Bill Virgin: 97.3 KBSG to Simulcast KIRO 710

KBSG moves from music to talk
By BILL VIRGIN
SEATTLE P-I REPORTER
July 31

If KBSG-FM/97.3 is looking for a classic-rock hit with which to end its run as a music station, it might try Don McLean's "American Pie" with its reference to "the day the music died."

For KBSG, that day will be Aug. 12, when owner Bonneville International drops the music format in favor of simulcasting news, talk and sports from sister station KIRO-AM/710.

Bonneville, which has operated both stations since 2007, said it's making the switch in order to extend the reach of its flagship station and to get itself out of a crowded format in music radio.

"As the music radio landscape has become more and more fragmented, it's clear that there will be limited available audience for KBSG's music programming," said Carl Gardner, Bonneville Seattle vice president and general manager.

KBSG was competing in a crowded space, with its classic-hits format overlapping such stations as KJR-FM/95.7, KJAQ-FM/96.5, KZOK-FM/102.5, KMTT-FM/103.7 and KRWM-FM/106.9.

KBSG's owners – Bonneville and before that Entercom Communications – have tried tweaking KBSG's programming to give it more of an identity in the market. It dropped the "oldies" brand, and much of the 1950s and 1960s playlist, putting much more emphasis on music from the 1970s. It cut its morning team from multiple voices to one, and went more with music than talk in mornings (two of its competitors don't have DJs at all in morning drive).

"It's very rare for a station to have a unique, distinct position (in music) all to itself," Gardner said in an interview.

The move also gives Bonneville a way of dealing with the trend of many listeners, especially younger members of the audience, spending most of their time with FM.

"You open yourself to a whole new audience who may never go over to the AM dial," said Rod Arquette, program director for KIRO and KTTH-AM/770. KBSG's dial position at 97.3 puts it in the middle of music stations on the FM band, where more listeners hitting the "scan" button may find it, he added.

The move also leverages KIRO's long heritage as one of the top stations in the market, with such programming as its morning drive-time news and talk hosts Dave Ross and Dori Monson. In addition, the Seattle Mariners, long a significant factor in keeping KIRO at the top of the local ratings, are returning to KIRO next year after a six-season absence.

Simulcasting isn't a new idea; the Seattle Seahawks were already slated to have their games broadcast on both stations this fall. Bonneville does AM-FM simulcasting in Salt Lake and simulcasts on two FM stations in the Washington, D.C., market.

FM talk has had a mixed history in the Seattle market. An FM talk station marketed as The Buzz (before that it had been operated as KIRO-FM) was converted to a country station in an effort to attract more listeners.

On the other hand, most FM music stations are predominately talk in morning drive. And public station KUOW-FM/94.9, which usually ranks at or near the top of the Seattle-Tacoma market for radio listenership, has a programming line-up dominated by news, information and talk.

Gardner said having both stations will give Bonneville "the flexibility to handle all the different premium products we've got," such as offering news, talk and traffic updates on one station when the Mariners are playing an East Coast game that starts in late afternoon Seattle time on another.

But Gardner is non-committal on whether KIRO, with both the Seahawks and Mariners, might morph into a sports-oriented station.

Arquette said Bonneville is likely to seek a return of the KIRO call letters to KBSG.

Nineteen full-time and part-time employees will be laid off as a result of the change, he said.

The end of music on KBSG also ends, at least for the moment, the morning competition between brothers; Scott "Fastlane" Phillips has been the morning host at KBSG, while Kent Phillips is morning co-host and program director at KPLZ-FM/101.5.

KBSG adopted its present call letters in the late 1980s; before that it was KNBQ-FM, call letters now used by another station in this market.

In the winter-quarter Arbitron ratings, KIRO-AM finished in a tie for third among listeners 12 and older; KBSG finished in a tie for 15th.

In other radio notes:

*KPTK-AM/1090 will be covering the unlimited lights and unlimited hydros noon-6 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday.

*Pierce County Prosecutor and attorney general candidate John Ladenburg is the guest on "Weekday" at 9 a.m. Thursday on KUOW-FM/94.9.

*National Public Radio has ended production of "The Bryant Park Project," its effort at a news magazine aimed at younger listeners. That show had been carried locally on KXOT-FM/91.7. In its place the station has added a new entrant in the news-magazine field, from Public Radio International. "The Takeaway," hosted by John Hockenberry and Adaora Udoji, airs at 5-7 a.m. weekdays.

P-I reporter Bill Virgin can be reached at 206-448-8319 or billvirgin@seattlepi.com.