KKEG Goes Alternative

For the first time in more than three decades, KKEG, 92.1 FM, has changed formats. On Nov. 22, the “classic rock” station went “alternative.”

“As a format, oldies is getting squeezed a bit,” said Joe Conway, marketing manager for the Fayetteville office of Cumulus Broadcasting Inc., which owns KKEG and six other radio stations in the area. “We’re getting older. Sometimes you’ve got to make changes … It was no longer working. It wasn’t as viable as it had been.”

KKEG was a “free-form album-oriented rock” station in the late 1960s and early ’70s.

“That really doesn’t exist anymore,” Conway said. “As the audience aged a bit, ‘the KEG’ moved into a classic format.”

KKEG was a dominant radio station in the area for decades, but over the past few years, the ratings dropped steadily. KKEG was No. 10 in the Northwest Arkansas market when the Arbitron ratings came out this past spring. The station’s share had dropped to 2.7 from 4.8 a year earlier.

Classic rock stations target a 35-54 age demographic. The alternative music demographic is 18-34, with 60 percent of those listeners being male.

That means “the KEG” will also be targeting different advertisers — airing ads for companies that make soft drinks, fast food and beer, among other things, Conway said.

Conway said the station executives believe there’s an opportunity for KKEG to better serve students at the University of Arkansas and businesses in Fayetteville’s entertainment district.

“Dickson Street is an area where we’re going to go to war,” Conway said.

“This market has developed a great deal in the last few years, and it has become more fragmented,” he said. “The feedback has been good. The 18-34 rock audience really hasn’t been served very well in Northwest Arkansas.”

Conway, who replaced Dennis Jones as station manager in September, said KKEG will play music by performers such as Pearl Jam, Nirvana and The Dave Matthews Band.