The end of AM and PM drive

[xmtrland]

With home quarantine the new normal, how will this affect the Morning and Afternoon drive for radio. With people staying at home and not climbing into the car with the radio tuned to the same station. Are peoples listening habits going to make am abrupt change to the traditional AM & PM drive ratings. Will be interesting to see how terrestrial radio habits will change.

Traffic on the Ten's will be less relevant for news formats, with more people staying at home.

 

[TheBigA]

Keep in mind this isn't a permanent thing. Yes it's going on now and will likely go on for a couple months, but we experience the same kind of thing in college towns during the summer or beach towns in the winter. I promise you that when this is over, people are going to be tired of being cooped up and not seeing anyone.

Specifically addressing your point, there's another thread here about radio listening at home, and it's not as bad as you think.

 

[xmtrland]

It will make the next couple of books interesting. Hopefully stations will not to try to spin the wheel or tweak to much in response. Its not like they can switch to Christmas music as a fix.

 

[TheBigA]

It will make the next couple of books interesting. Hopefully stations will not to try to spin the wheel or tweak to much in response. Its not like they can switch to Christmas music as a fix.

I think everyone recognizes this is an unusual situation, and we're all just trying to get through it.

 

[JBraddock]

This "new normal" is going to last for a couple of weeks. We've been asked to stay isolated for 15 days. Any future arrangements will likely involve keeping a distance from others where possible, but, realistically, the economy can't be disrupted for much longer than a few weeks without lasting negative effects.

This time next month, it's likely that many, if not most, commuting patterns will resume their normal flow. The impact on radio will be insignificant.

 

[Bongwater]

This "new normal" is going to last for a couple of weeks. We've been asked to stay isolated for 15 days. Any future arrangements will likely involve keeping a distance from others where possible, but, realistically, the economy can't be disrupted for much longer than a few weeks without lasting negative effects.

This time next month, it's likely that many, if not most, commuting patterns will resume their normal flow. The impact on radio will be insignificant.

15 days is the optimistic picture from the Trump administration (But as you know, no matter what the situation is, it's ALWAYS an incredible, tremendous, superlative-filled day in Trumpland.)

The reality posited by the actual COVID-19 Response Plan by the Department of Health and Human Services published last week is not so rosy. It estimates 18 months. Minimum.

https://int.nyt.com/data/documenthe...367f758bec47cad361f/optimized/full.pdf#page=4

Page 4, Assumptions, Line 2:

"A pandemic will last 18 months or longer and could include multiple waves of illness."

It didn't say "may" or "could" last 18 months or longer. It said "will".

The other thing to watch is the rising number of cases, At the current rate of transmission - 21,000 in the USA as of today. Last week, it was 1,000 cases. The week before, 71 cases. And those are only the ones who have been tested. There currently aren't enough tests for 330,000,000 people at present.)

I'm not trying to scare anybody. But we have to face reality: This is bigger than anything we have ever had to deal with in our lifetime. And we are likely not going back to normal anytime soon. This may actually be the new normal for at least 2 more years or until whenever the scientists can find a remedy.

As you said, in two weeks everything can bounce back. Two years may be too much and work-from-home may become another new normal everywhere in every office/studio based-business. In which case, the whole paradigm of drive-time radio may have to shift with it.

Regardless, a lot of paradigms are going to shift here in the Boring '20s if the outlook is as forecasted. All we can do in this time is hope for the best. But the news around me right now just isn't getting any better.

 

[AMRocks]

News stations, like 1010 WINS are adjusting their anchor and staff schedules. AM Drive is not the most important right now. And, since most of the briefings by NY State, NY city and the Feds happen during the day, they need editors to work on that and turn it as quickly as possible. Since radio is not much of an "at home" format anymore, it will be interesting to see if ratings overall will be down during this, especially in markets were people are being (more or less) forced to stay home.

 

[xmtrland]

So almost three months after I started this thread on drive time, have thoughts changed on how the morning and afternoon drives will be affected. Some seemed to think t would snap back. But three months in, listening habits are changing. Companies are embracing working at home as the new normal.

Maybe I should have titled it "The end of AM and PM drive as we know it"

 

[davideduardo]

So almost three months after I started this thread on drive time, have thoughts changed on how the morning and afternoon drives will be affected. Some seemed to think t would snap back. But three months in, listening habits are changing. Companies are embracing working at home as the new normal.

Maybe I should have titled it "The end of AM and PM drive as we know it"

We did not see the effects of the virus until week 3 of March. So we only have 6 weeks of pandemic affected listening so far.