{"id":2761,"date":"2023-08-19T15:22:09","date_gmt":"2023-08-19T22:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/?page_id=2761"},"modified":"2023-08-19T15:22:09","modified_gmt":"2023-08-19T22:22:09","slug":"2023-0811","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/2023-0811\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio Waves: August 11, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another Swift move<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Hearing Taylor Swift 24\/7 wasn\u2019t enough for you? You needed more?<\/p>\n

On the heals of Taylor 105.1 HD3, in which one of the HD radio streams tied to Go Country 105 plays nothing but Taylor Swift (you need a special HD radio to hear it; new cars often have them) came word that KIIS-FM joined the trend.<\/p>\n

Scheduled for August 3-9 \u2014 so depending on when you read this it may already be over \u2014 KIIS-FM became \u201cSWFT-FM,\u201d playing at least four Swift songs an hour. Last weekend included classic Taylor hits, Monday was Merch-Monday in which listeners could win official Swift memorabilia, Tuesday was Taylor TWOsday \u2014 back to back Swift songs \u2014 and much more.<\/p>\n

Even morning man Ryan Seacrest got into the act giving way a pair of tickets for the final show on August 9th.<\/p>\n

Not to be outdone, Alt 98.7 was doing an \u201canything but Swift\u201d promotion. Different strokes.<\/p>\n

Stunting<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While 105.1 HD3 continues to play all Swift through the end of the month, rumors are circulating on what will happen when the stunt is done. I originally assumed that the format would revert to the Adult Standards format that focussed on Frank Sinatra and friends, but there is word on the street that something new night be coming. And you know what happens when one assumes.<\/p>\n

HD radio signals are a tough sell, as the reach is limited compared with regular FM signals, due to a far lower number of HD radios in the hands of consumers as well as reception problems\u00a0 <\/span>\u2014 dropouts \u2014 when the signal isn\u2019t pristine. That can often be made up by the use of smartphone apps and smart speakers \u2026 unfortunately adding more costs, such as music streaming license fees and costs associated with computers. As most HD signals have few to no commercials or sponsorships, it is most definitely a labor of love for owners who truly try to make a go of it.<\/p>\n

Could the right format combined with the right promotion make an HD stream at least break even, if not profitable? That\u2019s your question of the week: If you could program an HD stream, such as 105.1 HD3, what would you put on it and why? For extra credit, how might you promote the station to not only attract listeners, but advertisers?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the meantime, I\u2019ll keep an ear to the ground to see if a new format will indeed be replacing All-Taylor.<\/p>\n

Not Quite<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cIn a significant change for Los Angeles radio listeners, KNX has stopped simulcasting its broadcasts on 1070 AM, a frequency it had occupied for over a century,\u201d read the story posted at newsbreak.com.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cThe shift comes about a year and a half after KNX moved its main broadcast to 97.1 FM.\u201d The story \u2014 no longer available on line \u2014 went on to state that listeners were shocked when they tuned in to 1070 AM and didn\u2019t hear the normal news format.<\/p>\n

A reader of this very column sent me the posting; at first I just assumed that management made a decision that was, um, questionable. Most people I know still tune to KNX on the AM band due to its significantly stronger signal, even if the fidelity on most radios is not quite as good. \u201cStupid,\u201d I responded.<\/p>\n

But then I tuned in to hear it for myself. Same news as always, an exact simulcast as has been happening for the past year. That\u2019s odd\u2026<\/p>\n

Soon KNX management responded directly to the story: \u201cHi there, Alex Silverman here, Director of News & Programming at KNX News,\u201d said the social media post. \u201cJust want to clarify: we have not ended the simulcast. KNX News is still on both 97.1 FM and 1070 AM in all hours except weekend mornings (Sat 6-11a and Sun 6-8a), when 1070 AM airs some paid and specialty programming.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis has been the case for more than a year, and there has been no change recently. During those hours the news is available on 97.1 FM as well as the Audacy app and by asking your smart speaker to ‘play KNX News.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

So what happened? AI, or artificial intelligence that can be used to wrote stories. According to sources close to the subject, it was a story written primarily by artificial intelligence, and I will go out on a limb and state that the AI system involved probably just picked up a discussion by people related to the weekend morning paid programming. In the beginning of the simulcast, I am sure there were listeners surprised\/shocked\/etc. to hear something other than news in those time blocks. But weekend mornings does not translate to all the time.<\/p>\n

Luckily for you, we don\u2019t use AI here. In fact, I try to avoid all intelligence, not just artificial. Just ask my editor – he\u2019ll agree completely.<\/p>\n

Future Series<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I am planning to start a feature in stations that don\u2019t exist any more. But not just the big boys, or even the big-boys\u2019 big formats. Stations like the original KDAY when it played top-40 and rock. Magic Oldies Radio K-WOW. KBLA. Stations you loved, but were not necessarily the stations that made it big.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I can use your help on this \u2026 if you have ideas for stations \u2014 and the personalities involved \u2014 to cover, send them my way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\/\/\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another Swift move Hearing Taylor Swift 24\/7 wasn\u2019t enough for you? You needed more? On the heals of Taylor 105.1 HD3, in which one of the HD radio streams tied to Go Country 105 plays nothing but Taylor Swift (you need a special HD radio to hear it; new cars often have them) came word […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2761","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2761"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2762,"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2761\/revisions\/2762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/socalradiowaves.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}