Colorado Media Newsroom
June 5th, 2023, 01:50 PM
From Radio Insight:
https://i0.wp.com/radioinsight.com/wp-content/images/2023/06/live105.jpg?resize=200%2C200&ssl=1The news broke Saturday about the imminent return of KITS (Live 105) San Francisco, which had spent the last two years as Adult Hits Dave-FM.*
For the last day and a half, I?ve seen something online that I haven?t encountered much with a format change in recent years: industry and listener enthusiasm. The first share came from former KITS MD Aaron Axelsen, who, as it turns out, is also bringing back his Soundcheck program. But it was nice to see format change threads that weren?t about a sale to EMF/K-Love or a roundly reviled decision to blow up a 30-plus-year-franchise. In other words, the opposite of what was written about KITS two years ago.*
It’s also nice to write about a format change that fills a hole in a market (https://radioinsight.com/blogs/245223/format-holes-and-the-finite-dial/) (and has the potential to increase radio listening.) When we took our Final Listen (https://radioinsight.com/blogs/214215/final-listen-kits-alt-105-3-san-francisco/) two years ago, KITS had already rebranded as ?Alt 105.3.? That led to one amusing line in this morning?s relaunch promo: ?Live 105 went away for four years, or two years. No one really knows.? Another piece of imaging touts ?music discovery since 1986?except for those years we were gone.? (The launch promo also had one of the better crossplugs for the Audacy streaming app, explaining at length what sort of station content would be available.)
I?ve done multiple first listens to a resurgent Alternative brand over the last 15 months, including XETRA (91X) San Diego, WKQX (Q101) Chicago, and both First and Fresh listens to WNNX (99X) Atlanta. (https://radioinsight.com/blogs/251939/classic-alternative-a-tale-of-two-xs/) So far, it looks like gold-based Alternative is going to be the same relatively niche format it was in the mid-?00s. But expectations are different now. 99X is doing better than the Active Rock station it replaced. It?s also a format often in the sweet spot for both ad buyers and station sellers.
KITS is positioning itself not as Classic Alternative, but as playing ?all the eras of Live 105,? including new music (similar to 91X). In that regard, you can cluster it with the heritage relaunches, but at this point most of Alternative radio is gold-based Alternative. In its first hour, KITS played Stone Temple Pilots, Franz Ferdinand, and Beach Weather; those three songs could play in order on both Mainstream and Classic Alternative at this point.*
In the lead-up to Live 105?s format change, Dave-FM?s last three songs were Bruce Springsteen?s ?Glory Days,? Love & Rockets? ?So Alive,? and Journey?s ?Any Way You Want It.? Here?s the station?s first hour or so, following its launch promo at 10:53 a.m. PT.
Green Day, ?Welcome to Paradise?
Cure, ?Just Like Heaven?
Foo Fighters, ?Learn to Fly?
Weezer, ?Say It Ain?t So??apparently, Lana Del Rey?s ?Say Yes to Heaven? was supposed to play first; its ?new music? stager played but was drowned out by another station promo
AFI, ?Miss Murder?
Linkin Park, ?Lost?
Sublime, ?Doin? Time?
Gorillaz, ?Clint Eastwood?
Pixies, ?Where Is My Mind??
Fall Out Boy, ?Dance Dance?
Tame Impala, ?The Less I Know the Better?
Stone Temple Pilots, ?Interstate Love Song?
Franz Ferdinand, ?Take Me Out?
Beach Weather, ?Sex, Drugs, Etc.??with a new music sweeper, since the 10-month-old hit came out when the Bay Area had no Alternative FM; the other two songs highlighted in the new music promo were Smashing Pumpkins? ?Spellbinding? and David Kushner?s ?Daylight?
Killers, ?All the Things That I?ve Done?
Nirvana, ?Come as You Are?
Bravery, ?An Honest Mistake??with a sweeper promising ?another one from Live 105?s checkered past?
Red Hot Chili Peppers, ?Soul to Squeeze?
