Where have all the independent owners of radio stations gone? The ones that I've seen disappear have (1) decided it was time to retire; and/or (2) been offered a very large amount of money as a purchase price. In both cases, they have sold out to large chains.

Are there other reasons?

No. Many got into the biz twenty years ago when ownership dereg began, and their plan was to operate until consolidation reached them. New small owners can't get in because the barriers to entry have become huge and the competition in the top 250 markets will be huge corporations.

What about Paul Allen Owning Jammin??
I always see jammin With Boats and Hummers out at events. How many freakin vehicles does that station have?? Its obvious they are not owned by some corporate whore like Cheap Channel.

Another of Paul's toys. An independent owner, yes. At all like the independent owners referred to in the first post, no.

But Andy look at all the "free will" that staton has.
Live Dayparts whenever they want, The biggest budget in the country. They need 20 grand, no problem, just call Paul and he'll send them a check. It must be nice! Jammin is AS "independent" as you'll ever see from a radio station. They can do pretty much what ever they want, That also must be REALLY NICE$$$$$$$

>>just call Paul and he'll send them a check. It must be nice!<<

Talk to people who work for any of Mr. Allen's companies and you'll find it doesn't work that way with him.

If one of his divisions is losing money, there are layoffs and budget cuts. Just like any other company. The people laid off at the EMP in Seattle can confirm that.

Paul probably only bought the place to give his Trailblazers a place to be showcased. Obviously, he hasn't the desire to build a big network of stations although he could afford to play in that game. I think in theory he made a good choice. KXL AM had a loyal following when he bought the combo, and the FM had no audience of significance. Their performance since is not something I've kept track of, so I will let you folks fill in the blanks.

Small ownership, one station ownership, one station in a market ownership clearly all have been devastated by the deregulation that has clearly been part of the GOP agenda since Reagan. It will not be fixed any time soon. Look for new technology to bury what remains of the old broadcast model over the next decade. Keeping the emerging solutions out of the hands of the already huge conglomerates will be the next challenge. Look at youtube and how Google gobbled them faster than a turkey on Thanksgiving. So the new media will be the front of the next war. Every new source of news/entertainment that catches on will be assimilated.

One example of it being done very well in Eugene is McKenzie River Broadcasting. 3 stations and John Tilson is making money. He does not show any signs of retiring or selling...that I know of anyway. Besides the degenerate of a PD or NC 93 (Jim "Sleep while standing" Davis) I think KKNU pretty runs on it own. Just think how well it could be run without him. I'm guessing the PD's of KKNU & KMGE are not doing things very well if you have a Midday guy (Matt James)leaves and afternoon guy Dennis Nakata have left. Something must be wrong with the PD's. Maybe the owner should take a look at the big picture and the history of Jim's computer. I'm sure he would not appreciate porn being surfed while at work.

Rose City won't be a idependent single AM/FM owner for long, right Clear Channel?

2 FMs and 1 AM to go. It could be an interesting endeavor!

Most stations use Porn sites for Prep. Right Jammin and Kufo? I mean seriously, you take away the porn, you're taking away 95% of the the jocks content for his/her show.

I heard that a couple of porn stars would be interviewed on(drum roll, please)AMC! The mind reels.

Ok so we all know that Jammin has a lousy AM show, but 1lossersir is very correct. What people misunderstand about wealthy people they think they will spend and spend. Unless your talking about George Stienbrenner it doesn't usually work that way. They are willing to make the investment but you have to deliver the goods with revenue and if your not then they cut budgets, change personel, etc. Thats why they still are wealthy, they are businessmen.

I was fairly young when Jammin switched. What was 95.5's format before it switched to urban?

ask your grandpa!


some kinda instrumental format that started playing vocals just before the switch. I'm sure I'll be corrected by someone older than me.

I just know that jammin popped up right around the time I was 14 or 15....and that all my friends dug it.

After just about exactly 25 years of Beautiful Music that evolved to Easy Listening, they moved to a soft vocals format that could be described as Very Soft AC. That was followed by Hot AC Star 95.5 and then 70s Oldies which in turn became 70s/80s and back to Hot AC. I liked the second incarnation of Hot AC better because they took the 95KXL identity(complete with jingles)and the first was more rhythmic. This was followed by Jammin'.

