Sophie signs on in San Diego

[tico]

The former Free FM (KSCF) San Diego has flipped from talk to a hybrid of AAA and hot AC under the name Sophie@103.7. From yesterday's All Access:

Free FM/San Diego Flips To 'Sophie 103.7'
Hello Sophie!
CBS Talk KSCF (103.7 FREE FM)/SAN DIEGO dropped the Oldies "K-SURF 103.7" smokescreen stunt it started airing at 3p PT and flipped to female-oriented AAA-Hot AC hybrid as "SOPHIE 103.7" at 5p ET. The new format launched with JACK JOHNSON's "Upside Down" as the first tune, followed by FALL OUT BOY's "Thanks For The Memories."

Prior to the 5p flip, the station had aired a two hour Oldies stunt as "K-SURF 103.7." FREE FM PD JIM DANIELS and midday local hosts DAVE PALET and JEFF DOTSETH are out in the flip.

"SOPHIE@103.7 is the first glimpse of the future of Modern Adult Contemporary radio," said CBS RADIO VP/AC and KYXY & KSCF CHARLIE QUINN. "With a music library predominantly rooted in the present, the station will distinguish itself as a platform for emerging artists and great new music. The station’s music mirrors our listener's priorities -- music with meaning and artists with integrity."

CBS/SAN DIEGO VP/Market Manager PETER SCHWARTZ said, "It's a pleasure to work with so many talented people to help launch SAN DIEGO's next great radio station. SOPHIE promises to build a relationship with its listeners focused on the personal connection they have with their favorite music. Their feedback will drive the soundtrack of the station and help us to deliver what’s 'Now, New and Next.'"

QUINN told ALL ACCESS about the Oldies smokescreen prior to the real launch of SOPHIE 103.7: "A few days back a local reporter was sniffing out a rumor about us calling oursevles ALICE. So, we had our web designer create the K-SURF Oldies logo and registered a numeric URL versus a name URL, and had him post it on MYSPACE, CRAIGSLIST and ALL ACCESS, too.

"Another local SAN DIEGO radio news site plastered the fake logo everywhere, and another national trade today totally bit on the red herring. We had a couple of custom Oldies jingles done too. We really had some fun with this flip. Staff-up and PD will be complete sometime early next year."

Listen online at radiosophie.com.
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Interesting type of format. They are flanking a lot of stations in the area, such as alternative stations 91X and FM 94/9, hot AC Star 94.1 and AAA KPRI. Will be interested in seeing how this station turns out.

[atlantaboy]

Seems like a BIG experiment! This station is like a current-oriented Triple A station that plays its songs as frequently as some Top 40 stations - it's #1 song is even a CD cut from Incubus that (I don't think) is even on the Triple A chart - it's almost like "soft Alternative Rock without any guidelines" - as someone pointed out on another thread, it's marketed towards females, but plays music that is more male than female-oriented

If it's ratings are good, it could spread quickly to other U. S. cities and replace the old "Modern-leaning Hot AC" idea with a new "Adult Alternative-leaning Hot AC idea" that even competes with Alternative stations, many of which (Chicago, Atlanta, and others) have ratings under 2.0 right now

[shocker]

It's a good concept and I hope it lasts.

I miss the days when Phoenix had 2 Hot ACs that were like the current ones in San Diego. We've had Mix 96.9 for a long time, but there was another modern AC that only lasted for about a year, and that was called "the Zone@101.5". It was similar to "Star" in Los Angeles, or Mix 94.1 in Las Vegas, only slightly more alternative-leaning; but not as alternative-leaning as "Sophie" seems to be.

I think Sophie's format should be "ultra-modern AC".

[atlantaboy]

shocker said:

It's a good concept and I hope it lasts.

I miss the days when Phoenix had 2 Hot ACs that were like the current ones in San Diego. We've had Mix 96.9 for a long time, but there was another modern AC that only lasted for about a year, and that was called "the Zone@101.5". It was similar to "Star" in Los Angeles, or Mix 94.1 in Las Vegas, only slightly more alternative-leaning; but not as alternative-leaning as "Sophie" seems to be.

I think Sophie's format should be "ultra-modern AC".

What's your Top 40 station like in Phoenix? I think the deal w/ San Diego was their Top 40 station was essentially rhythmic (I think it should be classified as rhythmic anyway) so females who wanted to hear regular pop/rock had nowhere to go except for very "light" Mix station

P. S. I used a Phoenix station called "The Zone" for about 4 years for CHR/HAC combo chart (1996-2000?) it started out as Alternative but leaned Hot AC, and then changed to Hot AC in 1999-2000? Then it disappeared:)

[tico]

The CHR in San Diego, KHTS-FM, is rhythmic-leaning, as well as KZZP Phoenix. San Diego does have a hot AC, KMYI, which is a sister station to KHTS.

