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Could an all psychydelic format work in a major market?

O.C. thanx for the input, I'm looking at it from a listener standpoint but remember that a LOT of albums were sold during this period. Did a lot of people buy them or did relatively few people acquire hundreds of albums?
I thought that a format like this could be successful for a station that is in the tank so to speak that can hit 2-3 markets w/ their signal and where ther census data shows a higher than ave% of people in the 50-60 yo age range. And yes, we spend $$ and lot of it too.
Judging from the relatively low #of responses so far, I would tend to reluctantly agree w/ your logic/expertise.
 
psychydelic

vibe said:
O.C. thanx for the input, I'm looking at it from a listener standpoint but remember that a LOT of albums were sold during this period. Did a lot of people buy them or did relatively few people acquire hundreds of albums?
I thought that a format like this could be successful for a station that is in the tank so to speak that can hit 2-3 markets w/ their signal and where ther census data shows a higher than ave% of people in the 50-60 yo age range. And yes, we spend $$ and lot of it too.
Judging from the relatively low #of responses so far, I would tend to reluctantly agree w/ your logic/expertise.
Click to expand...

I really think that the element you're referring to is somewhat covered by Classic Rock stations, at least that genre of music listeners still want to hear (and, I see a lot of research- it's not much).

:)
 
Vibe,
With respect, YOU have every right to put your dream station on.

If it covers a couple or 3 markets it must have big-time power. Careful of your electric bill, and your ascrap and bmi bills, then since YOU are originating this "music" you'll need an announcer staff - I wish you luck finding the "drugged up 53 year old hippies" to push, er play this stuff.

If you are low on money, you must sell this idea to somebody who loves radio and has cash. I bet you can find someone. I found a partner for my first owned station in my college. His dad was a multi-millionaire, and his son helped me become one.

Partner 2 was a Ford dealer and #3 sold Allis-Chalmers tractors. In 7 years, I bought them all out and after 17 years, sold 4 stations and multiple construction permits.

Now, find (most importantly) the ad sales people. Can you do it? There are lots of people around who could invest. A radio station broker could help you locate investors for a fee.

Are you ready for 16 hour days? Go for it!
 
Great Feedback!
I certainly don't have money for a radio station and I threw out this post to see how it would play in Peroia. There just seems to be a large # of great songs that don't fall into the oldies OR classic rock formats.
2. There is a FM station in New England that broadcasts off Mt. Washington, WHOM, that is receivable in all/parts of all 6 New England States, N.Y. State and several Canadian providences. I don't know tthe format (is it Adult Contemporary?) but the station has a tremendous reach and could certainly reach a lot of "stoned out former 53 y.o hippies." Just think about it advertisers could do well on a station where the listening audience is famous for a lack of inpulse control. The station is received well outside the contours of Radio Locator (I'd estimate a serviceable signal of at least 120+ air miles in all directions) and can be received well beyond that if one if on a hill. A station like that is a possible candidate for the format.
3. Having read the posts I know the idea may be idealistic but I truly believe there is a very large market, not niche, out there for a station such as this or at least for a programming segment at night when folks are "mellowing out." It sure beats classic rock stations w/ 300 song playlists.
After all, how much Steely Dan can one take, eh?
 
station

hammondo said:
Vibe,
With respect, YOU have every right to put your dream station on.

If it covers a couple or 3 markets it must have big-time power. Careful of your electric bill, and your ascrap and bmi bills, then since YOU are originating this "music" you'll need an announcer staff - I wish you luck finding the "drugged up 53 year old hippies" to push, er play this stuff.

If you are low on money, you must sell this idea to somebody who loves radio and has cash. I bet you can find someone. I found a partner for my first owned station in my college. His dad was a multi-millionaire, and his son helped me become one.

Partner 2 was a Ford dealer and #3 sold Allis-Chalmers tractors. In 7 years, I bought them all out and after 17 years, sold 4 stations and multiple construction permits.

Now, find (most importantly) the ad sales people. Can you do it? There are lots of people around who could invest. A radio station broker could help you locate investors for a fee.

Are you ready for 16 hour days? Go for it!
Click to expand...

And, beyond all that, a format that's mass appeal IN that small market. Which this isn't.
 
Peroia (that missipelled central Illinois place) is a great radio town.
 
Well, I would love it. I have an extensive library of psychedelic music, most of which is underground 60s and 70s.
There were alot of great bands that didn't get airplay. Theres a web only station called psychedelic web of sound that lists alot of these artists. There was a band called Avante Gard that had Chuck Woolery in it...LOL.

Attracting advertisers would be the problem.

Personally I love the idea.
 
Let me add that there is plenty of psychedelic music from the period to fill up a rotation!
 
There is plenty of every kind of music.

The idea is to get out the thousand best - and that takes research.

"Whatever falls on the turntable" (as they used to say) won't work unless you only want the "super fans" to listen.
 
There IS a lot of music from the period a lot of songs that were not considered "hits" because the main focus was to sell the album. Groups such as Blind Faith, King Crimsom and Quicksilver Messenger Service come quickly to mind. When was the last time you heard any of those artists who were mainstream for the period? I am tired of hearing how people in the 55 age range are not good ad targets. You need to remember that many of us who enjoy psychedelic music march to a slightly different beat and make a lot of purchases/decisions on inpulse. The format could work in a market where the music was extremely popular (Boston, NYC, S.F etc); it problably wouldn't play in Peoria.(just kiding) Maybe census data info would reveal a market with a disproportinate number of 55y.o'ds who have been "stoned and zepplened" to death over the last 30+ years.
 
