Fine-Tuning Radio : Stations Seek Niche Among the Commuters, Sunbathers
In the eyes of radio industry veteran Tom Holiday, the North County is an array of niches and valleys, a landscape dotted with opportunity and complications.
“It is like the face of a Thomas Brothers English muffin,” said Holiday, general manager of two North County-based stations, KOWF-FM (92.1) and KSPA-AM (1450).
Something as basic as delivering signals over the hills and through the canyons and into the homes and cars of listeners becomes a challenge. His advice: “If you can’t get a station, simply walk across the street.”
Holiday’s operation is based in Escondido, which is also known as the “Hidden Valley”--not the type of nickname a radio executive likes to hear. Like all North County radio stations, Holiday is constantly struggling to make people understand that the hoppin’ country tunes of his popular FM station can be heard beyond the hills of Escondido.
In addition to Holiday’s, there are five other radio operations in the North County, each attempting to find its own niche in the swirl of the Southern California radio market.
Instead of tuning in far-off stations, an Encinitas resident can jam to the rock of “Magic 102” or the Top 40 hits of KKOS-FM (95.9), which is “North County and proud of it.” Also programmed from bases in North County: mellow tunes, business news, religious programming and golden oldies.
In a very real sense, North County is a distinct market, separated from urban San Diego by marketing strategies, as well as geography.
In 1985, North County basically seceded from San Diego, when Arbitron, the company that compiles ratings for stations throughout the country, began issuing a separate “book” for North County. The move came after heavy lobbying from North County radio executives, who didn’t feel the San Diego ratings accurately reflected their home.
Alone, North County is the 62nd largest of the 252 markets in the country, according to Arbitron, comparable in size to Las Vegas and Austin, Tex. Unlike Las Vegas or Austin, the area is not isolated; it’s not an island. In addition to San Diego stations, powerful Los Angeles stations are easily picked up by North County residents, many of whom have recently moved from Los Angeles and Orange counties.
The intrusion of Los Angeles stations is simply one quirk in a very quirky radio market. Of course, quirky is not necessarily a negative to radio industry and marketing professionals, who try to use an area’s special characteristics to attract listeners and advertisers.
“The North County is one reason we’re pouring a million dollars into (upgrading) our AM signal to 50,000 watts at night,” said Paul Palmer, general manager of KFMB-AM (760) and FM (B100). “With growth, we wanted to be even stronger there.”
Palmer and others are simply responding to the numbers game that powers the radio industry. Rating numbers decide whether a station is succeeding or failing. Demographic numbers--data about the population, ranging from the number of people and their ages to the amount of money they earn--dictate the potential of a market.
Those numbers for North County look good: The area’s population increased from 288,979 to 616,793 in the 1980s, according to the San Diego Assn. of Governments, making it one of the fastest-growing markets in the country. Most of the influx, marketing experts say, came in the form of upwardly mobile, middle-class, young families.
“Most people perceive it as fairly upscale,” said Nancy Duvall, media director for Chapman/Warwick, an advertising and public relations firm. “There is a good strong Baby-Boomer group.”
Along with the population growth have come hundreds of new businesses that want to advertise their presence.
“The amount of retail sales is incredible,” said Jeff Chandler, owner of KKOS-FM and KCEO-AM (1000) in Carlsbad. “If you look at what was here 15 years ago, it was just the Plaza Camino Real (shopping center) and a whole bunch of car dealers.”
Revenues of radio stations throughout the county, North County included, have increased dramatically in the last few years, even surpassing the pace of the county’s growth. According to figures compiled by the San Diego Broadcasters Assn., the earnings of San Diego stations have grown by 10% to 20% a year for the past few years, one of the fastest rates of growth in the country.
Traffic jams help explain the increase.
People listen to their radios in their cars, which is one reason Los Angeles is such a powerful radio market. As the San Diego freeways increasingly resemble Los Angeles freeways, the radio audience has grown.
North County is a patchwork of suburban communities whose residents get in their cars to go to work five days a week, and who on their off days go to beaches and parks--prime activities to match with radio listening.
