Reggae on the Coast canceled

Does reggae not matter in San Diego or should the folks who run modern-rock station FM 94/9 stay out of the reggae concert business?

Those were the questions being raised on June 29 when Lincoln Financial Media, owners of 94/9, notified the city of Oceanside that it was canceling “Reggae on the Coast,” an all-day reggae fest set for August 29 at the Junior Seau Oceanside Pier Amphitheatre featuring Don Carlos, Collie Buddz, Common Sense, and Inna Vision. The station had been running ads on the air for the show up until June 28.

One insider noted that it may be more than a coincidence that the same day “Reggae on the Coast” was canceled, the broadcast industry trade website allaccess.com announced that the sale of local stations FM 94/9, KSON, and KIFM from Lincoln Financial to Entercom had been approved by the Federal Communication Commission after months of delay.

Lincoln Financial general manager Rick Jackson said the sale announcement had nothing to do with the show cancellation. He says it was all about slow ticket sales. “We sold one [$27.50] ticket the whole weekend [before],” says Jackson. Jackson tells the Reader that the show was more or less an experiment to test the viability of 94/9’s all-reggae sister station “Bob Radio,” heard on high-definition receivers or on line at BobSD.com. “We found out,” says Jackson, “no one knows what HD radio is.”