Pre-currency PPM data is coming in and why any company in a major market would change station formats is beyond me. The whole system will radically change the way we sell on a rep basis and the way we look at radio. Just got back from a seminar on PPM and the only thing you can be sure of is change. In every PPM market currency (like Philly and Houston) and pre0currency (like NY and LA) the data shows big shifts in station listening in the key 25-54 demographic. Stations that were on the bottom are on top, stations that were on top fell to the bottom. There is also no reason to the data shifts. Early results showed a decline in Hispanic, urban and low TSL stations, but no longer. There is no format that seems to benefit outside of Rock and AC. Both extreme formats have more listening from the opposite sex than reported in diary so they seem to grow a bit. Every other format is a mixed bag depending on the market.
So why would anyone change format now. Wait 18 months and you could be number one. In Houston the News Talk station went from 3rd to 17th. The HOT/AC went from 15th to 3rd. In Philly Classic Rock jumped up ten spots, so did Oldies. The AC was rock solid. In NY pre-currency all three forms of AC jumped to the top with LITE-FM, so did news. In LA, Hispanic seems to rule in early tests. Get used to words like exposure instead of cume. TSL is a thing of the past. Sports events and Christmas music are bigger than anyone ever imagined in the diary world, but that could change depending on the market. Changes within your demo might (and I mean MIGHT)make sense, like shifts to Jammin from MOVIN or KISS or shifting from News to News/talk. But why would someone blow up an oldies station to go news or a CHR to go AC, or an alternative to go CHR, as has been suggested on this board?
Why change, when the world is changing around you? In one year KBSG, KBKS, MOVIN, JACK, KNDD could go from worst to first without doing anything. So all this talk about format flips may need to wait for 18 months. Then watch for many flips in one year. Should be quite a ride for sales and programming.
So why would anyone change format now. Wait 18 months and you could be number one. In Houston the News Talk station went from 3rd to 17th. The HOT/AC went from 15th to 3rd. In Philly Classic Rock jumped up ten spots, so did Oldies. The AC was rock solid. In NY pre-currency all three forms of AC jumped to the top with LITE-FM, so did news. In LA, Hispanic seems to rule in early tests. Get used to words like exposure instead of cume. TSL is a thing of the past. Sports events and Christmas music are bigger than anyone ever imagined in the diary world, but that could change depending on the market. Changes within your demo might (and I mean MIGHT)make sense, like shifts to Jammin from MOVIN or KISS or shifting from News to News/talk. But why would someone blow up an oldies station to go news or a CHR to go AC, or an alternative to go CHR, as has been suggested on this board?
Why change, when the world is changing around you? In one year KBSG, KBKS, MOVIN, JACK, KNDD could go from worst to first without doing anything. So all this talk about format flips may need to wait for 18 months. Then watch for many flips in one year. Should be quite a ride for sales and programming.