N/T predictions for 2007?

[evnlee]

Who stays, who goes?

Which rising N/T host will make great gains, and which of the current hosts will suffer?

Let's have 'em folks! Get on record now so you can be the first to say ' I Toldya So!!"

 

[Radio_Realist]

Sorry, I already posted mine in "2007 Magic 8 Ball", which is the exact same topic.

 

[radiophiler]

Recipes for N/T success in 2007

How about a different slant on this: What would help N/T radio in the coming year?

1) Move that successful AM N/T station to one of your group's underperforming FM signals. If you don't do it, one of your competitors may start another N/T station in the market on FM. See Pittsburgh.

2) Search out alternatives to political talk. Put on a financial show, a medical show, a water-cooler chit-chat show, a comedian, a local sports show, a relationships show, a show that is more likely to interview newsmakers than allow the host to drone on for three hours with his/her own opinions. For water-cooler topics that are often beyond politics, see New Jersey 101.5.

3) Beef up your local presence, including your news department. This one goes hand-in-hand with #1. More people are using i-Pods or listening online for music. What will set your local radio station apart? Local content. No one is saying that you must be local 24/7. But how about drive times M-F at least? See Wilmington, DE at WDEL and WILM.

4) When it comes to talk radio for a younger demographic, respect your audience's intelligence. Do we need more proof that the Free FMs aren't working?

5) Remember that women seek information on the radio too. What elements on your station appeal to women?

6) Remember that talk radio at its best is entertaining as well as informative. See Rush Limbaugh in his peak years. An up-and-comer in this catetory: Stephanie Miller.

7) And finally, remember that you're serving your audience and not just your advertisers.

Happy New Year everyone.

 

[radionut925]

Re: Recipes for N/T success in 2007

How about a different slant on this: What would help N/T radio in the coming year?

1) Move that successful AM N/T station to one of your group's underperforming FM signals. If you don't do it, one of your competitors may start another N/T station in the market on FM. See Pittsburgh.

2) Search out alternatives to political talk. Put on a financial show, a medical show, a water-cooler chit-chat show, a comedian, a local sports show, a relationships show, a show that is more likely to interview newsmakers than allow the host to drone on for three hours with his/her own opinions. For water-cooler topics that are often beyond politics, see New Jersey 101.5.

3) Beef up your local presence, including your news department. This one goes hand-in-hand with #1. More people are using i-Pods or listening online for music. What will set your local radio station apart? Local content. No one is saying that you must be local 24/7. But how about drive times M-F at least? See Wilmington, DE at WDEL and WILM.

4) When it comes to talk radio for a younger demographic, respect your audience's intelligence. Do we need more proof that the Free FMs aren't working?

5) Remember that women seek information on the radio too. What elements on your station appeal to women?

6) Remember that talk radio at its best is entertaining as well as informative. See Rush Limbaugh in his peak years. An up-and-comer in this catetory: Stephanie Miller.

7) And finally, remember that you're serving your audience and not just your advertisers.

Happy New Year everyone.

Well said. Especially that last sentence. It's a real shame that terrestrial radio has sacrificed its audience just to satisfy a few stockholders.

 

[jcolletta275]

I've been compiling a whole gameplan of what I'd like to do with any stations I might ever own or manage. Here's play #1:

In every studio and office, there will be a prominently displayed sign that reads "There are [X] listeners in this market. You work for them."

No one should be concerned with the bottom line. If you're satisfying the listeners, the bottom line will take care of itself.

 

[fred flintstone]

Nothing dramatic. More evolutionary change.

More talk stations migrating to FM. Maybe some talk radio start ups on FM, too. As viable talkers leave AM, AM increasingly turns into a wasteland of preachers, foreign language and infomercials. AM's loss of audience share accelerates.

As more people go to satellite radio or mp3 players for music, FM becomes mostly a talk medium (as happened to AM a generation ago).

The big challenge is re-creating talk radio (essentially a baby boomer medium now) for Gen X and Gen Y. FreeFM is one such attempt and CBS Radio will keep tinkering with it. Maybe this year, somebody will wake up and try to duplicate the style and the success of NJ101.5 in other markets.

The audience for all ideology-driven, party line political talk will continue to erode (and age). Some heritage talkers will try to bring back advice talk (at least part-time). A few may try some form of fem talk.

Lib talk will re-trench. AAR will - eventually - reorganize and something very different from what AAR has been will come out of the post-bankruptcy cocoon. A lot of stations will go away. A Gideon's Band of stations will keep the format going and develop what lib talk needs to become (entertaining radio for people with liberal opinions - and other things in their life).

Look for more time-shifting. Former low power turn-key lib talk stations - and other 2nd string talk stations - will likely become time-shift repeaters for dominant co-owned stations in the same clusters. Some others will likely go to syndicated Urban talk or syndicated sports talk.

Cost cutting will the likelihood of more heritage, blow-torch talk stations going back to local-live talk - unless forced by circumstances to do so (like losing their top syndicated shows).

Rush is thinking about hanging it up, but he won't do it this year. Maybe after the next election (and his 20th anniversary in syndication).

 

[ajhenderson]

Re: Recipes for N/T success in 2007

1) Move that successful AM N/T station to one of your group's underperforming FM signals. If you don't do it, one of your competitors may start another N/T station in the market on FM. See Pittsburgh.

An overused, inaccurate example. CC wanted to start a talk station to compete with KDKA, which, save a few cellar-dwellars, there were none. The fact that is was placed on FM had more to do with the complete (and I mean complete) absense of any quality AM signal in the market, save 1020. It HAD to be placed on FM. They would be doing well if they had a 50kW AM to put the station on, but they didn't have a choice. WPGB may have young demos compared to the Civil War vets glued to KDKA, but they aren't exactly competing with CHRs. Hence, they are basically a somewhat youg-skewing AM news/talker that just so happens to be on an FM frequency.

No one should be concerned with the bottom line. If you're satisfying the listeners, the bottom line will take care of itself.

That's silly. There are plenty of stations, particulary news/talks, that have lost wheelbarrows full of money by foolishly overextending themselves with local programming, etc. I can think of several in my own market in the last five years alone. This is why station's have separate programming and sales departments. And why most GMs come from sales.