It's Official: 106.3 goes Female-Talk

[CaroG]

Hey, this is one Upstate girl who has no intentions of listening in -- but not because of political leanings or anything else. Quite honestly, the only talk radio I like is sports-talk. So even as a female, this format has almost zero interest for me. If I want female-oriented talk, I can TiVo Oprah.

Why, oh why, can't they just sling it back to Oldies or even back to the Star 103 (80s) format? I was pretty dang mad about The Walk, which I thought had to be the stupidest format ever conceived. But this is even worse.

YIKES!

 

[carolinaradio]

Re: It's Official: 106.3 goes Female-Talk

Well, both my mom and wife have listened and can't stand it! I've listened to it a few times and still can't believe Entercom could be so dumb. They do Oldies very well...like I've said they should have left it intact after they purchased it, freshened it up a bit, added a night-time personality (maybe Tom Kent?), etc. When I emailed after the Oldies format was removed, they said something along the lines that It was decided that Oldies would not meet our expectations and that The Walk is better suited for them to meet those expectations. Hello? I don't think so -- a year after the switch, Walk is doing only half of what Oldies was the year before. Actually Oldies 106 had started to show improvement, especially Summer 05. If the 'chick talk' format is still on the air a year from now (which I HIGHLY doubt!), can you imagine? 1 shares anyone? ??? ??? ???

 

[GorillaRadio]

You want to know what it really takes to sell a station and keep it on the air. The backing of the people who work in the building. Such a shame, I have watched this entercom owned station change over and over again for the past 8 years. You would think someone would have learned by now that this market needs something steady. A format that is liked by not only the common listener but the sales team that has to make the money. You have to believe in what you sell and that is certainly not going to be the case in this current situation.

 

[chickontheradio]

Re: It's Official: 106.3 goes Female-Talk

If the 'chick talk' format is still on the air a year from now (which I HIGHLY doubt!), can you imagine? 1 shares anyone? ??? ??? ???

I agree with you on both counts. First, I think the difficulty they are going to have selling it is going to be even greater than "The Walk", and that was not an easy sell. I could be wrong, but I think the sales will be so hideously low that it will not last a year. Ratings? I have already been thinking that LESS than a 1.0 12+ is entirely possible.

I can just imagine that the people in charge started brainstorming and fell in love with the IDEA of a talk station that reaches women and convinced themselves this was a winner. I think that in as little as a month, maybe even less, reality will set in and it may hit them that they've made a horrible, horrible mistake.

It's either that or they are right and if it turns out that way, I will be the first to proclaim them visionary geniuses. I just can't see it though.

 

[upstateradiogal]

You want to know what it really takes to sell a station and keep it on the air. The backing of the people who work in the building. Such a shame, I have watched this entercom owned station change over and over again for the past 8 years. You would think someone would have learned by now that this market needs something steady.

A format that is liked by not only the common listener but the sales team that has to make the money. You have to believe in what you sell and that is certainly not going to be the case in this current situation.

Maybe you guys and gals aren't seeing the whole picture. How familiar are you with this kind of syndicated programming? Here is an interesting page - http://radioequalizer.blogspot.com/2006_03_01_radioequalizer_archive.html - scroll down to March 29, 2006 and read the article SOUTHBOUND. I'll quote a portion if you are too lazy.

"In order to avoid continuing to pay station owner Clear Channel high fees to run Air America programming there, KTLK needs to see dramatic ratings improvement. A quarterly finish above 1.0 would help a bit."

If Air America is PAYING Clear Channel fees to run the programming unless it exceeds a certain rating share, what might that imply in this situation?

 

[chickontheradio]

"Maybe you guys and gals aren't seeing the whole picture. How familiar are you with this kind of syndicated programming?"

More familiar than you know. It is not only possible that Greenstone Media is paying Entercom something for clearance, it's likely. But I am positive that it is not nearly enough to keep them whole if this thing is the stinker that I believe it to be.

Despite the lefty leanings of the backers (Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda etc) Greenstone naturally rejects any similarities between Greenstone and Air America.

Raising the stakes even further, Entercom is said to be guaranteeing rating points to national advertisers. Wow, that's gonna hurt if they don't deliver.

 

[carolinaradio]

Re: It's Official: 106.3 goes Female-Talk

If the 'chick talk' format is still on the air a year from now (which I HIGHLY doubt!), can you imagine? 1 shares anyone? ??? ??? ???

I agree with you on both counts. First, I think the difficulty they are going to have selling it is going to be even greater than "The Walk", and that was not an easy sell. I could be wrong, but I think the sales will be so hideously low that it will not last a year. Ratings? I have already been thinking that LESS than a 1.0 12+ is entirely possible.

