Beyond someone leaving the station in “grandstanding” fashion and then returning a talent from WAPE’s hay day, I believe the real story here is Cox Radio itself and their 360.
While I believe the benefits of radio business decisions should not be judged until at least a couple full ratings cycles are reported, I will give Cox Radio this, they made a gutsy move. I'm not saying it's the right decision, in fact if anything it's loaded with risks but the stakes are high to keep Rock 105 viable for the future.
Consider all the Cox stellar on-air talent over the years who were dismissed because, according to their playbook, were done in response to "research" citing listener preferences of more music and no DJ patter. Now, it is obvious at least on Rock 105, that there is an admission that strong personalities can/will generate ratings. Is this a change of strategy for things to come or just something unique to Rock 105? I suspect the latter as WPLA is beating them by a mile and something needed to be done to protect the long range plan of WFYV.
Here is why I think the decision has risks.
For those who grew up with the Greaseman in Jax, we are now talking about listeners who are around 30 years older on average. Given WAPE was always a contemporary hit music station, it is assumed their core audience then was 18-25. It may have been even older, it would not be out of the rhelm of possibility. Today, a large part of that audience would be at least 48- 55.
Rock 105 is not main stream and so it is reasonable to believe a good number of WAPE’s hit music audience of the late 70s/early 80s will not necessarily follow the Greaseman to Rock 105. Also, if you look at the early 80s, the Jax metro area had a population of 700+, today it’s over 1.1 million. It’s safe to say a significant portion of the population has never even heard of this guy nor has an emotional bond to him. Also, population is a moving target as there are a percentage of people who have moved away from the Jax metro area after hearing the Greaseman during his WAPE tenure.
I doubt Cox Radio brought back Greaseman for old times sake as they would have you believe. They may want to try something different to just give the station some kind of uniqueness or edge to grow audience and music alone will not do it. Radio owners, such as Cox, have been programming their stations as if they were nothing more than jukeboxes, increasing no DJ dayparts via automation and limiting DJ talk to no more than a couple minutes an hour. Now, they have made a big programming/strategy change in PM drive and acknowledging music is no longer the star. But will the audience accept less music in the afternoon in favor of shock jock stuff?
As for the Greaseman, I’m sure he will attract some loyal listeners as well as the usual radio geeks who wax nostalgic. Average listener age could be a problem. This will remain to be seen but I believe the Greaseman should be given every opportunity to succeed. The tendancy on these boards is to go negative but I believe at least in this case, a reasonable amount of time will pass before the performance critiques take place.
It would not surprise me if Eagle begins to take a hit as I would think he demo make-up of that station would a natural for the Greasman to attract. This wouldn't be the first time, Cox Radio negatively impacts one station for another. I suspect Rock 105 has more of a future in their overall buisness plan than Eagle and the Point have. The big question, I believe, is how well will the Greeasman do in attracting NEW core demo friendly listeners to Rock 105 and to the Cox cluster? I’m sure a lot is riding on the success of this move.
While I believe the benefits of radio business decisions should not be judged until at least a couple full ratings cycles are reported, I will give Cox Radio this, they made a gutsy move. I'm not saying it's the right decision, in fact if anything it's loaded with risks but the stakes are high to keep Rock 105 viable for the future.
Consider all the Cox stellar on-air talent over the years who were dismissed because, according to their playbook, were done in response to "research" citing listener preferences of more music and no DJ patter. Now, it is obvious at least on Rock 105, that there is an admission that strong personalities can/will generate ratings. Is this a change of strategy for things to come or just something unique to Rock 105? I suspect the latter as WPLA is beating them by a mile and something needed to be done to protect the long range plan of WFYV.
Here is why I think the decision has risks.
For those who grew up with the Greaseman in Jax, we are now talking about listeners who are around 30 years older on average. Given WAPE was always a contemporary hit music station, it is assumed their core audience then was 18-25. It may have been even older, it would not be out of the rhelm of possibility. Today, a large part of that audience would be at least 48- 55.
Rock 105 is not main stream and so it is reasonable to believe a good number of WAPE’s hit music audience of the late 70s/early 80s will not necessarily follow the Greaseman to Rock 105. Also, if you look at the early 80s, the Jax metro area had a population of 700+, today it’s over 1.1 million. It’s safe to say a significant portion of the population has never even heard of this guy nor has an emotional bond to him. Also, population is a moving target as there are a percentage of people who have moved away from the Jax metro area after hearing the Greaseman during his WAPE tenure.
I doubt Cox Radio brought back Greaseman for old times sake as they would have you believe. They may want to try something different to just give the station some kind of uniqueness or edge to grow audience and music alone will not do it. Radio owners, such as Cox, have been programming their stations as if they were nothing more than jukeboxes, increasing no DJ dayparts via automation and limiting DJ talk to no more than a couple minutes an hour. Now, they have made a big programming/strategy change in PM drive and acknowledging music is no longer the star. But will the audience accept less music in the afternoon in favor of shock jock stuff?
As for the Greaseman, I’m sure he will attract some loyal listeners as well as the usual radio geeks who wax nostalgic. Average listener age could be a problem. This will remain to be seen but I believe the Greaseman should be given every opportunity to succeed. The tendancy on these boards is to go negative but I believe at least in this case, a reasonable amount of time will pass before the performance critiques take place.
It would not surprise me if Eagle begins to take a hit as I would think he demo make-up of that station would a natural for the Greasman to attract. This wouldn't be the first time, Cox Radio negatively impacts one station for another. I suspect Rock 105 has more of a future in their overall buisness plan than Eagle and the Point have. The big question, I believe, is how well will the Greeasman do in attracting NEW core demo friendly listeners to Rock 105 and to the Cox cluster? I’m sure a lot is riding on the success of this move.