F
FMRadio1
Guest
> I keep reading this same mantra over and over again. The
> belief that NYC is just another city. Not true at all. NY is
> the media capitol of the world and the radio audience here
> is very sophisticated. Our's is the city where most
> programming originates from. Look at the numbers population
> numbers. Sure LA is a big city, but 10 million doesn't come
> close to 15 million. NY is far and away market one in this
> country and where the strip mall and Wallmart thrive
> nationally, they don't exist here in the city of NY. What
> about London or Sydney? Think they are ripe for the same
> programming as stations in Tulsa? They are also English
> speaking major cities. Unless you've lived here for many
> years you'd have no idea.
New York may have more people, but LA is the number one revenue market. And at the end of the day, it's all about the Benjamins. There was once a time when New York radio was different, special. You'd hear great radio in New York that would make any other market sound smalltime. Those days are long gone. Stations in New York now sound pretty much like other stations around the country, even ones in those "small markets" with the "Wallmarts." And what makes New York audiences more "sophisticated" than other listeners? The fact that New York doesn't have a country station? Or maybe it's that New York can support two FM stations that play 30 year old disco songs 24/7. That makes you "sophisticated?" Please. Get over yourselves.
> I love this one. WNEW FM was also a Heritage station as was
> WNEW AM, WABC AM, WMCA, & WINS, before it. The problem with
> WCBS FM was that it had very healthy numbers (top 10, 25 -
> 54) and the audience was left with no place else to go and
> the change was so abrupt, giving the long standing & stable
> air staff less than 1 hour notice, that
> the audience was offended. Smart way to do business.
Obviously you aren't getting it. Sure the top heavy 25-54 numbers looked relatively ok, but they weren't close to what they were 5 years ago, and five years from now they would have been non-existant. Infinity had to do something. The younger end of 25-54 had no interest in listening to a Monkee in the morning and Cousin Brucie puking and wheezing on the weekends. It was time to move on, just like it was when WNEW-AM dumped standards. Those listeners were left in a lurch too. Eventually the market got over it. The same will happen with CBS-FM.
> We change the rules as the game is played. A recent change
> (within a few years) was Jammin'. It was top ten in the
> first book, because with promotion people sampled the
> format. THAT is what usually happens with a format change.
> Over time the audience drifted away. Unfortunately for Jack,
> there's not much audience left to drift away.
Jammin' had a 300 song playlist and once it got burnt out, that was the end of the format. That's why people "drifted away." Jack draws on thousands of songs. Titles can be moved in and out of rotation frequently, keeping them fresh. Once Jack gets the rotations right and tweaks a few titles, things will improve. You talk about Jack playing "small market" songs. Funny, I hear many of the same titles on WAXQ, a cookie cutter classic rock station with forgettable imaging and personalities. They've been doing well as of late. Why not go after their listeners?
> And WNEW FM is a DOG. It's got terrible ratings. Sure better
> than what they had 6 months ago but still after all the
> formats they tried and all the tweaking its still one of the
> bottom feeding FM outlets in NYC. You want to trade a top 10
> station for what WNEW bills? If so, let me know where you
> work so I know not to buy stock in your company and WPLJ,
> bad example of sighting success.
And WNEW is still growing. It's doing as good or better than it did as AC Mix, Blink or Hot Talk. We'll see where they are in another six months. Even if it only gets into the threes 12+, it could bill very well for Infinity. Again, adult formats take longer to establish themselves. Using your definition, WPLJ must also be a dog too. But yet, WPLJ did not go rushing out to get that lucrative oldies audience left behind when CBS-FM went Jack. Why? They're making more money as a two share Hot AC than they would as a three share oldies station. Sounds to me like the kind of company I'd want to buy stock in. And while we're on the subject of two share radio stations, WFAN seems to bill just fine....
Mike Thomas
> belief that NYC is just another city. Not true at all. NY is
> the media capitol of the world and the radio audience here
> is very sophisticated. Our's is the city where most
> programming originates from. Look at the numbers population
> numbers. Sure LA is a big city, but 10 million doesn't come
> close to 15 million. NY is far and away market one in this
> country and where the strip mall and Wallmart thrive
> nationally, they don't exist here in the city of NY. What
> about London or Sydney? Think they are ripe for the same
> programming as stations in Tulsa? They are also English
> speaking major cities. Unless you've lived here for many
> years you'd have no idea.
New York may have more people, but LA is the number one revenue market. And at the end of the day, it's all about the Benjamins. There was once a time when New York radio was different, special. You'd hear great radio in New York that would make any other market sound smalltime. Those days are long gone. Stations in New York now sound pretty much like other stations around the country, even ones in those "small markets" with the "Wallmarts." And what makes New York audiences more "sophisticated" than other listeners? The fact that New York doesn't have a country station? Or maybe it's that New York can support two FM stations that play 30 year old disco songs 24/7. That makes you "sophisticated?" Please. Get over yourselves.
> I love this one. WNEW FM was also a Heritage station as was
> WNEW AM, WABC AM, WMCA, & WINS, before it. The problem with
> WCBS FM was that it had very healthy numbers (top 10, 25 -
> 54) and the audience was left with no place else to go and
> the change was so abrupt, giving the long standing & stable
> air staff less than 1 hour notice, that
> the audience was offended. Smart way to do business.
Obviously you aren't getting it. Sure the top heavy 25-54 numbers looked relatively ok, but they weren't close to what they were 5 years ago, and five years from now they would have been non-existant. Infinity had to do something. The younger end of 25-54 had no interest in listening to a Monkee in the morning and Cousin Brucie puking and wheezing on the weekends. It was time to move on, just like it was when WNEW-AM dumped standards. Those listeners were left in a lurch too. Eventually the market got over it. The same will happen with CBS-FM.
> We change the rules as the game is played. A recent change
> (within a few years) was Jammin'. It was top ten in the
> first book, because with promotion people sampled the
> format. THAT is what usually happens with a format change.
> Over time the audience drifted away. Unfortunately for Jack,
> there's not much audience left to drift away.
Jammin' had a 300 song playlist and once it got burnt out, that was the end of the format. That's why people "drifted away." Jack draws on thousands of songs. Titles can be moved in and out of rotation frequently, keeping them fresh. Once Jack gets the rotations right and tweaks a few titles, things will improve. You talk about Jack playing "small market" songs. Funny, I hear many of the same titles on WAXQ, a cookie cutter classic rock station with forgettable imaging and personalities. They've been doing well as of late. Why not go after their listeners?
> And WNEW FM is a DOG. It's got terrible ratings. Sure better
> than what they had 6 months ago but still after all the
> formats they tried and all the tweaking its still one of the
> bottom feeding FM outlets in NYC. You want to trade a top 10
> station for what WNEW bills? If so, let me know where you
> work so I know not to buy stock in your company and WPLJ,
> bad example of sighting success.
And WNEW is still growing. It's doing as good or better than it did as AC Mix, Blink or Hot Talk. We'll see where they are in another six months. Even if it only gets into the threes 12+, it could bill very well for Infinity. Again, adult formats take longer to establish themselves. Using your definition, WPLJ must also be a dog too. But yet, WPLJ did not go rushing out to get that lucrative oldies audience left behind when CBS-FM went Jack. Why? They're making more money as a two share Hot AC than they would as a three share oldies station. Sounds to me like the kind of company I'd want to buy stock in. And while we're on the subject of two share radio stations, WFAN seems to bill just fine....
Mike Thomas