A reason why advertisers don't target 55+ audiences

[Don CT]

Most of the newer music just doesn't sound good. Country still sounded good for the most part in the 90s but most of it is bad now. I have no reason to be open to new music.

A lot of people have recorded new versions of old songs since the 80s.

Clarification needed, you don’t like the music or the way it sounds from a production value? What do you mean by not sounding good.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Clarification needed, you don’t like the music or the way it sounds from a production value? What do you mean by not sounding good.

Doesn't matter what the production values are. If music is good, I don't mind listening on an actual AM radio.

Music that doesn't sound good to me sounds worse on a good strong FM.

 

[Prescott Joe]

KAHM has been in a suspended state with its stay of execution about to expire as the "new" ownership is the Farm Workers Union and they have been working for several years to make the KAHM into a Phoenix rimshot, abandoning its service to Prescott and converting to Spanish language broadcasting.

The Silverstein estate required some continuation of the Beautiful Music format (it is not "Easy Listening") in some form, and that appears to be done via streaming and a translator or HD channel. But the fact is that the format was most popular in the 1970's, and the listeners were 40 and above then... meaning that they are mostly in their late 70's and 80's today.

There is no way that Beautiful Music can be sustained other than the way KAHM is forced to do. The listeners are not consumers to any great extent, even in retiree-heavy Prescott. It's a dead or dying format and not sustainable in any other way.

You might want to take a peak at Radio Station World, et all. They list KAHM and its' translator as Easy Listening.
Of course they are wrong and you are right, right????
You were saying much the same thing 5 years ago, telling us that KAHM was about to change formats and begin
broadcasting in spanish. It didn't happen then and it hasn't yet happened. Of course, we must remember that anyone
over 60 doesn't buy a home or a car or book a vacation. They merely sit at home waiting for death to come.
Finally, even if the 102.1 frequency changes format at some point, I have EVERY Confidence that the EASY LISTENING
format will continue on in Prescott.......

 

[Bongwater]

You might want to take a peak at Radio Station World, et all. They list KAHM and its' translator as Easy Listening.
Of course they are wrong and you are right, right????
You were saying much the same thing 5 years ago, telling us that KAHM was about to change formats and begin
broadcasting in spanish. It didn't happen then and it hasn't yet happened. Of course, we must remember that anyone
over 60 doesn't buy a home or a car or book a vacation. They merely sit at home waiting for death to come.
Finally, even if the 102.1 frequency changes format at some point, I have EVERY Confidence that the EASY LISTENING
format will continue on in Prescott.......

But all things change inevitably. Even in Prescott.

Maybe today's 60 year olds aren't waiting for death to come. (Not when they're headbanging to their old Metallica CDs, at least.) But KAHM has indeed been sold. They have a CP as a north Phoenix move-in (New COL: Spring Valley) So the Easy format will likely only continue on 102.1 MHz until then.

KAHM has 2 translators, 93.5 and 101.7 in Prescott. So one or both of them may carry the Easy Listening if KAHM's management rents out an HD subchannel of KAHM. I'm not in the know on the KAHM situation. But if there is enough of an audience in Prescott for it, it will likely be there.

And DavidEduardo knows more about the business/technical mechanics of this industry better than anyone else here. So his words have some weight to them.

 

[vchimpanzee]

https://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/article288046995.html

There is obviously a need to advertise the services described in this article. Whether that's enough to keep a station going is a question.

There is a soft AC but it's not very soft. Nevertheless, I have heard older people are listening. The manager didn't want those people shown on Facebook or wherever the DJ was shown with her fans.

And there is an oldies station a lot of people moved to when that soft AC was no longer easy listening, and again when it tried mainstream AC for a while.

 

[TheBigA]

There is obviously a need to advertise the services described in this article.

I'm sure there is. Just not on radio. People don't buy what they can't see. They buy TV and direct mail.

 

[kwthom]

https://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/news/local/article288046995.html

There is obviously a need to advertise the services described in this article. Whether that's enough to keep a station going is a question.
<...>

I don't see it that way at all.

How do people - even at that advanced age - find information on a new location?

HINT: In front of a screen with some variation of a keyboard.

 

[Kelly A]

We see posts often on Radio Discussions questioning why stations don't program to older listeners. Often, such posts are antagonistic towards radio stations who have nothing to do with how major advertisers plan campaigns.

So, today I saw an article with this headline:

"Just over half of Americans over the age of 65 are earning under $30,000 a year, and it shows how stark the retirement crisis is."

