100.5 Louie FM Format Switch?

[hotpatrick2004]

It is being programmed locally but no jocks at all for this station i am impressed so far but it is louie a decade later but not much like louie a few tunes.

 

[IUSradiofan]

http://genxlouisville.com/main.html

Their website is live, which is at least more than 105.1 FM Talk can say (wlrs.com). One thing noticeably missing from their site is the "jocks" or "blogs" tab as seen on other CC pages. I think they'd be very, very smart to look at someone like Mike Shannon, who was let go from 99.7 WDJX an was around when all of this music was played.

Just my thoughts

 

[johnnyboy]

"Good Vibrations" was a number one hit, hahahahahahahaha."

Great...but they're marketing this thing to appeal to a specific age group with a specific heritage.....not just charts. Its called/aimed at Gen-X, who are typically more associated with the Nirvana and Sublime and DMB than the Marky Mark and Coolio. Or ...wait..what is this...Culture Beat!?!?!?

Mr. Vain!?!??!

How'd this turd chart, Kasey?

You mean like this station? Also called Gen X Radio?

http://www.live365.com/stations/terpripken?site=live365

 

[jackshell]

Wow. That was done ten years ago in Louisville and it was called The New Mix 103.9. I know, I was there. Didn't do so well, either. What a waste of a great sig, and sad that the personalities were let go from Louie-FM. Was up there recently and quite enjoyed what they were up to at 100.5.

 

[SauceOnSide]

Did Louie have a ratings drop-off? A few years ago I remember reading that they were #2 P25-54.

 

[paul42141]

Wow. That was done ten years ago in Louisville and it was called The New Mix 103.9. I know, I was there. Didn't do so well, either. What a waste of a great sig, and sad that the personalities were let go from Louie-FM. Was up there recently and quite enjoyed what they were up to at 100.5.

Jack,

Ten years ago was likely too early.

Remember the 20-year cycles thing. People love crap from 20 years +/- ago.

One of the biggest shows of the 70s? It was set in the 50s.

What AC station didn't have a 70s retro show in the early-mid 90s?

Early 2000s, everybody was doing 80s shows (and entire formats).

So, here we are nearly 20 years out from the beginning of the 90s...so a format
devoted to it is just a given.

I say it will find a limited, temporary audience. Probably will perform better than
a similar format executed a decade earlier. Still, three years -give or take- and it
will be done. It's gonna' burn fast. But that's just my opinion.

I'd also say "Gen X" is a bit of a misnomer. If it's target is in Gen X at all, it's
LATE in Gen X (with some overlap into early Gen Y).

Respectfully,
- a fellow 96STO alumnus

PS: FatPunk...c'mon, bro...some of us (even ones who currently work with you!) had
to play that turd back in their CHR days. But I swear to God that the first time I hear
Captain Hollywood Project, I'm throwing a hammer at my PC.

 

[CHRles]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9uH...426143BA&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=27

I love Captain Hollywood Project's records. With Kim Sanders on vocals they scored a big hit with "More & More". It was released a few years after the wall came down in Berlin. Unemployment was on the rise which meant Germany faced a crisis following its reunification. Racism and hostility towards minorities (blacks and Germany's large Turkish population) was on the rise. Similar problems were developing in neighboring countries though the big story at the time were the horrors of Bosnia. This lead to a number of Euro-Dance records in the early to mid 90s that were all about peace, love, unity, and tolerance.

Marky Mark teamed up with Prince Ital Joe on a song that topped the charts in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland called "United"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAUvreja2fQ

2 Brothers on the 4th Floor from Holland came out with "Never Alone"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7xSWv56Sik

Ice MC from Italy came out with "Think About The Way" (which features the vocals of Alexia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WU94oWlkV8

and DJ Bobo from Switzerland came out with "Freedom"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FenKVtzRr0I

 

[radiorobert]

Great thread, interesting new station. I do like it. We'll see how it does.

I like alot of the comments here

The sublime, Nirvana, Bon Jovi, Green Day stuff is praised. Then people hear...Culture Beat...wha??? LOL

Alot of the dance/pop/tech stuff even though widely played on CHR in the 90's wasn't as accepted in the middle part of the US. People just didn't know what to think. Louisville seems to fit this type of place where people didn't take to it too well in mass.

CHRless...

IceMC, DJ Bobo, Alexia, Culture Beat, 2 Unlimited, Captain Hollywood, all good tracks!! I remember them well. However, I don't know how well the midwest connected with the euro craze that went on between 91 and 97.

