XTRA May Alter Format

Having lost more than half its listeners to the high-fidelity competition of an FM radio station, the rock ‘n’ roll oldies station, XTRA AM (690), has hired a consultant to study shifting to a news-talk format.

The station has picked Packer Communications, a broadcast management company, to examine the reorganization, said general manager Tom Jimenez. The station, known as 69 XTRA Gold, is one of a pair of stations in San Diego owned by Noble Broadcasting Group, a 17-station chain based here.

A year ago, the AM station garnered a market share rated at 2.5 in the winter survey by Arbitron, which evaluates radio listenership. However, in the winter 1988 Arbitron survey, the station’s share had dropped to 1, Jimenez said.

He attributed the loss to the shift of EAGLE FM (105) to an oldies format in December, 1986.

“Once we have an FM station on the dial doing oldies, that really creates a problem for an AM station,” Jimenez said. “We’ve had a resurgence recently, but we really want to be a dominant force in the marketplace.” Because of their higher fidelity, FM stations tend to make inroads into AM stations with similar music formats, he said.

Hence the shift to a news-talk format, where fidelity is not as important.

“The decision is one of evaluating the direction we want to be, not just right now, but where we want to be in five years,” Jimenez said. “Basically, we’re looking for something to complement our FM (station). On a national basis, the news-talk formats are doing real well for AM listeners.”

69 XTRA Gold began broadcasting oldies rock from the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s in September, 1984, Jimenez said.

At 50,000 watts, 69 XTRA Gold’s signal is more powerful than many stations’ and is broadcast from Mexico. Licensed in 1934, it is one of the older English-language radio stations in the area. In the 1960s, it was the first all-news station in San Diego, Jimenez said.