Out of 200 and some stations, a dozen or so that need or at one time needed work. P&G has more product failures than CBS, and that is saying a lot.
I'm referring specifically to their troubles with the Rock genre. Do they have 200 stations within the Rock genre? I think not.
Within Rock, their "batting average" (since you brought up the analogy) is .200 or less. Time to send them packing to the minor leagues.
It's not that See-B.S. has just a few failures, they have MULTIPLE failures. Look at how many Rock stations they have mismanaged!!! It's mind boggling! New York City isn't the only laughing stock; look at Washington!
Ya know what? I actually forgot to list two failed CBS rock stations earlier -- and these were glaring omissions on my part. Here they are:
WASHINGTON / BALTIMORE -- 99-1 WHFS
NEW YORK -- 102.7 WNEW
How many format variations did WNEW go through its last five years on the air?
For example, WYSP under Andy Bloom is growing and improving...
He's been there for...what...all of two months? That certainly is NOT enough time to form any conclusions on the station's recent programming changes.
Don't bother looking at cume in WYSP's case. Anyone with a clue knows that's driven by Eagles football. Once the NFL season is over, their cume will likely drop by 300,000 for the week.
Andy Bloom couldn't counterprogram against 93X in Minneapolis; he got the crap beat out of him. (Remember Rock 100.3? What a joke.) Howard Stern was the key to his success in Philly before.
You actually think he stands a chance against WMMR?!!!! Let's see how things look a year from now.
In the long-term, the ONLY way CBS will ever be able to win the rock battle in Philly is if they snag Preston & Steve from WMMR. I doubt they'll have sufficient funds in the budget to pull that off. I'm thinking Greater Media is in much better financial shape.
KCBS in LA was not a failure, it was just stagnant and research showed Jack would do better...
CBS let it become stagnant! I do give them credit, though, for changing the format to Jack. That was a good move.
CBS has not been afraid to try some new formats, such as the ill-fated FM talk creation. You can't hit homers unless you step up to bat, and even in baseball, getting one out of three places you at the top of the game.
Free-FM was ill-conceived from both the programming and branding side of things. They had only a small stable of talent to successfully execute such a format, yet they rolled out on multiple stations nationwide within a short time span. They also ditched successful brand names such as "106.7 WJFK," "CKG...The Package," and "97-1 FM Talk" for the generic if not ambiguious "Free FM" moniker.
Let's also not forget Blink 102.7! ;D
KUFX, the Clear Channel station that replaced KOME, is rated 24th 12+ in San Francisco, hardly a big success. It's only two position higher in 25-54, too.
Of course they aren't going to get great numbers in the San Francisco market at large. 107-7 The Bone has a much better signal in the northern 1/2 of the market. KUFX doesn't target San Francisco at-large, it targets the South Bay.
KOME, on the same signal as KUFX, was able to generate a 3.0 share in the overall San Francisco market on a regular basis (granted, the demos were young.)
My point: CBS should've kept KOME intact on 98.5 and sold 105.3's facilities instead (they could've gotten considerably more money for 105.3's facilities than 98.5's, I would think), OR they should have moved KOME's intellectual property to 105.3.
Overall, I think CBS will throw in the towel on some of their rock stations in 2009. Look for them to start migrating or simulcasting more & more of their Sports or News/Talk stations on FM, or even launching brands within these two formats from scratch.
I also think you will see an expansion of CHR/Pop among CBS stations. In case you don't know, they snagged Dom Theodore from Clear Channel a couple months ago. He starts with CBS around the New Year. What's interesting is that he will be overseeing all of CBS' CHR/Pop stations nationally, but not their CHR/Rhythmic stations. CBS doesn't have that many CHR/Pop stations right now, which tells me that they will likely be expanding within that genre.
Think I can go back to the Philly board now? LOL
