Two Boise stations have flipped to the Christmas format for 2012. KXLT/107.9 Lite FM has flipped to its traditional menu of holiday standards as of November 10th.
But the surprise entrant in the space for this year is KJOT/Variety Rock 105.1. The station, which has been home to rock music for about 30 years, is instead playing Christmas music. Owner Journal Broadcast Group has been playing musical chairs with its three rock stations (KQXR/100.3 The X and KRVB/94.9 The River being the others) for quite some time, and it seems KJOT is the odd one out. The station has not seen success in quite some time, despite transitioning from heritage rocker J-105 to the current skew a few years ago.
I would say it is likely that Variety Rock has played its last rock hit. Something new in the new year? Already hearing rumors on what that format could be… time will tell.
Related: Journal hired Susan Groves to replace Dan McColly as operations manager for its Boise stations and as program director of KRVB. The news was announced on October 2nd – and on November 18th, she had been “let go.”
Standard disclosure: Don Day wrote the IdahoRadioNews.com blog for more than six years and currently manages digital sales & products for KTVB.