Radio landscape in OKC

[Soonerman]

There's no excuse for OKC not having a modern rock station.

I agree, I also wish OKC had an Adult Album Alternative station like KXT 91.7 out of Dallas.

[stratosphere]

That goes for most of the stations here. OKC radio for the most part sounds and is programmed very small market. Most stations in OKC sound better fit for a place like Amarillo or Midland-Odessa. This is definitely one thing in this town that has gotten worse in the past 10-15 years rather than better. There is a big difference when you go to the Tulsa market which actually has much better stations, many of which actually sound larger market.

Right. I remember when i lived in Atlanta they had both an "X" and an "Edge" alternative stations, which were both great. VA beach had two alternative stations as well, i think one was called "the Coast" and i dont remember the other one. All we need is one good station here. I like KATT sometimes (when they play PJ, U2, Cage the Elephant, Jack White, Linkin Park, Artic Monkeys, NIN, Chevelle, etc.) i dont like the KATT when they play stuff like Ozzy Osbourne, Led Zeppelin, or whatever makes the trailer park contingent happy.

[BlackmoreRulz]

Oh yeah...nothing says high-brow like Linkin Park.........

[Urbanized]

Lol

[stratosphere]

Oh yeah...nothing says high-brow like Linkin Park.........

who said anything about high-brow? Oh, guess you were offended by the trailer park remark. My bad. I think the point was....as illustrated throughout this thread....OKC has enough classic rock stations and could benefit from new rock or alt rock stations. Clearly most of the examples i listed fit into one category or the other.

[zacelliott]

We definitely could benefit from an alternative station. The Edge in Tulsa (Dallas also has "The Edge") are very similar and I think would work really well in OKC. They play everything from Linkin Park, Stone Temple Pilots, to Florence and the Machine, Alt-J, etc. Complete spectrum. When i'm back in KC I listen to 96.5 The Buzz, which is a great station but is a tad too focused on the newer stuff, which gets tiring after a while. If 104.5 in Tulsa could expand west to OKC I'd be happy. I listen to 100.5 most of the time, but ever since KRXO switched to a low power station, the KATT felt they had to pick up the slack and listeners and picked up way more Classic Rock, which seems to take over anymore. Granted when they were more new rock it got pretty repetitive, so a change up was nice, but incorporating more alternative/modern would have been more beneficial than adding classic rock IMO.

[bchris02]

We definitely could benefit from an alternative station. The Edge in Tulsa (Dallas also has "The Edge") are very similar and I think would work really well in OKC. They play everything from Linkin Park, Stone Temple Pilots, to Florence and the Machine, Alt-J, etc. Complete spectrum. When i'm back in KC I listen to 96.5 The Buzz, which is a great station but is a tad too focused on the newer stuff, which gets tiring after a while. If 104.5 in Tulsa could expand west to OKC I'd be happy. I listen to 100.5 most of the time, but ever since KRXO switched to a low power station, the KATT felt they had to pick up the slack and listeners and picked up way more Classic Rock, which seems to take over anymore. Granted when they were more new rock it got pretty repetitive, so a change up was nice, but incorporating more alternative/modern would have been more beneficial than adding classic rock IMO.

The Brew also went back to 100% classic rock after KRXO switched to sports. Before they had been a hybrid station. OKC is predominantly a country, classic rock, and sports market. Broadcast companies seem to be afraid to try other formats in this town.

Ten years ago OKC radio wasn't too bad. Back then, there was only a single classic rock station and a single sports station. There were three country stations, two modern and one classic. The dial had far more variety on it than it does today. You had a variety station, a true oldies station, two alternative rock stations, and a rhythmic top-40 station that played current music, all formats that would be more than welcome today.

Are operators just not able to make a profit outside of the country/classic rock/sports formats here these days?

[zacelliott]

The Brew also went back to 100% classic rock after KRXO switched to sports. Before they had been a hybrid station. OKC is predominantly a country, classic rock, and sports market. Broadcast companies seem to be afraid to try other formats in this town.

