2011 ARR March? Madness

This has been dragging on long enough so I'll post another. In the South Regional we have #15 seed WTBZ of Sarasota, Florida, who beat #2 seed KDGE of Dallas facing off against #10 seed KVGS of Las Vegas who managed a mild upset over #7 seed KROX of Austin.

The rules 10 songs from their actual playlists played at about the same time picked at random. First one to reach 6 victories wins, or 5 if there's a tie.

WTBZ opens with Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden. KVGS counters with Savior by Rise Against. In the battle of the overplayed, the Clear Channel station from Florida takes the first heat.

The rest: WTBZ on the left

33 -- Smashing Pumpkins vs. Take Me Out -- Franz Ferdinand. Mellon Collie had too many songs on it and this is one of them. Tied up.
Audience of One -- Rise Against vs. Talk -- Coldplay. I don't hate Rise Against. Honest. 2-1 KVGS
Unglued -- Stone Temple Pilots vs. Shake Me Down -- Cage the Elephant. Yeah, I sorta hate Stone Temple Pilots. 3-1 KVGS.
You Are A Tourist -- Death Cab for Cutie vs. Longview -- Green Day Defintely one of the lesser songs from Dookie. 3-2 KVGS
All Mixed Up -- 311 vs. Maybe -- Sick Puppies That particular Sick Puppies track got old really quick. 3-3 tied up
1901-- Phoenix vs. Sell Out -- Reel Big Fish. Never really got white ska bands. 4-3 WTBZ
When I Come Around -- Green Day vs. Roxanne -- Police I like stations that reach back to the 80's but some 90's songs are hard to beat. 5-3 WTBZ
Waiting for the End -- Linkin Park vs. Rope -- Foo Fighters No contest. 5-4 WTBZ. Can KVGS force overtime?
Blister in the Sun -- Violent Femmes vs. Date Rape -- Sublime. Nope. WTBZ goes to the Quarterfinals.

Next time WQRX rises from the grave!

WHAT IS CBS RADIO THINKING!?!

CBS Radio is blowing up a perfectly succesful alternative station WKRK -FM to start an FM sports station

Let me count the ways this is an incredibly stupid idea.

1) The current station is jockless, so it doesn't cost a fortune to run
2)I've looked at the Top 50 radio markets and all sports stations are a hit in only 2 markets -- San Francisco and New York.
3) Neither one of these stations are an FM
4) Where the markets have an alternative and a sports station going head to head the alternative station wins in nearly all markets, whether you're measuring ratings points and cum. For example, KROQ and KYSR are both beating KWKW in Los Angeles, KDGE is beading KTCK AM and KEJN FM in Dallas KTBZ is beating KILT in Houston
WRFF is beating WYSP-FM in Philadelphia abd WWDC is beating both WTEM and WJFK in D,C.
5)In markets were a sports AM and a sports FM, the Sports AM generally wins the fight.
6)Cleveland already has an all sports station.
7) WKRK just overtook the all sports atation in the last rating period.

So what happens now? Does the format go HD2? Will WMMS add more alternative to their playlist to pick up KRK's audience? Will WNWV go a little harder to pick up their anemic ratings? What will become of the station when the new format crashes and burns?

Alternative Rock Radio March Madness -- WEQX v. WRZX

The final Second Round matchup in the East pits #15 seed WEQX of the little ski town of Machester Vt. (but also serving Albany NY) pitted against #7 seed Clear Channel behemoth WRZX of Indianapolis. WEQX beat another Clear Channel station WRFF which pioneered the steering of Clear Channel alternative stations from the lockerooms of active rock. WRZX beat out WMRQ, which used to be a Clear Channel station and is now just a plain vanilla alterntive. 10 songs from the playlist head to head.

WEQX starts strong with Hashpipe -- Weezer to which WRZX counters with Maybe -- Sick Puppies. WEQX by a country mile.

WEQX is on the left.

Pumped Up Kicks -- Foster the People vs. Vasoline -- Stone Temple Pilots If a station can't take out Foster the People you know they're in for a rough day WEQX 2-0
3 Libras -- A perfect Circle vs. Memorial Day -- Dropkick Murphys Irish-punk fusion bands are sorta like punk ska bands. You're too often reminded of their more talented forebears. WEQX 3-0
Block After Block -- Matt & Kim vs. Beautiful Day -- U2 Now Irish rock, that's a different matter. WEQX 3-1.
Girls and Boys -- Blur vs. One Thing -- Finger 11. When Blur missed, they missed big. WEQX 3-2
Moneygrabber -- Fitz and the Tantrums vs. My Hero -- Foo Fighters. Like Fitz and the Tamtrums -- they're really good live. But one of my two favorite Foo Fighters songs -- Gotta give this one to WRZX..IT'S NOW A 3-3 TIE.
Spanish Sahara -- The Foals vs. So Far Away -- Avenged Sevenfold. The Avenged Sevenfold song is surprisingly listenable, but the Foals song is a beautiful melody that builds to a slow burn and the song rewards repeated listens. 4-3 EQX
Let it Die -- Foo Fighters vs. Last Resort -- Papa Roach Not my favorite song out of the FF canon, but it's enough to beat Papa Roach. 5-3 EQX
You Are A Tourist -- Death Cab for Cutie vs. Jane Says -- Jane's Addiction. EQX WINS!

