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(Note: This post is mostly in response in last week's article in SD City Beat. You can read that here.) An open letter to Rick Jackson, GM of Lincoln Financial Media, SD: As a supporter of KBZT from its earliest days on air, I'd like to ask you to just put the station out of its misery and flip the station format or whatever you think is going to make the company money. What you have done to the station since arriving in SD has violated all the founding principles of what our beloved former PD and MD set out to do. In the City Beat article, you said “The general public has no awareness of the brand,” he says. “If you listen to [FM 94/9], you have an impression of what you think the radio station does and what kind of music we play. But the vast majority of San Diego has no idea.” This wasn't always the case. (Numerous best of SD awards can back me up on this one, in case you had a question about that.) But your meddling with the station by hiring a morning show and making key changes in staff has brought us to this point. KBZT used to have a unique vibe to it. That vibe brought in listeners who normally wouldn't listen to radio into the fold. KBZT helped us to discover and become fans of bands like The Black Keys, Kings of Leon, Metric, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Silversun Pickups. We spent our nights in dreamy bliss listening to Big Sonic Chill and woke up for Sunday brunch jamming to Bob Marley and friends. But not anymore. Now, I can flip between XTRA, KBZT and KIOZ and I might as well be listening to the same station. Stop using "It's About the Music" as part of the branding of KBZT. It's obviously not the guiding philosophy. Maybe "it's about the ego" or "it's about the bottom line", but definitely, not about the music. Signed, Somebody That KBZT Used To Know

When I first starting writing this blog 8 years ago, I wrote from the perspective of an enthusiastic music lover. My love of the radio became a natural subject on this blog and I spent many years writing about the trends in radio, playlists and the radio stations in San Diego. Somewhere along the way, I became someone who was more of an insider, who personally knew the PD and MD and DJs and count many of these "radio personalities" as my friends. So I stopped writing about the radio. I didn't feel like I could write what I felt in public as I had a personal connection and if I wanted to vent about something, I could reach out to who I needed to and that was that. Fast forward to now. Yesterday we got the news that Robin Roth was promoted to MD at 91X. And today we got the news that Garett Michaels is exiting as PD at KBZT. Two MAJOR roles in the world of Alt Rock radio and there are bound to be changes at both stations. San Diego has been lucky to have both KBZT and 91x in the same market for over 9 years, but it was bound to unravel. There is a finite amount of advertising dollars these days. KBZT was always the underdog, and for a few of those years, they were beating 91X in the ratings and it looked like the two stations could co-exist, which made it better for us alt rock lovers in SD. But then the economy went to shit and there were some questionable changes at both stations in regards to their morning shows. KBZT has been in trouble for awhile now and there has been lots of talk about a format switch. With Garett leaving, it really brings a huge air of uncertainty over at KBZT. So can San Diego really support two alt rock stations? Sadly, I don't think so. I hope I am wrong.

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