from the St. Paul Pioneer Planet
February 8, 2001
Brian Lambert
Media columnist
RADIO Column
In the Twin Cities, morning drive is, of course, strictly a competition for second place. The Morning Crew of KQRS-FM (92.5) completely dominates the time slot. If Howard Stern at $600,000 a year couldn't shake a handful of ratings points off KQ, how could anyone expect Bob Yates to hurt it?
--snips--
MINNESOTA: At 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 3, the Rock 100.3 format apparently ended on WRQC (Minneapolis). The station abruptly cut out of the Howard Stern show, went into a break, and came out of it saying "in less than three days, an old friend is coming home." After some filler music, WRQC joined KFAN/1130, and KFAN/K102 Operations Manager and K102 Program Director Gregg Swedberg had a mock press conference. There were a few mentions of "Jammin' Oldies" and also that Stern probably wouldn't be back on 100.3. You may recall that Sweddberg was the PD of WLOL/99.5 before MPR bought the frequency. WRQC is also running liners saying "coming soon, a new radio station customized just for you."
(8/3/99)
from: All Access Net News
August 3, 1999
As hinted on ALL ACCESS, AMFM's WRQC (ROCK 100.3)/MINNEAPOLIS has dropped the format and is currently simulcasting with Sports sister KFAN-AM (1130) as of 10:30a, right in the middle of HOWARD STERN's show.
Meanwhile, sister Country KEEY (K102) PD GREG SWEDBERG is on the air at 100.3 with a "press conference" answering questions about the changes and hinting that STERN would not return to 100.3, and hinting that "inless than three days old friend is coming home" and "guess who's coming back to town."
Promos on the air at 100.3 are saying "coming soon, a new radio station customized just for you." Smart guesses are that the old call letters WLOL are about to make a return with the TWIN CITIES and the format will be JAMMIN' OLDIES. Look for a debut on THURSDAY or FRIDAY at the latest. No word on the fates of the ROCK 100.3 airstaff yet.
from: fmqb.com
You can reach the former staff through MacLeash at (612) 339-0000 or at Lauren@Cities97.com.
from the: Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Wednesday, August 4, 1999
Howard Stern, the self-proclaimed King of All Media, was ousted from the Twin Cities radio kingdom Tuesday by the only force powerful enough to shut him up: bad ratings.
The anticipated battle between Stern and local giant Tom Barnard of KQRS (92.5 FM) never materialized. Since Stern's New York-based show had its debut on Rock 100 (WRQC, 100.3 FM) in April 1997, it consistently drew less than half of Barnard's "Morning Show" audience in the all-important 18-34 age group and has even trailed Dave Ryan's show on KDWB (101.3 FM).
Rock 100 finally conceded by ditching both Stern and its hard-rock format.
"The ratings never became what we thought they would," said Marc Kalman, general manager of Rock 100. "There were two very strong, funny homegrown guys, and that's highly unusual."
Kalman said he phoned Stern's people Friday to tell them of the change. That's not a call Stern is used to getting.
Shock jock Stern remains one of the most popular morning-radio figures in the country, especially on the East and West coasts. But observers said Tuesday that Stern's humor, which includes flatulence contests and lesbian dating shows, doesn't play as well in the Midwest.
"I haven't been to the Twin Cities that much, but I got the impression that people there are very nice," said Tom Moon, director of operations for Duncan's American Radio, a radio research firm in Cincinnati. "I think Stern's brand of being outrageous just to be outrageous didn't fly."
Maybe not, although Barnard will never be mistaken for Mr. Rogers. His share has eroded, but he remains the most dominant morning personality in any U.S. market, thanks in part to effective marketing, said Tom Taylor, editor of M Street Journal, a radio-industry publication.
"In cases where there has been a very strong presence on a rock station, it's been harder for Stern to get traction," he said.
Reaction to Stern's departure was mixed during the lunch hour in downtown Minneapolis.
"I think it's good," said Anita Hatcher, 21, of Wayzata. "He's vulgar and degrading to women. He's terrible."
Jim Collins, 19, will miss Stern. "I'll just have to keep watching 'Private Parts' over and over," he said, referring to Stern's feature film.
