Radio:September 8, 2023

            Trends are funny. Funny in aninteresting way, and often caused by forces not necessarily obvious.

            Such an example is top-40 radio,represented locally by KIIS (102.7 FM). The station that almost single-handedlybrought the format back from its death in the early 1980s while hitting recordhigh ratings for an FM station, is on hard times now. The July Nielsens had thestation tied for 8th place with a 3.7 share of the audience … a far cry fromthe 10+ shares of the 1980s.

            But I am not here to bash KIIS. Iam merely using it as an example of some trends that have come together, andperhaps help find a way out.

            First and foremost, the appeal ofoldies cannot be denied. Out of the top-10 stations, fully six are either fullyoldies-based or rely heavily on them in the music mix. KRTH (101.1 FM) KTWV(94.7 FM), My FM (KBIG, 104.3), KOST (103.5 FM) Jack (KCBS-FM, 93.1) and KLOS(95.5 FM) all predominantly play songs not released in the last year.

            KIIS is definitely not alone.Top-40, or Contemporary Hit Radio as it is called today. has taken a hitnationwide. As the format tends to attract younger listeners, the fact thatmany younger listeners are getting their music from streaming services and appslike TikTok, it seems to be the natural progression.

            Indeed, InsideMusicMedia’s JerryDel Colliano has extensively covered the migration to and influence ofstreaming; a recent Billboard.com story spoke of TikTok’s appeal to younglisteners; top-40 stations across the country have added more “gold” to theirplaylists; and the idea of playing music that is old but “new to you” has takenhold as an easy way to attract listeners.

            But it doesn’t work to attractyounger listeners, thus top-40 as a format suffers.

            Yet the answer lies in the appealof the very things that are supposedly killing radio. TikTok is exposing kidsto music, new and old, from multiple genres. Streaming services use curators tofind music that listeners may like, based upon the songs they play — and thosethey skip. 

            Add in Sean Ross, who writes inRadioInsight.com that most people fondly remember their own top-40 listeningdays from “when top-40 played it all,” and you have the answer: play it all.

            Top-40 has always thrived when itplayed it all, and has always stagnated when it limited itself. You saw ithappen with too much “bubblegum,” too much disco, too much country, too much of“the Miami sound,” too much grunge, and too much Hip-Hop. All of those eras hadtemporarily success, but ultimately led to ratings declines as listeners leftfor other stations.

            Yet when “they played it all,” suchas the 1960s where you could hear The Beatles, The Bee Gees, Jefferson Airplaneand Cream all on the same station, it just worked. Same for when Prince, TheRolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, and Foreigner all shared space on the samestation. Today KRTH is leading the ratings doing nothing more than playing themusic that once played on KIIS … Naked Eyes, Wham, Soft Cell, Tears for Fears,Madonna, Depeche Mode and Outfield.

            That variety of music makes thingsinteresting, and today’s teens especially are, according to research, morewilling to listen to different genres right now than any other generation.

            Inside Music Media’s Del Collianosuggests that perhaps it is time to hire curators — locally, of course, so youcan better match the audience — to find new music and present it. “Youngaudiences are more eclectic than baby boomers, Gen X or even older millennials- they mix genres,” he explains. They are “spellbound” when they find it, opento fresh musical styles, “and amazingly curious.”

            Radio is losing young people, hesays in part because, aside from the commercial overload, “radio no longerbreaks new music and acts.” Fix it by doing so, and become the influencers youused to be, Del Colliano advises programmers, instead of letting social mediado it.

            Ross takes it a step further andblames, in part, the record companies for not even trying to promote newmusical styles and acts to hit radio stations.

            I agree fully with all of theabove, which you already know if you’ve read this column very long. Yourresponses to me tell me that you agree as well. And like the dark days of hittop-40 radio before, all it takes is a KHJ, a Ten-Q, a KIIS-FM, or the like totake up the cause and do it right. 

            Top-40 is not dead, it’s justdormant. And the time is ripe for a comeback. Hopefully sooner than later.

            Rumor Mill

            Is Saul Levine ready to testall-digital AM on his K-Mozart (1260 AM)? I’ve been told “maybe.” I hope ithappens … I’d love to see how far an all-digital AM signal can carry bothduring the day and night, and if it helps reduce the interference between stations.If it happens, you’ll be the first to know.

