I guess there's nobody in this thread who would "poo-poo" WBEN's ratings because they're all supposedly over 50... Have all those people finally left this board?
No, DB, we're still here, but some of use would like to think we're objective when we criticize WBEN or any other station's programming and/or ratings. That's why I gave them their due on the WHLD-WWKB thread. Still, they're far from the ratings killer they think they are or might spin themselves to be.
Back to the topic at hand: Nobody wants to program to a greying market (and let's face it, with all due respect, the number of people you "know under 40 who like this kind of music is miniscule compared to the number of people under 40 who live in the area); nobody wants to grab the available advertising dollars because (at least to them) there's more money to be made sharing the same piece of pie that everybody else has on their plate.
You're certainly right in this regard. The Adult Standards format might give a few "under 40 boomer types" a little tickle from time to time, but WECK wasn't likely their primary station. At best it may have been their third or fourth station, tuned in whenever the feeling struck them. Guys like Radknowski get on the board, start a WECK Lovefest and when we read the responses, it makes it sound like WECK was their number one station. C'mon, they liked the station because it was a momentary diversion from the constant pounding of Zep, Stones, Beatles, AC-DC or body-piercing music and rap their kids listen to.
And now that I've mixed metaphors
ad naseum, I'll go back to my morning coffee and prune juice...
Be careful about mixing that stuff! You'll find yourself parked on the porcelain and your tochis will look the Target Dog's eye!
At the risk of contradicting myself here and an earlier post, let me say that money
can be made selling the 55+ demo, but it takes diligence and knowledge not only of the product, the potential consumer and the buying customer. Guys like Stan Roberts probably made a handsome return selling WECK. The guy's smooth, sharp and knows radio and the clients. Most of all, the clients and listeners know STAN.
And here's where one of the biggest problems with radio crops up: Take a look at the people selling radio today. Do you see many "Stan Roberts types?" Stations impose "caps on earnings" by cutting lists by redistribution and hiring young guns to sell. Ain't nothin' wrong with young guns IF they know what the hell they're doing, but let's face it... a good many don't know the difference between a share and a cume, a GRP and a CPM. It takes time to learn this stuff and properly use it. Now, I'm fully aware that the business needs a continual infusion of new blood in sales and on the air. I also know that new clients MUST be developed through constant prospecting.
Yet, we often belittle our business by saying "It's not rocket science." No, it's not... but it IS science and it IS an art and we DO work with ARTISTS and SCIENTISTS in programming, sales, production and on the air... but damned if the COO's and CEO's let alone the GM's give these people proper credit for being ARTISTS, PERFORMERS and SCIENTISTS.
Every GM thinks he/she can program... many think there's nothing to being on the air. Any monkey can do it. Well, any monkey CAN'T do it. The GM's who've risen through the ranks of programming, sales and management know what it takes to be good on the air every day. Yet many GM's don't have a clue. And how many sales GM's have lost their street sales instincts?
Rarely does a guy who's been on the air for seven months sounds as good as a guy who's been on the air for seven years. The same applies for (good) people who've been selling for seven months vs. seven years.
What's happening is the experienced and knowledgeable Sales Managers are taken off the street, being forced to hire rookies and newbies, tutor and mentor them in the corporate mold, then set them loose on the street to sell. What's the attrition rate with sales people who aren't radio-centered these days?
Hey, "sales is sales," ain't it? You can sell a vacuum, you can sell radio time. Here's the Yellow Pages kid, develop a list!
Back to WECK and American Standards: We live in an age-discriminatory society. Everything has to be "the latest and the newest." Consumers want the newest, biggest LCD TV's when a good 19 CRT inch might serve the purpose. Gotta have a Blackberry and a camera phone. Gotta have a new car every three years (or sooner) and a bigger and better one at that. I'm almost as guilty as the next guy, but at least I know what my sins are.
America is going broke and morally bankrupting itself. You hit 55 as a salesman (or jock) and the potential of catching a bullet increases exponentially, no matter how good you are or how much revenue you've generated. Your list gets cut, redistributed (because as we all know, account lists are the property of the radio station not the AE) and the clients that may have taken a year or two to convince to buy radio or your format get shifted to a 24 year old ex-Hooters Girl who can wiggle her way into any agency in America. Sorry, sounds sexists, it's not intended.
I'm not a Ludite nor do I espouse a "return to the good old days." I like my fast computer and microwave, plus, that lime green refrigerator and oven never appealed to me in the first place. It's not my intent to preach, moralize or politicize the issues. I know full well this is a RADIO board. But let's call a plum a plum here.
WECK was a neat little station, yes. It alledgedly billed a million a year. There's not a small market manager who wouldn't drool for that kind of money. The station ran on a shoestring, so its stand-alone cashflow should have been solid. Yet, something or somebody forced a format change and no other station in the market picked up the format.
Is the reason because the station or the American Standards format requires experienced, mature sales people to successfully sell it?
Perhaps we've reached the crux of the matter.
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