According to our intrepid AJC radio reporter, Rodney Ho, the gender breakdown for Dave FM listeners is as follows: 59.9% male (59.1% in 2005, 53.6% in 2004). Why then is DAVE playing so many female friendly artists when the station's listeners are clearly 60% male?
C'mon Neil, can you back that up? You damn skippy I can. Here are the artists that DAVE-FM has played in the last hour: U2, REM, The Cult, Matchbox 20, John Mayer, Elvis Costello, Pink Floyd, INXS, Peter Gabriel, Coldplay and Gomez. For the most part, those artists are on the mellow side. Most of them are considered fairly good-looking (Bono, Rob Thomas, Mayer and Michael Hutchens) which means, the ladies will like it. Clearly these artists attract female listeners. Too bad 60% of the audience is male and for some unknown reason puts up with the likes of Coldplay in order to get to Elvis or Floyd (it should be noted, the songs Dave played by those artist were mellow.)
I know what you are saying, PD Michelle Engle and MD Margot Smith are programming those artists to attract female listeners away from such male-centric stations as Project 96.1, 99X and The River. That is a valid point. Look at the numbers for female listeners who have left DAVE-FM over the past few years. It's getting to be a sausage factory at 92.9 yet Michelle and Margot are still hitting us with touchy feely artists. Ladies, you are not reading your data well.
Lest you think all I do is criticize, I will offer some ways to remedy this situation.
1) Sack Michelle Engle. She clearly has no idea what she is doing. She keeps attempting to go female and all she gets are males. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results.
2) Lose most of the softer music and move towards a blend of harder edged new and classic music. Add: The Shins, Decemberists, Tom Waits, Sloan, Kaiser Chiefs and The Libertines. Axe: John Mayer, Coldplay, Jake Johnson, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Ben Harper and Guster.
3) Get a freaking morning show already! There are at least 10 decent ex-jocks looking for work. Have open auditions, how about Jimmy Baron and Kimmer or Tom Hughes and Larry Wachs or Panda and Moby or Chris Colandro and me for a week! Why not?
4) Advertise already! When was the last time anyone saw a commercial for DAVE-FM? Rule number 10 of advertising, if you don't advertise, no one knows you are there.
5) Get out in the community and spread the word. Except for Mara Davis, you never hear of anyone from DAVE being involved with anything. Two months ago they had that horrible call to auction. Why hasn't Sully picked up a hammer? Can't Margot move a 2x4 somewhere? Is Holly so busy that she can't measure twice and cut once?
Those are my suggestions. I still think it can be fixed.
Flame away!
C'mon Neil, can you back that up? You damn skippy I can. Here are the artists that DAVE-FM has played in the last hour: U2, REM, The Cult, Matchbox 20, John Mayer, Elvis Costello, Pink Floyd, INXS, Peter Gabriel, Coldplay and Gomez. For the most part, those artists are on the mellow side. Most of them are considered fairly good-looking (Bono, Rob Thomas, Mayer and Michael Hutchens) which means, the ladies will like it. Clearly these artists attract female listeners. Too bad 60% of the audience is male and for some unknown reason puts up with the likes of Coldplay in order to get to Elvis or Floyd (it should be noted, the songs Dave played by those artist were mellow.)
I know what you are saying, PD Michelle Engle and MD Margot Smith are programming those artists to attract female listeners away from such male-centric stations as Project 96.1, 99X and The River. That is a valid point. Look at the numbers for female listeners who have left DAVE-FM over the past few years. It's getting to be a sausage factory at 92.9 yet Michelle and Margot are still hitting us with touchy feely artists. Ladies, you are not reading your data well.
Lest you think all I do is criticize, I will offer some ways to remedy this situation.
1) Sack Michelle Engle. She clearly has no idea what she is doing. She keeps attempting to go female and all she gets are males. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results.
2) Lose most of the softer music and move towards a blend of harder edged new and classic music. Add: The Shins, Decemberists, Tom Waits, Sloan, Kaiser Chiefs and The Libertines. Axe: John Mayer, Coldplay, Jake Johnson, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Ben Harper and Guster.
3) Get a freaking morning show already! There are at least 10 decent ex-jocks looking for work. Have open auditions, how about Jimmy Baron and Kimmer or Tom Hughes and Larry Wachs or Panda and Moby or Chris Colandro and me for a week! Why not?
4) Advertise already! When was the last time anyone saw a commercial for DAVE-FM? Rule number 10 of advertising, if you don't advertise, no one knows you are there.
5) Get out in the community and spread the word. Except for Mara Davis, you never hear of anyone from DAVE being involved with anything. Two months ago they had that horrible call to auction. Why hasn't Sully picked up a hammer? Can't Margot move a 2x4 somewhere? Is Holly so busy that she can't measure twice and cut once?
Those are my suggestions. I still think it can be fixed.
Flame away!
