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7 out of 10 don't tune to AM

CTListener said:
Who are the CHR/pop, CHR/rhythmic and hip-hop stations targeting, then? What sort of music is the teen audience listening to that radio isn't providing?
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I don't think the music is as much the issue, as the advertising. Listen to any station that supposedly programs to a younger audience and listen to their commercials for a few minutes. Ads for refinancing your home, Viagra or other products like that, hair loss cures, etc aren't intended for the younger set. Sounds too much like Dad's radio trying to be hip by playing some new music.
 
nocomradio said:
CTListener said:
Who are the CHR/pop, CHR/rhythmic and hip-hop stations targeting, then? What sort of music is the teen audience listening to that radio isn't providing?
Click to expand...


I don't think the music is as much the issue, as the advertising. Listen to any station that supposedly programs to a younger audience and listen to their commercials for a few minutes. Ads for refinancing your home, Viagra or other products like that, hair loss cures, etc aren't intended for the younger set. Sounds too much like Dad's radio trying to be hip by playing some new music.
Click to expand...

Good point, but if the sector of Corporate America that IS selling to the young is either not advertising on radio anymore or has gone into recession survival mode and isn't advertising anywhere, how can the station refuse re-fi/Viagra ads? I remember when my dad used to call Top 40 "pimple music," and there were actually Stridex ads on WRKO back then. When's the last time you heard a Stridex ad (or one for any similar teen-targeted product) on radio? All that advertising has migrated to the internet -- where the teens are, at least in the view of Madison Avenue.

But then, the kind of advertising may not really matter. Radio, when you come right down to it, is still someone elsed deciding what music you'll hear and when. Today's teens have an alternative we never had -- devices that give them the music they want, when they want it, with no human interference. And they can add to their selection, change the mix, delete titles, etc., easily and cheaply. Free, in fact, if they know where to go. Who's going to abandon that for Kiss and its 14-minute-an-hour spot load?
 
Check out these comments from a thread on the San Fran board. Note I am quoting from this site
itself.

http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php?topic=202404.90
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I'm a high school music teacher. I took a little poll - just out of curiosity and found that virtually nobody in high school listens to the radio -- AM or FM. Now, it may be true that 17 year old kids don't matter much to the radio industry today, but these are the target demos of tomorrow and they don't listen to the radio :-/

Well... I fear AM is dead. And, if something doesn't change, FM is the next to go. It'll just be a few years and the whole industry will feel the pinch if it hasn't already.
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Quoted:"OK I'm 25 and I don't even use the AM side to get news like KCBS 740. Since 2008 KCBS added 106.9 FM for news and I tend to get my news there instead of 740 mainly because my MP3 player only has an FM tuner/receiver.:
Reply:
I once looked into MP3 players with AM capability. The best I could find was one for about $225. The big need for decent sound quality and reception was the space for loop antenna / coil circuitry. You have to pay extra for that. Contrast that with how any rinky-dink MP3 player has FM, even a $5 unit at Ross Dress for Less. We're becoming increasingly mobile, yet transistor radios aren't among the portable device of choice. Increasingly, the band selection switch does NOT include AM.
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Although I've put WERS in one of the slots formerly held by a station now running Xmas music and heard a great song this morning I'd never heard before. But there was no D.J. to say what it was.
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WERS is staffed, live, 24/7 by student managers and DJ's. Chances are you didn't stick around long enough to get to a break. There is no VT-ing either, someone is always in the studio.
 
If they're anywhere near Atlantic City they are tuning in to AM 1230/1340, which is in fact a top rated oldies station. They get plenty of decent advertising too. I know what the numbers look like, but they're a good station and a top oldies station. Good ol' amplitude modulation.
 
recto101 said:
Im not surprised by this because the younger audiences moved to FM, Web Radio and XMSirius for Entertainment
Click to expand...

The younger audiences' parents (my generation) started the move to FM back in the late '60s and early '70s. This is hardly anything new.
 
And those little college/high school, etc. stations that are mostly between 88 and 92 MHz (sometimes they are above 92),
ranging from 130-watt (or less) little college outlets to some public stations that can be 50 or 100kW.
But yes:
--satellite radio
--HD radio
--streaming outlets (there's a free app for computers called Screamer Radio that can offer a bunch of
choices).

For that matter there are all the "music choice" channels on your cable system, too.
 
raccoonradio said:
--HD radio
Click to expand...

It's probably time to check this one off the list of alternatives to standard FM that younger listeners are finding. It seems to be dead in the water -- not in many cars, not in many homes, hardly any presence in retail channels, and with little prospect of broadening its footprint unless it suddenly becomes standard equipment on new car stereos and home tuners, which seems highly unlikely.
 
True though some may try it as on option online. The "extra stations" do stream (Irish 96.9,
Classic Country 102.5, Funkytown 93.7 etc.) But not in huge numbers, just as there aren't a
huge number of HD radio purchasers despite all those ads for it.
Younger listeners? Probably not, unless some are checking out Radio You 92.9 or the
aforementioned Funkytown. (Ent. made no effort to put "Mike 93.7" on as HD-2 or 3
and/or a streamcast)

For the most part the "extra stations" aren't being promoted on air though they may show up
on the main webpage or with their own site.
On the WKLB page mouse-over to The Music to see a link to Classic Country
FunkytownBoston.com and star937fm.com will get you to Funkytown

The Irish subchannel of 96.9 is at 969irish.com and also at tunein:
http://tunein.com/radio/969-Irish-s67283/
 
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