Detroit’s WKSG to Recall Motor City’s Brand of ‘Golden Oldies’
DETROIT — WLBS ended a brief experimentation with top 40 here Friday (November 9) when the station switched its call letters to WKSG and its format to oldies.
Now known as Kiss 102.7, WKSG has adopted the “Kiss Of Gold” format developed by veteran programmer and Detroit native Paul Christy. According to general manager Joe Buys, the new format focuses on music of the ’60s and ’70s, emphasizing Detroit artists and songs that were popular in Detroit in particular.
Program director Sergio Dean continues in that capacity. The rest of the staff will remain intact. However, Buys doesn’t rule out the possibility of signing longtime Detroit personalities: “We could use at least one person who understands Detroit’s lifestyle and characteristics.”
According to Buys, who joined the Inner City Broadcasting-owned station last month after a year in Chicago with Arbitron as central division manager, WLBS had undergone several format changes since its 1979 inception as a disco station.
After a lengthy stint with an urban format, the station switched to a “new music” orientation, which remained in place until last August. At that time, a Burkhart /Abrams-consulted “hybrid” hits format known as “the best of everything” went into effect.
“It didn’t work,” says Buys, noting that WLBS faced stiff competition for the top 40 market from Gannett’s WCZY and Capitol Cities’ WHYT. After researching and “evaluating the market’s holes,” Buys says, “we found ‘gold’ to be the biggest hole.” The Detroit area’s only other oldies station, he notes, is WHND Monroe, a daytime AM outlet which consultant Christy “got off the ground” in 1978.
“The baby boom generation is growing older, and they’re bringing their musical heritage with them,” says Buys. “We found an audience that wants updated gold, and they want stereo FM to hear it on.”
According to Christy, a 25-year radio veteran most recently with WCLS (formerly WABX) Detroit and currently consulting four other stations, WKSG’s ‘Kiss Of Gold’ format was “modeled for Detroit.”
“There is an emphasis on Motown music, of course,” says Christy, “as well as other artists popular in Detroit in the ’60s and ’70s.” In addition to better known artists such as Bob Seger, the MC5 and Ted Nugent, Christy says local favorites the Dynamics, the Wanted, the Velvelettes, The Gallery, Scott Richard Case and Tim Tam & the Turnons will be heard.
“I feel a cyclical backlash to top 40 coming on,” says Christy. “Artists like Prince and Cyndi Lauper are wonderful, but they’re played into the ground. WKSG’s new format, on the contrary, involves at least 3,000 titles, which is enough material so that there’s no repetition problem – with the advantage of built-in familiarity.”
Adds GM Buys: “Gold is a format that traditionally attracted loyal listeners, as well as cume sharing tendencies.” END
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Information credit and news source: Billboard; November 17, 1988
