So true! That's why infomercials on the weekends -- no matter how much fast cash they bring in -- are helping to kill terrestrial radio.
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The old KRTH
- Thread starter David Shapiro
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So true! That's why infomercials on the weekends -- no matter how much fast cash they bring in -- are helping to kill terrestrial radio.
Not a good comparison. If you look at the list of songs, many of them were in rotation and many were not, so it's a 50-50 tradeoff. That's why it's a weekend special, partial deviation from the norm. You're including regular rotation songs mixed with unique #1's, unique to L.A. and people expect that in a special named as such. You are satisfying the listeners that expect the big hits and you're also playing other songs for the weekend theme
To totally eliminate burgers for only sushi at McD's for 3 days is suicide and is TOTAL deviation from the norm.
So, if you programmed a classic hits station, you would not have any creativity during your holiday weekends? Remember, it's a 3-4-day weekend, so listening levels are low anyways.
The only stations running them are already-dead AM talk stations So no, it's not killing anything. The patient has already gone on to meet its maker.
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But imagine you tune in to the station when they're playing Al Hirt, which isn't in rotation. For those three minutes, your customers can only eat sushi. That's it. So no, it's a perfect comparison. The radio signal is one item on the menu. If you diverge from the usual menu, you lose those customers. Bad business.
It's a weekend special A, so the listeners expect some oddballs. And besides, they are all number ones, so you know a really good song is just around the corner!! Patience is a virtue! Have some fun Big A. Business can be that way too.
They didn't know it was special. They just drove in with their kids expecting to get them Happy Meals, and instead they're being told they have to eat raw fish. Hard to have fun in a car with screaming kids who didn't get what they expected.
Well let's see...countless pre-publicity promos at least 1-2 weeks out and all the jingles and DJ chatter every hour to inform their listeners of what's going on. They knew. Being 18 at the time, years before my radio stint and music hobbies and certainly decades before posting here, I knew too.
And if a station tries it again today.....they'll know.
You are NOT a typical radio listener. How many times have we told you that and you still don't hear us.
When CBS broadcast The War of the Worlds, they interrupted frequently to inform the public they were listening to a dramatization, and not actually happening. Most people thought Martians were landing in New Jersey.
The odds of listeners knowing about your special weekend are about 25%. So 75% of your customers either missed the promos or didn't understand. All they know is they're not getting what they expect. And they are upset. You can't just change the format for a weekend and expect everyone knows what you're doing.
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T
Thomps2525
Guest
BigA, a station playing every number-one hit would likely be considered "innovative" by millions of radio listeners who are too young to remember when top-40 stations really did play every song in the top 40. By the way, when KHJ presented a second Million Dollar Battle in 1967, they played a Champion and a Challenger and then a current hit from the Boss 30. Playing a current hit gave listeners more time to vote and also meant that no song would be played twice in a row, unlike in the 1965 Million Dollar Battle when there would be a Champion followed by a Challenger and then whichever of the two songs got the most votes would be played next. As I said, sometimes one song would get played several times in an hour. I can think of only one other Los Angeles station that would play a song twice in a row: KKHR in 1984. Hot new songs such as Van Halen's Jump would be played and then, after a recorded "HitRadio 93 Instant Replay," would be played again.
If they were too young, they don't care.
Aren't you the guy who complains when the same song gets played several times in a day? Yet it was OK to play it several times in the same hour?
No, listeners who hear all those unfamiliar or disliked songs would simply say, "what's this shit?" and find something else to listen to.
In LA, kids knew if they did not like the song on KDWB, KRLA would have a better one. And they skipped the songs they did not like... as they did in every market with two or more Top 40 stations.
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People don't plan their radio listening two weeks in advance. Generally, they don't plan it at all.
So if you are going to promote a weekend event, it is best to do a saturation campaign two or three days out, intensifying the day before. Otherwise it is a lot of talk and no gratification.
Today is not "Boss Radio" time. Things have moved on. Radio competes with many entertainment options, and is used as a convenience. Perhaps it was different before we had all the choices, but I think that even then we deluded ourselves into thinking radio was more important.
Yes, they will be able to see how much lower than usual the weekend numbers go.
#1, this is 1985 and those listeners focus was 50's to 70's music as classics, so they knew them. If any complaints were to arise it would have been the currents they were playing at the time. So they got rid of them.
#2, I think you are once again exaggerating about listener reactions. There are hundreds of thousands of listeners in the LA area all with different ideas and agendas. You expect them to all tune away the moment they hear a song they supposedly dislike? No, it does not work that way...at all
If 1962's "Born to Lose" came on, knowing that "I Can't Stop Loving You" just played as an A-side, you'd think they would all tune away and say "What's this shit"?? No, not at all.
I was then.
Yeah they were upset alright, exactly why they did this for 10 years in a row. Come on.
How do you know that? Have you done research on it? We have. I can give you statistical probability. I can tell you how many seconds it takes for a listener to change a station. I can tell you how many of them will never come back. Have you ever done any of that kind of research?
That's foolish. Why rev it up only 2-3 days out? It was listener anticipation they were after by announcing it 1-2 weeks in advance, especially by doing the number two's the weekend before.
The advantage here is someone who lived the time and moment, vs. someone like you, just downplaying radio station creativity who most likely didn't even know this was on the table. The regular listeners of the time sure did.
You were not THEN either. You were what we called a radio geek. You still are. Nothing wrong with that, but even 30 years ago, you made up less than 10% of the listening audience. That percentage has gone down.
You understand it's not 1985, right?
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I thought people didn't listen to the radio anymore, they were off building Spotify playlists.
Don't most stations invite their "fans" aka listeners these days to events via Facebook, Twitter etc?
Don't most stations invite their "fans" aka listeners these days to events via Facebook, Twitter etc?
I don't need to research anything. Here's the problem: You guys act that nearly EVERYONE will change the station the moment a "bad" song comes on. It does not work that way. This isn't robotics were EVERYONE thinks exactly the same, all 450,000 of them. This isn't a flock of pigeons all flying away at once when a loud firecracker goes off.
Seriously, is this what you guys assume? Does your coveted research really tell you this? If so, it's flawed and not relevant to human reaction and thinking. Sorry.
Did I say that everyone thinks the same or acts the same? No. Why don't you answer the question? Radio is not our hobby. It's our job. Try to remember that.
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