Wednesday, 4/9/97
Slaying the giant
With the leadership of Bryan Subotnick, the newly hatched Y107
is poised to knock KROQ, the longtime king of modern rock, off its
pedestal.
By Michael Nazarinia
Daily Bruin Contributor
The future of radio is here, and it has taken a bite out of the
present.
Upstart Y107 (107.1 FM) has come to the forefront of the
Southland’s radio landscape. Bryan Subotnick, the vice-president of
Odyssey Communications, the company that owns Y107, helped create
and mold the station that threatens to knock KROQ (106.7 FM) out of
the No. 1 modern rock spot. On the air for only a year, Y107 has
jumped from the bottom of the modern rock pack to second place in
the coveted Arbitron rating system that monitors Southern
California’s listening habits.
"When we entered the market there were seven stations all vying
for a piece of the lucrative rock format pie," says Subotnick. "Now
it’s just Y107 and the stalwart KROQ, who holds the top spot."
It all started out a year ago when Odyssey was looking to expand
into other markets from its base in New York and decided on the
huge L.A. market because it is the No. 1 radio market in the
country. The process was made that much easier when three smaller
radio stations became available. After a format search and
consolidation of the smaller stations, they decided on the modern
rock format.
"Back in New York, we had a station called ‘today’s rock’
because it’s the rock of today," says Subotnick. "KROQ had the
alternative stamp to themselves. The music we had in mind wasn’t
classic rock or your STAR (98.7 FM), and it wasn’t Hootie and the
Blowfish."
To the average listener, the distinction between contemporary
rock stations may seem pretty thin. Y107 has made a name for itself
by becoming the rock station for those tired of KROQ’s incessant
wooing of young teenage listeners. Longtime fans of the station
seem to be turning to Y107 to hear the mainstay artists of the ’80s
and ’90s like U2, the Smashing Pumpkins, the Clash, the Cure, the
Smiths, R.E.M., the Police and Pearl Jam.
"KROQ, to me, is a little harder-edged than we are," says
Subotnick. "They’ll play Rage Against the Machine or Korn. They’ll
appeal to the teenagers, and it’s always nice to have them, but
that’s not our target audience. We’re going for a little older than
that."
It wasn’t easy coming into a packed marketplace of the
self-described "world famous" KROQ and other rock stations that
were trying to fit in with today’s rock. The field was tight, and
the new competition from Y107 was like an unwanted guest at an
exclusive dinner party.
"When we came out here from New York, KROQ was calling
themselves ‘world famous,’ and we hadn’t even heard of them in New
York. There’s a KROQ (WXRK) in N.Y. where Howard Stern is on, and
they switched over to alternative about a year ago. In N.Y. we had
our own modern rock, WDRE, that started in 1982, which has been
around for 15 years. So KROQ wasn’t so world famous. Steve Blatter
(head of programming) and I came out here a few times and listened
to KROQ to see what they were all about. Now don’t get me wrong.
KROQ is a great station out here. But to us it seemed that they
were so interested in being world famous that they lost touch with
the people that got them to No. 1," says Subotnick.
"A lot of people out here grew up listening to them, but they
were disenchanted because KROQ didn’t grow with them. KROQ kept
programming to the younger kids to stay current, and there’s a lot
of great new music out there, but I think they got a little too big
for who they were. The masses want to hear the favorites over and
over, and you have to program for the masses," says Subotnick.
Y107 has found that listeners also appreciate disc jockeys who
actually promote the music, as opposed to filling air time with
their own personal interests.
"One thing we noticed out here is that all the DJs talk and
talk, I mean its like, ‘I did this and I did that’ or, ‘I think
this or I think that.’ I mean, who cares? People have their own
thing gong on, and DJs sometimes draw too much to themselves. If
you’re going to tell me an interesting story about the record or
something about the producer or who it was influenced by, that’s
great. But a lot of DJs are just self-promoters. If I want to
listen to talk, I’ll listen to Howard Stern in the morning. We’re
about the music," says Subotnick.
