105.3 The Martini

[SoonerQueen]

If you live in the OKC area, check out this radio station. I discovered it today. 105.3 The Martini plays music from America's best entertainers. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Bobby Darin, Nat King Cole, Harry Connick Jr, Etta James, Billie Holiday, Natalie Cole and more. I'm loving this station. You ought to check it out. Hopefully they will stream on the internet sometime soon.

[Soonerman]

The signal sure is crappy though.

[UncleCyrus]

It is ok on the NW side of town, or if you have a really good antenna. They have a fairly low power transmitter out near Kingfisher somewhere.

[Jim Kyle]

I found out about them a couple of weeks ago, and in the first week I listened to them I heard precisely TWO commercials -- and the first didn't show up until the third or fourth day. I was able to receive them on my car radio almost all the way to Lake Thunderbird this past weekend, which isn't too bad for an FM station located near Kingfisher!

[bucktalk]

Been listening to 105.3 for about a year now. The reception is fairly good in our neck of the woods. LOVE their limited commercials....nice.

[ShiroiHikari]

I like what they play, but here in Norman, the signal is pretty weak and on the east side, I can't pick it up in my truck at all. : (

[Soonerman]

Looks like this station has flipped to sports talk now.

[ShiroiHikari]

Seriously?! Noooo!

[theparkman81]

So now that makes it 5 sports stations in OKC, the sports animal, the ref, the game, 640 ESPN and now 105.3, whats next a ESPN deportes station.

[zookeeper]

This is too bad. I listened to this and really enjoyed the music, luckily there are replacements on internet radio.

[Jim Kyle]

That doesn't help a bit in the car, though. I had to go back to KXY today (and turn the volume way down so there's just a hint of background noise)...

[OKCTalker]

"The Pro." What a shame.

[zookeeper]

That doesn't help a bit in the car, though. I had to go back to KXY today (and turn the volume way down so there's just a hint of background noise)...

That's true Jim. There are very few cars that have the apps that work with most streaming stations. Online though at home, there's TuneIn: Listen to Online Radio, Music and Talk Stations and many very similar formats. Just do a search, here's a few.

KCEA - 89.1 FM Atherton, CA - Listen Online
GotRadio Big Band and Swing - Sacramento, CA - Listen Online
RadioLoyalty: Internet Radio For Listeners, Advertisers, Broadcasters and Partners!
Radio Time Machine! - - Listen Online
KAAM Romantic Legends - Romantic Retreat from Reality
Swing & Big Band on JAZZRADIO.com - Palo Alto, CA - Listen Online

[bchris02]

OKC is a market where nobody likes to do anything different in radio. In my opinion OKC has the worst radio stations of any sizable municipality in the country.

It has to be either Christian contemporary, classic rock, country, or sports talk.

[SomeGuy]

DO we really need another sports talk radio? I think the sports animal is enough imo

[bchris02]

DO we really need another sports talk radio? I think the sports animal is enough imo

I think it's more along the lines that "different" doesn't work in OKC radio. Why are all of our frequencies pretty much contemporary Christian, classic rock, country, and sports talk? Because that's what works in this market. It seems like every time something new is tried it's failed. Alternative rock was tried twice in the 2000s and it failed, with both the Buzz and the Spy. Smooth jazz doesn't work like it once did. Lite AC was tried in the early 2000s and it failed. OKC has never been seen as a big urban/hip hop market though Wild 97.9 did great back in the day. What's left but more of the same?

My question is, have all these stations failed because of the market or was it for some other reason?

[OKCTalker]

I think this is the future of terrestrial radio. At the risk of over-generalizing, I think people listening to terrestrial radio are older, less-educated and of limited means, and everyone else is gravitating to satellite and Internet streams or on-demand programming like podcasts.

[OKCPhotog]

I think it's more along the lines that "different" doesn't work in OKC radio. Why are all of our frequencies pretty much contemporary Christian, classic rock, country, and sports talk? Because that's what works in this market. It seems like every time something new is tried it's failed. Alternative rock was tried twice in the 2000s and it failed, with both the Buzz and the Spy. Smooth jazz doesn't work like it once did. Lite AC was tried in the early 2000s and it failed. OKC has never been seen as a big urban/hip hop market though Wild 97.9 did great back in the day. What's left but more of the same?