Stern's contract will pay him through April, said former Rock 100 program director Andy Bloom, who signed Stern. That amounts to a six figures "not a small number," Bloom said.
'Jammin' Oldies' format?
Hard-rock fans are also singing the blues. Rock 100 usually follows up the Stern show with a blast of heavy metal, but Tuesday morning it began airing the feed from all-sports KFAN (1130 AM). Chancellor Media Corp. owns KFAN and WRQC, as well as five other stations in the Twin Cities. Rock 100's Kalman said listeners can expect a variety of formats until Thursday afternoon, when the station unveils its new sound.
What it will be is unclear, but it may be a retro format, with an emphasis on the '70s and '80s. Chancellor introduced a similar change at a Los Angeles station in fall 1997, and its "Jammin' Oldies" greatly appealed to a cross-section of Hispanics, blacks and whites, Taylor said.
The format can be heard on Chancellor stations in 11 cities, including New York, Chicago and Orlando, Fla. The definition of Jammin' Oldies differs depending on the ethnic makeup of a market, Moon said. In Los Angeles, for example, Hispanics are most interested in disco. New York's station tends to feature pre-and post-disco music from major black artists.
Because the Twin Cities area is predominantly white, Moon said, he thinks Chancellor might take a "white-boy soul" approach, which could mean plenty of Hall & Oates, Fleetwood Mac and Pablo Cruise.
Freddie Bell, who hosts the morning show on the Twin Cities' "Solid Gold Soul" KSGS (950 AM), said the music his station plays -- '60s, '70s and '80s hits from R&B artists -- is popular these days in the mainstream. "White folks love our music," Bell said. "You've got commercials where a Burger King restaurant is jamming to [George Clinton's] 'Atomic Dog.'"
Kalman, who won't confirm the speculation, said the Jammin' Oldies format "might be riskier" in the Twin Cities. However, there are signs that WRQC will dip into the past, one way or another. A promo aired on Rock 100 Tuesday said: "Guess who's coming home?" And Kalman confirmed that Chancellor is buying the call letters WLOL, once identified with a Top 40/dance format before WLOL's signal was sold to Minnesota Public Radio in 1991 and converted to classical.
-- Staff writers Jon Bream, Tim Harlow and Judd Zulgad contributed to this report.
|
| [Ed. - the chart below is a text version of this graphic. The graphic has the correct numbers, but incorrectly substitutes 'Win99' where it should have listed 'Win97' and 'Win98'.) |
from the: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Published Wednesday, August 4, 1999
W97 Sp97 Su97 F97 W98 Sp98 Su98 F98 W99 Sp99
KQRS-92 30.4 27.5 30.7 29.0 30.7 24.3 26.4 25.6 24.3 22.3
Rock 100* 5.4 11.5 10.5 15.0 12.7 11.0 12.8 7.4 9.2 11.2
*Converted in April '97 from country-oriented WBOB.
from the: Pioneer Planet
Howard Stern was fired and abruptly left Minneapolis-St. Paul Tuesday morning, marking one of the grandest failures in local radio programming history.
His Twin Cities employers, AMFM Inc. (formerly Chancellor Broadcasting) will buy out the remaining 8 1/2 months of his contract at a cost reputed to be about $280,000.
AMFM terminated the syndicated talk show host, who is enormously successful in approximately 40 other U.S. markets, and pulled the plug on the hard rock format of Stern's local home, WRQC-FM, 100.3, a.k.a. "Rock 100."
"Howard never got the numbers we hoped for, wanted and needed," station general manager Marc Kalman said Tuesday.
Rock 100's local on-air staff members also were fired, with the exception of deejay Jay Philpot. A new format will be announced at a press conference Thursday.
Until then, 100.3 will simulcast various other local AMFM signals. One will be all-sports KFAN, which filled out the station's programming day starting at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday -- much to the displeasure of Stern fans, who bombarded the station's phones with angry calls.
The New-York-based Stern show, with its national celebrity guests, lesbian obsession and soft-porn chatter, was brought into this market in April 1997.
Stern's primary objective was to cut a substantial chunk out of the audience of young adults -- particularly young men -- long dominated by radio personality Tom Barnard on KQRS-FM (92.5). Stern never did that, and last winter WRQC operations manager Andy Bloom was fired. Kalman then began talking openly of the likelihood that Stern's contract would not be renewed.
