Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: q's about new unnamed app
Author: Will Cate Posted: 7/26/2000; 9:38:44 AM Topic: q's about new unnamed app Msg #: 19109 (In response to 19081) Prev/Next: 19108 / 19110
...if the scheduling programs traditional radio uses are so great, then why does commercial radio suck so much?Well, having been in the biz for quite some while, I can tell you exactly why that is: Money. It really has little to do with fancy software. Commercial radio is a bottom-line driven business, thus we program to the average listener. Familiarity is what keeps the average listener listening.
Personally, I'd love to program to an audience who appreciates artists like Big Star, Richard Thompson, NRBQ, and Widespread Panic (just a few of my personal favorites), but if you're anywhere beneath the top 20 or so markets, this is a ratings loser. It's a very simple business: Ratings = Ad Revenue.
The only exception to this rule seems to be KPIG, which has just enough hip listeners in the Santa Cruz market to keep them profitable. Barely. Despite their popularity on the 'net, most of their advertisers are local businesses between Santa Cruz and the south bay. And they can't raise everybody's rates just because they have X-thousand internet listeners.
Why are so many dot-com' s tanking? Becuase they had unsustainable business models. Programming radio to a niche audience which does not translate into ratings is an unsustainable business model. 30 years of Arbitron data bears this out.
And that, in a nutshell, is why commercial radio sucks (that is, if you are music fan who gravites toward the exceptional rather than the average).
This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:55:51 PM.
© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.