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Buffalo BIG plans for WEBR

TheBigA said:
The question is "successful for who?" Because what we see is that ratings for such special weekends tend to be lower than when they stay with the format. If people feel the music is monotonous, they should switch to a format that plays currents. Most that do play at least 25% current music in order to qualify for chart reporter status. They do this every day, not just on special weekends.

I agree with your use of the term "perceived monotony." Because when a lot of these people create their own playlists, they are about the same size. We know that based on the streaming charts we see.
Click to expand...

There is no one in the world that knows exactly what every person wants to hear, or someone who has the “perfect playlist” concept.

Themed anything on air can be a great deviation from the overall jukebox sound. It has nothing to do with the music. The music stays the same, but the presentation is different. It can be destination listening. It also gives a perception to a listener that it’s not just a jukebox. It needs to sound local and fun, and well executed .

Specialty shows and weekends or day parts also resonate well on a diary in a diary market.
 
TheBigA said:
The question is "successful for who?" Because what we see is that ratings for such special weekends tend to be lower than when they stay with the format. If people feel the music is monotonous, they should switch to a format that plays currents. Most that do play at least 25% current music in order to qualify for chart reporter status. They do this every day, not just on special weekends.

I agree with your use of the term "perceived monotony." Because when a lot of these people create their own playlists, they are about the same size. We know that based on the streaming charts we see.
Click to expand...

There is no one in the world that knows exactly what every person wants to hear, or someone who has the “perfect playlist” concept.

Themed anything on air can be a great deviation from the overall jukebox sound. It has nothing to do with the music. The music stays the same, but the presentation is different. It can be destination listening. It also gives a perception to a listener that it’s not just a jukebox. It needs to sound local and fun, and well executed .

Specialty shows and weekends or day parts also resonate well on a diary in a diary market.
 
TheBigA said:
The question is "successful for who?" Because what we see is that ratings for such special weekends tend to be lower than when they stay with the format. If people feel the music is monotonous, they should switch to a format that plays currents. Most that do play at least 25% current music in order to qualify for chart reporter status. They do this every day, not just on special weekends.

I agree with your use of the term "perceived monotony." Because when a lot of these people create their own playlists, they are about the same size. We know that based on the streaming charts we see.
Click to expand...

There is no one in the world that knows exactly what every person wants to hear, or someone who has the “perfect playlist” concept.

Themed anything on air can be a great deviation from the overall jukebox sound. It has nothing to do with the music. The music stays the same, but the presentation is different. It can be destination listening. It also gives a perception to a listener that it’s not just a jukebox. It needs to sound local and fun, and well executed .

Specialty shows and weekends or day parts also resonate well on a diary in a diary market.
 
KilowattKat said:
This is the much ado about nothing signal.

Radio-Locator.com

Radio Station Search Engine
radio-locator.com radio-locator.com
Click to expand...

There is not much ado about anything. It’s pretty irrelevant

They have to lower power to 15 watts to protect others. I have zero idea how this makes sense for 150k, unless Bill just feels like making a donation to the ministry

Enough said…I’m moving on. A total non topic that will make zero difference.
 
Buddy Shula said:
It also gives a perception to a listener that it’s not just a jukebox. It needs to sound local and fun, and well executed .
Click to expand...

That's why I said "successful for who?" Here's an example you'll like: KLOS in Los Angeles did a Yacht Rock special for Labor Day weekend. Yacht Rock is mainly 70s music, so it appeals to an older demographic. Bad idea if you're looking at demos. However, Labor Day weekend is a low listening time anyway. PLUS they got the whole weekend SPONSORED by a local Kia dealership. What could be better?

Nobody in radio personally cares about demos or ratings. But if you do something that attracts a sponsor? Then you're golden.
 
Buddy Shula said:
There is no one in the world that knows exactly what every person wants to hear, or someone who has the “perfect playlist” concept.

Themed anything on air can be a great deviation from the overall jukebox sound. It has nothing to do with the music. The music stays the same, but the presentation is different. It can be destination listening. It also gives a perception to a listener that it’s not just a jukebox. It needs to sound local and fun, and well executed .

Specialty shows and weekends or day parts also resonate well on a diary in a diary market.
Click to expand...
Follow the data - steal from the best - use "predictable unpredicability."
 
Buddy Shula said:
Themed anything on air can be a great deviation from the overall jukebox sound. It has nothing to do with the music. The music stays the same, but the presentation is different. It can be destination listening. It also gives a perception to a listener that it’s not just a jukebox. It needs to sound local and fun, and well executed .
Click to expand...

I am reminded that Jhani Kaye used to do "themed" weekends on KRTH. And didn't go any deeper into the library.

Sometimes just focusing what you already play works with the listeners.
 
TheBigA said:
The question is "successful for who?" Because what we see is that ratings for such special weekends tend to be lower than when they stay with the format. If people feel the music is monotonous, they should switch to a format that plays currents. Most that do play at least 25% current music in order to qualify for chart reporter status. They do this every day, not just on special weekends.

I agree with your use of the term "perceived monotony." Because when a lot of these people create their own playlists, they are about the same size. We know that based on the streaming charts we see.
Click to expand...
I doubt that most people who listen to Classic Rock are interested in tuning into current hits. If you look at ratings, there's very little crossover between current hit stations and classic rock audiences. If you compare Classic Rock and Classic Hits stations that do special weekends with stations in a similar format that don't the numbers indicate that special weekends do work. Will weekend ratings match weekday ratings? Typically, no. Some stations do better, some stations do worse, likely because who's in control of the audio wherever they're listening is a different audience.
 
