What format would you say The Boston Market is missing?
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What is missing
- Thread starter radioislife2020
- Start date
That could be financially successful and pay it's own bills?
Polka
The Boston DMA has at least one of every format that the market will support, and that is the key... what can be monetized.
There are all sorts of formats (smooth jazz ) that people say they want in the market, but there is no way to do it on a major FM and have it be the best and highest use of the asset... especially since it takes a good couple of years to get to profitability on almost any flip and IMHO the format would not last that long.
There are stations that don't show great in the 6+ numbers, but are rumored to to bill well. or to bill enough to keep chugging along as any switch would be to a new to market format (since there is already duplication and you can only slice that P1 pie so many ways) would be a ratings and / or financial disaster
How do you program a station to compete with Spotify and the fragmentation of music into niche genres?
When was the last time there was a new music type that sparked radio stations to flip into a format that they could capitalize on?
There is a reason Sports and in some markets News and News/Talk are migrating to FM, and music is contracting in size
The Boston DMA has at least one of every format that the market will support, and that is the key... what can be monetized.
There are all sorts of formats (smooth jazz ) that people say they want in the market, but there is no way to do it on a major FM and have it be the best and highest use of the asset... especially since it takes a good couple of years to get to profitability on almost any flip and IMHO the format would not last that long.
There are stations that don't show great in the 6+ numbers, but are rumored to to bill well. or to bill enough to keep chugging along as any switch would be to a new to market format (since there is already duplication and you can only slice that P1 pie so many ways) would be a ratings and / or financial disaster
How do you program a station to compete with Spotify and the fragmentation of music into niche genres?
When was the last time there was a new music type that sparked radio stations to flip into a format that they could capitalize on?
There is a reason Sports and in some markets News and News/Talk are migrating to FM, and music is contracting in size
Radio and advertisers seem to have determined a finite number of formats that will succeed financially in a major market, and Boston has all of them. Other than riding a fad format (like disco in the '70s and rhythmic ("Jammin'") oldies in the '90s) for a year or two then beginning the search again, stations are content to ride out music's highs and lows with only minor tweaks. Not very exciting for armchair GMs and PDs to speculate about, but sometimes the real world doesn't conform to one's wishes.
so you don't think flipping Mix104.1 to Polka is a good idea?
We don't really know what format hole exists until some creative PD comes up with it
Radio companies have been known to employ research companies for a "format search". Looking for a demographic of unhappy listeners (who ware unhappy about the listening choices they currently have).
Tacos. I’ve been going to the Boston Market yearly (sometimes twice a year) for nearly thirty years and while they seem to have something new on the menu every time, I haven’t seen tacos. Perhaps they’ve learned from Burger King’s attempt at tacos. Those were horrible.
A format search is not really looking for "unhappiness". It looks for "opportunity".
In other words, if there were a station that did this... (play a short pod of hooks)... would you 1) listen, 2) change your current listening patterns, or 3) I'm happy with my current station choices? According to the project, those general questions are going to be worded in consumer language.
Such a test is often called an ATU, for Awareness, Trial, Usage: If you found out about an on-air or streamed station that did this, would you try it? And if you liked it, is that blend of music enough to make you change your listening patterns.
For example, a listener might live the sample of music, but when asked about changing preferences, they would consider that they really love Sammy Stream (today's version of Teddy Turntable) on Z-97 and they would not just change for better music.
I did one format search some years back in Buenos Aires where we tested 21 different formats with sample pods of each. We tested from 20 years of age to 40, as we knew what agency buys looked for. We came up with several potential formats, the best one was seen to only be liked by the lower income group and would not get ad buys. The second choice, all Spanish language rock by only local artists, appealed to the right demos and income levels; we picked that one and debuted after a month on the air with over a 20 share in a market with over 200 stations! In other words, that kind of research, well done, works. In this case, it was done by Larry Rosen's Edison Research and the interviews were done in person, house to house.
In another case, in LA, we tested for both a format that worked, would do well on weaker signals, and would not compete with the rest of the cluster. We found, among 10 types of music, that there were three that each appealed to the same people and in equal amounts. We went back and tested a blend format (think "Jack" but in Spanish) with different mixes of the three kinds of music. We got the answer and got a format that on two mediocre signals managed to be the 3rd to 5th highest rated Spanish language format out of 15 in the market. This format was researched in house by the company's own research division, subcontracting the field work. The total cost of the two cycles was over $75,000.
The best of such projects add perception questions on each format / music style question where there are subsets of questions depending on reaction. These are best done by experienced interviewers who understand or can be taught things like "variety does not mean many songs... it means JUST songs I like a lot!" and other cases where consumer statements have a meaning that needs definition.
The format that Boston is missing is 'Full Service', Weekdays, news, personalities hosting music, talk show{s) with periodic sporting events early night. Overnight syndicated talk or hosted music/talk. Weekends news, sporting events, hosted music (various genres). Sunday mornings religious and public service program(s) followed by 'brunch' hosted jazz music. Sunday night classic 'classical music', 7 to midnight. Variety is the spice of life!
Ah, it seems you are referring to many of those stations of yesteryear, such as WHDH 850 or WEEI 590 in Boston, and WJAR 920 and WEAN 790 in Providence. All of these were indeed stations with "class".
Speaking solely from a fan perspective, I would like to see less rebroadcasting of AM stations on HD-2/3/4, and a return of greater chance taking with various formats. We used to have all live rock cuts on WAAF HD-2, all 70s hits on WROR HD-2, Irish Music on WTKK HD-2, and so on. HD Radio slowly became mostly a place to clear AM stations on FM.
The buisness end makes it sense to ensure that we have WRKO and WBZ-AM on HD substations. Low cost to simply rebroadcast. Same as dumping a format and placing it on HD, just as they did with WODS and WAAF.
My personal acclaim goes to WERS. Alternative on the HD-1 and analog, then a Hip-Hop format on HD-2, which can also be streamed, and has live formatting (not a juke box or iPod).
The buisness end makes it sense to ensure that we have WRKO and WBZ-AM on HD substations. Low cost to simply rebroadcast. Same as dumping a format and placing it on HD, just as they did with WODS and WAAF.
My personal acclaim goes to WERS. Alternative on the HD-1 and analog, then a Hip-Hop format on HD-2, which can also be streamed, and has live formatting (not a juke box or iPod).
"live formatting"?? if its on an HD2, It's been run by automation which someone programmed
this isnt 1970.
and outside of the re-broadcasted AM's on HD-2 or even HD-3 , how do you monetize all the programming ideas proposed.
The number of people listening to HD anything can be counted on fingers, and they are people like me who are listening to WRKO-A and WBZ-A on a HD-2 in my car.
Other than those stations, and a couple of FM's, I am listening to SXM or Amazon Music in my car.
The number of people listening to HD anything can be counted on fingers, and they are people like me who are listening to WRKO-A and WBZ-A on a HD-2 in my car.
Other than those stations, and a couple of FM's, I am listening to SXM or Amazon Music in my car.
Dont you think if one of these format holes was such a good idea and could make money, someone would already be doing it?
bingo, they are niche formats
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