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Star 102.5 flips the switch....
- Thread starter ckg279
- Start date
Now "The Breeze" watch begins. Will they or won't they? At one point I would have added "and will anybody notice" but "The Breeze" outrated Star in the last tri-monthly.
I'd wait until Thanksgiving Week if I was "The Breeze." Star going this early smacks of desperation.
I'd wait until Thanksgiving Week if I was "The Breeze." Star going this early smacks of desperation.
Star flipping to All Christmas this early isn't a surprise to this poster. It's almost expected, given the end date of the rating period, IIRC is December 7th. Yes, the flip smacks of desperation, but it's also clear that Audacy is looking at the calendar and trying to squeeze as much benefit out of All Christmas Music as possible. Those listeners who like it will be glued to the station, those who don't, will tune out. Will the Breeze benefit by not flipping? Magic 8 Ball says "We shall see." But you can't help but wonder, how is Star's flip any different than walking into Lowe's or Walgreen's and seeing all the Christmas paraphernalia on display? I loathe the early Christmas displays, but as I shopped for electrical and plumbing supplies, I noticed a few customers checking out the Christmas items. And as Christmas gets closer, it's likely more in-store customers will be checking out the Christmas Collection. Heck, people are already shopping for Christmas on-line because of the "supply chain issues."
Or it’s a brilliant programming decision. 2021 hasn’t been all that great of a year and maybe listeners need a little Christmas right this very minute to forget all the crap that’s going on. Only the ratings will tell us if the move was brilliant.
Hardly Brilliant. It's really an exercise in futility. Does it generate more revenue in any way? Some people complain, some like it, and the majority never notice any difference. Since Buffalo is a diary market, it seems unlikely that it would lead to any revenue increase. They lose nothing by dumping the disposable regular format for 2 months.
Hallmark Channel runs Xmas movies 24/7, sometimes even in the Summer. Maybe they get some extra revenue, but whether STAR does is questionable...
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose..." So by extension, if "they (Star) lose nothing," it's likely they'll gain. Just a guess, but advertisers probably won't mind being part of the "holiday happiness," after all, it's not like Star flipped to All Iron Maiden and Guns 'n Roses. All Christmas is not my bowl of chili, but neither was Hot/AC... so guys like me didn't count in the first place and we sure as hell don't count now.
But here's the salient question for this thread: What competitor stands to benefit as a result of Star's early flip? The Breeze? Classic Hits? Oldies? Country? Find out who Star shares with most, and it's likely that will be the format/station to most likely gain listeners who feel that it's a tad too early to be playing "Holly Jolly Christmas."
Likely none of them. STAR's ratings have been eroding. The ones that tune out due to Xmas music may never come back. They could already be listening to a different station or no longer using Radio at all...
Nauseating.
The real question is how many who leave Star will go to Kiss, and how many will go elsewhere? Maybe people are hungry for good cheer, and maybe they're unenthused about jingling all the way through the next eight weeks. I get that Star wants a full month of Christmas music on the books before Nielsen shuts down for the holiday gap. I'm just not sure if it's going to move the needle as much as it has in the past, and it may turn off a bunch of regulars who think it's just too soon to hear Mariah Carey 20 more times.
The listeners who love this music year after year are a marketer's (and advertiser's) dream -- women 25-54. The listeners who flee for other formats are not. It's beyond this "not"'s comprehension, but I've accepted it, and complaining is pointless because it's showing no sign of changing.
I understand, but I'd just like to get my two cents in here. I for one personally can't stand most Christmas music with a handful of exceptions such as the works of Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Secondly, participant radio stations in both Southern Ontario and Western New York should in my opinion delay the flip to all-Christmas music until after Remembrance Day just out of respect and sensitivity. It's widely believed where I am that people should wait until after Remembrance Day to put up Christmas decorations or turn on their Christmas lights. I've long been weary of CHFI and Star 102.5 who seem to insist on making the flip before that important day. I know this definitely isn't relevant from the perspective of radio as a strategic business (which it largely is in the commercial sector) but there are many who'll even tell you that the Christmas season arguably doesn't even begin until after American Thanksgiving. Just my two cents.
Star's 3 biggest competitors in rank are the following:
1. Kiss
2. YRK
3. 97 Rock
These are the station's STAR listeners go to when they change the dial from STAR
If there was anytime that people could resonate to the happy times of Christmas it was 2020. STAR did not do well last year, and the fact that there is no ratings period in Dec probably did not help, and won't help this year
People can get xmas tunes in a thousand places. I think their are at least 4 on Sirius. Why would anyone listen to the garbage xmas presentation STAR has. They have not changed the imaging liners in 15 years! The music is terrible, and scattered with no rhyme or reason.
Total bust due to lazy programming.
1. Kiss
2. YRK
3. 97 Rock
These are the station's STAR listeners go to when they change the dial from STAR
If there was anytime that people could resonate to the happy times of Christmas it was 2020. STAR did not do well last year, and the fact that there is no ratings period in Dec probably did not help, and won't help this year
People can get xmas tunes in a thousand places. I think their are at least 4 on Sirius. Why would anyone listen to the garbage xmas presentation STAR has. They have not changed the imaging liners in 15 years! The music is terrible, and scattered with no rhyme or reason.
Total bust due to lazy programming.
Actually it's more like 19 channels:
Clearly you're not in the all-Christmas format's target demo.
And what do you mean by "out of respect and sensitivity"? To who? I've never known anyone who's offended by Christmas music whenever it aired.
Who's listening? Those who don't pay for satellite radio or a streaming service. And Christmas music listeners don't give a whit about perfect segues based on mood, tempo, sound code and other parameters.
Show Star how it should be done, Buddy!
The dead soldiers being honored on Remembrance/Veterans Day, maybe?
It seems that American retailers are starting the Christmas season before the Canadian Thanksgiving. Where retailers go, radio stations follow.
Bolded by me. So is that to say that there is no material accepted means to measure the effect(s) of the Christmas music shenanigans?
If Buffalo was a PPM (it's not, and probably won't be for the foreseeable future) programmers and managers could see the pros and cons of Christmas music within a week and determine when listeners are leaving, arriving ... and where listeners go when they leave that particular radio station.
There are some good points made here about the alternative sources for All Christmas music formats, but one consideration as it relates to broadcast OTA radio, diary measurement and Star in particular: the actually span of the rating period, which concludes in early December, relatively the same time as 2020, whereas PPM markets get a full "Christmas month."
As such, if Star's target listeners think it's too early for All Christmas, the advantages may be negligible because the station doesn't get the full "benefit of the book" as would stations in PPM markets.
Poor planning? Bad programming? It's said local programmers don't make these programming decisions, they come from above.
As it has been explained to me by knowledgeable programming people, it's better to flip early rather than later, because the "first to flip" usually gets a better return in the book. Another explanation runs along the lines of "you either is or you isn't, there's no halfway," which is why stations that play Christmas songs every third song, or go All Christmas on December 1st don't do as well as the "first in" station, which comes to own the All Christmas brand.
But these are indeed different times. So much has changed. So much for conventional wisdom, eh?
It could very well be that stations sharing listeners with Star actually benefit from Star's early flip to All Christmas, in which case it would be no surprise if The Breeze, WECK, WHTT and WYRK gained a half share Persons 12+ as a result, and maybe a point in their target demos.
Yet, OTOH, years ago, there was a national media publication that featured a story about how much older women love Christmas music because it puts them "in a better place," describing the music as a "magnet" to them. So maybe Star picks up a bunch of 50+ Women.
A toss of the Magic 8 Ball again reads, "Cannot Predict Now."
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