WBZH

[klutch00]

I feel evenings as well as weekends could be a good time for specialty programming. On a station like 1370, I feel it would be better to implement a hybrid revenue model whereby the station survives not only on advertisement, but donations and promotions as well. Examples of such can include (but don't have to be limited to) holding a for-profit dance, sponsoring a car show, sponsoring a festival; and so forth. For advertisement, you should also look to unconventional sources of income as well.

Donations...no. In my opinion, it's tacky to sell radio ads and then ask for donations in addition to that.

When you don't have the revenue from advertisement yet still have a loyal (or even cultic) fan base, you've got to find other ways to keep your programming going. Let me reiterate that when you've got a small operation in a suburban market or a minor/insignificant player on AM in a major market, you must innovate and look for ways to keep afloat. You cannot offer anything that the 'big guys' in Philly and whatnot are doing! You'll get your breakfast, lunch and dinner all eaten! In many respects, I can't see how advertisement will cover the costs for an aforementioned operation. I also feel some of these smaller operations can and should utilize up-and-coming talent for personnel.

Promotions are necessary. Sponsoring a car show or festival, that's a given.

This is why I push the importance of a website. You sell ad space on that in addition to airtime. Plus value-added (promotions).

Here I agree with you.

 

[RadioFanBoy]

totally agree with radiophiler and kenhawk in their suggestions. I'd also make sure to get the ABC Entertainment affiliation back. As i mentioned in an earlier post, keep AM and PM drive news-intensive. I'd bring back the lady from the Chamber of Commerce to do a midmorning interview show. Have a comprehensive newscast at 12 noon. If Paul Harvey Jr. was still doing News and Comment, I'd grab that too

The only thing left of ABC Radio is Top of the Hour news. Cumulus has gutted everything else out (including Paul Harvey Jr.) Dial-Global took over the 24/7 satellite formats and closed shop on many of them

 

[klutch00]

There are artists whose material won't get touched by mainstream broadcasters yet a smaller broadcaster maybe willing to air such material. If a small station was to be a voice for local, up-and-coming, and non-conventional talent, it could be a positive force in the community.

And you put artists like those in a special program to be aired on the weekends...not in the regular rotation.

I could go along with that; again, in addition to evenings (probably after 9 or 10PM); especially Friday evenings.

 

[klutch00]

I feel evenings as well as weekends could be a good time for specialty programming.

Depending on what it is. I think if you air AC during the day and Oldies or country at night, that's not bad. We did that at another station I worked at in the late 80s. But it would have to be automated. I don't see enough revenue there to sustain the presence of a live body.

The problem with the formats you mention is that you'll get done in. WBEB has AC covered, WXTU country and WOGL Oldies. Now, if you're offering something that the aforementioned FMs aren't, that might be another matter.

You put weird stuff on like psychics, heavy metal, garage bands that can't book a non-paying gig, you're gonna lose. Unless of course, they buy the time from you (and pay in advance). Then they can sell their own sponsorships to offset costs. That's the only way I do specialty programming.

Worth a consideration.

 

[kenhawk1160]

I feel evenings as well as weekends could be a good time for specialty programming.

Depending on what it is. I think if you air AC during the day and Oldies or country at night, that's not bad. We did that at another station I worked at in the late 80s. But it would have to be automated. I don't see enough revenue there to sustain the presence of a live body.

The problem with the formats you mention is that you'll get done in. WBEB has AC covered, WXTU country and WOGL Oldies. Now, if you're offering something that the aforementioned FMs aren't, that might be another matter.

You put weird stuff on like psychics, heavy metal, garage bands that can't book a non-paying gig, you're gonna lose. Unless of course, they buy the time from you (and pay in advance). Then they can sell their own sponsorships to offset costs. That's the only way I do specialty programming.

Worth a consideration.

See right there, the stations you mention are all from Philly. This is my point. You're not emphasizing music on WPAZ. You're emphasizing full service radio for Montgomery County...news, sports, weather, etc. Music plays a VERY VERY secondary role. But it has to be mass appeal enough to keep listeners engaged at the times that those offerings don't happen to be on the air.

 

[DG02816]

As the Buzz, the station had some of the local talk elements in place. But they were more than negated by the music. You could have the best local elements, but if you don't have music the audience can relate to, you're done.

 

[kenhawk1160]

As the Buzz, the station had some of the local talk elements in place. But they were more than negated by the music. You could have the best local elements, but if you don't have music the audience can relate to, you're done.

My thinking exactly. Well done.

 

[DG02816]

The Buzz crew should have learned their lesson from what happened to WHAT(as Skin Radio)and WCHE.

