IMHO, WBOS was a boring AAA station and now as Radio 92.9 they're a boring alternative station. Although their present incarnation is getting higher ratings, the play it safe rotation is too repetitive. Even my son and his girlfriend who are firmly in the demographic that Radio 92.9 is aiming for has agreed with my assessment.
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If I were WBOS or WXRV or WPLM or WFNX.....
- Thread starter LA_Guy
- Start date
While I would agree with your assessment of the music on BOS generally, I think it has also been the case that this kind of alternative station is becoming the norm, and may be the way that the format survives and thrives.
No one will admit that they really like to listen to repetitious and familiar music, even though they do.
No one will admit that they really like to listen to repetitious and familiar music, even though they do.
Nobody even brought up the greatest need for Southeastern New England & Boston - Free Form WBCN with Sam Kopper 
at the Helm - That's what I call " we play everything" . Of course only the great music in R & R history from 1955 to 2011--- AAA Radio at it's best - Otherwise The River is a close second. Just wish they expand their playlist even more. 57 years old and still a rockin' ! Mike
at the Helm - That's what I call " we play everything" . Of course only the great music in R & R history from 1955 to 2011--- AAA Radio at it's best - Otherwise The River is a close second. Just wish they expand their playlist even more. 57 years old and still a rockin' ! MikeJimmy128 said:
Thank whatever deity you want that you don't live in a Cox Radio market. You will hear the same songs every damn day. Of course, the stations do very well in the ratings. The American Sheeple: can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em...
MassMusicMan
Banned
Eli Polonsky said:
A Boston station? With hard rock? The males in Boston are under 30. They don't listen to rock, they listen to hip-hop. 97.7 should be a Rhythmic station, if anything...why let Jam'n have all those listeners?
Rock on 107.3 makes sense. Blue collar white guys around blue collar towns like that stuff. Urban educated people long ago moved on to rap.
Will said:
Will, you ACTUALLY made me laugh with that one!
Agreeing with assessments here that WBOS is and has been a boring station with no spark. Also very much agree that it would be suicide for WFNX to switch to a "Mike" format, I'm certain their .8 share would not budge. They're much better off playing to a loyal niche than being a background station. WXRV would not benefit either, easier to sell AAA than a jockless "We Play Anything".
Signpost said:
WFNX's main thing is co-promotions with their weekly Phoenix entertainment paper, and their longtime alternative format, though not a great ratings getter on its own, is what works best for that purpose.
MassMusicMan
Banned
mistermicrophone said:
I speak from experience. I remember driving around with a couple of friends of mine with whom I grew up in Burlington. I have Sirius in my car, and they put on the old-school hip hop station. I had never even heard OF the song...but they were singing along to it. These friends are both white, were 25 years old at the time, and lived on Beacon St. in Brookline. One worked for a bank, the other went on to attend law school. What radio station DOESN'T want those guys to listen?
I absolutely agree.
All the talk of putting an automated jukebox format on very listenable progressive, or alternative stations make me sick.
Goodbye Mike 93.7, don't let the door hit your fat ass on the way out!
I'm probably contradicting things I've said in other posts about the trend being sports / talk / news / etc on FM....
But shouldn't an indie station like WXRV or WFNX with a small group of die-hards from their niche target stick it out right now, watching all the giant radio companies take music OFF the FM dial, meaning they are now like one in ten FM Music stations whereas a few years ago they may have been one in twenty?
I know it's not that far yet, but it may be soon enough.
Let all the CCs and CBSs and Entercoms switch to news / talk / sports and keep playing great music and your fans will stick with you.
Yes, I know what the numbers say, but a station like WXRV or WFNX are never, ever, EVER going to have a 4 share.....so if you can figure out how to sell to the same people that pick up the Phoenix every week, and stick within your niche, and sell on the niche not on the rating which the sales people should already know how to do, why flip?
I think flipping to a Mike type format for a WFNX or a WXRV being real risky. All their die-hards go away, and people who were Mike listeners are probably already replacing it with their MP3 players or Pandora/Spotify accounts anyway since they offer similar solution to a jukebox/jockless station.
If you ARE going to survive on FM with music I think you need to be super live, super local, super new, etc. Give the listeners a reason to keep tuning in, don't just play the hits of the last 3 decades with some promo's mixed in. Sure middle aged office workers may love it now, but in 10 years they will replace you.
[/quote]
All the talk of putting an automated jukebox format on very listenable progressive, or alternative stations make me sick.
