95.9 The Ranch Reverses Course with Format Tweak After Fan Feedback
Many fans of Texas / Red Dirt station 95.9 The Ranch out of Ft. Worth spoke up, and now the radio station has responded. Not just in words, but in action. Late last week the radio station rolled out a slightly revised format from its usual dose of almost exclusively music from Texas and Red Dirt artists. The format tweak included a little more Americana, a little classic rock, and some songs from a few select Nashville artists such as Dierks Bentley and Brad Paisley.
Many fans were not happy, and responded in kind with angry feedback, and some outright protest and boycott. Some fans even promised to boycott advertisers of the station, and let the advertisers know why. Usually such protestations don’t work, and are chalked up as one of the rigors of changing a radio format. But after such a spirited public backlash, The Ranch has reversed course, at least for the moment.
In an interview on the station posted Thursday (3-9), program director Justin Frazell explained they were listening to all the feedback, and after a week of trial, had decided to re-evaluate the new format tweak.
“This was something that as we developed this plan, we felt strongly that this was going to work overall for everybody, and some it has and that’s great because that is what we intended. And some it has not. So we just kind of have to figure out where is the line between all that, where we’re going to find a good balance of making a great radio station, and entertaining everybody who wants to be entertained, and at the same time be the best promoter of Texas and Red Dirt music.”
Justin Frazell assured listeners of The Ranch that the change was not about adhering to a corporate structure and a decision that came down from on high, or that anyone was paying the radio station to change their format. Instead, according to Frazell, the idea was to entice new listeners to the format with an expanded playlist, and hopefully create new Texas and Red Dirt fans by exposing them to them music along with more familiar songs.
“I’m certainly not trying to cram anything down anybody’s throat that nobody wants,” Justin Frazell explained. “That’s part of me having to sit with it for a while and understand if I was even I was understanding it and getting it.”
Though Justin Frazell seemed to leave open the idea that in the future the station could once again try a slightly revised format, the format the station is currently serving looks very similar to the one that fans have been listening to for many years. A current snapshot of the playlist (see below) shows that it once again is almost exclusively Texas and Red Dirt music.
Going back to the old format certainly solves the concern of angry listeners, but it leaves the reasons the station felt the need to tweak the format in the first place unresolved. It is once again an example of how music scenes can develop incredible grass roots for artists and other entities on a local and regional level, but they also can restrict the ability for these artists and entities to grown beyond the local and regional level. Though the current chapter of the 95.9 The Ranch drama has concluded, the bigger issues of how to keep the scene growing remains.
Current 95.9 The Ranch Playlist Snapshot:
- “Pat The Point of Rescue” – Hal Ketchum
- “Drunken Hearted Man” – The Devil Makes Three
- “It’s A Shame” – Hayes Carll
- “Jackpot” – Nikki Lane
- “Family Tradition” – Hank Williams Jr.
- “Forever Today” – Reckless Kelly
- “Long Haired Tattooed Hippie” – Eleven Hundred Springs
- “Swinging from the Chandaliers” – Roger Creager
- “Trouble Knows” My Name” – Randy Rogers Band
- “Best Mistake I’ve Ever Made” – Kevin Fowler
- “Bread and Water” – Ryan Bingham
- “Texas in 1880” – Radney Foster
- “Gunpowder and Lead” – Miranda Lambert
- “Oklahoma Breakdown” – Stoney LaRue
- “Willie, Waylon, & Me” – David Allan Coe
- “I’ll Be The One” – Paul Cauthen
- “Fire Away” – Chris Stapleton
- “Beat Me Down” – Wade Bowen
- “Don’t Forget Where You Come From” – Kyle Park
March 10, 2017 @ 10:31 am
YeeH aw! Howl-la-looya! …and all that good stuff!
March 10, 2017 @ 10:39 am
They listened to there listeners good for them! I get what they were trying to accomplish but the audience didn’t want it. Long live Texas/Red Dirt music!
March 10, 2017 @ 10:39 am
I wouldn’t want anyone that has a problem with that playlist listening to my station anyway.
February 9, 2022 @ 10:29 am
I love reading these old articles and comment sections lol.
March 10, 2017 @ 11:24 am
On my Spotify playlists, Roger Creager can be followed by Mastodon, Buck Owens, and Frank Sinatra, with no one talking in between about Billy Bob’s Auto Sales.
