740 AM (Canada)

[GeorgeKramer]

More and more people who I speak to in my age bracket (55+) are tuning into 740 AM for great music from the 1940s to the 1970s.

The format and broadcast is very low key, calm and soothing. Nothing is "in your face" and loud and obnoxious.

I also like the weather forecasts - while they often don't directly impact where I am at the time, they are brief and to the point, and the temperature is given to us in celsius and fahrenheit.

I enjoy their "golden oldies/music of your life" style of broadcasting and only wish that one of the AM stations here in WNY would use their approach as a template to fill the void since 1270 AM flipped to all sports.

 

[KR4BD]

I'm 65, semi retired and HATE Virtually all radio anymore. I know that economics dictate why radio feeds us the crap that is called radio today. Still, I HATE stations that voice track virtually 24/7. I don't care for 24/7 satellite delivered, non-local programming. AND NO ONE plays the music I LIKE. YUP, the marketing experts tell us that advertisers hate OLD FARTS like me, or anyone over 45 anymore.

BUT ONE STATION has proven that formatting to the "aged" can be done!

I listen to AM-740 on-line almost daily and at night, I listen over-the-air on a REAL AM RADIO, no less!

I live in Central Kentucky and NO ONE offers anything close to the variety of programming, music, etc. that can be found on CFZM-740, Toronto. I wish them continued success in the future!

 

[Fenway1912]

I would like to listen to it in Boston but WJIB with FIVE watts blocks it at night.

BUT WJIB has a similar format.

http://www.wjib740.com/2.html

 

[chas108]

I just turned 56 and haven't mellowed a bit in my musical tastes.

But I remember well the Al Ham "Music Of Your Life" format so popular in the 80's and actually programmed a MOYL for a short time in 1985-86 (such as you can "program" a prepackaged format). Not only was MOYL quite successful in many markets, it most importantly showed the world that 55+ can be quite lucrative.

Should be more so today as the baby boomers continue to age into that demo...that's what "True Oldies" is all about as the music of the 70's-80's becomes today's Oldies/Greatest Hits. But there should also be a place for a Standards format. Problem is...it's probably going to have to be on a national platform or the internet for it to succeed.

I realize that sounds like I'm talking out both sides of my mouth...limited appeal yet more and more people aging into that prime demo...but consider that Top 40, a teen format when we baby boomers were growing up...now has both 18-34 and 25-54 appeal.

30-40 years ago us 50-somethings were telling our kids "turn that crap off"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3bN-pI5oMg

...today many of us not only know Katy Perry and Bruno Mars, but have their music on our smartphones right alongside CCR and The Police...and Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean.

THAT'S what's changed.

Plus add in the popularity of spoken-word formats that didn't exist 30 years ago...

In a market the size of Toronto or Boston, a Standards format should find its niche and be able to turn a profit. The exclusive cume and TSL should make it an easy sell to advertisers targeting 55+.

But respectfully...I'm not sure Buffalo - or Louisville/Lexington - is big enough to support it.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

AM 740 is also in the same hands as Classical 96 at a time when the radio business likes to declare that classical music is not all that much profitable.
Good for them for proving the radio business to be wrong!

The thing that surprises me right now, is that no particular company in Buffalo is willing to target the 65 + in, at least, an effort to declare that they own something that is NOT a threat to sister stations.

 

[Fenway1912]

AM 740 is also in the same hands as Classical 96 at a time when the radio business likes to declare that classical music is not all that much profitable.
Good for them for proving the radio business to be wrong!

The thing that surprises me right now, is that no particular company in Buffalo is willing to target the 65 + in, at least, an effort to declare that they own something that is NOT a threat to sister stations.

Can we say WWKB (Entercom)

BUT - does the music license fees in the US make it a no win?

 

[Nick Gerard]

The success or failure of a station with one of the various flavors of a standards format has nothing to do with ratings nor demographics.

It has everything to do with nuts n bolts feet on the street direct radio sales.

In this format, Arbitron is useless. What radio management must do is to TRAIN sales people in the basics of selling: prospecting, qualifying, presenting, closing, and servicing. Compensate them fairly. Have at least ONE person on staff who writes strong copy. Copywriting is a forgotten art of local radio. Get good at it. A well written spot will be of more value than a chart showing that your TSL is endless and your CPP is the most efficient in town against 75 year olds.

I've enthusiastically worked as a sales person and an air personality in this format. I've observed that station operators are simply not willing to commit long-term to selling to advertisers who want to reach this audience.

When a standards format makes its debut, management comes out with both guns blazing. A few months into it, the station is the forgotten child of the cluster. Management simply will not commit to training sales people and they will not commit to pursuing the advertisers who want the 70+ audience.

Next thing you know, their lo-fi coffeepot is flipped to satellite sports or wing-nut talk.

Talking about playlists and air personalities is missing the point about the problem with this format. The issue is local direct sales. Cold calling. Speaking the prospect's language. Using great copy and realistically affordable schedules to get Mr. Retailer's phone ringing and his store busy. All of this is management's responsibility - and with this format, they just won't do it.