Keane, ?Somewhere Only We Know:
more (https://radioinsight.com/blogs/252780/first-listen-live-105-returns/)
https://i0.wp.com/radioinsight.com/wp-content/images/2023/06/live105.jpg?resize=200%2C200&ssl=1The news broke Saturday about the imminent return of KITS (Live 105) San Francisco, which had spent the last two years as Adult Hits Dave-FM.*
For the last day and a half, I?ve seen something online that I haven?t encountered much with a format change in recent years: industry and listener enthusiasm. The first share came from former KITS MD Aaron Axelsen, who, as it turns out, is also bringing back his Soundcheck program. But it was nice to see format change threads that weren?t about a sale to EMF/K-Love or a roundly reviled decision to blow up a 30-plus-year-franchise. In other words, the opposite of what was written about KITS two years ago.*
It’s also nice to write about a format change that fills a hole in a market (https://radioinsight.com/blogs/245223/format-holes-and-the-finite-dial/) (and has the potential to increase radio listening.) When we took our Final Listen (https://radioinsight.com/blogs/214215/final-listen-kits-alt-105-3-san-francisco/) two years ago, KITS had already rebranded as ?Alt 105.3.? That led to one amusing line in this morning?s relaunch promo: ?Live 105 went away for four years, or two years. No one really knows.? Another piece of imaging touts ?music discovery since 1986?except for those years we were gone.? (The launch promo also had one of the better crossplugs for the Audacy streaming app, explaining at length what sort of station content would be available.)
I?ve done multiple first listens to a resurgent Alternative brand over the last 15 months, including XETRA (91X) San Diego, WKQX (Q101) Chicago, and both First and Fresh listens to WNNX (99X) Atlanta. (https://radioinsight.com/blogs/251939/classic-alternative-a-tale-of-two-xs/) So far, it looks like gold-based Alternative is going to be the same relatively niche format it was in the mid-?00s. But expectations are different now. 99X is doing better than the Active Rock station it replaced. It?s also a format often in the sweet spot for both ad buyers and station sellers.
KITS is positioning itself not as Classic Alternative, but as playing ?all the eras of Live 105,? including new music (similar to 91X). In that regard, you can cluster it with the heritage relaunches, but at this point most of Alternative radio is gold-based Alternative. In its first hour, KITS played Stone Temple Pilots, Franz Ferdinand, and Beach Weather; those three songs could play in order on both Mainstream and Classic Alternative at this point.*
In the lead-up to Live 105?s format change, Dave-FM?s last three songs were Bruce Springsteen?s ?Glory Days,? Love & Rockets? ?So Alive,? and Journey?s ?Any Way You Want It.? Here?s the station?s first hour or so, following its launch promo at 10:53 a.m. PT.
Green Day, ?Welcome to Paradise?
Cure, ?Just Like Heaven?
Foo Fighters, ?Learn to Fly?
Weezer, ?Say It Ain?t So??apparently, Lana Del Rey?s ?Say Yes to Heaven? was supposed to play first; its ?new music? stager played but was drowned out by another station promo
AFI, ?Miss Murder?
Linkin Park, ?Lost?
Sublime, ?Doin? Time?
Gorillaz, ?Clint Eastwood?
Pixies, ?Where Is My Mind??
Fall Out Boy, ?Dance Dance?
Tame Impala, ?The Less I Know the Better?
Stone Temple Pilots, ?Interstate Love Song?
Franz Ferdinand, ?Take Me Out?
Beach Weather, ?Sex, Drugs, Etc.??with a new music sweeper, since the 10-month-old hit came out when the Bay Area had no Alternative FM; the other two songs highlighted in the new music promo were Smashing Pumpkins? ?Spellbinding? and David Kushner?s ?Daylight?
Killers, ?All the Things That I?ve Done?
Nirvana, ?Come as You Are?
Bravery, ?An Honest Mistake??with a sweeper promising ?another one from Live 105?s checkered past?
Red Hot Chili Peppers, ?Soul to Squeeze?
Keane, ?Somewhere Only We Know:
more (https://radioinsight.com/blogs/252780/first-listen-live-105-returns/)