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EDISON 12-24 STUDY SHOWS SHARP DECREASES IN TSL AND USAGE

R

radioskeptic

Those of you who think that newer technology is all radio needs to make it attractive should think again. Look at the study from Edison Media Research titiled, “Radio’s Future: Today’s 12-24 Year Olds.” Link: http://infinitedial.com/index.php

TSL is down by 22 % among 12-17’s and by 24 % among 18-24’s since 1993. Going for the “money demos” is not a smart strategy for the long term. Face it. There’s little on commercial radio to attract the younger demos. And except for public radio, there’s not much to attract the 55+ crowd either.

Never mind the technical shortcomings of IBOC. Even if it really were everything its cheerleaders claim, that wouldn’t solve the problem of appealing to the prime “money demo” in future years after they had grown up in a world where radio didn’t mean much to them because it never really tried to appeal to them.

To paraphrase a 1992 political campaign, “It’s the CONTENT, stupid!”
 
Content is important, but it means nothing if you have a marginal delivery system. It's 2006 not 1926. IBOC when correctly implimented is head and shoulders above today's analogue delivery system.
 
You post on the NY radio board, check out WCBS AM. They have the best AM IBOC audio I have ever heard, far and away.
 
Explain to a consumer that HD radio will improve content and you might have a sale - if that early technical adopter is not one of the 14 million people who already are paying for satellite radio, that is.

But if you try to sell HD as more commercial-based radio, he will ikely shrug and say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Content is everything. If it wasn't, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

HD radio is as necessary to a young person as a bicycle to a snake.
 
radioskeptic said:
Those of you who think that newer technology is all radio needs to make it attractive should think again. Look at the study from Edison Media Research titiled, “Radio’s Future: Today’s 12-24 Year Olds.” Link: http://infinitedial.com/index.php

TSL is down by 22 % among 12-17’s and by 24 % among 18-24’s since 1993. Going for the “money demos” is not a smart strategy for the long term. Face it. There’s little on commercial radio to attract the younger demos. And except for public radio, there’s not much to attract the 55+ crowd either.

Never mind the technical shortcomings of IBOC. Even if it really were everything its cheerleaders claim, that wouldn’t solve the problem of appealing to the prime “money demo” in future years after they had grown up in a world where radio didn’t mean much to them because it never really tried to appeal to them.

To paraphrase a 1992 political campaign, “It’s the CONTENT, stupid!”
Click to expand...

To use a tired cliche, 'the train has left the station and the kids aren't on it' and probably will never be.

I have many friends who have teenage children and from what I'm hearing from these kids is that radio is probably the 'uncoolest' way to find new music because by the time it hits the radio the music isn't new, has been tainted by commercialism and filtered by an over-30 record exec.

Teens seem to have an obssession with discovering new, obscure 'virgin' bands (or at least bands that they can contect with) and using less conventional means to find them. This involves the internet, recommendations through blogs, word-of-mouth and messaging as well as file sharing among friends. They love to download songs (especially when the songs are free) and will often download paid content if there are free extra songs with it. Their world is the internet and some electronic way of connecting with their peers like MySpace, and of course, cell phones. Terrestrial radio just isn't in their mix of habits. And these kids are going to be radio's future.

So no matter how pristine the 'delivery system' is, if the content has no meaning to an audience it doesn't matter. And for many teens, terrestrial radio is about as relevant as the Stanley Steamer.

db
 
Corporate radio dinosaurs think they are in the radio business. They aren't. Thye are in the entertainment business.

Just like the passenger train companies that went broke in the 1950s, they thought they were in the railroad business, they were in the transportation business.

Radio execs just do not get it.

Actually, some radio execs DO get it: ABC and CBS, for example.
 
"Actually, some radio execs DO get it: ABC and CBS, for example."

Yes, at least with Saturday Night Oldies, WABC does get it - that was a real smart move, as I remember listening to WABC back in the 1960's, from camp in New Hampshire (heard, "Light My Fire", in 1967 for the first time, and still remember that night). WABC runs clips from the 1960's DJs and has old DJs as guests - looking at the comments on their website, they sure have the attention of many baby-boomers, who grew up listening to them. Too bad, that so much of terrestrial radio is garbage - nothing compares to the richness of listening to oldies on analog AM ! No doubt, WABC is depending partly on nighttime propagation properties.
 
dbdigital said:
radioskeptic said:
Those of you who think that newer technology is all radio needs to make it attractive should think again. Look at the study from Edison Media Research titiled, “Radio’s Future: Today’s 12-24 Year Olds.” Link: http://infinitedial.com/index.php

TSL is down by 22 % among 12-17’s and by 24 % among 18-24’s since 1993. Going for the “money demos” is not a smart strategy for the long term. Face it. There’s little on commercial radio to attract the younger demos. And except for public radio, there’s not much to attract the 55+ crowd either.

Never mind the technical shortcomings of IBOC. Even if it really were everything its cheerleaders claim, that wouldn’t solve the problem of appealing to the prime “money demo” in future years after they had grown up in a world where radio didn’t mean much to them because it never really tried to appeal to them.

To paraphrase a 1992 political campaign, “It’s the CONTENT, stupid!”
Click to expand...

To use a tired cliche, 'the train has left the station and the kids aren't on it' and probably will never be.