My question is, have all these stations failed because of the market or was it for some other reason?

This is such a bummer that this station is gone. There is a huge lack of great radio stations in Oklahoma City! If you look at other nearby markets, like Denver, they have a great assortment of alternative stations that are commercially successful. I think that stations like The Spy have failed because they try to be way TOO different rather than trying to find a middle ground that will appeal to the market they are trying to fill yet not turn off your average radio listener. If someone could just come in and do an alt-rock station the right way in OKC with good on air talent they could be incredibly popular!

[bchris02]

This is such a bummer that this station is gone. There is a huge lack of great radio stations in Oklahoma City! If you look at other nearby markets, like Denver, they have a great assortment of alternative stations that are commercially successful. I think that stations like The Spy have failed because they try to be way TOO different rather than trying to find a middle ground that will appeal to the market they are trying to fill yet not turn off your average radio listener. If someone could just come in and do an alt-rock station the right way in OKC with good on air talent they could be incredibly popular!

An alternative rock station done right would probably work in OKC, but is anybody willing to take the risk? Classic rock and sports talkers are proven money makers in this market and radio in this day and age is only about money.

As someone who likes rhythmic top 40/hip-hop/dance I wish Russell Perry would buy out a frequency that actually covers OKC or some other company (except Cumulus) would do urban or rhythmic CHR, but it's doubtful it will ever happen.

OKC radio has always been about "playing it safe and going with what works" Everytime anybody has deviated from that it failed.

Examples from the past 10 years:

94.7 The Buzz - Alternative Rock
94.7 KQSR - Lite AC
105.3 The Spy - Alternative Rock
Memories 96.9 - Adult Standards
K-Bull 104.9 - Red Dirt Country
Jack FM - Variety
Wild 97.9 - Rhythmic CHR (Still around but quite frankly one of the worst stations in the market, and that's coming from somebody who loves the format)
105.3 The Martini - Adult Standards
105.3 La Indomable - Regional Mexican

[SoonerQueen]

105.3 Oklahoma City Goes Pro
March 13, 2013 By Lance Venta Leave a Comment

105.3 The Martini Pro CBS Sports KINB Oklahoma City Sports AnimalThe Last Bastion Station Trust has flipped Standards “105.3 The Martini” KINB Kingfisher/Oklahoma City to Sports “105.3 The Pro“.

The station is currently running the CBS Sports Radio national feed around the clock. Oklahoma City is one of the few markets where the Cumulus owned Sports station did not pickup CBS Sports Radio when the network launched in January. Its “640 ESPN” KWPN and “98.1 The Sports Animal” WWLS-FM remained with ESPN Radio.

The Last Bastion Trust currently holds six stations that at one point were required to be spun off by then Citadel Broadcasting to get under the ownership limit. Of the six stations remaining in the trust, there are applications to bring two of them back into the Cumulus fold.

The only good thing about this might be the fact that we will be able to listen to Doug Gottlieb live in the afternoons. Sad thing is that i loved the older music that was being played. Not sure I like the trade off at all.

[Okiezmom]

This is sad news. I listened to The Martini all the time because the music was great. I am going to miss it.

[bchris02]

Appearantly the station is being absorbed back into the Cumulus portfolio and they are obligated to carry a CBS sports affiliate in all of its markets so it had to be done. I wish they would have flipped KKWD 104.9 though and left 105.3 alone.

I don't think I've ever heard a major market Top 40 that sounds as bad as Wild does today.

[windowphobe]

Then again, Wild is now being programmed from Out Of Town: all the Cumulus CHR/Rhythmic (or whatever the term is this week) use the same national playlist.

[bchris02]

Then again, Wild is now being programmed from Out Of Town: all the Cumulus CHR/Rhythmic (or whatever the term is this week) use the same national playlist.

Yeah. That started in September. The station was awesome before then. The national playlist is very heavy on older music from the past five years and does not add new music until its in the top 15 on the CHR/Rhythmic chart. It's quite frankly horrible and unlistenable. Jan Jeffries, the man programming the station, lives by the philosophy that "old favorites are the backbone of radio". That works with some formats, most notably adult contemporary, but does NOT work with the CHR/Rhythmic Wild is trying to go for. I'm sorry but it really ticks me off because Wild 97.9/104.9 was my favorite station in the country for years until Cumulus destroyed it.