I first noticed this on Tuesday, don't know how long exactly...based on promos and their song selections, BEN-FM has narrowed their playlists down to just 80s and 90s; nothing more after that. Don't know if they're trying to compete with WOGL which recently started focusing on primarily 80s. Their selections could be better though; I've looked at their history and repeats can come up within an 8 hour time frame.
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BEN FM Changes
- Thread starter MikeM2011
- Start date
Interesting. Seems like they’ve dipped in and out of that over their history, or alternatively, dabbled in 2000s now and then. However you want to look at it.
That shouldn't be a big problem for a format that's not a primary listen-at-work choice.
Interesting. So far, I see just one exception: Sweet Caroline from waaaaaaaaaay back in 1969!
Also: This perhaps looks to contain a bit more Pop than before? Well, wait. I feel like I need to be clearer: By Pop, I just mean it seems heavy on titles that were played at CHR during the '80s and '90s. Or am I just seeing things?
I'm still seeing a smattering of 90s Alt in there (Lit, Green Day, Pearl Jam, Nirvana), stuff that was huge on Y100 back in the day. But yeah... Ben FM used to at least pick bigger titles from the 00's (newer Green Day, The Killers, Maroon 5) but they seem to be missing recently. Judging by how well WOGL has done with a focus on the 80s, it doesn't hurt to try to take them a little more head-on, with a slightly younger playlist.
You may think of it as a 50 year song, but millennials think of it as a current. They know every word, and sing along with it at sports events.
It's also Neil Diamond's 78th Birthday today...that could be a reason.
How is that less an at-work station?
"Work" does not just mean offices and retail stores. It means the loading dock, the delivery truck, the construction site or auto repair shop.
I had a craftsman do some tile work recently. He brought along one of those "industrial look" jobsite radios and played classic rock all day, every day.
I even asked if he minded hearing the same songs over again, and he said, "those are the only really good songs". So much for repetition complaints.
But wouldn't stations that don't play well in offices or stores, by their very nature, have fewer at-work listeners total? "Safe" AC stations can be heard everywhere. Maybe not at most garages or construction sites, but I'd guess there are more ACs being listened to in those and similar locations than there are stations like WBEB being piped into shops or offices.
I gotta somewhat agree. I don't think when advertisers are aiming for the "at work listener" that they're at all concerned with construction workers or truck drivers who happen to be working when they are listening to the radio. It's always felt like that "at work listener" phrase was really specifically describing mostly office and retail workers. Not that I think construction workers and truck drivers aren't ad targets, though seems to be more likely at Classic Rock, Sports, or Talk. Again, maybe I'm crazy. Who knows? I could be crazy.
Advertisers are not aiming at "at work" listners... stations are.
First, in the 48 top markets where there is PPM, there is no "at work" break-out of the data to quantify workplace listening. Were workplace listening so important, Nielsen would have been pushed to figure out a way to distinguish between the classes of "away from home" listening such as they do in the diary methodology.
Advertisers look for consumers. They pay for actual audience delivery with buying metrics like Cost per Point, not cume or location.
And many AC stations, which get advertising by showing advertisers and agencies relevant numbers, position themselves on-air or on their websites as "your listen-at-work station" or "(Name of city)'s listen-at work choice." So those listeners must mean something to advertisers, right? This is all getting a bit chicken-or-egg for this non-industry guy.
One retail establishment I visit weekly has Ben on every time I go except the couple of weeks before Christmas (hello B 101). Statistically meaningless, but kind of interesting.
Clearly there are a lot of “communal” offices—doctors, dentists, etc. But there are, for many workers, opportunities to choose one’s own music source.
Clearly there are a lot of “communal” offices—doctors, dentists, etc. But there are, for many workers, opportunities to choose one’s own music source.
The station is promoting at work listening as a way of increasing their overall listening. So, if their campaign is effective, it will bolster their overall numbers. And the overall numbers are what agencies buy.
The advertisers just want to reach pairs of ears. In fact, where they listen is so unimportant that an increasing amount of ratings-based selling is done by computer in a process called "programatic" buying where stations make available online rates and agencies have software that allows them to look at station delivery of the target audience, the price, and decides on which stations to buy... often with no human intervention.
Some people work at nights and on weekends.
That would be me, on a Sunday-Thursday schedule at a (have pity on me) newspaper. But copy editing and pagination are jobs that require complete concentration and I don't dare listen to any music at work.
Radio makes almost all of its revenue 6am-7pm. So listening at work is an important part of the audience for a radio stations. And experience suggests that listening at work is fairly likely to be a long TSL experience, even if it isn't foreground listening. If an office jockey listens for a solid hour a couple of times a day while she crunches spreadsheets, that's pretty good, even if it isn't listening 40 hours to B101 like diary entries used to say.
It’s a good positioning statement to attempt to reinforce the position.
I would think there is hope that someone who had to run out for milk or diapers in the evening might button push onto 106.1, like a few of the songs she's hearing, and when she hears that listen at work it might make her think yeah this music would be better at work than what I'm listening to now. She gets in the car in the morning, 106.1 is still on from last night and once again the reinforcement "your at work station" is a nice reminder of that change she wants to make to her at work radio. Not always but with younger targeted stations you are working with a shovel for a short period of time, older targets it's a spoon over a long period of time (in the metaphor of taking from your competitor's bucket and adding to yours).
As for Ben I would really try to own that upbeat variety position now with the breeze making B slightly adjust their tempo. They own the rock and classic rock station so be super mass appeal pop oriented and play 80-90% all the best testing upbeat adult female songs from the 80s till now. That remaining percent is to reinforce variety and needs to be those titles that are just missing out on the power score. A few might be favorites of a great many but dreadful to a few that weight down that score. When you are coming from the low position it needs to be a nice balance of well testing favorites but a little flavor to try and stand out from the pack.
As for Ben I would really try to own that upbeat variety position now with the breeze making B slightly adjust their tempo. They own the rock and classic rock station so be super mass appeal pop oriented and play 80-90% all the best testing upbeat adult female songs from the 80s till now. That remaining percent is to reinforce variety and needs to be those titles that are just missing out on the power score. A few might be favorites of a great many but dreadful to a few that weight down that score. When you are coming from the low position it needs to be a nice balance of well testing favorites but a little flavor to try and stand out from the pack.
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