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Would Full Service Music Radio Work at WSBA?

B

bobmathers

Guest
I'll attempt to stimulate some talk on the Central Pa. board with this topic......

My take on the question is YES! Why not return to the heritage of live, local and interactive radio on 910? Rather than outline my reasons at this time, I would first like to hear yours. Pro OR con!

Thanks,

Bob
 
Full Service radio is a nice idea, but very few stations are doing it. Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are heard on so many stations. It would be nice to have a local afternoon block. If you mean playing music as part of the format, that would be tough. I would love to hear a few standards and oldies mixed in with the talk programs, but I would imagine that will never happen.

As far as the morning shows go, at least WSBA is local in AM drive and run Geraldo from 9 to Noon. I think WABC is the closest station that runs his show, so it's not like having Glenn Beck airing,which every talker seems to run in those hours. I like Geraldo's show. Lots of correspondents and news makers in a very fast paced format. How's his show doing?
 
Bob, I have to say no, but reluctantly. I had the privilege of working at WSBA during the height of its Full Service AC success, the 1980s. The station was firing on all cylinders then with great personalities, outstanding news and sports coverage, and a good mix of contemporary music and gold. WSBA was probably one of the the best examples of how to do the full-service format well. But here was the downside: I was in my 30s then, and I didn't know a single person my age who listened to the station, even people who grew up with The Mighty 910. The audience was all over 50. Anyone under that had already migrated to FM. 25 or 30 years later, your audience would be 70+, and therein is the problem. To do it up right would cost a lot of money with very little return. Putting the limits of AM aside, however, I've always wondered if the Full Service AC format would work on the FM dial.

Maybe I'm missing something. I've always known you as an astute and knowledgeable radio pro, and I'm interested in hearing your reasons for thinking this kind of radio could work on AM again.
 
I was in my teens/early 20's in the 1980s, John. I listened to you and 910 back then for what it's worth! :)
 
JSM said:
I was in my teens/early 20's in the 1980s, John. I listened to you and 910 back then for what it's worth! :)
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So you were the one, JSM! Your friends must have thought you were crazy. (Not crazy, just very mature taste in radio stations.) :) Oh, WSBA had some younger listeners to be sure, but with the knowledge you have of the industry now, you must agree that they were the minority. Still I wonder if they could have moved the whole AM thing to FM, how it would have fared.
 
Who is going to pay the full service staff, and who is going to listen to music on AM? It's hard enough getting people to listen to talk on AM at this point.

I listened to 910 every morning in the early-mid 80s before school. They still played some music then, as well. But those days are gone, unfortunately. Especially with Cumulus running the show.
 
Thanks for the responses. Hello to John Summers, whose knowledge, professionalism and insight I deeply respect. Hope to see you soon, John. It's been too long.

First of all...in 2013 radio...save for one-county communities...just about every market today is without a full-service music station, AM or FM. The need exists.

There are ways to do it inexpensively with a full-time staff and yes, people will listen to music on AM. They'll listen anywhere if the signal is decent enough. Then you find salespeople who understand how to sell full-service radio.

There's a lot more to this but I'll limit my observations to a general scope for the present. Find out what the people want and give it to them. Make your station relevant in their lives, including exclusive aspects not offered by the competition.

I have no idea what WSBA is billing these days, but with a full-service music format they could do at least a million a year. Very doable. Of course, you'd have to really work it and know where and how to find the dollars. They're there.
 
bobmathers said:
First of all...in 2013 radio...save for one-county communities...just about every market today is without a full-service music station, AM or FM. The need exists.
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If every market lacks this format, then there is no need.

There are ways to do it inexpensively with a full-time staff and yes, people will listen to music on AM. They'll listen anywhere if the signal is decent enough. Then you find salespeople who understand how to sell full-service radio.
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Signal ain't so good anymore.

It's a nice thought, and someone who would put in the effort MIGHT be able to make it work, but Cumulus isn't going to do it. No one that could afford the station is going to to it. The Mighty 910 is now an automated shell of its former self. That's just how radio works these days.
 
I think with the right format, music would sound great on AM, that's how a lot of us grew up listening to music, it just has that compression that you can't get on cd's. It'd be nice to hear it. Some of us fossils miss it.
 
Both AM and full-service radio are over. First, I will address AM: yes, there are a handful of AMs such as WHP who manage to hold on, those who have not thrown in the towel and who have good signals. However, their demos are falling off the map and once you mess with one of these heritage stations, it's toast. There's no fixing it once it's screwed up. Plus, the under 50 demo has never been a consumer of AM radio. Most of their lives have been lived with CDs, The Internet and Ipods. FM has always been their "standard" broadcast band.They would never consider the poor audio of AM! Hence, the recent rush for FM translators. If there is any hope for AM at all, it is with the 60+ demo. And we all know their perceived value with advertisers. Bringing AM back would be like returning to black & white TV. Show over!

Secondly, full-service radio. It is a throwback to a less competitive time, when there was no Internet or satellite radio and far fewer radio frequencies. Now you can create your own personalized mix of music, news, talk and sports, while listening at your leisure. Yes, you can site the "local content" that full-service radio used to provide. You must ask what "local content" do most care about? I believe it is simply weather, traffic and couple of the big headlines. Only 80 year-olds with way too much time care about the local sewer bond issue or school board races (yawn). Face it, those under 50 really don't "live locally". Their reality is the web and their "local" is created on Facebook and other social media. Not to mention, full-service radio just isn't affordable, even if it were to be successful. If you are truly being honest with yourself, missing full-service radio is pure nostalgia....like the milk box on the porch and newspaper on the doorstep!.
 
loeper said:
If it's done well I think a "full service format" on FM would work.
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And it does work on FM. Many (mostly) ACs do morning acts that are very "full service"--news, weather, personality and a few tunes--then switch to a music-intensive approach the rest of the day. In Central PA I can think of a couple--WIKZ in Chambersburg, for instance.

Years ago I visited family out in San Diego during the heyday of KFMB-FM ("KFMBFM")--doing a Hot AC that took "full service radio" to its logical extreme: "morning shows" in every daypart. Ensemble personality acts all day long. I thought it was cool as hell. And they did real well with it for several years (probably until the accountants stepped in).
 
Not too far away geographically, a full-service FM is how New Jersey 101.5 started out. At first, weekday hosts would play tunes (oldies) occasionally. Eventually, the station went to all talk weekdays and classic hits (70s, 80s) weekends. Weekend hosts still show more personality than your average music station host these days, and they manage to fit in traffic and weather, too.

As mentioned, the problem with this is expense. Certain station groups can't see beyond the "cut costs" method of trying to turn a profit.
 
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