Premium Choice vs. Local Jocks

[ScottBurns]

How do iHeart markets make the decision about whether programming should be local or Premium Choice? Now 93.3 is a good example. 10 years ago, the station (then called Coast 93.3) was largely made up of Premium Choice filler, including national jocks. Then, probably five years ago, all of Now's shifts became locally or regionally tracked and Premium Choice wasn't used. Over the last year, Premium Choice has made a comeback, and national jocks are tracking nights, overnights, and most weekend shifts at Now.

Why aren't local or regional jocks used anymore at Now, especially since those jocks all largely still work for iHeart? Is it cheaper to use Premium Choice than to have an in-house jock, or jock from a nearby iHeart station, custom-track a shift? I have noticed a similar pattern at B101, but B101 never fully moved away from Premium Choice like Now did in the mid-2010s.

As a listener and fan, I would much rather hear a shift that is tracked for the local station, not a nationally voice-tracked Premium Choice jock.

 

[vw86]

Some PDs/SVPPs prefer to keep things local with localized and regional trackers. Others don't see the need. Plus the Premium Choice offerings have gotten to the point where they can be localized much more than they originally were.

 

[ScottBurns]

Was there a leadership change in Providence that precipitated the move back to more Premium Choice on WSNE and WWBB?

 

[TheBigA]

It's based on local budget. The market manager decides how much budget is available for staffing. You can't hire people without money. If advertising is down, and the morning staff gets a raise, that eliminates a local job. The company provides the resources, but the decisions are made locally.

 

[ScottBurns]

It's based on local budget. The market manager decides how much budget is available for staffing. You can't hire people without money. If advertising is down, and the morning staff gets a raise, that eliminates a local job. The company provides the resources, but the decisions are made locally.

I ask only because most of the jocks who were locally tracking are still with iHeart. So that wouldn’t be a budget issue, would it?

 

[TheBigA]

I ask only because most of the jocks who were locally tracking are still with iHeart. So that wouldn’t be a budget issue, would it?

Are they still in Providence? Then that tells me the other stations make more money than the classic hits station. There's a growing problem that classic hits audience is aging, attracting less money. So stations, such as WOGL in Philadelphia, and trying to lower the average age of station listeners. It looks like WHJY is the big money maker for iHeart.

 

[ScottBurns]

Are they still in Providence? Then that tells me the other stations make more money than the classic hits station. There's a growing problem that classic hits audience is aging, attracting less money. So stations, such as WOGL in Philadelphia, and trying to lower the average age of station listeners. It looks like WHJY is the big money maker for iHeart.

The Hot AC station, WSNE, was gutted even more than the Classic Hits station, WWBB. But yes, the jocks who tracked WSNE are still in-market or in the regional/neighboring markets that they were in when they were tracking for WSNE.

iHeart has always “respected” WHJY’s heritage. The station is the only Providence iHeart station to retain its stable of local jocks (two of them even track weekends for WZLX/Boston). ‘HJY has also never had Premium Choice programming.