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by Dorothy M. Atkins, Special to the Aspen Daily News
A new radio station, KTND "Thunder 93.5 FM," began broadcasting rock-and-roll hits from the '60s, '70s, and '80s with limited commercials at midnight this past Friday.
Roaring Fork's most famous city, Aspen
The station is majority owned by Simon T of Los Angeles, who also is the majority owner of KCUF 100.5, which positions itself as "Radio Free Aspen" and is licensed to El Jebel.
KCUF airs just one commercial per hour between songs and KTND, which is licensed to Aspen, is taking a similar approach.
"We are fulfilling our commitment of providing an alternative to satellite radio — but for free, for all ages in the Roaring Fork Valley," said T.
T, along with friends Bob DeMuth, Jeff Pollack and Tommy Hadges, brought the concept of limited-commercial radio to Aspen with KCUF in 2006.
T was previously general manager of KQLZ "Pirate Radio" in Los Angeles in the late '80s, where he tried to create a market for uninterrupted music. The idea was to limit commercials to one per hour by selling the spot at a premium. With only one commercial between long music sets, T said, listeners are less likely to change the station when an advertisement airs and advertisers are more likely to be heard.
The business model ended up not being viable at KQLZ, T said, because Los Angeles is a major media market with an abundance of radio stations in the region. But after retiring from major broadcasting in 1996, T invested in KCUF and decided to try it in a smaller radio market. T suspects his business model will survive in the Roaring Fork Valley where local companies are willing to invest more in exchange for being the station's exclusive advertiser.
In 2007, T won a bid from the Federal Communications Commission for the 93.5 radio frequency after seven rounds against local radio station owner Marcos Rodriguez, who controls KUUR-FM and Aspen TV station Channel 19.
BS&T Wireless, owned by T, DeMuth and Hadges, bought the frequency for $902,000, making it one of the priciest sales in a nationwide FCC auction.
The owners claim their investment in the new station was to broaden both stations' demographics.
"KCUF, while it can appeal to a broad range of people, [mainly] appeals to a younger demographic," said David Cook, managing partner of KTND.
By launching a second station and airing classic hits instead of what is characterized as a Top 40 format, the owners hope to provide variety for their listeners.
"It's a challenging market to be a businessman in," said Rodriguez, T's main competitor in the valley, "particularly in the [current] economic state."
According to Rodriguez, Aspen attracts retired media professionals who invest their money in the stations out of love for the industry and not necessarily for profit.
"Like in my case, it's a labor of love," he said. "[With KTND], the Roaring Fork Valley has another radio station to listen to and in the end, it benefits the community. It's a winning [situation] for everyone except maybe the accountant who is trying to make a return on investment."
And although T might not receive immediate financial benefit from creating a station, Rodriguez acknowledges the future potential of a new station.
"Radio stations don't disappear," he said. "Their owners and management change but the stations are here to stay."
Some ads for the new station, which ran in the past two weeks on the bottom of the Aspen Daily News front page, could be misleading at first glance.
The ads claimed that a range of rock-and-roll artists — like the Doobie Brothers, Elton John, Paul McCartney and The Supremes — were "coming to the Roaring Fork Valley on Friday the 13th." In reality, those are just some of the artists the new station is playing.
"It's a very effective campaign from our perspective, that has created quite a stir," Cook said. "If anyone has a negative connotation with the campaign they'll change their mind when they tune in."
KCUF airs just one commercial per hour between songs and KTND, which is licensed to Aspen, is taking a similar approach.
"We are fulfilling our commitment of providing an alternative to satellite radio — but for free, for all ages in the Roaring Fork Valley," said T.
T, along with friends Bob DeMuth, Jeff Pollack and Tommy Hadges, brought the concept of limited-commercial radio to Aspen with KCUF in 2006.
T was previously general manager of KQLZ "Pirate Radio" in Los Angeles in the late '80s, where he tried to create a market for uninterrupted music. The idea was to limit commercials to one per hour by selling the spot at a premium. With only one commercial between long music sets, T said, listeners are less likely to change the station when an advertisement airs and advertisers are more likely to be heard.
The business model ended up not being viable at KQLZ, T said, because Los Angeles is a major media market with an abundance of radio stations in the region. But after retiring from major broadcasting in 1996, T invested in KCUF and decided to try it in a smaller radio market. T suspects his business model will survive in the Roaring Fork Valley where local companies are willing to invest more in exchange for being the station's exclusive advertiser.
In 2007, T won a bid from the Federal Communications Commission for the 93.5 radio frequency after seven rounds against local radio station owner Marcos Rodriguez, who controls KUUR-FM and Aspen TV station Channel 19.
BS&T Wireless, owned by T, DeMuth and Hadges, bought the frequency for $902,000, making it one of the priciest sales in a nationwide FCC auction.
The owners claim their investment in the new station was to broaden both stations' demographics.
"KCUF, while it can appeal to a broad range of people, [mainly] appeals to a younger demographic," said David Cook, managing partner of KTND.
By launching a second station and airing classic hits instead of what is characterized as a Top 40 format, the owners hope to provide variety for their listeners.
"It's a challenging market to be a businessman in," said Rodriguez, T's main competitor in the valley, "particularly in the [current] economic state."
According to Rodriguez, Aspen attracts retired media professionals who invest their money in the stations out of love for the industry and not necessarily for profit.
"Like in my case, it's a labor of love," he said. "[With KTND], the Roaring Fork Valley has another radio station to listen to and in the end, it benefits the community. It's a winning [situation] for everyone except maybe the accountant who is trying to make a return on investment."
And although T might not receive immediate financial benefit from creating a station, Rodriguez acknowledges the future potential of a new station.
"Radio stations don't disappear," he said. "Their owners and management change but the stations are here to stay."
Some ads for the new station, which ran in the past two weeks on the bottom of the Aspen Daily News front page, could be misleading at first glance.
The ads claimed that a range of rock-and-roll artists — like the Doobie Brothers, Elton John, Paul McCartney and The Supremes — were "coming to the Roaring Fork Valley on Friday the 13th." In reality, those are just some of the artists the new station is playing.
"It's a very effective campaign from our perspective, that has created quite a stir," Cook said. "If anyone has a negative connotation with the campaign they'll change their mind when they tune in."
Source:A new radio station comes to the valley http://bit.ly/a8Udiy
(Yimber Gaviria, Colombia)
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