KIXI is MOYL

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Postby Stevey7 » Thu Jun 01, 2006 11:29 am

All the local hosts are gone and now KIXI is doing "Music of your Life" with Wink Martindale, Peter Marshall and others of that era. What was once one of the better executed Adult Standards stations in the country is now another poorly executed satellite feed. There is nothing inherently wrong with satellite feeds if the local integration is smooth and content rich. Neither can be said about KIXI right now. Too bad.
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Postby radiofan » Thu Jun 01, 2006 2:42 pm

KIXI was a great station and not too many years ago it was ranked in Seattle's top 10 every ratings period. Not an easy feat for a music station on AM in the 1990's. KIXI was one of the few locally programmed Adult Standards stations in the US.

The satellite delivered "Music Of Your Life" format that they switched over to at midnight may play the same music, but the localness is gone. Much of KIXI was voice tracked, but still...it was local people talking about stuff going on in Seattle.
That is all gone now.

Sadly, another "locally" programmed AM station in the Pacific Northwest has been taken away and again a loss of jobs.

Why is it the losers in these situations is always the "worker bees" and not the management types who have made bad decisions?
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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Postby radiofan » Thu Jun 01, 2006 6:05 pm

From tomorrow's Seattle P-I


KIXI's switch from local hosts to syndicated irks some listeners

By BILL VIRGIN
P-I REPORTER


Sandusky Radio has switched its KIXI-AM (880) adult-standards station to a national syndicated service, dismissing most of its local announcers and hosts in the process.

A Sandusky official said the change, effective early Thursday, was made in an effort to boost KIXI's stagnant ratings in the Seattle-Tacoma market.

But the change prompted a flurry of response to the P-I from listeners unhappy about losing such hosts as Jim Dai and Jim Kampmann in the mornings and Jack Morton in evenings.

"It's getting harder and harder to find a decent radio station with on-air personalities," one listener said in an e-mail. "Station managers should know that they are driving us aging baby boomers off the radio and onto TV shows where there are personalities that one can relate to. I believe that those of us who are just past 60 are looking not only for the old music, but also for the radio format that we knew when we were growing up, with real people on the air. I know it's probably more expensive, but the alternative is that radio will die altogether (which it pretty much already has)."

KIXI is now using the syndicated "Music of Your Life" service, which features music very similar to what the station had played -- adult standards artists such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Nat King Cole, along with such hosts as Pat Boone, Wink Martindale, Peter Marshall and Gary Owens.

"We've done the local thing for so long," said Marc Kaye, general manager of Sandusky's five Seattle-market stations. But KIXI has been stalled at a 2 share in the Arbitron ratings, he said (in the most recent ratings book, for winter quarter, KIXI had a 1.9 share and ranked 22nd in the market).

By keeping the same music format but using hosts who have greater access to national artists for interviews, Kaye hopes to build the station's audience.

KIXI will still be aimed at an audience 45 and older, although he noted that growing demographic segment remains out of favor with advertisers obsessed with the younger market.

The only on-air host who remains with the company, Kaye said, is Dan Murphy, who will be operations manager. The schedule of specialty shows on weekend, including "Imagination Theatre," will remain the same. KIXI will also do local news, traffic, weather and promotion, he said.

This is the second major change Sandusky has made with one of its local stations in a month. In May, Sandusky dropped the hot-adult contemporary format on KLSY-FM (92.5), changing it to the Movin' format of rhythmic songs with the new call letters KQMV-FM.

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

Bill Virgin P-I story
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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Postby Victoriaradio » Fri Jun 02, 2006 8:22 am

Sad! I often listened to this station. It was an important link with Seattle which I like to visit. When will "they" get it? Listeners crave a reurn to community - enhanced by LOCAL personality radio.

Well there's still AM600!
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