You think it's "a lot of trouble" to post a thought on a message board?
Sometimes a "just the facts" answer isn't whats needed in a discussion, especially when it's done in a tone of: "Let me explain the real world to you sonny".
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You think it's "a lot of trouble" to post a thought on a message board?
Sometimes a "just the facts" answer isn't whats needed in a discussion, especially when it's done in a tone of: "Let me explain the real world to you sonny".
and that is why the FB radio group I run (along with a few other moderators that I hand picked) is comprised of mostly current and former radio people.
We try not to let people who are not current or former radio folks in, and we have the group set as private to keep our comments within a limited audience, although these days anything you put on social media is forever and found by people didding for dirt on you.
We try not to let people who are not current or former radio folks in, and we have the group set as private to keep our comments within a limited audience, although these days anything you put on social media is forever and found by people didding for dirt on you.
It's hard to dance around when someone seriously wants to hear Elmore James on WROR.
I have albums in my personal collection from the Rotary Connection and Jack Bonus, but I don't play them on the radio.
How's that for being diplomatic?
No one is going that far off the rails....lets not sensationalize it to try to prove a point
That's where the "outsider" mistake is made; generally those are based on believing that their individual and personal taste is shared by multitudes of persons.
Radio, in normal non-pandemic times, spends lots of money on research. Looking for alternatives and tracking changing tastes is part of that. This is where focus groups and one-on-ones come in because listener are able to talk about what they want, not just what they are getting. }
Radio is always looking for better ways to satisfy listeners, but we prefer studies where the sample size is more than one.
No dancing needed. You can just let them make their point.
Not everything needs a response of "here's where you're wrong!"
However, from a real world radio professional's perspective, the point was not made and was erroneous.
Questions deserve answers, and Frank and I often see innocent ones made where there is no answer. There should be one, as this group is based on insiders sharing with listeners. There are no dumb questions.
In this case, it was concluded by a radio listener with no industry perspective that radio had no interest in exploring for "different" ideas. The response did not fit the questioner's attitude although it mirrored reality. Life is tough. And radio is often exploring new ideas, format variants, show ideas, contests and promotions and even esoteric things like where to position the "end of song" marker on each tune.
Observation: BigA and I are insiders, but we find numerous areas in which we disagree. Picasso and Renoir were brilliant painters, but their work is vehemently and radically different. But nobody questions their talent.
A and I "point and counterpoint" with our perspectives, but we respect the fact that in radio there are many ways that work that achieve a station's objectives. In this case, both Mr. A and I agreed that the point the poster was making was biased and, simply, wrong.
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Best. Post. Ever!
Very nicely articulated, Wimmmex. On behalf of those of us who are "just" listeners, my sincere thanks for your perspective and insight.
Sometimes points are simply someone expressing a feeling or opinion.....and that's not erroneous.
"I wish WROR would play more 70's". "I think newsman X is the best/worst". "WJMN died when they...."
Just a statement from someone's own perspective and prerogative....and their entitled to it.
I feel the same way.
As someone who has never worked in radio, but has always been passionately interested in all things radio, I may be a bit of a hybrid.
I enjoy reading layman’s opinions but also enjoy the professional observations and facts. I especially enjoy David’s perspectives and knowledge. He seems like he knows everything and must be 102 years old. Lol.
He is very patient in explaining the same point over and over to the same participants on this board. If we could take every comment David has posted and catagorized them, it would make a great reference book!
I do know that advertisers mostly don’t care about anyone over 54 so overall ratings are interesting from a layman’s perspective but not from a business perspective.
There also doesn’t seem like any new groundbreaking format is in the future.
I will end by saying I enjoy MeTV FM. WMEX runs it at night.
The format is close to top 10 in Chicago on 87.7 FM. I know it attracts the over 54 group and plays song’s from the 50s-80s with a fabulous presentation. Having said that, could this format replace the lowest performing station in a radio company’s cluster in a top 20 market?
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A friend of mine recently showed me 97.7 ACK on the Cape which is really a Nantucket Station. It has an amazing format for a commercial station today. I also find depending on weather I can hear it on a lot of the cape. https://www.ackfm.com/ I work in radio and I'm impressed. Reminds me of WFNX quite a bit and being small can probably take a lot more chances than most. But fun to listen too for an old radio grump like me.
The main reason the station exists is to promote the TV channel. Weigel tends to find an outlet for the radio station in markets where it owns TV. Weigel does work with an outside syndicator to get additional stations. Westwood One offers a similar syndicated format. So the option exists if stations wish to pursue. Having said that, iHeart and Cumulus do their own internal syndication, so it's doubtful they'd carry someone else's format. Audacy also has dropped lots of outside syndication.
Gary Leavitt said on his WMEX talk show that his show goes back to Sunday mornings next month and Wink Martindale's MeTV fm show will replace it on Sat morning
I wonder if the new owners raised his Saturday rates?
I’d guess they want the station to air the Martindale Saturday show for some reason. It’s a history of rock’n’roll type of weekend specialty show for MeTV “FM”, not their regular format, so maybe it has extra sponsorship.
I would add that most smaller rated markets and unrated ones get most revenue from local direct accounts those, for the most part, look at traffic or inquiries, not age or ratings.
True. There have been less than three dozen new formats since the 60’s. Everything else is a variant.
Big groups are just not structured to do formats that don’t fit conventional business models.
That assumes they're willing to hire the sales staff to do the outreach. There are lots of small market stations whose revenue comes mainly from national network spots. These are primarily those that utilize satellite or ISP delivered formats with no local staff.
But the national spots are mostly barter in exchange for the programming.
So in summary, there are two ways to answer the question. Either going the insider route and quantifying your answer with numbers; or the listener route and qualifying your answer with subjective preference. Either way, in the grand scheme, one needs the other to co-exist in this rhelm. Sure, insiders can get other jobs and listeners can simply go to other mediums. But where I disagree with people, applying my subjective stance, I do see the value in the opposite point of view.
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