dya@unc-c.UUCP (06/08/84)
1: Chair warmed automated station, eh? Meter reader, eh? Just because one BUYS their automation tapes from Drake-Chenault doesn't mean that they program their Sono-Mag or whatever machine to sit there and run the entire show while the operator on duty picks their nose. FYI, I was at WPEG for one and one half years. The station buys Drake tapes because the audio quality (at 7 1/2 IPS ) is VASTLY SUPERIOR to carted music and records. They use ITC 750's and it is LIVE ASSIST. Only thing that is automated is that there is a MC6800 CPU in the control head which selects which tape recorder will play next. The cue tones don't fire up the next "event". Chair warmer hell! >THEY'RE THERE TO MAKE MONEY!!!! PERIOD!!!! No shit, Sherlock. Perhaps that's why, under these techniques which you despise so much (does it threaten how much YOU know about MAJOR MARKET radio ?) that WPEG raised their rate card from about $3/spot, AAA time, to well over $ 40 /spot, AAA time, in a very short time. Now, I don't think that being able to sell out your scheduled traffic with an increase of 1200 % in rate card is public service or wimpy. In fact, it would seem to me that this is pure capitalism. Make a better product and sell it. You say bullshit, eh? I am not going to violate an Arbitron confidentiality agreement, but I would ask you to call Fred Graham at WPEG, (704) 786-9111, if you are that interested. You see, my point about being #2 was based on facts, not bullshit. In fact, WPEG LEADS this market in several demographic groups. Wanna know why? Because this market has 5 other FM's that do exactly what you say: Hot clocks, standard issue programming. Now, you'd expect them to lead in this market. But, THERE IS ONLY A FINITE NUMBER OF LISTENERS TO GO AROUND IN THE TSA, and when 5 stations are doing essentially the same thing, they are going to distribute the same audience 5 ways. Now, it's not FAIR to say, well, you add up the 5 CHR stations and they have a rating which is over WPEG. No, sireee. In fact, WSOC-FM which is Country is # 1. Most of the CHR stations in this market aren't even in the top 5. Three of them are beaten by TALK. I would also point out that the Greensboro-High Point-Winston Salem market is the same way. Here, I have Arbitron data which I can release, as it was publicly published by one of the stations involved: OCT/NOV 1983, TSA 6AM-MID TOTAL PERSONS WTQR-FM 20.6 WQMG-FM 16.3 WSEZ-FM 7.1 WSJS-AM 6.5 WRQK-FM 6.1 WTQR runs "Great American Country", WQMG runs soul, WSEZ-FM runs CHR/country, WSJS runs talk, WRQK is CHR. WQMG is actually #1 in total males all time periods. >Supersoul, medium mix. Probably lots of pops. What a crock. So what if it IS pops. Who cares (and it actually isn't.) Then, if it is mostly pops, why does WPEG and WQMG Greensboro lead all those CHR stations? My station changed format to make money. I don't deny that one little bit. But others tried it too, in this market. And, despite the fact that the number of FM's playing CHR has TRIPLED in this market, the other fact remains that WPEG remains highly competitive and in the eyes of most PD's in this market, "the one to beat." No, WPEG does not play 80% CHR and 20 % soul. I don't know where you get your data, either, but if you can guarantee that in the Charlotte, or Greensboro markets, that a Soul can't be #2, you've got some serious reconsideration to do. No, My station didn't just advance the hot clock 7 1/2 minutes just to sweep the quarter hours. They simply avoided the practice of trying to ensure listening regularity on the part of the audience. Yes, I consider hot clocks a bad programming practice because everyone else is doing it, and at least in this market, where 5 CHR FM's do it and can't get a decent rating, yes, it is a bad economic practice as well. It is probably a lot easier to sell #2 with a unique format, sir, than to sell a sound-alike FM. As far as I can tell, the strategy worked then and it works today. If you can be perceived as different, you will get a different and loyal audience that results in HIGH CUMES. That's why you don't have 5 country stations, and that's why the other 5 FM's in this market don't play SuperSoul. Look, I don't deny that with enough money, you can buy listeners. The point was that we threw out the notion (and they still do, today) that people will "push the button if a song is over 3:07, etc."; that the perception of playing more music should be generated by long music sweeps without talking about long music sweeps. Oh