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Whats wrong with the younger end?

S

shilton

Serious question. It would seem that Hot was cooled off because "no one could sell it". Why do you suppose that would be the case. According to year 2000 statistical info from the US Census, 33.2% of the population of Centre County are between the ages of 18-34, the PRIME CHR targets in most cases. If you begin to factor in persons between 34 & 45 who will also sample you, even if only while toting their kids around to and from soccer games, etc you will see a potential of something more like 45% of the population could be tuning in to hear your message.

I find it interesting how pretty much the entire radio market in State College seems geared toward those infamous 25-54 year olds who really are not all that many when looking at the big picture. Add in the fact that nearly every station in the market is pushing for them and at least from an advertising perspective, I'd think my message would hit far fewer people if that were my target audience unless I bought damn near every radio station on the dial catering to them.

How is it possible that aside from G101 and perhaps Froggy, a huge segment of the available population seems to be getting totally ignored. Why would someone NOT want to reach out and sell TO this crowd? And if someone is gonna tell me "kids don't have any money"...think again...I see what they drive to and from class on campus every day! There're more loaded than you or me.
 
they have money because Mommy and Daddy gave it to them - ya think the 18-34 paid for the BMW SUV they're driving around in? What do you call an 18-24 with his/her own money? - a drug dealer.
 
shilton said:
Serious question. It would seem that Hot was cooled off because "no one could sell it". Why do you suppose that would be the case. According to year 2000 statistical info from the US Census, 33.2% of the population of Centre County are between the ages of 18-34, the PRIME CHR targets in most cases. If you begin to factor in persons between 34 & 45 who will also sample you, even if only while toting their kids around to and from soccer games, etc you will see a potential of something more like 45% of the population could be tuning in to hear your message.

I find it interesting how pretty much the entire radio market in State College seems geared toward those infamous 25-54 year olds who really are not all that many when looking at the big picture. Add in the fact that nearly every station in the market is pushing for them and at least from an advertising perspective, I'd think my message would hit far fewer people if that were my target audience unless I bought damn near every radio station on the dial catering to them.

How is it possible that aside from G101 and perhaps Froggy, a huge segment of the available population seems to be getting totally ignored. Why would someone NOT want to reach out and sell TO this crowd? And if someone is gonna tell me "kids don't have any money"...think again...I see what they drive to and from class on campus every day! There're more loaded than you or me.
Click to expand...

You're the consultant...you tell us. The info you have in your market perceptual may hold the answers.
 
Q: "Serious question. It would seem that Hot was cooled off because "no one could sell it". Why do you suppose that would be the case."
A: It wasn't really that "no one could sell it." More like their sales staff found it easier to sell Bus, Lite & Quick. Hot just got shuffled to the back of the satchel.

Q: "I find it interesting how pretty much the entire radio market in State College seems geared toward those infamous 25-54 year olds who really are not all that many when looking at the big picture. Add in the fact that nearly every station in the market is pushing for them..."
A: Wrong. G101 is targeting 12-24; Quick is targeting 18-34; both Bus & 3WZ target 25-49, so get big chunks of 18-34. And, yes, Country (98.1, 98.7 and 105.9) always gets a share of 12-34. Seven stations. Isn't that enough?

Q: "How is it possible that aside from G101 and perhaps Froggy, a huge segment of the available population seems to be getting totally ignored."
A: See above

Q: "And if someone is gonna tell me "kids don't have any money"...think again...I see what they drive to and from class on campus every day! There're more loaded than you or me."

A: They don't buy homes, so they buy very little furniture, lawn & garden stuff, insurance or other home-related products/services. They buy very few cars--used & inexpensive when they do, and normally need mom & dad to do it for them. Same for apartments, right? They don't have families, so don't buy mass quantities of groceries or clothing. Yes, the girls do buy clothes for themselves--that's why A&F is down there, but does no radio advertising--they just open the doors every day. Yes, the guys buy beer--the two rockers get most of that money. But generally the "kids" (and we presume you're talking PSU students, correct?) spend the bulk of their discretionary money on food & drink--restaurants & bars. That's not a big secret.
 
I'll refer back to the old rhetorical questions many stations ask when selling an 18-34 targeted station:

How old were you when you bought your first car?
Your first new car?
Your first home?
Your first couch? Bed? Etc., etc., etc.

Usually between 18-34 of course, and my parents didn't buy any of the above for me.
Even so, children often have a remarkable influence over what a family does - which car they buy, where they go on vacation, where they eat. Big advertisers know this. Watch Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network and look at how some of those ads are targeted.

25-54 is often targeted because of the normally higher household income and more disposable income. 18-34 often has less discipline so should also be a desireable demo.

Back when I was programming CHR, the GM and sales people would often ask what we could do to get better 25-54 numbers. I would always answer "change the format to AC". No, no, they said - we mean, how can we get better numbers without changing formats. Meanwhile, we had huge, market-leading numbers in 18-24, 18-34, men and women.
I'm a huge believer in programming to the market, rather than off of the back page, but you have to be true to the format. CHR is what it is.

Sometimes it's easier to change to a format your people can sell, rather than to find sales people who can sell the format you have.

I'm rambling again....
 
ratingsgeek said:
A: Wrong. G101 is targeting 12-24; Quick is targeting 18-34; both Bus & 3WZ target 25-49, so get big chunks of 18-34. And, yes, Country (98.1, 98.7 and 105.9) always gets a share of 12-34. Seven stations. Isn't that enough?
Click to expand...

