llL;tS U N KIN ti K,A111U s - FORMAT MYTHS rr_ 414.1...'`"'", By SUSAN SANDERS `-,, , ..`.. Magazine Dallas 1 . In the midst of a long, hot summer of soul- searching, FLY = FIM radio stations have apparently decided to debunk a few myths iH zuO 9s A billboard war occurred during the spring ratings pe- and discard some formats, finally giving audiences what riod in Dallas. Shown are KNUS billboard, handled by they've been begging for the past five years. Owens /Maddox; and KZEW -FM billboard playing on a Music on the air isn't confined to radio either with both "spacey" image they have borrowed from the movie Lone Star and Pearl, two beer company giants in Texas, be- "Star Wars." hind music programs on TV. All of this change in radio is coming about, not in a slow, transitional manner, but after eight months of head -rolling, This is not to say Top 40 is out the window. In fact, it is still has a strong farm.ng opinion polling and multimillion -dollar promoting. the strongest audience draw in every region of the state. What community which prefers One of the myths that station executives have discovered is has happened is the development of a more contemporary, a more traditional approach. that the majority of Texas young adults prefer traditional Top more adult style, that relies on Top 40 playlists but balances Even Austin's KOKE -FM, consid- that with an MOR talk format. ered the birthplace of the progressive "It seems that we've struck on a new kind of format;" Jack format, has opted for a truer country sound. "Progressive Carlos Guzman (center), who has now been recording for Fal- Starr, program director for KHFI -FM in Austin, explains. country was meant to describe a type of , not a con for more than a decade, is seen receiving a recent award "We've combined Top 40 and MOR. We still have a Top 40 im- type of music," says Jim Ray, the station's new general man- from Chucho Mares of Channel 46 in Los Angeles' Sports age, but we kind of ride the middle fence. Our listeners are re- ager. Arena. At left is Teddy Fregoso of XEGM. sponding to more tasteful music." Jerry Green, program director for KVET in Austin, puts it is measured by the FM generally is doing exceptionally well throughout Texas. more bluntly. "If progressive country In Dallas, for example, 55% of the market is held by FM sta- tions and other cities are not far behind those percentages. Observing this trend, KRLD -AM in Dallas began to change its image. According to John Butler, president of KRLD, the high Billy Parker, an Oklahoma radio per- penetration of FM sets in use required his station to program sonality and a Texas singing star. for that fact. "AM radio, let's face it, is getting close to a pure news and talk format," Butler said. "But we don't think this market is quite ready to support news /talk 24 hours a day." Don Thompson, WBAP (center) with Urel Albert and Box Car Willie So KRLD re- entrenched itself into a softer music sound, (right) at the Silver Saddle. adding a twist to the competition with WFAA -AM, which earlier shifted to a pure news format with some success. Arnoldo Ramirez Sr , the surviving co-founder of the longtime /talk successful Falcon Records of McAllen, is shown here inter- Another myth discarded by Texas radio stations is that of viewing Soledad Acosta from Mexico City on his "Fan -Farria the progressive country sound, which most admit now was Falcon" nationally syndicated tv show. never a type of music in the first place. "There just never was a lot of product with the so- called progressive country," says Warren Potash, general manager for WBAP, Fort Worth, a sta- O 40, lots of chatter programming. Not only is that not true, but tion as strongly tied as any with Texas country music. á the stations that have doggedly held on to that belief slipped In Amarillo, country has pulled slightly ahead of contempo- o so far in the spring Arbitron ratings that even those die -hards rary sound stations in the ratings, but progressive country is m are beginning to wake up. not significant in that trend. John Dawson, program director Young Texans have become more sophisticated in their lis- for KGNC, AM /FM, has been cognizant of the increased inter- tening preferences, the ARB indicates. And the stations that est in pure country and has blended it in with his MOR format. N have been caught flat- footed in their realization of that fact "In this particular market, progressive country doesn't seem rn are playing catch -up to their more aware counterparts. to be doing very well," Dawson says, explaining that Amarillo

..%..N VIANNV1/I smoke, it may still be here. If it is measured by the commercial \\\ success, it never was." One aspect of the changing attitude toward country music Ì in Texas is paired with the growth of FM stereo stations. In- Ì stead of being satisfied with driving down a long, lonesome +10.604, highway with a beer in hand and a pickup radio, AM of course, blaring cowboy croonings, audiences are reacting strongly to the smoother sound of FM, even for the most basic country fans. i KLVI in Beaumont, near Houston, describes itself as mod- i ern country, not to be confused with progressive country. "We i changed our format in November," general manager Steve RANCH i Hicks says. Previously a rocker, KLVI moved into competition IN WACO, TEXAS AND ABILENE, TEXAS with three other country music stations and ratings tripled. % KTRM is the major competition, in Hicks' opinion, but since PRESENTS THE BIGGEST NAMES IN COUNTRY MUSIC his advertising sales were up 25 %, he feels the market is big i enough, for the present, for both of them. In Houston, radio is pretty much an FM ballgame, according to KAUM's program director Bruce Johnson. And a competi- Willie Nelson Waylon Jennings Ronnie Milsap tive ballgame that is, particularly in the Top 40 and MOR mar- kets where, as in other cities, a softer contemporary sound dominates the airwaves. Johnny Rodriguez Mel Tillis Conway Twitty The slippage of AM popularity has been going on for several years in Houston, Johnson said, and he predicted the rest of the nation is beginning to follow suit. s Loretta Lynn Mickey Gilley Moe Bandy Houston suffered possibly more than any other Texas city %i in the spring ARB book. Johnson candidly admits his own sta- i tion "went down the tubes" from a 3.9 to a 1.7 in the critical Red Steagall Johnny Bush Jim Owens . 25 -34 age bracket. But many others followed suit. "If we'd % been the only ones to go down, I could just sit here and con- % template my navel," he says. Instead, he's brightening up the Sammi Smith Jim Ed Brown and Many More programming to fit the contemporary package that seems to be working elsewhere. i But Bill Young, program director and operations manager MELODY RANCH HAS A 1200 SEATING CAPACITY IN EACH i at KILT (both AM and FM) says there definitely is a market for A WEEK. i LOCATION AND OFFERS ENTERTAINMENT SIX NIGHTS i a good AM station -evidenced by his own station which domi- V1ImpoikM nates the 18 -34 AM market in Houston. The station, which VON%.. programs Top 40 contemporary, is personality- oriented with strong community commitment. Morning drive features three Thanks in advance to the record newscasts an hour, with hourly news throughout the rest of And the day. Young cites the station's tribute to Elvis Presley as industry for your future support. 0. part of its community orientation: "During our tribute we pro- to those labels who have already helped us i grammed a great deal of Elvis and concluded with a memorial promote these and other great artists, % service at the Miller Outdoor Theatre where the audience was the largest ever in the amphitheatre. The theatre holds i MELODY RANCH our sincerest appreciation. MELODY RANCH 10,000 people, but the crowd was so much in excess that we 2315 ROBINSON BLVD. 5217 SOUTH FIRST couldn't estimate its size." / WACO, TEXAS 76706 wm w` ABILENE, TEXAS 79605 Country music is strong in Houston. Ric Libby, program di- (817) 662 -0842 (915) 698 -8026 rector at KENR suggests, "If you total up the listeners for. all the country stations covering the Houston area, no other for- mat can match it." In the last six years market share has risen mvk i m wr' for Libby believes his station is 1A mo vv g o v, v from 8% to 25% country, and (Continued on page T-/9)

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