Still good to hear though!

 

[KY1045]

funny thing is awhile ago they played Soul Decisions Faded with a group intro announcing KISS-FM ..lol

 

[Wildstyle K]

I wonder what will come after Generation Z? Hmmmmm.

A2, B2, C2........?

Anyway, I don't think I'd mind a station like that here where I live. It seems like I want everything here!
I doubt Lil Suzy, Rockell, or Lina Santiago is going to be played (who are all still making new material, by the way).
www.myspace.com/angelinamusic

 

[William_Yeager]

funny thing is awhile ago they played Soul Decisions Faded with a group intro announcing KISS-FM ..lol

If Gen-X fails, I wonder if there would be some merit to moving Kiss from 98.9 to 100.5, and perhaps backfilling 98.9 with The Fox or a simulcast of WKRD, as 93.1 and 98.9 don't really overlap with 101.7's coverage area.

 

[KyDXIn]

http://genxlouisville.com/main.html

Their website is live, which is at least more than 105.1 FM Talk can say (wlrs.com). One thing noticeably missing from their site is the "jocks" or "blogs" tab as seen on other CC pages. I think they'd be very, very smart to look at someone like Mike Shannon, who was let go from 99.7 WDJX an was around when all of this music was played.

Just my thoughts

Shannon would be a good choice, but it won't happen. I didn't realize he had been dismissed, but I'm not surprised with the cost cutting these days.

 

[hotpatrick2004]

Please do not do all that signal shifting i get a headache reading about it. It would be stupid to move the fox again let it be and we have enough sports.

 

[paul42141]

Please do not do all that signal shifting i get a headache reading about it. It would be stupid to move the fox again let it be and we have enough sports.

This might be a little off-topic for this thread, but Patrick brings up what I think is a valid point. It's also my opinion that this is one of the (several/many?) things wrong with radio today, and an example of how we're constantly shooting ourselves in the foot.

I spent 20 years growing up in my hometown, from the age of 1 to 21. From as far back as I can remember until the day I left, the CHR station was always a CHR station, the Country stations were always Country stations, the Oldies station was always an Oldies station, etc., etc. To top it off, they always had the same call letters and names. Positioning statements got updated from time-to-time, music was adjusted a little this way or a little that way...the little things that need freshening up every now and again.

Am I the only one who thinks we're a little too eager to swap formats? To re-brand our stations? To move the format on W frequency to X frequency, and the old X format to Y frequency, and then pop a completely new format on the W frequency, and....ARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

We've trained people to NOT become attached to our stations, because our stations may not be the same in 6 months.

You've done your market research. You've indentified the hole in your market. You've chosen the most logical format to fit that hole. If you're really smart, you've chosen a format that could be viable for the next 10-15-maybe 20 years (just like those stations I grew up with). You don't see results 6 months...a year...18 months in, so you switch formats...again? Why???

I say the problem often is NOT the format, but the execution. Plus, anyone who liked that format is now alienated when you up & switch it. BUILD ON WHAT YOU'VE GOT. Your format is your strategy...don't abandon it...instead, adjust your tactics:

- Adjust the music...slowly (lesson learned the hard way here on that one).

- Keep local jocks on as much as possible, but provide them with professional critiques. Make sure each and every one of them understand the creative vision behind the station. If you have a local jock who just doesn't get it, maybe another station is where they belong...but replace them with another warm body. First and foremost, give them the freedom to be true personalities.

- Freshen the imaging...or change it completely, whichever you have to do to make it best fit the format and the feel of the station.

Let's not be so eager to try to take a bite of someone else's piece of the pie by copying their format because it's doing better than our format. Maybe they just do that format better, and we're STILL not going to see the results they do. We're hurting them AND OURSELVES by doing that because we take a few of their listeners, but run some of our own off. Let's take a lesson from many of the industries that advertise with us...the brewing industry comes to mind...and concentrate our efforts on making OUR piece of the pie bigger.

Let's not be so eager to dump a viable format just because we see a down book or two. Instead, let's improve our product. If you don't show up in the book at all, you've got a solid argument for switching formats. If you show up, someone likes you. Don't run them off. Make MORE of those people.

Yeah, yeah...easier said than done. I realize that.

But what we've been doing the last 10-15 years sure isn't working.

By the way...that CHR in my hometown that I grew up with. It's still CHR. Just a couple years away from celebrating 30 years in the same format, and it's still a market leader.