Within AMFM's six Twin Cities stations there had been considerable finger-pointing over the precise reasons for Stern's stark underperformance. Several AMFM employees privately blamed Bloom for the musical format, which constantly shifted playlists as Disney-owned rival KXXR-FM (93.7), a.k.a. "93X," counter-programmed and counter-counter-programmed.
"I'm not blaming Andy or anyone," said Kalman, a 30-year Twin Cities radio veteran who spent much of that time at WCCO-AM. "There's no single factor you can point to. It just didn't work."
Kalman's colleague, Mick Anselmo, general manager of stations KEEY and KFAN, was one of the loudest proponents of the Stern strategy locally.
"I'll once again reiterate," Anselmo said Tuesday, "Howard is a tremendous performer, but how big was the niche we were asking him to fill? Pretty big. I don't know if the rest of the station performed as well as he did."
Stern fans were quick to react.
Said Erin Wright via e-mail, "Aside from strippers, breast implants, f--ting, lesbians, etc., there were so many funny things about the show. It really made me laugh. I am truly in mourning."
Gordy Seppanen of Lakeville said, "I have listened to KQ and found Tommy B and the gang to be a pretty boring bunch. They may be fun for Minnesotans, but not for me. After 10 years I can't understand what a state of dolts I live in. I have lived elsewhere and must admit I don't know how KQ continues to succeed, but they do."
For its part, KQRS, which as a part of its defensive strategy never publicly acknowledged Stern's presence in the market, released a terse statement thanking its fans for their continued support.
from the: Minneapolis Star Tribune
An Editorial to be published Thursday, August 5, 1999
Ratings are everything in radio, which is why Howard Stern, Tom Barnard and so many others have been able to make fortunes out of yawp. You can't keep most people entertained for long with smutty juvenalia, but you can probably hold enough of them to keep a brace of advertisers happy.
When Stern went on the air here two years ago the buzz was about whether he could topple Barnard. But the real question was whether the market for witlessness might grow large enough to support them both. Happily, the answer was no.
Also encouraging is the recent drop in ratings for both shows. The shock jocks' defenders are fond of telling complainers to turn the dial if they don't like what they hear. Perhaps more listeners are taking that advice.
Plenty of people we know steer well clear of such programming but remain troubled by its popularity, and by its impact on our culture. The barriers to obscenity, bigotry and cruelty in everyday expression are lower than they used be, and you need hardly be a prude to be bothered by that.
Even those who savor the occasional off-color joke grow tired of the constant flood; even those who employ certain plain words from time to time can be offended by indiscriminate vulgarity.
It is in that spirit that we say good-bye, Howard, and don't let the door hit you in the -- well, you know.
from the: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Published Thursday, August 5, 1999
[snip]
As of late Wednesday the station had received more than 3,000 phone calls, mostly complaints about the discontinuation Tuesday of Stern's nationally syndicated show and WRQC's hard-rock format. Since then it has been teasing listeners with a variety of programs. from sports talk to smooth jazz.
Kalman said he was surprised that "about 40 percent of the calls were from irate women who want Howard back. It tells me there were a helluva lot of closet listeners who never admitted it or wrote it down in the [Arbitron] diaries."
-- Noel Holston
from: Radio Digest
August 5, 1999
Howard Stern was brought into the Twin Cities radio market by Rock 100 (WRQC 100.3 FM) slightly more than two years ago to challenge the morning dominance of Tom Barnard at KQRS.
Today, Rock 100 is no more and Stern is no longer heard in Minnesota. Barnard, meanwhile, continues atop the ratings.
AMFM, the parent company of Rock 100, pulled the plug on the station's hard rock format Tuesday and opted to purchase what remained of Stern's Minneapolis contract, which reportedly had nine months and nearly $300,000 remaining on it. The station also disposed of the rest of its on-air staff, except for deejay Jay Philpot.
So far, WRQC has not revealed its new format. Since scrapping hard rock, the outlet has simulcast sister stations KFAN (1130 AM), a local sports talk station; KKSF, a smooth jazz outlet in San Francisco, and WTJM, which is AMFM's New York-based Jammin' Oldies flagship. Over the past several months, AMFM has changed many of its stations in several markets to its Jammin' Oldies format, debuting with programming from WTJM before hiring local personalities.
