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CHR battle—WNFN (Hot 106-7)beats WRVW (107-5 The River)
- Thread starter RockTheRadio
- Start date
Like you have said before, everything goes in cycles. This cycle reminds me of the mid-to latter 1980's when the music was together and engaging until about 1987 and it was fragmented and somewhat lackluster. What is interesting today is that there is actually so much music "out there," yet what is being programmed and deemed hits are falling short of listeners expectations. the The bigger issue in this era (vs. 1987) is "self-centered" personal listening and discovery is stronger in the demographic today and I am not sure how "radio" ever "recovers" from that. Other than sell off stations to non-commercial formats/companies and push the music towards the demos that "don't buy products." Both of which seem like chaotic moves that just remove more listeners.
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I don't think that is excessively true in CHR's target demo, which is sort of 18-34 women but mostly 25-44 women. The era of teen appeal of CHR died a number of decades ago along with "night rocker" DJs and the like.
"Radio" is not one format. So if CHR is struggling, iHeart has other stations in other formats that balance it all out. As Jim Cramer advises: A diversified portfolio will get you through the hard times. In the case of CHR, the problem is the music, and to fix that, it's up to record labels and artists to make music that will attract larger audiences. It's mutually beneficial for them to do that. Until that, listeners are fixated on Harry Styles and CHR stations are keeping costs down.
Off the subject of this topic, but we talk about this all the time. I contend radio is an entity that now has so many variables that are not in it's favor. And CHR is one of those formats that's showing it's weakness.
1) Corporate greed, sterilization and while better in many ways than "mom and pop" stations sounded twenty years ago, the delivery is not really changing. Sound quality, professional sound and tailoring local to a more national sound, yes.
2) Signal issues and coverage vs. satellite and home/office listening. We are more and more on our own island. A good thing and a bad thing.
3.) Record labels and artists think exactly how much about radio these days? Back in the 80's and prior, where else could a record label really go to hit a mass audience? If anything, radio, while still valid, does not get the respect and consideration that would or could move the music needle to "fix" the music issue. I believe it is going in the opposite direction.
4.) You have a market like Nashville with say 20 FM signals. A certain percentage of them now are non-music or religious. That narrows the options to a handful of stations and then people who don't listen to CHR go where? Or AC or Country? A news or sports talk fan in Nashville has many options. Sport is overloaded and they are competing for small revenue dollars and most are not profitable. You have half a dozen various stations programming religious music.
That means what is being offered if diminished and not as vibrant as it was and should be. So the whole industry (radio dial) suffers. You are only as good as those you. are surrounded by.
I agree with your analogy of formats balancing out. You have to have that diversity. It's interesting to watch each year get more and more tight and see aging demographics and fewer younger listeners even aware of what was "our music lives" to many of "us." I think CHR is a just the first break in the ice on music on FM in the years ahead. What happens when AC reverts back to older songs because the new music is not enough to sustain growth? What happens when the popularity of country takes a cyclical break? When those two things happen, and it may be a decade away, who do Classic Hits and Classic Rock stations do? The walls are closing in and WE ALL know that is eventual. How do we save ourselves from ourselves?
Added: Ross on Radio just hit my email. Today is a discussion of Nashville radio. Interesting read that hits close to home on this subject. Also in his "headlines" was the comment is the country format in trouble? We shall see.
1) Corporate greed, sterilization and while better in many ways than "mom and pop" stations sounded twenty years ago, the delivery is not really changing. Sound quality, professional sound and tailoring local to a more national sound, yes.
2) Signal issues and coverage vs. satellite and home/office listening. We are more and more on our own island. A good thing and a bad thing.
3.) Record labels and artists think exactly how much about radio these days? Back in the 80's and prior, where else could a record label really go to hit a mass audience? If anything, radio, while still valid, does not get the respect and consideration that would or could move the music needle to "fix" the music issue. I believe it is going in the opposite direction.
