reality check

[radiotruth75]

When you look at the history of Pittsburgh radio, WAMO was a Pittsburgh institution and B94's first go around as a station, was around for a very, very long time.

WAMO/Sheridan I believe was just in trouble and ready to pull out....but I wonder how they managed to be a player for 55+ years if Urban is so difficult to sell?

CBS is playing "format roulette" not only in Pittsburgh, but most markets it has a presence. Look at 92.3 in NYC for example.

I'm sure this is all very political as in most cases..maybe consultants who live in California and think they know what people in Pittsburgh want. Yes, I've been there and done that. No, I have no respect for those types, nor do I respect the "hack driven" world of radio it's turned into.

First of all, this is a MAJOR market, not Lima, Ohio

As long as there is a substantial audience, there are plenty of viable formats.

If it were all about what formats were "easy to sell", then this town would consist of nothing but HOT AC's, AC's, News/Talk/Sports and Country. Wow, that leaves a lot to be desired but that seems to be the way it's headed in Pittsburgh.

It's no wonder more and more people are going to satellite or another medium for whatever it is they want

There is NO reason that Pittsburgh shouldn't have an Urban-Churban-Rhythmic-Hip Hop whatever station AND an adult R&B station! If they're done correctly, they would flourish. If it's a repeat of what WAMO turned into and what CC tried with 104.7 The Beat; forget it.

Oversaturation (current state of Pgh radio) won't work..it's a waste of time. But I guess CBS, CC etc have a lot of it?

There is a market for everything in Pittsburgh. I only hope that we soon see an FM radio revolution not only here, but nationwide, because currently, it looks like a pretty bleak future.

 

[Parttimer]

When you look at the history of Pittsburgh radio, WAMO was a Pittsburgh institution and B94's first go around as a station, was around for a very, very long time.

WAMO/Sheridan I believe was just in trouble and ready to pull out....but I wonder how they managed to be a player for 55+ years if Urban is so difficult to sell?

In simple terms, they were a "mom-and-pop" type organization, low pay, no stars, most of the sales generated locally vs. national agency buys, spots for gas stations and car washes in PM drive. 95% of these types of operators sold out to CC and CBS. Sheridan did business with CC, and got paid to downgrade signals from 105.9 to 106.7. They never really recovered from that.

CBS is playing "format roulette" not only in Pittsburgh, but most markets it has a presence. Look at 92.3 in NYC for example.

I'm sure this is all very political as in most cases..maybe consultants who live in California and think they know what people in Pittsburgh want. Yes, I've been there and done that. No, I have no respect for those types, nor do I respect the "hack driven" world of radio it's turned into.

First of all, this is a MAJOR market, not Lima, Ohio

As long as there is a substantial audience, there are plenty of viable formats.

If it were all about what formats were "easy to sell", then this town would consist of nothing but HOT AC's, AC's, News/Talk/Sports and Country. Wow, that leaves a lot to be desired but that seems to be the way it's headed in Pittsburgh.

It's no wonder more and more people are going to satellite or another medium for whatever it is they want

There is NO reason that Pittsburgh shouldn't have an Urban-Churban-Rhythmic-Hip Hop whatever station AND an adult R&B station! If they're done correctly, they would flourish. If it's a repeat of what WAMO turned into and what CC tried with 104.7 The Beat; forget it.

Oversaturation (current state of Pgh radio) won't work..it's a waste of time. But I guess CBS, CC etc have a lot of it?

There is a market for everything in Pittsburgh. I only hope that we soon see an FM radio revolution not only here, but nationwide, because currently, it looks like a pretty bleak future.

Now it's about 2 things, agency buys... meaning razor-sharp focus on specific demos.... and lower costs. That's why sports will replace a music format shortly (and the latest rumor is that the B will actually survive this with the sports going to 100.7...B will morph the 2 stations together as sort of an "Adult CHR").

