The Dance of the Dial

Confused? If you’re a Los Angeles music radio listener, you should be. It’s a time of turmoil and change all around the dial.

Adult alternative station KSCA-FM (101.9) went off the air, replaced with a Mexican music format. KOST-FM (103.5) has aggressively campaigned to change its image from “easy listening” to a “soft rock” format featuring contemporary artists from Phil Collins to Melissa Etheridge.

Classic rock has made a dramatic comeback, not only via rock stations KCBS-FM (Arrow 93.1) and KLOS-FM (95.5), but even as a feature on country outlet KZLA-FM (93.9). There are now not one, but two dance-pop stations, KIBB-FM (100.3) and KACD-FM (103.1), trying to grab listeners from rhythm powerhouses KPWR-FM (105.9) and KKBT-FM (92.3).

And even venerable KROQ-FM (106.7) has a pesky challenger just to its right in KLYY-FM (107.1). Meanwhile, KROQ itself is exploring ways to become more established with Latino listeners.

And there’s probably more to come.

“This market is going to change a substantial amount in the next three months,” says Jeff Pollack, an L.A.-based radio programming consultant with a clientele of more than 100 stations across the country.

Part of that he attributes to shifts in pop music trends, as the alternative-rock wave has slackened and new sounds and acts are emerging.

“There’s been a fragmentation of the alternative format into several sub-formats--adult alternative, so-called active rock, and so on--and dance music is back in full swing, it seems,” he says.

But what has really stimulated movement in most major U.S. radio markets has been the deregulation of broadcasting, removing restrictions on ownership of multiple stations in the same market, which has fueled a series of huge corporate buyouts and mergers.

What results, analysts say, is a trend toward specialization. While the top outlets, the pillars of L.A. music radio, are secure, each pulling in 5% or 6% of the market’s listenership in fairly broad demographic sweeps--KROQ featuring modern rock, KPWR and KKBT with contemporary R&B; and hip hop, KIIS-FM (102.7) with mainstream pop hits--many less prominent stations are narrowing their focus.

“I think what is going to happen is, people are going for smaller niches because you have to try to get an audience anywhere you can,” says KROQ vice president and general manager Trip Reeb. “There are so many stations, and mainstream radio--there is no such thing any more.”

The result is an increasingly mad scramble for shares of this lucrative and intensely competitive market that has become, as Ken Christianson, general manager of both KYSR-FM (Star 98.7) and KIBB, terms it, a “radio shake and bake.”

Right now, there’s a fight going on particularly for women and Latinos, and it’s intensifying on a daily basis.

Those are the two demographic groups whose rising cultural and economic power make them the primary targets of radio broadcasters.

KYSR, which programs a blend of ‘80s pop hits and current singer-songwriters, and KIBB, which in October started with a rhythm-heavy mix of new dance tracks and classic disco, are clear examples of that trend.

“Business is going where the opportunities are,” says Christianson. “Both of our stations are targeted at adult women. If you’re successful with the dance and rhythm [format] and at the same time the modern adult contemporary [format of Star], you can have a big pile of women to sell advertisers in a market. The automotive industry, for example, is targeting women more and more, and that is the trend all through business.”

Ron Rodrigues, managing editor of the trade publication Radio and Records, says: “One trend we are noticing [in large markets like L.A.] is more innovation as a result of consolidation. This is mainly because what was a small, failing station with an independent owner is now part of a big company and can try more of a niche format.”

The two latest are particularly illustrative of the trends. While the demise of adult alternative station KSCA last month got a lot of attention, the bigger element of the story may have been Spanish-language media giant Heftel Inc.’s purchase of the station from Gene and Jackie Autry for a whopping $115 million, giving the company a dominant position with three L.A. stations.

And even more recently, Evergreen Media Corp. and Chancellor Broadcasting Co. announced plans for a $2.7-billion merger, with intent to purchase Viacom’s radio holdings, including L.A. outlets KYSR and KIBB, giving the new entity five in the market. Westinghouse/CBS is also increasing its Southland presence via a station swap with Greater Media that gives it KLSX-FM (97.1) (the former classic-rock outlet now devoted to talk) and oldies station KRLA-AM for a total in the market of eight stations.