4.) You have a market like Nashville with say 20 FM signals. A certain percentage of them now are non-music or religious. That narrows the options to a handful of stations and then people who don't listen to CHR go where? Or AC or Country? A news or sports talk fan in Nashville has many options. Sport is overloaded and they are competing for small revenue dollars and most are not profitable. You have half a dozen various stations programming religious music.
That means what is being offered if diminished and not as vibrant as it was and should be. So the whole industry (radio dial) suffers. You are only as good as those you. are surrounded by.
I agree with your analogy of formats balancing out. You have to have that diversity. It's interesting to watch each year get more and more tight and see aging demographics and fewer younger listeners even aware of what was "our music lives" to many of "us." I think CHR is a just the first break in the ice on music on FM in the years ahead. What happens when AC reverts back to older songs because the new music is not enough to sustain growth? What happens when the popularity of country takes a cyclical break? When those two things happen, and it may be a decade away, who do Classic Hits and Classic Rock stations do? The walls are closing in and WE ALL know that is eventual. How do we save ourselves from ourselves?
Added: Ross on Radio just hit my email. Today is a discussion of Nashville radio. Interesting read that hits close to home on this subject. Also in his "headlines" was the comment is the country format in trouble? We shall see.
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Spend some time with Gen Z. They don't care about local or national. They listen on tinny earbuds. They don't care about sound quality. They want what they want, and they want it easy and free.
That's not a problem if you stream the signal, and since people aren't buying radios anymore, that's most likely the method.
Depends on the format. Have you ever been to Country Radio Seminar? It's happening next week in your home town. You'll get the answer to your question there.
Simple solution: The marketplace decides. The formats you get are the ones that make the most money.
You can't worry about things you can't control. Every one of us is in charge of our own square foot. There is no "industry." Even the NAB knows its limitations, and they don't speak for everyone.
And what would you do differently when the industry has lost over 60% of its "real dollars" in the last 20 years?
Satellite stagnated at about 11% of vehicles over a decade ago. For direct signal broadcast to cars, it only grows with the population.
Home and office is moving slowly to streaming, but much of what is streamed is local radio. The problem is that the rights payments for radio station streams make profitability nearly impossible.
Depends on the format. In country and all forms of Latin Music, radio is critical. Same on AC and Urban AC. A lot depends on the attitude of the artists themselves and whether they understand the role, still, of radio.
There are 45 commercial stations in the market. Only 15 are considered "viable" by an industry source.
For example, the CHR that is a partial market signal does 20% of the revenue of the full signal one.
The sports panorama only includes 2 viable signals. One is a top 5 biller, the other is still viable but depends on sports marketing dollars nationally due to its ESPN affiliation. The rest don't count.
It's always been that way. WMAK's better signal beat WKDA in the 70's. But then the big FM signals that were not directional at night and on lousy frequencies took over. We end up now, still, with more formats and stations that are viable than we had in the 60's and 70's.
CHR has always been cyclical. Look at the 1960-1963 period after the payola scandals... terrible music that was not improved on for almost 4 years! But this is a music issue, not a radio one.
This is all slow evolution. Abrams' "Superstars" did not just fail to wake up one morning... it faded and evolved into AOR classic hits. Same with all formats.
Remember when everyone was lamenting how country was dying with all the Kenny Rogers and John Denver? (It recovered, magnificently, though!)
And any long-time country fan misses the fiddles and steel guitars (On the other hand, I loved the FGL urban crossovers enough to go to a concert!).
You bring up valid points, but I think most are evolutionary, not revolutionary.
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Yet I can't find a single bad signal station that is highly profitable just because it makes up for coverage with its stream. And the stream's rights fees eat nearly all of any billing they have.
As I mentioned while you were posting this, a lot has to do with artist recognition of radio. Country artists even thank radio when they get awards. I have not seen an urban or hip hop artist do that for ten to 15 years.
And as I mentioned, there are stations that don't have the ability due to signal or management (Hello, David Field) to compete successfully. That has been the case since the 50's; even then half of all stations, per the actual FCC annual report, did not make money.