[atlantaboy]

tico said:

San Diego does have a hot AC, KMYI, which is a sister station to KHTS.

Using the L. A. model (KIIS-KYSR) that's probably why KHTS (Top 40 San Diego) is so rhythmic (don't want to compete at all with Hot AC station which it also owns)

[Slinky]

It could just be what that market wants. KIIS was pop-leaning a few years ago, but has had higher ratings since moving in a rhythmic direction. Interestingly, KYSR didn't benefit from KIIS going rhythmic.

[Pipa]

This doesn't even look like a Hot AC station; it looks like one of the more Triple A-leaning Alternative stations. I also find it hard to believe that it's marketed to females; do they really wanna hear songs like "Lazy Eye"?

[Radical347]

What I'd say it sounds like is a rock-leaning Modern AC with a few AAA currents thrown in.

This is exactly what San Diego radio needs. Now I don't have to cross my fingers and hope my antenna picks up Star 98.7 from LA anymore.

This should expedite the process of sending Jack back to where it came from, and it will completely kill off KPRI (the AAA, if you can call it that.) I feel kind of bad for KPRI, but they chose to change for the worse soon after Jack infiltrated the market, and they've been trying to improve but haven't got their footing back yet. Now they won't have a chance to. Their ratings slightly improved -- but at the expense of their very traditionally solid base by adding crap like "Sk8er Bi" and "Let's Get It Started" and replaced them with the disposable type of listener. Now both the ex-solid fans (that haven't already defected over to KGB) and the disposable type are both going to Sophie.

I don't see this affecting the alternative stations -- 91X only minimally if at all, and 94.9 not at all. It doesn't look as female-oriented as they claim it is, but it's still a far cry from the target audience of the alternative stations. The alt. artists they're playing (Fall Out Boy, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Muse, Bravery) are mainly the pop-sounding ones anyway.

Sadly, I don't see this hurting KMYI. KMYI, for music, is garbage and became even worse after Star 100.7 flipped to Jack. But the sad part is they don't have to try, because they have Jeff, Jer, and the soccer moms.

So far, the only thing that annoys me is they say they're all about music, and then using that as an excuse to have no DJs.

[Pipa]

radical347 said:

So far, the only thing that annoys me is they say they're all about music, and then using that as an excuse to have no DJs.

It's just as well, I can't stand it when DJs talk over the intro and outro of songs.

[tico]

radical347 said:

This should expedite the process of sending Jack back to where it came from, and it will completely kill off KPRI (the AAA, if you can call it that.) I feel kind of bad for KPRI, but they chose to change for the worse soon after Jack infiltrated the market, and they've been trying to improve but haven't got their footing back yet. Now they won't have a chance to. Their ratings slightly improved -- but at the expense of their very traditionally solid base by adding crap like "Sk8er Bi" and "Let's Get It Started" and replaced them with the disposable type of listener. Now both the ex-solid fans (that haven't already defected over to KGB) and the disposable type are both going to Sophie.

I don't see this affecting the alternative stations -- 91X only minimally if at all, and 94.9 not at all. It doesn't look as female-oriented as they claim it is, but it's still a far cry from the target audience of the alternative stations. The alt. artists they're playing (Fall Out Boy, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Muse, Bravery) are mainly the pop-sounding ones anyway.

Sadly, I don't see this hurting KMYI. KMYI, for music, is garbage and became even worse after Star 100.7 flipped to Jack. But the sad part is they don't have to try, because they have Jeff, Jer, and the soccer moms.

So far, the only thing that annoys me is they say they're all about music, and then using that as an excuse to have no DJs.

I listened to KPRI from time to time when I lived out there. They weren't a bad station then. Too bad their signal sucked. But things must've turned for the worst if they're playing "Sk8er Boi". I believe the old Independent 92.1 used to play it as well.

I don't see this hurting 91X or FM 94/9 at all. The hardcore fans of those stations probably find Sophie to be too soft since it does have elements of hot AC. Can you see one of those teenage skater boys digging the latest Corinne Bailey Rae song?

I recognize that Jeff & Jer are very popular, but their show was nothing more than a glorified talk radio show on the old Star 100.7. Sophie might siphon off some of KMYI's audience, so I'm interested to see just how much they do.

