I know there are plenty of nay-sayers. This is a radio board and I expect that. But seriously, Bonneville is not stupid. I dont know why so many of you think that they screwed up.
Bonneville is a tried and tested company. They understand how to program great radio stations. They have made mistakes, but WE ALL DO, even Mr. Eduardo im certain. Z104 in Washington was a tremendous station, I really enjoyed listening. It was hip, cool, Hot AC. However, it didnt make the money needed to keep it at bay, and you have to make those decisions at times. WTOP is billing about twice what it used to with the newly aligned signals and Bonneville is doing extremely well in DC.
Why attack a company trying to do something new and unique in Los Angeles (dont start with the crap from 8 years ago, that was different). Why attack someone who is thinking outside the box? Is it because were scared? Is it because your not comfortable that radio is changing before our very eyes?
I dont know what the future holds for 100.3 in Los Angeles, I dont think anyone does. I hope it fares well and makes money, but thats what we do...we hope!
I want to share something with Eduardo and everyone else who is a nay-sayer.
In 2007, we were part of an amazing process called "Radio - Its future and its present". It was a very lengthy study of listener habits, much deeper than anything Arbitron could print out. While people who listen to radio today listen, they arent very happy. Its the same thing, stale, non-unique, not fresh, not understanding, losing sight, etc. I could go on and on. The reason they do listen? Its free, its all we have to get local issues. Thats about the only overwhelming responses we got.
What im trying to say is radio is at a very strange crossroads. We have to chose one way or another. Companies like Emmis, Bonneville, etc. are saying...lets do this and make it happen. Its the companies like Clear Channel and Citadel that are comfortable with status quo and try to paint a picture to make it look pretty.
The crossroads is this. Do we embrace change and go with it, do we take listener interaction to whole new levels? Or do we keep doing things the way weve done them for so long and just make educated mistakes. I have to tell you, if you are one of the latter, you are going to have a hard time in the future with this business.
Things are changing, radio is evolving and thinking outside of the box (such as Bonneville has done) is whats going to help radio remain stellar and relevant.
So please, give it an opportunity. When the trends come out, go ahead and whine and cry and pick and play, thats all Mr. Eduardo and others knows how to do is be negative all the time! But maybe you will eventually see when the long time strict practices of radio are no longer relevant, and thinking outside of the box is what we have to do.