Pirate Radio jumps ship
| Monday, Jul 20 2009 06:09 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Jul 21 2009 01:34 PM
Pirate Radio has been sunk. It's no longer flying the skull and crossbones on its main mast. It has walked the plank -- and any other awful metaphor you can pull out of your pirate's chest.
ARRGH!
After several hours Monday running an audio loop that said KKXX was "under construction," the local office of American General Media announced that the station format known for playing an unusually wide variety of music is history.
For good or for ill, Capt. Jack Sparrow has given way to contemporary crooner Jeremiah doing "Birthday Sex."
"Hot Hits 93.1 will play ALL of today's hottest hits from pop to hip-hop," explained Monday's news release from AGM California.
"We'll play the hottest hits you're familiar with from Hot 94.1, and all of the pop, rock and crossover records that are not being played locally," Program Director J Reed said in the release.
General Manager Roger Fessler acknowledged the affection many local listeners have developed for Pirate's format, but with other stations in the local market now taking a similar tack, "we felt we had to make a change," he said.
For more than four years, Pirate Radio eschewed narrow play lists, opting instead to spin a huge selection of rock and pop cuts, from classic rock to alternative with an occasional country tune, Beatles ballad or obscure album pick thrown in for good measure.
The new format, Fessler said, will compliment AGM's successful Hot 94.1, which shows mass appeal in a younger demographic, he said.
For those who went down with the pirate ship, you might consider cracking open a tankard of grog and drowning your troubles.
