Unfortunately, no one, not even the often feisty Dog Boy, can answer that question. For the uninformed, Dog Boy is the on-air moniker for Jerry Gerard, host of WRRX-FM's afternoon show, Foreground Music--a show with an uncertain future following the Feb. 2 announcement that the company that owns WKTK-FM has bought the station.
Listeners are worried that the nwe owners--Pennsylvania-based Entercom--will drastically change the diverse format they have come to enjoy from Gerard and fellow deejays Ed "The Idiot" Sherman and Jackson Heart. The station has been deluged with calls, letters and e-mails from people wondering whether their daily dose of Ani DiFranco, The Ramones, Wilco and Brave Combo will be replaced by Boston, Led Zeppelin and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Some of that worry stems from the fact that WKTK (95.5 on the FM dial) is an adult contemporary station, playing a light mix of pop and rock from the past few decades--and only songs that were extremely popular, meaning that most people have heard them dozens of times.
Gary Granger, KTK's vice president and general manager, told MOON that Entercom has made no decisions about the station's format and will spend the next couple months researching the market to see what it wants.
"We have an inordinate amount of radio stations for a market this size," Granger said. "We'll do market research to determine where each of the stations stand relative to their target audiences.
"It could be maximizing what is there [at 97X], to modifying what is there, to who knows?" Granger said.
As Granger knows, this comment will do little to settle the minds of 97X's large, dedicated fan base, which is accustomed to a menu of diverse musical styles from new and established artists, with an emphasis on good music--not necessarily music that sells a lot of records.
In a town tired of hearing the same 20 classic rock songs mixed with whatever is popular on MTV, the format seems like heaven. Gainesville has struggled for years with lousy radio stations that broadcast predictable music. UF refuses to support any college radio effort.
Gerard, 97X's program manager, says their format is one of the best in the US, citing a radio industry trade publication that recently nominated 97X as one of the best Triple-A [Adult Album Alternative] stations in the nation. Such accolades are a result of the station's unpredictability: You'll hear anything from Miles Davis to Fiona Apple to Bob Marley to the Jayhawks, but never "Freebird", "Stairway to Heaven" or "Hot Blooded."
"We're not the same as anybody," says 97X Station Manager John Starr. "That is how we try to market the station. If you want to hear the same tune over and over, you might as well go buy the CD and listen to it on your CD player."
Of even more importance to this community has been 97X's growing devotion to local music. Many local bands that would never be played on other local stations can be regularly heard on 97X, giving listeners a chance to peruse local music and discover bands they can see at local clubs. Bands like PopCanon have little chance of being heard on Gainesville's other stations--not because their music isn't good, but because it isn't on some national top 40 list.
This being said, these are some possible positive points: Granger, who has been in radio for several decades, started the original WSHE in Miami in 1971, penning the slogan "She's Only Rock and Roll." The now defunct station was in its heyday considered a great radio station. Also, KTK's engineer is Wayne Irwin, who founded and ran Rock Radio 1390 on the AM dial for almost two years, offering Gainesville a low-fi blend of local, indie and electronica.
In a press release, Entercom President/CEO Joseph Field said he was "excited to be able to expand our position in this growing market," which sounds like corporate double-speak for "we hope to make a lot of money." Entercom owns almost 40 stations in six states.
What makes 97X attractive, from a business standpoint, is that it is finally clear to expand from 6,000 to 50,000 watts, stacking it against the other radio heavyweights in the area.
A poor article in The Gainesville Sun said that 97X rated low in the Arbitron ratings. If the reporter had bothered to contact someone at 97X [he didn't], he could have learned that the station ranks high during Dog Boy's afternoon show and does well against KTK and Rock 104 in a few demographic groups.
It would behoove Granger and Entercom to evaluate the popularity of 97X's current format once it is boosted to 50,000 watts before making any changes. Gainesville is a unique town that wants and deserves a unique radio station.
You can contact Granger by phone at 352-377-0985, by fax at 352-377-1884, or by mail at 1440 NE Waldo Rd., Gainesville, FL 32641. Entercom's corporate offices are located at 401 City Ave., Suite 409, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004.
