Study proves listeners want hits, not deep cuts.

[TheBigA]

And they don't listen to terrestrial radio, nor are they going to start listening.

You'd be surprised. I'm often shocked how many 25 year old males listen to sports talk. And how many 25 year old females listen to country. I see it every day. Only a small percentage of Blacks, Hispanics, or other minorities even have Pandora accounts.

 

[Parttimer]

Only a small percentage of Blacks, Hispanics, or other minorities even have Pandora accounts.

But they have iPods.

 

[Boss Radio]

And they don't listen to terrestrial radio, nor are they going to start listening.

You'd be surprised. I'm often shocked how many 25 year old males listen to sports talk. And how many 25 year old females listen to country. I see it every day. Only a small percentage of Blacks, Hispanics, or other minorities even have Pandora accounts.

What Pittsburgh radio stations are Blacks, Hispanics and other minorities listening to?

 

[TheBigA]

But they have iPods.

Once again, that doesn't mean they aren't listening to radio. They can't discover new music on iPods. They can't listen to Steve Harvey on an iPod.

 

[Parttimer]

They can't listen to Steve Harvey here, period. The Urban format here is delivered via an AM/translator combo and gets maybe a 1-share (non-subscribers). They carry Ricky Smiley in the morning.

Back in the 90s WLTJ actually had a good contingent of African-American adult listeners, because they played artists like Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Natalie Cole and Whitney Houston.

Under-25s now discover music via social media and the internet. Walk by a car playing music in a parking lot. They're listening to CDs, either store-bought or burned from downloaded content.

 

[TheBigA]

Under-25s now discover music via social media and the internet. Walk by a car playing music in a parking lot. They're listening to CDs, either store-bought or burned from downloaded content.

Add to those sentences: "...and the radio."

They don't get information from just one thing. It's not the 60s where young people had only one source. They now have several, and they use them all. Multi-tasking...what a concept. Definitely a lot of people under 40 listening to the radio. Even in Pittsburgh.

OK, so Pittsburgh is 90% white. No Black FM radio in Pittsburgh. That's not the case in other parts of the country.

 

[corporateradiosucks]

They ask, "Do you like 'Brown Eyed Girl?'"

They don't ask, "Would you like to hear 'Brown Eyed Girl' every day for the rest of your life?"

Exactly. It's like pointing to the naughty place on the doll and asking a child "Are you sure he didn't touch you here?"

As far as Pandora or last or any of those services, the last time I used any of them online they were even narrower than commercial radio, if that's possible.

 

[RadioAmateur]

Over the last 50+ years, the makeup of the radio landscape has changed much. If you review Kasey Kasem's AT40 lists from the 70's you'll find that it was quite common for what is today called "country", "soft rock", "jazz", "acid rock", "heavy metal", and "disco" to all be on the chart at the same time. The Carpenters shared the airwaves with Alice Cooper. This was the time when FM radio began making inroads into the domination of the AM stations. To me, the availability of optional AM/FM stereo auto radios was a huge factor in this. I paid extra for one in my new 1977 Ford F-150. I was 22 when that happened, but before that I was an AM champion, eschewing WPEZ in favor of 13Q.

I grew up as an AM DXer, listening to the giants like CKLW, WCFL, and KMOX. One by one, they fell by the wayside, following KQV into the wasteland of talk/news radio.

Some stations touted the playing of "album cuts" instead of the 45 RPM single tracks. I remember hearing WCOL attempt to break the 3:05 version of "Free Bird"...it lasted one week! It took FM radio to make it the classic that "Stairway to Heaven" had become in 1973.

The content hasn't changed, but the delivery systems have.

I don't listen to Pandora. I listen on a Kenwood TS-2000 instead of a Hallicrafters S-120 nowadays. I mourn the loss of shortwave broadcasting and cruise intervalsignals.com to remember my roots.

You want me to listen? Surprise me. WKHB sneaks in Elton John's classic "Love Lies Bleeding" and "Grey Seal" every now and then. I wish that they'd add the Carpenters cover of "Desperado" along with Billy Joel's "The Entertainer". I agree with the guy on WCBS who likes "Meal Ticket" from "Captain Fantastic". I suspect that the reason it wasn't released as a single was that "Rock of the Westies" and "Island Girl" followed a few months later. Still, WCFL played "Street Kids", another non-single.

I'm 58 and have been listening for a long time. A classroom visit from a local Columbus DJ named Jimmy Roach convinced me to not seek a career in broadcasting, but like "Moonlight" Graham, I sometimes wonder "what if?"

Look at the AT40 lists from the era and add the songs. There's no reason I should hear the same song twice in an eight-hour time period unless your shuffle program has a glitch in it.

 

[TheBigA]

Look at the AT40 lists from the era and add the songs. There's no reason I should hear the same song twice in an eight-hour time period unless your shuffle program has a glitch in it.

I don't know of any music format that's designed for the audience to listen consistently and continuously for 8 hours. Except maybe the all night trucking network. The younger the target audience, the shorter the TSL. So a CHR/Top 40 station may play the same current song in heavy rotation twice in 8 hours. A hot country station might do the same thing.

 

[RadioAmateur]

I don't know of any music format that's designed for the audience to listen consistently and continuously for 8 hours. Except maybe the all night trucking network. The younger the target audience, the shorter the TSL. So a CHR/Top 40 station may play the same current song in heavy rotation twice in 8 hours. A hot country station might do the same thing.

Not to argue with you, but WDVE, WWSW, WSHH, and WRRK often run station promos touting their stations to the daytime workaday crowds. Where I currently work I can't listen to the radio but where I used to work we listened to those four stations during our normal work day, 7AM to 3PM. DVE in particular became so predictable the guys started wondering which Skynyrd song they were going to play between 2 and 2:15PM.

How large is YOUR personal music library? Mine is over 400 songs, I'll bet yours is larger. I still cruise the radio when I want to hear songs that aren't in my library.