 

[greg.hahn]

I say the problem often is NOT the format, but the execution. Plus, anyone who liked that format is now alienated when you up & switch it. BUILD ON WHAT YOU'VE GOT. Your format is your strategy...don't abandon it...instead, adjust your tactics:

Well if your statement is universally true, then there is no such thing as a "bad" format, just good ones improperly done. And of course that is nonsense.

Sometimes the format is a good one, badly done, and sometimes a format runs it's course, as the 60s Oldies format has done, apparently.

Let's have a look at who has not had a major format change in Louisville in the last 25 years, shall we?

WAMZ
WDJX
WQMF
WVEZ (and I'm including that one just to give you an extra point, because in 1988 they made a pretty big shift)


Notice a trend? Over the past 25 years, these were the 4 best signals in the market.

Who is left?

The original "little guys":

101.7/101.3
102.3
103.1
103.9

The "Docket 80-90" stations that all came on the air in the 1990s:

93.1
94.7
96.5
100.5
103.5
104.3
105.1
105.9
107.7

And "the move-in"

98.9


It's a simple matter. The four "big dogs" took their existing formats and owned them.

QMF took AOR. LRS-102 changed formats because they got their butt kicked.

VEZ took AC. RKA-103.1 changed to oldies BEFORE it got it's butt kicked because Mike Kirtner knew that a butt-kicking was coming if the station stayed AC.

AMZ took FM country from WINN and WTMT and only once had a serious opponent, 107.7.. whom they bought off.

101.3/101.7 always had a marginal signal and never did well in head to head format competition.

Enter the Docket 8-90 stations and the move-in. All these new formats here and there fighting for their piece of the puzzle. And sometimes that caused one of the existing smaller guys to lose his piece of the pie. And that resulted in a format change.

Did some people change too quickly? Sure. But sometimes people changed formats because that was the smart thing to do.

 

[paul42141]

I say the problem often is NOT the format, but the execution. Plus, anyone who liked that format is now alienated when you up & switch it. BUILD ON WHAT YOU'VE GOT. Your format is your strategy...don't abandon it...instead, adjust your tactics:

Well if your statement is universally true, then there is no such thing as a "bad" format, just good ones improperly done. And of course that is nonsense.

((( I don't recall saying it's universally true. It IS true more often than not these days, and I don't think it's good for the industry. )))

Sometimes the format is a good one, badly done, and sometimes a format runs it's course, as the 60s Oldies format has done, apparently.

((( Don't forget my "If you're smart, you've chosen a format that's viable for 10, 15...years" part. A 60s Oldies format isn't going to be viable that long. It's too niched. An Oldies format could be, with the proper adjustments along the way to keep focused on the listeners moving into that demo. )))

Let's have a look at who has not had a major format change in Louisville in the last 25 years, shall we?

WAMZ
WDJX
WQMF
WVEZ (and I'm including that one just to give you an extra point, because in 1988 they made a pretty big shift)


Notice a trend? Over the past 25 years, these were the 4 best signals in the market.

Who is left?

The original "little guys":

101.7/101.3
102.3
103.1
103.9

The "Docket 80-90" stations that all came on the air in the 1990s:

93.1
94.7
96.5
100.5
103.5
104.3
105.1
105.9
107.7

And "the move-in"

98.9


It's a simple matter. The four "big dogs" took their existing formats and owned them.

((( As they should. But listen to any of them & they've adjusted along the way. )))

QMF took AOR. LRS-102 changed formats because they got their butt kicked.

((( Then there wasn't a hole there for LRS to begin with, right? )))

VEZ took AC. RKA-103.1 changed to oldies BEFORE it got it's butt kicked because Mike Kirtner knew that a butt-kicking was coming if the station stayed AC.

((( I'm not intimately familiar with the Louisville market, so some timeframes on some of these would help. )))

AMZ took FM country from WINN and WTMT and only once had a serious opponent, 107.7.. whom they bought off.

((( ditto )))

101.3/101.7 always had a marginal signal and never did well in head to head format competition.

((( All the more reason to give 'em something to listen through the static for...which they're not going to do if they can get the same/similar product on a better signal. )))

Enter the Docket 8-90 stations and the move-in. All these new formats here and there fighting for their piece of the puzzle. And sometimes that caused one of the existing smaller guys to lose his piece of the pie. And that resulted in a format change.

