Why Isn’t There An All Blues Formatted Radio Station In Chicago?

[GrampaSquirrel]

I have a curious question for the radio experts on this board, in regards to about why is there NO Blues format radio station in Chicago that plays all Blues all of the time?

I know that WBEZ 91.5 and WDCB 90.9 has certain blues shows are only on certain days or nights, because both station are Public Broadcasting Networks.

According to the radio-locator.com there are only three blues formatted radio station in existence throughout the whole United States!

These blues formatted radio stations: are:
WDLT 660 AM Fairhope, AL - Blues
WKXI 1400 AM Jackson, MS - Blues
WROX 1450 AM Clarksdale, MS - Blues

I hard once that people had said that Chicago is known for the blues, so why doesn’t Chicago live up to it’s name???…

 

[tjthedj]

Thinking out loud;
Chicago is known for Al Capone and daddy Daley a couple of snowstorms and deep dish pizza too.

Thinking about a couple of reasons for lack of blues.

#1; Probably little or no sponsor interest, so no money.

(from observation) The demographic that blues generally appeals to is probably too old and too poor. Might that be correct?

Even "Classical" would attract richer people and Polish or Greek or SE Asian are a bigger and richer niche.

Nobody wanted to settle for the larger niche of standards or oldies. Beautiful music w/vocals (like 820 wait was in the 60's) or old time radio fulltime would skew old. WHY would anyone try blues? What other Chicago ethnic group is large? I haven't been back for some time.

What happened to a Jazz station in Chicago? Probably would have a bigger niche than blues, right? WBEE and WAAF awere jazz but now both gone for a few years. They both used to sell "hours" and "bulk ad buys" to survive. You'd think there would be a car dealer or a JAZZ CLUB or a restaurant on that list, but I really don't remember any.

The "record" companies concentrate on bigger market shares too, so music promotion would probably be poor.

To my recollection on WAAF (950 studio in the LaSalle Wacker building 1kw transmitter then at the stock yards) Marty Faye and Daddio Daylie and Jesse Owens and Jerry Leighton (the jocks there) only had Meister Brau (the custom brew) Jay's Potato Chips, Muntz TV (Esterbrook 9-6777) and Champale (a cheap champaine drink).

I was buddies with a few of those guys (shook hands with Jesse Owens) and listened there alot, but don't remember any more "regular" advertisers. After about 2pm it was ALL Muntz TV. Must have had a "bulk" rate.

Which station would change to do it? The ethnic stations are better off with a Hispanic or foreign language or Black gospel or "Black talk" format; much more mass appeal.

 

[JeremyAndrews]

Milwaukee has an all blues HD-2 (WMYX-2) but that was made corperately (Entercom put blues on their Hot AC HD-2s)

So with that, HD Radio is probably where blues would end up in Chicago.

 

[Colonel_Tom_Parker]

Thinking out loud;
Chicago is known for Al Capone and daddy Daley a couple of snowstorms and deep dish pizza too.

Thinking about a couple of reasons for lack of blues.

#1; Probably little or no sponsor interest, so no money.

(from observation) The demographic that blues generally appeals to is probably too old and too poor. Might that be correct?

Even "Classical" would attract richer people and Polish or Greek or SE Asian are a bigger and richer niche.

Nobody wanted to settle for the larger niche of standards or oldies. Beautiful music w/vocals (like 820 wait was in the 60's) or old time radio fulltime would skew old. WHY would anyone try blues? What other Chicago ethnic group is large? I haven't been back for some time.

What happened to a Jazz station in Chicago? Probably would have a bigger niche than blues, right? WBEE and WAAF awere jazz but now both gone for a few years. They both used to sell "hours" and "bulk ad buys" to survive. You'd think there would be a car dealer or a JAZZ CLUB or a restaurant on that list, but I really don't remember any.

The "record" companies concentrate on bigger market shares too, so music promotion would probably be poor.

To my recollection on WAAF (950 studio in the LaSalle Wacker building 1kw transmitter then at the stock yards) Marty Faye and Daddio Daylie and Jesse Owens and Jerry Leighton (the jocks there) only had Meister Brau (the custom brew) Jay's Potato Chips, Muntz TV (Esterbrook 9-6777) and Champale (a cheap champaine drink).

