No one catering to boomers

[jon]

Not quite sure what you see in Mary Hopkins:



ref. - http://www.justmugshots.com/kentucky/ke ... ty/8909803

Mary Hopkin, on the other hand, had some visual appeal as a cross between Twiggy and the youngest Mama of the Mamas and Papas.

[pave]

That was beyond disturbing, jon. For a moment there.....
Meanwhile, the target audience for a "boomer" station would include - her!
(I'll be coming to grips with that one for some while...)
A reminder to Awg:
http://mgmt.firststreaming.com/listen/p ... gn=WROX_FM

[Anotherwpgguy]

Jon .... that's the kind of thing which induces an involuntary total body shudder as some vestigial autonomic nervous system attempts to protect the body from having come in contact with a poisonous substance .... the same type of movement a dog uses to shake off water.

Thanks for the WROX reminder Pave. I had gotten away from listening to it due to being distracted preparing material for a Labour Board Arbitration Hearing, and had to keep my head in the game rather than going "Oh WOW!!!! I haven't heard that in ages."

AWG

[Anotherwpgguy]

Pave .... listening to WROX, do a high level of you detect segments where there is a high level of static and distortion on some of the program material? It's almost as if they converted some songs from vinyl without paying any attention to surface noise.

I've been thinking of feeding this to my FM transmitter on 105.7 to simulate E Layer propagation from the Mississippi Delta reaching my current location .... "tee hee" he chortled with an impish smirk.

AWG

[pave]

I'm still recovering from the recent "Mary Hopkins"-episode.
Yeh, the station gets a little crackly, but I also imagine they are operating with wax string and Heinz soup cans. Interesting that Clarksdale is at the famous "Crossroads" of Robert Johnson mythology.
Meanwhile your tech explanation reminds me that, indeed, people can justify anything!

[bigbry]

Here's a great article on how in the US, Boomers control 70% of the wealth and buying power. When are advertisers going to wake up?

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/a ... z2WmfU19BY

[pave]

Advertisers - and their agencies, bigbry, are operating under the assumption that it's still 1983 and we (boomer targets) are carrying on as crazed yuppies who never got over it after all those Beemers and all that coke.
Radio programmers, on the other hand, are just clueless beyond measure or understanding.

[isthisthingon]

Show this to a radio sales manager and he/she will close their eyes, cover their ears and sing Happy Birthday as loud as possible.
"There is none so blind as he who will not see."
http://www.immersionactive.com/resources/50-plus-facts-and-fiction/

[pave]

Thanks for the article, isthisthingon. The info does lend some weight to the discussion we are having here.
I also note, however, this discussion is mainly among a small number of interested parties - none of whom is in a position to influence management to any worthwhile degree.

Meanwhile the profundo, radio-corps continue to blow every attempt at reaching this very audience with simple and simplistic approaches that might be only somewhat appealing to... uhhh... simpletons.

[pave]

Why Radio is struggling - demographic malaise?

Postby Tom Jeffries » 10 Aug 2013 06:36 pm
I have always wondered why everyone is fighting over 25-35 and 25-54 - and I think they are making a tragic mistake - because so many of that cohort are BROKE.
From greaterfool.ca - and Garth Turner explains it simply:

"While 70% of Canadians own a house, 51% of them have less than $10,000 in savings. That was the shocking finding of a new bank survey this week done by Pollara Strategic Insights. When people were asked if they feel financially prepared to handle a ‘rainy day’, it was hard to believe the poll was conducted in a first-world country where thirtysomethings do bidding wars over $800,000 semis.

Almost one in five people don’t have even $1,000 sitting around in a bank account. A quarter of us live paycheque-to-paycheque. And 84% couldn’t live six months without being paid”.

Why chase broke people? BOOMERS have money. Give me a BOOMER station, and (CBC is doing a good job) people will listen.

I would love to know what you think.

Oh, and of course Radio is still part of the fabric of boomers lives = younger demos not so much.

[Anotherwpgguy]

Pave ..... I can say I did every single job in a radio station. I could build one, be on-air on one, produce things to put on air, program and counter-program, do a smooth read of news copy, aircheck staff and mentor them, sit in the chair of President & General Manager you name it, I've done it...... with one exception, and that is sales.

That was a huge error by not having been out there putting together buying programs for clients and learning just how low and scummy some stations will go to deny revenue access to a station in a level of competition equal to the battle fought on-air during a ratings sweep. Understanding how and why that money comes in the front door is imperative. When the time came for me to understand the world of sales, I had to trust what I was being told rather than falling back on my own experience.

