Death of Radio

[perzephone]

I know I have lived in this town for far too long. Four of my favorite radio stations are no more. First was the AM radio station, The Krusher. Hard rock all day & night with no commercials. Next to go was The Edge, 80's New Wave & Punk, plus modern alternative. It died shortly before we went to Louisiana. Their last night on the air I had a long & lively argument with the dj about whether or not Men Without Hats had done a song called Pop Goes the World. The only one most people know is Safety Dance (you can dance, you can dance, everybody look at your hands...), but I distinctly remember seeing the Pop Goes the World video on MTV. KUNV, UNLV's radio station, is still on the air, but they changed their format from a free-form vision of really great music & talk radio to all jazz, all the time about 5 years ago.

Over the past couple of days, 96.3, KKLZ ("where the LZ stands for Led Zeppelin") has changed from classic rock to oldies. I'm talking like, 50's & early to mid-60's stuff like Hang On, Sloopy and early, early pre-Motown R&B. Where am I going to get my Zeppelin fix now? They were one of the only radio stations left that understood that if they played Heartbreaker, it had to be followed immediately by Livin' Lovin' Maid. Who will put the rock in Rocktober now? Who will put the Led Zeppelin in Zeptember?

Gods, I feel so old!

Comments

Death of KKLZ

[(Anonymous)]

KKLZ had been dying a slow death for sometime and was doing little to recesitate itself.When Kahuna & Co. tried the Friday morning obscure rock format many people came up with dozens of bands with great music (Cactus,MC5,Savoy Brown,Wishbone Ash,It's A Beautiful Day,etc) that the station never played.I personally loaned them about 20 albums with artist like Baker Gurtvitz Army and early Atlanta Rythm Section.We begged them to expand their playlist instead of the same groups and songs over and over again.At one point KKLZ was playing Van Halen 10 times a day.Those of us with more sophisticated taste left for other alternatives like satellite and internet radio and the station finally collapsed in on itself.

Re: Death of KKLZ

[perzephone.livejournal.com]

Call me old fashioned... I usually just listen to the radio in the car - we still only have a tape deck, no 5-CD changer or docking station for an i-anything. But I am in the car an amazing amount of time over the week & more often than not, the radio would be on KKLZ.

At least KOMP has been picking up the Led Zeppelin slack, and they do understand how vital it is for Livin' Lovin' Maid to follow Heartbreaker, lol. It's what keeps the universe intact & the sun in its daily routine.

KKLZ's change to "Classic Hits"

[(Anonymous)]

Hi there. I am a manager in the sales department for KKLZ and wanted to participate in your dialogue. KKLZ had been doing some form of rock for 21 years. Unfortunately, the radio station was getting beat handily in the rock arena ratings by 1) KOMP, 2) KKJJ (Jack)and off/on by 3) The Point. Most advertisers are not buying more than 1 or 2 rock radio stations unless they are a gentlemen's club or an advertiser of that ilk, so at the end of the day, "no ticky no laundry". We've got payroll to make and bills to pay. I personally prefer the music we were playing as a Classic Rock format, but the songs are accessible on three other radio stations all day long. With this new format, KKLZ is playing exclusive music that is unavailable on terresteral radio. I'm not trying to sell you on the decision to change the format. However I thought you might want to know the method to the madness. If you know anyone who likes that kind of music (60s & 70s POP), please invite them to listen. I need the job.

Mark

Re: KKLZ's change to "Classic Hits"

[perzephone.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for stopping by! My blog appreciates outside readership :)

I understand that radio needs advertisers to survive & all. I imagine it's hard to compete with mp3 players, CD's, satellite, broadband and customizable playlists. Radio stations have to change and be flexible just like any other media outlet. I end up getting attached to the few radio stations I listen to. I don't have a 'favorite', because even though they're all the pop-rock/rock stations (KOMP, previously KKLZ, Jack, the Point, Star, Mix & Xtreme) each one is slightly different to
me. I enjoy the randomness of radio. You don't know exactly what they're going to play next unless the DJ happens to announce it. Sometimes you change the station because it's something new and overplayed, and sometimes it could be a song you haven't heard in a while. 96.3 KKLZ was always #2 on our radio settings in the car. Part of listening to the radio in the car for me means having stuff to do when I'm the passenger like leaning forward to scan the stations whenever a commercial comes on or whenever a neurotic or moronic morning DJ is blabbing incessantly (I work graveyard with a bunch of neurotic & moronic people who talk to me all night - the last thing I want to do when I get out of work is have some DJ blabbing at me on the ride home). I refuse to get satellite radio because, well, radio is on my car stereo for free. We don't even have a CD player - it's AM/FM or a cassette tape. I could always count on KKLZ to play Zeppelin or the Doors or Fleetwood Mac or even 'old' Motley Crue, & when a commercial came on KKLZ, there was the Point for Journey/Boston (the lesser of five commercials, lol).

I do have to admit - we kept the 'new' KKLZ on the alternate FM2 buttons (mainly for the shock value - the change hasn't quite sunk in) & last night before I went to work I was pleasantly surprised to hear Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, followed by T-Rex's Bang the Gong.

I was heartily irritated when Star stopped being 'All 80's' & went to more of Mix's format, but then again, they always played the same 80's songs. I would have loved to hear a little more obscure stuff, maybe some old punk or indie grrrl stuff like Soho & Whale. When Jack came to town I was fascinated for a week or two because it was so new - no DJ's... but then it started sounding more & more like the piped-in collection that plays at my job.

I don't wish the 'new' KKLZ any ill-will, but I will miss Zeptember & Rocktoberfest. The new format isn't quite like anything we have in town, & I'm sure people will like the variety in the format, too - things like the car racing broadcasts & local flavor. I wish you the best of luck and will probably tune in from time to time myself. It could have been worse - it could have been country.