End Near For Evolution On 101.7?

[WNTIRadio]

Look for WRXP to reappear on what is now WFAS 103.9 when they move their transmitter to the Bronx

Putting a white male rock demo on a signal that's strongest in the areas where they don't live is the silliest thing they could do.

That CP has been built out for awhile now. They still haven't moved it yet.

Also, that Bronx location with 980 watts ERP is not going to cover anything on the west side of Manhattan, through and below Midtown Manhattan. Staten Island is also in the shadow of the very tall concrete cliffs that are at least twice the height of the WFAS Bronx CP. WFUV runs about 25kW in the direction of Midtown Manhattan and they have quite the difficult time covering NYC.

It will cover Bergen County, southern Westchester County, and Queens/Nassau quite well. It won't be anything near a full market signal.

 

[CTListener]

Bring back the Oldies 103 format. CC is spending all of this effort programming three signals that largely target younger demographic. What money do these younger listeners have to spend on advertised products, many of them don't even have jobs and are saddled with big college loads to finance.

Tell that to the 20-something and 30-something "big thinkers" at the ad agencies.

 

[Jimmy128]

Another possibility would be to simulcast WSRS and challenge WMJX Boston's top rated station. Would be very cheap to do.

 

[BostonRocks]

Bring back the Oldies 103 format. CC is spending all of this effort programming three signals that largely target younger demographic. What money do these younger listeners have to spend on advertised products, many of them don't even have jobs and are saddled with big college loads to finance. Oldies might do well there if it is kept far enough away from WROR.

Someone else was trying to make this point a while back, and I'm not sure it's a valid one... The hardest thing in advertising is to attract customers. Retaining customers is the easy part. Older consumers have already made their product associations. Trying to change those associations is next to impossible without some overwhelming geographic change or scandal or the like. Even economic changes don't break a lot of ties. The most effective use of advertising is creating those associations, and that happens in the younger years. Even if they don't actively buy or use your product, the association is formed. That pays off bigtime down the road in things like word-of-mouth advertising and legacy associations with adult children.

Like I said upthread, the working moms are doing the vast majority of individual purchasing decisions; which toilet paper, which peanut butter, which bank, which dry cleaner, which diapers, etc. If you get them young and develop the associations, and continue to reinforce them through their 30s, you're in good shape as an advertiser. The stations that demonstrably and consistently reach that demo will have the best billing. And, to paraphrase Calvin Coolidge, "the business of radio is business."

TL;DR: It's great that empty-nesters have disposable income, but they know on what they are going to spend it.

 

[inorm99]

Consider me, Johnny Fever

Indeed as Andy Travis told Les Nessman in the first WKRP in Cin. episode, "rock and roll is where
the money is". Agreed on your comments. The listeners are out there and "sooner or later"...

 

[fybush]

Like I said upthread, the working moms are doing the vast majority of individual purchasing decisions; which toilet paper, which peanut butter, which bank, which dry cleaner, which diapers, etc. If you get them young and develop the associations, and continue to reinforce them through their 30s, you're in good shape as an advertiser. The stations that demonstrably and consistently reach that demo will have the best billing. And, to paraphrase Calvin Coolidge, "the business of radio is business."

TL;DR: It's great that empty-nesters have disposable income, but they know on what they are going to spend it.

There's some truth to that, sure - but that line of thinking only goes so far. How many affluent 55-plus drivers do you see tooling around these days in Lexuses and Infinitis? That's both a big-ticket purchase and a brand association that couldn't possibly have been formed when those consumers were in their 30s. Same thing for all the aging boomers buying Vizio and Samsung TVs or Kindles or all sorts of other products and brands that didn't exist just a few years ago. And then there are the product categories that those of us not yet "of a certain age" never even think about yet, and thus have no brand associations formed.

 

[DG02816]

Agreeing 100% with SonicAl.

 

[4CX1000A]

Indeed as Andy Travis told Les Nessman in the first WKRP in Cin. episode, "rock and roll is where
the money is".

In 1978, when those words were said, that was true. A lot has changed since then.

 

[4CX1000A]

Based solely on the fact that CC is flipping AM 1200 from a niche format, relegating it to an HD2 channel, could the same fate be far behind for the electronic music format on 101.7?

I don't think so. When CC bought WFNX it seemed odd to me; why spend $14.5 million on a signal effectively limited to the area inside Route 128? Not for "The Harbor", surely?

With the debut of "Evolution", the choice suddenly made sense. Here is a format targeting a college-aged population, the bulk of which lives in the city or the inner suburbs. It is an audience that can be reached as effectively with a Class A as with a more powerful station; moreover, it is exactly the sort of audience CC, and indeed radio as a whole, needs to cultivate in order to stay viable in the long term. It's probably what CC had in mind when they bought the station, and they are clearly in it for the long run, or they would not have spent the money.

 

[aaronread]

101.7 is a Class A signal, not Class C.

While I agree with you Scott, that's not a great example: Lexus was introduced in America in 1989. Someone 55 today definitely could've seen Lexus ads when they were in their early 30's...I remember Lexus blitzing the entire US market around that time; it was a huge nationwide ad buy.

