I hear you. Now I feel old. I bet only a few would even know where my avatar is from...
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Entercom's alternative experiment not a success?
- Thread starter tall_guy1
- Start date
The unspoken meaning behind this paragraph is that radio is doomed due to being unable to peel Zoomer ears away from their personal devices. You're not even considering the possibility of a younger listener even fathoming tuning in. You've given up, it's over.
Why should we listen to professionals who have brought into the notion that radio is dead and continue to do the same things that helped drive radio into decline? This is not a hostile question I am legitimately asking why people like you and TheBigA who keep talking down to us peasants like we're idiots feel like you're superior. All you guys come off as is the "We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas!" meme writ large.
At least Audacy had an idea. They bungled it badly but at least they had an idea beyond prolonging the inevitable. You guys have nothing but the same "data, data, data" repetition over and over without considering the humans behind the data. We're all just numbers to you, and that is why so many radio stations suck regardless of format.
If we're going to be listening to some unthinking, unfeeling, impassionate machine, it's going to be what will play us what we want on demand not some aging Boomer's idea of what music we ought to be listening to.
That's why radio is dying. That's why you're losing. When everything is numbers, when everything is an algorithm, when everything is a machine...
People will choose the machine that will always give them what they want.
Sometimes. Not everyone thinks like you. Not everyone has disposable money to spend on various music services. What's dying faster than radio is the purchase of music. My new car doesn't have a CD player.
For a lot of people, music is not that important. And for them, radio fits the need perfectly.
Related to your post, a new PD was hired today for KCJK:
https://news.****************/cgi-bin/rol.exe/headline_id=n40573
He will also manage The Vibe and host that station's afternoon show.
Oh, hmmm. KC usually doesn't get somebody that big as an on-air personality, especially someone who's been on Z100. Should be interesting.
We have yet another example of a bad 6+ performer that flipped formats in Boston, WKAF. A 1.2 in April and they flipped today.
And no, I’m not claiming they flipped due to bad 6+ numbers. What I am saying is that for those of us without access to the demo numbers, it was fair to speculate if the lousy 6+ numbers indicated a problem in the demos. I guess the demos and billings probably weren’t all that great.
This was a total format and language change to an unserved market. Has nothing to do with 6+ or demos. All about billings.
Yes, as I wrote, “the billings were probably not great.” I would also think that the poor billings were a result of poor demographic ratings.
Once again, I will clearly state this: I am not saying that WKAF or any other station flips formats due to poor 6+ numbers. I am saying that poor 6+ numbers might indicate a larger problem with demos and billings. WKAF is yet another example of this.
I wonder if something like kckc in Kansas City is doing alright. They registered at 2.1 in 6+ last month and have an older selection of music.
Wrong. Mathematically, the above statement makes zero sense.
The exception to the rule would be fringe stations (often AM stations with impaired signals) that sell airtime in blocks -- as opposed to relying on standard advertising purchases -- as their primary source of income. Such stations normally air programming geared toward Ethnic or fundamentalist Christian audiences.
In Kansas City, KRBZ is a much less popular station than it once was in 18-34 and 18-49. We can thank idiotic personnel decisions by Audacy (then known as Entercom) for that. The numbers sank the moment Afentra was fired.
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The alternative-universe that you mentioned is apparently the real universe since WKAF, a station with 1.2 rating 6+ flipped today.
Meanwhile a bunch of even lower rated stations didn't flip. You're grabbing hold if this because it proves your point.
But what about all the other stations that didn't flip?
Said it before and I will say it again, I think that Audacy knows what they are doing on this one. As I've already made clear, their new direction is absolutely NOT for me, and that is probably their intention. They've nationalized quite a few of their stations so that they can make significant cuts to their payroll, and have employed a mix of new "alternative" music that is meant to appeal to a slightly younger demographic. From a business perspective, this is probably a wise move. Those of us who don't care for this new direction probably have a few things in common; we like alternative music, but probably gravitate to certain alternative groups that we've listened to over the past few years. Audacy knows this, and doesn't want their alternative format to become stale. For this reason, they made the executive decision to try and bring in some fresh, new listeners while trying to hold onto the listeners that they already have. My personal opinion is that Audacy's new direction sounds downright terrible (so much so that I no longer tune in), but if they are attracting a new audience, you could probably consider the move a success. I also learned something new from this thread about how these stations make money. I never realized that concerts and major events were such a strong income generator. If that is the case, Audacy can really hit the ground running with the pandemic reaching an endpoint.
