Ratings: The Sound tanks!

[Kabrich]

I, DE and many others on here, predicted this situation for The Sound at it's inception!

DE based his predictions/evaluations on hard facts and figures about the L.A. market...and they are unfortunately playing out for Bonneville.

My prediction/evaluation was more based on gut, which is also a part of successful programming for a station, especially a new one and especially in this format.

I said this at the beginning....If the so-called radio geniuses at Bonneville had just taken a page from the AAA playbook their friends up North at KFOG use, they "might have" had a slim chance at doing something in L.A. with The Sound. So now, they need to re-evaluate.

Bonneville can still flip to a Top 40 and come right at KIIS (which just continues to glide along without any direct competitor and make tons of money)....The question is...Do they have the insight and fortitude to swallow their pride, let The Sound go, and go for where the real ratings and advertising dollars can be found??

We already saw this play out in San Fransico several years ago when Bonneville put The Drive on a station there - once again, built out of the Chicago Cluster - just like The Sound.

Yes, History does repeat itself.

 

[Zeb Norris]

We already saw this play out in San Fransico several years ago when Bonneville put The Drive on a station there - once again, built out of the Chicago Cluster - just like The Sound.

Yes, History does repeat itself.

The stations sounded nothing like each other.

Here's an actual liner I heard on The Drive in San Francisco. "Like you're hearing? One simple promise. It doesn't change. The Drive". Then the Eagles "Hotel California". Yaaawwwnnnnnnn...

But of course, it did change. To Country, then to "Max" (whose ratings were Min), then back to country.

The Drive in Chicago would never have such un-interesting imaging. That's why The Drive in Chicago kicks ass, while The Drive in San Francisco is gone.

 

[goriajk]

I have to agree with SRF over this comment Besides the fact that The Sound has not 'executed' the format very well, the station is now on a stay of execution. I have long given up hope and I just tune in now and then to see what they're doing. Thanks to the Internet, there are so many many AAA choices of over the air out of market stations and AAA Internet-only stations, and only a finite number of hours in which to listen, my radio music-listening needs have so far been amply met. I'm big on Radio Paradise, and I listen to this station A LOT while working (Thanks to my iTouch) The Sounds lacks variety, and is not truly AAA. 'Nuff Said. Joe G

 

[SuperRadioFan]

HEY Joe!!

On the money, as The Sound continues to lose listeners like you and me and many many others we both know who were there at the beginning and are now totally disappointed and who feel disenfranchised and are now former listeners. The newbies there love the station at first but after a few months they seem to grow tired and burned out when they hear so much repetition and little more reason to continue listening. And the typical complaint on their forum continues to be too much classic rock tracks. As you said, Joe, they are "not truly AAA" but to their credit they never said they were on their website or in press releases. The 'AAA' tag was media-given only. And yet, the management and staff (all good people) seem to be in denial as to what is not working in getting better numbers for The Sound. IIRC the format they replaced in April had been getting better numbers than The Sound has ever gotten. How long is a 0.9 going to cut it in the biggest radio market (adv$) in the country?