Good riddance 93 Rock

[FLjack2]

No matter what happens, when Dec 26th rolls around, you know that 93.1 will run with near zero people to start. Either it will be jockless if it's a music format or full satellite syndication if it's talk.
It's (unfortunately) just the way it's done now.

What's stupid is that, if management knows what format they are planning to do (and I would bet they know,) they have over a month to get the people and programming in place to make a HUGE splash on the debut.

But they wont.....

 

[Kabrich]

Thumbs down to Cox Radio for doing virtually nothing to properly promote the Bubba the Love Sponge show in south Florida. No billboards, no television advertisements, etc. Bubba is brash and abrasive and polarizing, but he also draws a VERY loyal following. Unfortunately, without proper promotion, there were untold numbers of people (especially M25-54) who I suspect never had exposure to his show and weren't prompted to listen and come to love or hate it or somewhere in-between.

Bubba has one of the best shows in radio in my opinion, though he's not for everyone. But he never got the promotional push he deserved to get a fair shake, particularly in a market like Miami/Ft. Lauderdale.

In contrast, Paul and Young Ron have been in the Miami market for years and yet Clear Channel still puts up billboards for them and gets them out at Dolphins games on the jumbotron and overall present them in a way to keep their brand strong and relevant in the market.

Hmmmm.....so with no promotion Bubba on WHDR does VERY well in the West Palm PPM Ratings, but not Miami. Or perhaps you *think* Bubba WAS promoted in West Palm on WHDR and not in Miami?

This sounds very similar to Lex and Terry's excuse for bombing in Tampa twice....both times on the same 2 signals Bubba won on with no promotion.

Always easier to blame someone else for failures, right?

 

[jmtillery]

There has been past discussion on this board about a Miami-Dade FM flipping to talk in the near future, and I believe talk or news-talk is a very real possibility for WHDR. Cox Radio, as mentioned, already has news-talk AM-FM simulcasts in Jacksonville and most recently - Atlanta. Miami is prime for an FM talker, so this may be the real deal forthcoming. Cox already has top rated syndicated Neil Boortz and Clark Howard, so if talk is the direction Cox takes with 93.1, expect to hear these two great talents on the new 93.1 FM.

 

[sflaboy]

As someone who successfully programmer Rock (as well as other Anglo formats their, I assure you that Rock, especially if cutting edge and creative, and supported with a digital platform and social (read viral) marketing will work in Miami-Fort Lauderdale. In it's day, WSHE was #1 25-54. The demographic make up if the market has not dramatically changed. The problem would seem to be a lack of vision from the "conglomerates". They just don't have the balls - lemmings all.

Rick Peters

 

[sflaboy]

Sorry for the typo's. Fat fingers - small iPhone.

 

[rosy621]

When will they learn that South Florida is not a rock format market. :

I disagree with you. It may not be a juggernaut, but it did have a loyal following. Bring back SHE and you'll see what I mean. And yes, I am Hispanic. And yes, my "focus group" (my friends) are mostly Hispanic. The station's format just needs to be programmed with passion, dj's that don't sound like college radio rejects, and some compelling material. It would work. We didn't call Zeta Paxson's cash cow for nothing.

 

[upstate29651]

To say that rock doesn't work because of the Hispanic population is just absurd. I know plenty of Hispanics that listen to rock music.

This is an example of the n=10 factor.

The people one knows well enough to be able to know their personal preferences tend to be people with a lot of common interests. And such a biased sample may provide some anecdotal stories, but it can not measure mass behaviour.

In general, Hispanics, particularly Spanish dominant ones in the US, do not listen to rock in the same proportion as the part of the population that Arbitron calls Other. So in a market that is over 50% Hispanic, and close to 60% Spanish dominant, the incidence of rock partisans will be much lower than in the Other segment (Other, save in markets with large Asian origin populations, is almost entirely non-Hispanic white).

