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Radio Disney to be shuttered, KRDC to be sold

boombox4 said:
But that in itself still doesn't explain why the streaming platform didn't grow as expected after they left the airwaves.
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Well, the trick once you've moved an audience from a finite radio dial to an infinite internet is to keep them with you. As the press release said, the listeners have many more personalized options now for their listening. Even a dedicated Radio Disney app didn't do the trick.

It's Disney. They'll find another way. The biggest fire they have to put out is how to deal with the loss of a year's worth of revenue from parks, cruises and films.
 
boombox4 said:
But if Disney was no longer producing new singing stars, or promoting Disney's own pop music, what need was there for a stream, especially if that stream's audience moved on to OTA CHR and Pandora and Spotify?
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This is an important part of the story. Yes, Disney had its own record label: Hollywood Records, and there was a synergy between TV, movies, and records that had a natural use on Disney radio. Mylie Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, and many more were part of this system. Their target was too young for general radio airplay. One thing fed the other and it was a source of huge profits fifteen years ago. But the problem was the short shelf life for the teen music stars. When they aged out, they transferred to the major label, Universal, where they got normal airplay through general radio. The stars created through the Disney ecosystem still have fans who are now in their 20s and 30s and they still love Mylie & Jonas Brothers. But they've left Disney for their own careers.
 
I listened a lot in the 90s. Stopped in 2001 or so when the music shifted toward teen pop. It made the AM band a bit more unique. Nobody else in the major markets were really playing any music at the time. A lot of the stations had C-QUAM and were the first to use AM HD.

Was initially for the 12 and under crowd, their parents and grandparents. Had Oldies. TV Themes. Some pop. Novelty. They tried syndicating it. Not very many stations carried it but some did. Mostly O&O. The use of AM was supposedly both cost of signals and some research they did that found kids under 12 often used cheap radios, not really thinking too much of sound quality.

2001 and onward is when they really started with the Disney Channel stars. The playlist got tighter. They also upped the age of contest winning to 14 and under.

As far as stations go I think they peaked in 2005. Had about 60 signals, Sirius, XM and Music Choice.

Disney sold the ABC Radio Networks (Which Radio Disney originally originated from, in Dallas) They slowly started getting rid of stations at that point.

Since they shut down the terrestrial network 5 years ago (Aside from 1110), it really had been constantly evolving to a glorified jukebox app. Heavily edited CHR. Barely any on air contests. Not much listener engagement. In the last year or two there hasn’t even been much of a schedule. Just random voice tracks and music. It’s unfortunately a victim of trends.

Their audience is on their phone and they’re not switching on a stream to discover music. They’re listening to music on Spotify. They could get the same exact thing from a curated playlist on shuffle.

One thing I really believe they lost when they shut down the local stations 5 years ago was local promotions. The local stations did promotional events, concerts, appearances, contests. They were everywhere. Without those stations and promotional events, it seemed like they lost a connection to their audience and potential audience. A lot of the contests on air were “LA Area Only” in the last few years.
 
Makes me wonder how SiriusXM's in-house Kids' Place is doing. Same concept but without the requirement to sell Disney product at every opportunity, and it's staffed and live much of the time. Very unlike SXM to be spending much on a niche channel, so I have a feeling there's a sugar daddy in the background slipping money to SXM to keep the channel on the satellites.
 
JeremyAndrews said:
Disney sold the ABC Radio Networks (Which Radio Disney originally originated from, in Dallas) They slowly started getting rid of stations at that point.
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Because Disney retained ESPN Radio and Radio Disney as part of the sale. So they kept the brands, but sold their distribution, which was probably a bad idea.
 
CTListener said:
Makes me wonder how SiriusXM's in-house Kids' Place is doing. Same concept but without the requirement to sell Disney product at every opportunity, and it's staffed and live much of the time. Very unlike SXM to be spending much on a niche channel, so I have a feeling there's a sugar daddy in the background slipping money to SXM to keep the channel on the satellites.
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Why dont they ever take live calls from kids on kids place radio channel hence the name of the station and just have the adult djs talking about what the kids call them and talk about when they are off the air playing music. Thats one of the cool things about radio disney is it let kids have a voice on the radio.
 
Syfy said:
Why dont they ever take live calls from kids on kids place radio channel hence the name of the station and just have the adult djs talking about what the kids call them and talk about when they are off the air playing music. Thats one of the cool things about radio disney is it let kids have a voice on the radio.
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It's cheaper to do syndication than do a live show that's why.
 
michael hagerty said:
Well, the trick once you've moved an audience from a finite radio dial to an infinite internet is to keep them with you. As the press release said, the listeners have many more personalized options now for their listening. Even a dedicated Radio Disney app didn't do the trick.