The way a diversification of programming happens is if and when something causes the big players to change structure and shed stations. If standalone facilities or smaller ownership clusters become viable again then the need to be unique arises. A lot of what we see now is that the near-monopoly state of the industry has stifled competition, as the big owners have priorities in each market for which stations carry the ball and which ones block.

 

[GrizzledVet]

Good posts above. Another aspect of this is how ownership consolidation has led to acceptability of station-specific mediocrity. If the portfolio of stations can offer acceptable business performance (and this portfolio might also include TV, newspaper, etc.), then the business model is judged as working, regardless of the mediocrity of the individual stations making up the portfolio. I think those of us lamenting the state of today's radio are frustrated because, at the end of the day, we do not get passionate about a portfolio of stations doing well -- we get passionate about one (or two) that serve us with excellence. Perhaps the heritage outliers (DVE, KDKA) still somehow appear to be stand-alones. But the others are simply single cylinders in an engine, the cylinders being not very useful without the others and the engine being cobbled together.

 

[corporateradiosucks]

Good posts above. Another aspect of this is how ownership consolidation has led to acceptability of station-specific mediocrity. If the portfolio of stations can offer acceptable business performance (and this portfolio might also include TV, newspaper, etc.), then the business model is judged as working, regardless of the mediocrity of the individual stations making up the portfolio.

Remember the last episode of WKRP? Momma Carlson was going to change the format to all news because the rock format was making too much money for the stations and effing up her overall business portfolio. It's so scary how things about the media predicted back then have become so commonplace.

 

[ShawtyBlack_ATL]

When you look at the history of Pittsburgh radio, WAMO was a Pittsburgh institution and B94's first go around as a station, was around for a very, very long time.

WAMO/Sheridan I believe was just in trouble and ready to pull out....but I wonder how they managed to be a player for 55+ years if Urban is so difficult to sell?

CBS is playing "format roulette" not only in Pittsburgh, but most markets it has a presence. Look at 92.3 in NYC for example.

I'm sure this is all very political as in most cases..maybe consultants who live in California and think they know what people in Pittsburgh want. Yes, I've been there and done that. No, I have no respect for those types, nor do I respect the "hack driven" world of radio it's turned into.

First of all, this is a MAJOR market, not Lima, Ohio

As long as there is a substantial audience, there are plenty of viable formats.

If it were all about what formats were "easy to sell", then this town would consist of nothing but HOT AC's, AC's, News/Talk/Sports and Country. Wow, that leaves a lot to be desired but that seems to be the way it's headed in Pittsburgh.

It's no wonder more and more people are going to satellite or another medium for whatever it is they want

There is NO reason that Pittsburgh shouldn't have an Urban-Churban-Rhythmic-Hip Hop whatever station AND an adult R&B station! If they're done correctly, they would flourish. If it's a repeat of what WAMO turned into and what CC tried with 104.7 The Beat; forget it.

Oversaturation (current state of Pgh radio) won't work..it's a waste of time. But I guess CBS, CC etc have a lot of it?

There is a market for everything in Pittsburgh. I only hope that we soon see an FM radio revolution not only here, but nationwide, because currently, it looks like a pretty bleak future.

Im suprised an Urban station hasn't popped up yet.

 

[pghfmradiosucks]

WKRP in Cincy was brilliantly written and all the actors were superb. I've always liked music, but WKRP got me interested in the business and the personalities of radio.

 

[radiotruth75]

Shawty..I believe it's only a matter of time until an urban does pop up..contrary to other thoughts on the subject.

As they say, it can't get any worse it can only get better..we hope

 

[Boss Radio]

Urban was losing on WAMO, and things probably were going to get worse with PPM.

 

[cingram]

Urban was losing on WAMO, and things probably were going to get worse with PPM.

Things *did* get worse with the PPM: they lost half their audience in the first (and only) month they were measured.
Some feel the diary results were inflated, and that the PPM more accurately reflected the true audience. Either way,
Sheridan knew it would be an uphill battle, tried but failed to find another minority buyer and eventually sold it to the
Catholic group.

C.