The standard rebuttal to this point is saying that there are plenty of radio stations in Latin America that play English language rock, which is true. But that audience is almost totally A and B socioeconomic levels (out of a standard A to E stratification, with B being upper middle income) and those groups emigrate only minimally as they enjoy a standard of living in Latin America they can not duplicate in the US.

No disrespect meant, but this is the kind of overthinking, or creating issues where none exist, that has killed radio.

G

 

[distantfm]

If I were CBS, I'd move 103.1 The Buzz from 103.1 to 104.3 and market it as a Miami/Ft. Lauderdale market station.

Inevitably, I think Active /Modern Rock in Miami will only be available over-the-air on an HD2 signal.

I like it, but here's my version.......format swap with WEAT format going to 103.1 (still covers entire W. Palm market).......and 104.3 goes MAINSTREAM Rock as a Miami/Ft Lauderdale station (that also covers Palm beach)

 

[InSearchOfGear]

As someone who successfully programmer Rock (as well as other Anglo formats their, I assure you that Rock, especially if cutting edge and creative, and supported with a digital platform and social (read viral) marketing will work in Miami-Fort Lauderdale. In it's day, WSHE was #1 25-54. The demographic make up if the market has not dramatically changed. The problem would seem to be a lack of vision from the "conglomerates". They just don't have the balls - lemmings all.

Rick Peters

You nailed it, Rick. Couldn't agree more.

 

[davideduardo]

No disrespect meant, but this is the kind of overthinking, or creating issues where none exist, that has killed radio.

In what way is saying, "Miami has fewer rock music partisans due to its ethnic makeup" in any way "overtingking" the issue.

If you had a station in Bismark, you would likely not consider Urban as the Black population is very, very small.

Any format under consideration has to first meet a favorable answer to the "how large is the partisan group likely to be?" question.

 

[davideduardo]

As someone who successfully programmer Rock (as well as other Anglo formats their, I assure you that Rock, ...will work in Miami-Fort Lauderdale.

Rick, with all due respect, the inclusion of the word "Anglo" in a discussion of Miami is a bit misleading. Perhaps you meant to say "English language?"

The demos of the market have changed a lot, too. The percentage Hispanic is higher, and the composition of the non-Hispanic white segment is different, too.

 

[Ai4i]

The station was doing fine until someone began messing with its format nine years ago next month!

 

[davideduardo]

The station was doing fine until someone began messing with its format nine years ago next month!

Yeah, they messed with it because the population and demographic adjustments of the 2000 Census were implemented with the start of the Fall book, and the station was not favored by those changes.

 

[deolost14]

93 Rock was trying to be to many things to many people. Was it a classic rocker? Was it alternative? Was it current oriented rocker? Some of the seques were irratating to say the least. And the "click on the last songs played feature" was just lazy radio. Just ID the songs? I'm in my car, I'm not near a computer, and you have no live jocks working phones, so you can't even call to ask.

As for jocks, outside of Dangerous Dave Hanson and Naughty Natalia...it seemed no one else was live over there...well, except for Kevin Vargas. That's what made it so boring....all voice tracked with no enthusiam.

 

[sflaboy]

David, as a programmer it's irrelevant how many people won't listen. All that you need to know is whether there are enough partisans in the market to support a format. Say there are 4 million total population. Just do math. It's a pretty simple calculation. What percentage of total population is in the target demo (18-49 men, and to a limited level women), what percentage of those aren't "English speaking", subtract the % of urban (read: black), factor any credible psychographics into it, and decide whether there's enough cume to support a decent TSL. If the answer is anywhere around 100k cume there's enough potential partisans to support any format that appeals to
the demo. All if you seem to be assuming that "hispanics", especially 2nd and 3rd generation's wont listen to Rock. Where did you get
This data?Period. This ain't Rocket Science.

