If you compare WERS playlist to the successful (measured by PPM), WERS has very little in common. As a non-comm station, I'm glad they take that position, as their playlist is very refreshing; however, not commercially viable.
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Boston Radio Ratings April 2020.
- Thread starter freqlost
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If you compare WERS playlist to the successful (measured by PPM), WERS has very little in common. As a non-comm station, I'm glad they take that position, as their playlist is very refreshing; however, not commercially viable.
Which owner of stations in Boston does an alt format you'd approve? Entercom, iHeart, Beasley?
Entercom and iHeart both have examples of successfully run Alternative stations.
Beasley has no Alternative stations.
That wasn't what I asked. Truthfully, Entercom alt stations aren't very successful. They just got their behind kicked in LA.
Unclear what you asked.
We've discussed the LA scenario on another board. KROQ is in rebuild mode with the end of the 'Kevin and Bean' era and we happen to be in the middle of a pandemic.
Entercom has successful Alternative stations in Seattle, Sacramento and Portland off the top of my head.
You said WBOS was "poorly programmed." My question was which of the station owners in Boston do an alt format you'd approve? Success in alt usually means mostly older hits and maybe 4 or 5 currents.
Still not sure I'm understanding your question. Both Entercom and iHeart have examples of successfully programmed Alternative stations. I would not advocate cloning any station; rather I would advocate building a station built for Boston. Also, I'm not comfortable declaring the exact current to gold ratio.
Entercom appears to place a lot of more control in the hands of their local Program Directors and each of their brands appears to reflect their market. (NYC and LA may be exception at moment with same PD overseeing both).
iHeart is much more homogenized and centrally controlled. iHeart (generally) seems to have 2 ALT models: The KYSR/WRFF model and KBZT model. For Boston, I believe the KYSR/WRFF model would be a better fit, but have not seen local market research to verify this 'guess'.
The three Entercom stations you mention are heritage stations. That helps when talking about this format. In Boston, they'd have to start from zero. If iHeart does alt, it will follow their company playlist with The Woody Show in mornings. If Entercom does it, I don't see it being much different from WNYL. In this economy with the current financial state of Entercom, I don't expect them to hire a PD and staff exclusive to Boston. You have to be realistic.
Hopefully, iHeart has learned that the Woody Show is a bad idea outside of LA.
Otherwise, this thread is starting to go in circles...
Otherwise, this thread is starting to go in circles...
I agree, especially since it's unlikely either iHeart or Entercom will be flipping any station in Boston to Alt.
And since a larger segment of what used to be rock's prime demographic (white male 18-44) now prefers rap and related rhythmic genres. It's not a monolithic demo of air-guitar players and hasn't been since the turn of the millennium. The rock diehards seem to live in denial of this.
You hit on the key, often mentioned in other threads about rock: the genre has fragmented into subsets. This is particularly true with progressive rock, where there are multiple and generally unfriendly to each other sub groups. This makes it nearly impossible to have a consensus, mass appeal format in any kind of rock except classic rock.
I guess, though, I should pull my air guitar out of the closet and try to do a few bars of "Go Your Own Way" and pretend I am Lindsey...
(And that dates me and the format...)
The original question has been derailed by the "Alternative will never work in Boston/too many silos" crowd. I will stand by my previous comment that a well-programmed Alternative is worth a 3 share + in Boston and will make Entercom more revenue than an also-ran CHR sitting in the mid 1 share range. Alternative era WBOS is not a good comparison and WERS appeals to a different audience.
I've seen a lot of comments on why I'm wrong, but have not seen a better idea. If you're going to challenge this as the best solution, I suggest you offer a better option. And, if you believe they should stay the course with mid a share AMP, that's fine too.
Are the alt demos comparable to the CHR demos? I don't know they are. Entercom already gets the male audience with sports. Flipping a station to alt creates a competitor for their sports station. Yes they have that situation in NYC, and WNYL doesn't get a 3 share. In fact it's down to a 1 share. I'm not sure where you come up with the potential 3 share.
First, if you're going to challenge my idea, please offer a better solution. We can't have a meaningful dialogue if the response to every comment is 'Nope. Not going to work'. OK - if it won't work, what WILL work better? From the outside looking in, it appears Entercom will need to make some sort of move when the time is right.
There are different approaches to the Alternative format with slightly different demographic appeal. If you look at stations like WNYL, KYSR, WRFF, KTCL, they are split between men and woman, with a slight skew toward men. The format would likely draw Cume from a variety of different brands, but would not be a direct competitor to their sports brand. (A pop leaning Alternative could very definitely draw listeners from Kiss).
My 3 share projection is based on the current Boston share distribution, as well at Alt performance in other markets in comparison with ethnic makeup.
That really isn't my job. The people whose job it is have made the decisions they've made for a reason. You want them to change. The onus is on you.
My view is the new music is stagnant, and neither the labels or artists are motivated to play ball with radio. There's a lot of risk with limited reward, not something I'd recommend in this economy. My sense is if Entercom wanted to do something in Boston, they'd have done it with WAAF.
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Not our jobs, but as humans it's nice to take a constructive approach to conversation. With that said, its very difficult to have a dialogue when every response points out problems, rather than looks for solutions. I have lots of bad ideas and totally accept that my ideas may not work, but if my idea is bad, please give me a better idea.
It is very easy to point out problems and challenges and doesn't really get us anywhere unless we have a better 'alternative'. There's rarely a case where a market has a slam dunk format opening. What is a better option in Boston? Nobody has offered one from what I can tell.
As for WAAF, their signal does not properly cover Boston, it's makes much more impact West of Boston toward Worcester. I don't think they made a bad decision getting rid of the signal.
My point in bringing up WAAF is if Entercom owns heritage in any format, that's it. So my bet would be if they flip to another format, that would be the best bet. But as I said, the economy doesn't make format flips productive right now.
There are several other open formats in Boston. Lots of older folks would love a true classic hits. But I don't see Entercom or iHeart doing it.
Today is not a great day for a format flip, but at some point commuters will be back in their vehicles and the advertising economy will rebound. All radio companies are likely making plans for how they emerge at that time. If they have a failing brand, it will be a good opportunity for relaunch or format change.
In terms of Classic Hits, how would you differentiate from WROR? More 70s? Would that still hit the 25-54 demo? If not would it be viable economically? (There are those who believe that demo should be expanded, but as far as I know media buys are targetted up to 54).
In terms of Classic Hits, how would you differentiate from WROR? More 70s? Would that still hit the 25-54 demo? If not would it be viable economically? (There are those who believe that demo should be expanded, but as far as I know media buys are targetted up to 54).
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