KTCL:
IN RATINGS WE TRUST

by Judy B.

Photos by Scott Smeltzer

For those of us who still want to believe that radio is all about the music, recent events concerning the Denver radio market could leave an exasperating ringing in our ears.

Just the other day, I heard the same song on three different stations at the same time. No joke. The song was U2's "Sunday Bloody Sunday." I checked the calendar, and it was 2001, not 1985.

While the people of the radio industry have never denied that it is a business, there falls a narrow line between tasteful and tacky, stupid and hip, humorous and rude. And then there is the music itself, often referred to in terms of "product" and attached to statistics that have nothing to do with whether a song can make you smile, dance, or sing your way through rush hour.

Perhaps we at Go-Go are not the only ones noticing some funny business going on over the airwaves. The publishing industry's audience is equally subject to the same sort of calculated mayhem that arises when a business wants attention from the public. It's a judgement call as to how we can scrupulously link money to art. We understand that to survive in a competitive market, we have to stay ahead of the pack, but always look over our shoulder. But in all honesty, I often simply find myself thinking, "What the hell is going on with radio in this town?"

KTCL FM93.3 seemed to be a good place to start. Recent news surrounding the station involves a lawsuit, a format shift, unbridled rivalries with other stations, and KTCL's presence as a teeny tiny minnow in a huge ocean of killer fish. The bigger stations competing for the sacred 18-34 age market include KXPK FM96.5 The Peak, KALC FM105.9 Alice, and KBPI FM106.7. After numerous interviews and furious journalistic digging, I've tried to make sense of this pulsating conglomerate called radio. I offer this handy analysis as one way to, ahem, clear the air.

REWIND

KTCL was a Ft. Collins college radio station until moving to Denver in the mid-1990s. Today, it is one of eight local stations owned by Clear Channel Communications, an immense corporation based in San Antonio, Texas. The main reason why most radio stations aren't individual entities is the Telecommunications Act (Telecom Act) of 1996. This piece of legislation allowed radio stations to consolidate and be scooped up by whomever could afford to pay the price. The restrictions include a limit of how many stations one corporation could own. In the Denver market, eight stations is the limit for one owner, and they can be a combination of AM and FM. Clear Channel also owns KBCO FM97.3, KBPI FM 106.7, KHIH FM95.7, KRFZ FM 103.5, KOA AM850, KHOW AM630, and KTLK AM 760.

Proponents of the Telecom Act cited numerous ways this would be better for the radio listener. We would receive a wider variety of music in general because a big company can afford to take risks; non-competing programming would allow favorite shows to be scattered throughout the day; and by bringing in the corporate honchos, radio would be on the same playing field as TV and newspapers in the communications market (which would trickle down to the listener, I'm guessing). Those opposed to the Act feared for a gradual decay of originality and craziness that would leave Denver's radio as exciting as a wet noodle. Many argued that the independence of radio was vital to its nature and that the public should be the decision makers for content and talent.

And let's face it. Denver is a tough town to do a lot of radical stuff. To many folks in the rest of the world, Denver is a landlocked cowtown. No matter what Clear Channel does, one of the most popular stations is still going to be KYGO, a country station. So let's cut the crap and get down to business.

Listeners were treated to two recent events that caught KTCL up into the swing of things: the decision by Emmis Communcations to turn The Peak into an 80s format, and a lawsuit by Alice (also owned by Emmis) aimed at Clear Channel's contract with the Jamie and Danny morning show. Shortly after New Year's Day, we heard a "serious" voice reading a legal document (in fact, a restraining order) on KTCL's airwaves, followed by whining and crying directed at Alice. It seems that Clear Channel owns the station that produces Jamie White and Danny Bonaduce's syndicated show in LA. Executives decided that they did not want a competitor to air the show and chose not to renew the contract with Alice. Instead, they decided they would plop Jamie and Danny into KTCL's format. Alice sued for breach of contract. When all was said and done, Clear Channel and KTCL realized they would lose the battle and stopped the on-air nonsense. Right now, Jamie and Danny are in limbo here in Denver. No definite plans exist as to where they may end up.

The bigger mystery came when The Peak changed its format to "The 80s and Beyond," and very soon after, KTCL was "The 80s, 90s and Beyond." In what seemed to be a less than shrewd marketing strategy, KTCL looked as if it was chasing the big dogs. It was both disturbing and a bit insulting from the listener's point of view. KTCL had always been near the fringe of things, and very personable to its audience. Again, what the hell was going on over there?