I am not claiming that 6+ numbers always indicate the overall health of a station. I am claiming that in the absence of having access to the demo ratings, they might indicate how a station is performing in its demos. That seems to be an uncontroversial statement yet I was met with comments like “only in some alternative-universe” does a station’s 6+ numbers indicate it’s overall health. Well, that alternative-universe is here on plant Earth in the city of Boston on May 26, 2021.
And what I'm trying to explain is what you're focusing on is coincidental. Because if it was the only factor, there would be no low rated stations and format flips would happen every week. They're pretty rare. This may be the first one in Boston this year.
And the WKAF change is more to put on a format not duplicated in the market and targeting a group that can't be reached on other stations. They will get on broader Hispanic buys, even with low numbers, because they are the only FM in Spanish in the market.
That's why they did not do a "pure" reggaetón format and are acting like a cross-generational station instead. Hard for agencies buying Spanish to not include.
The Detroit format change is a function of Audacy not wanting to have to invest significant $$$ in programming resources on a local level for four different FM stations (97.1, 98.7, 99.5 and 104.3).
98.7 The Breeze - despite decent ratings - was only a two-year old radio station that lacked the brand cache and billing of the big brands in the stable. I guess Audacy wasn't up to the task of going toe-to-toe with WNIC. Given budget limitations, it was easiest to slash-and-burn The Breeze. That was the path of least resistance. Very sad, as I thought the station was starting to sound especially good music wise in its final several months on the air. I usually avoid Soft AC, yet I found myself listening to 98.7 The Breeze on a fairly regular basis.
I sense local management was NOT happy about corporate making the call to destroy The Breeze.
The present day Alt 98.7 is a low budget white elephant with intermittent audio issues, no RDS song data in most dayparts, zero local air talent, zero street presence and a weak social media presence, a talk-intensive piped in afternoon show that is a horrible fit for the station's target age group (the show sounds like something that should air on New Jersey 101.5 or 720 WGN), and a song catalogue that is largely incompatible with local listeners' perception of what qualifies as "Alternative." The station will never, ever be a ratings success, and unless Audacy fudges the numbers (I wouldn't put that past them), it will never bill more than a few million a year, perhaps not even $2 million a year.
It might be nice to see Cumulus blow up the underperforming New Country 93.1 in Detroit to give Soft AC a try, but I'm skeptical that they would be capable of putting together a station that sounded as good as The Breeze from a music and air talent standpoint. I'd rather see Cumulus fix what ails 93.1's country format. They can start by ridding the station of the incredibly abrasive sounding male V/O artist.
98.7 The Breeze - despite decent ratings - was only a two-year old radio station that lacked the brand cache and billing of the big brands in the stable. I guess Audacy wasn't up to the task of going toe-to-toe with WNIC. Given budget limitations, it was easiest to slash-and-burn The Breeze. That was the path of least resistance. Very sad, as I thought the station was starting to sound especially good music wise in its final several months on the air. I usually avoid Soft AC, yet I found myself listening to 98.7 The Breeze on a fairly regular basis.
I sense local management was NOT happy about corporate making the call to destroy The Breeze.
The present day Alt 98.7 is a low budget white elephant with intermittent audio issues, no RDS song data in most dayparts, zero local air talent, zero street presence and a weak social media presence, a talk-intensive piped in afternoon show that is a horrible fit for the station's target age group (the show sounds like something that should air on New Jersey 101.5 or 720 WGN), and a song catalogue that is largely incompatible with local listeners' perception of what qualifies as "Alternative." The station will never, ever be a ratings success, and unless Audacy fudges the numbers (I wouldn't put that past them), it will never bill more than a few million a year, perhaps not even $2 million a year.
It might be nice to see Cumulus blow up the underperforming New Country 93.1 in Detroit to give Soft AC a try, but I'm skeptical that they would be capable of putting together a station that sounded as good as The Breeze from a music and air talent standpoint. I'd rather see Cumulus fix what ails 93.1's country format. They can start by ridding the station of the incredibly abrasive sounding male V/O artist.
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In addition to the very expensive all news AM. At a time when the company lost 50% of its revenues due to covid. Just a few other points I thought I'd add.
Their afternoon show is church of lazlo. He's from Detroit and julia is as well (she's the latest addition to the show.)
The just hired a new PD for WDRQ:
Corey Joins Cumulus Detroit - Radio Ink
The former Beasley Boston PD is now the Director of FM Programming for Cumulus Detroit, overseeing WDVD-FM (Hot AC) and New Country 93.1 WDRQ-FM (Country).
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