At least WRME is a FrankenFM and a brand extension for a digital subchannel.
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WLS Cuts Steve Cochran, Local Programing
- Thread starter JoeU
- Start date
MeTVFM seems to be performing very well considering many vehicles can’t pick up their frequency. The station plays various decades of music. Over the last few months, Jukebox Radio has emerged on some radio stations with a playlist of 50’s,60’s and 70’s music. WLS radio ratings over the past many years have under performed. Maybe a change from talk radio back to music radio might be a solution to the declining ratings. Playing some old jingles with a mix of three decades of music might bring on some old and new listeners with that iconic sound of yesteryear. It is just a thought……
Once again, the goal isn't ratings. It's to make money. A music format appealing to over 65s makes less money than clearing the national talk shows in market #3. WRME is a loss leader for their TV channel. That's the only way it works.
BTW Cumulus-owned Westwood One syndicates a 24/7 Good Time Oldies format that would do exactly what you want. It would cost them next to nothing. But it wouldn't make as much as the talk shows. They know the options.
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American radio has always been a business. From the 1920s. Right now, the business part is a lot tougher.
Conservative talk demographic is 60 plus. This is the worst demographic to program to for ad dollars yet, the big media conglomerates keep on doing it station after station. Then, every once in a while, someone will suggest "why not go oldies like the 60s / 70s WLS format. The typical response is well, they can't do that, the demographic is too old. Advertisers will never buy time.
So, if both programing choices are aimed at a 60+ demographic, why does the conservative talk format win every time? My conclusion is that the media companies are on board politically and it's the message they want to get out. Salem does it out in the open. All of the regional AM's they own were acquired to put out their political message. Cumulus, iHeart, Bonneville and to a lesser extent Audacy do the same but use the excuse that it's the only talk people will listen to but that pesky older demographic fact keeps on coming up.
So, if both programing choices are aimed at a 60+ demographic, why does the conservative talk format win every time? My conclusion is that the media companies are on board politically and it's the message they want to get out. Salem does it out in the open. All of the regional AM's they own were acquired to put out their political message. Cumulus, iHeart, Bonneville and to a lesser extent Audacy do the same but use the excuse that it's the only talk people will listen to but that pesky older demographic fact keeps on coming up.
Several reasons: The talk show audience is all-in on whatever they hear. If the host says to buy my pillow, they buy the pillow. They listen attentively and believe what they hear. They don't have the show on for background music. The station is based on talk. So when it switches from the program to the commercial, the listener doesn't tune away. They stay locked in through the break, not like music, They can run as many commercials as they want. Nobody's counting the length of the breaks. Talk stations can run long-form info-mercials that sound like talk shows but are commercials.
But the most important reason is the national talk shows are attached to podcasts that listeners subscribe to, and there's an entire ad campaign associated with the podcast that's not subject to Nielsen ratings or FCC regulations. Sometimes the podcasts reach more people than the radio show.
There's nothing like this in oldies music. The catch with the older demographic is they're harder to sell than younger people. But they have bought the so-called conservative agenda completely. The mainstream advertisers, the one who don't like being associated with the message, won't buy time on conservative talk. But there's an entire industry of companies and products who support the politics, and the audience knows who they are. They're very loyal to those products. So they're built-in customers. Just speak the code, and they will buy.
Again, the elephant in room is what the promotion of right wing talk has done to our national discourse for well over 30 years. We may very well become a dictatorship rather than a democracy because of what Cumulus, iHeart etc.. are forcing down are throats. The current day demographics don't support going down this road any more. What I read are just excuses for what are poor programing choices.
The only logical explanation is that the message is in line with what the corporate ownership wants to promote for their political benefit.
Salem is primarily a religious broadcaster, and conservative politics is intertwined with religion. Bonneville is owned by the Mormon Church, so that one's obvious too. Dave Ramsey supports the church, so he gets on Bonneville stations. iHeart has tried liberal talk. They also own BIN, and that's more liberal. It gets a different ad base than conservative talk.
Cumulus management is completely at odds with conservative talk. Several of their big hosts rebelled against management during covid and refused to get the vaccine, and sued them over it. Cumulus only runs the talk for the money. Audacy doesn't do much political talk. This came up when the Soros investment was made. They only own a small number of conservative talk stations, and don't have the national hosts that Cumulus or iHeart have.
Nobody forces anyone to listen to AM radio. It sounds like you want the companies to censor these hosts. In fact Cumulus tried after the 2020 election.
In Case You Missed It...Report: Cumulus Threatens Talkers - Radio Ink
Some people look at what's going on with Twitter, Facebook and Parler as a threat to free speech, while others believe blocking and banning those who claim the election was stolen are preventing future violence. Cumulus jumped into the action last week and a memo VP Brian Philips sent to talk...
radioink.com
The hosts have way too much power, attract way too much money, and so the company has to back down.
Once again, it's all about the money. The companies don't benefit from the politics.
The oldies audience wants its music without interruption, and they've found it on commercial-free stations that they stream using technology they didn't grow up with. Or they subscribe to SiriusXM.
You're not paying onerous ASCAP royalty fees for really old songs. That alone makes right-wing talk less of a loss leader, even as the audience is dying off at a near-identical rate.
If nobody listens to it, it probably can't do much damage which is how it is in Chicago.
Milwaukee on the other hand, it often gets double digit numbers. The counties surrounding Milwaukee are extremely Conservative. WISN went all political talk in 1987 almost immediately after the fairness doctrine was repealed. August 1987.
It's cheap and easy to run network talk programming. No music licensing. Infomercials on the weekend.
The other alternative is sports betting, which is what Cumulus did with KGO. That's likely the next step for WLS.
Nobody listens to that either. Good filler until they shut the station down.
The point is that sports betting is basically an infomercial. Especially in Illinois. So it makes money.
Back to WLS, when the station was owned by ABC, the company also owned a record label. At that time, radio companies made money by promoting music. A lot of the artists people heard on WLS were signed to ABC Records. Jimmy Buffett, Mamas & Papas, Steppenwolf, and Jim Croce were all on ABC Records. ABC sold the record label in 1979, so after that, music was secondary. NBC and CBS also owned record labels, and each company sold them in 1988.
Since the beginning, 'show-biz' has always been there to make money. What, you think it's all been done for free?
You're probably right. I hear KGO is doing relatively well when it comes to national.
And sports betting is still not legal in California, which really goes to show how absolutely moribund the talk format was.
Just horse racing. Bet.
I'd argue that happened when Disney owned the station and let it get stagnant along with the other ABC-owned talkers. By the time Don Wade and Roma left, WLS was already a sinking ship.
For the longest time, WISN's "local" newscasts originated from WTAM in Cleveland. Not sure if that's still the case.
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