There's more to a radio station than just music.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Cleveland Radio Jan 26 Ratings
- Thread starter skiwest
- Start date
There's more to a radio station than just music.
One brands themselves as Majic 105.7 and the other 106.5 The Lake. The other difference is that The Lake has no DJs or hosts. Other than that, ~75% of the music shared between the two is the same. Same commercials as well and almost technically the same format too.
Really, one needs to do a complete overhaul and format change. I'm not sure why Cleveland still continues to lack a soft AC format since WDOK moved away from it back in 2012. And no, WAKR AM 1590 and WHOF 101.7 FM don't count as Cleveland stations, as they don't focus on the Cleveland area and are hard to receive north of Summit County.
And yet, according to the 6+, they don't have the exact same ratings. So somebody perceives some differences.
This is not uncommon. In Los Angeles, Audacy owns KRTH and KCBS. Radio stations are not in the music distribution business.
Simple: They can't sell it to advertisers. But they can sell The Lake and Majic.
Radio would be very different if listeners paid for it instead of advertisers.
But aren't the media giants selling advertising for all stations in their cluster, not individual stations?
They're selling audience, which means demographics. They're also selling streaming, online content, studio sponsorships, and anything they can think of.
The Breeze is a great streaming format. You can find it on iHeart radio. It's not useful as a broadcast format. At least not in Cleveland.
That used to be on WGAR 99.5 HD2 a several years ago. Probably pulled the plug as so few listeners listen to or have access to a HD Radio. Same with Real Oldies on WMJI HD2. That was good back in the early 2010s, but they eventually tuned the format to more of a mainstream format instead of the dance/pop format that it originally was, and I think it's now focused on songs from the 60s and 70s, rather than just mainly 60s.
Throw out the classic rock songs on WMJI and they would essentially be soft AC.
The reason those classic rock songs are there is to prevent that from happening.
And the musical difference between classic rock and classic hits [or oldies] is that they are basically the same anymore. I would say between them there seems to be almost a 75-80% overlap. In the past I've tuned in to WNCX & WQMX and have literally just heard a song that I had heard on WHLK or WMJI minutes prior to me stabbing the station buttons while scanning the dial. I can remember stations staying in their lanes decades ago and it's "Nope, ain't playing that song, it's too country, too classic, too much rock, too much "something" else and doesn't fit our format so we ain't so not playing it." Now, if it's close they'll play it.
WQMX? I can't think of a single overlap between current Country and Classic Rock, Classic Hits or Variety Hits.
Majic and The Lake have quite a bit of overlap, yes. But look at how many markets where the same operator has both Classic Hits and Mainstream AC. Or Mainstream AC and Hot AC. Or Hot AC and CHR. Or Classic Hits and Classic Rock.
For a long, long time Majic stayed in the 70s (and late 60s) when most Classic Hits stations had transitioned to the 80s. This was absolutely due to The Lake. At some point the decision was made to bring Majic into the 80s. As that happened, The Lake started adding some Alternative titles as well as some 90s and early 2000s pop and rock titles that most iHeart Variety Hits stations don't play. A majority of the iHeart Variety Hits stations air the national 'Pop Drive' logs and a few take the 'Rock Drive' logs. The Lake doesn't use either that I'm aware, although they used the 'Pop Drive' log until a few years ago.
I'd also argue that Classic Rock and Classic Hits, while they do have overlap, don't overlap as much as you'd think.
Majic and The Lake have quite a bit of overlap, yes. But look at how many markets where the same operator has both Classic Hits and Mainstream AC. Or Mainstream AC and Hot AC. Or Hot AC and CHR. Or Classic Hits and Classic Rock.
For a long, long time Majic stayed in the 70s (and late 60s) when most Classic Hits stations had transitioned to the 80s. This was absolutely due to The Lake. At some point the decision was made to bring Majic into the 80s. As that happened, The Lake started adding some Alternative titles as well as some 90s and early 2000s pop and rock titles that most iHeart Variety Hits stations don't play. A majority of the iHeart Variety Hits stations air the national 'Pop Drive' logs and a few take the 'Rock Drive' logs. The Lake doesn't use either that I'm aware, although they used the 'Pop Drive' log until a few years ago.
I'd also argue that Classic Rock and Classic Hits, while they do have overlap, don't overlap as much as you'd think.
Sales of OTA radio devices would confirm that. For most people, myself included, the only OTA radio they own is the one that came with their car.
