Re: Sure It Could Be Better...but!
> They failed with conservative talk, so now what’s left, Air
> America. And while Air America did, for a short time, take
> an audience away from another radio station; it wasn’t WHAM
> but WXXI-AM.
I think it's too early to suggest Air America has peaked. The format needs tinkering and some better talent, and many stations are going outside the box to find it. Miller is the best example so far. After all, we're into year two. I remember year two for Limbaugh was him begging for calls on flea powered affiliates. Locally WYSL used to carry him in the late 1980s before it moved to WHAM.
> But eventually people went back to WXXI, even
> though that station’s overall numbers are not what they were
> just a few years ago. And the loss of WXXI’s audience has
> nothing to do with Bob Edwards departure to XM satellite
> radio either.
Some people went back. I haven't been one of them, except for Bob Smith's show when there is an interesting guest on (particularly historians always draw me). Smith's show would be an excellent candidate for podcasting, especially for people to pick and choose from subjects that appeal to them. The national NPR stuff for me just isn't as interesting to me anymore. During pledge drives, I am totally gone. I won't listen at all.
It feels good to have more than one choice for talk that doesn't run conservative or go on about sports.
> You’re correct that WROC is a latchkey operation and not
> properly promoted. On the other hand why should Entercom
> promote a “throw-away” station anyways when it wants to
> concentrate on its two biggest draws; WBEE and the “BUZZ.”
Presumably because people interested in hearing Randi Rhodes are probably not interested in listening to WBEE. Until Brokeback Mountain came out, my exposure to country and western music was limited to car ads for the NASCAR set. There is zero chance I am going to leap to WBEE for anything. Of course, I don't ever listen to the "Buzz" either. To me, music and talk is apples and oranges. I'm not sure how many people are sitting in their cars wondering whether it should be Lonsberry, Franken, REO Speedwagon, or Alan Jackson.
> WHAM might draw conservative-minded listeners to their
> station, but remember those listeners are in an older age
> demographic.
You mean ancient. Listening to the phone-ins during Lonsberry's segment, it's pretty obvious who is listening.
> If WROC wants to tap into that demographic then
> use a syndicated or automated music format for that
> generation. The Rochester market does not have a so-called
> “easy listening” station. What harm would there be in
> playing background, or elevator music as it’s commonly
> known? I’m sure that format would be cheaper than paying for
> Air America.
I was probably one of the youngest fans out there for WEZO. A teenager who listens to and enjoys Paul Mauriat, James Last, and other beautiful music format staples. But those days are gone forever. I remember my grandfather who used to have that station locked into the Buick jumped ship in the mid-1980s and he went to soft country. Some others jumped to MOYL/standards. The younger audience stuck with WEZO when it went to WRMM. The beautiful music format could work on a digital subchannel or on satellite radio like XM's Sunny (Sirius interestingly doesn't even bother with an equivalent), but it's just not going to fly as a primary format.
AM is also still AM for music, and you can get away with that with an older audience playing standards, but I'm not sure what kind of draw you can expect with other music formats. Ask AM classical music stations how they are doing.
Air America is probably the best format in years that *could* get younger audiences to discover there is an AM button on their car radios and it's not a reference to time, but only if it's promoted. Right now, I think Metro Justice is the only grass roots group out there promoting WROC among their young supporters.
> Either that or WROC-AM should try to cut into WLGZ 990-AM’s
> audience by playing music from the 40s to the 90s, but with
> an emphasis on local news and traffic during morning and
> afternoon drive.
But why bother dividing up such a small piece of the pie? How big is the ultimate audience for standards?
> The final alternative is either sell 950-AM to another
> broadcasting operation, or take the station dark and just
> sell the property where the transmitter is located to some
> real estate developer for a few million dollars. Then take
> that money and put it into promoting the successful stations
> Entercom has.
Outside of Canada which has AM transmitters dropping like flies as they head off to FM, I wonder how many American cities of our size have AM licenses that go dark and stay dark. I can't imagine that many.
I think WROC should stick with what they have and get more creative about finding their audience. They can certainly do better than .9.
