Jeffrey said:
So if one follows your line of thinking 80% of NYC stations should just sign off...
Why pour money into something you can't sell? AC sells because you can listen to it in an office or store. If you want to roll the dice on a specialty format you have to make up for the inability for it to be heard in offices and stores by having a huge audience. It has to be top 5 to sell.
Jeffrey said:
and of course two stations with the same format hurt each other. It is called competition.
Competition destroys value. The idea is to offer a speciality product, not a commodity. The goal is for that specialty product to be in very high demand. The goal is that speciality product should be protected from imitation.
Hot 97 did very good at reaching the first goal. Hot 97 failed at the second goal.
Hot 97 can reach the first goal again by focusing on its classic rap history. Hot 97 can leverage its proprietary recordings with Monsters of hip-hop to protect itself from imitation.
Jeffrey said:
There's plenty of room for 2 chr urbans in NYC. Look at the cume.
I disagree. The cume for urban/urban chr is about 3 million depending on which way the wind is blowing. This size was fine when WQHT had a monopoly, it was even acceptable when WWPR decided to enter them market. But now even WXRK is competing for the same 3,000,000 audience? Who needs it? Modern hip-hop is satuarted. NOW is pealing away the women. WWPR has pealed away the men. WQHT is second option, as reflected in its trailing ratings. They need to try to lure back in listeners from WFAN WINS and WCBS-AM by presenting a format no one else offers and presenting it in a way that no one else can offer.