XL Arts
The way Austin radio played in 2005
Thursday, December 22, 2005
For those not keeping score, here's how Austin's radio landscape changed in 2005:
The Beat came back. Air America debuted. KPEZ-FM flipped from Adult Album Alternative (AAA)/classic rock "Channel 102.3" to contemporary Christian "102.3 The River." Kevin Phinney went to Seattle, leaving KGSR-FM's "the Kevin & Kevin Show" with just one Kevin. Public radio's "Marketplace" host, David Brown, left that gig and started "Texas Music Matters" at Austin's KUT-FM — which became the No. 1 station in the market in the spring (and darned near did it again last summer) — a virtually unheard-of feat for a public radio station. Austin became a town without a Tejano music radio outlet. And several stations, from KMFA-FM to the Clear Channel cluster, finally began streaming their broadcast content.
Oh, and Howard Stern left. But you knew that. The King of All Media had all 2005 to make sure everybody knew of his flight to satellite radio. His slot at the urban-formatted Beat 104.3 (KXBT-FM) was handed to the syndicated "Star & Buc Wild" show — the only program to beat Stern's ratings in New York City, according to the show's site (starandbucwild.com), and Dusty Hayes, vice president of programming for Austin's CBS Radio cluster. Which, until last week, used to be known as Infinity Broadcasting.
The newest player in town, Border Media Partners, is celebrating a healthy year in the Austin market. Late in 2004, the Houston-based, Hispanic-oriented media company acquired three stations, and early this year, it bought four more. BMP now owns KOKE-AM (1600), KTXZ-AM (1560), KELG-AM (1440), KHHL-FM (98.9), KXXS-FM (104.9), KFON-AM (1490) and KKLB-FM (92.5). In March, it switched formerly Spanish KOKE to English-speaking liberal talker Air America. Last month, it replaced KTXZ's "Super Tejano" format with "La Lupe" (regional Mexican oldies) and began simulcasting it with KKLB, which used to simulcast norteño with KFON, which kept that format. Mexican regional KHHL is now "La Ley," Spanish pop KXXS is "Digital" and KELG, formerly "Caliente," is now "La Luz," though its Christian-based format is the same. The company has upgraded its transmission towers and will soon move into its new, 18,779-square-foot offices at 912 S. Capital of Texas Highway (Loop 360).
"We're hoping it symbolizes our commitment to the marketplace," Dallas vice president of operations Bob Proud says.
The marketplace apparently is committed to BMP as well. In the last Arbitron ratings book (summer 2005), KHHL and morning personality El Chulo ranked No. 1 in weekday morning drive listeners, topping Stern, KLBJ's Dudley & Bob and everyone else, in three key demographic groups: men ages 18-34; people ages 18-34; and people ages 25-54. (Men 25-54 apparently prefer Dudley & Bob; KHHL came in second with that group.)
As for "We play anything" BOB (KBPA-FM 103.5), it built a hot love affair with 25- to 54-year-old listeners, winning that demographic in four consecutive Arbitron ratings books. Overall, it ranked No. 2 in the winter and spring books and No. 3 in the summer book. In the Arbitrends, a series of interim measurements, BOB ranks fifth for the first fall period. BOB's five-decades-of-hits format might be slipping slightly in popularity, but not in its key demographic.
And that's why BOB got blamed for KPEZ-FM's week-before-Christmas flip to contemporary Christian. Dusty Black, Clear Channel's Austin market manager and regional vice president for Central Texas, said BOB's success kept KPEZ's AAA/classic rock hybrid from reaching its potential.
"This format really fits in better, we feel like, demographically, with what we're doing with our cluster," Black said.
Emmis-owned KLBJ-FM (93.7), meanwhile, started calling itself a classic rock station, and KLBJ-AM (590) dropped ABC News for Fox, which Emmis Austin vice president and market manager Scott Gillmore called "faster-paced." He also noted that, once a local morning team is hired for BOB, the Emmis Austin cluster will have local morning shows on all six of its stations. (They're hunting for a new partner for KGSR's Kevin Connor — and yes, they're considering people whose names do not begin with K.)
KGSR (107.1) got kudos for coolness from Entertainment Weekly magazine. KMFA-FM (89.5) responded to demands from nonlocal fans to get its signal online — and hired its first-ever music director. KUT-FM (90.5) started broadcasting a second channel of content via a high-definition signal (though no one has HD radios yet). Program director Hawk Mendenhall promised that the news-and-information channel, which also will be streamed on KUT's Web site, will get a formal unveiling once it's fully operational. The station is hoping to add an all-music HD channel as well.
But country station KASE-FM (100.7) still pretty much rules the roost in Austin, ratings-wise, though it took an inexplicable dive in the spring book, which put KVET-FM (98.1) on top.
Go figure. In radio, as in life, about the only constant is change.