It kills me to defend G101, but I don't think their target is 12 - 24. The perception is that CHR caters to kids, and that is not the case. A good CHR is lifestyle and pop-culture driven and should super-serve a specific age range that is much smaller than typical demo breakdowns (because an 18 yr old and a 34 yr old have very little in common)...that is how you build your P1's and that's where you get most of your high TSL. As you start to get away from that age range (older and younger), that's where the bulk of your cume comes from, and yes, the teens fall into that category...but they are NOT the target.

Of course who your target LISTENER is, not your target DEMO that spans 16 years, like Spakler pointed out, depends upon your competitve situation.
 
G101's primary focus IS 18-34. Of course the youth (under 18) will listen pretty much by default...but we do not cater to them. G101 is programmed to be very "middle of the road" and listener friendly even for the workplace. Why do you assume a 24 year old does not like the Pussycat Dolls or Black Eyed Peas or even Fiddy Cent? Even been to Players on a Saturday night? I see lots of 18-25 year olds grooving to the stuff.
 
shilton said:
G101's primary focus IS 18-34. Of course the youth (under 18) will listen pretty much by default...but we do not cater to them. G101 is programmed to be very "middle of the road" and listener friendly even for the workplace. Why do you assume a 24 year old does not like the Pussycat Dolls or Black Eyed Peas or even Fiddy Cent? Even been to Players on a Saturday night? I see lots of 18-25 year olds grooving to the stuff.
Click to expand...

Ummm...isn't Players 21 and over? Don't let the LCB know you've seen 18 yr olds in there.
 
Steve Hilton clarifies "G101's primary focus IS 18-34." Really didn't mean to diss GMR in any way, just saw that more than half the station's listeners were 12-24 and figured that's what they were aiming at. BTW, all the other "targets" were just guesses, too--didn't call around to ask--so hope no one else was offended. I'm not there on a daily basis, and besides, am just a beancounter who doesn't understand radio. As for GMR, if the target is 18-34, it's currently 7th in its target demo. In the 253rd market. Not one for the ol' resume. But Tuesday dawns a new book. My bet is that GMR will rise. We'll see. But as I recall, ratings don't matter. So, never mind.
 
ratingsgeek said:
Steve Hilton clarifies "G101's primary focus IS 18-34." Really didn't mean to diss GMR in any way, just saw that more than half the station's listeners were 12-24 and figured that's what they were aiming at. BTW, all the other "targets" were just guesses, too--didn't call around to ask--so hope no one else was offended. I'm not there on a daily basis, and besides, am just a beancounter who doesn't understand radio. As for GMR, if the target is 18-34, it's currently 7th in its target demo. In the 253rd market. Not one for the ol' resume. But Tuesday dawns a new book. My bet is that GMR will rise. We'll see. But as I recall, ratings don't matter. So, never mind.
Click to expand...

You might not be there on a daily basis, but I bet at one time you were. You play dumb ok, but it's wearing a little thin in spots.

Market 252, by the way.
 
ratingsgeek said:
Tuesday dawns a new book. My bet is that GMR will rise. We'll see. But as I recall, ratings don't matter. So, never mind.
Click to expand...
You say GMR will rise....now that's the nicest thing anyone has said about us on here in a while :)
We have finally turned the corner as far as we are concerned. Most people have stopped talking about us as the station who "used to be the Revolution" and the G101 name is beginning to stick to the wall...so we shall see. Regardless of this book, with Hot's exit from the marketplace, the next go around cannot go anyplace but up...but that's 6 months away
 
"Groovin' With Mr. Blow. See if you remember that one."

Actually, it's "Groovin' with Mr. Bloe" and yes I remember that one. I know of three versions---one by Mr. Bloe (1970) which didn't chart nationally, but did reach #13 in July 1970 on KQV in Pittsburgh; a second version by Cool Heat charted nationally on the MGM label and reached #89 on the Billboard charts in August 1970. A third version appears on the flip side of "Make Believe" by Wind (Life Records, 1969), of which I still have a copy of the old 45. Wind, you may remember--or, may not, was fronted by Tony Orlando....
 
Hitman sez "You say GMR will rise....now that's the nicest thing anyone has said about us on here in a while." Well, not much of a gamble. GMR is now at a 2 share (12+) but has averaged between a 3 and a 4 over the past few years. A deaf statistician just in from Mars would bet billions on a 3-something. Hitman also says something like the next 6 months cannot go anywhere but up. Uh, well... it ain't that easy. But lemme give you a clue. Right now the ex-Hot listener who punches 101 hears a different station each time they hit the button: a talk station in the morning, an AC during midday, and a CHR at night. That's programming suicide. In a market with 3 Country stations, 2 rockers and 2 ACs, the CHR field is wide open--yours for the taking. But whenever the CHR listener hits the button, they've gotta hear CHR. Not 1992 CHR, but 2006 CHR. If you don't know what a 2006 CHR sounds like, get in da car and take a trip. Right now you ain't even close. Good luck. But speaking of trips, I'm heading for The Beach. Later.
 
Oh, one more thing. Hot 103.1 was NOT a poorly-programmed radio station. Glenn Turner deserves some big props. Remember, Hot had more than twice GMR's audience; and an impartial observer would probably say that the last (fall) book was a "down fluke" for CHR in State College. Hot had a significant/large audience. And it wasn't "unsellable." It just didn't get "sold." In other words, the AEs just didn't do it--for all sorts of reasons. The point being... if GMR needs a CHR model, they should probably take a good strong look at what WJHT was doing. And then do it. AMF.
 
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