Alt Radio "March" Madness -- KRZQ vs. KFMA

Closing in on the end of the second round -- five more to go. West Regional. Best of 10 head to head from their playlists. #16 seed KRZQ of Reno beat KSLG of Humboldt Co., California and the legendary KROQ of Los Angeles. Pretty impressive. #9 seed KFMA beat KCXX of the San Bernadino area of California. Not so impressive.

KRZQ starts with LISZTOMANIA -- PHOENIX. KFMA counters with TWO AGAINST ONE -- DANGER MOUSE. As much as I hate giving credit for playing an overplayed song, sometimes songs are overplayed for a reason KRZQ wins.

THE REST; KRZQ on the left.

ADOLESCENTS -- INCUBUS VS. LITHIUM -- NIRVANA A close call, but the Incubus song needs my love more. KRZQ 2-0
SABATOGE -- BEASTIE BOYS VS. RIPTIDE -- SICK PUPPIES The Beastie Boys tune is the ultimate marriage of punk and hip hop. How can it not win KRZQ 3-0
SOMEBODY TOLD ME -- THE KILLERS VS. LYING FROM YOU -- LINKIN PARK Not the most overplayed Linkin Park song, but that's not enough to beat one the the Killers stronger songs. KRZQ 4-0
THEM BONES -- ALICE IN CHAINS VS. ADOLESCENTS -- INCUBUS. Time to throw KFMA a bone. KRZQ 4-1.
TIGHTEN UP -- THE BLACK KEYS VS. DRAGULA -- ROB ZOMBIE. No contest here. KRZQ is set up for the win.
CLOSE TO ME -- THE CURE VS. LAY ME DOWN -- DIRTY HEADS Don't get me wrong, I like "Lay Me Down" -- but we're talking about the Cure here! KRZQ wipes the floor with KFMA and goes to the quarterfinals with 3 impressive wins under its belt,

Simulcasting AM: Still a Dumb Idea

While WLKK was not a station to my tastes. I probably would have been tuning it out a lot even in the mid 70's when the bulk of the stuff they played was popular and like all virtually jockless stations it was faceless. But it played enough good stuff that I had it on my presets. So when the station went to simulcasting the right wing blather on WBEN. The theory is that AM is a dying spectrum and putting talk radio on the FM will help them grow their audience and they will no longer have to pay staff to run two radio stations.

How's that working? WLKK's ratings have tanked -- they have lost nearly half the audience. When you add the two stations ratings together they have roughly the same ratings they had this time last year. Combined the two stations lost two ratings points and one revenue stream all in order to save the salaries of the Lake's skeleton staff -- oh wait, they're still on HD-2, (the signal of which doesn't quite make it to me) does that mean someone's still getting paid to run that operation?

Now if you'll excuse me I'm setting up my lawn chair so I can watch WRXP (whose ratings had been slowly but steadily improving prior to the Merlin takeover and switch to female-oriented news/talk) crash and burn.

Alt Rock Radio March Madness KRXF vs. KENZ

It's Round 2 of the Midwest Regionals. #16 seed KRXF of Bend, Oregon beat KTBZ of Houston, Tx. # 9 Seed KENZ of Salt Lake City previously beat KRBZ of Kansas City. Since it's been a while a recap of the rules -- I grabbed a playlist of each at the same approximate time and picked 10 songs and placed them head to head. I pick which song I prefer. The station with the most songs picked wins. Playing Marilyn Manson is an automatic disqualification. Sorry, just no excuse for that in this day and age. Let's go

KRXF starts with This Charming Man by the Smiths. KENZ counters with Yellow by Coldplay. RXF gets the edge by reaching back to the 80's (that move doesn't work however if they do it to play Howard Jones).

The rest: KRXF is on the left, KENZ on the right.

Them Belly Full But We Hungry -- Bob Marley & The Wailers vs. Dog Days Are Over -- Florence and the Machine. Wow. Not only Bob Marley, but a deep cut by Bob Marley. RXF again.
End to the Lies -- Janes Addiction vs. Mirror in the Bathroom -- The Specials Turnabout is fair play and this time the End comes up with the cool deep 80's track RXF 2-1.
Soul to Squeeze -- Red Hot Chili Peppers vs. Forget You -- Cee Lo Green. Cee Lo Green's potty mouth ties it up 2-2
Man in the Suitcase -- Police vs. Crossfire -- Brandon Flowers Playing the Police is a risky move but it pays off because KENZ plays Brandon Flowers solo.
Am I Demon -- Danzig vs. Better Man -- Pearl Jam. There are limits to playing the deep cut card and KRXF has bumped up against one. Danzig? Really? Stations are tied at 3-3.
Born Too Slow -- Crystal Method vs. Little Lion Man -- Mumford & Sons. Crystal Method is a cult band, a cult of which I am not a member. KENZ takes the lead 4-3
Middle of Nowhere -- Hot Hot Heat vs. Float On -- Modest Mouse Two slightly left of center songs, both really good. the Hot Hot Heat song has got a catchier melody. It's tied up again.
Bullet the Blue Sky -- U2 vs. Our House -- Madness Wow a rare all 80's matchup. The U2 track has more fire, so I'll go with that one 5-4 KRXF.
Monday -- Wilco vs. Troublemaker -- Weezer. Nothing against Weezer, but that song is played an awful lot and you have to give KRXF for daring to play Wilco.

WRXF wins! They are a force to be reckoned with as KENZ put forward a very strong playlist.