WOW Music

[tbolt909]

BigA stated the correct interpretation of the format. Jack stations in the top markets are individually consulted and have their imaging constantly updated.

The imaging can be as specific as the LA ones that say things like "the traffic up to Las Vegas is so bad today. But that gives you more time to listen to Jack. So look at that side!"

The format is positioned as the alternative to talk-to-the-post-while-saying-nothing jocks and a narrow playlist. It works in competitive markets.



The issue with AAA is that it is getting long in the tooth and it has always been among the whitest of formats. KINK in Portland is now down to 14th in 25-54. And even in Portland it is declining in revenue in real dollars, down about 20% since 2012.

Does your research say that "imaging" is the main reason people listen? Are pre-recorded snarky witticisms more important than music to JACK listeners? I doubt that anyone is passionate about that brand. The ratings for the JACK format in Buffalo are abysmal despite having one of the strongest signals.

WOW has chosen to target Boomers. A better mix of music and competent personalities might improve their chances...

 

[KP]

"WOW has chosen to target Boomers. A better mix of music and competent personalities might improve their chances..."

Once again, ad nauseam: how are they targeting anyone? How does a Boomer even find out about this station? Was there advertising? A big media launch? Anything to let anyone know the station exists?

 

[TheBigA]

How does a Boomer even find out about this station? Was there advertising? A big media launch? Anything to let anyone know the station exists?

How do boomers find out about anything? Advertising research says that boomers are averse to advertising. When it comes on, they turn away. That it's harder to reach boomers about products they should be interested in.

The way boomers find out about new things is by word of mouth from trusted people. The intent was to get existing listeners to talk about the station and spread the word. Obviously that isn't happening. At least not in a positive way.

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

People think any station or stream that plays random, disjointed songs is "Jack", and nothing could be further from the truth.

I work for a commercial fm station that would appear to be very disjointed and even more random than jack... ac, oldies, country, pop... rolled into one station and it sounds better than alot of people assume when they listen vs when i just tell them some of the songs we play

 

[CTListener]

No one has mentioned that Sebastian has apparently reined in some of his more curious playlist urges. The chart stiffs seem to be gone, and so is the 2000s non-crossover country. The only country titles on the list in this thread -- "9 to 5" and "On the Road Again" -- were also hits outside the country chart. The former was an across the board No. 1 (Hot 100, AC, Country), the latter No. 1 country, No. 7 AC and No. 20 Hot 100. Boomers who were listening to pop formats would certainly recognize them. Whether they still belong in the company of the pop hits that boomers heard them played on the same stations as back then is debatable. Ask a boomer.

 

[TheBigA]

The only country titles on the list in this thread -- "9 to 5" and "On the Road Again" -- were also hits outside the country chart.

Both also supported by hit movies at the time.

 

[TowersRus]

Jukebox radio doesn't work

The reason Jukebox radio like WOW isn't working is because it never has. Top rated radio stations all have one thing in common, they entertain and/or inform their listeners. They instill the notion with their listeners that if they aren't listening, they might be missing something. CBS-FM in New York does well and even plays some fun little heard songs on the radio with their Oh WOW Wednesday's. But they deliver them with fun high personality announcers. Radio will continue to lose audience to Sirius XM/Pandora, etc if they keep embracing the notion that listeners only want to hear music on the radio. I heard Scott Shannon once say that's its more important what goes on between the records then the records being played. I think its all important. You need big RF so that the cheap China Wal-Mart Radios the consumers like to buy that take 10mv or more signal can pick up a station. Randy Michaels knew that, hence is obsession to have all of the big 50 KW clear channel AM's. I even saw him pay big dollars to swap FM signals in Denver with KBPI on 105.9 for 106.7 just since 106.7 was one of the few non-directional FM's on Lookout Mountain thanks to the government listening post at Table Mountain. I always say an AM stations ability to get ratings is only as good as its night signal. You will note the only AM's still with some ratings have big night signals. That is part of the WOW factors ratings woe's is that it is not a barn burner FM signal in Phoenix. None of the tower's mountain FM's pull big ratings in Phoenix, and they never will since they don't have the RF in town! If a listener can't pick the station up,, they ain't gonna listen. While radio people, and or music crazy folks might love broad variety. The fact is successful stations play the hits. Amazing how many folks want to change that simple fact. Yes, it can be boring to hear the same 400 songs over and over again,, but most listeners don't listen for long periods of time. They want to sing along with their favorite songs on the way to work or school or whatever. Research will sort out the big hits. Pretty sure this is why I-Heart music stations do so well in most markets. While their content is a little lacking (which is not a good thing), they play big hits, on big signals, with a decent illusion that they have local DJ's, traffic, news, etc. Rare not to see I-Heart stations in the top 5 in the rated markets they are in. If WOW wanted to work,, it would take a bigger signal, some great local DJ's, advertising, and a tighter playlist. But the corporate radio world will never invest those kind of dollars to make that happen. I bought a couple of dark 100KW FM's in a small rated market quite some time ago back when I was an active operator. Put Country and one and put Hit Rock on the other. Had live Jocks 24/7 on both stations (despite buying hard drive music computers capable of voice-tracking, new tech at the time). I bought every billboard the local company would sell me at the time for one month, bought full page ads in the local newspaper, bought ads in the local TV station nightly local newscasts where they had big ratings. Spent 100k in adverting in the first 30 days of debuting the stations. Called gorilla marketing. We practiced the first day on the air pretending we were on the air before we turned the transmitters back on the air just to work out any bugs and go over the mock air checks. Signed on doing every normal news, weather and promotions features we did year round (none of this stupid all music no DJ soft starts these stations like to do to save money,, listeners first impressions are everything,, be who you are going to be from day one!). Stations signed on right before the spring ARB,, rock hits station debuted with a 25.7 share 12+ and the country station beat the heritage country station in the market in the first book. Destroyed them with 20 share in the next fall book. We were cash flowing 400K within 2 years. Sold out to Clear Channel in 97 for 5.5 million $'s (bought the stations for 700K). Point is, this isn't rocket science. Problem is I don't it anymore since the sad fact is the radio economics of running a full staffed station with high overhead probably doesn't work anymore. But might again if prices for big signals keep dropping they way they have of late (10 mil for KFMB AM/FM?). Might be an opportunity again for some crazy rich person or group to make the investment who wasn't all the worried about how much money they were making at the end of the day and/or not saddled with big debt to have some fun building a great radio station. Fun to think about.