In fact, with the demise of KSCA, KYSR has increased its campaign for that station’s loyal listeners--especially females--by identifying itself with some top current female artists, such as Jewel, Alanis Morissette and Tori Amos, while also trying to siphon the older end of the KROQ audience with such classics from that station’s past as Tears for Fears and the Cure. In the case of KIBB, the target audience is also heavily Latino, with a rhythm-heavy playlist designed to capture listeners who might stray from market powerhouses KPWR and KKBT, both of which claim young Latinos as a major part of their audience.

The idea is that with those two stations, Viacom (and in the future the Evergreen-Chancellor alignment) can offer advertisers a more diverse yet complementary demographic spectrum.

“What you’re looking at in most markets--and L.A. is a very good example--is with all the deregulation and stacking up of ownership, they take two or three niches of the audience and package them together,” says Bob Catania, head of promotions at Geffen Records. “So if you own three stations, you can super-serve three specific audiences, and the one company gets the benefit of the totality of those three audiences.”

To think that such upstarts as KACD (known as Groove Radio), KIBB (called B100.3) and KLYY (billed as Y107) can actually steal any significant number of loyal listeners from the market leaders is unrealistic. But few people listen to just one station and love everything that station plays. So Y107, which has a playlist largely identical to KROQ, is a natural place to turn when KROQ plays commercials or a song that may not be to a listener’s liking.

B100.3, on the other hand, is trying to be a place for people who may be outgrowing the youth-orientation of KPWR. And Groove Radio, devoted to the rising realm of electronic dance music, arguably overlaps both KROQ and KPWR.

“They see an opportunity to go after a niche in the markets where there is probably the greatest available audience to take away from the successful stations,” says Catania. “It seems like smart business sense: If you’re going to try to gain a foothold, you go after the largest available share. But it’s always going to be a difficult battle. You’re saying to somebody, ‘I know you’re really happy over there, but we’re going to try to do it better.’ ”

KLOS attempted to chip away at KROQ three years ago by mixing more alternative rock into its “heritage” (an industry buzz word for a long-established station identity) as a mainstream rock station--in other words, adding Nirvana, Pearl Jam and such to its foundation of such institutions as Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones. Not only did it fail to gain much in the way of new listeners, but it alienated some of the station’s old fans and left it drifting as alternative-rock’s market power diminished.

Now the station has attempted to reestablish that heritage and reconnect with those core fans, and at the same time add such younger acts as the Wallflowers and Counting Crows, who, in theory, can help attract more adult women.

“Our primary audience is men,” says music director Rita Wilde. “But there would be nothing wrong with having more women. A lot of women listen to [morning personalities] Mark & Brian, and we would like that to carry over into the rest of the day.”

Neither KPWR nor KROQ programmers feel vulnerable, but neither are they ignoring the challengers and the changing shape of the pop radio market. KPWR programming director Michelle Mercer acknowledges that a conscious decision has been made to allow older listeners to drift, if they choose, rather than alter programming to keep them and, in the process, risk losing the influx of young listeners that has made the station L.A.’s highest-rated English-language pop station of the ‘90s.

And KROQ’s Reeb says that adding Latino elements can help the station stay ahead of the competition. A program, most likely to be introduced in a late-night weekend time slot, is in discussion involving two Latino deejays and some rock en espan~ol music programming.

For all the uncertainty, though, many find that this is a healthy time for L.A. radio.

“It’s been a while since L.A. has gone through this kind of change,” KLOS’ Wilde says. “For so long it was stagnant, and now there’s a shake-up, which is good now and then.”

Tommy Edwards, program director of Arrow, agrees.

“It’s good radio competition,” he says. “And the listeners are the winners.”

*

* LATINO RADIO

The growth of Spanish-language stations is booming in the Southland. See Monday’s Calendar.