I have many friends who have teenage children and from what I'm hearing from these kids is that radio is probably the 'uncoolest' way to find new music because by the time it hits the radio the music isn't new, has been tainted by commercialism and filtered by an over-30 record exec.

Teens seem to have an obssession with discovering new, obscure 'virgin' bands (or at least bands that they can contect with) and using less conventional means to find them. This involves the internet, recommendations through blogs, word-of-mouth and messaging as well as file sharing among friends. They love to download songs (especially when the songs are free) and will often download paid content if there are free extra songs with it. Their world is the internet and some electronic way of connecting with their peers like MySpace, and of course, cell phones. Terrestrial radio just isn't in their mix of habits. And these kids are going to be radio's future.

So no matter how pristine the 'delivery system' is, if the content has no meaning to an audience it doesn't matter. And for many teens, terrestrial radio is about as relevant as the Stanley Steamer.

db
Click to expand...
Who listens to content they don't like, or prefer just because the fidelity is good?
No one for long.
 
I wonder if WABC is using the old spring reverb on saturday nites? Also, it's my belief that most stations will not allow competing formats on their HD 2 and HD3 and other HD channels. My bet is that many stations will LMA their extra HD channels to obscure formats that wont bother the main channel ratings wise. One thing never brought up on all these IBOC discussions is the business of radio. Advertisers, who pay the bills do not like seeing the audience dilluted even further among many more channels. This will have a big influence on what is put on those HD channels.
 
I have presets, like everyone else, for AM and FM on my car radio - for example on FM , two presets for classic rock, one for jazz, etc., and on AM one for news/traffic, and the rest for DXing while driving to work at 4:30 in the morning. I just go from station to station, so I fail to see, any advantages to IBOC's side-channels, if they are going to be carrying, more or less (and yes, they will eventually have commercials), the same things.
 
autopaint-1 declared:

You post on the NY radio board, check out WCBS AM. They have the best AM IBOC audio I have ever heard, far and away.
Click to expand...

Well I would do that, but my two BA Receptors are too deaf to pull in the HD signal. They sit there blinking at me that HD is on their signals but they never switch to it.

Now THAT is great technology!
 
sbe1 said:
I wonder if WABC is using the old spring reverb on saturday nites? Also, it's my belief that most stations will not allow competing formats on their HD 2 and HD3 and other HD channels. My bet is that many stations will LMA their extra HD channels to obscure formats that wont bother the main channel ratings wise. One thing never brought up on all these IBOC discussions is the business of radio. Advertisers, who pay the bills do not like seeing the audience dilluted even further among many more channels. This will have a big influence on what is put on those HD channels.
Click to expand...
It was an EMT plate reverb that WABC used.
http://www.danalexanderaudio.com/EMT/emt140.jpg
http://www.sageelectronics.com/bovasound/emt.html
THE BIG SOUND! HOW WAS IT DONE?
Remember the unmistakable reverberation on the sound of WABC? Well, at the time of these photos it was mechanically done with a large metal plate suspended by springs! Jonathan Wolfert, President of JAM Creative Productions, identified it as an "EMT plate reverb unit".
(JAM produces radio jingles and if you go to their web page by clicking on JAM above, you can order copies of past and present radio jingles.)

In a front room at the transmitter site behind some of the equipment was a big wooden box the shape of a small bed mattress, containing a mechanical plate reverb unit. The mechanical vibration from the signal was mechanically applied to the metal plate at one point and sensed at another with electrical "pickups" with a resulting added reverberation. The reverberation was mixed only to a certain extent to create just the right amount. The decay time was controlled by a mechanical damper which determined how long the plate was allowed to resonate. An example of a mechanical damper is an automobile shock absorber.

Jonathan pointed out to me that the reverb could be controlled remotely from a panel in WABC's "News Control", which was adjacent to the main studio 8A. During the late 60s they routinely turned off the echo at the end of Dan Ingram's show (5:55pm) and didn't turn it back on until Cousin Brucie began (7:20pm). The time in-between was a network and local news block. He also pointed out that sometimes they'd forget and the news would go out with echo... or Brucie would come on bone dry.

You could find smaller versions of reverb in organs and guitar amplifiers of the time, but in most small reverb units, this is accomplished only with springs because of space limitations. I believe the spring technique was a developed by the Hammond Organ Company, but I may be wrong. Now, this effect is easily achieved with digital effects boxes about in 2 or 3" high rack mount units or simply with your computer sound board. This effect is now used at WCBS-FM to recreate the old sound, but I honestly do not know what they use. I have a Lexicon LXP-15 digital effects unit myself, one effect being called plate reverb.
Click to expand...
http://hawkins.pair.com/wabc.shtml
 
"Well I would do that, but my two BA Receptors are too deaf to pull in the HD signal. They sit there blinking at me that HD is on their signals but they never switch to it."

You have two - ouch !
 
The WABC spring reverbs are on the air - the original equipment - on XM 6.
 
zumahans said:
The WABC spring reverbs are on the air - the original equipment - on XM 6.
Click to expand...

And they sound GREAT!

:)

SayNoToIBOC->PLL->analogAMforever->700WLW
 
"What does this topic have to do with IBOC technology?"

Y'know the fact that this annoys you pleases me. So if you are going to participate pal, keep your comments on topic otherwise get out. Maybe on your next trip to NY we can meet face to face and try to clear up your issues
 
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