I find this a bit odd - if people are into this music on TikTok, etc. - are THEY the ones utilizing radio to hear that music? I'd guess that they're hearing it there and on their influencer playlists, so is there a demand for The End to go after THAT audience? I know my social group is probably not typical, but I don't know people who discover music online, and then look to radio to catch up with it. I know people, mostly 25+ college educated, who get their new music from (mostly) stations like KEXP and then add it to their Spotify list. But not the other way around.
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February PPM 6+
- Thread starter medev
- Start date
What we see is that people use social media to talk about their interests. If their interests include music, they're link that music in order to share it with their friends. That's a metric record labels use to demonstrate to radio stations that a certain song is resonating with the target audience that station is seeking to reach. It's a tool. One of many. Are radio stations simply rebroadcasting the TikTok Top 100? No, because it's not organized by genre or format. It's just a bunch of songs.
Applications like TikTok are playing a HUGE role in personal interests, tastes, and advertising revenue. This is not a new phenomenon, as young people have been following trends since the beginning of time, but social networking apps accentuate this behavior. You're correct, rebroadcasting a TikTok Top 100 (which I didn't even know existed until reading your post) may not be wise, but taking some inspiration from that playlist makes sense. This is how some music discovery is taking place, and it's probably a bad business decision not to include some of these songs in your playlist.
On the other side of the coin, how many people do you personally know who have told you -- or said in a social media post -- something like "Wow! I just heard this cool new song on the radio!" KEXP might be a case for it, but then KEXP listeners are probably similar to the KCMU predecessors -- not generally into commercial radio.
This is NOT a representative scientific sample by any stretch, but some of the comments on The End's Facebook page have been less than stellar. It seems that there are quite a few listeners who have observed some of the changes that have taken place, with both the music and programming. Of course, this information is on par with people who make complaints on every review website, but I thought I thought it was worthy of note. There is quite a discussion taking place in the "Alternative" format section on this forum, and it appears that the overall consensus is that a shift is taking place to reflect the predicted taste of the younger demographic (which is basically what we've all stated here). If this is the strategy that will be most effective in garnering as many listeners as possible, then we really can't knock them for it.
Of course. Those are heritage listeners to the previous alternative format. Someone has moved their cheese and they are not happy. You're correct, that isn't representative of anything. No question that this approach to alternative is different, and controversial.
That and statistics show, that 77% of comments on most social media sites are likely negative.
Would that classify these people "Hem" or "Haw" protagonists?
The funny part of this is I read all the time that no one listens to OTA radio. Yet whenever a station changes its format or adjusts its music mix, the social media pages are filled with complaints from people objecting to the change. Are they actual listeners or professional complainers?
I'm sure there are a few legitimate listeners expressing concern, but most are just professional complainers. I once had a listener calling into a station I once worked for to demand I was fired on the spot because they didn't like that I wasn't doing the same schtick as the regular host. The new approach to alternative has definitely caught the attention of the listeners. Some will probably stop listening, but as it was stated in the other forum, to leave the format alone would be proverbial suicide to stations like The End.
I'd say both. Of course they listen, AND they enjoy complaining. You've been in the business long enough to experience this phenomina when being introduced at a party or some other social function: "Oh you work for ****?" "Well I never listen to THAT station!" Then they go on to talk about the morning show, afternoons, and weekends. But they NEVER listen...
Exactly...that's why I question the conventional wisdom that no one listens to radio. If you want to find out how many people actually listen, make a big change and see the reaction.
Years ago I used to date a clinical psychologist (no, I wasn't a client). We were at a party and she witnessed first hand the phenomenon we're talking about.
After about thee people coming up to me to introduce themselves, then give their usually negative opinion about the station I worked for, I look over at her stunned face. I believe she used the term: 'Narcissistic Empowerment'. That's when people who otherwise feel powerless, or that their opinion is usually discounted, will make it a point to verbalize their opinion about something that they usually experience one-way, like a broadcast, when they see you actually appear to be another person just like them. This, in spite of the reality that they frequently consume the product or service on a regular basis.
I used to get callers about the 10 PM sexuality show on KTNQ in LA. They would express outrage at "last night's show" and then about the show the previous night and go on, in detail, about the last week to ten days of shows.
A psychologist we had as a weekend show host explained it as a transferral of guilt for liking the show but thinking it was bad or evil to discuss sex on the radio.
I love these posts, they are right on the mark. In fact a lot of critiques or negative comments can actually be a positive. It means the product is being noticed. In the end that is the result most wish for. Of course this model does have a limit that needs to be carefully navigated.
Pat O'Day used to say: "As long as they get the call letters right, I don't give a sh*t what they say about the station."
'Don't say thank you, say; wham-bam 10-Q..'
The funny thing is that, when the station went to Spanish language programming in about 1978, the new owners, the three Liberman brothers, kept the Ten-Q name. Why? It would have cost too much money to change everything!
I always wondered why the did not get the calls "KIOQ" and write them as K10Q.
I did many diary reviews in Columbia in your neck of the woods... "Ten Q" was written in many ways except Ten Q. The most amusing one was "Thank You" along with derivitives like "Tan" and "Tank" instead of "Thank".
If I ever own a radio station that's going to be my station's call letters. Thanks for the idea.
(though if you ever get back into the radio ownership business obviously you can and should have it)
How this Seattle thread evolved into 10Q is beyond me but my family visited SoCal in ‘77 and 10Q was a highlight for this pre dj just out of high school. I thought they were great. Just an energetic top40 that really didn’t exist in the market at the time.
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