The new format will be announced at a Thursday press conference, according to sources at the station.
Stern never gained full acceptance in the Twin Cities, and he never seriously challenged Barnard in the morning-drive ratings race. Since Stern arrived at Rock 100 in April 1997, his best ratings performance among 18-to-34-year-old listeners was a 15.0 share nearly a year and a half ago. In contrast, Barnard's lowest share since Stern's arrival was a 22.3.
Interestingly enough, Barnard's ratings last spring among the 18-to-34 crowd were the lowest they had been since Stern debuted at Rock 100. Stern's ratings among that same batch of listeners during that same time period, on the other hand, were at a nine-month high.
"Howard never got the numbers we hoped for, wanted, and needed," said Rock 100 general manager Marc Kalman. "It just didn't work. There's no single factor you can point to."
However, according to a report in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, staffers at six other AMFM stations in the Twin Cities are doing plenty of finger pointing, suggesting that the station itself - and not Stern - was the problem.
"Howard is a tremendous performer," said Mick Anselmo, who is the general manager of AMFM-owned sports talker KFAN and country music outlet KEEY (102.1 FM), to the Pioneer Press. "But how big was the niche we were asking him to fill? Pretty big. I don't know if the rest of the station performed as well as he did."
Other local AMFM employees hinted that Rock 100 was inevitably doomed by the constant playlist tinkering of former operations manager Andy Bloom, who was fired last winter. Many believe that rival 93X (KXXR 93.7 FM), the market's other hard rock outlet, benefited from Bloom's persistent adjustments, and the ratings back up that assertion. After finishing in a 10th-place ratings tie in the 1998 winter ratings, 93X has defeated Rock 100 in each of the five ratings periods that have followed.
Whereas Stern's local fans were upset with Rock 100's decision, a group of "concerned citizens" was practically dancing in the streets.
"We appreciate that Rock 100 has finally pulled this demeaning show," said Tom Prichard, whose Minnesota Family Council bills itself as the state's largest nonprofit, non-partisan, pro-family organization. "We're glad the station management finally listened to the people of Minnesota who did not appreciate Stern's lewd and pornographic material."
However, don't expect MFI's constituency to party for too long.
"We call on WCCO-TV to follow suit and drop Stern's television program," said Prichard in a press release. "We hope WCCO will be 'family friendly' and replace Stern's television show with something that will contribute to a better community, rather than demeaning women and basic community values."
from: All Access
NET NEWS as of THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 1999
AMFM has returned WLOL/MINNEAPOLIS to the air. It happened at 3p (CT) as "CLASSIC HITS 100" debuted, replacing Active Rocker WRQC. The kickoff song was ELTON JOHN/The Bitch Is Back, followed by BEATLES/Revolution, and then FLEETWOOD MAC/Don't Stop.
Core artists for CLASSIC HITS 100 are ROLLING STONES, FLEETWOOD MAC, EAGLES, DOOBIE BROS., STEELY DAN, BEATLES, and CCR with a focus on 70s pop rock with some 60s and early 80s mixed in for flavor.
AMFM Sr. VP/Programming KEN BENSON was on hand for the kickoff and was given assistance by AMFM Chief Programming officer STEVE RIVERS, and Interim PD ROB MORRIS, who is still PD at KDWB.
A fulltime PD and airstaff is being sought. Get the packages to ROB MORRIS, WLOL, 60 S. 6th St., Suite 930 MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402.
Interesting to note that the first jock on CLASSIC HITS 100 was GREG THUNDER who was the last jock on WLOL when it signed off eight years ago. Until a staff is hired THUNDER, currently afternoons at sister KALC/DENVER, will do afternoons. WKQI/DETROIT's JO JO KINCAID will do mornings, WSTR/ATLANTA's CRAIG HUNT (a former WLOL jock) will do middays, and JOE NASTY from POWER 105.9/ORLANDO will do 6-10p.
from the: Minneapolis Star Tribune
Published Friday, August 6, 1999
Rock 100 went retro Thursday, reviving the once-familiar call letters WLOL and introducing a 1970s-rooted music format on the frequency (100.3 FM) that was used to broadcast hard-rock music and shock jock Howard Stern's syndicated morning program for the past two years.
