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Uncle Dougie Gone?

Pratte4Life said:
I'm not a Hoerth fan and I agree with Boss that Over 60 is not a great demographic.

However, it would seem to me that Doo-Wop, Polka, Big Band, etc. do have listeners and this would be a good fit for an AM station.

Hey, Funeral Homes, banks wishing to promote retirement accounts, doctors specializing in senior illnesses, etc. advertise too.

I know there is a stigma to the day power AMs. But maybe there shouldn't be.

Okay, Porky Chedwick is not mainstream anymore. But is he any less professional now when he does a show on a small station than when he was in his prime on WAMO?

Will they win their time slot? No. But they could find an audience and advertisers.
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If a station can get advertisers for a weekend polka show, they should be able to with a weekend doowop show. WJPA airs one on Sunday. If you try a fulltime doowop format, you're gonna die a grisly death. But a part-time show? Sure! The advertisers are there for that!
 
In a secondary market like Butler or Washington, yes. On a Pittsburgh station, a little less so.

Then again, how much revenue is anything going to produce on AM in those time slots, so why not?

But the great majority won't miss it if its not there.
 
Parttimer said:
In a secondary market like Butler or Washington, yes. On a Pittsburgh station, a little less so.

Then again, how much revenue is anything going to produce on AM in those time slots, so why not?

But the great majority won't miss it if its not there.
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Very true. It's going to have its very loud and very verbal cult, but that's about it. And as I have learned, members of that cult don't really have what I would call disposable income, thus not being of much value to advertisers. At least that's my experience.

If it were to be on a Pittsburgh station, it would need to be well-promoted, and that's not likely to happen.
 
I belong to the doo-wop demo and I buy a new car every 3 years and have four closets full of clothes. I'd buy stuff off of a doo-wop station. When WKHB finally moves its transmitter to Forbes and Murray, they need to go full time 50's with Barry Kaye as program director.
 
OldSchoolWoman said:
I belong to the doo-wop demo and I buy a new car every 3 years and have four closets full of clothes. I'd buy stuff off of a doo-wop station. When WKHB finally moves its transmitter to Forbes and Murray, they need to go full time 50's with Barry Kaye as program director.
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I think you're more the exception than the norm.

When I managed the former WKPA in New Kensington, we aired this type of music on Saturdays. After our Pittsburgh FM moved to Greentree in 1991, going with it was the 333-6105 request line, which was a local call to Pittsburgh listeners. Charlie Apple kept asking me to bring it back because "a lot of my listeners don't have long distance phone service" and others, he claimed, lived on fixed incomes and couldn't afford to make the call.

Plus, it didn't draw any recordable ratings to prove to advertisers that we did have an audience for this. Half of the advertisers we did have had to be chased down just to pay their contracts. One let his bill go $3300 in arrears before I had to take him to court.
 
OldSchoolWoman said:
I belong to the doo-wop demo and I buy a new car every 3 years and have four closets full of clothes. I'd buy stuff off of a doo-wop station. When WKHB finally moves its transmitter to Forbes and Murray, they need to go full time 50's with Barry Kaye as program director.
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The reason advertisers shun older listeners is they don't believe they're influenced by radio advertising as much as younger listeners are. If you're buying a car every three years, you probably have a pretty good idea of what you want. Someone buying their first new car is more likely to consider every option in their price range and listen to advertising.

The other factor is that someone over 50 has heard every "new and improved" product pitch and knows not to believe 90 percent of them.

It could be different in western PA, but lack of affluence is generally not cited. I'm sure that would be a factor for the elderly crowd living on Social Security and/or a pension, but the 50-65 group generally have a house that's paid for, kids who are out of college, and some money in their pockets.
 
Phil Leotardo on the Sopranos listens to Doo Wop. Paulie Walnuts listens to Doo Wop. Tony listens to Classic Hits. I guess Tony has more spending money than Phil, although Phil heads the Brooklyn Family and Tony only has North Jersey.
 