That sums up my answer to "why doesn't radio do something?". This comes up when people don't understand that radio can't make national advertisers buy 55+ audiences; radio leaders, group owners and every local street seller tries but you can't easily change things that respond to greater forces.
Don't forget about KPIG. They also sell subscriptions to make up for advertising shortfalls.
Online Streaming (KPIG.COM)
KPIG features a mix of folk, rock, alternative, blues and comedy, plus commentary. Listen live online!.
That is an interesting station. Despite only covering 2/3 of the Monterey/Salinas market, it is about 5th in billing which is excellent. The owner, the Stephens family, has the largest share (35%) of local revenue of any owner.Don't forget about KPIG. They also sell subscriptions to make up for advertising shortfalls.
Online Streaming (KPIG.COM)
KPIG features a mix of folk, rock, alternative, blues and comedy, plus commentary. Listen live online!.www.kpig.com
So you're saying that a sizable portion of teens today aren't listening to the artists currently on CHR stations at all, or that they're listening to them but not on FM? If the former, then what artists ARE they listening to? If the latter, how do you expect them to become FM listeners once they get into their twenties? Won't they just continue to rely on media other than OTA radio for their music?
All valid points, David and BigA. I think that David said it best: "most are evolutionary, not revolutionary." I have to work a bit. Today is fun because today is Kool & The Gang Day and Kool is in town. He is revolutionary launching his new Kool Champagne line. BigA, I will follow up. If you are playing here in town let me know. I go do a bit with the event, but crowds and groups make me nervous... best to stay hidden safely away.
No, I am saying that CHR stations target, principally, adult younger women.
It's been that way since agencies (and, most local accounts) stopped targeting anyone under about age 20 to 21. So, while stations may be used by teens, those stations do not target them at all... or if they do, it's just to get some revenue in fringe dayparts.
In fact, many advertisers with products that can't be sold to teens avoid stations that deliver too many teens. That is principally beer and liquor accounts, but also may include other age-limited things like night clubs and the like. They don't want to encourage legislation by seeming to be selling prohibited things to a teen audience.
I saw teen accounts dry up or withdraw from radio back in the late 70s'. It's been over four decades since Top 40 had any real focus on teens. The exceptions have been launches in the 80's and 90's where new CHRs like the Power Pig in Tampa used a "teens first" strategy to get WRBQ to lose control of its core.
I'm glad you did not take offense at my response or BigA's. This is a good example of interesting and provocative dialogue. Big
Here's what Nielsen said in 2019:
The Steady Reach of Radio: Winning Consumer Attention
The original electronic media, radio continues to reach more Americans than any other platform measured by Nielsen. Among adults 18+, radio reaches 92% of U.S. adults every week.
www.nielsen.com
In the chart, they say the monthly reach for ages 12-17 is 23 million pr 93% of teens, and that 18.5% listen to CHR.
The bottom half is likely in car listening with their parents.
This new Edison study says the time spent listening is smaller:
Audio Is Finding An Audience Among Gen Zs. But They’re Unlike Previous Generations.
Gen Zs – those between the ages of 12 and 24 – are heavier listeners of audio than older Americans, according to a newly-released report from Edison Research. They consume
Depends on what they want and what they can afford. We're not in the device business. My marching orders are to be on every device. If you do that, then it doesn't matter what happens to FM. But if they buy a car, the easiest and cheapest way to hear what they want will be that FM thing in the middle of the dash.
The "shiny new" car I just got last month has an "audio" button that has a speaker as its icon. If I push it or "tell it" verbally, it brings up "Satellite-FM-AM-Apple" as options. None is easier or more intuitive than any other.
Interestingly, the car automatically connects to Apple phone, but not to any other device. Of curiosity, I asked at the dealer what happened with Android users, and she said "with our marque, they simply go and switch phones... not cars".
Although there are a couple that require no subscription. If the bluetooth in your phone is on, usually the car will recognize it.
But it requires an additional step. I was referring to the fact that all four options are in the default screen menu under "audio".
I rented a Camry last week and it had the same thing. NBD.
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