 

[doowopvault]

As the Buzz, the station had some of the local talk elements in place. But they were more than negated by the music. You could have the best local elements, but if you don't have music the audience can relate to, you're done.

How many stations played music the audience can relate to....and still failed. How many stations carried ALL the popular syndicated talk shows that have a huge following...and STILL failed. The point is this....let's say you open a grocery store or pizza shop, and you are selling the same products that everyone else is selling i.e what is popular...what is going to motivate people to stop listening to the stations they've been listening to for YEARS...and start listening to you? or in the case of the grocer or pizza shop....stop patronizing the stores they've been shopping at for years and patronize YOUR store.The fact is, there will be winners and losers, no matter what you play, even if you turned your station into a cookie cutter station playing all the same music and carry all the popular syndicated talk shows. Some stations catch on and some don't. The fact that proves this point true is all the stations around the U.S that fail every day. They all, like you, had the same ideas, thought they we're making the most inteligent choices in running the station, but still failed. Just as with any other business, when you have a glut of either grocers, pizza shops OR RADIO STATIONS,there will be winners and losers....every single business can't be successful.

 

[kenhawk1160]

How many stations played music the audience can relate to....and still failed. How many stations carried ALL the popular syndicated talk shows that have a huge following...and STILL failed. The point is this....let's say you open a grocery store or pizza shop, and you are selling the same products that everyone else is selling i.e what is popular...what is going to motivate people to stop listening to the stations they've been listening to for YEARS...and start listening to you? or in the case of the grocer or pizza shop....stop patronizing the stores they've been shopping at for years and patronize YOUR store.The fact is, there will be winners and losers, no matter what you play, even if you turned your station into a cookie cutter station playing all the same music and carry all the popular syndicated talk shows. Some stations catch on and some don't. The fact that proves this point true is all the stations around the U.S that fail every day. They all, like you, had the same ideas, thought they we're making the most inteligent choices in running the station, but still failed. Just as with any other business, when you have a glut of either grocers, pizza shops OR RADIO STATIONS,there will be winners and losers....every single business can't be successful.

First, you need to compare apples to apples here.

WPAZ was never intended to be something it wasn't...a Reading or Philly station. Nor was it managed as such under the Great Scott ownership. As "The Buzz", in a nutshell, they were trying to be all things to everyone, and that's why it failed.

There is no other radio station actively serving Pottstown, correct? And what I mean is airing news and information relative to Pottstown and Montgomery County. THAT, and not music, should be the baliwick of any local small-market AM station. Which is what WPAZ is. HOWEVER, when you're NOT airing those elements, you need to fill in the gaps. You do that with music and commercials. The music you air needs to be of mass appeal so local businesses in town will feel comfortable putting your station on in their shops, showrooms, whatever.

If you have a satellite format, where the network fires liners (tones that trigger the local liners at the stations) in between songs, are you promoting the songs you play on your AM station in those liners? Of course not. You promote things like the sports franchises that you air games for, your website, the person who does your local news in the mornings and afternoons, etc.

 

[doowopvault]

How many stations played music the audience can relate to....and still failed. How many stations carried ALL the popular syndicated talk shows that have a huge following...and STILL failed. The point is this....let's say you open a grocery store or pizza shop, and you are selling the same products that everyone else is selling i.e what is popular...what is going to motivate people to stop listening to the stations they've been listening to for YEARS...and start listening to you? or in the case of the grocer or pizza shop....stop patronizing the stores they've been shopping at for years and patronize YOUR store.The fact is, there will be winners and losers, no matter what you play, even if you turned your station into a cookie cutter station playing all the same music and carry all the popular syndicated talk shows. Some stations catch on and some don't. The fact that proves this point true is all the stations around the U.S that fail every day. They all, like you, had the same ideas, thought they we're making the most inteligent choices in running the station, but still failed. Just as with any other business, when you have a glut of either grocers, pizza shops OR RADIO STATIONS,there will be winners and losers....every single business can't be successful.

First, you need to compare apples to apples here.

WPAZ was never intended to be something it wasn't...a Reading or Philly station. Nor was it managed as such under the Great Scott ownership. As "The Buzz", in a nutshell, they were trying to be all things to everyone, and that's why it failed.

There is no other radio station actively serving Pottstown, correct? And what I mean is airing news and information relative to Pottstown and Montgomery County. THAT, and not music, should be the baliwick of any local small-market AM station. Which is what WPAZ is. HOWEVER, when you're NOT airing those elements, you need to fill in the gaps. You do that with music and commercials. The music you air needs to be of mass appeal so local businesses in town will feel comfortable putting your station on in their shops, showrooms, whatever.