Are you kidding me...some of you are suggesting that you're dead at 55....what do you think 50+ adults do...sit around and watch their teeth rot? Hell no...we're out spending the money we have, buying all tons of toys for grand kids, traveling, buying vacation homes, filling homes with the latest electronics, new furniture, appliances and carpet....doowop would make it and I believe make it big! Radio executives and advertisers need to wake-up...if they believe that the demos are still 25-54...they need to lift up that rock and look around!!!! They might find that there are a ton of Baby Boomers "OLD FARTS" out here that need a little more TLC...it might just pay off for them!
 
Boss Radio said:
It could be different in western PA, but lack of affluence is generally not cited. I'm sure that would be a factor for the elderly crowd living on Social Security and/or a pension, but the 50-65 group generally have a house that's paid for, kids who are out of college, and some money in their pockets.
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The key word being generally, Boss. Those in that age group that meet all the criteria you mentioned, I have not found them to be listeners of this format...anymore. As they've moved up over the years, their musical tastes have changed. Especially if they've become more affluent.
 
sunset77 said:
Are you kidding me...some of you are suggesting that you're dead at 55....what do you think 50+ adults do...sit around and watch their teeth rot? Hell no...we're out spending the money we have, buying all tons of toys for grand kids, traveling, buying vacation homes, filling homes with the latest electronics, new furniture, appliances and carpet....doowop would make it and I believe make it big! Radio executives and advertisers need to wake-up...if they believe that the demos are still 25-54...they need to lift up that rock and look around!!!! They might find that there are a ton of Baby Boomers "OLD FARTS" out here that need a little more TLC...it might just pay off for them!
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No disrespect meant there, Sunset. If you read my post, you'll see that the 50 plus crowd I mentioned that do have the disposable income generally are not listeners to that type of music. At least on a full-time basis. What I have found, is that doowop has to be given treatment as a specialty program on the weekends or else people get sick of it really quickly. It can't make it as a full-time format. Stations around here have tried it and failed.
 
sunset77 said:
Are you kidding me...some of you are suggesting that you're dead at 55....what do you think 50+ adults do...sit around and watch their teeth rot? Hell no...we're out spending the money we have, buying all tons of toys for grand kids, traveling, buying vacation homes, filling homes with the latest electronics, new furniture, appliances and carpet....doowop would make it and I believe make it big! Radio executives and advertisers need to wake-up...if they believe that the demos are still 25-54...they need to lift up that rock and look around!!!! They might find that there are a ton of Baby Boomers "OLD FARTS" out here that need a little more TLC...it might just pay off for them!
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I'm 49 and I don't listen to doo-wop. I listen to DVE, Ellis Cannon, and Sirius (mostly ESPN Radio and Siruis Spectrum, a AAA format). I won't be suddenly listening to doo-wop in 6 years. The doo-wop audience isn't 55, they're 85.
 
I love Doo Wop. I loved the Bronx Tale. I loved the guys hanging out on Larimer Ave. I liked Grease and real grease. I never miss the Sopranos---------
 
Please part-timer...music preferences are formed in your teens...and there are many formats because there are different types of people with different tastes...that's life...however an 85 year old was born in 1922 and 16 in 1938...long before DooWop was even heard of...at 56 I was born in 1951...and grew up listening to doowop in it's hay day...I too love Classic Rock and Oldies and Doowop would not be my favorite 24/7 format but a 50's and 60's format would make it an exclusive format in most markets...I'd sell an exclusive format anyday over being one of 5 Rock formats in a market...
 
Wait a minute- when Doo Wop was popular wasn't Larimer Ave. still an Italian stronghold?

That said- if it's the music that floats your boat- so be it.

But I was always told The Beatles killed Doo Wop. That was 1964. Which roughly means it's a 70 and older demographic.

For that reason I can't see it as a full-time FM format.

Although, if WDVE keeps going in the direction its heading (I heard Uriah Heep on WDVE today. That's what- 40 years old?).

But a weekend show, or possibly a satellite station?

I could see it working.
 
FightingIrishman said:
So um.....back to Doug Hoerth.....think he will find another job in radio or hang it up all together?
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I say the latter. Doug doesn't really have to work anymore. I can see him taking the Jack Wheeler route and maybe heading down south or something like that. I wouldn't expect to see him hustling airchecks around town. Maybe a weekly TV show on QED?
 
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