Country for Frisco,zilch for NYC

[CTListener]

You're right David but there are still songs about trucks and tractors, drinking beer and church.
Country has modernized but there's some real twang still around.

Hasn't stopped it from being successful in nontraditional markets like Boston and Hartford, though. Back in the day, as David says, WHN and other country stations in this part of the country (Boston's WCOP, Hartford's WMLB) wouldn't play the real twang much or even at all, instead diluting the playlist with soft pop crossovers or going deeper into the likes of Barbara Mandrell and Eddie Rabbitt for recurrent or gold. But here in 2022, there's no real difference between country radio in these markets and traditionally strong country markets. They're all playing "New Truck," "Drinkin' Beer, Talkin' God Amen," "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" (as gold), and "7500 OBO." I've been hearing a new song by Justin Moore, "With a Woman You Love," that's as twangy as it gets, with Moore employing his Arkansas drawl on lyrics about "buying five acres and a farmhouse." WWYZ and WKLB most likely are getting few listeners in Hartford or Boston proper, but the suburbs aren't rejecting country music that sounds country.

Of course, Hartford and Boston have tiny geographic footprints compared to New York City, and it's much easier for an FM to cover nearly all of the suburbs. I'm guessing that full coverage that includes Putnam and Westchester and Nassau, along with northern New Jersey and southwest Connecticut, from a transmitter on the ESB, or anywhere else, is technically impossible. Result: The station reaches too many "ethnics" who are hard-wired for rhythmic, but way too few of the far-flung suburbanites who'd make the format too successful for the advertisers to ignore.

One last thing: Just a couple of weeks ago, all of us (me included) were in agreement that KRTY was country's last gasp in the Bay Area. Then a station owner that wasn't one of the mega-chains stepped up and flipped a station to country. So NYC still could be in for a country surprise -- at least over a portion of the five boroughs -- if a similar signal is chosen for a flip there.

 

[CTListener]

Last night the CMT awards (which were actually on CBS not CMT btw....ok) beat american idol in 18-34 0.39 to 0.30.
Yet it lost 18-49 0.68 to 0.67.
Im surprised that it won the younger demo relatively easy even though it lost though barely to the older.

0.68/0.67 is essentially the same number. CMT on CBS may well have beaten Idol on ABC pretty comfortably in 18-49 too, since no one was actually counting every single person in every single household last night.

 

[Barry]

One of the great things about Country music from a broadcasting perspective is that the same songs attract young and older alike.
Watching the CMT awards last night, people who appeared to be in their 20's and 30's made up a considerable portion of the audience.
As virtually every major city (including once again San Francisco) has at least one Country station, it is apparent that the genre has appeal throughout the U.S., and Canada.

 

[TheBigA]

You're right David but there are still songs about trucks and tractors, drinking beer and church.
Country has modernized but there's some real twang still around.

Once again, it wasn't the music that was the problem. WNSH got perfectly adequate ratings with their programming. The issue was strictly a sales problem. That's not because of the music, but because the sales force simply couldn't sell the product.

So now they have a format that is attracting a much smaller audience, but perhaps is more in line with what the sales staff can work with. This is a very conventional group of sales people who seem to only know how to sell older formats.

 

[davideduardo]

I'm guessing that full coverage that includes Putnam and Westchester and Nassau, along with northern New Jersey and southwest Connecticut, from a transmitter on the ESB, or anywhere else, is technically impossible. Result: The station reaches too many "ethnics" who are hard-wired for rhythmic, but way too few of the far-flung suburbanites who'd make the format too successful for the advertisers to ignore.

The standard power ESB station's 60 dbu covers SW CT, most all the population of Westchester and Rockland and about 90% of the population of the suburban NJ counties. The ones with partial coverage have most of their population in the part that is closest to the city.

In fact, using WCBS-FM as an example, they get ratings in Danbury, CT, Poughkeepsie, NY, Monmouth, NJ and several other peripheral locations that are rated. Of 18 million in the Metro Survey Area, 16 million live in the 60 dbu areas. And we know that, with the lack of bigger signals in NE NJ other than the ones from NYC, listeners use the NYC stations extensively.