You said;There IS a lot of music from the period a lot of songs that were not considered "hits" because the main focus was to sell the album. Groups such as Blind Faith, King Crimsom and Quicksilver Messenger Service come quickly to mind.
_____________________
Now you are getting into deep doo doo unless you RESEARCH VERY CAREFULLY (as Westwood one did for their Adult Standards). EVERY song hit the mark.

This Psychedelic format might work better on the internet than on broadcast radio, as your target is quite narrow. You'd need alot less money there, too -
or you could spend LOTS MORE on promotion and research (a wise move).

If you would spend alot on a radio station purchase, you'd want a max return on your investment, that is may cause problems doing somthing like this.

You said; I am tired of hearing how people in the 55 age range are not good ad targets.
______________________
Well, get some sleep, because with a format like this you will hear that sentence alot!

Drop the needle, please (NO, not that needle)!
ARE YOU READY? by Pacific Gas and Electric.
Do You KNow What I Mean? Lee Michaels

(I'm not a big fan of the bands YOU mentioned - but was in radio in those years so I have some favorites).
 
More thinking; A review of WHY there are not stations like this NOW
in most markets (or even in 55 age group skewed markets) should be enough to reveal to anyone that there probably is not a large, untapped nationwide market of radio fans who want alot of the psychedelic genre of music.

There might be pockets of such people in some local markets, but overall, there doesn't seem to be enough psychedelic radio fans who want this genre of music.

BUT>>>who knows? You need to research alot.

If one attempts to "grow" the market for the psychedelic genre of music, it would be the exact same process as growing the country genre of music.

You would have to find people who didn't listen to music radio at all, and get them to start listening to psychedelic music radio, or you'd h
have to convince fans of other music genres to switch to psychedelic.
 
psychydelic format

We can go back & forth on this for another couple of weeks, gentlemen, but here's the whole thing in a nutshell:

*there isn't enough music to sustain it

*there aren't enough listeners to support it
 
Cat, I'm not sure about "not ernough music."

I bet there are close to 1000 songs. That could do it. I won't have time to research more til probably Wednesday.
 
psychydelic

It's one thing to say "close to 1,000 songs" (and I think you're way high on that).

Then, there's "how many songs would a large enough number of people want to hear on a regular basis".

There's mass-appeal, there's niche programming- and there's this idea. Super-ultra niche, which means "a dog format".
 
Yup, it would be a dog, but could last til the money runs out.

If you only play 300 songs in 1 market, they will burn out and your already limited audience will get tired soon. You probably should do something similar to what "timeless classics" does VERY well, and have an "A" list that are the "killers" played much more often and several less played lists through an hour, in order to rotate music in and out, to avoid staleness.

The concept is as cookie cutter as any other music format. The number/type of ADVERTISERS concerns me. Would a BANK advertise here? It needs LOTS of research - and LOTS of "killing of stereotypes."
 
but

hammondo said:
Yup, it would be a dog, but could last til the money runs out.

If you only play 300 songs in 1 market, they will burn out and your already limited audience will get tired soon. You probably should do something similar to what "timeless classics" does VERY well, and have an "A" list that are the "killers" played much more often and several less played lists through an hour, in order to rotate music in and out, to avoid staleness.

The concept is as cookie cutter as any other music format. The number/type of ADVERTISERS concerns me. Would a BANK advertise here? It needs LOTS of research - and LOTS of "killing of stereotypes."
Click to expand...

Why just pour money down the drain doing a super-hyper-niche format 6 people would love for six months? You're better doing an internet radio station.

Not to mention there aren't enough songs to rotate songs in and out of this format's playlist.

This thing is a loser from the minute it hits the air and no amount of research or "killing of stereotypes" will help.
 
Cat, YOU said, "This thing is a loser from the minute it hits the air."

Well, I'm less negative, because All-polka, CLASSICAL, all-Catholic, all Jewish formats all made it. All-Elvis, All Sinatra and some others like those have also been tried.

This is a LIFESTYLE format (albeit with some bad connotations) and skews over 50- to nearly 60. Does Sirius or XM have such a channel?

Another question is "can you sell ads to a bank or a home builder with this format?" I never met a (male) bank president with a pony tail.

What else beside music is on this station? Maybe this works with Air America news? I would not be interested, but it could fit the "lifestyle."

Actually, this format would lend itself well to beng on the internet. NO BIG POWER BILL (the thing that most scares me) for that blowtorch signal you suggested.

Cat said, "there aren't enough songs to rotate songs in and out of this format's playlist."

I wrote down 300 songs in about 15 minutes. Those were more MASS APPEAL psychedelic hits (I'm really not into the "hard stuff.") This music is around my generation (I'm 57) but even 300 "all long screaming guitar solo" songs do NOT appeal to me at all. Selector (music programming software) needs to have lots of categories.

I admit "in a gada da vida" and "Jimi Hendrix" and "Grateful Dead" would NOT lend themselves well to constant HIGH rotation, as "Nel Blu di Pinto De Blu" and "In the Mood" do for standards, and "If You Leave Me Now" and "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Elvis" and "Beatles" hits do for oldies.
 
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