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Single-Format Stations

I

Improv

The trend in Public Radio stations is to go single-format. Commercial stations used to stray a bit off-format with weekend jazz or public affairs. That's not happening. What this implies to me is that specific stations are not "brands," they are "delivery systems" for a very specific format.

The idea of "loyalty," mentioned in other posts seems to me not to hold up under this analysis. In other words, if there is loyalty, it's to a genre of music or sports talk or whatever. If it was otherwise, people would say "I trust that my station_____" will bring me audio that I will enjoy because I trust them as an entity," even if it is a little different than what they usually do.

Will formats continue to get tighter and tighter and, have stations given up the idea of having more of a connection with listeners than simply bringing them a certain news or musical format?
 
But wasn't the very idea of noncommercial radio (in most cases) to provide a multifaceted format, different programming at different times, to satisfy audiences that might be too small for 24/7 programming in that particular genre of music, but large enough that they could be satisfied with a few hours a day (or week) of that niche programming??
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
But wasn't the very idea of noncommercial radio (in most cases) to provide a multifaceted format, different programming at different times, to satisfy audiences that might be too small for 24/7 programming in that particular genre of music, but large enough that they could be satisfied with a few hours a day (or week) of that niche programming??
Click to expand...

That was then, this is now.

Many smaller college and community radio stations, especially those with all (or mostly) volunteer personnel, still offer many different types of programs each day. These stations are generally not concerned with factors such as Arbitron ratings. They are modestly run operations with relatively low overhead that receive adequate support from their relatively small groups of listeners to their various niche programs.

Larger stations that are run as businesses, whether commercial or non-commercial, are nowadays very concerned with Arbitron ratings and maximizing overall audience numbers, and consistent "single-formats" appear to be the way to do that. A station that essentially "changes format" every few hours can not establish significant, consistent numbers and ratings.
 
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