or less, starting in the 7 pm (sometimes even 6p-8p) hour.
In the market I first started with PPM in, it showed a substantial decline in listenership starting with the 6 pm hour. Some agencies got wise and fought for 3p-6p.One can view a national source graphic from Nielsen Audio National Regional Database here: Nielsen: Audio Today 2019
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Post by seattlefollower on Jun 19, 2020 12:08:44 GMT -6
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Post by seattlefollower on Jun 19, 2020 11:58:18 GMT -6
In my market, listenership overall is down (about 40% from normal). The big "winner" was a hybrid classic and contemporary rock station. They usually do well with men, so it could be that because 'essential' workplaces like warehouses remained in operation, those stations got a lift. (I had a friend that worked in a warehouse and I believe they could only choose from the above mentioned station or a mainstream A/C)
In the cluster where I work, our news/talk station was actually very highly rated as was the market's public news station, although the latter did take a bit of a hit from normal.
The country and CHR stations are down a bit and the one "in office/car safe" rock format we have was down, which the programmers attributed to the same reason CAwasinNJ mentions, being dependent on drive time listenership.
Despite having little to no sports available to cover, our sports station is actually doing quite solidly and not seeing any ratings decline during this time.
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Post by seattlefollower on Jun 19, 2020 11:53:19 GMT -6
...Having said that, I think some of the KSL.com comment board moderators are very arbitrary and capricious in deciding which posts are approved and which posts are rejected... Nice reference and clever. :-)
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Post by seattlefollower on May 28, 2020 11:19:30 GMT -6
I'm enjoying the kickoff to the X96 fake festival so far. There have been some great on-air promos (I honestly thought they were having a concert on first listen!) and now it's kicking off with one of the best bands ever, Oingo Boingo.
Anyone else hearing anything surprising or unusual on the local airwaves?
Personally treasured Oingo Boingo memory: Working at ZCMI (by then Meier & Frank) in downtown Salt Lake City. The only radio station we could receive was KCPW so this CD was playing constantly in our stock room.
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