Ten years ago OKC radio wasn't too bad. Back then, there was only a single classic rock station and a single sports station. There were three country stations, two modern and one classic. The dial had far more variety on it than it does today. You had a variety station, a true oldies station, two alternative rock stations, and a rhythmic top-40 station that played current music, all formats that would be more than welcome today.

Are operators just not able to make a profit outside of the country/classic rock/sports formats here these days?

I'd like to see a study done of users of streaming services (Pandora, Google Play, Amazon, Spotify, etc) and figure out if other genres can really survive here. I mean why does The Edge in Tulsa have no problem? They even have an alternative music festival (Center of the Universe Festival) coming up! Is the musical demographic in Tulsa so much different than OKC? Maybe it's not but companies are afraid to try anything here. I can guarantee if The Edge or a comparable station came to OKC my dial would never move, and I know others that would listen to it in a heartbeat. Maybe with the influx of streaming services and users companies aren't willing to invest in the infrastructure for a station because they figure people are just going to listen to it online anyway.

[theparkman81]

Well the recent ratings came out the other day, and at top is KJ103( nothing new) next was KOMA, but KXY keeps dropping and The Franchise is dropping, Wild 104.9 stay the same but honestly its time for a change on 104.9 along with others.

[Throckmorton]

No wonder all we have is classic rock stations. If the music threads around here are any indication, most OKCitians stopped keeping up with pop rock sometime around 1979.

[Soonerman]

I really don't understand OKC radio, Why do they need 3 Classic Rock stations and 2 Classic Country stations?

[bchris02]

Well the recent ratings came out the other day, and at top is KJ103( nothing new) next was KOMA, but KXY keeps dropping and The Franchise is dropping, Wild 104.9 stay the same but honestly its time for a change on 104.9 along with others.

Wild 104.9 probably survives because its OKC's only real choice for hip-hop and r&b, though it's programming has been terrible since it was switched to Jan Jeffries' playlist. If Power 103.5 would move to a signal that properly covered the OKC market it probably wouldn't be long before Wild would be gone.

I really don't understand OKC radio, Why do they need 3 Classic Rock stations and 2 Classic Country stations?

Like I've said, it didn't used to be that way until the last few years. Hopefully the market will correct itself eventually.

If I was Tyler, I would put Now 96.5 on 107.7 and go head to head with KJ 103. I would then put an alternative rock station on the low-power 104.5 translator that is currently broadcasting KRXO. I would then go urban on 96.5. All of that will never happen, but that's what I would do. That move would force real changes at Cumulus and ClearChannel.

[tfvc.org]

I think radio is dying with Sirusxm and USB ports being pretty standard anymore in newer cars/decks. But then again I really don't know. Most of the music I like hardly ever gets radio airplay anyway. The only time I really listened to radio was when Dr. Demento was on. My deck was always playing tapes, cds and now thumb drives. I put in a variety of generas and hit random and drive.

[bchris02]

I think radio is dying with Sirusxm and USB ports being pretty standard anymore in newer cars/decks. But then again I really don't know. Most of the music I like hardly ever gets radio airplay anyway. The only time I really listened to radio was when Dr. Demento was on. My deck was always playing tapes, cds and now thumb drives. I put in a variety of generas and hit random and drive.

Radio everywhere is going downhill. It used to be that FM radio was the only game in town but now with the Internet and satellite it has stiff competition. The point is OKC radio is especially bad (lacks variety) for a city this size.

[tfvc.org]

Radio everywhere is going downhill. It used to be that FM radio was the only game in town but now with the Internet and satellite it has stiff competition. The point is OKC radio is especially bad (lacks variety) for a city this size.

I think that it isn't just radio. Outsiders, and people that live here have a general stereotype for the people who live here and try to fit that niche, forgetting that even though some or most of Oklahoma is or was like that not everyone listens to honkeytonk or freebird. It is sad. I have lived in this state off and on for 32 years and I have seen growth and progress in a lot of areas, but I have seen the opposite in others, and radio has definitely declined. I am at the age now that music I listened to in my youth (graduated HS in 92) are now on the classic rock station, and it is really odd that classic rock will play freebird and next will be Metallica, and then you turn to Katt and they play Metallica and then whatever new metal band is hot now. It is like a new type of radio station genera needs to be created to play the music that was from the hair band days.