Goodbye Mike 93.7, don't let the door hit your fat ass on the way out!
I'm probably contradicting things I've said in other posts about the trend being sports / talk / news / etc on FM....
But shouldn't an indie station like WXRV or WFNX with a small group of die-hards from their niche target stick it out right now, watching all the giant radio companies take music OFF the FM dial, meaning they are now like one in ten FM Music stations whereas a few years ago they may have been one in twenty?
I know it's not that far yet, but it may be soon enough.
Let all the CCs and CBSs and Entercoms switch to news / talk / sports and keep playing great music and your fans will stick with you.
Yes, I know what the numbers say, but a station like WXRV or WFNX are never, ever, EVER going to have a 4 share.....so if you can figure out how to sell to the same people that pick up the Phoenix every week, and stick within your niche, and sell on the niche not on the rating which the sales people should already know how to do, why flip?
I think flipping to a Mike type format for a WFNX or a WXRV being real risky. All their die-hards go away, and people who were Mike listeners are probably already replacing it with their MP3 players or Pandora/Spotify accounts anyway since they offer similar solution to a jukebox/jockless station.
If you ARE going to survive on FM with music I think you need to be super live, super local, super new, etc. Give the listeners a reason to keep tuning in, don't just play the hits of the last 3 decades with some promo's mixed in. Sure middle aged office workers may love it now, but in 10 years they will replace you.
[/quote]
Will said:
Two affluent white dudes knew an old school hip-hop song, therefore, urban educated people moved onto rap. Screw a market perceptual, now THAT'S research.
MassMusicMan
Banned
I only cited two people. If I did the legwork, and tested records with 25-54 males, I'll bet you a lot of hip-hop would come back with high scores. I dare WAAF to put early Jay-Z into the music test. Put Easy-E's "Easy Does It" in there. "The Chronic." I dare a major market radio station to test those songs. Why not? You pay for the test anyway. And if they already have tested it, I want somebody who works there to come on here and tell me how it worked out. It's 2011, everybody in Boston knows this place exists and is reading the threads. I don't need your name, I just want my curiousity indulged.
It takes a belief before something actually is heard on the radio. They're talking about this on the NY board today. Did somebody try sports in Utica before WFAN existed? No, a big league station tried a new format. They're still running it 25 years later.
It takes a belief before something actually is heard on the radio. They're talking about this on the NY board today. Did somebody try sports in Utica before WFAN existed? No, a big league station tried a new format. They're still running it 25 years later.
MassMusicMan
Banned
Either that's the way to go, or we just accept that they'll pay the $13 a month to hear it on the bird (or nothing to hear it from Pandora), and radio, as the free option, can continue to be the low-rent end of entertainment. That's not a slight, but no need to change what you do if everybody involved eats.
MassMusicMan
Banned
Because WJMN HD2 might as well be available only on the moon.
Will said:
The radio companies have accepted that you'll pay $13 a month to hear the bird (I actually pay $21 so I can stream it on my iPhone, but I digress). Satellite hasn't had the impact on terrestrial radio that Sirius and XM thought.
By the way, name me a station on Sirius/XM that's NOT era driven (80's on 8, 90's on 9) that plays what WAAF plays AND Nuthin' But A G Thang, for example?? Those stations are formatted, too...and we pay for 'em!!
F
frankfurter
Guest
It wouldn't be worth your time to take a signal like WXRV or WFNX and put any kind of AC/CHR/Classic Hits/etc format on it. Those types of stations get big numbers from passive listening - ie it's on in the background at work and you're not really paying attention to it. A weak, edge of the market signal won't be picked up on small radios inside big office buildings. The people who listen to WFNX and WXRV make an effort to listen - putting up with static, listening online when the signal is weak, etc. And therein lies the flaw in the PPM system - it values passive listening the same as active, intent listening - an hour of hearing Magic in the background at the dentist's is measured the same as a person listening to "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" on NPR and hanging on every word.
frankfurter said:
You see this as a FLAW? If you passively listened in the dentist office or at work, you were suppose to report it as such under your diary listening and many people didn't, which was a major flaw in the diary system. Listening is listening. That's like saying 75% of the viewers watch the Super Bowl for the game and the rest just watch the commercials. It doesn't matter, because 100% of viewership is measured.
The challenged signals WFNX and WXRV possess aside, AC/CHR/Classic Hits, etc have higher ratings because they're are mass appeal formats, plain and simple, while WFNX and The River certainly aren't.
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