Seabreeze & South Walton

[redneckriviera]

Okay, Poledo, I'll take the bait. We'll start a thread on the subject...

And I'll suggest that Seabreeze 106.3 is a perfect choice for the "30A" market. As noted, the FWB & PC stations provide plenty of options for those residents/vacationers in Greater Seaside who insist on hearing the latest Usher or Miranda Lambert tune. But as a lifestyle/cultural match conveying upscale relaxation, Smooth Jazz is hard to beat. As Mark will likely attest, attempting to position any other format in the mind of the local direct advertiser as equivalent to Smooth Jazz may not be impossible, but it would involve jumping through all sorts of fiery hoops. As is, Seabreeze can skip the mental gymnastics and get right to business.

Frankly, I was surprised when Oh-Oh gave up on the format over in PCB. Sometimes it really IS a sales problem and not a programming problem...

 

[Tibbs4]

It's a mindset thing with corporate radio, as well RNR. The big guys decide it's a flawed format that is to hard to sell and vunerable, blah, blah, blah...then then mid-size companies that wanna think big blindly take the cue to dump the format and it trickles down to companies like 00. I am not sure who decided Jazz would be good in PC, but it seems like it was a local decision that some rocket scientist came up with and implemented thinking if lil ole Mark can do it,they can do it better on a bigger signal...and they couldn't figure out that the Jazz format was a totally different sale and audience, which is obvious to most anyone with common sense. Seabreeze is like a great, but tiny restaurant. It's great until some corporation buys it and runs it into the ground. I can equate that to wine...there's artisinal wines and there refinery wines. 95% of American's drink gimmick wines because that's all they are aware exists. The other 5% get great wines for the same $$$ or less that are ten times better. Niche marketing that, if done right, is an effort but rewarding and profitable. That's what Mark has going. And if any FWB station went to Jazz, they'd implode faster that WASJ did. It can be done, but only by a few good men (or women.)

 

[Poledo]

And I'll suggest that Seabreeze 106.3 is a perfect choice for the "30A" market.

I'm not surprised by that and I can see where Smooth Jazz is a good format for this small market (I'm just going to start referring to it as the 30A market.) Since Smooth Jazz isn't my cup of tea, I'm still wondering what other niche formats could be "a perfect choice for the "30A" market."

Another way to phrase my question: What would Mark Carter do if 102.1 fell back into his lap and he had two stations to sell and program to 30A (in this example you would have to take into account 102.1's spillover into FWB and PCB).

I feel a slightly modified 92 Zew would be well received down on 30A but at the same time I feel classical and oldies couldn't get off the ground. News/Talk is covered by the PC stations, so what's left? The people I know with property down there honestly don't listen to or care about terrestrial radio. I assume that's fairly common along 30A and just getting people to turn on the radio may be the toughest part of business there.

I'm want to compare 30A to south Baldwin County (another one station market, AC - WCSN 105.7.) ... but as a true local, it's not as close of a match as most might think. I fit in better with the South Baldwin crowd than the 30A crowd, even though I have far more friends and family along 30A.

 

[redneckriviera]

Yeah, I'd vote for a AAA ("a modified 92 Zew") as a logical Plan B for The 30A Market--a younger-skewing but equally upscale format. There are really very few markets--Monterey... some college markets--where the concentration of the Triple A demo is strong enough to warrant its choice as a first or second option, but 30A is one.

On our March visit we drove both 30A and South Baldwin, and though the Twenty Mile Condo Wall is certainly impressive from Perdido through Gulf Shores, we didn't sense much evidence of a parallel lifestyle with South Walton. Perhaps we weren't looking hard enough. We did see the construction at the FloraBama and maybe that's what led me to think that it was still the good ol' fashioned Redneck Riviera.

FWIW, we did listen to WCSN--kind of an Adult Hits thing, IIRC... rock-based AC. Not a bad choice. I guess my perception of Gulf Shores-Orange Beach is still more of a party-beach town than Greater Seaside. Or am I stuck in the nineties?