Editor:
I would like to write about something missing from this area. I’ve lived and worked from coast to coast to coast, from New York to Miami, to Seattle, Detroit and a few other stops along the way. The population of the combined Gulf Coast region we all love — Pascagoula, Mobile and Pensacola — has approximately 1,271,000 people, which is enough of a market to be able to support what I am proposing.
In our area, we have a hard rock station, a classic rock station, a classic hits station and a station that calls itself the only true alternative, playing everything from roots to blues to local artists and a lot of jazz too. We have three stations on our FM dial that have Delilah on at the same time every night (the three adult contemporary stations), and in our listening area we have four (count ‘em), FOUR country stations on FM.
There are two or three talk-show stations, and a couple of all-sports stations too, and a couple of urban contemporary stations on FM, not to mention three Top 40 hits stations.
What is missing here is a station that can cover what is known as alternative rock. This format has actually become the “classic rock” of the millennials now. I am talking about a station that plays music you would hear on stations across the country with the slogan “the new rock alternative” or “alt rock” — it’s simply the music genre that began with Nirvana and the breakout artists of the Pacific Northwest — the Seattle sound, grunge, modern rock, however you label it, this music genre has become mainstream everywhere else in the country, but is missing from our airwaves here.
The age demographic for this style of music is 18-to-34-year-olds, which has always been the goldmine for advertisers. If a station here played this kind of music, from 1990 forward with a heavy rotation of currents, recurrents and the familiar alternative (yes, I said familiar) songs of the ‘90s, it would become the No. 1 station in this target audience within a year.
I have a background in radio, marketing, promotions, but my best experience in the business was as music director. I would love to help put together a winning successful station like this, but only if it had a range that would cover the entire area, from Pascagoula to Pensacola. As long as we have this new rock alternative void in our radio market, we will not be able to realize the successes this target market demographic could potentially deliver. If any station owners or [general managers] want to know more, you can easily find me on Facebook.
Kenny Klinzman
Daphne