That's why radio companies have shifted most of their resources to other platforms. They know how people get their music and media.
So how are they listening - on a phone or computer? The sound quality can't possibly be as good as on my home stereo receiver.
And this is where I'd say that internet streaming has gone way too far. Back in the early 2000s, the only competitor to traditional AM/FM broadcasting was Sirius and XM satellite radio. Yes, some radio stations did have an online stream, but they were not hubbed into a platform, and was during a time when most people were tethered to a cable for internet access with no smart phones and such.
It's funny how people would rather pay for streaming than to hear their favorite songs for free on broadcast radio. Of course, if radio stations had a much broader playlist instead of playing the same 40 songs day in and day out, perhaps more people would be tuning in. Get rid of streaming and advertisers would be flocking back to broadcast radio, and stations would likely care less about their format or targeted demographic.
Could be smart speakers too. Lots of those out there. They sound pretty good. Imagine if they also included AM/FM. But the tech companies who make smart speakers have no interest in promoting broadcast radio.
Except that most people stream the same 40 songs day in and day out. The reason they avoid broadcast radio is because of the commercials and the other interruptions.
Alot of streaming stations have apps available you can download on your smart TV so you can listen through your home entertainment system or surround sound system
I've said it before but just before XM went "on-air" so to speak I was offered a spot on one of the Decades Channels. MY first thought was "PAY radio? Who's going to fall for that? I can turn on my AM/FM radio and hear music for free. This will be dead in two years. AND there's no way in hell I want to move to Washington D.C." Now it's "Boy, what an idiot I was. Wish I could turn my feet around and kick myself in the ass." So streaming may end up with some over-the-air listeners but not all. I find it's still pretty unreliable as it'll buffer, cut out mid stream requiring to reboot/refresh my browser or app. As far as XM goes, I should have thought about what one of my high school teachers was offered when WWII ended. One of his buddies said he was starting up a company to build computer machines that could do math and other calculations faster than any human could ever do and offered him to go in as part owner if he chipped in a chunk of change. My teach at the time thought it was a pie in the sky idea and it would never happen so turned him down. That company today is known as IBM.
What streams or app are you using? How fast is your internet? I use the Radio Garden app and have never had a station buffer at all, and I listen to station streams from all around the world on it.
Been a while since I used Radio Garden so dialed it up. Weirdly, I am getting a "station" out of Maple Heights "Black Kush Radio" and from what I heard of some of the lyrics, it probably isn't a "legal" station. I've checked various sites and can't find any station licensed to Maple Heights unless it's a translator and I don't think it is. I'm not sure exactly how Radio Garden works but I wonder if it's "promoting" pirate stations also? .My internet speed is around 240 MBPs but doesn't really matter because I've had numerous different internet companies going back at least 25 years and they all either buffered or just flat out stopped and had to refresh to get it to play again. For my phone, I've had different carriers and they've all had the same issues, buffering, etc.
I either use the station's app [which I assume defaults to either ihearts or Audacy's stream for those stations]
I guess Radio Garden might be broadcasting stations that just stream and have no over the air presence. I'm getting Ernest Angley World Radio [didn't know he had enough power to broadcast from the afterlife], a Crooked River Radio Network out of Akron [oldies format], no yakking or ID that I heard, just one song into another, some Bible Truth Radio from Akron a RadioActive1 WBOB from Canton; again not a "real" station I would assume since I heard a "MotherF***er" on one of the song lyrics, And one out of Wadsworth, a LPFM that's listed but not coming in. I'll be-bop around their site some more to see what else is out there.
And it doesn't have every station, checking my old stomping grounds in Florida and a whole lot of stations aren't on Radio Garden.
I either use the station's app [which I assume defaults to either ihearts or Audacy's stream for those stations]
I guess Radio Garden might be broadcasting stations that just stream and have no over the air presence. I'm getting Ernest Angley World Radio [didn't know he had enough power to broadcast from the afterlife], a Crooked River Radio Network out of Akron [oldies format], no yakking or ID that I heard, just one song into another, some Bible Truth Radio from Akron a RadioActive1 WBOB from Canton; again not a "real" station I would assume since I heard a "MotherF***er" on one of the song lyrics, And one out of Wadsworth, a LPFM that's listed but not coming in. I'll be-bop around their site some more to see what else is out there.
And it doesn't have every station, checking my old stomping grounds in Florida and a whole lot of stations aren't on Radio Garden.