would this format work on ysp

[oasisrulz]

A combination of 20% Hair Nation, 20% Octane, 20% Boneyard, 20% Lithium, 10% First Wave and 10% Alt Nation, mixed very well, with an Extremely Heavy Metal tune thrown in every few hours. With this fantastic variety every fan of rock would be satisfied, now if they had the guts to do it....I know this always draws critizism but unload football and any sports related programs. 24/7/365 music intense with little talk.

 

[aindik]

I don't think those formats mix well. They're all rock, but do they share listeners? One of the big reason the music on Lithium exists is that those people hated the music that's on Hair Nation.

I'd love to hear a terrestrial version of Boneyard (essentially what was Buzzsaw on Sirius before the content merger). Classic Hard Rock. I don't think it would get sufficient ratings, but I'd like it.

I can't think of a real big format hole in Philly. WYSP is kinda locked in. CBS is flipping to CHR and AC in other markets, but Philly has that covered with two stations each already.

 

[eyg2181]

Q: would this work?

A: YES, if this happened, Philadelphia will finally hear bands like: all that remains, five finger death punch, mudvayne, etc as well as all the rock we all know and enjoy, with a good rock variety thrown in there without wandering away from the rock format like 1045 does.

Then Philly will have something like 107.1 The Bone (Allentown) and 105.7 The X (Harrisburg)!

 

[oaktree]

But ... it costs less money in Allentown and Harrisburg to make money. Do you know for a fact, not speculation, that these stations make money? Not just enough to "get buy" ... but to serve the mass audience? I would be willing to bet probably not. Do they make money? Maybe. But do they reach the audience that advertisers want? Do they have mainstream sponsors like Budweiser, McDonalds, Geico? Probably not.

Those are the "rules" of the format game. Not just how "eclectic" a format can be in an overcrowded band (FM or AM) ... but whether it can make money. And in Philadelphia, for CBS Radio, that means LOTS of it. Those rights to the Eagles aren't free, for example.

So, will the format work? ANY format can have its share of listeners ... but what is important is how much? And will enough people, not just you and 15 of your closest friends, listen.

It's a money game, not a "I like thi music, so everyone else will, too."

It's about "the Benjamins." And that's why radio is failing. It can't find competitive enough "new" formats to battle for the advertising dollars that are already being sliced up among many stations in a top ten market like Philly.

It's got to be about "the most" -- sponsor dollars, audience level, competitive strength against 60 other stations, community involvement, promotion and a lot more. Music formats don't make money. Radio stations do. Especially GOOD radio stations. Hence why 'YSP and others struggle to make it work ... because the money isn't there.

The format suggestion made would not work. Not if the station wanted to survive, financially ... in Philadelphia.

 

[candykidjade]

A combination of 20% Hair Nation, 20% Octane, 20% Boneyard, 20% Lithium, 10% First Wave and 10% Alt Nation, mixed very well, with an Extremely Heavy Metal tune thrown in every few hours. With this fantastic variety every fan of rock would be satisfied, now if they had the guts to do it....I know this always draws critizism but unload football and any sports related programs. 24/7/365 music intense with little talk.

No, how about a 100% "DANZ STAYSHUN"

 

[eyg2181]

A combination of 20% Hair Nation, 20% Octane, 20% Boneyard, 20% Lithium, 10% First Wave and 10% Alt Nation, mixed very well, with an Extremely Heavy Metal tune thrown in every few hours. With this fantastic variety every fan of rock would be satisfied, now if they had the guts to do it....I know this always draws critizism but unload football and any sports related programs. 24/7/365 music intense with little talk.

No, how about a 100% "DANZ STAYSHUN"

How about not.

 

[candykidjade]

A combination of 20% Hair Nation, 20% Octane, 20% Boneyard, 20% Lithium, 10% First Wave and 10% Alt Nation, mixed very well, with an Extremely Heavy Metal tune thrown in every few hours. With this fantastic variety every fan of rock would be satisfied, now if they had the guts to do it....I know this always draws critizism but unload football and any sports related programs. 24/7/365 music intense with little talk.

No, how about a 100% "DANZ STAYSHUN"

How about not.

Why? Is there a problem with a dance station in Philly? I mean, no one is gonna care if YSP goes. NY has Pulse, so why not Philly?

 

[d21ofnj]

A combination of 20% Hair Nation, 20% Octane, 20% Boneyard, 20% Lithium, 10% First Wave and 10% Alt Nation, mixed very well, with an Extremely Heavy Metal tune thrown in every few hours. With this fantastic variety every fan of rock would be satisfied, now if they had the guts to do it....I know this always draws critizism but unload football and any sports related programs. 24/7/365 music intense with little talk.

