• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Music on Talk Radio

M

mwebster

Guest
All Access reports that with the end of "Red," an attempt at a hip standards and jazz vocals format in St. Louis, co-owned talk station WFTK will pick up the format on weekends.

Some other examples of talk stations doing music on weekends (off the top of my head) are:

NJ 101.5 - Weekend Oldies
1210 WPHT, Philadelphia - Weekends with Sinatra (hosted by Sid Mark)

And, of course, Talkradio 77, WABC, New York does occasional retro Musicradio 77 tribute weekends.

Talk radio listening declines dramatically on the weekends. For the most part, talk stations do one of the following or a mix of the following:
Go from political talk to advice talk (often brokered).
Run "best of" shows.
Or run Infomercials.

Anybody have any other examples of stations doing weekday talk and weekend music?

Does weekend music formats on talk stations make sense?

I find the idea sort of appealing because many of the leading talk stations were leading top 40 or MOR stations back in the day. But that does not mean it makes good programming sense or good business sense. However, with Oldies (and Standards) stations flipping to other formats, talk radio stations may be able to generate an audience with music that otherwise has been lost to local radio in many markets. It seems like an idea worth trying.
 
> Anybody have any other examples of stations doing weekday
> talk and weekend music?

Of course, there's WHFS/Baltimore, which was all-talk "Live 105.7", but then took the alternative rock format from former WHFS/99.1 in nights and weekends...not to mention the station's calls...

-OA<P ID="signature">______________
Ohio Media Watch - <a target="_blank" href=http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com>http://ohiomedia.blogspot.com</a></P>
 
> > Anybody have any other examples of stations doing weekday
> > talk and weekend music?
>
> Of course, there's WHFS/Baltimore, which was all-talk "Live
> 105.7", but then took the alternative rock format from
> former WHFS/99.1 in nights and weekends...not to mention the
> station's calls...
>
> -OA
>

Real Radio 104.1 in Orlando used to have some amazing music on the weekends... more and more talk started creeping in (mainly replays of the Monsters), but I think they still have some music there...
 
Will It Work?

Do/will weekend music formats work on a talk station?

It seems to be the case with NJ 101.5. Their playlist seems to target the same age demos as their weekday talk programming. They have a solid weekend spot load (better than most talk stations on the weekends). They have solid overall numbers across the board so at least weekend oldies does not seem to pull them down. It's a lot better than "best of" or infomercials (of course, if a station can't/won't sell a weekend music format, brokered programming and infomercials make better business sense).
 
Re: Will It Work?

> Do/will weekend music formats work on a talk station?
>
> It seems to be the case with NJ 101.5. Their playlist seems
> to target the same age demos as their weekday talk
> programming. They have a solid weekend spot load (better
> than most talk stations on the weekends). They have solid
> overall numbers across the board so at least weekend oldies
> does not seem to pull them down. It's a lot better than
> "best of" or infomercials (of course, if a station
> can't/won't sell a weekend music format, brokered
> programming and infomercials make better business sense).

101.1 WZTK in Burlington, NC (smack-dab between Greensboro and Durham) does it with jazz on the weekends. As to whether or not it works for them... I'm not sure. I don't have access to any numbers beyond 12+, so I couldn't tell you any details. It doesn't seem to be harming them, though, so I doubt the public reaction is negative.<P ID="signature">______________
"Get educated. Read stuff on the web and believe all of it."
-- Phil Hendrie
http://theradioblog.blogspot.com</P>
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom