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Interesting article about formats

jabba17

jabba17

https://radioinsight.com/blog/blogs/106573/ross-on-radioinsight-a-new-national-look-at-formats/

Key insights from the article:

1) Talk is still strong, but sports talk is taking share from news/talk and political talk.
2) Country is heading into another strong period comparable to the early 80s "Urban Cowboy" era or the early 90s Garth Brooks/Rockin' Country/CMT era.
3) Classic Hits (as in Adult/Variety Hits, not 97.1 The River) is doing well despite people predicting the demise of the format. Probably the biggest format hole in the city.
4) Christian is strong.
5) Current rock (includes active rock, alt, and AAA) is doing much worse these days, with alt/AAA doing worse than active.
6) Classic rock (which would include 97.1 The River) is doing well.
7) Smooth jazz is dead and in fact doing worse than BM/EZ.
8) Top 40/CHR is doing well, but isn't the juggernaut it was back in the late 70s/early 80s, primarily due to the rise of AC and later Hot AC and resulting fragmentation of the format.
 
jabba17 said:
https://radioinsight.com/blog/blogs/106573/ross-on-radioinsight-a-new-national-look-at-formats/

Key insights from the article:

1) Talk is still strong, but sports talk is taking share from news/talk and political talk.
2) Country is heading into another strong period comparable to the early 80s "Urban Cowboy" era or the early 90s Garth Brooks/Rockin' Country/CMT era.
3) Classic Hits (as in Adult/Variety Hits, not 97.1 The River) is doing well despite people predicting the demise of the format. Probably the biggest format hole in the city.
4) Christian is strong.
5) Current rock (includes active rock, alt, and AAA) is doing much worse these days, with alt/AAA doing worse than active.
6) Classic rock (which would include 97.1 The River) is doing well.
7) Smooth jazz is dead and in fact doing worse than BM/EZ.
8) Top 40/CHR is doing well, but isn't the juggernaut it was back in the late 70s/early 80s, primarily due to the rise of AC and later Hot AC and resulting fragmentation of the format.
Click to expand...

Not sure I agree with the current rock thoughts. True, current rock is not doing that well but I would not say Alt/AAA is doing worse than Active. Active rock stations across the country are either changing to alternative or completely changing formats altogether. Spoke to a few folks over at Iheart and they said Active Rock is at it's lowest point since the 90s when Alternative was doing so well. I'm speaking from a ratings perspective and a billing perspective. Just this year, Georgia has seen three active rock stations either being flipped or reduced to low power translator tower. The active rock station in Savannah is showing it's lowest ratings in years and rumors of an alternative competitor is starting up. Cities like Charlotte and Jacksonville do not even have an active rock station and only alternative. I guess same can be said for Atlanta as well.
 
I wonder if John Dimick the new format guy at Cumulus will be allowed to shuffle the deck here in Atlanta. IMHO if you are going to have The Braves, you almost need a spoken word format. Is the Braves contract with the Dickeys or Cumulus? If it is with the Dickeys, the Braves could go somewhere else. I guess a 106.7 & 100.5 swap would work if the Cloud company is on the hook for clearing the Braves games. Maybe classic hits on 106.7 could take the baseball hit since they would have no direct competitors, but I think a music format would do better without the 160+ over two hour non music events.
 
acheron82 said:
Not sure I agree with the current rock thoughts.
Click to expand...

Not a case where you can agree or disagree. The numbers don't lie. There are more stations with the format that are failing than growing. That's what drives these numbers. You may come up with a few exceptions, but they enter the numbers from all the stations using the format, and come up with an average.
 
TheBigA said:
Not a case where you can agree or disagree. The numbers don't lie. There are more stations with the format that are failing than growing. That's what drives these numbers. You may come up with a few exceptions, but they enter the numbers from all the stations using the format, and come up with an average.
Click to expand...

It's also a case of active rock doing bad, and alt/AAA doing worse. If it were a case of active rock doing well and alt doing bad, that would be a different story and argument.
 
jabba17 said:
It's also a case of active rock doing bad, and alt/AAA doing worse. If it were a case of active rock doing well and alt doing bad, that would be a different story and argument.
Click to expand...

In my view, and I've said this here many times, these are two genres that aren't doing much to court OTA radio airplay, and their fan bases are pretty specific to particular bands or artists. There are fewer consensus rock or alt acts than country or pop. That makes it hard to build a successful format. For these audiences, they're better served in on-demand platforms, and there are lots of them around.
 
I don't think Country is going anywhere near what it was in 1980. I've noticed their Billboard chart which once only had about 4 non-bullets out of 50......now has at least 10 (if that means anything).

3) Yes, this classic hits format aka Bob Radio or Chuck 103.7 continues to be the one format ATL is missing. If they'd only give it a try!
 
gregg75 said:
3) Yes, this classic hits format aka Bob Radio or Chuck 103.7 continues to be the one format ATL is missing. If they'd only give it a try!
Click to expand...