March 10, 2017 @ 11:57 am
I’m trying to grapple with the motives stated for the format change in the first place .
In theory, I get that if you put ketchup on broccoli or carrots a kid is more likely to eat those healthy veggies. But NOBODY else at the table wants their broccoli ‘n carrots messed with …..so maybe the kid will have to learn to develop a taste for the good stuff WITHOUT that sugary crap on top so that there will always BE a ” market ” for healthy honest-to-goodness broccoli ‘n carrots . Anybody who wants ketchup on their veggies won’t even be coming to SIT at this table anyway . Anybody who wants Dierks or Shelton or Antebellum or Alldone in their music mix won’t be tuning in an ”alt ” station for a sugar fix that happens only a couple of times an hour . They’ll be looking for an unlimited supply from the hundreds of other free sources …..
Happy to know that radio stations can and do pay attention to their listeners .
March 10, 2017 @ 12:53 pm
Of course…Shelton, Antebellum and Aldean were never even considered for air time.
The idea was to get channel surfers to stop the dial for Church or the Eagles, so that they’d stick around for the Turnpike and Wade.
March 10, 2017 @ 2:20 pm
Still shilling?
March 10, 2017 @ 2:36 pm
Still trying to act like a tough guy on the internet, in a pathetic plea for the approval of people whom you will never meet?
Who on earth doesn’t like Turnpike? Does enjoying sunshine also make me a shill?
March 10, 2017 @ 2:47 pm
Okay guys.
Frankly I can see both sides of this issue and I think it’s a lot more complicated than many are giving it credit for. One thing I’m finding very interesting today though is how the announcement that the old format is coming back was not met with as much happiness and excitement and the anger the initial change was met with.
March 10, 2017 @ 3:10 pm
Gee, you’re awfully defensive and quick to throw out that accusation for a guy who goes around repeating the same basic misguided comment over and over trying to get a response on the internet.
March 10, 2017 @ 3:28 pm
Honestly, Trig, I think it’s just (yet another) example of Internet Outrage Culture. Most of the anger is performative, so that they can show off how “legit” they are. It’s no fundamentally different than the people who claim that the [insert awards show here] are racist for not giving Beyonce every award.
gb — get over yourself, kiddo. I had perfectly civil conversations with Jtrpdx and Former Ranch Fan in the other thread, despite the fact that we disagree, because they responded to me like adults rather than an angry 12 year old trying to show off how cool he is in the YouTube comment section.
It’s really just not that hard to be civil, especially when you’re talking about something like music.
March 10, 2017 @ 2:44 pm
How did you italicize “considered” ?
March 10, 2017 @ 3:13 pm
Html tags. and (remove the spaces, and it’ll look like this).
March 10, 2017 @ 3:14 pm
Ah, shit. “” and “”
March 10, 2017 @ 3:15 pm
Jesus, haha. Put i in brackets, then /i in brackets.
March 10, 2017 @ 4:47 pm
Hoss, you made the same basic comment multiple times stating that the eagles were as close to traditional country as the turnpike troubadours, making it clear that you misunderstood the issue since it wasn’t about traditional country. You stated that every girl was one of your favorite songs, which was about the same thing as saying some of your best friends are black. All I had to do was make one short throw away remark about how defending 95.9 repeatedly with foolish statements made you sound like a shill and then you freaked out with a long reply and decided to start throwing out terms like fucking moron. Do you really lack the self awareness to understand why it’s funny to see you accuse me of trying to impress people and act tough on the internet and then claim to behave in a civil manner?
March 10, 2017 @ 6:18 pm
Ah, I understand now.
The issue is that you’re bad at understanding what words mean, when you read them.
I didn’t say “that the eagles were as close to traditional country as the turnpike troubadours.”
I said that “Take it Easy” is as close to traditional country as “Every Girl.”
Guitar-driven rock-country with an incredible pop hook is guitar-driven rock-country with an incredible pop hook, regardless of whether the artist performing it usually plays California soft-rock like Hotel California or if their normal is hard-charging Red Dirt like Long Hot Summer’s Day (the occasional gorgeous country ballad like Bird Hunters).