 

[TheBigA]

Might be an opportunity again for some crazy rich person or group to make the investment who wasn't all the worried about how much money they were making at the end of the day and/or not saddled with big debt to have some fun building a great radio station. Fun to think about.

Isn't that what this station is? Certainly not worried about money, given the circumstances.

 

[davideduardo]

Does your research say that "imaging" is the main reason people listen? Are pre-recorded snarky witticisms more important than music to JACK listeners? I doubt that anyone is passionate about that brand. The ratings for the JACK format in Buffalo are abysmal despite having one of the strongest signals.

The "snarky witicisms" are part of the blend. Jack does not program based on individual ingredients but on the combination of "no brainless DJs talking over the songs", a playlist that is a mile wide but an inch deep, and music flow that is intentionally full of interesting segues and contrasts.

Remember that Jack came about when tightly formatted stations had mastered music scheduling software and every segue was "controlled" and supposedly "smooth". Stations had maximized Quarter Hour Maintenance and decided that a "B" gold could not play in certain moments in the hour... and so on.

Jack was and is the reaction to other stations that are very structured in a different way. Jack made its structure out of doing things that the common rules of programming prohibited. And there was, and is, a group of listeners who really like it and find that to be very good, memorable and enjoyable. They succeed due to backlash against traditional music radio mechanics.

 

[tbolt909]

Most JACK formats that I've heard say "Playing what WE want"--Not what YOU (the listener) want. A large percentage of Radio listeners aren't too bright. There are still people who complain about tight playlists and blame it on the DJs(thinking they still pick the music). The premise that JACK is the Anti-Corporate free form guy playing random tunes is ludicrous. It's sort of like corporate Radio mocking itself...

 

[davideduardo]

Most JACK formats that I've heard say "Playing what WE want"--Not what YOU (the listener) want. A large percentage of Radio listeners aren't too bright. There are still people who complain about tight playlists and blame it on the DJs(thinking they still pick the music). The premise that JACK is the Anti-Corporate free form guy playing random tunes is ludicrous. It's sort of like corporate Radio mocking itself...

It's more tongue-in-cheek than serious. The attitude is basically "we are different" which appeals to many people.

It's sort of like the period where 7-Up branded itself as the "un-cola".

 

[TheBigA]

The premise that JACK is the Anti-Corporate free form guy playing random tunes is ludicrous. It's sort of like corporate Radio mocking itself...

Keep in mind that the Jack format was not created by corporate radio. It came to the US from an independent consultant in the US and a company in Canada. The fact that corporate owned stations have used it is pretty amazing, considering that they're essentially paying someone else to program their stations. Not typically what corporate radio does. However, very similar to what Riviera has done in Phoenix with John Sebastian.

 

[davideduardo]

Keep in mind that the Jack format was not created by corporate radio. It came to the US from a company in Canada. The fact that corporate owned stations have used it is pretty amazing, considering that they're essentially paying someone else to program their stations. Not typically what corporate radio does.

But the Canadian franchise was adopted by Canadian corporate stations under Rogers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Communications

Not only is the history of the original Mr Rogers fascinating of itself, the company is one of the two biggest communications operations in Canada.

Initially, there was a copyright issue which did not involve the music or playlists, but just the brand and slogan.

 

[Derek]

I will say that at the very least, it appears that Sebastian has gotten rid of the 1990’s and 2000’s country songs that made no sense being on a station targeting baby boomers. Still, it’s weird to hear Bobby Vinton and Dolly Parton on the same station.

A few times I've thought they finally ditched the country and started to tighten things up a bit, but I don't think that's happening. Today I heard Need You Now by Lady Antebellum (2009). They're also running promos asking everyone to tell their friends to listen if they want to keep Wow from going away.

 

[TheBigA]

They're also running promos asking everyone to tell their friends to listen if they want to keep Wow from going away.