Eventually, I came to pessimistically believe that radio programmers don't program stations, nor do jocks, or librarians/music directors. The people who ultimately program stations is radio time buyers at national agencies, or the locally "radio savvy" local time buyer in a company that has a big sustaining campaign strategy .... if they see good numbers, and hear a good product on-air, they buy time. If they buy time, the staff gets paid.

If the staff gets paid .... life is good. If they don't, they leave and the station goes into a state of confusion.

[pave]

It might be of some value for readers to appreciate that Anotherwpgguy and I have been lifelong pals - meeting in the '60's as travellers to a northern Ontario radio station. His experience and expertise in many facets of radio goes unchallenged - other than the self-reported lack of knowledge about how radio sales really worked. One might have expected that, because of his appreciation for the real-world environments of the jocks, newsies and creative departments, he would have had an advantage as an owner.

While an intimate understanding of the radio "sales" dynamic is an absolutely essential element to any owner, it is not unreasonable to expect such expertise is available - from somebody. Somewhere.

My speculation (and we have had portions of this chat a few times) is that Awg was doomed to experience the very similar circumstances that almost every radio station on the planet is experiencing - even today. I am referring, specifically, to the traditionally-proposed and universally-accepted Rules of Programming - The Radio Dogma - that was, and continues to be, accepted and applied. It's as though "PROGRAMMING" arrives in the mail in a plain, brown paper-wrapped carton with instruction to: "Do these things and insert music format here." Every station got one and every owner was obliged to follow the instructions - some with more enthusiasm than others.

The tragic irony of even those owners who have programming and on-air experience is in the realities of so many others in management, those including: the seemingly, if not bigger, then more vicious 'gators populating the swamp. ("Draining has been postponed 'till further notice.")

Only my friend can comment on whether he would engage at this level of the business again or not. I suspect not.

My mantra - all along - has been one in which: Until we engage in a complete refurbishing and retraining of the on-air and creative department staffs in the specifics of communicating through a broadcast medium -- and the retraining of the management who will be compelled to support them, there would be little value in engaging in the business at all.

The unequivocal evidence of ongoing disasters in radio is, I submit, testimony to the fact that the industry has learned nothing of true value for a very, very long time. What is tragic, to my mind, it that no one has expressed an interest in endeavouring to find out just what, specifically, that might be.

[Buddy B]

It wasn't just Vancouver that had some great regional bands.... When I was at CKXL we sponsored no less than SIX, two of which did pretty well for themselves (49th Parallel and Gainsborough Gallery). Personally, I'd love to hear a REAL oldies station again, complete with jocks picking the music on the fly, nailing post after post, and sounding like they were having a REALLY good time, not just doing a job.

[Bigbangboom]

Don't you think if there was a market for a station like that to be profitable - it would be done?

Just sayin'

[pave]

The short answer to your inquiry, Bbb is: Some have tried and some still do.
But they are such anemic, superficial, maudlin and patronising attempts, they can't get any traction. To the contrary, they are summarily dismissed by an insulted audience.

Let's face it - owners and programmers can't handle what's already on their tables. Any project that includes being appealing to such a sophisticated (Boomer) audience is a great deal more than any of them could ever handle. This, given the extreme lack of expertise roaming the halls at the management end of the buildings.

Remember the modus operandi for every one of these corporate thugs is: Do the least possible in terms of quality, appealing broadcasting and effective commercial creative. Get it done with the fewest possible number of the least expensive players and... sell the shit out of it. (If only.)

Indeed, it would take a very great deal more than introducing a "throwback" form of radio with Boss Jocks hitting posts and being enthusiastic to the point of hysteria while expecting to impress the same audience many decades later. Expanding an already crippled music choice and rotations would only be the easiest of the fixes necessary for such a venture to even have a chance.

It must be understood: Management and Programmers are not, repeat: not competent to take this chore on. They can't cut it. They are tapped out and exhausted. The wells are all dry and those that aren't are poisoned. They are pooched and otherwise phukucked. All that's left is corporate momentum. And even that is dwindling. (see: Newton.)

We grew up. Radio did not.

We were educated in many ways. We have had multiple experiences. Radio went into a coma at the end of the '80's. But, it was showing serious symptoms 10 years before that.

Still, a magnificent target audience - and one that could continuously be accommodated as the demographic goes through the inevitable check-out periods over time. This is a worthy project. The lessons learned from a successful launch and from maintaining such a format would include tremendous benefits for other formats, as well.

Then, sell the shit out of that - at well-deserved, premium pricing.