[Radical347]

tico said:

I listened to KPRI from time to time when I lived out there. They weren't a bad station then. Too bad their signal sucked. But things must've turned for the worst if they're playing "Sk8er Boi". I believe the old Independent 92.1 used to play it as well.

I don't see this hurting 91X or FM 94/9 at all. The hardcore fans of those stations probably find Sophie to be too soft since it does have elements of hot AC. Can you see one of those teenage skater boys digging the latest Corinne Bailey Rae song?

I recognize that Jeff & Jer are very popular, but their show was nothing more than a glorified talk radio show on the old Star 100.7. Sophie might siphon off some of KMYI's audience, so I'm interested to see just how much they do.

I agree about KPRI...they were pretty decent before 2005. Not a terribly experimental AAA station, but definitely listenable. You could count on them to add the newest tracks by traditional adult rock artists such as REM, Bruce Hornsby, Bruce Springsteen, John Hiatt, etc., and they also did a pretty good job at adding easy listening skater-sounding songs. (a la Flake... in fact I think they added just about every band from Jack Johnson's label.) They ditched that soon after JACK-FM and just became a complete mess. Recently they've started to throw a few totally random songs into the mix (mostly during the overnight hours) but they don't mix it up quite right; not that that's going to help anyway because they've already dug themselves too deep.

True, Sophie is not going to pull away any hardcore fans of 91X or 94.9. The reason I say Sophie might affect 91X, if at all, is because 91X does play a good number of CHR-sounding/CHR-crossover alternative songs (way more than 94.9 anyway) and conceivably, people on the perimieter that have 91X on their dial just for that reason will go over to Sophie. I don't see there being too many of those types though.

Oh, trust me, Jeff and Jer is a glorified talk show. But that's exactly what many people want and it's the reason that Star 94.1 went from like a 3.3 to 4.6. (If I remember right, their first quarter after Star 100.7 flipped to Jack, Star 94.1's -- then My94.1 -- ratings did not improve that much. It was when Jeff and Jer moved over that made a huge difference. And what is Jack doing now for a talk show... Monique and the Man? Bleh.)

What I'd love to see is Jeff and Jer go over to Sophie. I don't think that's going to happen though.

[atlantaboy]

I can't believe you all in San Diego have 2 Alternative stations, 1 Triple A station, and now an experimental Triple A-Alternative-Hot AC combo station!! San Diego must be a very "alternative" place:)

[shocker]

atlantaboy said:

I can't believe you all in San Diego have 2 Alternative stations, 1 Triple A station, and now an experimental Triple A-Alternative-Hot AC combo station!! San Diego must be a very "alternative" place:)

That surprises me too. I live in Phoenix - a city that has about the same population as San Diego, although I think San Diego is slightly smaller. Both places have about the same demographics - largely white, but a good-sized Hispanic population.

Phoenix only has 1 alternative radio station, and no Triple-A that I know of; but we have too many stations on the FM dial spinning (c)rap & hip-hop - 4 in total (Kiss, Power 98.3, JamZ 101.5, and Movin' 97.5).

[tico]

At one point, San Diego had three alternative stations. The former KFSD, which sounded more like a college rock station, lost even more of its footing after KBZT (FM 94/9) debuted. Their signal, which was no better--if not worst--than KPRI's, is probably what did them in. It's hard to fight against two stations that cover the market very well. FM 94/9 was made to re-create the old 92.5 the Flash, which was flipped to rhythmic oldies after Clear Channel took control (since they already had 91X, there was no need for two alternative stations).

If you think about it, San Diego has a lot of rock stations. There is a large male population there, given the large number of military servicemen who live in the area. I wonder if that plays a part in the number of rock stations there.

[shocker]

If you think about it, San Diego has a lot of rock stations. There is a large male population there, given the large number of military servicemen who live in the area. I wonder if that plays a part in the number of rock stations there.

You know, that's a very good point! I never considered that.

San Diego has always been more or less a large military town. That could explain why its political climate is more conservative than much of California.

And due to its large male population, I can see why there would be more rock on the FM dial. Although I know quite a few males my age who listen to Hot AC and modern AC just as I do.

Phoenix used to be conservative, but that's changing as our population keeps increasing by leaps & bounds, and more people with diverse ethnic backgrounds have moved here. Many years ago when Phoenix was a smaller city, it seemed as if country and album rock were the favorite music formats here, but now Phoenix seems to be a hip-hop haven just like L.A.

I personally can't stand most rap music, but I guess that's the preferred style for the younger crowd in big urban areas these days.