yes, is 14 mins/hr commercial load adequate for you? I back up my claims and opinions of radio with a proven track record in markets such as Richmond and Charlotte. They are not idle opinions but real ratings gains "against the odds." I have to fight these entrenched ideas about radioey radio all the time, and I got sick of it. My philosophy has NEVER been to try to win listeners from the other guy, but to expand the total radio listening universe in a market (homes using radio * time) to increase ratings. As for "drums and call letters" jingles, they just don't wash with me. Again, you completely misinterpreted the argument. The dream of every PD is to get the station a loyal audience that doesn't push the button, that doesn't need to be reminded that they're listening to XXX. They know what they like and are aware of what they are listening TO. Every market is different, and perhaps there is a spot of land in the United States where a textbook CHR station will shoot up to #1 in three months. I doubt it. To be competitive, you must consider all the alternatives, not just "What flavour of radioey radio will we broadcast today." You can believe all that Columbia School of Broadcasting hype you read in "Fred" if you want. You can even point out that Doubleday Broadcasting has shot some stations to #1 in some big markets doing what you advocate. I don't mind open criticism about my programming ideas about radio. However, there are 9,000+ radio stations in this country, and just because you happened to work 4 years at one (where are your ratings gains, sir?) does not make one an "expert" at programming. I don't claim to be an expert, either. But I do claim to have tried something that worked extremely well. Yes, I despise radioey radio, because people really don't miss the records you don't play. Do you think that all those listeners at WPEG were MISSING hearing Billy Joel? No, they were missing textbook radio. They were enjoying a station which wasn't insulting them with a constant barrage of "hot"! Hot! HOT!. They apparently got tired of the popularity contest and the desire to keep the mod monitor needle at or above 95 %, and switched. They got tired of inane contests. What next after the station gives away a million bucks? The Democratic Party nomination for President? How about the state of Colorado? Ad hominem attacks (like being a "chair warmer at an automated station", or SuperSoul couldn't possibly be #2) are pretty damn dumb. Why not give Bill Drake at Drake-Chenault a call and have a little chat with him about all the #1 stations he has with which do have chair warmed automated formats. I despise ad hominem attacks especially when the person doing the attacking has probably never been in this market, and has absolutely no facts to back his "claims" up except what he has seen in his corner of the universe. Have you really been in all 9000 station in the U.S. and polled them to see which ones were using hot clocks or not? Hot clocks are a tool, and I think they are the wrong tool, if you want to break clean from the CHR rat race. If you would like to discuss programming techniques and their relative merits, that's fine. I can do just as many case studies in markets as you can. But spare me with from inflammatory statements that come from inadequate, inconsistent, incoherent, or just plain nonexistent data and reasoning.
gds@mit-eddie.UUCP (Greg Skinner) (06/09/84)
[Hit Radio, W***!!] > Every market is different, and perhaps there is a spot of land > in the United States where a textbook CHR station will shoot up to > #1 in three months. In Boston, WHTT first aired in February 1983. By the summer (June) they were #1 in Boston's market. (I don't have the data available but I know where it can be found, in the Billboard article on the rebirth of HitRadio.) It may be the case, as mit-eddie!nessus says, that WHTT is no longer #1 in its market, because since then (as you pointed out earlier in this article) other stations have converted to CHR (WCOZ, for example). Boston may have the most CHR stations of *any* major market in the U.S. (WHTT, WXKS, WCOZ, WMJX is playing more hits these days and less easy listening). I can see how they are all competing for the same audience and dividing it between them. Anyhow, I'm still a WABC fan for life. There will never be anything like it again in radio, as far as I'm concerned. -- Those who know me have no need for my name. Greg Skinner (gregbo) {decvax!genrad, eagle!mit-vax, allegra!banyan, whuxle, ihnp4}!mit-eddie!gds