WFUV/NYC Names Rich McLaughlin Program Director

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

https://news.****************/articles/n40624/WFUV-NYC-Names-Rich-McLaughlin-Program-Director

Stint will be in effect on June 14th.

WFUV 90.7 FM, New York's source for music discovery, is pleased to announce it has named Rich McLaughlin as Program Director. McLaughlin currently oversees catalog programming globally for Amazon Music. He starts at WFUV on June 14.

"Rich is uniquely qualified for this role," said Chuck Singleton, WFUV's General Manager, citing McLaughlin's blend of terrestrial, digital, and streaming radio experience. "His accomplishments speak directly to the transition WFUV and the wider industry is experiencing. Rich's leadership will be a booster shot for our content development and programming outreach to diverse new audiences."

 

[Theater of My Mind]

Great programmer. Will be interesting to see what changes he'll bring to the sound. The station began shedding some of the crusty old folk songs and has been trending more modern sounding in recent years, but there still a fair amount of folk & Americana that clashes with the alternative rock-based AAA stuff. I think McLachlan will give it better focus, possibly grow the audience and make the station more influential in its genre, worthy of a "music discovery" station in Market #1.

 

[TheBigA]

there still a fair amount of folk & Americana that clashes with the alternative rock-based AAA stuff.

One way to handle it is to play the audiences of the two styles against each other and see which group raises the most money for the station.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

One way to handle it is to play the audiences of the two styles against each other and see which group raises the most money for the station.

Or they could split the folk & 60's content off into a separate new stream / HD subchannel. WFUV did that once before with The Alternate Side and it was a fantastic sounding HD channel. In fact, I think Rich McLaughlin might have been the one behind it. Unfortunately it targeted a college student age group that doesn't typically donate to public radio and was eventually dropped.

A separate folk/60's/deep classic rock stream might fare better with older donors though, allowing the main WFUV channel to evolve into a better-focused, more current sounding AAA station attracting a larger 25-54 audience.

 

[TheBigA]

Or they could split the folk & 60's content off into a separate new stream / HD subchannel.

Yep, and from what I read in that press release, we can expect he takes a broad view of the platforms he has in addition to the air signal.

 

[BruceNYC]

I heard that only 5% of listeners to not-for-profit radio stations are donors. How do Program and Music Directors make the station appealing to those more likely to donate? Are older listeners more likely to donate?

 

[TheBigA]

I heard that only 5% of listeners to not-for-profit radio stations are donors. How do Program and Music Directors make the station appealing to those more likely to donate? Are older listeners more likely to donate?

The national number is around 7%. The way to make the station more appealing would be to drop the music and go all news. News listeners are more likely to contribute. Music listeners not only don't contribute, but they're annoyed by the requests to contribute.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

There's also revenue coming in from CPB and presumably from Fordham. Not to mention the underwriting spots which is why audience size matters.

 

[TheBigA]

There's also revenue coming in from CPB and presumably from Fordham. Not to mention the underwriting spots which is why audience size matters.

My sense is that the Fordham money is "in kind," such as office space and that kind of thing rather than actual dollars. Colleges are looking to get rid of things that aren't part of their core mission. I just saw another college last week sold off their FM station.