One last thing: Just a couple of weeks ago, all of us (me included) were in agreement that KRTY was country's last gasp in the Bay Area. Then a station owner that wasn't one of the mega-chains stepped up and flipped a station to country. So NYC still could be in for a country surprise -- at least over a portion of the five boroughs -- if a similar signal is chosen for a flip there.

There is no "similar signal" to the one in the Bay Area that went country. There are some suburban Class A signals, and just a couple of B's out on LI that are all doing marvelously. The A's won't work and the LI B's are not going to change.

 

[davideduardo]

Once again, it wasn't the music that was the problem. WNSH got perfectly adequate ratings with their programming. The issue was strictly a sales problem. That's not because of the music, but because the sales force simply couldn't sell the product.

Nobody can sell with a station that has no "strong zone" when the 18+ was almost down at 20th. Were they to have had a core demo that made them specifically strong, such as 25-44 women or the like, they could have sold well. But there was no hook to hang their pitch on.

So now they have a format that is attracting a much smaller audience, but perhaps is more in line with what the sales staff can work with. This is a very conventional group of sales people who seem to only know how to sell older formats.

It's also a format that has a strong spot in 25-44, particularly among Hispanics and African Americans and has an "angle" that will get them buys if there are any for yet another stations that ranks below 15th overall.

 

[101tm]

Agreed, although I could see trying to work a swap to a better signal by throwing in some cash or other assets, perhaps in other markets.

It would be amazing if Audacy could get Pacifica to deal 99.5 to them for 94.7 and some cash but we all know Pacifica is never giving up 99.5.

 

[TheBigA]

Nobody can sell with a station that has no "strong zone" when the 18+ was almost down at 20th. Were they to have had a core demo that made them specifically strong, such as 25-44 women or the like, they could have sold well. But there was no hook to hang their pitch on.

The demos were much better before Audacy owned the station. In 2020, Audacy embarked on their national programming plan for country and alternative that decimated stations in both formats. The replacement of local talent and local management caused a lot of their major market country stations to underperform in the key country demo. All of this affected WNSH as well, even though some of the national programming was using talent from the station. They simply did a very bad job at creating national programming, and the audience knew it.

My take is that Audacy realized they made a mistake in Alternative, and reversed a lot of the decisions they made in 2020. But they really don't know how to fix the national country problem. They turned the stations back to local management, and that has resulted in improvements in Houston and Phoenix. But that turnaround never happened at WNSH.

You talk about a "strong zone," and sometimes that takes an anchor program. KROQ once had it with Kevin & Bean. People would listen to the morning show even if they weren't fans of the music. Years ago, KMPS had such a talent with Ichabod Caine. WSIX had such a talent with Jerry House. WNSH had no such anchor show. In Houston, they made a great marketing decision by adding the Houston Texans to the lineup, and that helped KILT become the top billing country station in the US. WNSH needed such an anchor.

Audacy seems to be looking for an anchor in country. iHeart has one with Bobby Bones. Audacy thinks they have one with Katie Neal. David Field thinks he can create a unique programming and marketing package with the Hard Rock Cafe. He talked about it in Nashville a couple months ago:

For Audacy’s David Field, Success Extends Beyond Radio.

“To be competitive today, you need to have great local radio, great digital and great podcasting,” Audacy Chairman, President and CEO David Field told Country Radio Seminar attendees Friday. To

www.insideradio.com

“We're going to have an Audacy performance stage [in the Hard Rock Hotel planned for Nashville] where we'll be able to do lots of events,” he said. “We're also going to be able to build out a studio right on Broadway where Katie will do her show, which is pretty awesome.”

So we'll see what he is able to do. Audacy is spending a lot to create a presence in Nashville, a city where it doesn't own any radio stations. They think they can use that presence to create unique content that will attract an audience that they can sell. It's all being built around Katie Neal. Who knows? If they can create an anchor along the lines of the iHeartCountry Festival, they might be in a position to expand the format again. But right now, they don't have that core attraction.

 

[Barry]

Katie Neal is OK, but she's a midday personality.
Doesn't Audacy need a strong national Country morning show?

 

[TheBigA]

Doesn't Audacy need a strong national Country morning show?

