Indy.com
Today:
Oldies are new at WKLU
Posted: Dec 04, 2007 in Music
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WKLU-FM (101.9) has adopted a pop oldies format, leaving a crowded field of local radio stations battling for classic rock listeners.
"Oldies 101.9" debuted Tuesday with mainstream hits from the 1960s and 1970s. Station owner Russ Oasis says listeners will hear an assortment of songs from acts such as the Beatles, Eagles, Supremes and Fleetwood Mac.
Oasis attracted attention on the local radio scene when he paid $6.2 million for WKLU in 2004 and debuted its classic rock format with no commercial interruptions.
"We did so well out of the box that everybody in the world jumped in after us -- splitting that pie," Oasis says.
Conceding that WFBQ-FM (94.7) has been the dominant local station in classic rock for decades, Oasis says a 2006 tweaking of WJJK-FM (104.5) from its multi-format "Jack" concept to classic-rock "Jack" hurt WKLU.
"It's been eating away at us," Oasis said. "We've gone from No. 3 among listeners ages 25 to 54 to around 10th among listeners 25 to 54. That's what caused us to make the change."
WKLU presently stops music once an hour for a commercial break, and Oasis says two breaks per hour is a future possibility.
"We will always play the fewest commercials in Indianapolis," Oasis says. "We will never be undercut in the number of commercials we play."
WKLU plans to court female listeners, Oasis says, noting a difference between his station and WNTR-FM (107.9) -- which specializes in pop hits from the 1970s and '80s.
"They play a lot of disco music," Oasis says. "We're not going to play any disco music."
Indianapolis has lacked a pop oldies station on a high-watt frequency since WGLD ended an eight-year run at 104.5-FM in 2005. While WGLD's play list included songs from the 1950s, the new format at WKLU will not.
Oasis also plans no changes to WKLU's on-air staff.
The final quarter of 2007 has featured a flurry of changes in local radio formats.
In October, Emmis Communications dumped its contemporary pop station WNOU-FM (93.1) to make way for WIBC's migration to that frequency with news and talk. Meanwhile, sports radio will reside at WIBC-AM (1070) in 2008.
The "Radio Now" brand of WNOU resurfaced at 100.9-FM, which became possible when Radio One-Indianapolis pulled the plug on smooth jazz format WYJZ.
Cumulus Media Partners put their "FM Talk" format at WWFT-FM (93.9) on the shelf in mid-November. Christmas music can be heard at 93.9 for now, and syndicated personalities Sean Hannity, Michael Savage and Laura Ingraham may or may not return.
Well, cool. Mayhaps they'll play something from my first album, "Bella Donna" (see the Glucose first record thread).
I thought the law said any metro-area radio station switching formats has to first subject us to a month of Christmas music. (Two all-Christmas stations, and I have yet to hear "Dogs Barking 'Jingle Bells.'" Oh sure, I can hear Bono advising me to thank god it's them instead of me twice an hour, but a Xmas classic like "Jingle Bells"?)
Ah damn... I really liked WKLU, they played a great mix of classic rock, not as heavy as Q95 and not as poppy as JACK.
I guess there may be some potential social commentary about the classic rock generation transitioning to being "oldie", but I'm not going to go there :)
From what little i've heard today I like it. It's close to filling the void left by Gold 104.5.
'Another one bites the dust.' Sad to see this happen. They just keep driving us more and more to get XM or Sirius. Was the favorite station I listened to, but like everybody else, they played the same songs over and over and over. At least with this change, I'm not hearing those recordings where people call in and say what a great station it is, blada, blada, blada. Gotta wonder if the D.J.'s jobs are in jeopardy. Funny thing is, I listened to it today, and about 1/3 of the songs were the ones they used to play--go figure?
A real shame. I liked WKLU, but I have no interest in oldies. Now I need to find a station to replace it on my preset list.
Your facts are slightly wrong, though. There was an oldies station until a few weeks ago: 95.9 took over from Gold 104.5, but recently they switched to take over 93.9's FM Talk lineup.
The facts of the story are right. 95.9 is nowhere near a "high-watt frequency".
Well crap! That was my favorite station. WAS. And it WAS my favorite station before they changed formats the last time.
David... what affect has sirius and xm had on listnership?