They played all 70's hits for awhile.

Right before Jammin, there was that very odd, eclectic format that had about a half-dozen fans.

It went right out of my head! I believe it was an AAA/AC hybrid and they kept it for about 2 years starting right after the second Hot AC incarnation. We already had one KINK and didn't need another.

I moved to Portland in 1998 when KXL-FM was a KINK Clone. I was one of the six fans of that format. If memory serves me correctly, the program director for this format was a former KINK PD. Perhaps, the people who had been KINK listeners for years didn't see why they should switch to a station playing a very similar format. The switch to Jammin 95.5 happened in the spring of 1999.

Copernicus--You're making me feel like an old fuddy-duddy!

This week's "Bill Moyers on America" was entitled "Is the Net At Risk?" but (continuing the theme of information restriction), the last third of the program somewhat unexpectedly shifted to the impact of consolidation on broadcasting, with a focus on local radio. A community LPFM that found itself the sole outlet remaining on air in a wide area following Katrina was featured.

It'll be repeated at 3a 10/20 (Fri AM). Note it's 90 mins long, and the radio part is in the last half hour.

I mean, we all know; this mention is for those who might want to have something to show others.

Radio consolidation is a theme the Bill Moyer likes to bring up. Doesn't change anything, but I am glad a "broadcaster" keeps it in the public eye........

Alfredo, that was not my intention. I just was searching my brain and couldn't think of it...probably because at that point in time I was in the demo for the z100's and the jammins. I enjoyed NRK more so when I was younger...but my mother did not like the fart jokes and stripper comments so I wasn't allowed to listen when I was at home.

Let me propose a theory here: that ownership consolidation has not made all stations worse, but has brought things together in the middle. Things aren't worse all around, things are just more mediocre.

There were some pretty half-*ss mom n' pop owners before consolidation. There were some others that really cared about doing good radio. It's harder to be really good, and it's harder to be really bad.

You're close, but in fact it is EASIER to be really bad when you operate under policy set down by executives in far away markets and programmed by consultants or national programmers that have skewed agendas, no feel for local energies, and immediate superiors who answer to corporate agendas aimed at stockholder satisfaction.

Thats Exactly what these movin stations are doing.
I was checking out "Movin" in Seattle and it sounds EXACTLY the same as Portland's Movin. The music is the same and they have the same voice people. Im betting every single movin station in the country will sound the same. Its truely awful cookie cutter programing.

While keeping the same Hot AC format, "95KXL" changed it's name to "Mix 95.5" in March of 1997. By the end of 1997, 95.5 had changed to Carl Widing's Soft AAA format. "95.5fm" scored a miserable 0.9 (12+) in the ratings. After nearly a year and half of this very poorly executed format, "Jammin' 95.5" KXJM was born in April of 1999. Thank goodness!

For those who think Paul Allen just spends money on his businesses without profitability concerns - read this excerpt from R&R:

"Current Jammin midday talent Kristina exits, as does late-nighter Drea as that shift is eliminated."

So it's not just Clear Channel cutting live shifts.

......as that shift is eliminated...........

which means one less job in the country.......

multiplied by how many stations and other businesses..........

Maybe I've stumbled on the secret of job growth.

Everytime the job elimination pool reaches 500,

WAL*MART gets to open a new store. Result, ZERO JOB LOSS!!!!

Well, that fairly well illustrates what's been happening since the 70s recession begat Casino Economy, when we steered our ship of state toward a yellow glow on the horizon, mistaking Banana Republic for some kind of gold mine.

The job numbers are holding steady, but the quality of the jobs is sliding; the churn results in the middle class being shoved down into working class, workers down into multi-job peonage, and pensioners tossed willy-nilly into fearful poverty.

Those who were born wealthy or managed to grab a brass ring will eventually discover (probably soon) that this kind of labor structure is inherently less productive, as the bubble that now supports them evaporates.