The Ten Best Markets For Radio Listeners: # 9 - Salt Lake City
Written Nov. 13, 2007 by Sean Ross in Content + Ten Best Markets with 8 Comments
Ever since the '80s when stations from nearby Provo and Ogden began moving into the market at a rapid clip, Salt Lake City has really been three radio markets in one. InsideRadio.com lists 180 stations (although that includes HD-2 and stations in the outlying DMA as well). But it's not just raw tonnage that rates SLC a spot here. A median age eight years below the rest of the country has always made it a great market for Alternative radio (and one of the few places where Modern Rock always does well, regardless of what is happening with it elsewhere).
Salt Lake City has one of the format's best and most enduring Modern Rockers in KXRK (X96), featuring, as PD Todd "Nuke 'Em" Noker noted on the air Monday, "a live human being sitting in a room in Salt Lake playing music for you." It also has at least three stations doing something in the neighborhood of Modern AC/adult modern including KENZ (the End), KUDD (the Mix), and KJMY (My 99.5), one of the earliest cousins of the Clear Channel Rock/AC hybrid now heard on WRFF (Radio 104.5) Philadelphia and elsewhere. You'll also find:
* At least six Country stations--longtime rivals KUBL (K-Bull) and KSOP (the Cowboy) and more recent entrant KEGA (the Eagle) got more company lately when KXRV switched to a more '90s-based version from Triple-A. There are also two Classic Country choices: KSOP-AM, which plays the sort of deep '60s/'70s rarely heard on the dial anywhere, and the more '80s-drivenKKAT (Country Legends 107.5).
* Three places to hear Christmas music already, although if you don't like having soft AC KOSY and mainstream KSFI tied up already, KBEE (B98.7) is still in regular format.
* A mainstream top 40, KZHT, that does a better job than most stations in comparably sized markets of finding its own hits.
* A non-commercial Triple-A KRCL (Radio Free Utah) where the most-played songs are spun twice a week.
* Two Contemporary Christian outlets: KUTR, which was spun off from KSFI's Sunday morning program, and KOAY (the Oasis), which mixes Christian AC with local LDS artists.
* Two Active Rockers: heritage KBER and newer entry KHTB (the Blaze).
What else is here? A Heritage News/Talker that simulcasts on AM and FM (KSL), at least two conservative talk outlets (KNRS and KLO), Smooth Jazz (KBZN), Jack-FM (KJQN), Classic Rock (KRSP), Oldies (KODJ), a very successful Hip-Hop outlet (KUUU), the Movin' Rhythmic AC format (KYMV); Regional Mexican (KDUT), Latin Pop (KBMG), Radio Disney (KWDZ), three sports talk stations, and many others.
What's not here? As in many Western markets, there's no true R&B outlet--Urban or Urban AC. There's no traditional commercial Triple-A positioned between the eclectic KRCL and the modern-leaning KENZ. In my original post, I wrote that there was a hole for older Oldies--I have since been corrected about that, KKAT-AM recently picked up the True Oldies Channel.
This is also a market where you can stream almost all of the stations written about here.
And here's the countdown so far:
10 - Louisville
9 - Salt Lake City
8 - Coming Wednesday
Reader Comments
Your 2¢, in chronological order — add your comment below.
I have the feeling that KRCL will object to being called a AAA--they would probably prefer "free form," especially with all of the Pacifica trappings of the station, including "Democracy Now!" and "Free Speech Network News." I wonder if they even have a rotation clock or a Selector on premises.
Valid point, but if you substitute the words "old-line, free-form progressive station" for "Triple-A," it makes an even better case for the uniqueness of the market, since there are fewer of those left these days than Triple-A stations.
Compare the shares and revenue market here with markets like L.A. that have a large number of stations and one can see how tough it is to lead in revenue and ratings. You have to earn every tenth of a point here. Nothing is easy.
Thanks for the kind comments!
I don't know of a market where Chrismas music is bigger. KOSY and KSFI combined capture double digit shares of adults during the holidays.
I think we need one more country station. Maybe one that plays nothing but country ballads.
I know I've been critical of my home market in the past. Many of the stations pull off a "bigger market" sound, and when they fail to deliver, I'd whine. But I need to remember that Salt Lake only has 1.5 million people. We aren't LA. For our size, I must say that SLC is a fantastic radio market! Keep it up everyone!
Funny to bump this almost two months after the last post, but it looks like KRCL will be less free form and more AAA--at least during the day--in the upcoming months:
http://www.slweekly.com/index.cfm?do=article.details&id=CB9F51DA-A717-7F6A-3EA5F8A05D0430A6