Why?

[rbjones]

This has been hinted at and even stated clearly already, but why does it seem like the Greenville/Spartanburg market has stayed the same for so long? I know 106.3 went through many changes over the last few years, and now seems to have found a niche with WORD.

There was the format flip of 96.7 a couple of years ago, and the ratings have not even begun to rise since the flip.

I may not be a radio market expert, but why does it seem like the Upstate is in a standstill when it comes to radio? Is it maybe because we are blessed with good talent and the ratings for most of the stations reflect that, or is it just one of the markets that's overlooked most of the time by the big media companies (CC, Entercom, etc.)?

Just thought I'd get a little discussion going on the subject.

 

[freqdev]

simple answer. owners are not willing to spend the money to market anything different.

 

[carolinaradio]

simple answer. owners are not willing to spend the money to market anything different.

Agreed.

It might also be due to the fact that the upstate has very little competition except for the AC format, which has heated up in recent times. Clear Channel has the market cornered on Country, and Cox does on Urban/Rhythmic. Entercom owns the talk and rock market, there is no room for another talk station....Charleston, Columbia, Charlotte, etc have a little competition going on as different owners are running competing formats. Very unusual market landscape here.There are not any ratings bad enough to warrant flips except for 96.7...I still think they will flip - eventually.

This has frustrated me for a long time. 2005-2007 were interesting years, but everything has been dead since then. For my tastes, I honestly don't care for radio here compared to other markets in the state. I don't care for the way Entercom and Clear Channel Greenville run things, but I guess they do what works for them.

 

[upstate29651]

Why...couldn't you put more than "why" in the subject line? Laziness I suppose.