The 2nd iteration of 103.5 K-Lite continues to pose headaches for listeners.
Last November 24, K-Lite reverted back to its original slogan and playlist as ‘The Hits and Lite Favorites’, This marked the station’s fourth slogan and playlist change in over a year, a sign that continues to hurt The Radio Partners’ (TRPI) reputation.
The never-ending change in format also affected its on-air staff. There have been 18 DJs who have manned K-Lite’s booth, and of the six in the current lineup, only two have been with the station since its relaunch.
Instability has been the name of the game for K-Lite these days, and unless they finally settle on a right format and slogan in the long term, it may be of the owners’ best interest to sell the network soon. That said, this is not good news for TRPI, especially now that sister station 99.5 Play FM is also struggling.
From the Tube 
Ibenta na yan hahahah xD
Tama ka dyan. Total nahihirapan na sila dahil sobrang dami nilang FM radio stations; mas madami pa nga sila kaysa sa MBC na may-ari ng Easy Rock, YES at Love.
Another potential investor for those stations for me, are Viva Entertainment. They have a new venture thru radio via its Hot AC station in Cebu, Oomph! Radio 105.1.
Right.
A headache indeed. kaya pala wala na si Jude as voiceover. Si Carl mcfly na ulit. Play fm struggling? That’s not good. I prefer play fm over RX now. The latter is no longer a trendsetter when it comes to hits (compare countdown top 7 songs to magic pop 30 or the the playlist) Did you notice that they shun a song or artist whenever there’s “magic” in it? (e.g. Coldplay’s magic, everything’s magic) In the end, they succumbed playing magic’s rude when it landed on top of billboard’s hot 100. Most of the RX playlist are overplayed songs from 2010 to 2013.
I guess you were just one of only a few who can say that Play FM is better than RX. Regardless, they’re still not on RX’s level, even if the latter, as you claimed, overplay songs from the recent past. Just take note of the Golden Dove Awards that RX has won of late, and you’ll know why.
And besides, Play is technically Magic Jr. – same playlist, but with younger on-air staff. They are struggling because they can’t seem to attract their most important audience: the youth. Most of them can now afford an MP3 or iPod to suit their musical needs.
I think si Sonny B. yung voice-over din ng K-Lite, hindi yata si Carl McFly.
Sonny B is now with Play, while Carl returned to performing for Alamid. Now the question is, sino na ang bagong voice-over ng K-Lite?
2014 is a year of (tons) of shake-ups in FM radio in Metro Manila. MOR 101.9 Manila, Barangay LS, and MBC’s main radio stations are largely unaffected.
K-Lite has failed to win over Retro-DCG’s avid listeners with its throwback strategy. The station is also back to hot AC format.
Retro 105.9 has a wider array of songs to choose from. Their DJs can play whatever preference they want, thus catering to a variety of listeners. Retro’s playlist ranged from mid-60s to early 2000s. On the other hand, the last playlist of K-Lite only played songs from the 90s and 2000s, which is kinda shallow for a retro-oriented station.
Sir Ralphierce, finally you’ve noticed what I have noticed about KLite’s recent reformat (katulad ng nai-post ko sa recent article mo about Home Radio). Thanks for writing this article.
Ngayon ko lang din narinig na may radio venture na rin pala ang Viva Group, pero sa Cebu nga lang. 😦 Sana nga, ma-acquire nila ang 103.5 in order to bring back ala-WOW FM na format. About sa 103.5’s staffs, medyo nababatikos rin si Menchu “Scarlet” Macapagal ng ilang newscast viewers, and IDK why. While Play FM plays the role of being a major media partner ng malalaking foreign concerts dito sa ‘Pinas, including the 1D concert. Eh samantalang responsibility ‘yun dati ng Magic. RX seems to be a radio station with a cause: dahil sa kanilang scholarship program. ‘Dun ako hanga sa kanilang charitable act, but IDK if the Morning Rush is still popular nowadays, since it has so many rivals na rin sa morning timeslot.
Two of 9TV’s news anchors actually have side jobs as DJs: the aforementioned Scarlet and Roanna Jamir of Jam 88.3.
The Morning Rush remains popular if I can recall. Trending pa siya sa Twitter.
Because of her non-newscaster-worthy tweets he posted kaya nga nababahiran ng batikos si Menchu ng mga newsers.