"Having no DJs wasn’t in the plan. But when we got up and
running, we were very serious about our product, and we weren’t
just going to throw some janitor on the air. The first couple of
weeks, I was even on the air, and I’m the VP I mean, everyone
pitched in."
And it paid off. Once the current Arbitron ratings came out,
Y107 had grown 580 percent – from 3,500 listeners each quarter hour
to 20,500. "We surprised a lot of people, because last year was our
one-year anniversary, and everyone was hoping and thinking we were
just a flash in the pan," says Subotnick.
With the newfound popularity came the advertising dollars and
clout to make some bold moves to establish Y107 as a station to be
reckoned with in a marketplace that was so recently dominated by
the Goliath-like KROQ. One example of this freedom was adding the
rising band Save Ferris, which recently moved from indie label
Starpool to Epic.
"Save Ferris was our ‘fuck you’ band to the major labels. Most
of the people at the record labels are weasels; they’ll try to play
off of anyone to get their stuff on the radio. Now don’t get me
wrong. I’m not saying they’re all weasels, but they come to us and
say that KROQ is adding this or that (band) to their playlist, and
I’m sure they go to them and tell them that Y107 is going to play
it," says Subotnick. By playing Save Ferris, we were giving airtime
to a band that was not being leveraged on us."
Nobody ever said competition is always fair, especially in the
music business, and the cutthroat nature of it all becomes that
much more magnified when new artists rocket to stardom. Case in
point is Poe, one of the most popular female singers of last
year.
"We were the first station in the country to play Poe, and she
personally called Steve Blatter and said, ‘Thank you, now my family
knows what I was doing is real, and I’m a musician.’ She bent over
backward to help us out by doing whatever she could for our
station," says Subotnick. Then the mighty KROQ started to play the
song and her on their (Acoustic Christmas) show, and all of sudden
it was like, ‘Y107 who?’"
"Event promoters for bands playing shows in L.A. make things
difficult, as well. Every time a band comes to town, concert
promoters and radio stations team up to get the ball rolling. Going
head-to-head with KROQ didn’t make things easy. They have their
stamp on all the shows that come through. The promoters pay us a
lot of lip service, but when push comes to shove, we’re normally
the ones getting shoved. It’s all very political."
This also happens when a new album comes out. Radio stations
jump over each other trying to get first dibs, and usually it’s
KROQ who gets to play it first, because they’re the ones who’ve
been here the longest. When the tables are turned however, it’s no
bed of roses.
"We’d gotten an advance copy of the R.E.M. album before it came
out last Labor Day, and KROQ was having a Flashback Weekend where
all they’d be playing would be flashbacks, so they were stuck with
their playlist of songs. We were having a new music weekend, and we
got our hands on it and were playing it all weekend. Well, Tuesday
rolled around and their label was furious at us because Y107
scooped it and KROQ wasn’t in on it. KROQ punished the label by not
playing any songs off the record other than the single that was
available," says Subotnick.
"We have to do what we have to do, and we respect the record
labels and they have to respect us. We’re trying to stay in
business in a world where every man is in it for himself. I’m sure
KROQ would have done the same thing to us. In fact, they do it to
us all the time."
This may change, as the gap between the rock stations narrows.
"After a year, it’s just KROQ and us, and KROQ’s ratings are the
lowest they’ve been in years," Subotnick adds.
Despite the fact that Y107 has to play hardball with KROQ and
the record labels, they want to be known as the station for the
people and to approach the business aspect in a very down-to-earth
fashion.
"Our station is unique in a way," says Subotnick. "Most radio
stations out here are corporate-oriented, with many levels of VPs
and what have you. Our company is very mom and pop in a way; a lot
of people wear a lot of different hats. We try to avoid falling
into the corporate mentality. We want to be successful, and we
stress the family approach to running the station."