Four stations switch formats, in a bid by iHeartMedia to gain traction
January 27, 2016
DJ Supa Sam, a popular Seattle radio personality, has changed stations.
Though iHeartMedia dominates many radio markets, Seattle is not one of them.
Hoping to improve ratings, the company last Wednesday overhauled four of its lower-rated Seattle stations.
The country’s largest radio owner has made big changes here before, with some success. In 2014 it rebranded KJR-FM to classic hits station 95.7 The Jet, now its top station in the market and ranking in the top five overall.
Media buyers say they understand the reasons behind iHeartMedia’s most recent changes, though they’re not convinced they will succeed.
“After the successful rebranding of KJR, it’s understandable that iHeart wants the same success for their lower-performing stations,” says Adrianne McAllister, buying strategist at the Seattle agency Media Plus.
“Their reasoning for the changes is to stop cannibalizing cume in the young female demos, but it feels like they’re still doing that,” she adds.
Buyers say this is one of the most wide-scale format changes they’ve seen in a market in recent years. With the changes, iHeartMedia hopes to put pressure on Seattle’s No. 1 station, KQMV, which plays contemporary hits.
The company is rebranding a station with a strong signal in Seattle, KUBE 93.3, with top 40 music and calling it POWER 93.3. To promote the move, POWER went commercial-free in its first days.
The old KUBE format, hip hop, will move to 104.9FM, which is based in Tacoma and has a weak signal in parts of Seattle. Popular KUBE hosts Supa Sam and Tiffany have also relocated to 104.9.
IHeartMedia’s top 40 station, KBKS-FM, switched to the hot adult contemporary format, although it kept its popular morning show, “Bender and Molly.”
And hot adult contemporary station KYNW switched to an alternative rock format. It’s now known as Alt 102.9 FM, “Seattle/Tacoma’s Rock Alternative.”
IHeartMedia didn’t have a lot to lose by tinkering with these stations. None of the four stations made the market’s top 15 during the holidays.
KBKS had the best numbers, posting a 2.7 AQH share during the holiday period. KUBE was second with a 2.1, while KYNW-FM had a 0.8 share and KKBW-FM managed just a 0.4.
In addition to the format changes, iHeartMedia has told buyers it hopes to increase time spent listening for its stations by reducing the number of commercials by 20 to 25 percent.
It sounds good in theory as a way to decrease clutter, but such a move can become a headache for media people and their clients.
“This typically means higher rates for advertisers and potentially longer commercial pods, not good news for advertisers and the rates they will be asked to pay,” says Melissa Durfee Davis, media director at GreenRubino in Seattle.
Meanwhile, the overall media economy in Seattle remains similar to last year, active but with room for media buyers to negotiate on both TV and radio.
The market isn’t expected to see too much presidential election spending. Washington is a blue state that rarely goes Republican.
It has voted for the Democratic candidate in each presidential year since 1984, often by a wide margin.
READ MORE HERE AT THE MEDIA LIFE MAGAZINE WEBSITE
Original Story HERE