No one is likely to be shocked by WLOL's new "Classic Hits" format, whose "core artists" include the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Elton John, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Chicago.
Most of them already are played with some regularity by the Twin Cities top-ranked station, KQRS (92.5 FM). But WLOL's playlist, unlike KQ's, will not incorporate any new tunes or lesser-known "deep tracks" from albums. "Every song is going to be a hit -- guaranteed," WLOL program director Rob Morris said Thursday.
Vice president and general manager Marc Kalman said listener-preference surveys by three companies persuaded the station's management that widely recognizable rock from the 1970s was the stairway to Arbitron-ratings heaven.
Kalman also said Thursday that WLOL's parent company, AMFM Inc., has great expectations for "Classic Hits" as a format in other cities where it owns stations.
Unlike Rock 100, which courted 18-to 35-year-old men, the new format being promoted as "Classic Hits 100" is aimed at men and women in the 25-to-54 group. And if only for the near term, the station will not even try to butt heads with KQ's morning magilla, Tom Barnard, from whom the nationally formidable Stern was unable to pull listeners in sufficient numbers to justify his big annual salary.
WLOL will not have in-house disc jockeys initially. Instead, it will employ what Morris called "cyberjocks" -- deejays whose shows are relayed via satellite from AMFM Inc. stations in other cities. JoJo (Cookin') Kincaid, for instance, will do WLOL's morning-drive shift from Detroit.
The cyberjocks, however, do include two veterans of Twin Cities radio: Craig Hunt, who'll be heard midday, and Greg Thunder, who has the afternoon drive shift.
Kalman said that staffing the station with its own personalities will take from six to 12 weeks and that the morning positions will be the last filled.
In addition to developing a competitive format, the challenge for WLOL's managers is to avoid undercutting its sister stations. AMFM Inc. operates six other stations in the Twin Cities, among them four music stations: KDWB-FM (contemporary hits), KQQL-FM ('60s gold), KTCZ-FM ('80s and '90s rock) and KEEY-FM (country).
Morris and Ken Benson, AMFM's senior vice president for programming, said they aren't concerned about WLOL sometimes overlapping KQQL or KTCZ. They consider the three stations complementary, not competitive.
Tom Taylor, editor of M Street Journal, a radio-industry publication, said he believes the new WLOL's Classic Hits format "fits very well in the portfolio of radio stations that AMFM has there. Will it blaze new musical territory? No. But it probably makes a lot of sense."
KQRS had 14.2 percent of listeners age 25-54 in the most recent Arbitron survey. WLOL's hard-rocking predecessor, WRQC, had 2.8 percent of that demographic group.
Dusty Hayes, program director at CBS-owned The Point (104.1 FM), said he was surprised that Kalman and company gave WLOL a format that KQRS -- the station he considers to be its primary competitor -- might be able to neutralize with a few shrewd playlist adjustments. "But I haven't seen the research, so who am I to say?" Hayes added. "They paid lots of money for research. If that's what the research says, then go for it."
Benson predicts WLOL will steal listeners from a variety of stations, not just KQ. "We're not attacking anybody head-on," he said. "To use warfare terminology, this is a flanking strategy."
Hayes and Todd Fisher, program director of KS95 (KSTP, 94.5 FM), expressed relief that the new WLOL format will not feature any recent music, which their stations emphasize. But Fisher applauded the strategy. "Nobody's made a good run for a long time in this market at just playing rock hits," he said. "It might be bland to some people. But for the typical 38-year-old guy who wants to hear [Kansas' 1976 smash] 'Carry on Wayward Son,' it's cool."
from the: PioneerPlanet
Published: Monday, August 9, 1999
Some day, we, the radio listeners of the Twin Cities, are going to have to do our own "intensive research." When we do, I doubt we'll find eight people out 2.5 million begging for yet another dose of Fleetwood Mac, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.
Audience research, of course, is the science of asking the right question in the right way of the right people so that you get the answer you want to hear. Based on a decade of listening to radio programmers explain (badly) the alchemy of audience research, I believe I know how the managers of what is now, again, WLOL-FM (100.3) chose something called "Classic Hits" to replace Howard Stern and head-banging "Rock 100."