If you have a satellite format, where the network fires liners (tones that trigger the local liners at the stations) in between songs, are you promoting the songs you play on your AM station in those liners? Of course not. You promote things like the sports franchises that you air games for, your website, the person who does your local news in the mornings and afternoons, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I agree that things could have been changed, ideas should have been tried, management shouldn't have been so dogmatic, but whether it would have been my ideas or yours, listeners are creatures of habit, to get them to change is a fight. Just because it's local doesn't matter. They care about what is coming through the speakers.

 

[RandyDascher]

The Buzz crew should have learned their lesson from what happened to WHAT(as Skin Radio)and WCHE.

Mr. Gardiner,

I’m assuming by your post that you are implying the Alternative Rock format failed at WCHE. I have to disagree with you. I worked at WCHE for five and a half years. I received a paycheck every other week. During that time the station had a handful of loyal sponsors that paid their bill every month. The only reason WCHE changed formats is because the station down the street, WCOJ, was sold to Holy Spirit Radio Foundation. After WCOJ was sold, a former salesman from WCOJ started meeting with the owner of WCHE and convinced the owner to hire him, fire me, and flip formats to what is basically WCOJ’s old format. I received severance pay and collected unemployment. Had WCOJ never been sold, WCHE would probably still be airing Alternative Rock and I would still be doing my four hour a day live, local, caller driven, entertaining radio show.

I will share with you one fun little radio story. During my final days at WCHE, the station owner told me they had to have a bunch of new phone lines installed because Ron’s Swap Shop was going to receive 50 to 75 calls per day. I still laugh when I tune in and hear Ron when he gets four calls a day. Ron’s a good salesman but his show is about an hour and a half longer than it needs to be.

Sincerely,
Randy Dascher
http://www.randydascher.com/

 

[DG02816]

Hi Randy,

Thanks for the backstory on WCHE. I wasn't aware that WCHE's format change was in response to WCOJ's sale to Holy Spirit. I happily stand corrected.
I'd love a chance at the-again WPAZ. Would be a fun chalenge to reconstruct a long-time brand.

 

[quadpain]

Also in defense of the format change of WHAT as Skin Radio. That was an active decision to turn the 1340 signal into Martini Lounge Radio (Adult Standards) and keep Skin as a streaming format. The environment had changed over the 8 months since we first turned it on in January. 2007 was not an awesome year to try and get advertisers to buy . The radio landscape became much different in Philadelphia thanks to a certain Clear Channel format appearing in May. The Martini format was an easier and more attractive sale to advertisers for the AM signal, and the audience for Skin took to the internet stream. I was then the PD/OM of both stations. Looking back now years later, the uptake of HD is a miserable failure and AM HD music still wouldn't have a footprint. With a bigger signal the alternative format was ready to work in the market, obviously. Ours was doing well with those who heard it, but we had to rearrange our assets.

- Al Clay

 

[klutch00]

Also in defense of the format change of WHAT as Skin Radio. That was an active decision to turn the 1340 signal into Martini Lounge Radio (Adult Standards) and keep Skin as a streaming format. The environment had changed over the 8 months since we first turned it on in January. 2007 was not an awesome year to try and get advertisers to buy . The radio landscape became much different in Philadelphia thanks to a certain Clear Channel format appearing in May. The Martini format was an easier and more attractive sale to advertisers for the AM signal, and the audience for Skin took to the internet stream. I was then the PD/OM of both stations. Looking back now years later, the uptake of HD is a miserable failure and AM HD music still wouldn't have a footprint. With a bigger signal the alternative format was ready to work in the market, obviously. Ours was doing well with those who heard it, but we had to rearrange our assets.

WHAT, as we all know, had several strikes against it. Methinks the biggest problem was its signal; both day and night. About the only things that could work on such a facility (short of moving the station to an adjacent suburb) would be ethnic or gospel; maybe sports with an emphasis on minor league, college and high school events. WNST Towson MD might be one example to follow http://wnst.net/.

It's become apparent that HD-AM has got to be one of the biggest failures in technological 'innovations' in radio. I believe that what should have been implemented was a high quality, ANALOG transmission standard for AM; preferably in stereo! From what I've heard (someone can correct me if I'm wrong), WDAS-AM's signal and transmission standard (at least during the day) is quite good.

You speak of advertisement. I've been saying that, for better or worse, it might be time for specialty broadcasters to seriously consider looking to sources other than or in addition to advertisement for revenue. I've mentioned this in a previous post here on this thread, so I won't repeat myself.

