Clear Channel’s KHKS, known to most Texans as KISS FM began a “Worst To First” campaign behind its then new morning man Kidd Kraddick in the early ’90s. As the bottom rated radio station in the market, KISS went all the way to #1! Some things never change, after battling through some tough times and some tough competition, the station is back on top as the #1 station in the Dallas/Fort Worth market, posting impressive back-to-back #1 books under the leadership of Program Director Patrick Davis and consultant Steve Perun, who has assembled an all star team of talent under Kraddick, a Dallas radio legend, who remains as KISS FM’s anchor in morning drive some 15 years later.
Deep in the heart of Texas… Dallas, Texas, a radio station has been playing Pop music since it first signed on the air in November of 1992. Clear Channel’s KHKS, known to most Texans as KISS FM began a “Worst To First” campaign behind its then new morning manKidd Kraddick. As the bottom rated radio station in the market, KISS went all the way to #1! Some things never change, after battling through some tough times and a tough competitor in K104 in the early 2000s, the station is back on top as the #1 station in the Dallas/Fort Worth market, posting impressive back-to-back #1 books under the leadership of Program Director Patrick Davis and consultant Steve Perun. We recently caught up with Davis who has assembled an all star team of talent under Kraddick, a Dallas radio legend, who remains as KISS FM’s anchor in morning drive some 15 years later.
eQB presents excerpts from the FMQB June Magazine CHR Up Close featuring KHKS/Dallas PD Patrick Davis
On what was most surprising about the ratings… I hate to use the word “surprise,” but I’m constantly impressed with the numbers of Kidd Kraddick In The Morning. Every time we get to a certain point, whether it’s a 7 share or 7.5, I say, “WOW! I don’t know if he’ll ever do that again!” But it was great this book, he had an 8.9, the second place radio station had a 4.9. It’s unbelievable what the morning show has done just in terms of cume. If Kidd were his own radio station he would be the fifth biggest radio station in the city just by himself – that says a lot. Then there’s the growth of the night show. When Billy The Kidd arrived here in 2004, we were struggling with teens because we’d gone through some variations of CHR that leaned Hot AC. Getting the teens back and the younger end was incredibly difficult, but Billy brought us instant credibility, and now the 12 to 24 numbers at night are just outstanding!
On the station being able to maintain its dominance in the market… I feel I have the best team in the country. It starts with the morning show. When you’re posting up a 9 share in mornings that gives us a big head start on everybody else. Our midday numbers are fantastic for a CHR. We got our mid-day host, Adam Smasher, from KRBE in Houston. He’s a great talent, and he had another outstanding book in afternoon drive and Billy’s numbers at night speak for themselves, and nobody else has Cruze and Gina. You can duplicate the music, but you can’t duplicate the talent, and that’s what really makes the radio station special.
On how important it is to have someone like Steve Perun around to bounce ideas off of…Steve is invaluable to the radio station. It’s funny, because at times when you’re a program director and you have a consultant, if you admit that he was any part of the success, sometimes it feels like it takes away from you. I will be the first to admit that the station would not be where it is without Steve Perun. I think the world of Steve. He’s an incredibly smart guy, and we work really well together. We would not be here without Steve Perun, and I’m not the least bit shy about saying that. What I like about Steve is that it’s all about doing what’s right for the radio station, musically, staff-wise, no matter what it is, there are no ulterior motives. It’s all about being the best that you can possibly be.
On the importance of Billy The Kidd’s role in finding the right music for KISS… I count on Billy a lot to bring us a lot of things. He is always on the cutting edge. I would rather have a music director who is always bringing me stuff, and then say, “I don’t know if we’re ready for that,” than somebody who you have to say, “Okay. Can you find us something? Is there anything out there?” Billy is that kind. He’ll hear something and say, “this would be perfect…this’ll fit like this.” Or “This is what’s hot on MySpace” or in the clubs. Billy is the link between what’s going on in the clubs and on the streets of Dallas and KISS.
On balancing gut with research nowadays… There’s a certain amount of gut feel to any CHR if you’re going to keep it fresh. You can’t sacrifice keeping a hip image and waiting for research all the time. The key is to make smart, intelligent guesstimates with the music that we add. We know very clearly what our sound is supposed to be, and Fergie and Justin Timberlake fit that. I don’t think it’s a stretch to jump on those records right away. We have also found that our listeners will gravitate toward some Rock stuff too like Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. As long as we’re in that vein, we’re okay. When we start to stretch what KISS would normally sound like, then we need to wait for the research to come in and make sure it’s right.
On something about the Dallas marketplace that we might be surprised to find out… What a huge Christian base there is here, and how much KLTY, the Christian station, affects all of us. I don’t know if that’s apparent. It affects not only the music we play, but the content of our jocks. If you listen, our jocks, for the most part content-wise, are very conservative for CHR. That makes them much more special because they can’t go for the easy, double entendre punch line. They have to make sure that it is palatable to the Dallas audience, which means keeping it clean for the most part. Listening to KISS you might say the jocks aren’t very edgy. They are in their own way, they’re just not dirty. That’s all part of the whole Christian vibe. Lifehouse and Relient K do extremely well here.
On what he attributes to Kidd Kraddick’s success over the years… Being willing to evolve the show. If you listen to the show now, it’s not the same show that was on the air a year ago, and that wasn’t the same show that was on two years ago. Kidd has added two new players, JC and Taylor, and that’s brought in a whole different perspective. Kidd is the first one, after each book to say, “Okay, that was great; how can we change things?” I would imagine that’s very hard to do given the success he’s had, but that’s part of it too. He’s always been willing to not necessarily change the people on the show, but change the way he does things and the perspective that they bring. They’re also very well defined here in Dallas. Kidd has been here since the inception of the radio station, and then Big Al and Kellie [Rasberry] right after that, so their chemistry is second to none.
On how the station is incorporating new technology into its plan… We just launched KISS Nation. It’s a social networking program which Clear Channel came up with. It’s huge in the sense that it allows listeners to be a part of a group that’s a little smaller than MySpace, but still allows them to interact. We’re also increasing our reliance on the Web quite a bit. We do this contest, what’s basically the mystery sound, and Kidd gives a clue every morning, but we also give a clue on line. Our streaming numbers are Top 10 in the country. Not only is that a result of the talent we have on air, but it’s also a result of incorporating the Web into what we’re doing on KISS too.
On how radio can do a better job of serving its listenership and maintaining its position as the go-to media… Alan Sledge, our SVP/Programming, talks about this all the time. Make it more about the listeners, and less about us all the time. “You” is one of the most inviting words in the world because it invites people into a conversation. I think sometimes, not only talent but as radio stations it’s all about us. “We’re #1. We’re the biggest, the best, blah, blah, blah.” When really, the listener, as a consumer, they want to know: “What are you going to do for me?” I think not forgetting that it is really about them. That’s one of the things that we could get back to focusing more on.
** QB Content by Bob Burke **
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