 

[davideduardo]

David, as a programmer it's irrelevant how many people won't listen. All that you need to know is whether there are enough partisans in the market to support a format. Say there are 4 million total population. Just do math. It's a pretty simple calculation. What percentage of total population is in the target demo (18-49 men, and to a limited level women), what percentage of those aren't "English speaking", subtract the % of urban (read: black), factor any credible psychographics into it, and decide whether there's enough cume to support a decent TSL. If the answer is anywhere around 100k cume there's enough potential partisans to support any format that appeals to
the demo. All if you seem to be assuming that "hispanics", especially 2nd and 3rd generation's wont listen to Rock. Where did you get This data?Period. This ain't Rocket Science.

In reverse order:

Hispanics underindex in using rock stations. How do we see this is true in any market in the US? We look at the audience composition of different stations and formats. WBGG has only 25% of its daily cume among Hispanics, which is a 50% underindexing... and among Blacks, the figure is 8%, an underingexing of even greater proportion.

So, when looking at cume potential, we know that most of the audience will be non-Hispanic white, which is only 30% of the market... supplemented by essentially no Black listening and vastly reduced Hispanic listening.

Then you look at whether there is "critical mass" for a rock format of any kind... clubs, venues, shows, etc. Or is the market more rhythmic driven at the street level?

100,000 cume is about what WIRK FM gets. 250,000 is what WAQI, WQBA and WSUA get. WRMF is nearly 300 thousand, just barely scraping above a 1 share. WMIA, with a mid to high 3 share gets nearly 800,000 12+ cume, and WÑYF, WFLC and WPOW all go above 1,000,000 cume.

There are about 900,000 18-49 men, but 480,000 are Hispanic and 220,000 are Black. Do your math again.

100,000 cume is not enough to sustain an AM niche format... and certainly not a full C FM. And TSL (Acually ATE todayt) is a product of programming...

 

[Illinois2011]

It's a shame that 93 Rock didn't succeed in Miami. Bubba in the morning was great, but the show never got the type of promotional push it deserved. I agree with an earlier post that said the station was trying to be all things to all people - it definitely seemed to try to fit too many formats.

Here's hoping that Bubba re-emerges in West Palm as he has hinted might happen. The fact that he drew ratings there is a testament to the strength of his show (and its history in WPB). But to thrust a show with almost no promotion into a market as competitive as Miami isn't fair to the show or the station (93 Rock). Hopefully Cox will do more with the 93.1 signal with whatever its new format will be.

 

[sflaboy]

David,
Just one question - not intending to start anything...but have you ever programmed a radio station? If so, then in what market? Maybe you're a teacher, or just an interested outsider who doesn't work in the industry - researcher maybe? Just wondering where all this "high theory" is coming from. One more time...Rock is a PRIMARY format. There is an unserved hole in Mia-Fll. Yes, it does underperform vs the US - so does Country. But, the format has succeeded in the past (Zeta & SHE). When those stations were at the top of their games the market was approximately 45% Hispanic and 12% black. I had no idea that the market had gone to 70 or 80% ethnic in the three years I've been in Alabama.

 

[Diogenes]

With all due respect, you've been in Alabama for 3 years and the census is conducted every 10 years (on the 0). Perhaps you didn't notice the demo shifts as they were happening while you were here. The market has changed dramatically. Someone else mentioned earlier in the thread the reasons Country doesn't work here. Same reasons. It's all about the right aged white boys and there just aren't enough of them here.

 

[sflaboy]

With all due respect, Kiss probably cash flows 4-5 million dollars a year. Beasley is probably pretty comfortable with those numbers. What business are we in? The business of creating ROI. Last time - Rock can make someone $$$ in Miami-Fort Lauderdale. Hey Cox, if you're listening, I'll buy 93.1 at stick value and put my money where my mouth is.

I don't have a dog in this hunt. I guess I'll just go back into my self imposed exile, where everyone speaks English, says "yes sir" and "no mam", and votes conservative. You all have at it. On Monday I have to go make a living in broadcasting using what I've learned over the last 40 years. I consider myself a blessed man to have the opportunity. Bye, bye.