IF OLDIES ARE HOT WHY NOT STANDARDS

[RockIntern]

For some unknown reason WOGL continues to climb in this market, when oldies stations continue to decline in all others. Why is this?, and if this is the case, why are there no Standards format in the area. I would think oldies and Standards are about the same audiance and demo. I know the old folks are not advertiser friendly, or that is what the higher ups may make you realize, BUT, I do think a Standards format would do very well in Philly either on AM or FM, and would rake in the bucks. Bottom line, if WOGL can pull close to a 5.0, there is room for another nostalgia type format. This seems to be a market that is about no change and still loves the old stuff. BTW good luck on the new board, so much better than before.

 

[OldNumber7]

The premise of your argument is flawed because WOGL is no longer an oldies station. It is quickly becoming a 70s station that sometimes throws in a smattering of the most proven late 60s smash hits. The traditional oldies audience became too old for the station and the standards/nostalgia audience is even older. Nostalgia formats can't draw listeners of the age that any advertising agency deems worthwhile. That's it in a nutshell.

 

[scooterlibby]

the 70's are now the Oldies

 

[luperm]

Simple...Standards just does not draw a desirable demo for advertisers.It's not necessarily about the ratings...although they're nice for us to discuss.A little off topic, but look at WPLJ in New York. The casual observer would say that their ratings are horrendous...but their billing numbers say otherwise. They hit a sweet spot for advertisers.

 

[fred flintstone]

If you are asking (and I think you are), why radio no longer plays the music you like, the short answer is because they can't make money with it.Oldies stations decline in numbers in other markets - not necessarily in "The Numbers." Oldies stations have dropped the format even though Oldies had good ratings.The same has happened with Standards stations.Most advertisers won't buy Oldies - or Standards, for that matter.People have been arguing that advertisers are wrong not to advertise to over 55 listeners for some 35 years (when Baby Boomers were beginning to enter the radio and advertising job markets). Nothing's changed.Some stations play oldies but don't call their format "Oldies" (like Sunny or Ben).Many stations continue to base their appeal on musical nostalgia for people 25 to 54. People in that age range mostly have stopped listening to current hits and continue to want the "music they grew up with" - music popular when they were 12 to 24. Nostalgia music now draws mostly from 70s and 80s. Come back in a few years and it will draw from 80s and 90s. They may change the names of the formats again to fool the audience and the media buyers but the strategy will remain.

 

[WTUX]

Philly DOES have a standards station. WSNI 104.5 HD-2. Also streaming on the internet.And the Sunlight Lounge on Sunday morning is a GREAT show.

 

[billjacobs]

I don't get it either. WOGL's playlist is so dreadfully shallow that it's hard to listen to them. I'm 47, and I have more money to spend now than I did when I was 37 or 27 (or 17). Why don't the advertisers like my demo?Bill

 

[fred flintstone]

I'm 47, and I have more money to spend now than I did when I was 37 or 27 (or 17). Why don't the advertisers like my demo?

Having money to spend is not the same as spending it. Maybe you have the money BECAUSE you don't spend like you did when you were 37 or 27.People get annoyed at Julius because he brings up the same issue repeatedly. Well, this issue has been beaten to death over and over again. (For some reason, running this one into the ground is OK.) People don't like the answer: Fine. People refuse to get it: That shows the mindset that makes "your demo" unattractive to advertisers.Advertising is about return on investment: For every dollar an advertiser spends in advertising, how much comes back in increased sales? Advertising is persuasion. It's getting people to do something different from what they were going to do: Buy more. Buy different. Buy something they had not intended to buy at all. Oldies and Standards fans on this board are too closed-minded to accept the business rationale under which advertisers work. And too stuck in their ways to do something different - for example get XM Radio or Sirius Satellite Radio which do offer the music they say they want. Instead, all we get on these boards is complaining about how radio isn't as good as it used to be. And talking about how the good old days were better is a sure of hardening of the cognitive arteries.Bill, my comments are general and not directed at you personally. You found something missing in radio and you did something. You started your own non-commercial station and many people appreciate it. But you are still in a different position than commercial broadcasters who have to worry about corporate managers, stockholders and the bottom line, and who have to sell time to ad agencies.

 

[WTUX]

Just a little addition to the previous posts.By middle age, you still spend money, but your choices have been set. You buy at the same stores. You get food from the same supermarket. You buy the same brand of car (I'm on my 3rd Buick in a row-which is the favorite car of old folks and was a major sponsor of WJBR-AM-I guess they just wanted to remind listeners what kind of car they drove!). Ads are not going to have a major impact on your buying habits. Basically, its money wasted.

 

[tommygraser]

wogl is still an oldies station.they play from 1964 -1979 and some 50's on sunday night.and with that elvis thing on sunday you get some 50's.so wogl is still 100% oldies.now they dont call them self oldies 98 but I do and so do lots of other people.and if you want more 50's get xm like I did

 

[billjacobs]

Just to be clear, I didn't start WRDV. I just work there. For free. And I had no hand in picking the format, though I believe that -- given that the station can be hard to receive in parts of the area -- having a unique-in-the-market format that people will stand on their heads to be able to hear (I know of one guy, 30 miles outside our coverage area, who has an FM antenna on a 100 foot mast in order to get the station) is a great strategy. The music we play is, for the most part, older than I am, and it's not what I listened to growing up anyway (I was a "top forty" kid). My gripe with WOGL is that they play the same 500 songs, over and OVER and *OVER* again, to the point where I'm sick of them. To me, if an "oldies" radio station can't play at least ONE "oh-wow" record a week, it's failing at its mission. And as far as the demographic issue goes, I'm not exactly a tightwad. I may not spend everything I make, but I'm sure I spend quite a bit more, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than I did 10, 20 or 30 years ago. Commercial radio today suffers from an astonishing lack of creativity, entertainment and just plain "fun". Poo-poo and boob jokes don't demonstrate creativity, endless yapping by, with or about Z-grade celebrities isn't entertaining, and the vast majority of the DJ's (Big Joe Henry on NJ 101.5 is a notable exception) sound like they're being walked to the gallows.Bill

 

[NeroSix]

" My gripe with WOGL is that they play the same 500 songs, over and OVER and *OVER* again, to the point where I'm sick of them. To me, if an "oldies" radio station can't play at least ONE "oh-wow" record a week, it's failing at its mission. "Bill, you hit the nail squarely on the head. As a radio vet, you know how PDs, consultants and owners hate to be bold. Test a playlist of 400/500 tunes, stick with that safe list and play them over and over ad nauseum. Any deviation from that safe list is a kind of heresy. The diversity of an XM, Sirius, CD player or iPod connector in your car simply underlines that fallacy. My new car just arrived...complete with XM and a jack for my iPod right in the front of the stereo system. If it weren't for Twaffic On The Twos, I'd never ever listen to terrestrial radio again.

 

[fred flintstone]

If it weren't for Twaffic On The Twos, I'd never ever listen to terrestrial radio again.

XM Radio - Channel 212 - has all traffic all the time, traffic the minute you want it. No need to listen to terrestrial radio at all.Sirius has Philly Traffic on channel 149.The key difference between satellite and terrestrial radio: The listener pays for satellite radio. Advertisers pay for terrestrial radio. Remember the old saw about he who pays the piper. Also the one about no free lunches. And the one about how you get what you pay for.I have no complaint about station owners and those who work for them being risk averse. It's not my money at risk. Like it or not, WOGL is still an Oldies station (more or less). They have decent numbers and they make money. Getting good reviews on radio boards is not among their criteria for success.