Regarding 'bigger signals', methinks several signals existed which could have been an asset. Obviously doing this on FM was a damned near impossibility. As such, looking to struggling AMs was about the only terrestrial option. Unfortunately, getting a signal such as 560, 610, 950 or 990 would have been damned near impossible; thus day-timers or other 'minor players' might have been the most viable option. The ones worth considering could've included 690, 800, 900, 1110 or 1540.

 

[kenhawk1160]

listeners are creatures of habit, to get them to change is a fight. Just because it's local doesn't matter. They care about what is coming through the speakers.

And I don't disagree with that. There's a difference between 'local' and 'local done well'. If all it is is local, it's gonna get beat.

Listeners are creatures of habit in the sense that they make the station a part of their day IF it happens to offer what they want to hear. From a formatics standpoint, WPAZ did this under Great Scott ownership. You had a small staff that wore a lot of hats to get the job done, though not always efficiently. They needed to make investments over the years like off-premise control, hard-disk audio, that would have allowed the station to run unattended at night and on weekends. There was no website promoting what was going on over the air.

I don't think Jay Warren really understood the need to embrace new technology and how it can benefit the station, and tried to hang onto the 'old school' way of doing things. It's what separates good managers from the greats.

The Four Rivers bunch played what they themselves wanted to hear...and expected listeners to change to their tune. And now we see where it got them. They did install computers with hard-disk audio production and on-air software...I give them credit for doing that.

I hope someone capable comes in and takes over this time around. Fortunately, if the original calls are restored and it becomes what it was under the Scotts, that whole period in time will be forgotten about.

 

[wcradio2]

WPAZ/WBZH, only at the tail end of their run, started to get it together with the all local stuff. And they were starting to build an audience.

The problem, the overriding problem with the whole enterprise, was there was no sales staff. If there were a sales team, or at least a single knowledgeable sales guy/gal, they might have made a go of it.

It's hard to do anything, let alone 'doing local well' if there's no income.

Like I've encountered at many stations. There can be a marketable product, but if there is no one to sell it, you may as well forget it. Sales staff... particularly at heritage AMs, tend to be older (and there's nothing wrong with that) but even if you're a good salesman, you have to know or understand your product, or want to sell your product and not be intimidated by it.

PAZ/BZH had yet another problem... just no sales staff at all. It wasn't part of the initial model (or didn't seem to be) and that will lead to any station's downfall.

That's why I always find it humorous on the radio boards when people come up with the same ideas over and over about what format sells... A salesman or staff sells.

Brokered stations will continue to kill radio as it was. Sure, stations draw in money, but they spew out garbage (usually) as only a vanity project can. So who listens? Who benefits beyond the walls of the station?

There is no, 'Oldies only' solution.

How good is your air staff? Production staff? How do you serve the community? The arts?
Do you have an experienced and dedicated sales staff or person?

My 2 cents? Almost any format can be sold. But you have to have the people who can sell.

 

[doowopvault]

WPAZ/WBZH, only at the tail end of their run, started to get it together with the all local stuff. And they were starting to build an audience.

The problem, the overriding problem with the whole enterprise, was there was no sales staff. If there were a sales team, or at least a single knowledgeable sales guy/gal, they might have made a go of it.

It's hard to do anything, let alone 'doing local well' if there's no income.

Like I've encountered at many stations. There can be a marketable product, but if there is no one to sell it, you may as well forget it. Sales staff... particularly at heritage AMs, tend to be older (and there's nothing wrong with that) but even if you're a good salesman, you have to know or understand your product, or want to sell your product and not be intimidated by it.

PAZ/BZH had yet another problem... just no sales staff at all. It wasn't part of the initial model (or didn't seem to be) and that will lead to any station's downfall.

That's why I always find it humorous on the radio boards when people come up with the same ideas over and over about what format sells... A salesman or staff sells.

Brokered stations will continue to kill radio as it was. Sure, stations draw in money, but they spew out garbage (usually) as only a vanity project can. So who listens? Who benefits beyond the walls of the station?

There is no, 'Oldies only' solution.

How good is your air staff? Production staff? How do you serve the community? The arts?
Do you have an experienced and dedicated sales staff or person?

My 2 cents? Almost any format can be sold. But you have to have the people who can sell.

"No oldies only" solution? that is debatable......very debatable. And there are stations making a go of it that can prove that theory wrong.

 

[wcradio2]

I didn't suggest a solution (other than a sales staff), merely tired of hearing the same ideas.

 

[RandyDascher]

I didn't suggest a solution (other than a sales staff), merely tired of hearing the same ideas.

Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't you hear the news? If you program an AM radio station with music that was recorded 55 years ago, advertisers will line up in front of your studio to buy spots like it's Black Friday at Walmart.