Here's the reality: IF someone tries classic hits, it will be mainly 80s-90s, similar to WCBS or KRTH.
 
Wasn't Journey 97-9 "Totally 80s and 90s?" Did that format not work or did they change to Q100-20 to take on the new Power 96-1? I liked Journey and wish it were still here.
 
RadioDoogie said:
Wasn't Journey 97-9 "Totally 80s and 90s?" Did that format not work or did they change to Q100-20 to take on the new Power 96-1? I liked Journey and wish it were still here.
Click to expand...

Journey and classic hits did very well. The biggest disaster is the current alt format and the nash icon mess, and the christian crap too.
 
TheBigA said:
Here's the reality: IF someone tries classic hits, it will be mainly 80s-90s, similar to WCBS or KRTH.
Click to expand...

Chuck 103.7 and most other adult/variety hits stations are centered on the 80s and 90s.

We're not talking about 70s AM gold or 50s/60s oldies.
 
TheBigA said:
Not a case where you can agree or disagree. The numbers don't lie. There are more stations with the format that are failing than growing. That's what drives these numbers. You may come up with a few exceptions, but they enter the numbers from all the stations using the format, and come up with an average.
Click to expand...

Are there any theories as to why theses formatted stations are crumbling?
 
agentUrge said:
Are there any theories as to why theses formatted stations are crumbling?
Click to expand...

The current rock format is very fragmented and there are very few consensus artists that can drive a 24/7 format. Plus the audience prefers getting the specific bands they like from online sources. That way they don't have to put up with songs they don't like.
 
It seems to me like Active Rock and Alternative are riding a see-saw with each other. Active Rock was the more vital format in the 1980s and 2000s, and Alternative was the more vital format in the 1990s and so far in the 2010s.

This is all just a gut feeling of mine, but I'm expecting the electro-pop sound that currently dominates Alternative to run its course very soon (if it hasn't already), and a somewhat heavier sound to take over by the end of the decade that's more similar to "grunge" in the early 1990s. This will eventually reenergize Active Rock in the 2020s, as heavier music becomes more accepted by the mainstream again. I'm also expecting "Generation X" to drive many of the format changes in the foreseeable future. I can see Classic Alternative emerging as a new format, focusing on alternative rock music from the early 1980s through the early 2000s, with the heaviest emphasis on the late 1980s through the mid-1990s. Think "New Year's Day" through "Vertigo" in terms of U2, with "Mysterious Ways" getting the most spins.

And though Classic Rock is still very strong right now, I do expect the format to start weakening very soon simply due to the age of the music. If Oldies stations have gone extinct, and Classic Hits stations have had to start emphasizing the 1980s/early 1990s over the 1970s, then Classic Rock can't keep playing the same songs from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s forever. I can see Classic Rock becoming more "Classic Active," so to speak, with more emphasis on hard rock and heavy metal music from the late 1970s through the late 2000s. AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Metallica and Van Halen will still be played, but Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Rolling Stones will be put out to pasture, replaced by Disturbed, Nickelback, Shinedown, and all the big 1990s "grunge" bands.
 
Agree... BigA is also correct - Electro pop that I'd argue dominated alternative in the 2010 to 2014 is beginning to come to an end. We are now seeing the likes of Nothing but Thieves and Blink 182 has been dug back up.
 
It all stems from the mainstreaming of hip-hop and rhythmic-based pop. Young listeners of all races and ethnicities, in cities and suburbs, prefer such music over rock in increasing numbers. Contemporary country is also eating away at rock's former demographic. Nobody, including me, is saying that rock is dead or that no one listens to it anymore, but the genre is much more popular in its older styles, among older listeners, than in its current styles among younger listeners. Also consider that the classic rock generation is largely Baby Boom and Generation X, both larger in number than the baby bust generations that followed.
 
I believe it's less on how many is listening to the format and more on how. I have many many friends who love alternative and indie music. Ask them about 99X and they are clueless it even exists. Some get their music through XM radio while others just download it.

The folks that listen to more hard rock/active rock is a whole different group and frankly, this group has been left out in Atlanta. However, they have been left out for good reason: I think here in Atlanta, majority of your hard rock folks live outside of the city. Plus, I don't believe the format is billing that well (lesser educated vs alternative).

I do agree that CHR and even CHR/Country does better with folks under 35 than any format but there is a good percentage of that group, especially in urban areas, that listen to alternative - They just haven't listened to FM in 10 years.
 
To clarify - CTListener is right that rock (generally speaking) was more popular in the 90s than it is today. Go look at a CHR playlist from the 90s and you will find Nirvana, for example. In fact, G105 is a CHR station in Raleigh and I remember as a kid, in the early 90s, they had an alternative (dance) show on Saturday night. I remember hearing stuff like Nine Inch Nails and Depeche Mode.
 
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