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This is not your father's 50-something
- Thread starter radioskeptic
- Start date
R
radiofriend1
Guest
i do not agree with that
at all
at all
A
Anyacat
Guest
It may not be dead yet, but it sounds like a death rattle to me.
R
radiofriend1
Guest
Anyacat said:
R
radiofriend1
Guest
Anyacat said:
i remember the same predictions about network tv when cable exploded
25 yrs ago
TheFonz said:
Terrestrial radio is far from dead. Will it ever be as dominant as it once was? Of course not! There are far more choices for entertainment available today than there were as recently as 10 years ago. The pie is only so big, the more slices, the smaller they are. I know you're always promoting satellite radio, but realistically it is a bit player, and will remain so for the forseeable future.
That having been said, nothing lasts forever. Why should radio be any different?
R
radiofriend1
Guest
TheFonz said:
plan for what? my position is that terrestrian radio IS NOT DEAD
R
radiofriend1
Guest
TheFonz said:
for the same reason the networks survived despite 500+ cable channels- they have consistently provided solid programming. to expect competition and NOT lose any audience is totally unreal
i'm not saying all terr. radio is great but radio has always been responsive (how'd u like to be newspapers today---the internet is KILLING them) and will continue to do so. an explosion in HD won't hurt
satellite radio and terrestrial radio can co-exist
why might U think they cannot?
I wonder how long this arguement will be going on here...20 years maybe? It's amazing that no one has changed their position yet.
With that in mind here is my first, and last shot. There won't be anymore from me after this.
The 50's-60's stuff is great music I don't view music as disposable but to look at it another way it's had more than it's run. We didn't have very many 1940's Big Band stations in the '60's and '70's now did we? Naturally some of this is because the baby boomer generation was bigger than the ones that came before.
I think the oldies format was over reserched and killed. In the beginning it was nice to hear lots of old favorites. To get people listening longer (better Average Quarter Hour listening) the playlists were cut to a few titles that were badly burned out until they became really irritating! They became currents that never go away. These songs lost the "Oh wow" factor. Speaking of music research and testing my boss said they would test the Beatles songs and sometimes the scores would be through the roof and other times nobody wanted to hear them. How do you explain something like that? Research like ratings is a tool both can be misused.
Can't, won't etc. are words used a lot around here. If this were say the year 1490 I guess we'd have people saying the world is flat. I knew a smart lady who once said "Can't never did anything". A note to ad agencies I still need to know about new products and not just old age stuff either. I need to know where the sales are etc. My generation grew up with cars mostly from the Detroit big 3, but I happily drive a Toyota so don't tell me at my age I'm set in my ways. Market to me and give me a good reason to switch brands and I will.
Radio isn't dead but it is on the critical list. Hey ad agencies how effective do you think your commercal is when it's the 5th commercial in a 6 commercial set? With stations down to only 2 spot sets an hour they cram a ton of commercials in each stopset. Product separation is a thing of the past. Car dealers next to each other etc. Many times I hear a TV show commercial for a show that was on an hour ago. How effective is that? That's sloppy and says that radio doesn't matter, we don't care enough to get it RIGHT it's bush league yet I hear it on MAJOR stations all the time.
Oldies, Smooth Jazz, MOR are 3 formats I can't find on the radio where I live. However there are 2 Urban CHR's, 1 Urban, 2 Urban A/C's, 2 Country, 2 A/C stations, 2 sports stations, 1 AAA Rock station, and 1 Classic Rock. Can you say boring sameness?
Yes, I know get satellite radio or an iPod. I'm not going to go the satellite route where the 2 major broadcast groups each have a stake in the satellite providers. I do have an iPod and it's great but I do miss the DJ chatter and the shared experience you get when listening to the radio.
Agree, disagree, I don't care. It won't change a thing but the last point I want to make is for people to come on an Oldies board and continually bash the format seems like a mean thing to do. In effect you insult not only the music but the people here by saying they no longer matter. So go ahead kill any format that might appeal to someone over 50 then you can say that nobody over 50 listens to the radio. You will be correct, while ignoring the reason why they aren't listening.
I LOVE MY iPOD ;D
With that in mind here is my first, and last shot. There won't be anymore from me after this.
The 50's-60's stuff is great music I don't view music as disposable but to look at it another way it's had more than it's run. We didn't have very many 1940's Big Band stations in the '60's and '70's now did we? Naturally some of this is because the baby boomer generation was bigger than the ones that came before.
I think the oldies format was over reserched and killed. In the beginning it was nice to hear lots of old favorites. To get people listening longer (better Average Quarter Hour listening) the playlists were cut to a few titles that were badly burned out until they became really irritating! They became currents that never go away. These songs lost the "Oh wow" factor. Speaking of music research and testing my boss said they would test the Beatles songs and sometimes the scores would be through the roof and other times nobody wanted to hear them. How do you explain something like that? Research like ratings is a tool both can be misused.
Can't, won't etc. are words used a lot around here. If this were say the year 1490 I guess we'd have people saying the world is flat. I knew a smart lady who once said "Can't never did anything". A note to ad agencies I still need to know about new products and not just old age stuff either. I need to know where the sales are etc. My generation grew up with cars mostly from the Detroit big 3, but I happily drive a Toyota so don't tell me at my age I'm set in my ways. Market to me and give me a good reason to switch brands and I will.
Radio isn't dead but it is on the critical list. Hey ad agencies how effective do you think your commercal is when it's the 5th commercial in a 6 commercial set? With stations down to only 2 spot sets an hour they cram a ton of commercials in each stopset. Product separation is a thing of the past. Car dealers next to each other etc. Many times I hear a TV show commercial for a show that was on an hour ago. How effective is that? That's sloppy and says that radio doesn't matter, we don't care enough to get it RIGHT it's bush league yet I hear it on MAJOR stations all the time.
