Re: WSRO

[Dan Strassberg <dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net>]

I just love it when people, expecially Mike Thomas, jump on "the older
listeners are all dying" bandwagon. The point of my post is that large
numbers of older listeners will continue to listen for many years. What is
the median lifetime of a radio format on a particular station? My guess is
maybe 2-1/2 years. If a station refuses to adopt an adult standards format
(for example) because "all of those old folks are dying off" and instead
adopts some younger-skewed format (let's say modern rock, for the sake of
argument), what will happen? Although at the end of 2-1/2 years, a larger
percentage of the initial modern rock audience will be living, the format on
that station will be just as dead. (And I can make a case that the modern
rock format has a higher probability of dying on that station than the adult
standards format would. I don't have the statistics, but my guess is that
the longevity of older-skewed formats on individual stations is greater than
that of younger-skewed formats. If I'm correct, part of the reason is less
competition.) 

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Dan Strassberg (Note: Address is CASE SENSITIVE!)
ALL _LOWER_ CASE!!!--> dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net
(617) 558-4205; Fax (617) 928-4205

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