UncleBozzle said:
There is that stereo-type again....Kentucky and West Virginia. Why is it so envogue to bash country music here. You might wish to let the equally sophisticated folks in the Jersey Shore suburbs that their country stations make them akin to folks in the Appalachians. Last I checked Monmouth and Ocean Counties have some of the highest educated, highest earning individuals in the nation. I'd imagine the same holds true for all those "hillbillies" in the Philly suburbs of Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, and Philadelphia itself. It's time to break down the stereo types and understand that from a business perspective it does make 100% sense to be "the 1 and only game in NYC". Coupled with a WABC that caters to "us lily white republicans" it truly does make sense.
You're confusing two things. The stereotype and the business reality. The two might blend in a little, and I'll explain how in a moment, but I feel that many of those who are arguing that country will fail in New York are doing so from a more practical point of view, and certainly, I do feel that there are practical, non-stereotypical arguments as to why country has failed recently and will most likely fail again in New York.
I may not be a fan of country music, but I personally don't buy the "lily white" argument. Classic Rock (Q104.3) and even Hot AC (PLJ) are largely "white" formats as well, and both are formats which get a lot of their numbers from suburbia, where country also has the best chance of success in this market. So let's throw that out the window.
Country won't work for more practical reasons. First, regardless of what people say, the audience is not there in the metro area as a whole. And the best evidence for that is to look at the numbers. WYNY on 103.5 was "the only game in town" until it flipped to KTU in early 1996. It was floundering in the high 1's and low 2's and I believe at the time it was the lowest-rated full-power commercial FM in the city (a position Free FM now proudly holds, with worse numbers). If anything, the demographics of New York City and the metro area as a whole were more conducive to a country format then, than they are now. Look at another "white" format that relies on the suburbs that I've mentioned: PLJ. They were getting anywhere from a 3-4 share, 12+, in the mid 90s. Now, even before the direct competition from Fresh and almost-direct competition from PLJ, they fell to the low 2's. The audience is shrinking, and PLJ, like it or not, is a much more "mainstream" format, by this region's standards, than country.
The numbers also did not lie when Y-107 came and went. If the suburbs are where it's at for country, why did this station with four well-situated sticks in the suburbs fail, and so quickly? The Westchester stick covered most of Westchester County, Fairfield County, parts of Rockland County, much of Bergen County, and the entire North Shore of LI, even the Bronx (with the North Bronx also having many "white" communities). The stick on Eastern LI covered the entire East End and parts of Southern CT. The Long Branch stick covered much of Central NJ, Staten Island (the "whitest" of the five boroughs), even the South Shore of Nassau County where the East End and Westchester sticks weren't penetrating. The Northwest NJ stick covered that whole region, which should be very "country friendly" as well. And guess what? With all that penetration, and even a decent signal in the five boroughs in spots...it failed.
Guess what else failed? Country on 94.3 in Long Island. It also failed on 102.5 out on the East End, which is supposed to be the most receptive part of Long Island as far as the genre is concerned. Those stations were replaced by Hot AC and AC, and are doing better (especially in the key department of *billing* if not raw numbers) despite the oversaturation of both formats, especially AC, in the area.
Notice I mentioned a key word: billing. Billing is what ultimately matters to a commercial radio station, and the billing just wasn't there for any of these stations, aside from the audience. There could be a lot of reasons for this. Not reaching a desired demo for advertisers (which is what did oldies in, despite great 12+ numbers). Not getting enough numbers to justify high ad rates. A signal on the Empire State Building is worth upwards of $100 million, so there is a large investment that needs to be recouped. Even a suburban signal in a market like Long Island has recently spawned as much as $62 million, in the case of the old WLIR.
We've argued about the stupid decisions that have been made from the likes of CBS Radio, and I won't defend them on that. I personally think Free FM was a stupid idea and so far the numbers are showing it. However, the failure of some formats does not imply the success of some others. I personally feel that country, at best, would match the 12+ numbers that PLJ gets, but with demos that are not as advertiser-friendly, which ultimately means that the billing (which is what has kept PLJ afloat for now) won't be there. Even as the only game in town. Most of the recent failed attempts at country were also the "only game in town" and that didn't help them much.
People can talk all they want about country selling out venues in the NYC area or sales of country albums (in volume) being the highest in this region out of any region in the country. To that, I'd say that just about any genre sells out venues in this region. In a metro of 16+ million, it's not hard to fill up a 20,000 seat facility. I can speak from firsthand knowledge that even concerts from relatively small ethnic groups have been known to fill Madison Square Garden or the Continental Airlines Arena. That does not mean that we should flip some station to Polka or Greek or 24-7 Opera. Likewise, I'd venture to say that in terms of volume, more albums are sold in this region for just about any genre, than anywhere else in the country. I'd love to see percentages though, as I'm sure in that category, country purchases would represent a very small fraction of all types of albums sold in NYC-area stores.
I think that the best country fans can hope for in New York City is country on HD radio (which already exists on 103.5 HD-2), and some crossover country hits played on stations like Lite FM and PLJ. This is happening already, but notice again another key word: crossover. The country songs being played on those stations are limited, and relegated to the most pop/mainstream-friendly crossover acts, and even then, not in the heaviest of rotations for the most part. Not all stations and radio execs are stupid. Lite FM, for one, is a hugely successful station and both the ratings and the billing prove it. If country was such a hot format, I'm sure they'd integrate more of it into their playlist. After all, Lite has been known to be an AC that pushes the boundaries of that format (playing bands ranging from Coldplay to Boston, as well as disco and Motown hits).