Of course, even the emphasis on the automobile has its quirks for North County radio stations, according to some radio executives. Arbitron distributes its ratings diaries based on ZIP codes. But many of those holding North County diaries, the theory goes, get in their cars and drive to San Diego.
“If they listen in San Diego, it’s not a fair representation for us,” said Greg Stevens, program director for KGMG-FM (Magic 102).
But the numbers don’t lie. There is no downplaying the size or importance of the North County audience.
“It seems like the whole market has grown up with the population growth,” said Dave Ruhlman, who spent 13 years as co-owner and general manager of KOWN (now KOWF), before taking over the reins of KPRZ (1210), a religious station based in San Marcos.
While there are few dominant personalities at the North County stations, the level of professionalism both on and off the air has increased in recent years. Industry veterans, such as former KFMB-FM personality Scott Kenyon at KKOS-FM and Greg Stevens of Magic 102, are key players.
Each North County station has its own programming niche--from the Top 40 rock of KKOS-FM to the country of KOWF.
“It’s one of the few markets I’ve been in that is under-radioed,” said Bob Jacobson, general manager of KMLO (107.1). “There is no duplication; advertisers have a better opportunity to target an audience.”
Each of the North County-based stations approaches the market differently.
KGMG-FM, for example, often seems to be trying to detach itself from its North County roots. Although it is based in Oceanside, the FM has an “auxiliary studio” in Kearny Mesa and it has been attempting to move its transmitter tower farther south, in order to better reach San Diego. Last year it installed “repeaters” in San Diego, which helped boost its signal in previously hard-to-reach areas.
It’s not so much that Magic 102 wants to disown its North County base, program director Greg Stevens said, it just doesn’t want to limit itself to one area.
When he first arrived in North County, the station “scrupulously avoided talking about North County exclusively,” Stevens said. “Our way not to be limited to the North County was to ignore it on the air. That was a little naive of us.”
Magic executives don’t feel they should be limited to North County, simply because that’s where their transmitter is located and their Federal Communications Commission license carries an Oceanside address.
“I don’t know where KGB’s transmitter is located, but they’re not out there saying, ‘We’re Spring Valley and we’re proud of it,’ ” Stevens said.
Most of the other North County stations focus on their home area simply because they have no other choice. Their signals are not as strong as Magic’s, making it difficult for them to reach into San Diego.
The Fallbrook-based KMLO doesn’t even dream of reaching San Diego with its mellow music format. But it does covet the audience in the rapidly growing Temecula Valley in Riverside County to the north.
“Our station is uniquely situated to serve both counties,” said KMLO’s Jacobson.
For the most part, the North County stations are identifiable as North County by their advertisements and news, which tend to be localized.
“Our emphasis on being a North County station is primarily in the information we give listeners,” said Holiday of KOWF. “Our listeners already know (we’re based in the North), so we focus on information.”
More than satisfied to be thought of as a North County station, he has no burning desire to try to move his signal into urban San Diego.
“By the time we develop ourselves as North County’s country station and saturated our potential here,” Holiday said, “there is going to be a population shift and most of the county’s population will be in the North County. Then why bother?”
Signals From North County
Although a North County resident with a solid antenna can pick up dozens of stations from as far away as Mexico and Los Angeles, there are only five operations that call the area home:
KKOS-FM (95.9): With Scott Kenyon, formerly a member of B100’s Rich Brothers, helping to shape the musical format, this ratings power is clearly hoping its Top 40/contemporary format will take a slice out of B100’s large young-adult market.
KCEO-AM (1000): The AM sister to KKOS, it programs business and financial news.
KGMG-FM (Magic 102): Recently switched to more of an album-oriented rock format after three years as a classic rock station. Morning show is called “The Rude Boys.”
KGMG-AM (1320): Recently switched to an “easy listening” format.
KPRZ-AM (1210): North County’s newest station features religious programming.
KOWF-FM (92.1): The “KOW” is attempting to be North County’s country station, battling the San Diego-based KSON-FM (97.3) for the foot-stomping hearts of North Countians.
KSPA-AM (1450): The AM sister to KOWF calls itself the “Station of the Stars,” programming middle-of-the-road hits from such artists as Frank Sinatra, Robert Goulet and Jack Jones.