The CBS nightmare continues...

[airpab]

One big problem is that in signal packed markets like the Bay Area, there are simply too many other choices. With that, you get built-in fragmentation.

As music stations go, Alice is good, so is Live 105 and even Movin has a good sound. But people just simply have too many choices and are not compelled to stay on one station. (Especially in the South Bay. KEZR takes people from Alice. Channel 1049 takes people from Live 105. KDON eats in to Movin)

I personally flip around to all the stations in different genres, trying to find a song I like. I can't say that I listen to one station in particular and definitely not to hear a particular DJ (except to the Woody show, which is entertaining).....I can't be alone on this??

Radio has faltered in the personality area big time....Where are the personalities that make you want to listen and are seemingly really in to the music and station? Look at the old KFRC.....They did it with a great combo of music, in-to-it personalities and lots of listener interaction and involvement. Now, it's essentially a bunch of juke-boxes with commercials on different frequencies....The lack of commitment on station owners part shows up in the ratings.

Music radio (other than Hip-Hop, which has cult like following) has become very depersonalized in terms of making a connection with listeners.

 

[LKellerIII]

"Music radio (other than Hip-Hop, which has cult like following) has become very depersonalized in terms of making a connection with listeners."

Very true, and I agree. But radio programming professionals like David Eduardo can spend all day citing research that:

1. People change stations when DJs start talking, and the longer they talk, the more tune-out occurs.

2. Listeners prefer shorter play lists of only the music that is most familiar to them. The longer the play list, the lower the ratings.

And furthermore...

3. Since all this research is based on polling listener preferences, the listeners are getting what they want.

Maybe the people who programmed stations we revere from back in the day were less concerned with research and more concerned with entertainment.

 

[MikeAmatori]

Where are the personalities that make you want to listen and are seemingly really in to the music and station? Look at the old KFRC.....They did it with a great combo of music, in-to-it personalities and lots of listener interaction and involvement. Now, it's essentially a bunch of juke-boxes with commercials on different frequencies....The lack of commitment on station owners part shows up in the ratings.

Those people are gone, and if they were here, they still would not work because they would cost to much money.

Much better and easier to lower the standards, or voice track, or just play liners...It's so much cheaper and cost effective.

 

[BossRadioDJ]

Maybe the people who programmed stations we revere from back in the day were less concerned with research and more concerned with entertainment.

Radio is no longer "show business." It's simply "business."

Once upon a time, people who loved radio ran radio stations and worked at radio stations. Now people who look at radio stations as an investment run them. They could buy insurance agencies or hair salons or car dealerships, but they're smarter than most people: they bought lots and lots of radio stations because more is better.

Who is killing the golden goose that once was radio? The people that currently own the golden goose. And they think that by killing the goose and cutting it open to see if there are any more golden eggs left inside that they might make a few more bucks. Instead, all they're doing is leaving a rotting carcass.

If more companies owned just a few radio stations instead of a few companies owning many stations, perhaps talent would develop both on the air and in management. The current environment doesn't permit this to happen. What we've got is less people working at the stations, forcing more former employees to become independent consultants.

In a culture of consultants, everybody is an expert (because the consultant already has the answers, based on experience and research) ... and nothing new or innovative can occur. That's not unique to radio. It's just that it's much sadder, because radio shouldn't have to die. It's part of our culture.

 

[DavidKaye]

There you have it????? Have you ever had to sell advertising on a female based radio station when you had only one daypart that fell in the top 5 of the target demo and the rest of day was totally outside the top 10?

I've sold time on two stations that didn't even show up in the ratings at all. One was KWUN in Concord; the other was KJAY in Sacramento. I'm wondering if you've ever sold time at all.

 

[Talking Furniture]

There you have it????? Have you ever had to sell advertising on a female based radio station when you had only one daypart that fell in the top 5 of the target demo and the rest of day was totally outside the top 10?

I've sold time on two stations that didn't even show up in the ratings at all. One was KWUN in Concord; the other was KJAY in Sacramento. I'm wondering if you've ever sold time at all.

Well, there you have it. I will defer to your experience in the matter of selling with no ratings.

 

[LKellerIII]

"I've sold time on two stations that didn't even show up in the ratings at all. One was KWUN in Concord; the other was KJAY in Sacramento."

I'm an outsider without radio experience, of course - but I would assume that small market stations (and that includes stations with limited signals within larger metro areas)can be successful selling time to mostly smaller companies who are looking for local business.

In the 80s, I owned a video retail business in Marin County. We advertised quite a bit on KTIM-FM. The ads were quite effective and brought in new customers at a very reasonable cost. One of our regular customers was a slick guy who sold time for KCBS-FM (97.3). He convinced us to advertise with on his station - then an Oldies format. During this time, they flipped formats to KRQR, so we advertised on both formats on that frequency. Needless to say, it was a great deal more expensive, and seemed to bring us no new business at all.

It was really too bad, because John Mack Flanagan worked there at the time, and voiced our ads...they sounded terrific - much more professional and attention-grabbing than our ads on KTIM, which had been voiced first by their "mellow" sounding guy on staff, then by...uh...me.

Obviously, for a small local business, KTIM was a good fit for us, and it was irrelevant that their ratings were non-existent, and their signal didn't reach past Mill Valley.

 

[DavidKaye]

I'm an outsider without radio experience, of course - but I would assume that small market stations (and that includes stations with limited signals within larger metro areas)can be successful selling time to mostly smaller companies who are looking for local business.

KJAY was a joke, but KWUN in Concord under Bill Adler was a successful station selling not just to smaller companies but to franchisees, dealerships, etc. (that is, co-op money) For those who don't know about this, co-op money is money paid by a national company to use in local advertising when the national company is featured. The station got co-op money from Kawasaki, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Sears, a restaurant chain or two, and I forget who else. All this for a 500 watt station.

 

[Starbucks]

But why did it go dark? In last year or months...they were signing off as early as 9 PM.

 

[SFStatic]

From the late 80's on, KWUN WAS as joke. They didn't even have a working restroom, made the staff go down the street to a gas station!

 

[DavidKaye]

But why did it go dark? In last year or months...they were signing off as early as 9 PM.

Several things at play here. First was that people were moving in droves away from AM. Second, the level of electrical noise in offices, stores, and other places these days makes the ability to pick up a 500w station much more difficult. Third, it takes a go-getter to keep one of those stations afloat.

I did visit KWUN when the Buery family was involved, and someone (the daughter?) told me that they were seeing some success playing country music. So, maybe there was still a little life left at the end.

But the BIG problem with KWUN, and the one that shut it down ultimately was that the station was located on a huge chunk of prime real estate and the lease ran out. The landlord wouldn't renew. I took a drive over there last year and it looks like about 30 homes have been built on the old property, maybe more.

 

[SFStatic]

I had heard this about the land as well. It's sad for radio when a guy's tower farm is suddenly worth much more planted with a bunch of tract houses. Why you'd want to live that close to the Concord Pavilion is another story...

 

[Johnnyrockin]

Dave's observations about KWUN are spot on. The station was worth more dead than alive. I can hardly imagine how some of the newer AMs with complex arrays of ten or twelve towers will survive.