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10 Questions with ... Michael Levine
November 27, 2016
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
Michael Levine was named PD for KKGO in August, becoming the second PD in the station's nearly 10-year history. Though he had no prior major market experience programming Country radio, Levine is certainly no stranger to radio, or to a big market. He's the son of Mt. Wilson Broadcasters President Saul Levine, who has owned KKGO since 1959. Michael has grown up in the business and been part of KKGO for many years. He was instrumental in bringing current morning personality Graham Bunn to KKGO mornings - even though he had no prior radio experience - following Bunn's appearances on reality shows "The Bachelorette," "Bachelor Pad," and "Bachelor in Paradise." If that seemed unconventional, on December 15th, KKGO shifted its programming to all Christmas music, featuring a mass appeal music approach that is 90% steeped in the holiday classics with very little Country artists or music featured. All Access originally reported on this move with a quick Q&A from Levine. Here is a longer, unedited version of that conversation, which took place within hours of the holiday switch.
1. How are your phones? How are the listeners responding to this in the first hour or so?
I think people are very understanding. The reason why we switched to Christmas music is because we've had so many requests for Christmas music over the years. Plus, if you look at the market in Los Angeles, the stations that play Christmas music do so well. Obviously, change is always a little bit of an adjustment. I know one of the questions people have is playing Christmas music before Thanksgiving, but all in all, people are very happy with the change.
2. So, that was the conversation - it was based on, "gosh we've got all these people calling in years past asking us to please play more?"
Exactly. And then again, if you look at the market and who does well, it's the stations that play all the Christmas music. Our audience is already pre-disposed to listening to Christmas music, because we do see that they switch to the stations that play the all-Christmas format over the years. So why not provide the music that our listeners are requesting?
3. You opted for a wide playlist - traditional classics, and then contemporary artists, too. I'm just wondering: how much Country will be in the mix? What's a ballpark percentage of Country artists in this mix?
We took a step back to do research on this, because it's our first time playing an all Christmas music format. When we really looked at the numbers, people enjoy the classics. Even though we do have a wide playlist for Christmas music, 90% of what we'll be playing is the core classics. I think regardless of whatever type of music you enjoy on a personal level, people always come back to the classics, whether that's newer classics such as Wham! or a Bing Crosby or a Gene Autry. That's what our focus is - providing what the core Christmas classics over the years are. But, if there are newer Country singles that might be of interest for our listeners, then we'll play them, and of course we do sprinkle in some of the Country Christmas songs as well. Again, the core that we're playing, even though we do have a wide playlist, is the 90% of the music will be those Classic Hits.
4. I was thinking too - when you mentioned Country artists with new music, at last count, there were 15 new Country Christmas albums this year.
And I think by you saying that's a testament to the demand of the Country listener base for Christmas music. And there are some newer songs that people will crave, but people basically want the classics, and people are always revising the classics and hopefully providing that experience for whoever buys their music.
5. You mentioned doing some research on this. Is there any concern about giving up your exclusive, Country position in the market for five weeks?
One of our goals is to provide the best music around. Country is the top format across America right now. We are at times the largest, most-listened to Country station in the United States, but keeping with that theme, it wasn't too much of a stretch for us to say, "Hey we're providing the best Country music around, but we also see demand our listeners are predisposed to enjoy Christmas music." So, making that switch was not a huge leap of faith for us, because we already know that our audience base is music. Again, people understand that Christmas music is just a seasonal format, and as soon as the season is done, I'm sure our listeners will fully expect Country music - which it will fully come back to the station.
6. Is there any kind of promotions/programming tool inside the Christmas programming that will drive people back to you after the holidays pass?
Promotions are always a strong part of the station. We do have some large promotions planned once the Christmas music season is done, and we do always have promotions running through this period, as well. One of the things we've done over eight years now is we always do a thing called "The 12 Days of Christmas." Starting December 5th through December 16th, each day we're giving away as qualifying prize Stagecoach tickets - which is almost a $600 value - and then each day we'll have a grand prize around $1000. That's always a large promotion our listeners have been so responsive to each year. That's a great way to highlight and maintain listeners during our Christmas season. Then once we come out of it, we will have some strong promotions planned. There are certain things we can do on the imaging, as well. One of focuses for us right now is to highlight that we are your Christmas destination. We are very comfortable highlighting that we are playing Christmas music, so our branding has switched a little bit to "105.1 Your Christmas Destination," and then as the holiday season comes to a close, we'll switch back to "You're Listening To Go Country 105." There are certain things we can do on the imaging front in addition to promotions that remind listeners that Country is coming back.
7. Yes, I saw what you did with the website too, with a new color scheme reflecting Christmas.
If you look at our social media, too, we've kind of updated everything a little bit to tie in with the Christmas season. Again, for listeners who are focused on Country music, we are doing a Country stream, which is our normal playlist that people would be able to listen to on our website.
8. I noticed getting on KTLA-TV the first day (11/15) was huge to kick this thing off. Will there be any other external marketing to go along with the Christmas programming?
Oh, 100%. We have 120 bus backs that started 2 weeks ago that were already highlighting that we will be playing Christmas music, so that's running in L.A. and Orange County, with the focus on our hot zip codes. And we do partner with the Citadel Outlet mall, which has a giant LED billboard on it by the 5 freeway - that's been branded over. With any of our existing partnerships, we're making that change to promote Christmas music on the station, and again with the bus backs too. We feel we'll be able to get coverage throughout the Southland.
9. A lot of times when a station goes all Christmas, it starts the conversation about a format change. I ask this, because historically that has happened quite often. But you guys have been really adamant for years that you're staying with Country. Are you still adamant?
We've been very happy with the Country format, and we've been very fortunate that listeners have responded to the format, as well. We have no desire to ever change from that format. We love it, and we're here to stay with it.
10. You're going up against KOST - which has been doing all Christmas since 2001, and they have strongly branded this position for years. Do you have any specific goals for KKGO in terms of what you want your cume and share to look like at the end of the holiday book?
We're very happy, honestly, just focusing on the music right now and providing the best music that we can. Whatever ratings we get, and whatever listener response, will hopefully be reflective of the quality of the programming we put into it. And again, KOST has done a great job spreading awareness that Christmas music can be successful whenever you decide to play it, whether it's November or December. They've done a great job spreading that brand awareness music in November, and that has made our job much easier for us launching Christmas music in November, because this has already been an established brand. Again, they have done so well with the format; there is certainly room for another strong Christmas station in the market. We have a format second to none that reaches from Northern San Diego to Santa Barbara, Ventura to Riverside, and L.A. and Orange County. We certainly have the frequency and the strength to reach as many people as possible who enjoy this format.
Bonus Questions
A lot of stations who see Christmas success enjoy a halo effect for an early part of the New Year. If this works out the way you hope it does, maybe that will give you a kind of slingshot into 2017, right?
We're also hopeful, too, that this is a great way to not only introduce new listeners to the station who enjoy Christmas music, but perhaps they will stay and enjoy the wonderful Country music that we play. Hopefully, this will help increase Country music in Los Angeles, as well. I would honestly say, too, just on a tangent, I think Christmas music is more important than ever with the recent elections that we've had. I know it's been draining on people for the last year and a half, two years, so why not provide an escape for everyone. So I think of all times, this is an especially important year for people to find an escape in Christmas music and spread a wonderful message of spending time with your family and being nice to your friends, your neighbors, your loved ones. Why not spread this message of joy during such a contentious year that we've had?
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