The Straight Skinny

 

Blissed Out, Off the Beach and Back on the

Smooth Jazz Beat

By Carol Archer

 

 

 

In its pre-currency May PPM, KIFM earned second 12+ with a 6.0-share and third 25-54. KIFM's PD of the last 11 years, Mike Vasquez, points out that the accomplishment provided a deeper source of satisfaction (not to mention vindication) to he and KIFM GM and Lincoln Financial Media San Diego market manager Darrel Goodin, than even their enviable, unequalled and much-vaunted four No. 1 12+ diary books.                                                                                                      

 

"Needless to say, our entire team was both elated and relieved to be tied for second place 12+ and third 25-54 during the three months that make up the 'spring book.' With all the recent Smooth Jazz format flips and some of the assumptions that were being made about this format and how it won’t do well in the PPM era, we were anxious to see how we would fare" -- anxious, understandably, but needlessly, as it turns out.

 

What Makes KIFM Different And Successful?

1. For starters, KIFM is generally live (as in real-time) and local – an increasingly rare phenomenon, as well as an obvious competitive advantage over presentations that run, say, a single "live," if voice-tracked, daypart, due to budget constraints. [A future column will tackle the question of whether listeners perceive the difference in emotional resonance, authenticity and nuance between live jocks and voice-tracks.]

 

2. Then there is KIFM's outstanding music. They play -- and ardently sell – a diverse variety of songs overall, and a relatively high percentage of currents in comparison to many other over the air format outlets. Library tracks veer from over-reliance on tried-and-true fare (Motown, Bill Withers and other 40-+-year-old gold that grows crispier – that is, more burned -- over time, research findings to the contrary. It's another topic I intend to revisit, as soon as I have molecule-rearranging hard-facts in hand), toward a more contemporary mix.

 

 The station skews markedly younger in contrast to most format outlets, including CBS Radio's KTWV/(The Wave) in L.A., by airing tracks primarily from 2002 forward; and within that material, they lean toward titles of even more recent vintage.

 

 3. KIFM breaks records – and how! Historically, among major market format outlets past and present, the list of hits added first by KIFM is arguably unrivalled, but for Steve Williams' (especially during the wonder years, when he served as MD, then PD, at Emmis' former WQCD(CD101.9)/New York, when that station had a six-share); and during KTWV(The Wave) APD/MD Ralph Stewart's long tenure at the birthplace of Smooth Jazz as a fulltime format in 1987.

 

 4. KIFM MD and afternoon driver, Kelly Cole, mines the seam of new releases, and scours a wide variety of new "tuneage" to unearth cool, hip new material.