TheBigA said:
I agree. I didn't say they were.



If they're sponsored. At this point, even increasing audience on the weekends doesn't matter if advertisers are mainly buying weekdays.
Click to expand...
You're the one that said "If people feel the music is monotonous, they should switch to a format that plays currents," so you kind of did say that.

Sponsorship is a valid point. If you can sell the idea of a special weekend, then it's successful. If weekday listening feels less monotonous because you did something different on the weekends, then it's successful. I think I outlined how you determine that.
 
Buddy Shula said:
Themed anything on air can be a great deviation from the overall jukebox sound. It has nothing to do with the music. The music stays the same, but the presentation is different. It can be destination listening. It also gives a perception to a listener that it’s not just a jukebox. It needs to sound local and fun, and well executed .

Specialty shows and weekends or day parts also resonate well on a diary in a diary market.
Click to expand...
Specialty shows are of value in PPM and diary markets.

In the diary world people do not carry the diary with them all day for a week. They fill them in, maybe once a day... or every few days. If you have themed or specialty shows or features, you give an extra "memory hook" to listeners so that they can more easily remember to write down their listening.

In the PPM, such shows are just as important, but for almost opposite reasons. First, specialty shows that are attractive are extra reasons for metered persons to go to your station. Then, they often result in longer listening spans, key in the PPM.

What many do not realize is that, while PPM listening "incidents" are very brief, the normal listener registers many incidents during each day or daypart. For example, I like The Big WECK and don't really listen to anything else during the day. But I have to go to the bathroom, take phone calls, go for coffee in a different room, attend a meeting (or take the kids to the bus) or walk out to the loading dock or into the showroom. So for a while I do not listen, but when I am back in my usual place, it's another and another and another listening incident... maybe all day and all week long!

Specialty shows invite those people to keep coming back.
 
TheBigA said:
I agree. I didn't say they were.



If they're sponsored. At this point, even increasing audience on the weekends doesn't matter if advertisers are mainly buying weekdays.
Click to expand...
I do not see where featured weekends or featured anything has to be sponsored to work, or be good

Sometimes, from a programming standpoint, sponsorships sound silly.

The feature is a programming element, the sponsorship is a sales element.

If the two work good together that’s great, but it does not mean that you have to have a sponsorship to be a success.
 
Buddy Shula said:
There are multiple ways to determine success. Did listeners like it? Did we get positive feedback? Did it make sense for our format? Did we make money?

It would not be on the air if I did not think it would be successful in many ways.
Click to expand...

I know I have alluded to this before, but I finally hit my breaking point with @TheBigA on this whole business of "defining success".

KRKE in Albuquerque has been running The Eighties Channel™ for three years, four months and two weeks as of this weekend. KRKE is owned by the same guy -- Don Davis -- who partnered with me in 2014-15 to experiment with the concept on a station he no longer owns. He asked me back when he put 1100/93.7 on the air in 2022. You don't ask a programmer to come back and essentially put a refined version of a format that you ran before, seven years later, if you didn't believe it was going to be successful.

We now have over 1200 days' worth of success. And we do it without subscribing to Nielsen, with only two weekend specialty shows ("American Top 40: The 80s" and "Flashback Weekend") and with a reasonably high percentage of the slots in the stopsets filled on a consistent basis.

Don has a philosophy about sales defining success, and I subscribe to it. If the local business owners like your station enough to continually advertise with you, then you are a success. I define that in my own way: When Don or one of his salespeople pitch a business owner, a fair percentage of the time that owner will respond with something like "oh, I listen to 93.7 all the time". At that point there is about a 90% chance that they will sign, because their mindset is "if I like the station, other people who like the station will be good customers for my business" ... and that must work, because we get a lot of campaign renewals.

(Don says it's the easiest station to sell in his entire career.)

I imagine that a lot of the local advertisers on WECK have that exact same mindset.

And now, to answer A's question for myself and KRKE, even though he is challenging Buddy:
TheBigA said:
Other than the Beatles and Elvis shows, how often do you break format for a special weekend?
Click to expand...

I do a significant amount of "special" programming. In addition to the two weekend shows I mentioned:
  • We run classic AT40 specials on Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve/Day.
  • Freddy Snakeskin does special editions of "Flashback Weekend" on Halloween and Christmas with songs we don't play the rest of the year.
  • I recreate the 1985 worldwide broadcast of "We Are The World" on Good Friday every year.
  • On April Fools' Day, I work in a bunch of novelty songs and Weird Al Yankovic parodies throughout the hour, all day.
  • This year will mark the tenth anniversary of Prince's untimely passing, and we will highlight his biggest hits all day, including some historic background on each.
  • I do an hourly salute to our veterans on Veteran's Day.
  • On Christmas Eve/Day, outside of the aforementioned AT40 and "Flashback" specials, I add a "classic" non-80s Christmas song to the clock every hour.
  • And, of course, every hour of the regular format includes a "Forgotten 45", drawn from a separate library of close to 500 titles that don't generate enough airplay across the Classic Hits stations that I monitor to keep in regular rotation, but garner a "ohmygodIhaven'theardthatsonginlikeforever" response from listeners.
Enough variety for ya, A?
 
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TheBigA said:
If you're asking me personally, my view is the variety in a format should come from playing currents.
Click to expand...

I see. So you are prejudiced against gold-based formats. No wonder you attack Buddy's programming.
 


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