First Listen: Phoenix’s Triple-AI The Zone

“This is Dennis Constantine. Actually, what you’re hearing is my avatar talking.”

That was the veteran Triple-A programmer, with the help of AI, on the second day of KZON-HD2 (94.9 The Zone) Phoenix, the first affiliate of Joel Denver and Mike Agovino’s SonicTrek.ai, the suite of AI-driven syndicated formats announced in October in partnership with a number of veteran radio programmers. Those included Lee Abrams, Charlie Cook, and Constantine, whose Alternative Phoebe FM was the first format available as a live demo.

The Zone launched January 15 on the more centrally located of the two FM frequencies occupied by KOAI (The Wow Factor), a station whose jockless, broad “older oldies” format had become an ROR reader favorite. In doing so, it returned both Triple-A and a heritage brand to the market. The previous Zone segued between Triple-A, Alternative, and Modern AC between 1992-2005 on what’s now Audacy’s CHR KALV (Live 101.5).

When SonicTrek launched in October, Phoebe had one titular host who handled some jock duties but was also like the mascot of a Bob- or Jack- or Alice-FM come to life. By offering AI versions of Constantine, middayer Nicole Sandler, and a full staff, The Zone is going for something even more ambitious. It’s doing so at a moment when iHeart, which has championed back-end uses of AI, is positioning its stations as “guaranteed human,” and many Triple-A stations are successfully emphasizing human curation over algorithms.

When KZON was announced last Thursday, there was some skepticism in the comments that accompanied Radioinsight’s Facebook posting of its announcement story, particularly a format that so thrived on old-school announcer connection to listeners and the music. But Constantine and Sandler had dozens of positive comments from industry friends delighted to have them back on the radio and Triple-A back in Phoenix. (They’re joined by p.m. driver Kevin Malvey from the old KZON and KINK Portland’s Sean Marten.)

A lot of ROR’s “First Listen” columns are written during a station’s jockless launch, when there are only songs and sweepers to evaluate. KZON is well-positioned with a mix of traditional Triple-A imaging (“Where Music Matters,” “We understand Phoenix. We understand Arizona”) and sweepers that seek to define AI’s place in that aesthetic (“powered by intelligence, guided by taste”).

The Zone is also very enjoyable on a song-by-song basis. Constantine’s stations often touch on pop crossovers but also reach back to the early AOR roots of the format, meaning that you’ll hear Neil Young, “Heart of Gold” into Tame Impala, “Dracula” or Sam Smith, “Stay With Me” into the Clash, “London Calling” in a way that doesn’t sound awkward.

As for the AI hosting, I wrote in October’s First Listen to Phoebe that the tenor had improved noticeably over two years. After explaining his double life to listeners, AI Dennis allowed that it was a little odd hearing his thoughts expressed differently. That break sounded fluid. So have some PSAs from both Constantine and AI Sandler about a multicultural festival in the market last weekend and other upcoming events.

As the cadence of virtual hosting improves, the challenge becomes the writing and editing. The breaks that do sound stilted so far are the frontsells. KZON uses stagers before brand new music, but the AI hosts describe familiar tunes in a way that often sound like AllMusic.com. This morning, Sting’s “Desert Rose” was presented as “a meditation on longing and mirage.” Even redeploying those breaks to introduce new songs would be better. 

In general, the AI hosting that I’ve heard over the years—including news and content breaks elsewhere—has been challenged by source material that was meant for print. Cracking the code is going to be a major accomplishment in a format so heavily dependent on what hosts want to tell you about the music. Also, like every jock who has transitioned to rock radio throughout its history, AI could stand to loosen up, but just a little.

That said, if we were critiquing a five-day-old station with live hosts, there would still be clunkiness. The station that The Zone replaced has been jockless throughout its history. Some readers would have liked The Wow Factor to have hosts. With Adult Hits and other well-produced jockless stations over the years, the challenge has been to make the DJs additive. The Zone is at least taking that one on.

Here’s The Zone on day two, Jan. 16, at 8:30 a.m.:

• Creedence Clearwater Revival, “Proud Mary”
• Portugal. The Man, “Tanana”
• Cafune, “Tek It”
• Sombr, “Undressed”
• The Script, “Breakeven”
• Cold War Kids, “First”
• Depeche Mode, “People Are People”
• Kings of Leon, “Use Somebody”
• Sneaker Pimps, “6 Underground”
• Peter Tosh, “(You Gotta Walk) Don’t Look Back”
• Of Monsters and Men, “Ordinary Creature”
• Hozier, “Take Me To Church”
• Avett Brothers, “I And Love And You”
• Gigi Perez, “Sailor Song”
• Clash, “Lost in the Supermarket”