The Finch Formerly Known As Gold

23 November 2006

What about Bob?

In the last couple of weeks, KQOB, aka Bob FM, has revamped its morning show and gone to Christmas music 24/7. The Rumor Mill™ seized upon this as an indication that there's a format change coming around the first of the year.

I'll throw a few cups of kerosene on the fire:

  • After a steady 3.5-to-5 share for some time, Bob dropped to a 2.9 in the summer ratings book.
  • The Bob format, as played here, sort of splits the difference between classic rock and Jack FM, and this is a particularly strong classic-rock market — just ask the guys at KRXO, who have run this format for nineteen years.
  • Bob is the odd duck in the local Citadel Broadcasting portfolio, since they don't actually own it: they program it under an agreement with the real owner, Chisholm Trail Broadcasting of Enid.
  • Bob is licensed to Enid/Oklahoma City; its tower is located near Crescent, and its signal vanishes quickly south of Oklahoma City, creating openings for Jack FM (KOJK Blanchard) and Kool 105.5 (KWCO Chickasha), both of which vend some variation on the Variety Hits theme.

According to Lou Pickney, who keeps track of these matters, the Next Big Thing is "Movin", a sort of Rhythmic Adult Contemporary format that targets women 25-44. The rationale makes sense:

The Movin™ target is that segment of 28-40 year-old women who feel too old for hip-hop, but are bored with rock-based Hot AC and not ready for traditional AC.

I can certainly understand someone being bored with rock-based Hot AC, like Citadel's KYIS (KISS) FM.

What is Bob to do? The reflexive action is to go see what's happening in a hipper town, which some of us may define as "a place where the top two radio stations aren't both country," and rip them off follow their example. The nearest generally-acknowledged hotbed of hipness is Austin, Texas, and — whoops: the top two radio stations are both country and, what's more, both owned by Clear Channel. (If you were wondering why CC doesn't flip either KXY or the Twister, now you know.)

There are three possible options I could sort of endorse, none of which I expect to take place:

  1. Bring back smooth jazz. (It's failed here once.)
  2. Switch to Triple A. (Of the three, this is the one I prefer, but the least likely.)
  3. Move the regional-Mexican "La Indomable" to Bob's slot, rename it WKY-FM to match the AM, and bring back the Spy on 105.3.

(Disclosure: Arbitron, the firm which produces the standard industry ratings, has been pestering me for two weeks to start keeping a diary as part of their local survey. I have declined.)

Posted at 3:05 PM to Overmodulation


I'm trying to figure out which is more of a misnomer-"smooth jazz", which has nothing to do with jazz, or "Unitarian-Universalism", which doesn't believe in one God, nor much of anything in particular.

Posted by: John Salmon at 9:59 PM on 23 November 2006

Think of them as brand names, which don't have to make sense so long as you associate them with the correct products/services.

(Otherwise, you'll end up with some blockhead suing General Motors because his new Saturn, despite its name, was actually made in Delaware.)

Posted by: CGHill at 10:36 PM on 23 November 2006

Citadel killed The Spy because of abysmal ratings. They moved the Sports Enema to 105.3 before investigating the cause of The Spy's low ratings. The signal on 105.3 doesn't reach Norman!! Apparently the geniuses at Citadel they didn't discover the problem until people from Norman called in bitching about having no Enema; this leads one to conclude that the ad people didn't listen to their own station or (more likely for salespeople) they were too stupid to operate a car radio.

Maybe they've put 2 and 2 together and got something between 3 and 5, and will try The Spy on 96.9 FM. At least then it will reach the 3 biggest college campuses in central Oklahoma (OU, OSU, & UCO) and may have enough ratings to survive.

Posted by: Dan B at 12:27 AM on 24 November 2006

The 96.9 signal doesn't get to Norman all that well, though it's clearly better than what the sub-1kw trickle on 105.3 can manage.

I have a certain fondness for the Spy, but I don't see it as ever getting onto a Class C (100kw) signal. It wouldn't bother me in the least, though, were I to be proven wrong in this instance.

Posted by: CGHill at 8:15 AM on 24 November 2006

Do you think the recent hiring of Stacy Barton (popular AM D.J on Magic 104) factors into this anywhere? I thought it very odd that they hired her just before the Christmas music 'took over' especially when she doesn't seem like much of a fit for BOB's current listening audience.

Posted by: Melessa at 9:34 AM on 24 November 2006

I still can't figure out that move; there's no real hint on Stacy's MySpace page either, though she did take exception to local newspaper coverage of the move. I don't suppose she'd mind if I quoted it here:

There was a story in the Oklahoman this morning about my move to Bob FM and I was misquoted. I DID NOT say that the "price is right." I was very complimentary to Steve, Jeff (Magic Man) and the entire cast at Renda, but I guess that wasn't interesting enough for the writer...MEL BRACHT. I called Steve and Jeff to let them know that my compliments about them were omitted and a very boastful, gloating comment was wrongly attributed to me. If you read the article, please know that it IS NOT an accurate account of my feelings regarding the Magic situation and that I have nothing but fond memories of the folks at that station.

Posted by: CGHill at 9:57 AM on 24 November 2006

On "smooth jazz": I don't know-as a jazz lover I think music with the name "jazz" in it ought to have something to do with jazz. Hardly seems a lot to ask. There are millions of people who, if asked to name a jazz artist, will mention Kenny G or Najee.

Here's America's one entirely unique contribution to world culture, and it's being "brand-named" into something unintelligible...and musically vacuous. The Saturn example is silly. No offense, but that's just beneath your intellect.

Posted by: John Salmon at 4:14 PM on 24 November 2006

I have a device with a pistol grip that, when powered up, will melt the old paint off that crummy chest of drawers snagged at the estate sale for next to nothing. The very first item on the Safety Precautions list is "Do not use as a hair dryer."

In view of this, I'm not putting anything past aggrieved Saturn owners.

You might also ask the National Basketball Association about Utah's contribution to the world of jazz — or, for that matter, about all those lakes in and around Los Angeles.

My slight but measurable fondness for the "smooth" stuff is based on one fact: it's the only mostly-instrumental non-classical format that anyone is actually likely to program anymore. I freely admit that, as Parkers go, it's closer to Sarah Jessica than to Charlie, but the real stuff, which used to be on five hours a day here and is diminishing all the time, is becoming increasingly remote.

And inasmuch as I admit to owning seven Debbie — um, Deborah Gibson albums, it's obvious my intellect has no actual bottom.

Posted by: CGHill at 4:51 PM on 24 November 2006