Will San Francisco ever get a CHR/Pop station?

[strong4PMB!]

KZQZ 95.7 has undergone two format changes since it stopped being CHR/Pop in 2002. It first switched to Classic Rock (0 listeners), and now it's Country (KZBR). Are there any plans for a new CHR/Pop station to move into town?

[snoman]

Being I have only been through the airport there on layovers, and I listen to KBLX on my walkman when I am there, I don't know how strong the signals are around the area. You would think that Clear Channel would flip either KYLD or KMEL to CHR/Pop. Their playlists are almost identical. You can't tell me that you wouldn't be more successful with one Rhythmic station and one Pop station than having two Rhythmics fighting for the same audience? Come on! Like I said, it may have something to do with the signals of why they are doing two Rhythmic stations, otherwise it makes no sense to me. It seems like if you combine both stations, that share would beat longtime number one KGO as the most listened to station in the market.

[Marv]

CHR/Pop as a format has been sinking for over fifteen years since the format switched from being a song driven format to a producer-dominated format.

With a far narrower focus than ever, and having blown off millions of adult listeners, the format is not about to return to its heyday of the seventies and eighties, when the music was FAR more varied, far better, the BEST songwriters on the planet were welcome at the format, the biggest hits weren't played more than once every 3-4 hours, and the music didn't sound so stale, recycled, and unoriginal.

In response to the question, launching a CHR/Pop station these days is a very dangrous proposition, and since once of SF's two dominant CHR/Rhythmic stations (KMEL) used to be a CHR/Pop station (whose greatest claim was breaking Paula Abdul's 'Straight Up' and helping propel it to #1.), nobody would be foolish enough to try, considering the staggering amount of money it would cost, on top of the failure of Z95.7 (KZQZ).

It's extremely unlikely to happen in San Francisco, or in any large or major market, until the format returns to being a mass-appeal format, instead of a 25-and-under format.

In this day of radio station clusters, that's just not in the cards.

[strong4PMB!]

Is KYLD switching formats? I heard Ashlee Simpson's "Pieces Of Me" this afternoon. WHAT?! I was shocked. Right inbetween rap songs. SHOCKING.

[Slinky]

geoguy said:

Is KYLD switching formats?  I heard Ashlee Simpson's "Pieces Of Me" this afternoon.  WHAT?!  I was shocked.  Right inbetween rap songs.  SHOCKING.

www.radio-info.com/mods/board?Board=bayarea&Post=257137

It happens. KYLD has always played pop hits if they're huge. Doesn't necessarily indicate a format flip, although that would be nice.

[EvanJ]

On the radio-info San Francisco board somebody asked about American Top 40 and was told the nearest affiliate is KHOP Modesto.
I'd like if Infinity changed the low-rated KLLC to CHR-Pop.

[Marv]

Back in the late eighties, both KMEL and LA's Power 106 were still playing VERY few non-rhythmic songs as CHR/Rhythmic stations; KMEL eventually evolved into a true CHR/Rhythmic station, as did Power 106, by dropping virtually all non-rhythmic product from their respective playlists.

As I said earlier, KZQZ's failure makes it extremely unlikely that a TRUE CHR/Pop station will be launched in San Francisco anywhere until the format returns to being the mass-appeal format it was originally conceived as, as opposed to copying its local CHR/Rhythmic competition, with the predictably disastrous results which followed.

[strong4PMB!]

Slinky said:

www.radio-info.com/mods/board?Board=bayarea&Post=257137

It happens.  KYLD has always played pop hits if they're huge.  Doesn't necessarily indicate a format flip, although that would be nice.

Thanks for posting!

I can't believe Z95.7 failed.  Was it due to poor ratings, poor finances, or what?  Z was what all the cool kids at school listened to!  (Wait...Come to think of it, only one other student and I were avid listeners. I even made a Yahoo! Club called 'Z95.7 SAN FRANCISCO'!  5 members! )