Anyway, I digress.... The people in the towers of LA think they know what the marketplace is here without doing just research. I wish they could get data from last.fm, pandora, ect and see what people are actually playing on their computers in Oklahoma so they can educate themselves what the peoples want.

[KenRagsdale]

I think that it isn't just radio. Outsiders, and people that live here have a general stereotype for the people who live here and try to fit that niche, forgetting that even though some or most of Oklahoma is or was like that not everyone listens to honkeytonk or freebird. It is sad. I have lived in this state off and on for 32 years and I have seen growth and progress in a lot of areas, but I have seen the opposite in others, and radio has definitely declined. I am at the age now that music I listened to in my youth (graduated HS in 92) are now on the classic rock station, and it is really odd that classic rock will play freebird and next will be Metallica, and then you turn to Katt and they play Metallica and then whatever new metal band is hot now. It is like a new type of radio station genera needs to be created to play the music that was from the hair band days.

Anyway, I digress.... The people in the towers of LA think they know what the marketplace is here without doing just research. I wish they could get data from last.fm, pandora, ect and see what people are actually playing on their computers in Oklahoma so they can educate themselves what the peoples want.

Oklahoma City radio wasn't always so. Prior to the ascendency of FM, WKY/930 and KOMA/1520 were top-drawer broadcast properties. I was privledged to know, and work alongside, many WKY radio personnel. All were without peer in their profession. The WKY radio and television facilities were first class in every way imaginable.

[seajohn]

What happened to 1560 Comedy? I was listening this morning (8/1), and in the middle of comedy bit they switched to some local talk show. Now, they're playing sports radio (Some goober is going through each of Buffalo's upcoming games for this season saying why he thinks they will or will not win...Who cares?!??!?)

Did the comedy station die off already?

[warreng88]

What happened to 1560 Comedy? I was listening this morning (8/1), and in the middle of comedy bit they switched to some local talk show. Now, they're playing sports radio (Some goober is going through each of Buffalo's upcoming games for this season saying why he thinks they will or will not win...Who cares?!??!?)

Did the comedy station die off already?

I heard the same thing this afternoon. I really hope not, that was all I listened to on my way to and from work every day.

[tfvc.org]

I heard the same thing this afternoon. I really hope not, that was all I listened to on my way to and from work every day.

Is it happening on both the AM and FM stations? I didn't listen today, but only listen to the FM side. It would be sad if it is gone, only radio I listen to.

[theparkman81]

Well its a another sports talk station called The Franchise 2, seriously OKC radio has become so pathetic.

[Soonerman]

Well its a another sports talk station called The Franchise 2, seriously OKC radio has become so pathetic.

Geez how many sports stations does this town need?

[Soonerman]

OKC needs another Sports station like they need another Walmart!!

[theparkman81]

That's what I am thinking, its plays NBC sports network programming, its just like WWLS has local programming and AM 640 that has ESPN programming, honestly OKC radio has gone to the dogs, and its a shame that they got rid of the Comedy station.

[Soonerman]

It was a decent station, Why are the owners of the stations here afraid to try something new? If it's not Classic Rock, Country or Sports Talk, They don't want to touch it. I wish OKC had a station like the Edge and KXT out of Dallas!!

[Roger S]

It may be my fault..... I recently upgraded my 97 Dodge Ram with a cassette player and one speaker to an 04 Ford Escape with a 6 CD player and working speakers in it. So instead of listening to Comedy Channel I started listening to the music, I can't hear on OKC music stations, on my CD player. I suppose the loss of one listener could have plummeted the ratings enough they had to pull the plug.

It's too bad too because my attitude had improved quite a bit when I switched from listening to talk radio and started listening to comedy.