I can just imagine that the people in charge started brainstorming and fell in love with the IDEA of a talk station that reaches women and convinced themselves this was a winner. I think that in as little as a month, maybe even less, reality will set in and it may hit them that they've made a horrible, horrible mistake.

It's either that or they are right and if it turns out that way, I will be the first to proclaim them visionary geniuses. I just can't see it though.

We had a discussion a year and a half or so ago, after Entercom announced they were buying the three Barnstable stations...The Walk was struggling when it was on the 103s and actually the ratings were worse after the move to 106. Does anyone know how long 106.3 was Oldies? Was it considered a success?

Also, doesn't WSPA target 25-54 females, just like this new format on WGVC? Couldn't that damage WSPA? Could it harm WORD? This is a disaster!

 

[chickontheradio]

Re: It's Official: 106.3 goes Female-Talk

Does anyone know how long 106.3 was Oldies? Was it considered a success?

I'm not sure how long it was Oldies. And I'm sure the people who worked for Barnstable will say it was and Entercom would downplay it. But I don't think there's any question that it was a success. The ratings were good considering the limitations of its signal, and the revenue was excellent relative to its ratings.

Also, doesn't WSPA target 25-54 females, just like this new format on WGVC? Couldn't that damage WSPA? Could it harm WORD? This is a disaster!

WSPA does target Women. But I don't think WGVC is a threat to any station's listeners.

 

[Frasier]

Re: It's Official: 106.3 goes Female-Talk

Also, doesn't WSPA target 25-54 females, just like this new format on WGVC? Couldn't that damage WSPA? Could it harm WORD? This is a disaster!

Can you say... "cluster"? Although this may be one of the rare circumstances in which it included a real clusterf--- of a radio station.

 

[upstate29651]

Yup, it got called right. I can't help but feel this may be a very temporary format, in preparation for the "real" format to be placed on 106.3.

I give chick talk 3 months.

G

 

[thebroker]

If this format is only temporary, why even bother with it? I could understand this crazy format if the signal was marginal. However, it isn't. As I've said before, I stopped trying to understand the actions of radio executives long ago. If I were to make a stupid mistake like this with one of the stations I own, I'd go broke. A company as large as Entercom, though, can much more easily shoulder stupid programming moves. I just can't imagine, though, why somebody higher up the food-chain at Entercom didn't catch this and say "um, no". Unless, of course, the decision was made by upper-level management.

Pay-for-play? You bet. I can't imagine any circumstance where they'd carry stupid programming like this without the provider paying for clearance. The question is, though, why? Is Entercom so bad at running radio stations that they can't program a decent format which would at least pay the bills? No, they aren't. I just don't get it...

 

[chickontheradio]

If this format is only temporary, why even bother with it?

They didn't create it as a temporary format, some of us just think it will end up that way.

A marginal signal? Not to us but to David Field maybe. It is the weakest FM signal Entercom owns in one of their smallest markets. I'm not saying it makes sense, I'm just trying to imagine what was in his head.

I just can't imagine, though, why somebody higher up the food-chain at Entercom didn't catch this and say "um, no". Unless, of course, the decision was made by upper-level management.

This decision originated at local management but was approved, if not embraced, by Pat Paxton, Ken Beck and David Field.

Here's my theory. David Field is a decent guy and I suspect he's sensitive to the criticism that corporate radio offers nothing but "Cookie Cutter" formats. So he wants to innovate. "The Walk" was one attempt at innovation. The new WGVC is another. If he knows and understands the risks and figures he can afford to take them in market 60 on his weakest FM station, that's not stupid. It might even be admirable. But I'm betting that this will be worse than a failure. It will be an embarrassment. But hey, maybe I'm wrong. It wouldn't be the first time.

 

[eacalhoun1]

IMHO, this is the whole problem with corporate radio that have multiple signals in a market:

(1) They either try to kill a good format on one of those frequencies when the ratings are good...examples are CC's Magic 96.1 or the country on 570 WWNC(Asheville). Or...

(2) They "slap" any old format which is similar or almost duplicated on another company-owned signal in the market, just to keep a competitor out...an example is the "lazy" way Country 94.5 in Greensboro was programmed. Great classic country format, but no effort. Or...

(3) They pick a signal to be a "guinea pig", as they've been doing with 106.3 WGVC.

All of these scenarios represent RF "waste" on great signals, and give listeners another reason to go XM or Sirius. By the way, I think WGVC has a pretty decent signal--I can get it in Morganton, NC.

Eric

 

[chickontheradio]

(3) They pick a signal to be a "guinea pig", as they've been doing with 106.3 WGVC.

The standard complaint against big companies is that they have "cookie cutter" formats. It's hard to argue at the same time that they have too many "guinea pigs". I'll take all the guniea pigs I can get. I would have simply picked another format. This one's just a pig. :