Posted on: Sunday, November 14, 2004
In radio, it's all about the numbers
| • | Stick around for more radio changes |
| • | Local radio stations stick with family-friendly format |
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
Radio listeners have changed with the times, and radio has adapted to the shifts in habit.
"Kids know the frequency, because their car radios have LED screens and a digital format," he said. "Digital is what they remember — 104.3, 101.9, 100.3 — not call letters.
"Besides, we pound this information into them," he said of station promos championing formats.
When call letters also change — KCCN-AM now is sports station KKEA-AM; KAHA-FM has acquired the call letters of KPOI-FM; KXME-FM has been reinvented as KPHW-FM — you're dealing with confusing alphabet stew.
Kelly said KXME — also called Xtreme — potentially had a negative connotation (the problem was the X). "We wanted a new image and decided to change," he said. While there are new call letters, the station bills itself now as Power 104.3.
Makes sense, said Dana Alden, marketing professor, at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.
"It may be a deliberate strategy," he said. "The radio dial comes across digitally; that's the brand association the listener makes. While some stations (still) put the alpha letters with their numbers, from a branding standpoint, numbers matter. Letters change; numbers don't change."
Mike Kelly, general manager of Cox Radio (whose holdings here include KINE-FM, KCCN-FM and KRTR-FM), said younger listeners (12-plus, and 18 to 24) are accustomed to the digital world and technology, and now identify their favorite stations by frequencies, not call letters.
Mike Kelly