Which is why (as you would know, had you actually read and understood the majority of my comments on the previous article), I kept drawing the distinction between whether “playing the Eagles and Skynyrd” meant Hotel California and Free Bird, or if it meant occasionally playing Take it Easy and Sweet Home Alabama.
The first would be a embarrassing attempt to cash-in on commercial relevance. The second would be an intriguing decision to expand The Ranch’s song selections to similar music created outside of the immediate Texas/Oklahoma region, that might hook channel surfers.
We could have had this conversation. Instead, you decided to act like a jackass to score internet points from people who don’t care about you.
Grow up.
March 10, 2017 @ 8:48 pm
You still insist on missing the point. I suppose it is possible that you really are this clueless, in which case I have done you a disservice by calling you a shill.
The issue was never about rating how close something is to traditional country music. That’s a dishonest argument that you brought up. I don’t think anybody ever tried to claim that 95.9 was some bastion of traditional country. Instead, they have spent years playing intros making fun of Dallas and Nashville and using every opportunity to remind everybody that they were Fort Worth/Cowtown/Westoplex, that they stacked up the red dirt music like rigs on the Barnett shale. Adam Hood gave them a personalized version of 22 Days Too Long. They had red dirt acts in studio all the time, bragged about all of their support for it. The sound of Texas. Texans, outlaws, and legends. Whatever success they had was based entirely on an us vs. them mentality. It wasn’t even about good vs bad music because Eli Young band sucked before and after going to nashville and nobody could seriously argue that Kyle Park or Casey Donahew were any better than some of the stuff on the new playlist. That was never the point for all of the upset listeners. The whole thing was built on “We’re just like you and they aren’t. Hey, you like pretty blonds? So do we. We’re completely simpatico here. A station for the people.”
So of course people lost their shit when they played Tyler Farr. They didn’t care about how bad the radio stations are in Minnesota or if they still had something better than the people in San Francisco had. They had had something of their own the day before, and then suddenly they didn’t. Who couldn’t have seen the reaction coming? Hollinger and Frazel apparently.
Your repetitive defense of that decision, using a dishonest and irrelevant argument, is exactly the sort of thing a shill would have said. But once you kept talking and revealed that you believe playing Hotel California and Freebird would be cashing in on commercial relevance but Take it Easy and Sweet home Alabama would somehow be intriguing it became possible that you truly are clueless. Those are the two songs from those two bands that everybody knows. Every classic rock station on earth plays them already. Beyond their use in Joe Dirt or The Big Lebowski, none of those songs have been commercially relevant or intriguing in years.
So if you are merely an idiot then I apologize for calling you a shill. Either way, I’ll have fun poking you with a stick and you can keep getting defensive about what people type on the internet.
March 10, 2017 @ 9:43 pm
Awwwww, he’s still trying to win a fight on the Internet!
You’ll grow out of it by high school…hopefully.
Anyway..,Merle Haggard recorded all his music in California. Stapleton, Isbell, Simpson, JTE and Hank3 have never recorded a song in Texas or Oklahoma. As Trig has detailed, they’ve been in play for a while, with no complaints. So…yeah. It’s unambiguously about perceived musical authenticity.
Also, since you apparently didn’t understand it the first time (not surprised — we’ve established that you’re bad at reading), the fact that Take it Easy and SHA are instantly recognizable classic rock songs is exactly the point. The idea (for better or worse) is for people who enjoy guitar-driven rock-country to stop the dial because they hear Sweet Home Alabama or Knives of New Orleans, then hit them with Hangin’ Out in Bars or She Likes the Beatles and I Like the Stones.
There’s a conversation to be had about whether that could be an effective strategy to expand the listener pool of Red Dirt.
Unfortunately, that’s being drowned by preteens crying about not getting their way.
March 11, 2017 @ 6:36 am
I guess you haven’t figured it out yet, but the argument was already settled on the internet when they lost more actual listeners in a few days than they were able to draw away from the classic rock or Nashville stations. Stations already exist that play a mix of red dirt, Nashville, and classic rock. Lampassas has one and Lamesa did at one time. There are likely others, but not in markets with very many choices.
March 11, 2017 @ 10:12 am
And now the guy complaining about being labled a child says, unironically:
“The argument was settled on the internet.”