 

[CTListener]

101.7 is a Class A signal, not Class C.

While I agree with you Scott, that's not a great example: Lexus was introduced in America in 1989. Someone 55 today definitely could've seen Lexus ads when they were in their early 30's...I remember Lexus blitzing the entire US market around that time; it was a huge nationwide ad buy.

Speaking from my 57-year-old's perspective, I'm afraid there's more truth in Madison Avenue's attitude toward people like me than I like to admit. It seems the only "new" products I buy are computer-related. My grocery bags are full of the same stuff week after week -- I can't remember the last time I bought any cereal other than Cheerios or Shredded Wheat, for example, and there's always Tropicana Orange Juice in the bag, never any new fruit-veggie-fusion drinks. My last three cars have been from GM, and they've all lasted at least seven years. Etc., etc., etc. What could Corporate America possibly sell me that would make me abandon such deep-rooted buying habits?

 

[BostonRocks]

Like I said upthread, the working moms are doing the vast majority of individual purchasing decisions; which toilet paper, which peanut butter, which bank, which dry cleaner, which diapers, etc. If you get them young and develop the associations, and continue to reinforce them through their 30s, you're in good shape as an advertiser. The stations that demonstrably and consistently reach that demo will have the best billing. And, to paraphrase Calvin Coolidge, "the business of radio is business."

TL;DR: It's great that empty-nesters have disposable income, but they know on what they are going to spend it.

There's some truth to that, sure - but that line of thinking only goes so far. How many affluent 55-plus drivers do you see tooling around these days in Lexuses and Infinitis? That's both a big-ticket purchase and a brand association that couldn't possibly have been formed when those consumers were in their 30s. Same thing for all the aging boomers buying Vizio and Samsung TVs or Kindles or all sorts of other products and brands that didn't exist just a few years ago. And then there are the product categories that those of us not yet "of a certain age" never even think about yet, and thus have no brand associations formed.

Tech is something of an exception, there is a lot of consultation with younger people on consumer electronics, partly because any electronic manufacturers that they would have thought to buy in the past are toast. Packard Bell isn't walking through that door As for cars, so many people got burned by the Big 3 back in the '90s that those associations are no longer valid. Lexus, Audi, BMW, M-B have all taken the crown, although there are a lot of big FWD Cadillac loyalists still out there.

 

[carmen]

one thing i noticed in past couple years is the FM option that was common on phones has gone away. anything Samsung or Google or Apple is without it - despite some hurrah a year or two ago that FM radio would be "required" on new phones or so

 

[BostonRocks]

one thing i noticed in past couple years is the FM option that was common on phones has gone away. anything Samsung or Google or Apple is without it - despite some hurrah a year or two ago that FM radio would be "required" on new phones or so

The FM tuners in most phones are terrible.  You need earbuds or headphones to serve as an antenna, reception is crap if you're indoors, there's no HD support, RDS support is terrible to non-existent.  Why deal with all this when you can stream any station, anywhere, anytime on TuneIn or iHeartRadio?

 

[dyeingeye]

Because most plans now have data limits? How much data does 30 minutes of a radio use?

 

[Kenny Atkinson]

On the cheap.........Simulcast B101 from Providence.You have your classic hits,You can run the same imaging.A 100% simulcast.No studio.Same dial position..Before someone says 101.5 and 101.7 are 2 different freq.B101 fits both.
WWBB-Providence WBBB-Boston
WWBB- We Want BABY BOOMERS....
WBBB- WE'RE BOSTON's BABY BOOMERS ;D

 

[blackgold]

I'll bet you another option: classical music! Yes, the new 101.7 will bring back classical music in Boston-just like the old WCRB did before they started dumbing down! They'll play complete classical pieces and unknown works. And after a certain work is finished, they'll play a popular song which is based on that work!
It could be a new day for classical music on the radio!

 

[CTListener]

I'll bet you another option: classical music! Yes, the new 101.7 will bring back classical music in Boston-just like the old WCRB did before they started dumbing down! They'll play complete classical pieces and unknown works. And after a certain work is finished, they'll play a popular song which is based on that work!

"You may recognize this lovely melody as 'Stranger in Paradise.' But did you know that the original theme is from the Polovetsian Dance No. 2 by Borodin?"

 

[aaronread]

Actually, there are plenty of times when "older" people have to shop for something new: medications, surgeries, hip replacements, dietary changes, eyewear, etc etc etc

Most of it's related to changes forced upon you by your body as you get older, but there'll mostly "new" things.

 

[JustinT]

I'll bet you another option: classical music! Yes, the new 101.7 will bring back classical music in Boston-just like the old WCRB did before they started dumbing down! They'll play complete classical pieces and unknown works. And after a certain work is finished, they'll play a popular song which is based on that work!
It could be a new day for classical music on the radio!

What about this -- a trade between WGBH and Clear Channel for the 99.5 and 101.7 signals. Clear Channel gets a third FM signal that can reach the majority of the market, while WCRB gets its downtown coverage back?