I was buddies with a few of those guys (shook hands with Jesse Owens) and listened there alot, but don't remember any more "regular" advertisers. After about 2pm it was ALL Muntz TV. Must have had a "bulk" rate.

Which station would change to do it? The ethnic stations are better off with a Hispanic or foreign language or Black gospel or "Black talk" format; much more mass appeal.

What about the Chicago Blues Fest? in which that Chicago have every Year? Does That Count?

I could be wrong about this but please! correct me if I'm right?
Every time when there is a big fest event in Chicago, It is a Big huge mob-scene! all of the CTA buses and el-trains are so crowded every year, You can't even find a seat nowhere! So I guess the blues draws a big attraction into the city itself.

My guess is that the Chicago Blues Fest makes big mega bucks every time thbey have one.
Again, I could be wrong about this, So Please correct me on this one....


Colonel Parker

 

[uncamark]

There is WSSD on the South Side at 88.1, which is predominately blues/R&B, with some jazz and gospel. AFAIK, they are the only non-com in the market outside of the Chicago Public Radio stations not affiliated with an institution.

 

[tjthedj]

Do you think it costs a million dollars to put on Blues Fest? It would cost that to buy a radio station with Chicago coverage. Maybe more.

Maybe someone should broker a blues show and get sponsors. THEN your "Bluesfest" observation may be proven correct. Look at all the POLKA shows. Some of them have been on for YEARS. Nobody OWNS a station, but they get plenty of airtime.

If you want blues on the radio, maybe you should get some people excited about it like the DANCE radio crowd is doing (see elsewhere on radio-info).

The SQUEAKY WHEEL gets the oil. Bles may be an opportunity to make YOU some money.

 

[Boogie Skank]

Tom Marker's Blues Breakers show on WXRT is the closest thing to a viable commercial blues program, albiet only once a week. But it is interesting that a blues format is lacking. You'd think the guys at Aligator records and Tom would be interested in more. There are blues channels on XM and Sirius... too bad they can't do breakdowns of listenership to their various formats.

 

[JeremyAndrews]

I remember WJKL used to run a lot of brokered blues shows in the late 90s.

 

[Anyacat]

If playing blues made something rich, blues will be played. Haven't you heard, radio only exists to sell things, the music or talk is just to get people ready to buy product--apparently the blues does not set the right tone.

 

[Boogie Skank]

I don't think anyone can make the full argument yet that an all blues format station won't sell, since there hasn't been a full time one with a decent signal. Anything done prior to 1980 would have been ignored by most of the advertising community. Today it's a different ball game. Tom Marker's show is successful enough since it's been on for, what - 15-20 years? To make it go you need a dedicated GM and GSM and a dedicated sales staff. Unfortunately due to consolidation, sales can't concentrate any one format to make something like this succeed they way they used to be able to. So while a blues format station (with a decent signal - and that's the real sticking point) could definitely be successful now, the chances of any station group trying it is almost non-existent.

 

[content]

Unfortunately, there's not a large enough Blues audience (even in Chicago) to justify a Blues station available on the FM band. Your best bet is a Classic Rock which features a Blues influence. Otherwise, enjoy the occasional Blues-influenced tuned provided by XRT.

 

[Boogie Skank]

An all-blues formated station might do better than the third or fourth hiphop urban smooth jazz station. In a city where there already is a boatload of redundant formats fighting for an even smaller slice of the advertising pie, a blues format station might make better sense.

But that's my opinion and not the opinion of a conglomerate cluster GM... who are all geniuses if you ask them ;D

 

[uncamark]

An all-blues formated station might do better than the third or fourth hiphop urban smooth jazz station. In a city where there already is a boatload of redundant formats fighting for an even smaller slice of the advertising pie, a blues format station might make better sense.

But that's my opinion and not the opinion of a conglomerate cluster GM... who are all geniuses if you ask them ;D

Oh, are there more than one NAC/smooth jazz station in the market? I thought it was just 'NUA. Also, 'NUA's audience is different than 'GCI/Power 92 and V103/Soul 106, particularly because it is almost the *only* racially-mixed audience for a music station in the city (I don't think B96 or Love FM can boast that).

But hey--kneejerk CC bashing is fun!