Demographics Rules? [wasRe: WLLH Now In Spanish]

[Bill Piacentini <billpi@ll.mit.edu>]

At 01:37 AM 5/4/99 -0400, Joe Ross wrote:
I've been hearing around here for some time that stations are looking for
that younger demographic.  So what's WBZ  [On 3 May 99,  Mark Laurence
wrote: WBZ's demos:9% of their audience is under 35;62% of their audience
is over 55.] doing?  Why aren't they flipping formats a dozen times a year
to look for younger demographics?  Can it mean that demographics aren't as
important as we thought?
Bill Piacentini chimes in:
So much emphasis is placed on "statistics" these days it bugs the hell out
of me!
One purports to know everything about everyone and their listening and
buying habits based on age, income, gender, race, religion, left- vs.
right- handedness, etc.
WPLM-FM is breaking the demographic "mold" and also taking listeners away
from WBZ. The demos Mark L. disclosed [in a separate email] are not
necessarily the current May '99 truth about WPLM-FM's audience.
For example, my wife, whose under 55 and pretty intelligent, listens to
Easy 99.1 constantly (as I do). If somebody called to ask what station(s)
does she listen to, she would still have difficulty remembering call
letters, frequencies, etc. and probably mention WBZ before she would
remember WPLM-FM! 

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