It's like the polling done for political candidates. Like when you see these stunning, upbeat numbers: "78 percent of voters favor Rufus Shlabotnik in the next election!" screams the press release. But what were those voters asked? Usually something along the lines of "Would you favor Rufus over his opponent if he were running against (A.) Donald Blom (B.) Saddam Hussein (C.) Linda Tripp or (D.) The guy who ran over your dog?"
Ditto with radio research.
The only way you detect "tremendous demand" for a format as stale as "Classic Hits" is by first deciding which slice of the population you want to sell to -- in this case, 35-to-49-year-olds.
Then you round up a few of those folks (you can find them shopping at Restoration Hardware) and posing a couple of sample questions. Stuff like, "What would you rather listen to on your way to and from your next sales meeting? All the great, blockbuster hits you remember so fondly from back when you were having a great time partying with your first hot boyfriend/girlfriend? Or hour upon hour of hideous, grinding metal from a bunch of sneering drop-outs in sweat-stained baseball caps, copycat goatees and nose rings?"
Miraculously you get "tremendous demand" for still more Fleetwood Mac. At least from listeners with jobs, Volvos and mortgages. ("Tremendous demand," by the way, is WLOL management's read of the Twin Cities market, not mine.)
Away from the press-conference cameras, these managers look at you like you just fell off the back of the turnip truck. "Come on," they say, when you suggest this "Classic Hits" thing is pretty dull and lame, "We're in business here!"
Their point is that if you suspect the Twin Cities' demand for Fleetwood Mac is being grossly over-served, you're obviously still buying patchouli oil by the 55-gallon drum. (And by the way, this isn't personal. All these manager types are a likable enough bunch of folks. Just like you and me, all they're trying to do is make a buck for their monolithic parent company . . . and keep their jobs.)
But what to do? Once you decide to pull the cord on Howard Stern, and eat roughly $250,000 in the process, you've got to get your books moving back to black, and pronto.
In that situation, you've got even less room to get creative than if you just bought the station and were starting from scratch. Of course, considering the $35 million purchase price/debt that comes with a 100,000-watt FM license in today's market, there's nothing "scratch"-like about any of this.
Given that kind of load, and the accompanying pressure from the venture capitalists at the top who expect a steady return on their investment, it's the rare radio manager who is going to try anything that hasn't been done a thousand times before.
Still, I think there are better ideas out there. Personally, I'd like an eclectic pop format with regular, fresh news and interview segments, kind of on the order of Public Radio International's "The World Cafe" with a shot of Harry Shearer. But that's just me.
Drop me a line with your idea. I'll declare it "intensive research" and forward it on to WLOL.
Media writer Brian Lambert can be reached at blambert@pioneerpress.com or (651) 228-5424.
from the: Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Published Monday, August 9, 1999
Radio/Noel Holston:
If I had a radio station to program, "Forever Young" is a format I would try.
Neil Young's vast, rich catalog of recordings as a solo artist and as member of Buffalo Springfield and CSN&Y would be the musical mainstay, along with cover versions of his tunes by singers such as Linda Ronstadt ("Love Is a Rose") and Nicolette Larson ("Lotta Love"). For spice, I would toss in the Young Rascals and Fine Young Cannibals, balladeer Paul Young, rapper Young MC and jazz great Lester Young, plus eclectic oldies that have "Young" in the title -- Frank Sinatra's "You Make Me Feel So Young," the Coasters' "Young Blood," Elvis' "Young and Beautiful."
If Forever Young started to show signs of staleness, I would switch to "Mop-topia." The format would draw from all the songs recorded by the Beatles as a unit and as solo artists, plus the enormous array of covers of their work: Ray Charles' "Eleanor Rigby," Anne Murray's "You Won't See Me," Tony Bennett's "Something," Ike & Tina Turner's "Come Together," Dwight Yoakam's "Things We Said Today."
And when the Beatles-based format lost its novelty, I would . . . well, in all candor, I would probably be bankrupt.
Fantasizing is irresistible when a radio station's format briefly becomes a question mark, whether it's KLBB-AM in the wake of its being donated to Minnesota Public Radio or WRQC-FM after its owners decided last week to ditch Howard Stern and hard rock and try something different.
