KKBE (FM-92.7, 95.5 and 104.9) has switched from "top 40" contemporary-hit music to country/gospel music in one of the biggest radio format turnarounds possible.
"We did a lot of research and decided on a clean, country sound," Garrett Haston, station owner/general manager, said of the change, stressing the Wasatch Front can only support two top-40 stations - KUTQ and KZHT."People who like country music will like what they hear," Haston said. "When you're tired of listening to KKAT and KSOP, we'll be there as a second choice."
Haston said KKAT's morning team, Cano and Simmons, joked Tuesday morning that their brand of modern country music was for the sinners, while KKBE could have the non-sinners.
KKBE, using the slogan of "The Spirit of Utah," now belongs to a satellite network from Nashville, "The Super Gospel Network," operating 24 hours a day. Haston said he'll add a sprinkling of the best gospel ministry programs to his lineup in June and that within six months he hopes to add some local interviews with church and political leaders.
He said the listener feedback so far has been good, though many are surprised by the big change.
KKBE had only a .4 percent share to tie for last in the winter Arbitron's age 12-plus category. Haston attributed that rating to the fact that top 40 radio is declining nationally, the Wasatch Front can't support three such stations and the station's Utah County transmitter was out of service for most of the ratings period.
Haston said he had to lay off most of his former employees but stressed that most have new jobs.
Haston is confident a clean country station can win a niche in the market.
"Give us a year," he said.
- KKBE's sister station, KJQN-AM (1490), has been using an adult contemporary Christian format for about one year, but Haston said its call letters will be changing to KJOE later this spring. That's "K-Joy" for the pleasure of clean music and programming, Haston said.
- END OF THE BATTLE - Ever since Utah's original "modern-music guys" - Mike Summers, Dom Casual and Mister West, to name a few - left KJQN in November of 1991, the station has been struggling to find a niche in the market.
It couldn't survive with a regular modern-rock format, so it tried another variety of modern music. When that didn't work, it finally switched to top 40 music and a call- letter change to KKBE as "The Killer Bee."
KKBE's change earlier this month to country-gospel music signals an end to any sort of battle with the modern music guys, who now have a home at KXRK (alias "X-96" FM). Hopefully it also means KKBE has found its place in one of the nation's most competitive markets with 40-plus stations going after an audience.
Haston said his two stations, KKBE-FM and KJOE-AM, represent the only full-time AM/FM commercial Christian stations in this market.
- KCNR (AM-1320) has named Tim Lewis, former news editor at KSL, as director of news and programming.
"We will continue to be the station people turn to for the most up-to-date national news and sports," Lewis said. "What we will build is a heavier commitment to local programming."
KCNR, which became locally popular during the Persian Gulf War because of its CNN affiliation, has also hired Rebecca Marshall, a former KSL reporter, as a new reporter.
- LDS RADIO NETWORK has added Church Educational System lectures at noon daily to its 24-hour programming schedule.
The network is available only through special processes, such as through TCI's Salt Lake County cable system, a home satellite dish system or through specially adapted personal radio sets receiving an FM subcarrier.
According to Andy McQuinn, manager/program director for the LDS Network, it is taking hundreds of phone calls a day from listeners and prospective listeners.
For more information, call 575-5565.
- KUMT (alias "The Mountain," FM-105.7) - Here's the station's current on-air, weekday lineup:
6-11 a.m. - Rob Riesen; 11 a.m.-4 p.m. - Robyn Wryght; 4-8 p.m. - Chuck McCartney; 8 p.m.-midnight - Bob Jennings; and midnight-4 a.m. - Michael G. Cavanaugh.
- KBZN (alias "The Breeze," FM-97.9) - Flesh and Bone will be the guests on the Sunday, May 16, "Musical Starstreams" (8-10 a.m.). Later in the day, Jimmy Haslip of the Yellowjackets will be featured on "Jazz Trax" (7 p.m.-midnight).
- Here's a schedule of the station's "7 O'Clock CD" program next week:
Monday, May 17: "Sticks and Stones," by Ray Obiedo.
Tuesday, May 18: "Dream," by Kitaro.
Wednesday, May 19: "Secret Story," by Pat Metheny.
Thursday, May 20: "The Best of Silver Wave, Volume One."
Friday, May 21: "Weekend in Monaco," by the Rippingtons.
- MORNING RADIO HAPPENINGS - "Ron and Allen" of KBER apparently made a bet on the Utah Jazz-Seattle Supersonic series with a counterpart rock station in Seattle. Of course, they lost the bet, and as part of the payoff, a Seattle deejay visited Ron and Allen's show Friday morning and they have to produce some sort of billboard . . . "Jon and Dan" discussed eating disorders on KLZX Tuesday . . . "Dom and Bill" of KXRK have three European concert trips to award to lucky listeners this month. . . .
"Fisher and Todd' on KISN-FM had some sort of "Eat anything, eat off" Tuesday. They took calls from listeners regarding the weird things they've consumed . . . "Cano and Simmons" of KKAT are currently giving away free tickets to the station's annual summer music festival at specifically announced locations . . . Martha Stewart, the etiquette expert, gave advice to listeners on graduation gifts Tuesday on the "Gary and Mick" show on KVRI . . . A listener correctly guessed "Where's Wally?" was in Provo on Tuesday's "McCormick and Scotty" show on KUTQ.
"Frank and Stone" of KRSP have been busy the past two weeks with various stunts, such as giving listeners 30 seconds to tick off their mothers for the Utah Jazz playoff. One listener called in to say he told his mother he was gay and another said he told her he belonged to a polygamous cult. And finally, Frank and Stone located John Stockton's wrecked car after the auto accident last week and climbed into it for a live report.