My view is Audacy is still a very traditional radio company, and they still believe in local mornings.

I think they're still learning how to do this national programming thing. It's all new to them. They thought they could just take local shows from NY or LA, throw them on stations in other markets, and that's all they had to do. Then they discovered it took more than that. You need a marketable concept, you need a structure that can work with local information (weather/traffic/news), and they need the infrastructure to make it work cleanly. My take is that's partly why they're running Elliot on WNYL: To learn how to better integrate someone else's national show into local. So far, that integration isn't working at all.

 

[Barry]

Perhaps Audacy will clear its national Country programming in this area on 94.7 HD2.
The station website lists Katie and Company on the Schedule, but so far only a local personality hosts a show.

 

[TheBigA]

Here's more about the Audacy Nashville studio/performance area done in conjunction with Hard Rock Cafe:

Audacy Opening Nashville Studio On Hard Rock Property.

Audacy is opening an 800-square-foot content studio inside a historic building in Nashville’s lower Broadway neighborhood, Billboard reports. The studio, which the company expects to be operational in time for

www.insideradio.com

Audacy is moving Katie Neal and others to Nashville, a city where Audacy doesn't own any radio stations.

 

[CTListener]

Here's more about the Audacy Nashville studio/performance area done in conjunction with Hard Rock Cafe:

Audacy Opening Nashville Studio On Hard Rock Property.

Audacy is opening an 800-square-foot content studio inside a historic building in Nashville’s lower Broadway neighborhood, Billboard reports. The studio, which the company expects to be operational in time for

www.insideradio.com

Audacy is moving Katie Neal and others to Nashville, a city where Audacy doesn't own any radio stations.

If they're going to do a national show in the country format, they've got to be in Nashville. Access to the stars means a more on-topic morning show, which is what Bobby Bones (and lesser competitors like Big D and Bubba) can offer that locally based shows can't. Instead of riffing on current events or reading off-beat items from some show prep sheet, they're talking to the artists and even getting live performances from them. As a listener with a keen interest in the genre, that's the kind of morning show I want to listen to. It's too bad for the local talent that's being displaced, but in this case, the syndicated show has a huge advantage over the local show.

 

[TheBigA]

As a listener with a keen interest in the genre, that's the kind of morning show I want to listen to. It's too bad for the local talent that's being displaced, but in this case, the syndicated show has a huge advantage over the local show.

The two shows mentioned in this release are the Katie Neal midday show and the 7-midnight Rob & Holly show.

Previously, Katie was in NYC and Rob & Holly originated in Detroit. Apparently just R&H's producer is moving, while the hosts remain in Detroit. No morning show mentioned. As I said, Audacy prefers to leave mornings for local hosts.

 

[dcowboy7]

0.68/0.67 is essentially the same number. CMT on CBS may well have beaten Idol on ABC pretty comfortably in 18-49 too, since no one was actually counting every single person in every single household last night.

Well you could say that about any ratings.
Hey maybe WNSH really was the #1 station in NY.

 

[AceBiscuits]

Audacy is moving Katie Neal and others to Nashville, a city where Audacy doesn't own any radio stations.

Clearly they are banking on some kind digital strategy here. I understand the significance of the move but its kind of awkward that her show doesn't have clearance on a station where it is based out of.

 

[TheBigA]

Clearly they are banking on some kind digital strategy here.

That was the theme of the David Field article, that they're looking to broaden beyond towers and transmitters. The other aspect of the Nashville location will be contesting and events, which is what iHeart does with the iHeart Country Festival. If they can build their country platform into something like that, it may make up for the lack of a NY or Nashville station.

 

[Barry]

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Nashville based national programming is cleared locally on 94.7 HD2.

 

[davideduardo]

"Country Aircheck" has several interesting articles about country in San Francisco in this issue:

https://www.countryaircheck.com/pdf_publication/Issue_802%20-%20April%2011,%202022.pdf

There is an interesting interview about the thought process in creating the "new" country station and there is also Chriss Huff's history of country in the Bay Area in recent decades.

 

[AceBiscuits]

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Nashville based national programming is cleared locally on 94.7 HD2.

Considering it costs virtually nothing for them to do that, yeah.