KZPS Back Toward (But Not To) Classic Rock
Written Apr. 11, 2008 by Sean Ross in Terrestrial Radio with 1 Comment
There were reports elsewhere on line this morning that Clear Channel's KZPS (Lonestar 92.5) Dallas had completed the segue back to Classic Rock from its Americana/Classic Rock/Country hybrid. KZPS, you may remember, has been written about here every now and then as we check the progress of both this oft-attempted but tricky format and the station's attempt to replace traditional spots with sponsorships.
And the answer is that the station gets closer to straight Classic Rock all the time, but in the segment we heard this morning, there was still a Pat Green song standing between the station and a complete format change. There's also a lot of Southern Rock that you don't usually hear on most Classic Rock stations and, interesting to me anyway, a lot of that holdover blues rock from the early '90s that you never hear on the radio anymore (e.g., "Bad Thing" by Cry Of Love).
Willie Nelson is still the voice of the station's legal ID. Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, Jr., (and his dad) are still mentioned in the promos.
As for the sponsorships, we'd established a while ago that Lonestar was running some traditional spots. The streaming stopset we heard this morning was a mix of traditional spots, a seemingly pre-recorded testimonial that was meant to sound like a live read, and instrumental fill music. The stopset also went from :22 to :28, a long break for a station that used to not run spots at all. There was another stopset between :48 and :52.
(By the way, I shouldn't be too hard on that instrumental fill music. It was during that second stopset that a co-worker looked up and said, "Wow, I haven't heard that song in a long time," referring to Joe Satriani's "Motorcycle Driver," which then ended abruptly as the station went back to music.)
Here's Lonestar 92.5 at 11 a.m. this morning:
T. Rex, "Bang A Gong (Get It On)"
Bob Seger, "Night Moves"
Rossington Collins Band, "Don't Misunderstand Me"
Creedence Clearwater Revival, "Who'll Stop The Rain"
Eagles, "In The City"
Pat Green, "Wave On Wave"
Lynyrd Skynyrd, "Saturday Night Special"
Rolling Stones, "Ain't Too Proud To Beg"
Fabulous Thunderbirds, "Wrap It Up"
Jimi Hendrix, "Foxey Lady"
Allman Brothers, "No One Left To Run With"
Eric Clapton, "I Shot The Sheriff"
Steve Miller Band, "Jungle Love"
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I'm listening to them now and their positioning line is "Classic Rock, Texas Style," with an image voice much deeper than Willie's voice--I'd say they consider themselves classic rock now.