March 11, 2017 @ 5:30 pm
Do you write for Galleywinter by chance? I don’t see why you’re still trying to defend something that even the people who came up with the idea realized was a bad idea. The Ranch is back and it’s F***ING GREAT AGAIN!
March 11, 2017 @ 10:07 am
Next thing you know that dumb-ass kid grows up and starts putting ketchup on his steak – and no one should be standing for that shit!
March 10, 2017 @ 4:39 pm
Going by the other list you posted last week of songs they were playing,I really don’t see why anyone would bitch, (Aside from the classic rock that you can hear on 100 different stations in any town you’re in)
March 10, 2017 @ 4:44 pm
As an non-American fan of Texas red dirt, i’m happy that the ranch keeps their original format. There’s enough stations that plugs mainstream country. Stations like this are needed to keep the diversity of music alive.
March 10, 2017 @ 4:48 pm
Wait a sec.. Since when is Miranda Lambert and Chris Stapleton Texas/Red Dirt artists? Nikki Lane, whaat? She has lived in L.A AND New York city…Get the rope Ranch fans!
March 11, 2017 @ 10:15 am
Watch out, man. Looking for logically consistency in the ravings of triggered children on the internet will set gbkeith off!
March 11, 2017 @ 2:10 pm
Speaking for myself,I have actually called up some sponsers in Ohio that advertised on a so called country radio station.(I live in Kentucky,near Ohio.I won’t name the station for personal reasons).
I called them and told them I would not patronize them for advertsing on a so called country station that would not play even one song by my favorite singer: Loretta Lynn.
Well,long story short,the station did finally start playing “Coal Miner’s Daughter”.While this is only one song,and while I as fan would like to hear more Loretta songs,My opinion is,one Loretta song on the radio is better than no Loretta song at all.So I will settle for one over nothing.
I might add,the other stations that I know that DO play Loretta’s song,I thank the stations that do so,as well as patrionze their advertisers with my business.I thank the sponsers for advertising n that station (giving the stations call letters),and I let them know,as long as they keep playing Loretta’s songs on that station,I will continue to patronize that stations sponsers with my business.
P.S Loretta will forever be my no.1 favorite singer.That will never change! Promise!
March 20, 2017 @ 7:39 pm
I think the station is on the right track again. They have expanded their playlist, I’m hearing songs and artist that were rarely or never played more often now, but they seem to have gotten rid of the classic rock and the Nashville stuff. The rarely or never heard stuff that’s playing now is Texas or Red Dirt or whatever you want to call it. That’s what we tune in for!!
I’m a recent convert to TX music and I do like the Ranch. Lord knows we don’t have anything like it in NC. The thing that we do have is classic rock stations and mainstream country stations by the dozen. I can find that stuff easily…… Good dirt is hard to find!
March 28, 2017 @ 10:42 am
Delighted to hear that this legendary stick is “sticking” to their guns! I believe that this is the only station that has EVER really been successful with a Red Dirt format. Others never seem to make money! Some years back, I was hired to flip a Red Dirt format (at a 50k Watt stick) in East Texas from RD to Classic Rock. The previous listeners were fiercely loyal but sponsors were just the opposite.
The station was literally a “dollar a holler” operation and the sponsors #1 reason for failing to support was the lack of a contemporary music format.
(Believe it or not, there were 14 country music formats in the are along with 3-Mex, 8-Christian, 2-Talkers, and a low power stick carrying an original Oldies lineup. You would think that (especially in East Texas) a Texas Red Dirt station would (because of the unique format & Texas taste for everything Texas) would have crushed them all. Didn’t happen! Six-months after the flip to Classic Rock, we went from a “dollar a holler” to billing 28-bucks an ad on the morning show. That’s HUGE! Sales types couldn’t keep up with the new client orders and we averaged (in the beginning) nearly 5-sponsor calls per day desiring avails. WE EXPLODED!
The Ranch (not to be confused with many others in Texas that have copied their name) is the exception to the rule. They seem to not only maintain & grow their audience but also their revenue dollars…because they KNOW HOW TO GET IT DONE! They are loyal to their fans, their entertainers, and their sponsors and exhibit a dose of real Texas CLASS into the mix. They have always been legendary in my mind and glad to hear that they will continue to be so. Good for you Ranch folks! You have once again made exactly the right decision for yourselves and all you so beautifully serve. Proud of you!