From tomorrow's Seattle P-I
KIXI's switch from local hosts to syndicated irks some listeners
By BILL VIRGIN
P-I REPORTERSandusky 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