*she posted rather
Being a DJ/newscaster is a tough job. It’s one thing to spin music on the control board and talk and greet to people, but it’s another thing to read news reports in front of a national audience. That said, 9TV has to be scratching their heads when they hired DJs to be newscasters, when in fact it is tough juggling both roles at the same time.
Yung Play FM na nga, may mga DJs na nag-resign like Tino, just like Jude who left K Lite. I listen to RX a lot because of their varied programs like Concert Series, The Love Clinic, Heard on Thursdays and their Hip 26 on Sundays although on ordinary days, they do keep overplaying a lot of the current hits.
One song RX first played though was Get Her Back by Robin Thicke. Magic is only starting to play that song now. Even Love Me Harder by Ariana Grande was first played on RX before the Vera stations started playing it.
For me, RX and Magic are rivals because they have celebrities as DJs. Magic has Mo Twister, Boom, Joyce Pring, the BNO guys, Andi Manzano, Riki Flores, Aaron Atayde and Nikko Ramos. RX, for its part, has Chico, Delamar, Karen Bordador, Rico Robles and Jinri Park. That’s why I listen to both of them.
Another reason why Play FM is a junior Magic: Many of their DJs were Magic Junior Jocks like Bea Fabregas, Katz Salao and Jaz Reyes, who were also former UAAP courtside reporters. Nikko Ramos was a Magic Junior Jock before he moved to Play and handled the 6 am time slot with Sam Oh and Tim Yap. Now, Nikko is back with Magic handling the 2-6 am time slot before Sam and Mo Twister go on board.
Play may be approaching two years old, but I doubt if they’ll go beyond four or five years with the instability they are enduring at this point.
Of the ‘Big Three’ CHR stations today, only 99.5 has changed a whole lot. And if that’s the case, expect another rebrand in a year or two should Play fail to work out.
Ralph, I think the new CNN Philippines on Channel 9 will most likely remove those so-called “journalists” and replace them with real ones.
Shifting topics, you’re right about Retro 105.9 having a wider playlist. I’d rather listen to Retro than K Lite especially with King DJ Logan getting used to his new station.
True that. CNNPH will be more aggressive in getting real journalists, because they are trying to live up to the parent network’s standards.
Regarding Retro, their core of songs may be from the 70s to the 90s, but every once in a while, songs from the 60s and early 2000s are also played there. Versatility is their forte nowadays.
I was Dissapoint about K-Lite’s Branding. but Play FM is keep pushing because of the target audience with great music but less talk. nakausap namin with my teamates si Koji Morales, Production and Marketing Head ng Play FM, and he said “Ayaw namin i-compete sa other stations especially yung sister station nila including Magic 89.9 because of our unique strategies”.
Less talk, more music style for Play FM? Now that is what will distinguish them from fellow CHR ‘Big Three’ stations Magic and RX.
However, they will still have trouble attracting youngsters since most of them can now afford iPods or other MP3 devices. Downloading songs are much easier nowadays.
That’s the best point Ralph, unlike Magic because of being a “Talk Radio” due to its programming and the style of the station. and also RX is a KBP-awarded FM station because of the better programming rather than Magic. If Play FM plays other music genres such as J-Pop and K-Pop, the listeners will catched in the single touch (as I wish).
Good suggestion. Play can attract cosplayers, anime fans and Korean expats with that type of music. It would be great, and can also be a more distinguishable factor for them.
On that note, I think this is a problem for all free-to-air radio stations. I used to listen to BNO but I got tired of too much talking so I’m now mostly glued to Play FM. I still like their playlist over that of Magic’s.
Radio stations have their own ways of communicating with listeners. Kung ang gusto nila’y mostly talk, no problem. Kung ang gusto nila’y mostly music, no problem. There are a lot of stations to choose from that would benefit a specific audience.
Bea Fabregas has resigned from 99.5 PLAY FM. Last Friday was her last day on the show as she followed Tino in leaving that station. This only shows how PLAY FM is really struggling like K Lite which also has seen a lot of DJs leave.
Good luck on her future plans. As for Play FM, it won’t be long before the Veras are finally pressured to sell the network.
Bea will concentrate on her commitments with Sports5. Baka isusunod siya sa Money Ball ng PBA.
If ever that station failed, I guess na dapat ibenta na yan.
There are two possible contenders: Brigada Mass Media Corporation (they really need a full-powered Manila FM station to fully compete against 92.3 News FM) and Viva.
True that. Nahihirapan na talaga ang mga Veras kasi sa sobrang dami ng mga radio stations nila. Mas madami pa nga sila kaysa sa MBC.