There was a little PPM mystery over the summer that I don't think we addressed. In the July 18-34 rankings, Radio 104.5 suddenly moved up four places and ranked #2 (behind WBEB who'd held the pole position for something like 12 or 13 months). WRFF had been hovering around 5th, 6th, or 7th. The jump must've been a fluke? But wait, there's more! In August, they had a huge surge and actually took 1st place from More FM! The party ended when the September book came out and they plummeted back to earth, taking 5th place. But is there any explanation anyone can think of to explain such a big jump? Does anyone remember the last time they were #1 or #2 in the demo? It's really a shame they can't monetize the damn thing.
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Radio 104.5 mystery
- Thread starter Miguelito
- Start date
I'm not an industry person but my guess would be that summer is when they hold their birthday concerts as well as block party concerts and are constantly giving away free tickets, young people who normally dont listen might be tuning in for a chance to pick up free tickets to see the artists that play 1045 shows, that's the only guess I would have, or summer break from college?
I honestly think it's the state of Alternative music at the moment. Not much lighting the playlists on fire. (New Twenty One Pilots may help, but the crossover to CHR will siphon some listeners). CHR is in their own doldrums right now too.
WRFF used to be a consistent 4.0+ share in the 6+ ratings. Now they've been bouncing around the 3's most of this year. So overall they're down.
I randomly grabbed a few "research doctor" articles on WRFF's 18-34 PPM numbers just for comparison:
In the Holiday 2017 book, it said WRFF dropped to 4th.
October 2017, WRFF was #3 18-34.
September 2017- 3
August 2017- 2
July 2017- 3
June 2017- 4
May 2017- 4
April 2017- 4
March 2017- 2
February 2017- 2
January 2017- 5
Not horrible. But in 2018:
September- 5
August- 1
July- 2
June- 6
May- 7
April- 5
March- 4
February- 3
January- 7
So... something is... off at WRFF. Again, I think it's just the quality of the Alternative music recently, but that's just my opinion. The July/August bump doesn't look THAT unusual. But the dips back to #7 are a bit.
Its possible it could be a music issue or possibly they may be digging themselves into a hole (musically speaking) by targeting that younger end of the demo being that the new Alternative music being released is very inconsistent. Artists will have a couple hits then disappear, the genre is weak in artists having repeat mainstream success, especially since the music is so close to pop, it almost becomes disposable and onto the next artist. By sliding the playlist to include more 90s and early 2000s artists I feel like it could make for a more consistent base audience all while still playing the new charting hits of the genre. But I dont fully understand targeting an age group who probably listens to FM radio less than other demos and look to spotify for their music fix. The younger Alternative demo seems to me to be less a casual music listener and more into "geeking out" over artists particularly artists like (twenty one pilots, paramore, panic! at the disco) and can binge their music ilona streaming services
Alternative had plenty of one/two hit wonders back in the heydays of the 90s. (Folk Implosion, Primitive Radio Gods, Dishwalla, New Radicals etc.) My personal opinion is that it isn't artist longevity (or lack there of) keeping listeners away.
More musical Balkanization. Less musical cohesion. It will ultimately kill alternative. The musicians can feel it in their pockets.
It leads to musical cross-pollination and cross-over. If listeners can hear something that sounds like alternative in other formats, they'll flip. I saw WMGK is #1 with 18-34 demo. Maybe the alt fans are going over to classic rock.
Remember that alternative is alternative ROCK. The genre developed from a reaction to the "corporate" rock played on CHR and AOR stations. With CHR now dominated by rhythmic styles, from pop to rap, and most AOR stations having flipped to classic rock, alternative is no longer an alternative to anything currently popular. It's not an alternative to hip-hop; most fans of alt never listened to hip-hop in the first place, so how could they react to it? It's not a reaction to Taylor Swift-style pop; again, alt fans, with their aversion to drum machines, Auto-Tune and other modern-day musical "abominations" (to their ears), weren't listening to it. The whole genre, as fractured as it is, exists in a near-vacuum now.
I agree there were plenty of one hitters in the 90s hey day but there was a strong base in place with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden among others like STP and Snashing Pumpkins, and Green Day, that strong baseline is now gone and you are only left with current one hitters and a few bands that are solid but no where near the strength of those 90s ra bands that carried the genre for a few years, after those bands either broke up or changed direction musically, you saw the whole genre basically start to crumble with a few short stints of Ska and Pop/punk lighting the fire again it quickly fell off again thereafter
Good point. If you're an alternative musician, how long can you "rage against the machine?" At some point, don't you want to finally make a little money? Because it's probably not going to happen as long as you tour endlessly in a van from bar to bar, playing general admission or worse. Isn't there a way to just focus on the lyrics more, and maybe cross over to country? At least there, you'll get respect as a songwriter. Or add a drum machine and go pop. Look at Ed Sheeran. In another time, he'd be an alternative superstar. But Taylor showed him how to get paid for what he does. Now he sells out stadiums by himself, just like her.
How did I not make a note of that as well? WMGK and WBEB are indeed tied for #1 in the 18-34 demo. Someone help me make sense of this please. haha. I mean, WMGK is definitely not aiming for that demo with songs by Boston, Led Zeppelin, Chicago, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Kansas!
In another thread, we've discussed the fact that 18-34 loves classic rock, but not classic hits. My theory is the younger demos hear this music they've never heard, and prefer it to current rock, which is largely derivative from classic rock. they may be tired and worn out to boomers, but they're fresh and new to millennials. The bad news is a lot of the bands are on retirement tours, so it's the last chance to see Bob Seger and Skynyrd.
Agree, I think the current model for new music is so cookie cutter and as stated earlier in this thread, cross pollinated that even people in the younger demo are searching for music that is made by musicians playing instruments and not just drum machines and synth. The world is eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next Kurt Cobain or Bruce Springsteen or Bob Dylan or Jimi Hendrix ect.
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