John Stewart--
I've watched your antics on this board for a long time and I have the following things to say to you:
1) You're embarassing yourself by responding to those that flame you and/or your radio station. There are ALWAYS going to be people that do not like a particular radio station, no matter WHAT market it is in. I guarantee that there are large numbers of people in New York that hate everything WHTZ does, I guarantee there are large numbers of people in Los Angeles that hate everything KIIS does, and (to use an example a little bit closer to home) I guarantee there are large numbers of people in Cleveland that hate everything WAKS does. The point is, YOU AS THE PROGRAM DIRECTOR HAVE TO TAKE IT FOR WHAT IT IS and that's people on a message board running their mouths. Are they your advertisers? No. Are they diary respondents? Most likely not.
2) I've heard your radio station and have seen your playlists on Mediabase for a long time. It needs work and definition. The imaging is weak and the staff is weaker. Take a page from the Clear Channel Less is More book and revamp your imaging down to a couple simple rules: A) NOTHING is on the air longer than :10 in length in a music sweep. If it's longer than :10, it's a promo. Period. B) Everything should be in and out, quickly and effectively, with preference to pieces laying over song intros.
Your jocks, on the other hand, need to remember that CHR (we'll touch on THAT particular point in just a second) is NOT TARGETED AT TEENS! Yes, it's wonderful to have them listening to your radio station, I'll give you that much. As they grow up, they will hopefully contine that P1 listening style into their 20s and 30s. BUT, your target demo is between the ages of 25 and 44 (in other words, ranging from college graduate to average age of parents of two or three kids)... ALL on-air content should be directed to them and there should NEVER be a caller put on the air under the age of 16 or 17. Adults do not want to hear kids, they want to hear maturity, they want to hear those with a little bit of life experience to their credit.
You're likely to respond with ratings, probably illegally quoting them from Arbitron, and that response is all fine and dandy. BUT, those ratings are flawed in that you have NO DIRECT CHR COMPETITION. Until Canton gets another CHR to directly compete with you (and don't even try to bring up WAKS, because they could CARE TWO CENTS LESS ABOUT CANTON), you have a captive audience. If they want to hear the hits (albeit interspersed between Cheap Trick, Whitesnake, and whatever else you've been playing this weekend), they don't have any other local option.
3) C H R =
CONTEMPORARY
HIT
RADIO
Dictionary.com defines "CONTEMPORARY" as:
con·tem·po·rar·y adj.
3.
Current; modern
The last time I checked, the following titles did not even REMOTELY qualify as "current" or "modern:"
FOUR SEASONS- December 1963
TACO- Puttin' on the Ritz
TECHNOTRONIC- Pump Up the Jam
BLONDIE- Heart of Glass
EDDIE MURPHY- Party All the Time
PAT BENATAR- Shadows of the Night
ELVIS COSTELLO- Pump It Up
All of those records played in ONE hour today. Granted, it was 12-1am, but my point is the same. For kicks and giggles, let's look at an hour that is actually RATED BY ARBITRON, since we're in the Spring book:
NSYNC- It's Gonna Be Me (Excusable, barely)
COREY HART- Sunglasses at Night
CYNDI LAUPER- Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
DURAN DURAN- Hungry Like the Wolf
MILLI VANILLI- Girl, You Know It's True
TONE LOC- Funky Cold Medina (Excusable, as a CHR gold.. I'll give you this one)
MARVIN GAYE- Sexual Healing
TITO NIEVES- I Like It Like That
BACKSTREET BOYS- As Long As You Love Me (Again, excusable... barely)
That, John Stewart, was your 1PM hour on a Sunday afternoon... in the book, minus currents from CHAMILLIONAIRE (done. over. no reason to still be playing in Canton.), DANIEL POWTER (too unfamiliar to attempt to save face for what your radio station is SUPPOSED to be, alongside the other crap), and NICKELBACK- Animals (which is not the current single for CHR and has been testing HORRIBLY with the few stations that are playing it).
To quote you, John Stewart, "CHR, in my opinion, is meant to be more than playing seven powers 85 times a week and 10 mediums 40 times a week."
Your opinion is wrong. Sorry. See my definition of CHR above. Someone else said it well.... this weekend is an outstanding example of why you are still in market 128 and why Donnie Peterson is a fool for still KEEPING you in a market THAT large. I'll leave the discussion of Donnie himself to others.
Anxiously awaiting your long winded response about how great you think you are,
CHR Programmer<P ID="signature">______________
"Random CHR Programming Mind"
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