This is from MSN

And it says, in fair usage part:

• A new report from Senator Bernie Sanders signals a looming retirement crisis for Americans.
• Many older Americans are financially vulnerable, with over half living on incomes of $30,000 or less a year.

So when one of us who has a comfortable retirement income now or planned in the future, it's important to understand in a discussion of radio that there are solid reasons why advertisers won't buy on older-leaning stations. And with no ad budgets, no stations can survive with formats that play music from the 50's and 60's and even a lot of the 70's.

These are all great points David. I've also seen data that many 'Boomers' aren't financially ready to retire, let alone buy expensive homes, cars, RV's, or what's considered lifestyle products. These folks shop at Walmart because they need to stretch their dollar. Walmart, Dollar Store, or other discount stores frequented by seniors don't need to advertise on the radio, and even when they do, those are national dollars placed on large groups, not local mom and pop stations.

 

[tbolt909]

These are all great points David. I've also seen data that many 'Boomers' aren't financially ready to retire, let alone buy expensive homes, cars, RV's, or what's considered lifestyle products. These folks shop at Walmart because they need to stretch their dollar. Walmart, Dollar Store, or other discount stores frequented by seniors don't need to advertise on the radio, and even when they do, those are national dollars placed on large groups, not local mom and pop stations.

Sounds like they would be better off dead.😑. They are of no use to advertisers, so what are good are they to anyone? Unless you are racking up credit card debt by buying stuff you don't need, you are no friend to salesmen.

It seems like all ages are moaning about being strapped for cash. Younger folks say they won't ever be able to afford a house as they wither away in their parents basements. Advertisers don't care if you can afford their product. They just want the sale. The problem that Radio has is that those desirable demos aren't using Radio as much anymore...

 

[Kelly A]

Sounds like they would be better off dead.😑. They are of no use to advertisers, so what are good are they to anyone? Unless you are racking up credit card debt by buying stuff you don't need, you are no friend to salesmen.

I know you're being hyperbolic, but hear what you're saying. When my father was really sick and made one of the several trips with him to the local ER, I got so frustrated when the much younger doctor would say: 'There's only so much we can do for him.' 'After all, he's old'. Well...duh! They are still obliged to provide a certain level of basic care.

It seems like all ages are moaning about being strapped for cash. Younger folks say they won't ever be able to afford a house as they wither away in their parents basements. Advertisers don't care if you can afford their product. They just want the sale. The problem that Radio has is that those desirable demos aren't using Radio as much anymore...

And that's why most ad agencies aren't interested in doing big radio buys anymore. Heck, even social media sites like Facebook are considered too old by definition.

 

[TheBigA]

Sounds like they would be better off dead.😑. They are of no use to advertisers, so what are good are they to anyone?

Once again: Advertisers love older people. They just don't see music radio as an effective tool for them. They instead spend millions on TV, print, talk radio, public radio, and direct mail. If you're over 55, it's very likely you get phone calls and texts from advertisers every day. I think we have a whole thread here about spam calls.

 

[TheBigA]

And that's why most ad agencies aren't interested in doing big radio buys anymore.

Depends. Agencies love buying national radio formats. That's why you're seeing more national networks pop up.

Agencies love efficiency, and if they can reach 95 or 100% of the country with one deal that includes radio and online, it's good.

 

[Kelly A]

Depends. Agencies love buying national radio formats. That's why you're seeing more national networks pop up.

I don't think they're buying radio in the volume they used to, even ten years ago. Back in about 2014 social media started taking business off the table for radio because of the 'reach' principal.

 

[TheBigA]

I don't think they're buying radio in the volume they used to, even ten years ago. Back in about 2014 social media started taking business off the table for radio because of the 'reach' principal.

But a couple radio companies can compete with national nets.

 

[Kelly A]

But a couple radio companies can compete with national nets.

I agree, but the overall volume for both are way down.

 

[TheBigA]

I agree, but the overall volume for both are way down.

That's not saying much. Everything in radio is down.

 

[ILOVERADIO]

There were guys who did that---Chuck Cecil at KFI in Los Angeles, for example. Started a show called "The Swingin' Years" in 1956. KFI was so old-school up until 1969 that Chuck did afternoon drive with most of his stuff coming off 78s.

And in '69, they moved him to evenings, where he continued. It wasn't until 1973 that they told him he had to play current music, allowed him one swing tune per hour on weeknights and gave him a weekend show for The Swingin' Years.