That's interesting...we're coming up on the 6 month mark here soon. Could be the end of his deal.

 

[CAVEMANager]

This might be an appropriate time to throw in a comment about the notion that older listeners aren't worth catering to. The concept seems to be that after we turn 50 or so we become set in our ways and don't respond to advertising. Ad agencies know this so they won't buy the older demographics even though older workers often have much higher income than the kids have. This is mostly an indictment of ad agencies who have no idea how to motivate the boomer generation. The one size fits all for ad copy doesn't work with grandpa and grandma. You don't motivate them by yelling at them or subjecting them to noisy digital effects that might work on teens. When the last ten seconds of the spot are read so fast that nobody could understand a word, the more mature listener suspects that the advertiser is trying to hide something and the ad loses credibility. Also you won't sell acne remedy to a senior but you might sell him arthritis remedy which is just as profitable. The good news is that in many cases the station can bypass the agencies and sell directly to the client. It's a well known fact that Americans are living longer and the senior population is growing rapidly. This is not a market to be written off as a lost cause. Also, the seniors grew up listening to radio and are less likely to build their whole lives around tiny hand held computers with two inch monitors.

 

[davideduardo]

This might be an appropriate time to throw in a comment about the notion that older listeners aren't worth catering to. The concept seems to be that after we turn 50 or so we become set in our ways and don't respond to advertising. Ad agencies know this so they won't buy the older demographics even though older workers often have much higher income than the kids have. This is mostly an indictment of ad agencies who have no idea how to motivate the boomer generation. The one size fits all for ad copy doesn't work with grandpa and grandma. You don't motivate them by yelling at them or subjecting them to noisy digital effects that might work on teens. When the last ten seconds of the spot are read so fast that nobody could understand a word, the more mature listener suspects that the advertiser is trying to hide something and the ad loses credibility. Also you won't sell acne remedy to a senior but you might sell him arthritis remedy which is just as profitable. The good news is that in many cases the station can bypass the agencies and sell directly to the client. It's a well known fact that Americans are living longer and the senior population is growing rapidly. This is not a market to be written off as a lost cause. Also, the seniors grew up listening to radio and are less likely to build their whole lives around tiny hand held computers with two inch monitors.

The difficulty in selling to older listeners is based on them having a life-long opportunity to build brand preferences. With the exception of products that are only needed in old age, listeners above 50 or so have brand preferences that are in some cases life-long. It simply takes more messages to change usage or to get older consumers to try a product.

The cost of the "convincing" is often higher than the profit on the sale with older consumers.

Companies like P&G spend hundreds of millions on consumer research, and they adapt their ads to different target groups. But, except for brands or products only intended for seniors, they don't advertise the mass-market brands to seniors specifically as there is no profit potential.

Trying to bypass an agency will guarantee that the agency never buys you again, even if you have a "fit" for another campaign. And in any case, the advertising target of an agency client is determined by the client (although with smaller accounts at local agencies, the agency may be part of that process) and its marketing department.

Because local media does not target seniors exclusively, products targeting senior consumers use national media, whether online or via specific print, cable and network options.

 

[bulwnkl]

I find it slightly confusing that the current 95.1 would expect to increase listenership by word of mouth. Their current format is aimed at an older and different demographic than their previous one, so how (or why?) would they expect the former listener base to ‘spread the word’ in a positive way about the new format?

To be fair, I _have_ seen a billboard or two for the station along the freeway. Couldn’t tell you when or where at this point. I just remember seeing it and recognizing that they were trying to promote that station I no longer listen to.

 

[michael hagerty]

You may recall that in the late 1970s it was Sebastian who engineered KHJ's switch from rock to country.

Not many people will recall that because it's not true.

John Sebastian was hired in January of 1978 to program KHJ, replacing Michael Spears. KHJ had dropped from #2 in the market to #8 in the past two years. Spears lasted six months. At that time, Sebastian was arguably the most successful Top 40 programmer in the country at KDWB, Minneapolis, and part of his success there was incorporating more elements from album rock stations into the format (more relaxed delivery, LP versions of hits, etc).

Sebastian implemented those elements at KHJ, and there was an uptick in ratings midway through his tenure---but KMET was already a runaway freight train and John had put KHJ directly in its path.

John lasted a year.

Chuck Martin replaced John as KHJ's PD in January of 1979 and took the station back to a more traditional Top 40, with, for the time, a very rhythmic lean. But it was too little, too late. In November, 1980 with KFI the highest-rated Top 40 on AM in 12th place, and with KHJ in 26th place, with a 1.3, it went Country.

That was almost two years after Sebastian's departure. He had nothing to do with it.

 

[johndavis]

Let's just pretend for a minute that Riviera said no to John Sebastian, and KOAI continued playing 70s/80s classic hits and flanking KOOL and KSLX as they were.

Would they be better off as the Oasis?

I don't have a way of answering this because I can't see their billing. They have a fair number of spots on the air (as did the Oasis) but it's hard to tell what's revenue, trade, or bonus. They don't have jocks to pay anymore, so that helps the bottom line. Who knows, they might be coming out ahead with less staff?

*shrug*