((( And the new stations and the move-in did what? Try to move in on an existing station's format? And that's what caused the existing station to change format? That's what I'm talking about! Now, if one of the new stations could do an existing format BETTER, then battle on! But if they just came in and tried to peel numbers off, and the existing station panicked because SOME of their numbers evaported...well...that's what I'm talking about! Too often, instead of doing our market research and finding a hole to fill, we put a format on JUST TO HURT ANOTHER STATION, not because we really believe we can do that format better than they can. The original station takes a little hit, panics, switches formats...then, six months later, we flip our station too. It's a vicious cycle, and it HURTS RADIO. Listeners can't keep up with the format-of-the-month club stations, and almost all of us are guilty of being in the club at one time or another. )))

Did some people change too quickly? Sure. But sometimes people changed formats because that was the smart thing to do.

((( And sometimes people put formats on -and take them off- for the wrong reason. Do you honestly think that constantly flipping stations is appealing to listeners in the long term? Does that build loyalty? Does it make listeners passionate about your product? Short term curiosity spikes in ratings are NOT a good business plan. That's not how to establish your station and grow it. Are there always going to be situations where a format change is the best move? Absolutely! Should it be the first and only option everyone considers? Absolutely not. )))

 

[paul42141]

VEZ took AC. RKA-103.1 changed to oldies BEFORE it got it's butt kicked because Mike Kirtner knew that a butt-kicking was coming if the station stayed AC.

After posting my initial reply, this part of your post was still weighing on me.

First, I'd say that RKA should have been doing AC so well that VEZ was afraid
to try & go up against them, at least not head-to-head. If RKA was vulnerable,
and it sounds like they were...and they knew it...then they deserved the
competition.

I did some research (meaning "I looked on Wikipedia"...lol) and saw that WRKA
has had ...WHAT?!?!?... 9 sets of call letters & 9 different formats since 1990?

It's been CHR, Country, 70s, Smooth Jazz, AC, 80s, New Country and, finally,
Classic Country...just since July of '90.

Changing formats is an expensive proposition. New letterhead, new website,
new billboards (and lots of 'em), new paint or wrap on the station
vehicle, maybe even a new station vehicle, new imaging, etc., etc.

It's also expensive insofar as anything you've built, you immediately lose.

Finding a hole and filling it...and owning it...isn't nearly as expensive. But to
own it, you've got to do it better than anyone else...so well, in fact, that
no one has the b***s to challenge you.

Why give up so easily?

Why give up every two years?

You may disagree with me. Hell, it's obvious that you disagree with me.
But this is a discussion that I feel radio MUST have. And there must be a middle
ground...somewhere between nobody changing formats, and stations changing formats
every two years.

 

[greg.hahn]

VEZ took AC. RKA-103.1 changed to oldies BEFORE it got it's butt kicked because Mike Kirtner knew that a butt-kicking was coming if the station stayed AC.

After posting my initial reply, this part of your post was still weighing on me.

First, I'd say that RKA should have been doing AC so well that VEZ was afraid
to try & go up against them, at least not head-to-head. If RKA was vulnerable,
and it sounds like they were...and they knew it...then they deserved the
competition.

I did some research (meaning "I looked on Wikipedia"...lol) and saw that WRKA
has had ...WHAT?!?!?... 9 sets of call letters & 9 different formats since 1990?

It's been CHR, Country, 70s, Smooth Jazz, AC, 80s, New Country and, finally,
Classic Country...just since July of '90.

Changing formats is an expensive proposition. New letterhead, new website,
new billboards (and lots of 'em), new paint or wrap on the station
vehicle, maybe even a new station vehicle, new imaging, etc., etc.

It's also expensive insofar as anything you've built, you immediately lose.

Finding a hole and filling it...and owning it...isn't nearly as expensive. But to
own it, you've got to do it better than anyone else...so well, in fact, that
no one has the b***s to challenge you.

Why give up so easily?

Why give up every two years?

You may disagree with me. Hell, it's obvious that you disagree with me.
But this is a discussion that I feel radio MUST have. And there must be a middle
ground...somewhere between nobody changing formats, and stations changing formats
every two years.

Paul,

If you read the Wikipedia article more closely you will find that the station to which you refer only became WRKA last year. (I know- I wrote most of the Wikipedia article.)

I'm talking about 1989, when WRKA was on 103.1 and was AC. It switched to Oldies and owned that format for 19 years.