No, how about a 100% "DANZ STAYSHUN"

How about not.

Why? Is there a problem with a dance station in Philly? I mean, no one is gonna care if YSP goes. NY has Pulse, so why not Philly?

Please read this:
http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,93243.0.html

Just be happy you got Z88.9 and Super 91.7 in the suburbs, and have Hot Wired on HD (even though it's.... meh..alright)

 

[oaktree]

Would "Swahili Disco" work?

Only for those who like "Swahili Disco" and that isn't everybody ... if anybody. You can play this game all day. But the question remains ... whether its "Danz" or "Hair" ... will it make huge sums of money to run a successful radio station in Philadelphia?

You work for the mass ... not merely the "fans."

 

[evolve991]

How about a deeper cut into Alternative than WRFF plays? They do pretty well but only graze the surface of a vast supply of music. YSP could go for a 103.9 WDRE sound and make alot of people who do NOT have HD or continous access to internet very happy. Despite the industry's opinion that Modern/Alt/Indie is dead there are alot of people who go thru the trouble of programming thier own 'station' on MP3 players etc because analog FM has left them musically orphaned.

 

[oasisrulz]

I think the wheels are just blowing smoke, Alternative, All Rock and most Modern formats are doing very well. IMHO I think Hip Hop/Rap/Urban formats are on the way out, due to constant, non-stop market saturation, look at your music video channels, most of the MTV networks are non-stop Hip Hop/Urban, and now Fuse is on the bandwagon, not even one channel for the Rock lover. Its called burn out, most Hip Hop stations are going down the tubes and have been for years but the suits CONTINUE to push this sound down the listeners pipes like its exploding which it is NOT.

 

[aindik]

Despite the industry's opinion that Modern/Alt/Indie is dead there are alot of people who go thru the trouble of programming thier own 'station' on MP3 players etc because analog FM has left them musically orphaned.

One theory, voiced by Allan Sniffen at the New York Radio Message Board, which I think makes sense, is that rock is so niched that all those people who program their iPods, none of them can actually agree on enough music to make a radio station work. No radio station will make enough of them happy because everyone's list of favorite tunes have too few overlapping tunes. You either get music that causes some substantial portion of the audience to tune out because they don't like it, or you repeat too much (which causes some substantial portion of the audience to tune out). Either way, it loses.

 

[SoulCrusher]

How about a deeper cut into Alternative than WRFF plays? They do pretty well but only graze the surface of a vast supply of music. YSP could go for a 103.9 WDRE sound and make alot of people who do NOT have HD or continous access to internet very happy. Despite the industry's opinion that Modern/Alt/Indie is dead there are alot of people who go thru the trouble of programming thier own 'station' on MP3 players etc because analog FM has left them musically orphaned.

Radio 104.5 really needs to expand on what they play now. I mean, it's true that they do well, but I think it's considering the weak competition they have in market ... WYSP is just awful, and WMMR is often very predictable and bland like all Greater Media "rock" stations.

I think of Radio 104.5 as more of a Classic Hits station for the 18-34 demo than an Alternative station - a slightly younger-leaning variation of sister station 95.7 BEN-FM. They play hardly any new music (they actually spin older titles by The Killers and Muse more than some of their currents!) and ignore so many important artists.

Radio 104.5 should be playing: The Pixies, Replacements, Smiths/Morrissey, Depeche Mode (besides the new single and the predictable Violator tracks that even Hot ACs play), Peter Murphy, Soul Coughing, Morphine, Ben Folds Five, Pavement, Sonic Youth, Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, etc. In addition, they should reach far deeper into the catalogs of artists like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Beck, Garbage, R.E.M., and others.

Radio 104.5 shouldn't be playing: Barenaked Ladies, Blues Traveler, Black Crowes, Counting Crows, 3 Doors Down (seriously - they're playing these morons), David Gray, The All American Rejects, The Fray, Panic! At The Disco, etc.

The difference between Radio 104.5 and the late G Rock 106.3/106.5 in New Jersey is like night and day. G Rock would still be around today if their parent company's sales team had passion for the Alternative format, if management had not incessantly tinkered with the pot like chefs with OCD, and if they hadn't impulsively laid off popular jocks at the station without giving any explanation. Read more about it here: http://boards.radio-info.com/smf/index.php/topic,118679.0.html