[atlantaboy]

This may be way off-base, but don't a lot of older people retire to Phoenix, and Arizona in general? If the median age is higher than most cities, that would explain why Mix 96.9 (I think that's the station) is so conservative, and why it's lacking Modern AC

The other area of the country that seriously lacks Modern AC is Florida - I'm guessing maybe for the same reason of higher average median age - Miami has almost nothing in terms on Modern AC, and neither does Tampa or Jacksonville - Orlando has a pretty conservative Hot AC, just like Mix 96.9 Phoenix - the only exception I think is West Palm, which has WRMF

I'm guessing that rap-rhythmic-hip hop are huge in Phoenix (and Florida, L. A., etc) b/c of extremely high Hispanic populations

[shocker]

atlantaboy said:

This may be way off-base, but don't a lot of older people retire to Phoenix, and Arizona in general?

If you're talking about Phoenix CITY - no.

However, certain suburban areas of Phoenix metro are havens for retirees, such as some suburbs on the west side - Peoria, Youngtown, and Surprise. I'm sure you've heard of Sun City, which is a town devoted exclusively to retirees.

Even with all the old folks, Phoenix is considered to be a young area with lots of 20 and 30-somethings moving here in droves.

If the median age is higher than most cities, that would explain why Mix 96.9 (I think that's the station) is so conservative, and why it's lacking Modern AC

Based on the fact that Mix 96.9 was partly responsible for Nickelback's "Rockstar" being re-released from recurrent status; and how they spin Papa Roach a fair share of the time, plus a few Pearl Jam and Nirvana '90s recurrents during the evening hours, I don't know if it can be called "conservative".

Mix does tend to be awkward and weird on the new songs - they'll play a few new hits for about a month, then drop them entirely until they reach their peak, then start them in heavy rotation once they descend on the Hot AC chart. I never understood that.

I'm guessing that rap-rhythmic-hip hop are huge in Phoenix (and Florida, L. A., etc) b/c of extremely high Hispanic populations

I think you're right; but I personally know quite a few Latinos who much prefer rock or pop over hip-hop.

Like I mentioned before, Phoenix is less conservative than it used to be with all the growth; and much of that growth is not older retirees - it's the younger crowd with diverse backgrounds.

[mrclimbfall20]

For those of you interested, this is from AllAccess:

In APRIL of 2005, shockwaves were sent through SAN DIEGO. With the possibility of losing then-morning stars JEFF & JER to another outlet in town, owner MIDWEST TV gambled and flipped highly rated KFMB-FM (STAR 100.7) from its Hot AC format to Adult Hits "Jack-FM." JEFF & JER eventually moved to CLEAR CHANNEL Hot AC rival KMYI (MY 94-1). In SEPTEMBER 2005, KMYI would pick up the "STAR" name. Just over two years later, not only has "JACK-FM" become a huge player overall, the station's morning show beat JEFF & JER in the 25-54 cell this book. Full week, KFMB-FM and KMYI-FM swapped places, with KFMB-FM moving from 7th to 2nd and KMYI-FM sliding from 2nd down to 7th.

and then...

While CBS heritage AC KYXY remains a solid #3 25-54, the news wasn't as good for Hot AC KSCF (SOPHIE @103.7). The outlet actually has slipped 31% from its final 25-54 numbers as FM Talk "FREE-FM" in the SPRING and now ranks 24th in demo.

[tico]

I'm going to give Sophie a little bit more time before I start putting a nail in the coffin. However, I don't see them making any big splashes and I would be surprised if they're around by the end of the year.

[Radical347]

Meh. Sophie screwed themselves over bigtime. They had a good thing going on at the beginning, but instead of waiting for word of mouth to spread and doing appropriate promo for themselves, they thought they could get better ratings by turning into a carbon copy of Star 94.1. It didn't work, obviously. I don't think they could pull themselves out of this hole even if they wanted to now.

[mrclimbfall20]

Jan 28, 2008 12:33:09 GMT -5 Radical347 said:

Meh. Sophie screwed themselves over bigtime. They had a good thing going on at the beginning, but instead of waiting for word of mouth to spread and doing appropriate promo for themselves, they thought they could get better ratings by turning into a carbon copy of Star 94.1. It didn't work, obviously. I don't think they could pull themselves out of this hole even if they wanted to now.

Well, things have changed since they hired Charese Frugé who was previously at KYSR in LA. She did an awesome job there and I think Sophie will benefit from her experience. All they need to do is drop the name "Sophie" and fix the signal to make it sound clearer.