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Radio:September 15, 2023

Overthe air television broadcasts are about to undergo another transition similarto the original transition to digital transmissions over a decade ago. Digitaltelevision broadcasts launched a few years prior, but in 2009 most analogtelevision broadcasts were shut down, and digital, using what is called theATSC 1.0 standard, was the default over-the-air standard.

Morerecently a new technology called ATSC 3.0  has been developed, offeringmore efficient signal use, better and easier reception, improved picturequality, and even streaming and on-demand services. One additional benefit: thesystem would allow for 50 — or more — full-fidelity radio stations to be sentalong in the space of just one channel. That is if the industry decides todevelop the concept.

Accordingto an article at TechRadar.com, the idea was developed by Fraunhofer, “thecompany behind the original MP3 audio compression standard that ultimately ledto the development of the best MP3 players and paved the way for music andinternet radio streaming as well.

(fullarticle at https://www.techradar.com/news/if-atsc-30-broadcasts-pack-50-radio-stations-in-one-tv-channel-im-all-ears)

“Fraunhoferis seeking to have its highly efficient xHE-AAC audio codec, which allows forhigh-quality voice transmission at a mere seven kilobits per second and stereomusic at bit rates from 24 kilobits per second and up, ‘brought into the ATSCfor standardization.’ Doing so would let ATSC 3.0 broadcast TV stations delivera package of local and national radio services using just a small fraction oftheir spectrum bandwidth.”

Whatthis means is that, if the standards committees agree, we could have anadditional way to send and receive radio broadcasts over the air, receivable incars and homes, … and if done right could be a true competitor to current AMand FM stations dominated by a mere three owners. 

Isuggest the proposal include limits to ownership, such that only a smallhandful of stations could be owned and operated by any one company. This wouldavoid the mess we have now with stale formats and commercial overloads thatpush people away to other entertainment sources. I’d push for no more than twostations in one market and only seven nationwide … basically the same limitsradio had back when it was a super-power listener and ad-wise.

YouTube’s“Antenna Man” has a little video on the concept at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDUotDRS1hs… check it out if you are interested.

ReceptionQuestions

Welive in San Juan Capistrano and enjoy listening to 91X.  We have radios inthe master bath and garage.  

“Thesignal from 91X is highly variable. On some days the reception is great, onothers the station barely registers. Any insight into why that’s the case?Thanks!” —  Eric Carlson

FMreception can be tricky for two reasons … under certain (usually bad weather)conditions, the signal just doesn’t travel as far, and it always has troublewith hills, since it travels in a straight line. Ironically, the othercondition is when it’s REALLY clear, and the signal gets interrupted byneighboring stations on or near the frequency. HD signals make it worse becausethey add to the sideband interference. In some cases, stations once heard justdisappear!

Ahouse FM/TV antenna, if you can connect one, will usually make a hugedifference. Just make sure it is designed for the FM band, which is between theold analog television Channel 6 and 7.

Ofcourse the other solution is to use a smart speaker or smartphone app.

“Forthe past week I have been grumbling over my poor AM reception as I have beendriving around the northern part of the San Fernando Valley in my 2006 GMCtruck with my factory installed 31-inch stick antenna projecting from my frontfender. 

“Itis nearly impossible to hear clearly 710, 790, and 1020AM broadcasting. Theinterference and screeching is horrendous. As a result, I thought of you andwriting you an email when your column appeared today. Thus, I look to you for asolution. What do I do to receive reception? Do I need to replace my antenna?If so, what do I replace it with? What is the solution? I would appreciate anyadvice and recommendations.” — The Reverend Greg Frost, Granada Hills

AMis a different animal reception-wise from FM. While FM is relativelystatice-free (reference: Steely Dan’s hit song “FM”), AM can pick upinterference from almost anything: cheap electrical transformers, ungroundedelectric supply wires, light dimmers, cable boxes, LED traffic lights and muchmore. In fact, it is the response by radio manufacturers in reducinginterference that caused AM to get a reputation as a terrible-soundingbroadcast system. 

AMis actually capable of excellent fidelity. Many radios manufactured before the1980s sounded good; many in the 1960s were excellent. The AM stereos of the1980s and ‘90s often were superb. But too many are awful, and there isdefinitely a price to be paid with so much extra interference around us today.

Addto this the fact that too many station owners gave up their prime broadcasttowers or allowed building in and around the transmitter site, and you haveanother problem - far weaker signals than ever before for many stations. 

Inthis specific case, in order to trace it out, it is important to know - did itcome on suddenly? Is the antenna tight? Is there ay corrosion on the mastmount? Is the antenna grounded? Does the interference happen only when thetruck is running, or all the time?