It's Disney. They'll find another way. The biggest fire they have to put out is how to deal with the loss of a year's worth of revenue from parks, cruises and films.
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Still, in 2014-2016 when Disney were selling off all their OTA stations they had to have known there were already numerous personal options for their internet listeners, but they continued with the move anyway. Something at Radio Disney itself must have changed since then for them to lose their listeners. However, it's a moot point now. Sad day for radio in any form, nonetheless.
 
boombox4 said:
Still, in 2014-2016 when Disney were selling off all their OTA stations they had to have known there were already numerous personal options for their internet listeners, but they continued with the move anyway. Something at Radio Disney itself must have changed since then for them to lose their listeners. However, it's a moot point now. Sad day for radio in any form, nonetheless.
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Again, as I said in another post, it likely didn't happen all at once---but in this case, in the last four to six years, there's been a decline. For a while, it's a business still worth pursuing, until the day it's not.
 
CTListener said:
Makes me wonder how SiriusXM's in-house Kids' Place is doing. Same concept but without the requirement to sell Disney product at every opportunity, and it's staffed and live much of the time. Very unlike SXM to be spending much on a niche channel, so I have a feeling there's a sugar daddy in the background slipping money to SXM to keep the channel on the satellites.
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Kidsplace is actually very popular, primarily in the mornings. It's one of the few SXM shows that's done (for the most part) live. The popularity lies with the morning host, who in spite of (in my view) having a voice that rivals fingernails on a chalkboard, younger kids seem to flock there.
 
JeremyAndrews said:
Since they shut down the terrestrial network 5 years ago (Aside from 1110), it really had been constantly evolving to a glorified jukebox app. Heavily edited CHR. Barely any on air contests. Not much listener engagement. In the last year or two there hasn’t even been much of a schedule. Just random voice tracks and music. It’s unfortunately a victim of trends.

Their audience is on their phone and they’re not switching on a stream to discover music. They’re listening to music on Spotify. They could get the same exact thing from a curated playlist on shuffle.

One thing I really believe they lost when they shut down the local stations 5 years ago was local promotions. The local stations did promotional events, concerts, appearances, contests. They were everywhere. Without those stations and promotional events, it seemed like they lost a connection to their audience and potential audience. A lot of the contests on air were “LA Area Only” in the last few years.
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I think you answered my question above... I just hadn't read your post carefully enough.
 
The official date of closure from the Radio Disney app:
 

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The station's SiriusXM feed ended on January 1st, leaving a looped message telling the listener to check out Kidz Bop Radio, Kids Place Live, and Hits 1 as alternatives.

However, the station can still be heard on their website, iHeartRadio, as well as their FM and AM feeds - as Radio Disney Country shut down on the same day, that AM station is currently playing the regular Radio Disney feed, the first time Radio Disney has been on AM radio since 2017.

Also on January 1st, they switched from playing mostly these songs on loop (with some Disney Channel stars mixed in) to a sort-of "greatest hits" format - everything from *NSYNC and Celine Dion to Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" is getting spins again. While they are playing old "throwback" spots and interviews with artists that were recorded for the station, there are no actual DJs present, and it's all playing in a bit of a disorganized mess - for example, as I was listening just now, the "throwback" spot said "This next song is from the Jonas Brothers", but instead "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift played.

I also heard the station IDs on the online feed for the first time in...ever? It's possible they just switched from a national to the LA feed after the station closed on SiriusXM.
 
radioinsight.com

Radio Disney Begins Programming Shutdown - RadioInsight

The Walt Disney Company will cease operations of its “Radio Disney” and “Radio Disney Country” brands in early 2021. The youth and tween targeted brand debuted in November 1996 with the company utilizing mostly owned AM radio signals to grow in size. As streaming became more prevalent, the...
radioinsight.com

Apparently KRDC has switched back to Radio Disney main feed for now as the shutdown continues.
 
TheBigA said:
The key part of Radio Disney wasn't the AM station in LA, but the online station. When RD sold off all of their owned stations many years ago, they said the audience for this format wasn't listening to traditional radio any longer. The move to the internet was seen as going to where the audience is. Turns out there's no audience there either.

This is what they said 6 years ago:


Radio Disney to Sell 23 Stations, Lay Off Nearly 200 (thewrap.com)

It was a load of hooey then, and it's a load of hooey now. The problem wasn't the platform. This is a common problem I'm seeing. Colleges around the country are selling off their FM stations, often to EMF, saying young people don't listen to OTA radio. So the colleges think they'll be able to better serve their students with online radio. And they discover that fewer people listen to online than FM. Much fewer people.
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In a world of OCD and short attention span there are better ways to reach the Disney Demo. Alumi and college budgets usually keep the station on life support. Programming is usually poor and caters to a very nice audience.

WHUR and WRUF are good examples of College stations that program to a masses and in turn make money. Students get to participate in real world radio setting. These days playing obscure music and planning schedules on a white board is not.

On a editorial note: I've asked a few media instructors how much time is dedicated to the sales and marketing side of radio. The question is avoided or we are trying to work it into the lesson.
 
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