Oldies, Smooth Jazz, MOR are 3 formats I can't find on the radio where I live. However there are 2 Urban CHR's, 1 Urban, 2 Urban A/C's, 2 Country, 2 A/C stations, 2 sports stations, 1 AAA Rock station, and 1 Classic Rock. Can you say boring sameness?
Yes, I know get satellite radio or an iPod. I'm not going to go the satellite route where the 2 major broadcast groups each have a stake in the satellite providers. I do have an iPod and it's great but I do miss the DJ chatter and the shared experience you get when listening to the radio.
Agree, disagree, I don't care. It won't change a thing but the last point I want to make is for people to come on an Oldies board and continually bash the format seems like a mean thing to do. In effect you insult not only the music but the people here by saying they no longer matter. So go ahead kill any format that might appeal to someone over 50 then you can say that nobody over 50 listens to the radio. You will be correct, while ignoring the reason why they aren't listening.
I LOVE MY iPOD ;D
F
fred flintstone
Guest
Mike Sheridan said:
You expect people to change their mind? Yet you start out saying you don't care what anybody else thinks.
Sort of arrogant to come on to say you are not willing to participate in the discussion - you are going to lay down THE TRUTH and then go away.
You make some good points (and some not so good).
The basic point is not whether people over 50 listen to radio. It's about advertisers don't want to buy that audience.
People did not say the world was flat in 1490. The ancient Greek mathematician Ptolemey proved the world is round and any educated person was aware of that. They still believe in a geo-centric universe, however.
There were Big Band stations in the 60s and 70s - not a lot and they didn't do that well. However, there were a lot of MOR (Middle of the Road) format stations which did very well. Their playlists included big band cuts and other recordings from before the rock era. Formats were not as narrowly-defined as now (fewer stations, which needed more cume). Big Band cuts were dance music. Formats based on current dance music have worked in some markets but formats based on nostalgia for old dance music (like disco) don't do that well.
Ad agencies are not in business to promote variety on the radio "dial." They are in business to sell products. Formats which target Urban and minority audiences, deliver audiences many advertisers want to buyl, and these are audiences that are not moving to satellite radio, the Internet and mp3 players (so they are still available to radio advertisers). And if two or more stations adopt the same format, it's because they all make money with that format. Radio is not a restaurant menu; it's a collection of competing restaurants. McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's all sell burgers (boring sameness). Why doesn't one switch to hot dogs? Because they can make more money selling burgers.
A
Anyacat
Guest
Terrestrial radio as we knew it dead, and I am not sure what will take its place, although I am sure something will. Most stations lost their edge when they became part of large corporations who are more interested in advertising revenue than providing news or entertainment or good radio. So, now we have cookie cutter stations that perform well enough for advertisers to pass as radio stations, but, for this listener, they have become increasingly irrelevant (and that makes me angry). There's no question that listenership has plummeted in the past decade, and although I believe that decline has more to do with sucky programming, the powers that are call it "fragmentation," citing the rise of IPods and satellite radio, without asking why people are listening elsewhere. There's an interesting statistic that appeared in the New York Times: Although all age groups are listening to radio less, the 12 to 34 year olds have tuned out the most (this change is measured over a 10-tear period, 1996 to 2006). Among 18 to 34 year olds, that prized demographic that all advertisers covet:down 14.3 percent, 81-24; down 13.2, 25-34. And were do the demographically worthless stand? Listenership is only fallen 2.4 percent among the 50-54 year olds and 6.8 among the 55-64 year olds. (New York Times, Changing Its Tune; Broadcast Radio Is Scrambling To Regain Its Groove, Sept. 5, 2996). Will corporate radio wake up to the fact that their cash cow is bleeding to death, will they make changes? This is more than the issue that a good station with depth, such as the late RealOldies, has no chance of competing in a world that is far more concerned with advertising revenue. If playing white noise garnered increased ad revenue, that's what we would be hearing on all the stations. There has to be a balance.
R
radiofriend1
Guest
amfmsw said:
y'know it didn't dawn on us morons that if it's in the Times it CAN'T be true
go fish
There's a big myth here..that being that in "the good old days" owners were altruistic and only wanted to own stations to "serve the community", "be the town's news voice", "play good music for the people of West Podunk", or whatever, and they didn't care a lick about making money. They were all run as hobbies, and owners were willing to lose their houses just to play good music. Wrong! Nothing has really changed in that respect..they were businesses then, and they're businesses now. If its really true that everyone wants only their own hyper-niche of music, than there's absoilutely nothing radio can do about it. If they played only unfamiliar music, as some on these boards seem to think is the solution, unless you're in that hper-niche, you aren't going to listen.
Pop culture is fragmented, but not so much that there will be no common culture at all. Radio will still have a part of that...at least until you can drive and watch TV at the same time.
Pop culture is fragmented, but not so much that there will be no common culture at all. Radio will still have a part of that...at least until you can drive and watch TV at the same time.
TheFonz said:
Much of the same can be said about satellite radio too. Lots of narrow niches, but still somebody else's selection of tunes. It's playlisted, it's voicetracked, it's generic. How much longer do you think either XM or Sirius are gonna be able to continue bleeding red ink before someone pulls the plug? Neither service is anywhere near breaking even and subscriptions have plateaued. The investors aren't gonna wait forever to see a return on investment before they start making changes and my guess is you won't like what they do.
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