Last time I worked in this format was 2005 and I made these observations back then. Eight more years have passed and to be honest, even under the best of circumstances as I've described above it's tougher and tougher to make this format fly.

Nick Seneca

 

[therealjm12]

I think the format can work in all markets, large, medium, and small. In each market, it has to be presented to advertisers in a different way, but an old fashioned knock on the door will always work. The mega companies aren't interested in that kind of sales. They are only interested in rating shares, not the format. So what works in Kansas City works in Pittsburgh. So that being said, probably being in a cluster that has other stations with younger demos will help. When you can present your cluster as cradle to grave, you'll get bonus buys on your standards station. You'll at least, pay the power bill. Sales has become a lost art, same as DJ'n.

 

[Philip_Airtime]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Why the fascination with younger demos? I know, I know. There's research and academic studies out there that find the 18-49 demographic is prime because younger people have yet to develop brand loyalties. And who am I to question such research?

But when I look back at my younger years, I don't remember responding to TV or radio advertising. Did I buy Tide because of TV ads? Or did I buy Tide because that's what my mother used. I never paid attention to car dealer ads. When I wanted to buy my first new car, I went to the dealer who had serviced my beat up used car. Did I initially go there because of a radio ad? Or was it because this was the only Chevy dealer in town, and I drove by it everyday. About the only ad I remember responding to was for the Wednesday night special buffet at a restaurant in the city where I was working. And I was the one READING the ad. I started out making $125 a week and topped out at $175 a week four years later. I didn't have money for discretionary spending. And what little cash I had was spent on beer at the neighborhood bar. And I was then considered to be part of the most desirable audience demographic?

Fast forward some 30 years. I'm now semi-retired. I'm comfortable enough to have some cash to spend. But advertisers shouldn't care about me? It just doesn't make sense. When we were in the market for a car a couple of months ago, my wife and I actually paid attention to the year-end car dealer ads. When we see an ad for a restaurant, we say we need to check that place out. Or look, there's a 2 for 1 deal at the local wine shop. And if I'm in a car accident, do I dial "4" or "8?" Hmmmm. I am more reachable by advertisers now than I ever was when I was in my 20s. But the experts say, no! My brand loyalties were formulated in my 20s. So, don't waste your money on me.

And the talk about brand loyalty is a load of crap. Well, maybe not entirely. Using the term "crap" reminds me that I do employ brand loyalty when it comes to toilet tissue. LOL! But if CVS has Diet Coke on sale -- 4 12-packs for $12 -- I'll buy that. The next week, if it's Pepsi that's on sale at Rite Aid, I'll go there and get that. I know there are purists who are only Pepsi or Coke drinkers. But there are just as many out there who are looking for the deal.

The bottom line for me is that a standards format should be able to make money -- that a smart advertiser would recognize he or she would be reaching a target audience that has money to spend. Unfortunately, the ad agencies and their "inside the box" thinking won't allow that to happen. And the status quo continues. Target 18 to 49 or 25 to 54! Blah, blah, blah!

Now, I'm sure the account execs and experts out there who "know" the business and pour over the Arbitron numbers with a fine-tooth comb will tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. I've been on the programming side during my radio career. Never did sales! But I'm sure I'm not alone here. And no one will ever convince me that a 23-year-old with tens of thousands of dollars in college debt who can't find a job and is living in mommy and daddy's basement is a better target than a 58-year-old empty nester who invested well and is open to all sorts of messages on how to spend his or her money.

 

[Nick Gerard]

When you can present your cluster as cradle to grave, you'll get bonus buys on your standards station.

This never happens. If an advertiser is targeting, say 25-49, there will be no "bonus buy" on the 65+ station. They wouldn't spend a dime for it, nor should they.

Nick Seneca

 

[Yeziknoradio]

This never happens. If an advertiser is targeting, say 25-49, there will be no "bonus buy" on the 65+ station. They wouldn't spend a dime for it, nor should they.
Nick Seneca

So what you're saying, is that it's best to be the little guy (independent) company that has a classical and Standards combo like AM 740 currently does...even if it is preferred that Classical grabs a slightly younger audience than the Standards station.

 

[Kent]

This never happens. If an advertiser is targeting, say 25-49, there will be no "bonus buy" on the 65+ station. They wouldn't spend a dime for it, nor should they.

Not only that, but, when agencies have a no 55+ dictate, they CAN'T buy time on those older skewing stations under any circumstance. How it's sold is a non-factor.

 

[Nick Gerard]

So what you're saying, is that it's best to be the little guy (independent) company that has a classical and Standards combo like AM 740 currently does...even if it is preferred that Classical grabs a slightly younger audience than the Standards station.

Whether it's a small independent operator or a station within a cluster makes no difference. Unless radio management seriously commits to selling to hometown advertisers who want 65+ consumers, and unless radio management trains sales people in the rock bottom basics of direct local selling (no agencies), a standards-formatted station stands little chance of success.

The senior consumers are there, big time. The station offers a format they supposedly like. It's up to radio management to get the advertisers to see the obvious match. Advertising agencies will not go to bat for the station. Local direct sales. Period.

