Goodbye Opry...SHAME ON YOU SIRIUS!!!!

[grandoleopry]

This reply directed to radionekkid. Clearly you have little appreciation for the historic
value of WSM in its current state. You obviously have little knowledge about
the ratings or lack therof for most all sports talk stations, as most are at the
bottom in most markets. Granted there are some very successful news talk
stations in many markets; some however do not perform as well as WSM with
its classic country format in Nashville. I would say chances are WSM is outbilling
most of those with its many large Grand Ole Opry sponsors coupled with its local
revenue. I have owned and managed numerous country and classic country formatted
radio stations over the years and my AM's while not necessarily market leaders in
ratings...were extremely successful at generating revenue.
WSM is a piece of American History and should remain in tact.
There are tens of thousands I'm sure who agree.

Harrisburg/York PA

 

[radionekkid]

Wsm only slightly older than i. I don meant to be cross or even seem not to appreciate wsm is a plum and i listen everyday. Almost 60 years in and around radio and tv business give me a certain prespective. what a say is a fact, like it or not. NeveR worked at wsm but know many who have in one fellow who still does. My hope is that they will beat the odds and survive. But wsm lives in the shadow of the Opry and big company that owns it, before that it lives in shadow of tnn and before that wsm-tv station all thoses made lot of money high cash flow and i am talking befor all this ebida crap came along. The last i knew opry only paid wsm a fee for the time the use but that could have changed now but doubt that. Good will and good feeling are one thing but cash is king. people not from around here don't see what goes on locally and may not understand the whole picture no harm intended, my wife says i am mean old man. haha

 

[zumahans]

You go, old man. I hope to be half as hornery as you up then.

 

[Journeyman]

WSM is a piece of American History and should remain in tact.
There are tens of thousands I'm sure who agree.

Harrisburg/York PA

That may be true, but judging by the ratings, none of them are in Nashville and none of them are listening. Only one thing matters, numbers WSM hasn't got 'em, not gonna get 'em with that dog of a format

 

[grandoleopry]

In response to Journeyman;

Your observation regarding WSM is off base. First and formost the last 12 plus numbers
I see which are from the most recent summer survey show WSM with a 3.7 in
a metro area like Nashville is decent for an AM station. Frankly it outperforms
all the sports talk stations and clear channels WLAC.
and is only 1 point behind Citadels FM WKDF.
BUT the most positive thing about WSM is the audience base is LOYAL...they are not
channel surfers....They like that music and they support not only the station but
its sponsors....and they also have NASCAR which coupled with the classic country
format makes for a tremendously loyal audience....making for great time spent
listeneing. In a market like Nashville a 3.7 is pretty respectable for an AM country
guarantee you wouldnt see that with Sports or News Talk in that market.
and I have research to back it up.
You obviously are not a country fan and thats okay ; but again I reinterate
I have been involved with numerous stations that didn't necessarily have
the best ratings but always performed well in terms of revenue.
If you have a solid sales staff and can sell creatively numbers mean little.
WSM has been able to maintain and even increase its audience share over the
past five years and for any AM anywhere that is something to be proud of.
By the way most News Talk operations are the most expensive formatted stations
to operate...thus making it more of a challenge to keep them profitable.
You may not agree with my observations but believe me my 20 plus years
as a GM / programmer / owner have taught me many lessons.

 

[radionekkid]

Wsm is tied up in a bad contract deal with another radio company that bought out the 2 Fm stations they owned one time years ago. Its not a good deal it seems for wsm . That gaylord got 70 million dollarsin cash for the Fm stations one is talk and forcing wsm to make it go on that revenue generated by sales only from cumuls broadcasting. People think Wsm gets big money from Grand ol opry but thats not true. Its is pretty slim I am told wsm getting run around and tradeout and other worthless stuff. Gaylord was big in news paper and television but now operated hotel chain in Nashville dallas houston and Washington DC. They don give a damn about radio business and should get out of it all the way. Now I will tell you if they sell it to one of those big chains it gone for sure. If it is going to be spared those big record executives and country music stars up there in nashville ought to get together buy it and put their money where their big mouth is. If theyre going to complain when they try to make a program change or change thr business then step up and do somthing about it more than just moaning and groaning all the time about wsm going to kill off country music. NOw Dolly Parton and Keny Rogers ether one got enough money to write a check for it and never miss a beat or miss the money Charlie Daniels is the same too. Now there it is like it or not.

 

[romer979fm]

Now I will tell you if they sell it to one of those big chains it gone for sure. If it is going to be spared those big record executives and country music stars up there in nashville ought to get together buy it and put their money where their big mouth is. If theyre going to complain when they try to make a program change or change thr business then step up and do somthing about it more than just moaning and groaning all the time about wsm going to kill off country music. NOw Dolly Parton and Keny Rogers ether one got enough money to write a check for it and never miss a beat or miss the money Charlie Daniels is the same too. Now there it is like it or not.

Is there a fact in there somewhere? How do you know how much $$ Dolly-Kenny-Charlie have...
and why in the wide-wide-world of sports would they even consider owning?

 

[Journeyman]

First and formost the last 12 plus numbersI see which are from the most recent summer survey show WSM with a 3.7 in a metro area like Nashville is decent for an AM station.


You obviously are not a country fan and thats okay ; but again I reinterate
I have been involved with numerous stations that didn't necessarily have
the best ratings but always performed well in terms of revenue.

Lets address these shall we? 12+ numbers and 5 bucks will get you a latte at Starbucks. As has been discussed here before, the reason those 12+ numbers are so high is that WSM scores HUGE in the 55+ demo. As populous as that is, agencies won't touch it, and you won't turn a profit without agency bucks. Local Sales --- In a perfect world, that's your answer. I know of only about three sales people in Nashville that can generate local sales that *might* sustain WSM and all of them are gainfully employed elsewhere.

I actually like traditional country music, and would trade you a Dierks BEntly for Jim Ed Brown any day of the week. But it's a niche format appealing primarily to 55+ and on radio that's demonstably unsustainable.

One final word: The panty-waists that run Gaylord now are too afraid of bad publicity to do what they know they have to do. If they consider themselves a hotel company (which they do) they have to grow a set and sell the station to a radio company who might just have the skills to turn a profit with it.

 

[briancraig]

Changing WSM's format at this point would bring a company bad publicity on a worldwide scale.

WSM probably should have changed formats in the 1980s to news/talk. They could have kept the Opry on Friday and Saturday nights and even continued to play country music overnights like WWL and WBAP.

WSM has only been all country since 1979, so doing a news/talk format during the day would not have been a huge stretch from the full service format they did for 54 years.

 

[dudesquat]

Grand Ole Opry is streamed on the internet now...so it's not a big deal anymore putting it up on the bird.

 

[dudesquat]

WSM was just being voicetracked for sirius for the past year or so anyway....so the only live programming was the opry.

 

[Tibbs4]

Responsibility to the shockowners is all that matters (legally) to Gaylord. They made millions of dollars worth of long term
mistakes trashing Opryland than they taking WSM sports or talk. WSM is not on the minds of many people today. The
support of listeners outside of Nashville is not that important to this company. I agree it could or should be, but that's a different post.

 

[zumahans]

>"Grand Ole Opry is streamed on the internet now...so it's not a big deal anymore putting it up on the bird."<

That could end with five keystrokes.