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radio format change at 104.5?
- Thread starter CassChopper96
- Start date
Unfortunately more music isn't a good idea when the music itself is causing controversy.
Spending more money on local hosts is also not a good idea when revenues have been down regardless who hosted mornings.
Radio needs more local content
Radio needs more local advertising to pay for it. Unfortunately listeners hate too many commercials.
When you're talking about a radio station that plays music, none of the content is local because the music comes from someplace else.
So that's the reality. If it's music intensive formats, then there's no room for local personality. If you want local personality, go to WMMR.
Pretty much all the stations that depend on current rock are marking time right now. The genre is dying.
What's happening in San Diego is not a "tweak." It's basically a format flip to classic alt.
If music is the problem, there's not a whole lot a radio station can do. It's time for musicians to wake up and create.
Do they really need inspiration? Take a look around at the world right now. If that doesn't inspire new music, what does?
91X still plays a handful of currents. True, they are sparsely scheduled. It has the same brand, same jocks, even the same imaging voices. You are correct that the music changes there are significant.
So, to confirm, 104.5 in your view should do next to nothing in an effort to improve ratings?
So, to confirm, 104.5 in your view should do next to nothing in an effort to improve ratings?
The goal of a radio station is not to improve ratings. It's to improve revenue.
You yourself said that this station underperformed when the ratings were good.
They do what 91X is doing, and people will complain about too much old stuff.
Unless the PD is going to start making records, there's not much the station can do.
If the music is a problem, it's time for the musicians to fix it.
No. Good content is good content regardless of where it comes from. TV stations fill non-news local slots with national shows for the most part because the content works. It’s all well and good to have some local hosts when the revenue supports it, but national content works just fine in many cases as well.
Exactly. Steve Harvey does the morning show on WDAS. He's not in Philadelphia. It hasn't hurt his station's ratings.
Really its not. There are many rock stations that are doing well in this country
Usually, stations with poor ratings have poor revenue, too.
True - 104.5's power ratios were weak when its ratings were much better than they are now.
If ratings stay near current levels for any length of time, billings (as % of total market billings) are likely to slip significantly further.
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree that "there's not much the station can do."
If 91X gets some complaints, so what? If performance improves in response to the recent changes, those complaints should be irrelevant.
If most PDs share your complacent view, it might help explain why FM radio programming is as lame as it is.
Edit: listener comments on 91X's Facebook page regarding their changes are overwhelmingly complimentary.
True - 104.5's power ratios were weak when its ratings were much better than they are now.
If ratings stay near current levels for any length of time, billings (as % of total market billings) are likely to slip significantly further.
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree that "there's not much the station can do."
If 91X gets some complaints, so what? If performance improves in response to the recent changes, those complaints should be irrelevant.
If most PDs share your complacent view, it might help explain why FM radio programming is as lame as it is.
Edit: listener comments on 91X's Facebook page regarding their changes are overwhelmingly complimentary.
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Right because a sunny reboot worked so well
PDs have VPs and GMs to report to, and I doubt any of them are complacent. They get fired. Not me.
My view isn't complacent, it's realistic. Any change has consequences, and you have to balance those consequences with the possibility of improvement. So they change the format, and it'll cost almost a year in revenue until the new format gets stable research that you can sell. You change the music and you'll piss off 50% of your base one way or the other. You add more old songs, and the demos go up. You add more new songs and the bulk goes away. You see what I mean? Consequences.
They're flipping the talent around. I haven't seen a single comment one way or the other about that. So the one aspect they control, which is local talent, is obviously completely unimportant to people on this message board. Very telling.
Most of them are classic rock. The generation that should be solidly into rock has shifted to more simplistic, rhythmic music.
WRIF,KUPD,KLOS,WMMR,WIYY,KISW,KPNT all still do very well
Seven stations, and I'm sure all of them underachieve in billing. Rock had an amazing ride for 40-odd years. Its mass popularity lasted longer than the big band era but it's been largely in decline since the '90s. Hip-hop and R&B evolve with the changing demographics. Country music has also adjusted and continues to adjust. Rock hasn't.
Sometimes I wonder of people think WKRP was an accurate portrayal of the PD/GM dynamic. Ok, so that’s an exaggeration, but really, it is a business. Bosses have bosses. And they have bosses. And they’re all held accountable for the bottom line.
Traditional ad-supported media has always had the challenge of having to get the end product they sell to choose to be sold. The costs go up and the product has more places to go. That‘s a tough reality, and the answer isn’t always, or often, going to be a “yes” to more money coming from the boss’s boss to acquire more end product.
That's what needs to be made clear. To all the posters who are pushing for format change: That means people will get fired. I constantly read people complain when iHeart fires people. Yet when given a chance, people outside the company are equally heartless.
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