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Format Changes
- Thread starter BruceB
- Start date
Just a thought but could this be an idea for a section to be added? Thanks!
Format changes are less common for a few reasons...
1. Most medium to small markets have only a few big owners. They have the money to do the research and have likely got all the bases covered. If iHeart or Cumulus has been in your market for a decade or two (by previous names), they know if your market needs multiple Country stations or several Rock stations. No surprises.
2. Most markets have seen a few FM signals taken out of competition. Maybe EMF, VCY or another religious broadcaster has picked off a weak competitor and converted it to non-commercial, listener-supported Christian Contemporary music or Christian Talk and Teaching. In Cincinnati, EMF bought 104.3 and made it K-Love. It also bought 96.9 in Dayton and made it Air 1.
3. A public radio operation buys an underperforming signal in your market and converts it to non-commercial AAA or Classical music. In nearby Columbus, Ohio State University bought 101.1 and made it Classical so its main signal, 89.7 WOSU-FM, can be all news and information.
4. Maybe your market has seen its Spanish-speaking population grow and one or two of your FM signals are now Spanish-language. Again, the big owners of Spanish language radio do their research. They now how many people in your zip codes are primarily Spanish-speaking. Once they switch, they're not likely going back.
5. And the sad truth. Radio is less dynamic than it once was because fewer young people listen. You can't just take a low-rated Easy Listening station like WVNJ-FM in North Jersey, start a new Top 40 format and turn it into Z100 WHTZ New York, going "from worst to first." If you flip a so-so station to another format, it won't make as much of a splash, no matter how good the effort is. People won't be talking about it because fewer people listen to broadcast radio. Those who do listen to radio are older and less likely to follow the latest trend.
1. Most medium to small markets have only a few big owners. They have the money to do the research and have likely got all the bases covered. If iHeart or Cumulus has been in your market for a decade or two (by previous names), they know if your market needs multiple Country stations or several Rock stations. No surprises.
2. Most markets have seen a few FM signals taken out of competition. Maybe EMF, VCY or another religious broadcaster has picked off a weak competitor and converted it to non-commercial, listener-supported Christian Contemporary music or Christian Talk and Teaching. In Cincinnati, EMF bought 104.3 and made it K-Love. It also bought 96.9 in Dayton and made it Air 1.
3. A public radio operation buys an underperforming signal in your market and converts it to non-commercial AAA or Classical music. In nearby Columbus, Ohio State University bought 101.1 and made it Classical so its main signal, 89.7 WOSU-FM, can be all news and information.
4. Maybe your market has seen its Spanish-speaking population grow and one or two of your FM signals are now Spanish-language. Again, the big owners of Spanish language radio do their research. They now how many people in your zip codes are primarily Spanish-speaking. Once they switch, they're not likely going back.
5. And the sad truth. Radio is less dynamic than it once was because fewer young people listen. You can't just take a low-rated Easy Listening station like WVNJ-FM in North Jersey, start a new Top 40 format and turn it into Z100 WHTZ New York, going "from worst to first." If you flip a so-so station to another format, it won't make as much of a splash, no matter how good the effort is. People won't be talking about it because fewer people listen to broadcast radio. Those who do listen to radio are older and less likely to follow the latest trend.
Hard to answer definitively about that without knowing.
Here's my take: Format changes are expensive. When you do them, you're starting from scratch. From what I can see, people don't scan the dial looking for new formats or something different. They have their favorites, and they stick with them. When you change formats, you piss off the former station's fan base, with new guarantee of attracting a new fan base. That's a big chance to take.
Here's my take: Format changes are expensive. When you do them, you're starting from scratch. From what I can see, people don't scan the dial looking for new formats or something different. They have their favorites, and they stick with them. When you change formats, you piss off the former station's fan base, with new guarantee of attracting a new fan base. That's a big chance to take.
Excellent points.
Even a low revenue station will lose all or most of its billing if it changes format. In a rated and agency driven market, that means as much as a year to start getting on buys if the ratings are good. Local accounts need time and good selling efforts to be attracted to something new; to them, “new” means “uncertain “.
For local accounts, things like an “early adopter” or “pioneer” low rate package can work.
Two examples stick out in my mind on this subject. The first is KPNW in Seattle. They flipped from country to AAA, spent millions on a consultant who planed the flip, and hiring heritage talent. They barely got a 1 share. They flipped back to country, and it's been slow going to win that audience back.
The second is KEGL in Dallas. It was a heritage rock station that flipped to guy talk. They once again spent a lot hiring heritage talent, people who were well known in the market. It was also a failure. So they flipped back to rock, kind of repositioned themselves in between classic rock and alternative, and after a couple months, have a 2 share. That's not bad. But look at all they lost by flipping. They could have saved a lot on money by just tweaking the music.
