The same can be said for you. Listeners do think out of the box, as a matter of fact, the trend if for more listener control over content. Be that thru personal media players or the illusion of more control (thru the choices on sattelite radio), the push is outside the box, even though you don't seem to see it.
I'm 17 years in the business at 32 and I've seen your types bounce from station to station looking for steady work. A few good books and then disaster and you're off to somewhere else. Many programmers are like journeyman pitchers... therev are good ones (the Roger Clemens etc) and they are usually in place for many years (Jim Ryan at Lite FM, Joe McCoy at CBS-FM, Mark Mason WINS) and have successful runs, know the pulse of the audience they want, know the market and can deliver for audience AND client and usually grew and started in radio in the area.
And then there are the clueless, who have an idea about one side of the coin and assume that the other is the same everywhere. No amount of research can surpass life experience tied to a market and those are the people who usually rent, since they are not here long enough to buy.
I'm not pretending to know anything about LA, I have never been there. We were talking about missing formats in New York City, you made a statement that there aren't any gaps in English based formats. Incorrect, and if you KNEW the dynamics of the market, you would know that.
You would know that a second AC could outperform (in revenue) a majority of signals on the FM dial if programmed correctly. This would be my first choice. You would know previous attempts at AC formats failed because none had focus or direction and were constantly reworked. Lite FM is successful because of 20+ years of very careful changes that were not made "all at once". There were no knee-jerk reactions to a bad book, there may have been subtle changes leading to an eventual change, but nothing earth shattering. The Lite FM of today is very different but has passed the torch carefully. Regardless, when one looks at its billing, you wonder why another station has not come along to at least try and take some of that. Yes, it is a huge brand, but the financial payoff to at least try something is huge. The idea is to get the right people in place to do it.
Gold AC stations also do well if carefully programmed and here is the potential to have a gold based format (lite hits 70's/80's/90's) like Sunny 104.5 in Philly (before they tinkered with it and now it's dipping) and Albany's Magic 100.9 in New York City that still attracts younger demos not served by other stations full time as well as attracting some older demos not being served by ANYONE. Lite FM had excellent response when they featured this on a weekend... so much so that they repeat it often. It doesn't belong on some HD2 channel, it belongs on someone's main channel. If the format is successful (I would bet on it), it could be tweaked to continue after younger people as the years pass. The idea would be not to make any abrupt changes. Again, the success of Lite FM has been slow yet meaningful changes. It doesn't feel like the Earth is moving, but it is. And again, it can't be any worse and has a good chance of being better than what it's replacing.
You would also know a Country FM signal could outperform some of the lower billers. The last Country station to leave had great suburban numbers and, at the time, made the right move to become WKTU (they had great numbers for a few years). 10 years later, NYC has a few stations that cater to audiences in the suburbs (WPLJ comes to mind right away) and does well doing that. In Philadelphia, Hartford and Albany, all surrounding NYC, you constantly have country stations that do well 12+ (in Albany, the country station is a monster). I think it would be a safer gamble than what has been happening and a more stable existance.
The backwards reality about demos is reality, the idea is to try and find holes and plug in formats. I just gave you three and you cannot deny (even though you will, since that will be admission that your opening statement was incorrect) that the three I mentioned may be better than what is currently on. If you do not agree, it shows your lack of knowledge of the NYC market.
I'm 17 years in the business at 32 and I've seen your types bounce from station to station looking for steady work. A few good books and then disaster and you're off to somewhere else. Many programmers are like journeyman pitchers... therev are good ones (the Roger Clemens etc) and they are usually in place for many years (Jim Ryan at Lite FM, Joe McCoy at CBS-FM, Mark Mason WINS) and have successful runs, know the pulse of the audience they want, know the market and can deliver for audience AND client and usually grew and started in radio in the area.
And then there are the clueless, who have an idea about one side of the coin and assume that the other is the same everywhere. No amount of research can surpass life experience tied to a market and those are the people who usually rent, since they are not here long enough to buy.
I'm not pretending to know anything about LA, I have never been there. We were talking about missing formats in New York City, you made a statement that there aren't any gaps in English based formats. Incorrect, and if you KNEW the dynamics of the market, you would know that.
You would know that a second AC could outperform (in revenue) a majority of signals on the FM dial if programmed correctly. This would be my first choice. You would know previous attempts at AC formats failed because none had focus or direction and were constantly reworked. Lite FM is successful because of 20+ years of very careful changes that were not made "all at once". There were no knee-jerk reactions to a bad book, there may have been subtle changes leading to an eventual change, but nothing earth shattering. The Lite FM of today is very different but has passed the torch carefully. Regardless, when one looks at its billing, you wonder why another station has not come along to at least try and take some of that. Yes, it is a huge brand, but the financial payoff to at least try something is huge. The idea is to get the right people in place to do it.
Gold AC stations also do well if carefully programmed and here is the potential to have a gold based format (lite hits 70's/80's/90's) like Sunny 104.5 in Philly (before they tinkered with it and now it's dipping) and Albany's Magic 100.9 in New York City that still attracts younger demos not served by other stations full time as well as attracting some older demos not being served by ANYONE. Lite FM had excellent response when they featured this on a weekend... so much so that they repeat it often. It doesn't belong on some HD2 channel, it belongs on someone's main channel. If the format is successful (I would bet on it), it could be tweaked to continue after younger people as the years pass. The idea would be not to make any abrupt changes. Again, the success of Lite FM has been slow yet meaningful changes. It doesn't feel like the Earth is moving, but it is. And again, it can't be any worse and has a good chance of being better than what it's replacing.
You would also know a Country FM signal could outperform some of the lower billers. The last Country station to leave had great suburban numbers and, at the time, made the right move to become WKTU (they had great numbers for a few years). 10 years later, NYC has a few stations that cater to audiences in the suburbs (WPLJ comes to mind right away) and does well doing that. In Philadelphia, Hartford and Albany, all surrounding NYC, you constantly have country stations that do well 12+ (in Albany, the country station is a monster). I think it would be a safer gamble than what has been happening and a more stable existance.
The backwards reality about demos is reality, the idea is to try and find holes and plug in formats. I just gave you three and you cannot deny (even though you will, since that will be admission that your opening statement was incorrect) that the three I mentioned may be better than what is currently on. If you do not agree, it shows your lack of knowledge of the NYC market.