Nick Seneca

 

[Fenway1912]

9 months ago CBS blew up WODS Boston which was a 60/70/80's format since 1987. Their cume was over one million.

But a friend who was a long time on-air person told me CBS-Boston sales people were all under 30 and 100% commission. They had no clue how to sell an older demo.

The irony is the younger demo doesn't have any disposable income.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

The irony is the younger demo doesn't have any disposable income.

...but the Soccer mom does. Plus, there's tons of pizza places and...well, just about anything the "kids" Splurge on these days.
The Soccer mom might even need to replace her current vehicle...maybe?

 

[chas108]

9 months ago CBS blew up WODS Boston which was a 60/70/80's format since 1987. Their cume was over one million.

But a friend who was a long time on-air person told me CBS-Boston sales people were all under 30 and 100% commission. They had no clue how to sell an older demo.

The irony is the younger demo doesn't have any disposable income.

Yes but they went Mainstream Top 40...a PPM-friendly, 18-34 female format with a lot of 25-54 female appeal nowadays. That decision may have been more about PPM - and the fact that they flipped stations in LA and NYC to take on established CC Top 40s.

Of course rattling the perpetually-dominant Kiss 108 will be a tall order. CBS didn't beat them 30 years ago when 103FM was Top 40 WHTT. When they left Top 40 in 1985-ish, I think they went with a format described as "quality rock" before morphing into Oldies as WODS. Soon the WHTT callsign appeared in Buf'lo.

 

[JustPastBuffalo]

Soon the WHTT callsign appeared in Buf'lo.

Very soon. August, 1986. Back to the discussion. Phil offers a good consumer perspective. Nick's been in the eye of the hurricane, so he knows which way the wind is blowing from sales to programming. Chas, being in a PPM market, knows how the mandates of PPM can affect radio programming. PPM has changed the rules of the game and how it's played. Call it The Arbitron Rules. We can bitch all we want, or we can adapt. Better to adapt. We're good at it. Recall how the industry years ago adapted to the diary.

Most 65+ listeners in Buffalo and Niagara Falls who want to hear Standards know they can find in on AM 740. The day and night signal in WNY is so strong it comes in on their dentures. Does Buffalo need a "second" Standards station? It seems there may be a hole for Oldies ('55-'79), but that format also has a limited shelf life. Buffalo remains a diary market, but even so the clock is ticking. On every format. From News-Talk to Standards.

It's been stated that if a company is selling a product, it needs to generate revenue in the present tense and the near future tense (immediate to five years out.) The future is now. Get the sale, produce the spot, get it on the air (or on line), collect the check, generate the revenue now. Companies mandate the demos for agencies and it appears they believe the money to be made comes from the 25-49 demo, predominantly Women. That said, in a market like Buffalo, a healthy niche can be mined in the 50+ demo. The questions remain, how much and for how long? It's a roll of the dice.

 

[SirRoxalot]

The bottom line is income, and that means sales talent. The Buffalo market has precious little real sales talent in radio. The Cumuless takeover, with their inflexible "systems", chased a lot of sales talent out of that building. Some of it went to Town Square, but a lot more went out of radio. Check the numbers, and Cumuless is down nation-wide while others have rebounded from the recession. That's indicative of an institutional problem with management.

Town Square has had some pain, and the sales department wasn't exempt. The group with arguably the weakest facilities - Entercom - is winning the sales war, in spite of the Greg Ried/Tim Holley takeover that drove a few people out of that building as well.

As far as new sales talent is concerned, the best and brightest simply aren't pursuing radio as anything more than a get-a-foot-in-the-media-world-door option. Training of new sales people is woefully lacking, and the buyers stuck with dealing with radio are the entry-level people at the agencies. The more lucrative purchasing is done by people who've moved up the food chain. So, you have 20-somethings talking to 20-somethings, which means that formats targeted to 50+ get short shrift.

There are some mature, capable sales people in the market, but there aren't many, and they've got to deal with increasingly less-enlightened management. This is not a recipe for success.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

AM 740 is bringing in a 3.4 share in Toronto right now, which is still good for an AM station in the Toronto market.
Source: http://www.torontomike.com/2013/03/toronto_radio_ratings_ppm_top-.html

 

[Element9]

AM 740 is bringing in a 3.4 share in Toronto right now, which is still good for an AM station in the Toronto market. Source: http://www.torontomike.com/2013/03/toronto_radio_ratings_ppm_top-.html

Imagine if WECK had... never mind. When WECK ran the Music of Your Life format in the 80s, I'm told the station pulled 12+ shares in the 7 range, but the station had a live air staff and respectable news department, too.

The bottom line is income, and that means sales talent. The Buffalo market has precious little real sales talent in radio. There are some mature, capable sales people in the market, but there aren't many, and they've got to deal with increasingly less-enlightened management. This is not a recipe for success.

How many good, legacy radio sales guys are looking for work these days? Not back-slappers or BS artists, but dedicated pros who know the value of an upper demo audience and can cultivate a client list? Could they make a living selling a Standards format, without ratings, getting 15% direct and 10% agency, collected?