Category: idaho radio news

Music. Mornings. Marketing.

The old adage goes that if a radio station gets those three things right – it will be a success.

But in the Boise market, the morning daypart seems to be in perhaps the biggest state of disarray in quite some time.

Consider:

• 

  Friday, KXLT/107.9 Lite FM parted ways with Kevin Mee and Brenda Mee. The pair joined Lite about two years ago after a decade-plus tenure at KIZN/Kissin’ 92.3. Somewhat surprisingly, KXLT won the 12+ radio ratings derby in the fall Nielsen Audio ratings book. (Fueled in part by the station’s Christmas music programming).

• Kate McGwire recently left KCIX/Mix 106. McGwire was the strong, popular personality who helped drive Mix’s consistently solid ratings.
• Several stations now run with no morning show (KQBL/92.7 The Alternative, KSRV/96.1 Bob FM, KXLT/107.9 Lite FM [for now at least], KJOT/Rock 105.1), a one-person show (KWYD/Wild 101, KZMG/My 102.7, KIDO/580 AM), or a syndicated national program (KKGL/96.9 The Eagle, KQFC/97.9 Nash FM).
• KSAS/103.5 FM sometimes features a solo host in Michelle Heart, and sometimes features multiple hosts, adding in station program director Keke Luv and mid-day personality Tawsha Box. It tends to vary from day-to-day.
• Of the local stations who do program a live, local, multi-personality program – many of them have seen upheaval. KAWO/Wow Country 104.3, KRVB/94.9 The River, KIZN/Kissin’ 92.3, KTHI/107.1 K-Hits and the aforementioned KCIX/Mix 106 have replaced one or both of their morning DJs in the past year or so.

There are some pockets of stability. Paul J. Schneider is the dean of Boise radio and has been hosting with his “new” partner Chris Walton for well-more than a decade at KBOI/670 AM. KQXR’s “Morning After” with Nic & Big J has been going strong for several years.

Also, two new stations have entered the morning game in somewhat non-traditional ways. KTIK/93.1 FM The Ticket re-entered the local morning show race after several years of syndicated programming with former Boise State RB Ian Johnson and Jake Hamar holding down the fort from 7-10am. KNFL/96.5 ESPN Boise is doing a sort-of work-day starting hybrid show from 9-11am with (friend and colleague) Jay Tust from KTVB and BJ Rains from the Idaho Press Tribune.

Bottom line: This daypart is very much in flux – and new shows or combinations of personalities will look for ways to stand out and draw audience. The first place the eyes of many media buyers and radio execs will go when the spring book comes out later this year is the morning show race in key demos – to see if all the changes make for a major swing in ratings points and dollars.

Don Day edited IdahoRadioNews.com for more than five years. Now he tweets a lot.

KCIX/Mix 106 today formally announced what I reported last week – popular morning co-host Kate McGwire has decided to leave her spot behind the mic behind for a new, as-yet-undetermined future.

McGwire came to the market nearly 15 years ago and teamed with Boise radio fixture Mike Kasper at KZMG/Magic 93.1. After establishing a foothold at the pop station, the pair segued to Mix where they’ve held forth ever since.

Despite a few ups and downs in the ratings, the pair have proved popular – driven by the chemistry between Mike & Kate and a strong marketing push.

I’ve been observing this market for years. I can only think of a few folks who have resonated to the level Kate has. In 2008, the station ran a contest that had people so concerned about Kate, they called police dispatch to try and help. Really.

In the latest ratings, KCIX was the top FM station not playing Christmas music among those 12+. Though I haven’t seen them in quite a while, the morning numbers for KCIX are always excellent. I’m not sure there’s anyone else in the market whose departure from radio could make such big waves.

This change will send listeners spinning around the dial a bit. KZMG/My 102.7 FM saw very strong ratings in that same ratings report and could benefit. Usually, KSAS/103.5 Kiss FM would be an obvious beneficiary, but has been running without popular host Keke Luv on the morning show for long stretches – including several months this summer, and again since before Christmas. Many could spin off to Pandora or Apple Music or Spotify.

Townsquare told the paper they hope to have a new co-host in place within a month. Whoever sits down in the Mix studio each morning will have big shoes to fill (though as they noted on the air this morning, Kate has small feet… so maybe there’s a better analogy out there).

