Station: 98.5 KLUC (KLUC-FM) Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Featured Air Personality: Rob Banks
Airchexx Entry: 875
Original Comments (05.14.2009)
There are some airchecks here that we just don’t know much about, or are so typical of a particular format that we just can’t think of something original to write about. Knowing next to nothing about the Vegas market is a handicap, to be sure, but what stands out is the similarity to a typical CHR format today. Note that this is late 1996, Telcom ’96 was passed this particular year, and even though the consolidation that brought ruination had yet to begin, this is what CHR had become up to this point.
Could it be that this was as far as the format would evolve, then stagnate from this point on? Who knows. Rob Banks is an upbeat jock, and there’s plenty of excitement on KLUC, but this could be TODAY. Interesting. It’s 13 years old (as of this writing). We’re not knocking KLUC by any stretch, just observing that it seems like the CHR format hasn’t evolved past this 1996 version, and perhaps its yet more evidence that the landmark decision culminating in rampant consolidation ended all attempts for radio to succeed by innovative programming, and this is where the evolution of radio stopped, and turned into the dismantling of all that had been built since 1955 in order to feed an ever increasing thirst to find that bottomless bottom line which has turned most radio formats into something barely listenable.
Don’t kid yourself. KLUC sounded GOOD here. But much like a half finished joke, we’re still waiting for the punch line as the end of the first decade of the new millenium plays out… Will radio survive the next decade? Or will it always be remembered as an entertainment medium that imploded over a 15 year stretch to arrive at its end?
Rob Banks is still in Las Vegas at KYCE 104.3 The Coyote and sounds the same except for the country music. He trys to insert his personality where he can…but in today’s cookie cutter formats, it’s not easy to do.
Thanks for posting the old air-check from my days at KLUC. It really took me back, and I enjoyed hearing it.
I know Rob and I worked together somewhere in Las Vegas, just can’t remember where. KFMS? KQOL? Anyway, ROb’s a part of Las Vegas radio, and yes, after all the rules changed in 1996, so did Las Vegas radio. It was the first market I ever worked that was already using computers and voice-tracking. Worked in that market from 93-97.Most odd thing was Citadel had their national HQ in Vegas, but no radio or any other types of broadcast properties.
Oh! I remembered! Y93! which was already voice-tracked except for drive shifts!