RKA was doing fine and was billing $3 million per year in the late 80s. Glenn Beck was the morning guy from 1985-87, the station was consistently top 5. But it was 3000 watts, and WVEZ is a 50,000 watt/ 150 meter equivalent. The two were already in heated competetion with each other.

RKA could have stood it's ground and seen it's revenue drop to 1.5- 2 million per year, or it could have switched formats. That's just the cold, hard reality of the radio business. It turned out to be a wise move that allowed RKA to remain a major player for the next two decades. Nobody I know of in 2009 says, "Wow, RKA sure was dumb to switch to Oldies back in '89".

Now, the station to which that Wikipedia article refers-

It was WXLN-FM, a religious station. Jim Kinser bought it and turned it CHR to take on DJX. I assume you have no problem with that format change.

The station did so well that DJX had to do something about it. They entered into an LMA of the property, and changed the format to country. So there is one call letter/ format change, and it came about as a result of the SUCCESS of that station, not the failure of it. The format was changed because of teh impact it was having on another, more lucrative station in the market.

The country, again did pretty well. So when the owners of DJX got a new, more powerful frequency, on 107.7, they wanted to put the country format on that one. So there goes another format change/ call letter change for 103.9, again, due more to the success of what they were doing than anything else.

So time for another new format. They made it a 70s station, "Cool 1039". That did pretty well, but then 107.7 was forced to change formats when their country started hurting WAMZ, and Clear Channel bought the intellectual rights to the format to put it on 98.9 and run it into the ground.

So 107.7 needed a new format, and, right or wrong, Jacor decided to take the "Cool" format from 103.9 and put it on 1077. That again left 103.9 with a format change and an call letter change.

I could go on and on and explain every other format change of that station, but if you're getting my drift here, it often has to do with other stations in the market, and sometimes a format is changed, not because it's doing badly, but because it's doing well.

It's all about getting your piece of the revenue pie, and how this station affects other stations your group may own.

 

[paul42141]

Paul,

If you read the Wikipedia article more closely you will find that the station to which you refer only became WRKA last year. (I know- I wrote most of the Wikipedia article.)

I'm talking about 1989, when WRKA was on 103.1 and was AC. It switched to Oldies and owned that format for 19 years.

Oldies is still a viable format if done the right way, and there's not just one right way. There are stations enjoying success by adjusting their Oldies format away from the 60s/embracing the 70s/80s, and then there's Scott Shannon. I'm not a huge fan of True Oldies, but Shannon's proved it can work very well.

RKA was doing fine and was billing $3 million per year in the late 80s. Glenn Beck was the morning guy from 1985-87, the station was consistently top 5. But it was 3000 watts, and WVEZ is a 50,000 watt/ 150 meter equivalent. The two were already in heated competetion with each other.

Not a lot of new 50,000 watt signals coming on nowadays. Any time a 50,000 watt signal comes on it's going to be a game changer. That's one of the situations where it's just understood that, if that 50,000 watt signal decides to go after a 3000 watt signal, the little guy is likely going to be changing formats.

RKA could have stood it's ground and seen it's revenue drop to 1.5- 2 million per year, or it could have switched formats. That's just the cold, hard reality of the radio business. It turned out to be a wise move that allowed RKA to remain a major player for the next two decades. Nobody I know of in 2009 says, "Wow, RKA sure was dumb to switch to Oldies back in '89".

Again, a 50,000 watt signal vs a 3000 watt signal is a lopsided battle. The 50,000 watt signal doesn't even have to do the format better...they just have to be 50,000 watts and have a signal that you can't hide from. Plus, there's a big difference in how often format changes were taking place in '89 as opposed to how often they take place now.

Now, the station to which that Wikipedia article refers-

It was WXLN-FM, a religious station. Jim Kinser bought it and turned it CHR to take on DJX. I assume you have no problem with that format change.

I don't, especially if DJX deserved the competition. With the success the new CHR enjoyed, I'd say that was the case. In other instances there may well be room for 2 CHRs in a market. The circumstances are going to be different from market to market, station to station. I will ask, however, if Kinser put the new CHR on because he thought DJX wasn't doing a good enough job of doing CHR, or if he put it on just to hurt another station (in this case, DJX)?

The station did so well that DJX had to do something about it. They entered into an LMA of the property, and changed the format to country. So there is one call letter/ format change, and it came about as a result of the SUCCESS of that station, not the failure of it. The format was changed because of teh impact it was having on another, more lucrative station in the market.