But deep down, I know quirky and eclectic doesn't cut it in the real world, where media conglomerates pay staggering amounts to accumulate scarce radio frequencies. Industry sources say Chancellor Broadcasting (now AMFM Inc.) spent more than $35 million in 1996 to add 100.3 FM to its roster of Twin Cities radio properties, which currently include KQQL (107.9 FM), KDWB (101.3 FM) and KTCZ (97.1 FM). No one in his right mind would expect AMFM Inc. to use such a pricey property to try a whimsical format like "Royalty" (core artists: Prince, Queen, King Crimson, Duke Ellington) or even modern "niche" music, such as techno or trip-hop.
Still, a lot of people had hoped for something more daring and diverse from AMFM's "new WLOL" than a format dominated by the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Chicago, Foreigner, Elton John, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles -- late-1960s and '70s chart-toppers whose music has been the bread and butter of KQRS (92.5 FM) for more than a decade.
I've heard from several people who were bummed that "Jammin' Oldies," the vintage R&B and funk format with which 100.3 FM filled some of its transition time, wasn't picked up full-time. They assumed at the very least that if the station went retro, its playlist would have room for the Spinners as well as Bruce Springsteen. But Rob Morris, WLOL's program director, says the station won't even play Stevie Wonder, who ascended to superstardom in '70s.
The Twin Cities has no station that plays much hiphop or new R&B except KMOJ (89.9 FM), a noncommercial community station. We no longer have an outlet for smooth jazz or any kind of instrumental easy-listening music. Folk and alternative-country musicians have to settle for occasional airplay on public radio.
But WLOL's management says that its extensive market research discovered that what Twin Cities listeners really want is a another place to hear "Hotel California" and "Honky Tonk Women."
Radio executives all over town talk about the ongoing "chess match" between AMFM Inc. and ABC/Disney, which owns KQ and two other Twin Cities rock stations (93X and Zone 105). They say that for larger strategic purposes, the ideal format for the new WLOL is one that could lure listeners away from top-rated KQ without hurting AMFM Inc.'s other three rock-pop stations. WLOL's audience research could not have been more obliging.
from the: Pioneer Planet
July 31, 1999
The most recent Arbitron radio ratings for the Twin Cities market show the two traditional leaders, KQRS-FM (92.5) and WCCO-AM (830), both continuing a downward trend in audience share among the largest listening group during the Spring '99 quarter. The most significant gains in audience share were registered by KDWB-FM (101.3), with the Top 40 station actually managing to pull ahead of KQ in the battle for first place among 18-34-year-old listeners.
Rank / Station / Spring '99 / Winter '99 / Fall '98 All listeners 12 years and older 1. / KQRS-FM / 10.1 / 10.2 / 10.7 2. / WCCO-AM / 9.7 / 10.4 / 10.7 3. / KDWB-FM / 8.2 / 7.5 / 8.0 4. / KEEY-FM / 7.7 / 6.9 / 8.1 5. / WLTE-FM / 6.1 / 6.0 / 6.2 6. / KQQL-FM / 6.1 / 4.7 / 4.1 7. / KSTP-AM / 5.5 / 6.6 / 5.1 8. / KSTP-FM / 4.2 / 4.7 / 4.6 9. / WXPT-FM / 4.1 / 4.6 / 4.5 10. / KTCZ-FM / 3.8 / 3.7 / 3.5 Listeners ages 18-34 1. / KDWB-FM / 12.7 / 11.1 / 10.7 2. / KQRS-FM / 12.3 / 12.0 / 14.1 3. / KEEY-FM / 9.3 / 7.1 / 8.8 4. / KXXR-FM / 7.8 / 7.8 / 5.8 5. / WXPT-FM / 7.4 / 8.7 / 8.4 6. / KSTP-FM / 6.0 / 7.0 / 8.0 7. / WRQC-FM / 5.8 / 5.4 / 3.9 8. / WLTE-FM / 5.2 / 4.8 / 3.6 9. / KTCZ-FM / 4.8 / 4.5 / 4.3 10. / KFAN-AM / 3.1 / 3.6 / 3.6
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