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10 Questions with ... Kirk Peffer
July 23, 2012
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BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:
KOHL (89.3)/San Jose/San Francisco, CA - MD/Air Talent - 2001 through 2006
Mix 106.5 KEZR (MIX 106.5)/San Jose, CA - MD/Evening Air Talent - 2007 thru Present
1) What Got You Interested In Radio?
That's a really good question? I was in high school and I had a choice of TV production or radio for an elective. Turns out I liked it.
2) What is it about Mix 106.5 that you feel really makes it cut through?
It must the expertise programming of Dana Jang and myself to predict the trends! We don't mind taking a shot with songs that may not seem like the an ideal fit for Hot AC, and we'll often step out on a Rhythmic or Pop record if we think it could work for us.
3) How are you using social media to market your radio station?
San Jose has a very large Latino population so that influences our demographics. There is no real Mainstream Top 40 in the market as they both lean Rhythmic, so we cover a lot of that audience. There's no Active Rock either.
We are also the home of Apple and Silicon Valley, so the tech audience plays a big role in our programming. The big cuming stations here are Hot AC, Rhythmic Pop and News Talk.
In addition, we're right next to the San Francisco market so we compete with them as well. The Bay Area is one of the most hilly cities in the country and the radio signal cuts out often and Internet reliability is not great either.
4) What do you view as the most important issue facing radio today?
There are so many! Radio is competing with new services like Pandora and Spotify, and at the same time many stations are voice-tracking instead of being live on the air. There are many ways to access music now and we're not the only game in town like we used to be. We need to be very aware of the fact that the Internet is very close to being ubiquitous in cars.
5) Apple, Amazon, Spotify, and many others have recently introduced music in "The Cloud." What effect will these new music services have on the radio and music industries?
These services will take listeners away from radio. When listeners have access to the Internet at work then they will listen to specifically what they want to hear.
6) Are new technologies like on demand music, videos, TV, streaming, and mobile smart phone apps replacing consumer's interest in traditional media such as radio, the CD, or even the MP3 player? Or are these new technologies actually enhancing traditional media?
I think it's a little bit of both. The fact that I can plug my iPhone into my car and listen to music may take away from radio. But on the other hand, a good portion of our station's audience is coming from our streaming channel now. There are just way more choices these days.
7) How do you stay in touch with the latest music trends?
Each week I go to the All Access Cool New Music page and I look for the songs that are flagged as "New." Everything is there so that makes it really easy! I also monitor other stations, check Mediabase, listen to Pandora, and of course there's always word of mouth.
8) Where music trends headed in the future?
Needless to say the current Pop music trend will continue. Young people are all listening to pop. Where is the fan base for anything else going to come from? Electronic Dance is big right now, abut it has more of a Pop/Dance sound than the Alternative Dance sound of the last decade.
9) What are your thoughts on Pureplay services like Pandora or Slacker?
These services are our competitors, but they're also useful tools for a radio programmer. I love typing one our core artists into Pandora just to see what the computer comes up with.
10) What is the biggest change that you'd like to see happen in the business?
I'm only in my early 30s, but I hear all these wild stories about how "fun" this business used to be and I've yet to experience that! Where'd all the fun go?
Bonus Questions
Tell us what music we would find on your MP3 player right now and what is it you enjoy about that particular selection?
Greenday, Metallica, Jamiroquai, Lana Del Rey, Michael Jackson, Radiohead, a U.K. band called Athlete, Block Party, System Of A Down, Scars On Broadway, Muse, and on the other end of the spectrum there's Bluegrass, and Classic Rock bands like Rolling Stones, Doobie Brothers, America, CCR, Led Zeppelin, and of course The Beatles.
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