See, this part is beginning to sound more like the "I'm going to put on your format just to hurt you" scenario. I only know of the situation what you've described here, but it sounds to me like the aim of the new CHR was to have SHORT TERM success and hurt DJX, and to make a profit from that. It wasn't to enjoy LONG TERM success by owning a format.

The country, again did pretty well. So when the owners of DJX got a new, more powerful frequency, on 107.7, they wanted to put the country format on that one. So there goes another format change/ call letter change for 103.9, again, due more to the success of what they were doing than anything else.

New, more powerful signals are game changers, too. Again, they seem to be the exception, not the rule. There are FAR too many format switches going on without a new signal coming on. How many new 50,000 watt signals have signed on in Louisville in the last 10 years? How many format flips have there been in that same amount of time?

So time for another new format. They made it a 70s station, "Cool 1039". That did pretty well, but then 107.7 was forced to change formats when their country started hurting WAMZ, and Clear Channel bought the intellectual rights to the format to put it on 98.9 and run it into the ground.

And all of this...

So 107.7 needed a new format, and, right or wrong, Jacor decided to take the "Cool" format from 103.9 and put it on 1077. That again left 103.9 with a format change and an call letter change.

...seems to fall more and more into what I'm talking about.

I could go on and on and explain every other format change of that station, but if you're getting my drift here, it often has to do with other stations in the market, and sometimes a format is changed, not because it's doing badly, but because it's doing well.

There NEED to be battles between stations. Stations DO need to be challenged at their own format if they aren't doing it well. Stations ARE going to change when a new, bigger signal signs on (but that doesn't happen often). Let's not even get into the potential headaches of digital side-channels, because those aren't game changers yet...and won't be for a long, long time...if ever. But those situations are NOT what prompt the vast majority of format flips these days. It's bean counters in a room 800 miles away who haven't ever even heard these stations. What new, bigger signal caused Louie to change? What station in the market was taking them on head-to-head?

It's all about getting your piece of the revenue pie, and how this station affects other stations your group may own.

Remember how big the news was within the industry when The Power Pig went on in Tampa? A head-to-head battle with Q105?...UNTHINKABLE! WRBQ had ruled the Top 40 roost for so long, it was a given that they WERE Tampa's Top 40 station...except that they weren't doing it well. THAT was a head-to-head battle that was just waiting to happen...and when it happened, it was WAR. Sadly, it's not the kind of battle we see any more. I'm NOT suggesting that there needs to be collusion by managers/owners behind closed doors to protect each other and divide the pie up equitably. What I AM suggesting is that smart programming WILL get you your piece of the pie (but you may have to be satisfied with your piece of the pie being smaller than the "big dogs." Everyone being a "big dog" is unrealistic, so we should carve out our own piece and super-serve it). Smart programming means changing formats is the option of last resort...NOT the thing you do after a couple of down books. Smart programming means that your station changes format every 10+ years, not every two years.

Again, I have to ask the questions...and I ask these of ALL programmers, managers & owners:

Do you honestly think that constantly flipping stations is appealing to listeners in the long term? Does that build loyalty? Does it make listeners passionate about your product? Is it good for the long term success of our industry?

 

[paul42141]

Greg,

By the way, I wanted to say thanks for the back-and-forth on this. I really appreciate the fact that you have a differing view and are willing to come on here and articulate it.

I understand that there are going to be people...perhaps the vast majority, perhaps not...who are going to disagree with me on this. Doesn't change the fact that this is one of those things we ("we" being radio people) do that I've come to feel is a huge negative.

Note how often I used weasel words/phrases like "I feel" and "I think." I want to disclaim up front that I've got absolutely no scientific data with which to support my argument (but then, "gut feel" used to be embraced in our industry). My opinion is formed only by a love of this industry and my desire to see it last well into the future. I feel sure that's where your opinion comes from, too, and I respect that.

Again, I'm not saying pick a format and stick with it forever and ever no matter what the results. Far from it.

I'm saying we, as an industry, have done a piss-poor job lately of serving listeners. If we concentrated more on that than on peeling away two-tenths of a share from station X by copying their format...even when we know they do it better...that we'd be in better shape. If we spent more of our time trying to be relevant to our listeners and investing in our products instead of plotting to benefit our station "A" by using our smaller signal "B" to steal some cume from station "C", that we'd still be able to enjoy success.

What radio is currently doing isn't working. Maybe constant format flips aren't part of the problem. Maybe they are. I think it's a subject at least worthy of discussion...and maybe some soul searching.