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[radioranch]

I think the chubby little blonde and the two good looking sisters said it best.

Goodbye Earl!

 

[jamesgang2]

> I think the chubby little blonde and the two good looking
> sisters said it best.
>
> Goodbye Earl!
>

Oh, don't count your chickens before they hatch Mr. know it all, There is plenty of time to tweak and fine tune before throwing in the towel...Besides they station isn't a year old and furthermore, there isn't any staff overhead, they can afford to wait a while....so there.

 

[radioranch]

> > I think the chubby little blonde and the two good looking
> > sisters said it best.
> >
> > Goodbye Earl!
> >
>
> Oh, don't count your chickens before they hatch Mr. know it
> all, There is plenty of time to tweak and fine tune before
> throwing in the towel...Besides they station isn't a year
> old and furthermore, there isn't any staff overhead, they
> can afford to wait a while....so there.
>

Jack has no staff overhead at all, and a multi-year contract with ABC. Plus the stockholders can afford to be patient. Citadel has ABC bills to pay. Jack blew off all of its listeners when they changed. Earl had a little head start because it wasn't that big a jump from AAA to VH. And they've still fallen like a rock.

Wanna bet who blinks first?

 

[illinoisinsider]

radioranch, check the profit margin of Earl before you write things like Citadel paying bills, and study some 3-5 year history of "patience" regarding ABC/Disney. Michael Eisner was not forced out in favor of Bob Iger for nothing.


> > > I think the chubby little blonde and the two good
> looking
> > > sisters said it best.
> > >
> > > Goodbye Earl!
> > >
> >
> > Oh, don't count your chickens before they hatch Mr. know
> it
> > all, There is plenty of time to tweak and fine tune before
>
> > throwing in the towel...Besides they station isn't a year
> > old and furthermore, there isn't any staff overhead, they
> > can afford to wait a while....so there.
> >
>
> Jack has no staff overhead at all, and a multi-year contract
> with ABC. Plus the stockholders can afford to be patient.
> Citadel has ABC bills to pay. Jack blew off all of its
> listeners when they changed. Earl had a little head start
> because it wasn't that big a jump from AAA to VH. And
> they've still fallen like a rock.
>
> Wanna bet who blinks first?
>

 

[radioranch]

> radioranch, check the profit margin of Earl before you write
> things like Citadel paying bills, and study some 3-5 year
> history of "patience" regarding ABC/Disney. Michael Eisner
> was not forced out in favor of Bob Iger for nothing.
>
>

I have no doubt that Earl is "profitable" now. So was Smooth Jazz. But Earl right now is being sold on-the-come based on great expectations. They are also getting some agency business based on projected numbers. So is Jack. But if Earl is going to continue to hover in that sub 1.0 range, that on-the-come business will go away, the agencies will take their massive make-goods and go away, and they will be battling WFIV over some five dollar spots.

OTOH, if they can reverse the slide, outlast Jack's 3-year ABC contract and kick ass, well then they won't have to make the tough call will they.

Let's face it. 98.7 has been country, hard rock, smooth jazz, rhythmic CHR and now variety hits in the last six years or so.

95.7 has been country, hot AC, sports, hot AC, oldies and now VH since 1999. Why should we think that either of these stations will be here next year? Oh yeah, 95.7 has hundreds of ABC commmercials a week to clear till 2008.

 

[BRH]

I still think the biggest problem facing Citadel with 98.7 is the horrible signal. Granted, it is a Class C3 while 95.7 is only a Class A, but the transmitter is farther out, and 95.7 has better coverage in the city. For a format to work on 98.7 and get any ratings with their poor Knoxville signal, it will have to be something listeners are really passionate about. The rhythmic CHR format they did as "Wild" was an example of this. It got good numbers at first because listeners were passionate and would put up with the bad signal. But then "Hot" came along, the signal was better, and the numbers dropped. (I still say "Hot's" better signal is the only reason they beat "Wild". "Wild" consistantly sounded better and more fun and CHR-like than "Hot" did.)
Anyway, the variety hits format is not something that people are that passionate about; plus they have direct competition with "Jack" and even "the Point"(which is pretty close to the same thing now too). I think flipping to "Earl" was a bad business move for Citadel. The former AAA format would have generated more passionate listeners and at least a few more ratings numbers. Also, the fact that Citadel refuses to put any advertising into their stations is another factor. Why doesn't Citadel do billboards very much? WNOX is about all they ever buy billboards for, and they are the small cheap ones that are only up for a short time. I've seen absolutley ZERO advertising for "Earl FM", anywhere. Heck, if I hadn't gone to their website, I wouldn't even have known what the logo looked like. That's inexcusible, as long as "Earl" has been on now.

Let's see; it's on a signal that is spotty at best, it's competing directly against other stations with the same format, and it has had zero advertising. Is there any wonder that "Earl FM" is failing? Heck, half of the potential audience has probably never even heard of it. Even though, I'm not a big fan of satellite delivered formats, I think "Jack FM" will w

 

[BRH]

I still think the biggest problem facing Citadel with 98.7 is the horrible signal. Granted, it is a Class C3 while 95.7 is only a Class A, but the transmitter is farther out, and 95.7 has better coverage in the city. For a format to work on 98.7 and get any ratings with their poor Knoxville signal, it will have to be something listeners are really passionate about. The rhythmic CHR format they did as "Wild" was an example of this. It got good numbers at first because listeners were passionate and would put up with the bad signal. But then "Hot" came along, the signal was better, and the numbers dropped. (I still say "Hot's" better signal is the only reason they beat "Wild". "Wild" consistantly sounded better and more fun and CHR-like than "Hot" did.)
Anyway, the variety hits format is not something that people are that passionate about; plus they have direct competition with "Jack" and even "the Point"(which is pretty close to the same thing now too). I think flipping to "Earl" was a bad business move for Citadel. The former AAA format would have generated more passionate listeners and at least a few more ratings numbers. Also, the fact that Citadel refuses to put any advertising into their stations is another factor. Why doesn't Citadel do billboards very much? WNOX is about all they ever buy billboards for, and they are the small cheap ones that are only up for a short time. I've seen absolutley ZERO advertising for "Earl FM", anywhere. Heck, if I hadn't gone to their website, I wouldn't even have known what the logo looked like. That's inexcusible, as long as "Earl" has been on now.

Let's see; it's on a signal that is spotty at best, it's competing directly against other stations with the same format, and it has had zero advertising. Is there any wonder that "Earl FM" is failing? Heck, half of the potential audience has probably never even heard of it. Even though, I'm not a big fan of satellite delivered formats, I think "Jack FM" will win this battle hands down! (not that it will set the woods on fire either with it's marginal signal, but it should improve to a 3 or 4 share if "Earl" or "the Point" flip). My money's on "Jack FM". (also, I think the music is better on "Jack" too. "Earl" is too heavy on oddball 70's stuff and seems to skew a bit older. I like "Jack FM"'s musical focus better. (more 80's based, with 70's, 90's and 2000's thrown in for spikes.)