Same Twang, New Fans
By KEN TUCKER
Saturday, February 3 2007
Saturday, February 3 2007
Published on AllBusiness.com
When country KZLA Los Angeles flipped to a rhythmic AC format last August, alarms sounded in the country music radio and record communities. Los Angeles joined New York, which has lacked a country station since 2002, and San Francisco, which bowed out of the country game in early 2005, as the third among the top five markets with no FM country outlet. (Mount Wilson FM Broadcasters recently flipped two of its Los Angeles-area AM stations to country.)
Among the reasons for the KZLA switch: It's increasingly difficult to succeed with country radio in a market where Caucasians carry less and less sway. A 2006 Arbitron report estimated that only 5.4% of country radio's nationwide audience is Hispanic and 2.3% is black, while 92.3% of country listeners fall into Arbitron's "other" category (which includes Caucasians and Pacific Islanders). But in recent years, U.S. Census figures show, the Hispanic portion of Los Angeles County's population (which grew to 44.6% in 2000 from 37.8% in 1990) has passed up the county's non-Hispanic white population (which slipped to 31.1% of the total in 2000 from 40.8% in 1990).
At the annual Country Radio Seminar, to be held Feb. 28-March 2 in Nashville, Edison Media Research and industry trade group Country Radio Broadcasters will present results of a collaborative study of the relationship of Hispanics with country radio and music. And meanwhile, with demographics shifting across the United States, country radio will have to adapt if it hopes to maintain its role as radio's top format. (As of December 2006 there were 2,047 country stations in the United States, according to M Street Journal. News/talk was second with 2,007 stations.)
While most country stations continue to focus on their declining core, at least one has been more aggressive when it comes to attracting Hispanic and African-American listeners. Since the former comprise 46% of the 12-plus demographic and the latter another 20%, Miami might appear to be a bad place for a country station. But WKIS (Kiss Country) has aired the format for more than 25 years.
Historically, Arbitron has tended to rank the station No. 1 or No. 2 in the market among non-black/non-Hispanic 25- to 54-year-olds, according to PD Bob Barnett. But the market's ethnic composition, Barnett says, weighs heavily on decisions made at WKIS. "With zero exaggeration, it's a factor that impacts everything we do in programming, promotions, marketing and sales," he says.
A dwindling white audience makes attracting new listeners a necessity. "With the ongoing white exodus from South Florida—a near 20% decline in whites since the 2000 census was implemented—the challenge before us is to replace relocating white listeners with Hispanic/Latin listeners," Barnett says.
It's not easy to do. "There
Among the reasons for the KZLA switch: It's increasingly difficult to succeed with country radio in a market where Caucasians carry less and less sway. A 2006 Arbitron report estimated that only 5.4% of country radio's nationwide audience is Hispanic and 2.3% is black, while 92.3% of country listeners fall into Arbitron's "other" category (which includes Caucasians and Pacific Islanders). But in recent years, U.S. Census figures show, the Hispanic portion of Los Angeles County's population (which grew to 44.6% in 2000 from 37.8% in 1990) has passed up the county's non-Hispanic white population (which slipped to 31.1% of the total in 2000 from 40.8% in 1990).
At the annual Country Radio Seminar, to be held Feb. 28-March 2 in Nashville, Edison Media Research and industry trade group Country Radio Broadcasters will present results of a collaborative study of the relationship of Hispanics with country radio and music. And meanwhile, with demographics shifting across the United States, country radio will have to adapt if it hopes to maintain its role as radio's top format. (As of December 2006 there were 2,047 country stations in the United States, according to M Street Journal. News/talk was second with 2,007 stations.)
While most country stations continue to focus on their declining core, at least one has been more aggressive when it comes to attracting Hispanic and African-American listeners. Since the former comprise 46% of the 12-plus demographic and the latter another 20%, Miami might appear to be a bad place for a country station. But WKIS (Kiss Country) has aired the format for more than 25 years.
Historically, Arbitron has tended to rank the station No. 1 or No. 2 in the market among non-black/non-Hispanic 25- to 54-year-olds, according to PD Bob Barnett. But the market's ethnic composition, Barnett says, weighs heavily on decisions made at WKIS. "With zero exaggeration, it's a factor that impacts everything we do in programming, promotions, marketing and sales," he says.
A dwindling white audience makes attracting new listeners a necessity. "With the ongoing white exodus from South Florida—a near 20% decline in whites since the 2000 census was implemented—the challenge before us is to replace relocating white listeners with Hispanic/Latin listeners," Barnett says.
It's not easy to do. "There