Don Day edited IdahoRadioNews.com for more than five years. Now he tweets a lot.

Ups and downs.

The world of radio is full of them. But in the recently released Nielsen Audio spring ratings survey of Boise, there is a tremendous amount of change.

Doing an analysis of 25-54 ratings from spring 2013 to spring 2014 shows near chaos. Look at this, ranked on percent change:

Gainers
+172% KKGL/96.9 The Eagle
+100% KZMG/My 102.7
+81% KQXR/100.3 The X
+75% KJOT/Variety Rocks
+54% KSRV/96.1 Bob FM
+5% KAWO/Wow Country 104.3

Decliners
-4% KWYD/Wild 101
-14% KCIX/Mix 106
-17% KRVB/94.9 The River
-20% KBOI
-25% KXLT/107.9 Lite FM
-33% KTHI/107.1 K-Hits
-34% KSAS/103.5 Kiss FM
-43% KQFC/97.9 Nash FM
-44% KTIK
-51% KIZN/Kissin 92.3

There are perhaps three storylines that come to light here: rising rock, Cumulus country challenges and My 102.7 FM’s arrival.

Starting with rock: the cohort of stations that primarily plays rock songs saw immense growth — even though KRVB fell off 17%. The rest of the group – KKGL, KQXR, KJOT & KSRV all saw gains with 25-54-year-old adults added 12 total points. Twelve. The Eagle went from the bottom to the top in one year flat (and it was before the boobs and drugs stuff), adding five full points. KKGL has had these odd ‘fluke books’ before where they rise up out of nowhere, then fall back to earth. We’ll see what happens in the fall. Bob FM also had a good book after fixing its format early this year. KJOT, a bit of a BOB-FM wannabe also saw good growth and is now back among the top stations in the market after decades off.

The folks who got Nielsen Audio books this spring were clearly rock fans.

The second storyline is My 102.7. This station was commercial free for months leading up to the ratings period, and saw strong word of mouth. It remains light on personality and spot load, giving it an edge over other stations in its category. The station jumped from not existing (zero) to a 4.7. While the new station still did not top Mix 106 (5.8), it built a strong base, and beat sister station Wild 101 and poppier rival Kiss FM. My 102.7’s 4.7 points were offset by a combined 3.9 point loss across Mix, Wild, Kiss and the River.

Mee-oh-my… Cumulus Media certainly did its best to upset the country apple cart in the market. While I don’t have the morning numbers (if you do, I’m happy to take your emails!), it is clear that KIZN was hurt by the exit of Kevin & Brenda Mee – and KQFC was devastated by the national Nash-FM brand. KQFC dropped from a 3.2 to a 1.8 in the 25-54 demo – a 43% blow. KIZN dropped from a 4.5 to a 2.2 – a 51% drop. Combined, the two stations shed nearly four points.  The two Cumulus country stations used to lead the market. Now, they’re near the bottom.

Wow Country 104.3 did benefit from the Cumulus problems – somewhat. It gained about 6%. New entry KQBL/100.7 The Bull notched a 1.1, soaking up some of the lost Cumulus points. It will be interesting to see if the Mee fanbase moves to the light AC format of KXLT. We’ll know more in the fall.

Summing it up

In the 12+ category, Kiss FM is still on top, followed by Wow Country, The Eagle, Bob FM and KBOI.  KTIK is hurting, but KNFL/ESPN Radio Boise didn’t rate – so we’ll see where this lands as we head to the sports-heavy fall season. The next book will be intriguing – I have a feeling rock will fall back to earth – but where everything else settles remains to be seen.

This chart shows 12+ share among the four major groups (and KKOO).

• Townsquare (purple) has 30% share. That averages to 5% per station (when KFXD-AM, not rated, is factored in).
• Cumulus (blue) has 25% of the points. That averages to  4.1% per station (when KTIK-AM , not rated, is factored in)
• Impact (red) has 21% share. That averages to 4.2% per station (when KNFL-FM, not rated, is factored in)
• Journal (green) has 20% share. All four stations have a relatively equal 5% rating.

Don Day is the Digital Sales & Product Manager for KTVB and wrote & edited IdahoRadioNews.com for five years. He also tweets a lot