> > Heard today that the Oasis will be going CHURBAN after a
> 50%
> > loss of 25-54 listeners.
>
> > Any comment?
>
> Peachy. Just what DFW needs...another CHURBAN
> or URBAN, what with Party 93.7, The Beat, K104,
> KRNB, and might as well throw in KISS FM because
> most of the crap they play has an urban lean.
>
> Yeah we need another CHURBAN like a hole in the
> head or another hispanic or religious station.
> When are these programming morons ever gonna get
> a clue?
>
> The Oasis serves an audience that enjoys smooth
> jazz. It's a small but loyal audience. Ah, what
> am I saying....To hell with the listener,..let's
> make money for the lawyers and consultants. Who
> gives a sh*t what the format is!...
>
Well, apparently the problem is the audience saying "to hell with KOAI" since it's audience has been declining. Smooth jazz has some issues -- audience is, like the oldies format, aging to the point that sizeable parts of it fall outside the advertising-friendly demos, which is why the 25-54 numbers are falling here and elsewhere. KOAI seems to be suffering overrall audience erosion (12+ numbers declining) and aging.
Although I personally don't think 55+ audiences should be abandoned, the reality is advertises like the younger demos. Older audiences tend to be more brand loyal and more sophisticated -- it takes far more ad impressions generally to get a response than it does on a 30 year old. So, if you are launching a product, your ad dollars generally go farther targetting younger adults. Like it or not, fair or not, commercial radio stations whether owned by a mom-and-pop or large corporate chain are not non-commercial charities. Like any other business, they are there to generate revenue. With advertisers so fixated on younger crowds, it's hard to sustain revenue if your audience in that younger crowd is shrinking each year.
As for the format itself, in most places, it has evolved into an uninspired AC/urban AC hybrid mixing old Phil Collins, Keeny G, and Celine Dion songs with James Ingram. (1) It ain't "jazz" and (2) most of it you can here on several other places on the dial. The format was at least unique when it was invented in the mid-80s playing mostly new age and soft jazz that wasn't heard anywhere else.