The second is KEGL in Dallas. It was a heritage rock station that flipped to guy talk. They once again spent a lot hiring heritage talent, people who were well known in the market. It was also a failure. So they flipped back to rock, kind of repositioned themselves in between classic rock and alternative, and after a couple months, have a 2 share. That's not bad. But look at all they lost by flipping. They could have saved a lot on money by just tweaking the music.
Many things have changed in the economics of forma changes.
First, buyers have so many choices. When Todd Storm flipped his little AM in Omaha, there were only five or six other viable stations. The first ratings were so spectacular that buyers flocked to the station. It was immensely printable in just a few months. Today that market has well over 20 local and rimsot or suburban signals and all kinds of new media options locally.
Second, radio revenues are way down. Stations have smaller staffs and less promotion money. A new format, without heavy promotion, takes forever to be noticed today.
Third, radio usage is way off so the chance of discovery is much smaller. People don’t tube up and down the dial anymore looking for something they like.
First, buyers have so many choices. When Todd Storm flipped his little AM in Omaha, there were only five or six other viable stations. The first ratings were so spectacular that buyers flocked to the station. It was immensely printable in just a few months. Today that market has well over 20 local and rimsot or suburban signals and all kinds of new media options locally.
Second, radio revenues are way down. Stations have smaller staffs and less promotion money. A new format, without heavy promotion, takes forever to be noticed today.
Third, radio usage is way off so the chance of discovery is much smaller. People don’t tube up and down the dial anymore looking for something they like.
And there is less budget for external marketing than there might have been in decades gone by. Used to see lots of outdoor and television ads for radio in the 90s, but that is much rarer now.
And that marketing is less effective because fewer people are watching linear TV and paying attention to outdoor advertising.
I would say so, at least in most markets. When you have a bunch of stations that aren’t making money, which is what we had in the 80’s and 90’s, you’re going to have a lot of format changes by necessity. Now that most markets have a handful of large clusters, the programming tends to be more strategic, and the focus is on maximizing the value of the entire cluster, not one or two stations. Obviously, if one station is dragging the cluster down or otherwise not achieving its objective, you're more likely to see a change, but a low-rated station that brings additional buys to the cluster is more sustainable when you have between five and eight stations than when it was either a standalone, part of an AM/FM combo, or an FM/FM.
Keep in mind, also, that, when the market changes, you still are likely to see changes. There's a reason most of the heritage AOR's from the 80’s and 90’s are gone now. It's the same reason, or one of the same reasons, AM Top-40 stations went away in the 80’s. For slightly different reasons, you don’t see many beautiful music/easy listening, adult standards, 60’s oldies, and commercial classical stations much anymore either. All, however, ultimately declined due to changes in the market.
I agree with a lot of your post, and when I saw that sentence, it reminded me that formats are tweaking all the time. We had a situation a year or two ago when CHRs were adjusting the amount of gold on the station. Not a format change, per se, but a change in sound. So perhaps you don't blow up a station, but do a subtle reinvention. That may be good enough without the expense of a format change.
Good point. An example in Cincinnati is
WKRQ Q102, they have not changed their format for more than 40 years but they tweek it from time to time.
Sometimes more CHR Gold, Sometimes almost Hot Ac and if there is hot new music people want to hear, heavy new CHR music rotation.
It has worked for them, they have been a ratings powerhouse for more than 40 years.
and then there is.....
WBUF - and 101.1 Niagara Falls ( cfLz ) that have went thru many format changes, some in a short period have given these two stations, respectively the "cursed reputation " of flipping every few weeks ... or what's the station this month ?
And, wbuf back in the early 90s, didn't even change formats simply changed the name and it was frustrating....
WBUF - and 101.1 Niagara Falls ( cfLz ) that have went thru many format changes, some in a short period have given these two stations, respectively the "cursed reputation " of flipping every few weeks ... or what's the station this month ?
And, wbuf back in the early 90s, didn't even change formats simply changed the name and it was frustrating....
What's also another possible contribution to less changes _ the station will be self aware:
ie: WTSS 96.1 is still being called
"WJYE" joy 96.... and the calls were taken from a rival bought out by EMF.
When the station management dropped joy 96 in favor mix-96, and call letters I never remembered ( wsxm ?) wmsx..
it never caught on and then another flip to Star 96.1 ( right after star 102) wtss was bought from emf... seemed to not catch on as so many still joy 96. . .
The station isn't known as anything else but the lone iconic name..so why change?
Great post & question thread.
ie: WTSS 96.1 is still being called
"WJYE" joy 96.... and the calls were taken from a rival bought out by EMF.
When the station management dropped joy 96 in favor mix-96, and call letters I never remembered ( wsxm ?) wmsx..
it never caught on and then another flip to Star 96.1 ( right after star 102) wtss was bought from emf... seemed to not catch on as so many still joy 96. . .
The station isn't known as anything else but the lone iconic name..so why change?
Great post & question thread.
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