Scooter,
I am wondering if they have done any auditorium testing within the market? If I am not mistaken, CC has been doing its own "consulting" for awhile now. I left WTPT in 2007 but continued doing some voice over and imaging from home. About a year later my PC died, so I did some voice-tracking for Shine 96.7, mainly to get some studio time. I went in to meet with Steve to go over the details, and it was shocking what the place had become. I knew the culture was more subdued than I was used to because I was still at 'ROQ when CC bought them back in '97 or '98...but it was like a ghost town. Empty production studios, empty control rooms, empty hallways, cold segues on the air and just a lifeless feel to the entire place. John Landrum laughed at me when I asked him if I needed to sign up for studio time in advance. The music logs weren't even generated inside the building for most of their stations, I think Kix did his own and John did 'ESC, but the rest came from upstairs, wherever that is.
My point is, I am all for technology and think that having an automated system in place is a good thing. If it keeps the Scary Ted's and Twisted Todd's of the world from playing the wrong track because they were distracted by a young lady on the phone, then I say that's a win-win. But technology should be used to make your life easier and your product better. Instead of using it to reduce cost, why not use it to increase revenue? Yes times have changed and we have more choices than ever before, but terrestrial radio tucked it's tail between it's legs and gave up without a fight in my opinion. The listening audience isn't stupid, why would they listen radio just 'mail it in' when they have so many other things to entertain them. I guess that 2.3 isn't all that surprising when I think about it.
Since I left the business, I went back to school and got a degree in computer science. Now I spend my time developing software to automate things (ironic, huh?) and it's a thing of beauty when at 8:30am a report runs itself and goes out via email at 8:45. The best part is, I don't come in until 9:00. Bottom line: we are more efficient, and get to spend time in R&D making our product better so we can drive revenue.
My commute to Easley is about 35-40 minutes, so occasionally I'll tune in to see what the locals are doing, and I'm usually right back to my podcasts after about five minutes.
I'll send you my contact info if you want to grab a bite one of these days, assuming you still visit Easley once in a while? I'm curious if you heard Cornette tell the Maulkey brothers story on Steve Austin's podcast. I almost ran off the road I was laughing so hard, something folks USED to do when listening to the radio!