Yeah, but they were usually reissues and compilations on vinyl LPs, filed under "Big Band", and it was a smallish section compared to pop and rock.



The point, though, isn't really about the tech---it's that beginning with early Baby Boomers who insisted that everything recorded after the Beatles broke up sounded like someone tipped over the china cabinet, there's been a cutoff for openess to new music that falls somewhere in peoples' 30s. Older for women, who are more interested in staying current, earlier for men.

Glad Michael brought up Chuck Cecil’s show. I heard his “ The Swinging Years” on the Los Angeles jazz station for about a year. Incredible show with nearly all live performances. My understanding is that Chuck was a perfectionist who was annoyed by the technical problems at the jazz station. Since the music is all old with about 60 years of weekly shows, I was disappointed kJZZ or another station didn’t play reruns of this incredible show. IMO no music show on the radio today compares to this program. People more knowledgeable about this story than me, please correct any errors or misconceptions. Also, does anyone know where to find these great shows? Thanks

 

[radiofan2023]

Glad Michael brought up Chuck Cecil’s show. I heard his “ The Swinging Years” on the Los Angeles jazz station for about a year. Incredible show with nearly all live performances. My understanding is that Chuck was a perfectionist who was annoyed by the technical problems at the jazz station. Since the music is all old with about 60 years of weekly shows, I was disappointed kJZZ or another station didn’t play reruns of this incredible show. IMO no music show on the radio today compares to this program. People more knowledgeable about this story than me, please correct any errors or misconceptions. Also, does anyone know where to find these great shows? Thanks

 

[davideduardo]

You might want to take a peak at Radio Station World, et all. They list KAHM and its' translator as Easy Listening.

Format names vary between the sources. For example, if we look at the different newsletters / radio news boards that are authorized to post the "free" Nielsen numbers, we see that each one has significant differences in the terms used to describe each station's format.

Nielsen keeps a registered format name for each station. But the newsletters use their own terms, not Nielsen's (Nielsen has a very limited number of names a station can pick for its format because they want generalized terms that help advertisers, not "positioning statements" from each station.)

KAHM is what industry-wide is called "Beautiful Music". In the era when such stations were top 5 in about every U.S. market, we knew what that descriptor meant. "Easy listening" is a vague term, which could be instrumentals, soft jazz, light ballads and crooners, etc., etc. It is not a well defined term.

Of course they are wrong and you are right, right????

Yes, they are wrong. "Easy listening" is more a positioning statement to convince listeners that a station is not loud and rambunctious! It's a very vague format name, though.

You were saying much the same thing 5 years ago, telling us that KAHM was about to change formats and begin broadcasting in spanish. It didn't happen then and it hasn't yet happened.

But it will. The station is owned by the Farmworker's Union and they will eventually put their "big format" which is Regional Mexican on the big signal.

Of course, we must remember that anyone over 60 doesn't buy a home or a car or book a vacation. They merely sit at home waiting for death to come.

Advertisers for the most part know that seniors are hard to sell to, and the cost of the sale is greater than the profit on the sale. Where older listeners are valued is among smaller local retailers and service providers who specifically target seniors, but that money is limited.

Finally, even if the 102.1 frequency changes format at some point, I have EVERY Confidence that the EASY LISTENING format will continue on in Prescott.......

The contract to buy the station apparently included some format retention requirements. I have not read the contract, but I believe that the Farmworkers can put Beautiful Music on an HD channel or a translator and then make the big signal Regional Mexican. If not, why would they have bought the station? Their target is working class Mexican or Mexican Americans who are Spanish dominant, not old folks in Prescott.

As someone who has owned a Beautiful Music station (late 60's) programmed several (70's) and syndicated a Beautiful Music format to over 60 stations in Latin America in the later 70's and 80's, I can tell you that KAHM is a rather horrible implementation of the format.

 

[davideduardo]

l

Depends. Agencies love buying national radio formats. That's why you're seeing more national networks pop up.

What they like is the economy of paperwork. One buy, dozens or hundreds of markets.

Agencies love efficiency, and if they can reach 95 or 100% of the country with one deal that includes radio and online, it's good.

Efficiency here is "less backroom" expense. One invoice, not hundreds. One contact, one verification or monitoring. Easy to check schedules and lots of other ways in which such a buy is simpler than buying a hundred or two local stations just to cover the top 50 markets at the desired CPM (or equivalent metric) as well as the desired reach and frequency against a good percentage of the target demo.