Howdy! Looks like I'm the second person to login here and review Los Angeles' latest rock n roll…read moreFM, 100.3FM, The Sound.
I've been a listener since the station started nearly a year ago, plus I grew up in the south bay beach area in the 60's and 70's. That's from the time 93KHJ took the AM top 40 crown and was soon replaced by the birth and growth of rock n roll on FM. 40+ years!
Progressive rock n roll. KPPC (now KROQ) and KMET (now KTWV) KYMS, KNAC and others who arguably started the radio style and imbued it with a heavy non-establishment message supported by the music and lots of humor.
I can say this, because I was there at KNAC and other stations.
These "inventors" of what later became homogenized and labeled "AOR" (Album-Oriented Rock) were one of a kind personalities with a huge knowledge of music genres and the know-how to mix it live on air. No format clocks or rotation "rules."
Sadly, "spontaneity" has long since been ironed out of the format and history of FM rock radio for that matter.
KSWD, 100.3 "The Sound" now tells its listener "it's all about the music." Yeah, if you say so, since you can SAY anything you want.
Where is the music's connection to our lives--the context? What is the point of view now? Can air personalities ask if we are safer from terrorism, is our food more safe to eat, can they mention issues and then play a song or set of songs to back up the concept? Does "long hair" still scare management?
This station reports to some industry trade publications as a "Triple A" format station. Adult Album Alternative. Roughly speaking its a format with a wide artist spectrum covering the genres of rock, singer-songwriter, emo, Americana/heartland, blues and perhaps a touch of jazz crossover.
It's supposed to be a notch "smarter" than the existing rock stations on the dial--KLOS, JACK, K-EARTH, etc. You probably won't hear any so-called "hair bands, spandex wearing bands or heavy metal crap." (My opinionated description!)
How does 100.3 perfom? They debuted in April of last year, 2008. Prior to that the frequency had been home to an unsuccessful urban blend. It formerly was "Pirate Radio" and once was known as "K-100," staffed by former KHJ jocks.
The ratings so far place it under a 1.0 share of the market 12+ 6a-Mid, M-F.
KSWD is the fourth station to bring the triple A sound to Los Angeles. In my humble opinion, they play too much classic rock and not enough newer music per hour. Yet their jocks do a pretty damn good job.
But there is the lip-service of using on-air announcements by a "big voice guy" intoning the marketing phrase "it's all about the music." Not really true, it seems to me. Where is the heartland stuff? Where are the blues tunes? Where are the deeper tracks from core classic artists?
Why won't the station limit the core artist rotation so that the same non-current artist won't be played again in the same hour for the next 3 days or so? Not enough core artists in the library to do this?
When you read the listener feedback on the station's own message board, you're apt to hear about the "repetition." Either a few clunker new tracks are played too much ("Mercy" by Duffy) or core artists come up too often with their same old hits. No depth.
The sound that The Sound lacks is a cohesive music direction that leads the way to the best of the new. The result: they sound like they play it safe. Too safe.
Not much from the latest Jackson Browne album ("Drums Of War?"). But lots of Coldplay and two from the new Springsteen. Where is the new Fleet Foxes, Blues Traveler or the newest Pretenders?
Perhaps my biggest beef is the inventory policy: bad circulation of non-currents around the clock. Does anyone want to hear the same artist the next day in the same hour? This control can be done if they think it's important to do. But, they don't as I hear it.
On an hourly percentage basis, they could play 40% new music (5 cuts) and 60% "classics" or deep tracks, but they don't.
Is it important for them to skew a bit more "new" or reflect more of the genres that make up the AAA format? How healthy can it be to share too much of the same songs/artists with LA's other rock stations?
The Sound basically is good--but could be much better with a relatively small effort to accomplish: better rotations, more variety, more currents. Could be very important elements creating a "competitive difference" between 100.3FM and any other LA competitor.
Just my $.02. Gotta add, 40 years after the heady days of first rockin' the FM dial, it's much, much, tougher to start a "new" rocker in LA than it ever was. So much water under the bridge.
Over the decades, we listeners have heard all the marketing slogans, positioning statements, liners, sweepers, etc., promising something the station will do and--then, not living up to the hype.
Is 100.3, really "all about the music?" What about the music? It's an empty slogan. They need a meaningful sound to be successful.
--Greg "Cavanaugh
