Chilly future faces Kool 99.3

By: RANDY DOTINGA - For the North County Times | Wednesday, June 15, 2005 1:04 PM PDT ∞

With his station's days potentially numbered, Kool 99.3 FM program director Dave Mason has decided to go gonzo.

Normally, the nation's endangered oldies stations play a few hundred hits by artists such as the Association, Supremes and Beatles (at least songs from before the Fab Four themselves went gonzo). Station playlists don't go much beyond 500 songs because, as the thinking goes, radio listeners can't handle variety: They want to hear a song they know every time they tune in.

Well, never mind the conventional wisdom. During the past couple of months, the mild-mannered Mason, a Kool 99.3 morning personality, let his hair down. He's more than doubled the station's playlist to about 1,200 songs and expanded its definition of "oldies" to include tunes from the early '60s and late '70s, not just the mid-'60s to mid-'70s.

Joining the mix are the older (Sam Cooke, Chuck Berry, the Everly Brothers) and the newer (disco tunes).

"The thing we finally realized is that there's an appetite out there for wider variety," Mason said.

Indeed, variety is the hot new fad in radio. Well more than a dozen stations nationwide recently "flipped" to the "Jack" format, which emphasizes large playlists, few or no disc jockeys and snarky attitude.

Locally, the highly profitable Star 100.7 rock station recently turned into 100.7 Jack FM. More important for Mason, several oldies stations adopted the Jack format in recent weeks, including New York City's legendary WCBS-FM, which helped pioneer oldies radio about three decades ago.

The demise of WCBS, home to the famous disc jockey Cousin Brucie and a certain ex-Monkee named Micky Dolenz, left New York City without an oldies station focusing on "good-time" music from the '60s and '70s. But the Big Apple has plenty of company: Several big radio markets are oldies-free, including Austin, Texas, Orlando, Fla., Atlanta, Baltimore and Charlotte, N.C. (Classic rock stations such as San Diego's KGB tend to focus on harder rock from the '70s and are doing a better job of surviving.)

Why are oldies stations on the way out? According to industry observers, it's a simple matter of economics: The advertisers, who keep radio stations afloat, aren't very interested in baby-boomer listeners.

"Now that advertisers are focused on 18- to 49-year-olds, radio is quickly chasing youngsters and abandoning the group that already likes them," said Nashville radio consultant Robert Unmacht.

People old enough to remember the Nixon administration do spend money, of course. But companies trying to reach them tend to stick to television, magazines and newspapers, Unmacht said. Those who advertise on the radio perceive AARP-eligible folks as entrenched fuddy-duddies who don't want to try anything new, whether it's a brand of beer or the latest car models.

Indeed, he said, oldies stations have tried to attract younger audiences by abandoning 1950s-era songs and bringing in tunes from later decades. But that hasn't seemed to have worked.

Meanwhile, "golden oldies" stations ---- such as the now-defunct local stations KSPA-AM and KPOP-AM ---- found themselves in even worse straits. Many tried to modernize their lineup of artists such as Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald by bringing in modern singers such as Celine Dion. But those stations have been vanishing from the dial too, the victim of little interest from advertisers ---- other than, say, mortuaries ---- in reaching people over the age of 70.

What now? The demise of oldies could spell trouble for the radio industry, which has been surprised by an avalanche of strong competition in the last few years. Satellite radio (which costs money) and Internet radio (which doesn't) offer hundreds and hundreds of audio channels, many offering family-friendly "good-time" oldies. Not surprisingly, WCBS disc jockey Cousin Brucie quickly got snapped up by the Sirius satellite radio network.

Oldies fans can also listen to commercial-free music channels through their cable TV systems. Or they could just stick to their own music collections.

None of this is good news for Mason, the Kool 99.3 program director. His station has faced even bigger challenges during the last few years: "Kool" flipped from frequency to frequency, and its parent company, Clear Channel, seems to consider it some sort of red-headed stepchild.

Now, in order to comply with new federal laws, Clear Channel is getting ready to dump its stations that broadcast from Mexico, including Jammin' Z90, Kool 99.3, Magic 92.5 and 91X. (XTRA 690 is already gone.) Clear Channel could choose to retain the oldies format on another frequency or give it last rites.

Mason is keeping his fingers crossed, but he doesn't sound too hopeful.

"What's going to save oldies is believing in it, marketing it," he said. "Right now, because of the reticence of the industry to put any faith in it, I donít know if that will happen."

Randy Dotinga wonders why modern songs aren't called "newies." E-mail him at NCTimesRadio@aol.com.

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