I'm a little disappointed as well. I really enjoyed 101.9 as classic rock! I did an "Ultimate Top Ten" back in August (what a fun experience, though not sure if it will remain in the new format), and I got to meet Mat Albro, the guy who did the marathon DJing session recently. He's a nice guy (or seemed so)-he's on indy.com too!
What I think is a common thread in Indianapolis, and probably a lot of other large city, radio station owners is that they don't have a real idea of what listeners want or what demographic they should pay particular attention to. They're making weak attempts, though. I've received a few survey cards and survey calls on my phone, asking what radio stations I listen to. What makes me sad is how these stations continuously disenfranchise whole demographic groups. Since 104.5 made the switch to their "Jack" format in '04, they cut out several Baby Boomer listeners, just as radio stations started dropping the music of their parents 20 years before. And in another 20 years, the same thing will happen to Gen X in another 20 years. Of course, it's cyclical, but it's basically saying "Radio is for the young. You don't matter to us anymore." It would seem, too, that this is a bad business decision because Boomers have a lot of buying power and that means advertising money for the station. So, good for 101.9 for moving to the oldies format. There's plenty of classic rock out there. Rock and pop seem to be such unsteady formats for stations around here, while the country stations rarely change. I guess it's just the area we live in... Me? Give me some CDs and good old weak-signal, high school, college and public access radio stations - with inexperienced DJs in it for the love of music - not the money and local fame.
Speaking of college radio, I haven't had a chance to really flip around the dial since I moved here (the iPod car adapter tends to work rather well).
What's good/what can we pick up around here?
Anything?
Speaking of college radio, I haven't had a chance to really flip around the dial ...
Might I suggest 91.7 WEEM when you're on the North/East side? Up-tempo, young/adult friendly, highly melodic indie rock and other cool stuff. If you can't tune in the signal, check out the site www.917weem.org and download some free tracks recorded in-studio.
I'm real disappointed, it's sad to see the change. The song list really suited my taste and K. Spencer from 10 to 2 hit the mark. The search begins for a new station or we may be forced to sattelite radio.
What the heck happened? I used to leave my radio on 101.9 all the time, now, I can't stand it. It isn't that I don't like the music, but I don't need to hear the same songs over and over again. [For example: I think I heard "Vehicle" three or four times in a 1 ~ 2 day period.] I got that enough growing up, listening to them when they were new.
Whatever happened to playing good music (not necessarily the chart toppers) regardless of the era?
I'm really missing Bruce The Radio Pirate.
Russ, you lost me as a listener - and I am (or was) in your target demographic!!
ugh... I just found this out.. Granted I don't listen to the radio very often at all save AM Sports talk and NPR.. 101.9 was my one station I could count on when I forgot my ipod or just wanted to hear something else.
finally! an oldies station is back! the 60's and 70's were the greatest eras of music. the beatles, elvis, stones, eagles, all the british invasion! IT'S ABOUT TIME SOMEONE USED THEIR HEAD. you can have that 80's and 90's crap!!!
60's 70's and 80's are all great, leaving the 80's out is a HUGE mistake.
The thing I like about oldies is the use of instuments. I especially like instrumental oldies.
I know Libby the DJ, so I'll tell her about this. I mean, I like the 80's stuff a lot! They used to play everything! But I think more Beatles is great too. But no more Van Halen? Wrong, wrong, wrong...
I found this series of posts a few weeks ago... as I was alarmed at the format / name change and wanted to find out about what had happened.
I'm very disappointed in the changes to the station. I still love the songs they're playing, but everything's so "safe" and vanilla. I don't sense that there will be nearly so many rarely played chestnuts, if you will. It isn't nearly as ecclectic as it used to be and I find myself playing a lot more CDs and checking out other stations.
Oh, the "we're not going to play Disco" thing is a joke. Um, explain how I heard ABBA on there?!? Shoot, I even have the date & time it was played--- as I was so salty after reading David's article above that I remembered a lot of Russel's talking points.
101.9 has undergone so many changes over the years... I used to be a huge fan - oh, it must have been about 10 years ago. Pop & Scratch. The Grateful Dead Hour.
When Russ took the station over, he lost me for a spell. I kept on giving it a chance and really came to love what was one Cool 101.9. No more.