PLAY

General Manager Mike O' Connor has a lot to say about all of our concerns. Admittedly, I come from a naive school where radio is about music, community and the love of blasting a great tune. O'Connor realizes the tough position KTCL has in this market, and has gone to bat for the station on numerous occasions (saving us from Christian and adult oldies formats). But there are clear strategies at work. When The Peak played heavy-alternative music, KTCL did compete head-to-head for its audience by shifting the playlist to a harder, usually more male-friendly, pitch. While O'Connor denies a "format change" at KTCL, he does see The Peak's 80s format as a reason to return KTCL to what it does best-a healthy mix of rock and pop from the 1980s through today.

"Even when KXPK (The Peak) was in their heavy alternative format, we at KTCL still played Depeche Mode and The Cure," O'Connor explained. "It just wasn't as much of the mix as we have now. The switch back to the handle "The 80s, 90s and Beyond" was more to make sure that we were getting credit for alternative music that we broke 20 years ago. It's not as much about chasing The Peak as it is about claiming what KTCL is all about, which is playing good music and finding songs that appeal to people within our age bracket."

The public's response to The Peak's recent format change has been stronger than imagined among targeted listeners. General Manager of KXPK Joe Schwartz said the initial ratings were tremendous.

"I am completely thrilled at the response.," he said. "We have all that great music that The Peak was founded on years ago."

According to Schwartz, The Peak constantly researches hundreds of titles to create the playlists. The Peak Personal Favorite idea encourages listeners to call in and tell the station what song they have not heard from the abyss of 80s hits.

"This is definitely a long-term format decision," Schwartz said. "If we keep getting reactions from Denver's audience like we have so far, it [The 80s and Beyond] will be around for a long time."

Schwartz is also the general manager of Alice, and he commented on the removal of Jamie and Danny from the morning show.

"The contract conflict was based on a non-compete agreement that said another station had to wait six months before airing the show," he said. "We resolved it and moved on. Honestly, we are happy to have Greg [Thunder] and Bo [Reynolds] on in the mornings. We took that cue from our listeners."

KXPK The Peak uses expensive market research tools to gather information about its listeners and the aural desires they have for the format. Original MTV VJ Nina Blackwood has been given an afternoon timeslot through the use of live studio and syndicated programming from LA. She's been bopping all over Denver creating TV ads and shouting her way over the hills of Red Rocks. KTCL's O'Connor has his own hypothesis for The Peak format change, being that the ratings may soar until listeners get sick of hearing that music all the time.

"The strength in KTCL is our variety of music. We do techno, we do hard stuff, we have cutting edge bands, and we brought back The RetroActive Lunch show," O'Connor said.

In contrast to heavily funded KXPK, the marketing strategy at KTCL stems from a smaller advertising budget. In what O'Connor calls "street level marketing," 93.3 comes up with specific methods that will attract both listeners and DJ's to stick around and listen long enough to become loyal. Every summer, Fiddler's Green turns into KTCL's Big Adventure featuring a days worth of bands from all styles. KTCL's Team Adventure asks listeners to join a "club" that can lead to live shows with national acts along with Freeloader shows intended to introduce new (and cheaper) artists to the public. Through the winter months, the Extreme Concert series offers discounted tickets as often as possible. For the enterprising listener, KTCL created Adventure University to allay the itchings of the indie-rock folk followed by Locals Only, a one-hour local music show. The station has devised their own "research project" online via their website. Listeners are asked to vote on which bands they would like to see performing live in the Denver area.

"We have to take the listener into consideration here and make it an interesting alternative. We have to make it great for the outside listener and the DJ in the booth. By doing street-level marketing, we can reach an audience even though we don't have billboards and TV commercials, and we can give our DJ's some leeway," O'Connor explained.

FAST FORWARD

So how much freedom do KTCL disc jockeys really have? It's an extremely competitive job. Many stations take the course of extremism, allowing their DJs to try all sorts of ludicrous methods of broadcast mischief (names withheld so as not to offend). Everyone also knows the story of a station that has preprogrammed lists of what each DJ will play during the shift. Sounds like fun. Those calculations and implications leave little room to enjoy the actual music.

