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Entercom Launches Alt 98.7

By that time, the bulk of WWJ's audience will be over 65.
And by 2030 the telecoms will be rolling out 6G technology, and all radio stations will be online. I just love this technology stuff and by the way, I’ll be 75 years old. 75 will be the new 45.
 
Many commercial FM radio stations = low rent programming.

Depends....there is nothing cheaper than user-created playlists. Saves you the money of a programming staff.

If you didn't have commercials, there'd be less concern about the audience demos and attention span.

Unfortunately the listener-sponsorship model alone doesn't work in local radio. Only national. Public radio is dependent on corporate sponsorships to meet their costs.
 
Interesting that WDET did better than WLLZ, WDRQ, WDZH and WMGC. Way to go Public Radio. What’s interesting is all of these stations are relatively new. and they can’t achieve a decent rati
That's what I said a week ago. The ratings were released today and Alt 98.7 got a 2.0. That ties them with KROQ in LA.

So I guess they out-performed expectations.

Nielsen Audio Ratings (****************)
As a casual observer and someone who's had a longterm interest in ratings...Should the next ratings for Alt 98.7 average down since part of this book would include their Christmas music, before the abrupt format change?
 
As a casual observer and someone who's had a longterm interest in ratings...Should the next ratings for Alt 98.7 average down since part of this book would include their Christmas music, before the abrupt format change?

The format change happened November 19. The holiday book covers December 9 to January 5.

But sure, the ratings may drop in the January book, because they've now added personalities.
 
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The format change happened November 19. The holiday book covers December 9 to January 5.

But sure, the ratings may drop in the January book, because they've now added personalities.
Got it. I thought the holiday book covered some of 98.7 during their Christmas music run. Kinda like when a TV show runs to 9:02 and ratings have to be reconfigured after the fact. Thanks for the info!!
 
The format change happened November 19. The holiday book covers December 9 to January 5.

But sure, the ratings may drop in the January book, because they've now added personalities.
Why would the ratings drop because they added personalities? Isn’t that kinda silly? If the ratings drop its because the station is a failure. I certainly hope you don’t work in the business because that kind of thinking would be disastrous to the station you work for.
 
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Why would the ratings drop because they added personalities? Isn’t that kinda silly? If the ratings drop its because the station is a failure. I certainly hope you don’t work in the business because that kind of thinking would be disastrous to the station you work for.
Ratings don't drop because of personalities in a vacuum. The WRONG kind of personalities sure. But personalities that connect with listeners usually cause a boost. Problem is that those DJs who can do that tend to be all over 40 years old - they're aging out of the target demographics for the stations they host on. Elvis Duran is still on Z100 even though he's old enough to be his target audience's grandfather!

Millennial DJs in general just seem to suck at radio - WKQX where I live has tried them and they univerally are extremely self-conscious and detached - they aren't able to talk to the listener naturally like their Boomer and X forebearers. I don't want to say that they tend to contemplate their navels on air but a lot of their "skits" seem to encroach on that territory.

(I say that as a Millennial myself to be clear).
 
Millennial DJs in general just seem to suck at radio - WKQX where I live has tried them and they univerally are extremely self-conscious and detached - they aren't able to talk to the listener naturally like their Boomer and X forebearers.

Interesting observation. Millennials are more collaborative, so they talk well in groups. Morning zoos with millennials work well, but the approach is that they're all friends, so the listener is part of that friend group. Entercom's alternative jocks are Gen Xers. So they're in between. Alt is their music. They grew up with it.
 
Interesting observation. Millennials are more collaborative, so they talk well in groups. Morning zoos with millennials work well, but the approach is that they're all friends, so the listener is part of that friend group. Entercom's alternative jocks are Gen Xers. So they're in between. Alt is their music. They grew up with it.
I was talking more about solo Millennial DJs than morning shows just so we are clear.
 
Here's an article examining the changing mix of musical genres on alternative radio:


I've been listening to a couple of Entercom stations, and I have to say that it gets pretty boring very fast. I love the imaging, but the current's (music) are way to tight.

I also think that if Entercom are voicetracking, they could at least localize them a bit more. It's too generic.
 
I love the imaging, but the current's (music) are way to tight.

I think they're playing ten or twelve of the Top 30. That's what I saw a few weeks ago. The bulk of those ten are Top 20. The basic problem, and this could be said about CHR and Hot AC, is there's a huge shortage of new releases by consensus stars right now.

I also think that if Entercom are voicetracking, they could at least localize them a bit more. It's too generic.

They're not VTing but airing certain hosts in multiple cities. The host content can't be localized, but the music can. The hosts are regionalized by time zones. Given there are no concerts or local music events to promote, there's not much relevant stuff to localize, other than the weather or certain sports teams.
 
I think they're playing ten or twelve of the Top 30. That's what I saw a few weeks ago. The bulk of those ten are Top 20. The basic problem, and this could be said about CHR and Hot AC, is there's a huge shortage of new releases by consensus stars right now.



They're not VTing but airing certain hosts in multiple cities. The host content can't be localized, but the music can. The hosts are regionalized by time zones. Given there are no concerts or local music events to promote, there's not much relevant stuff to localize, other than the weather or certain sports teams.
And since in all NHL cities and many (All? Not sure.) NBA cities, no fans are being allowed into the arenas, it doesn't make much sense for radio to promote games, or for the teams to advertise at all.
 
And since in all NHL cities and many (All? Not sure.) NBA cities, no fans are being allowed into the arenas, it doesn't make much sense for radio to promote games, or for the teams to advertise at all.

My only thinking was talking about the Super Bowl. But Entercom doesn't own stations in Tampa.

Yes, not much local to promote, except the generic "local eats." I saw an ad for that last night.
 
Part of the problem is that the roots of alternative were about discovery. In a different media environment. It's very hard to find "consensus" stars in a format that in history and attitude was literally opposing the mainstream and taking risks radio can't afford to take in 2020 on a commercial level.
 
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