Oftencar radio interference can be traced to a bad ground wire, a loose batteryconnection, or in one case of my own years ago, a car phone charger that madeAM reception almost impossible whenever it was plugged in.

I’dlook for corrosion and grounds first, then move on from there.

Radio: September 22, 2023

            TheAugust Nielsen ratings were released last week for Los Angeles, and while Iwill not be covering the entire list — I leave that for quarterly reports so asto not bore you too much — there was definitely a station worth mentioning: KFI(640 AM)

            Thereason it’s worth mentioning has as much to do with the success the station hasenjoyed as it does the dire predictions many made when programmer RobinBertolucci adjusted the programming and moved a few hosts around in earlyJanuary. 

            “They’redoomed,” cried some. No one will listen to John and Ken — who moved from theirlongtime afternoon drive slot to take on the 1 to 3 p.m. hours —  thatearly. Tim Conway will not attract an audience in afternoons like he had atnight. Etcetera, etcetera …

            And‘Mo Kelly? Who’s he?

            Ieven had people write in talking about the steep ratings drop KFI had due tothe changes. There was only one problem: it never really happened, in astatistical sense. I looked it up … for most of the last few years, KFI rangedfrom the mid-high 3s to the low-mid 4s with a few periods even higher. So thisyear, ranging from 4.1 to 4.3 was normal.

            Butthe ratings for August had KFI at a recent high: 4.8, good for third place overall. Done with little promotion, no marketing (why is that, by the way?) … andall those changes that “killed” it.

            Whyis KFI so successful? Isn’t conservative talk dead? Yes, it is … and it’s beendecades since KFI was considered “conservative talk” even when it wasn’t. Therehave always been a balance of viewpoints on the station; as it moved away frompolitically-centered topics to more general topics, it matched the mood oflisteners who wanted to be entertained more than they wanted to be angry.

            Thus,the idea of shortening the shifts to keep shows fresh and fast-moving, keepingall of the current hosts while allowing for afternoon exposure of the amazingwit on the Conway Show, and the introduction, or perhaps re-introduction ofgeneral talk in the evenings with the addition of  ‘Mo Kelly every eveningat 7:00 … worked out perfectly.

            Andhaving a stellar news department helps as well. 

            “Iam super-proud of the KFI team,” said programmer Bertolucci. “In addition tobeing #3 overall — and the top-rated news or talk station — we are so happy tobe the most streamed station on the iHeart app.”

            Shesaid that on-demand and podcasts are doing great as well.

            “KFIis THE live and local station for Southern California, and I think the key isall the ways people can hear us. From streaming in your car to listening onyour smart speaker at home, we’ve got you covered.”

            Iasked her what she thought was the secret to the success of the station.Consistency? Fun? Yes, she said, to both. “Our hope is that any time you tunein, you are not only informed, but you are also entertained,” she said adding,“Thank you to all our wonderful listeners for their support!”

            1110AM Gets Religion

            KRDC(1110 AM) was finally transferred to its new owner on September 8th. On thatday it became KWVE, the AM simulcast of Calvary Chapel’s KWVE-FM (107.9). Theformat is Christian talk, which has been running on the FM signal for manyyears.

            Withthat strong FM signal, why did the church buy the one-time top-40 powerhouse?Better coverage in the northern and western parts of the city, I am told, andan extended signal reach up and down the coast. Obviously Calvary Chapelbelieves in AM broadcasting …

            Andjust to show that some things go full circle, 1110 AM, even though the stationis not longer using the KRLA call letters it once had, is competing once moreagainst KHJ (930 AM), which now airs Catholic talk programming. 

            Restingin Radio Peace

            DonBarrett announced his cancer diagnosis in mid August; last week the news camethat he had passed. 

            Iwon’t write a new obituary here; the column honoring him that ran on August25th will suffice. But I wanted to mention an interview — a rare one, sinceBarrett even to the end rarely did interviews — done by my podcast partner MikeStark. It includes some wonderful memories of radio past and present, showsBarrett’s philosophy of always looking to the positive, and even includes someclassic airchecks I had not heard before that Barrett critiques. It’s a greatlisten and can be found at youtube.com/watch?v=SJ6BjY2cwYc.

            Inan ordinary instant, Don, you will be missed. God bless you.

            RichardWagoner is a San Pedro freelance columnist covering radio in SouthernCalifornia. Email [email protected]

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