According to KTCL music director Sabrina Saunders, the small guy on the block, does not face the same pressures as the larger stations. Essentially, as music director, she can sift through the endless stream of CDs that land on her desk and find what is both appealing and compatible to KTCL's format. A log is kept so one song is not played back to back during a shift change or over and over due to popularity.

"I try to get into the heads of our listeners," Saunders said. "I like a lot of the harder stuff, but I know that there are great songs and bands all over."

Saunders holds the coveted morning slot on KTCL. Each station in town creates its morning show, in its own special way, to stimulate and entertain listeners as they drive to work and start their day. Saunders said he feels KTCL's tactic of a one-woman show works better than goofy gimmicks and ridiculous banter.

"Instead of bombarding our listeners with dick jokes, we try to be timely and informative as well as entertaining" she said. "We like to play music in the morning...imagine that!"

Saunders describes her station as an individual entity within the corporate maze.

"No executive in an office somewhere tells us what to play. We get out there and get to know people in this town. Our listeners are much smarter than they are often given credit for," Saunders said. "I love this job. It is a business, no doubt, but we all want to keep working in it. KTCL is just a bunch of misfits who love what they do."

Nerf is KTCL's afternoon drive-time DJ, and he actually credits the station's "underdog" status and street-level marketing strategies as helping his career.

"KTCL puts me out in the street constantly, which is something I love," Nerf said.

Compared to larger markets or bigger stations, KTCL offers Nerf a chance to meet and hang with his listeners.

"DJing in Denver is a lot more public [than in larger cities]," he said. "People who listen to me everyday can find me at the Deadbeat [Club], and they tell me what they think of me and my show. It's a real hands on type of job in that way, and feedback is constant."

O'Connor would clearly like to see the numbers and ratings at KTCL increase, but said without a bigger budget, things will continue as they are.

"Even though it's a tough market, we do well with what we have," O'Connor said.

Clear Channel owns hard-alternative station KBPI 106.7 along with KTCL. There has been speculation that KTCL is not given big funding by Clear Channel because its smaller radio signal and listening audience do not warrant it, whereas KBPI has advertising all over the map. Some insiders have even gone as far as saying that KTCL is a pawn in the game, used to siphon listeners away from its close competition so other Clear Channel stations can thrive. For example, when The Peak was hard-alternative, it competed directly with KBPI, so why not create a harder edge to KTCL and draw people away from The Peak?

With all the format changes, personnel scrambles and 80s tunes flowing around lately, that theory becomes even more interesting. Regardless of the truth, its existence proves that money may drive the biggest stakes in the business, but the listeners remain fickle, demanding and loyal to what they know. Try as they might, guys in suits in San Antonio are not going to make our listening decisions for us. KTCL 93.3 kindly answered my woeful questions about the accelerating demise of Denver radio, and at least offered the most user-friendly theory of how to keep afloat during one hell of a storm.

RECORD

While I had everyone's attention, I thought I would bring another topic to the table, and that is local music on corporate radio. This is a difficult and tricky subject, which can be dissected from all angles. From a musician's point of view, radio has not been willing or able to seriously contribute as a promotional outlet. From a radio executive's perspective, it is a limited market with no consistency or money behind it. From a listener's perspective, as Saunders states, "people like to hear what's familiar to them," and in Denver, local musicians have steep competition against professional sports, bars, and winter sports.

It would seem logical that KTCL would be the station to take the risk and expand its one-hour Locals Only show (airing Sunday nights at midnight) to a wider audience. O'Connor has a solid plan to develop a local music channel on Internet radio streaming through KTCL's website.

DJ Nerf is also the voice behind the Locals Only show. He has worked hard to expand the fanbase and actively gather info about Denver's music scene. Nerf began using a Local Music Newsletter, which he sends to more than 1,500 e-mail addresses around town. The word seems to be spreading, and Nerf is eager to keep it growing.

"Come Big Adventure Season, we'll be doing garage sessions with each Local Candidate, plus of course the local Battle of the bands, for two spots at KTCL's Big Adventure," Nerf said. "Big Adventure sold out last year, putting Blister 66, and Tinker's Punishment in front of 17,000 people, and almost landed Blister a record deal."

KTCL 93.3 will continue to work under the watchful eyes of Clear Channel and its competitors. Although the rules have been explained, I still am amazed at what an industry radio has become. As a listener and music junkie, I can only continue to sound-off and ask, "What the hell...?" in the hopes that other ears are paying attention to the tunes.