That is the reason three stations couldn't survive in the early 90s. All three played the same songs, There wasn't much of a difference between 94.1, 96.5 and 106.1. Ironically a good portion of HANK FM's playlist is exactly what the three aforementioned stations were playing back in the day.
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KPNW back to Country?
- Thread starter TimmyWA
- Start date
The '90s were the last big country music boom years until the current, unprecedented surge started a couple of years ago. Some non-traditional markets were suddenly able to support two country stations, while others could only support one. Hartford has one very successful station, WWYZ, which flipped from soft AC in 1988, and has never had a serious competitor. Boston, on the other hand, briefly had two country stations, but they soon became one: WKLB. A flanker, WBWL, launched a few years ago and is doing as well as can be expected in a market that never went head over heels for country radio the way Hartford did. Three stations, outside of the deep South and rural Plains and Midwest, will have a hard time surviving even amid the current explosion and expansion of the genre.
And what you mentioned were in the days before streaming and somewhat, satellite. Now with AppleCarplay in vehicles and streaming services like Spotify, the pie slice for any traditional radio format is sliced that much thinner. So, in the 90's three Country stations didn't stick. Given the additional non-radio competitors, how would anyone expect three to make a go of it today?
In my small market, three contemporary country stations are dividing a very small pie three ways, with 12+ ratings in a very narrow range, and a fourth isn't far behind. But then, this is a different sort of market, one in which a pure classical station with zero news/talk content can pull a 4.6. I assume the age-group breakdowns for the top three country stations are the same because they play the same music with the same amount of gold.
Lebanon/Hanover/White River Junction
radioinsight.com
As we often say, ratings aren't as important as revenue. If there's a way for the Bull to make money with country, even with low ratings, it will survive. Hubbard held on to an even lower-rated AAA station for over a year. I expect they'll do the same with the Bull. Obviously Audacy has no reason to change format. And the classic country station is carving out a unique niche. So it doesn't matter how many stations there are in a format. What matters is if their owners are making money.
Agreed, but the problem is, there's at least 30% less in the Seattle/Tacoma revenue pool for radio than even ten years ago. Now divide that Country radio-related potential by thirds, and it will be interesting to see who survives.
What 'revenue pool', and how is that 'revenue pool' measured? Do you mean the total amount of ad dollars spent in the entire radio market?
If you consider there are sub-sectors of the larger ad revenue pool. So, for the advertisers/agencies who have completely abandoned terrestrial radio and moved their business online, they're no longer even considered in the pool.
For those advertisers/agencies who still buy some radio but mostly online, they may lean toward buying Country stations for the wider demographic which includes men and women. But, again, even that pool is smaller now, given the dilution of dollars being spent on social media/online.
In our discussion about Seattle/Tacoma as an example; take that potential Country sub-sector and cut it by the estimated 30%. Next, divide what remains by three (stations in the market). There is your base revenue slice of the total pie.
There is no real "country sub-sector." There is women 25-49. That's a very sellable demo.
They're not just selling the format. They're selling the audience.
Men 18-49 and women 25-49. Not many other music formats can make that claim, can they?
You wouldn't consider that unique?
That's not the point. They're not just selling to country bars and boot shops. They're selling to anyone in the demo, because the format shares audience with others. That's why I said there's no "country sub-sector." The audience shares with other formats, just as the artists appear in other formats.
How many other music formats duplicate the current (and somewhat past) Country demographics? Almost identical male and female.
Classic Rock? Nope. AAA? Lord no. Jack? Nope. N/T?
So you're saying that national ad reps don't notice that Country delivers a unique demo spread as compared with any other music format, except for maybe 55+?
It's very similar to AC. Almost exact same median age. AC is slightly more female. Hubbard owns a country and AC station in Seattle, and I would bet they share a few advertisers. There's certainly more in common between country and AC than AC and AAA (which is what KPNW had been previously)
I was simply addressing your statement about a "country sub sector." My take is there is no such thing in Seattle. They're selling products and services that appeal to the demos, not fans of a genre. That might be different in Greenville SC.
My take is I disagree. National ad buyers have a good understanding of what demos they're looking to reach and where they hang out. It's like those looking for beer and auto consumers, which means placing sports-related buys to reach 18-54M. Sports consumers/listeners are a sub-sector of a much larger demo spread.
We're talking about Seattle. If you notice, I didn't address the "national ad reps" part of that quote. That's a different discussion.
The issue here is how do three so-called country stations exist in a non-country market. The answer is they program and sell to the market, and not the genre. Because there are no Buc-ees in Seattle.
Okay, then is it your opinion there aren't demographic sub sectors as seen by national ad reps? Like, sports as an example?
So, if national ad reps want to reach specifically 18-49 Men/Women in the Seattle/Tacoma market, they wouldn't consider Country as the good option?
And Buc-ees rocks, BTW. They could use some in Washington.
We're not talking about that here. The issue here is how do three so-called country stations exist in a non-country market. The answer is they program and sell to the market, and not the genre.
Why wouldn't we be? National buys are probably what, 65-70% of the group ad revenue from stations?
Depends on the company, but for Audacy and Hubbard, I'd say national is closer to 30%
In most cases a lot of the national money is in digital.
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